Douluo Continent: The Legend of the Gods

Stone Mother stood to the side, speechless.

She looked at her son's hand, at the blue knife, and tears streamed down her face.

Stone was still in a daze, looking down at his right hand, turning it over and over, the blade gleaming in the light.

Dan Chen was filled with shock. How could a commoner whom Qing Lin had casually helped have such a good talent?

"Dr. Yun, this..." He raised his head, his voice trembling.

"Innate seventh-level soul power, mutated martial soul," Yun Qinglin said. "Your martial soul is of very high quality; it's not an ordinary wooden sword, but a mutated one. Even at the Star Luo Royal Academy, it would be top-notch."

Stone stood there, his lips trembling, unable to utter a word.

He looked at the knife in his hand, then at his mother, and tears welled up in his eyes.

He scrubbed and scrubbed, but he couldn't get it clean no matter what he did.

Stone's mother came over, hugged her son, and the two of them cried together.

It was as if a ray of light had suddenly shone into their hopeless life, and things were finally going to get better for their family.

Yun Qinglin didn't try to persuade him, and quietly sat down to wait.

After a long while, Shi Tou finally lifted his head from his mother's arms, sniffed, and his eyes were red.

"Dr. Yun, what...what do you want me to do? Just tell me, I'll do anything."

Yun Qinglin thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you come and help out at Qinglin Hall? I'm not here most of the time, so you can watch the shop for me, recognize the herbs, and learn some prescriptions. When I come back, I'll teach you how to treat patients."

Stone paused for a moment, "But I don't understand anything... and I don't know how to cultivate right now..."

"It's alright," Yun Qinglin said. "You can ask Uncle Dan for guidance on cultivation first, or I can teach you. You can help out at Qinglin Hall during the day and cultivate at night. You have excellent talent, and Starfall Royal Academy won't let go of such an outstanding student. Or perhaps you'd prefer to go to Shrek Academy later?"

He didn't make any arrangements for the stone's whereabouts; he simply offered his own ideas.

Shi Tou stood there, mouth agape, unable to close. His mother gave him a push: "Hurry up and thank Doctor Yun."

Shi Tou knelt down with a thud and kowtowed three times. Yun Qinglin quickly pulled him up, saying, "Don't kneel. Get up."

Shi Tou stood up, wiped his face, and sniffed.

"Dr. Yun, I will definitely work hard from now on. You can leave the affairs of Qinglin Hall to me, and I will definitely handle them well. I will learn the herbs slowly and memorize the prescriptions gradually. I will keep an eye on things for you when you are not around."

Yun Qinglin nodded: "No need to rush, take your time. And there's no need for all this 'you' and 'should' stuff. We're the same age, so you can call me Qinglin from now on. Put away your martial spirit for now, don't leave it lit up all the time."

"Brother Qinglin." He called out, a little stiffly. After calling out, he paused for a moment, then smiled even wider, tears welling in his eyes, revealing a set of white teeth: "I have a martial soul now."

"Yes. You will be a Soul Master from now on."

The stone stood there, its eyes crinkling into slits with laughter.

It wasn't a forced laugh; it was an uncontrollable laugh that came from the bottom of my heart.

Stone Mother wiped away tears beside her, muttering words like "benefactor".

Yun Qinglin stood up, put away the Awakening Stone, and took out several packets of herbs from the Star Essence Ring, placing them on the table.

"These are the commonly used ones. You should learn their names first. There are four kinds: Blood-activating Vine, Red Ginseng, Angelica, and Licorice. Once you and your mother have learned them, I will teach you the others."

Shi Tou quickly put the herbs away, holding them close to his chest as if they were precious treasures: "I'll admit it tonight. Next time...you can test me."

Stone Mother was stunned for a moment: "Doctor Yun, I..." She looked at Yun Qinglin and smiled and nodded slightly, her eyes slightly sore, and nodded gently.

Yun Qinglin smiled. "Yes, I'm very strict, after all, this is for treating other people's illnesses."

"Okay!" Stone answered crisply and loudly, startling Stone's mother.

Yun Qinglin only then realized that Shi Tou's real name was Wu Ming Shi, and Shi Tou was his nickname.

When he reached the door, Stone followed him to see him off.

The moon has risen and is shining in the alley, making the stone pavement gleam white.

Shi Tou stood at the door and waved to him: "Brother Qinglin, I will definitely work hard!"

Dan Chen walked beside him without saying a word until they were almost at the entrance of the courtyard.

"Qinglin, what did you see in the stone's martial spirit?"

"It's mutated, and it seems to be of metallic nature. It's of high quality," Yun Qinglin said. "Even at Star Luo Royal Academy, it would be top-tier. Its talent is exceptional."

Dan Chen nodded: "After we came to Xingluo City, we distributed a lot of food to the beggars as you requested, and we recorded any news from the streets for me."

Yun Qinglin responded. Actually, it was just a casual arrangement at the time. He thought that one couldn't live in a city without information channels, so he asked Uncle Dan to gather some beggars.

His main goal was to gather information about the working-class neighborhood, and these beggars were the best option.

After all, when he and Dan Chen first arrived, they didn't have enough money, so they couldn't possibly hire a large number of Soul Masters to gather information, right?

However, he and Dan Chen discovered that the beggars had an unexpectedly strong ability to gather information in the slums. So he had Dan Chen buy a small courtyard to provide shelter and food for the beggars, who were all without awakened martial spirits.

He decided to find a time to give them a unified awakening, a dozen or so people, which could be considered the initial base of Qinglin Hall.

Even if none of their martial souls are useful, awakening a martial soul can make them more loyal.

"The Stone family, those beggars said they were all good people. His mother used to share some food with these beggars. Stone also had a good personality, and the neighbors all said he was sensible. His father was also a down-to-earth and hardworking man. As soon as his foot was healed, he went out with the hunting team."

"He's a good-natured kid. If you help him, he'll remember it for the rest of his life."

Yun Qinglin was so interested in the Shi family that he would naturally conduct his own investigation beforehand.

"If I don't make any requests, they'll feel uneasy. But if we let Shi Tou's family come to Qing Lin Tang to help, they'll feel more at ease."

He intends to gradually expand Qinglin Hall, which will inevitably encroach on the interests of some nobles. When word gets out that he is helping commoners awaken for free, some people may become restless. Therefore, the awakening program will not be rolled out on a large scale for the time being.

Actually, the main thing is the Soul Spirit Technique, which is the real thing that can change everything. If a large number of commoner Soul Masters are awakened, then a large number of Soul Beasts will inevitably be needed.

Only when the Soul Spirit Technique is fully implemented can it support the awakening of more Soul Masters.

A single spirit beast can provide multiple spirit rings, reducing the number of spirit beasts a Title Douluo needs from nine to just two or three.

The number of soul beasts hunted will be greatly reduced, and his and Ilex's current goal is a fair contract. After a soul master's lifespan ends, the soul beast can break the soul contract and choose a new soul master.

This way, the number of soul beasts will not decrease significantly, and soul masters and soul beasts can even establish good relationships, because the growth rate of following a soul master is definitely faster than cultivating on their own.

This allows spirit beasts to quickly pass through their infancy.

His status doesn't make him afraid of things related to nobility; he's now very grateful to have met his teacher.

If it hadn't been Wang Xian'er who discovered him initially, but someone else from the Star Luo royal family, his life might not have been so easy.