Douluo Continent: Starting with the Tiger Emperor Template

After cleaning up the mess left by the Royal Guard, Jing Hongchen didn't waste any time and headed straight for the training ground.

He knew Lu Ren was there.

Sure enough, several figures could be seen gathered in the center of the training ground from afar.

Lu Ren sat cross-legged on the edge of the arena, Ji Juechen stood opposite him with his long sword across his knees, Jing Ziyan squatted beside him with her cheek propped up, and Meng Hongchen sat down next to Lu Ren with her hands supporting her chin.

All eyes fell on Lu Ren.

"So, what exactly is this constraint?" Ji Juechen's voice was low, tinged with a hint of stubbornness. "Can we learn it?"

Lu Ren glanced at him.

There was no greed in this sword fanatic's eyes, only pure curiosity and pursuit.

He wasn't looking for shortcuts; he wanted to understand a stronger force and then surpass it in his own way.

"No." Lu Ren shook his head, his tone decisive. "The binding is tied to my martial soul. Without my martial soul, you can't do it."

Ji Juechen remained silent for a moment, tightened his grip on the sword in his hand slightly, and then gave up the idea.

Jing Ziyan, however, was not giving up and moved even closer:

"What if we use a soul power contract or something similar instead? Your binding technique is basically an oath made with soul power, so why don't we just make an oath too?"

"They're different." Lu Ren explained patiently, "The core of the bond is the equivalence of cost and reward, while the oath of soul power is only a one-sided constraint. The two are fundamentally different."

"My martial spirit can sense the weight of the price and transform it into power. Without this sense, even the heaviest oath is just empty words."

The ability to bind such a setting relies on incantation power.

Soul power and spell power are completely different, so they cannot achieve the thing of binding.

Jing Ziyan deflated, leaned back, and lay down on the ground.

Disappointment appeared on Meng Hongchen's pretty face.

She had been thinking how wonderful it would be if she could be like Lu Ren, sacrificing her first few insignificant soul skills in exchange for a permanent boost to all attributes.

A normal increase of 60% is much stronger than the first or second soul skill, and even stronger than some 100,000-year soul skills.

That's a 60% boost! In battles of the same level, once used, it makes you invincible.

"Your martial soul is the ability to manipulate blood, isn't it?"

A steady voice came from the entrance of the training ground.

Several people turned their heads at the same time.

Jing Hongchen walked over with his hands behind his back, his gaze falling on Lu Ren.

"That's right." Lu Ren didn't hide anything. "My martial soul is called Crimson Blood Manipulation Technique, which allows me to control my own blood."

He was telling the truth. Although the real martial soul had long been used to exchange for binding, the Crimson Blood Manipulation Technique could indeed be explained as a martial soul.

Jing Hongchen walked up to him and looked him up and down.

"Although you manipulate blood, I observed that your mental energy fluctuations were extremely intense during combat. To be honest, you give me the feeling of being a mental-type Soul Master."

Lu Ren's heart stirred.

This is the second person to mistake magical power for spiritual power.

Xuan Ziwen said the same thing.

It seems that in this world, the power of curses formed from negative emotions manifests itself in a way that is very similar to spiritual power.

That's a pretty good disguise.

"Could you elaborate on the principle of binding?" Jing Hongchen pressed, his gaze intense. "I have never heard of such an ability before. I am certain that even Shrek Academy has not mastered a similar power."

He was telling the truth.

If everyone could be like Lu Ren and replace their weakest soul skills with percentage-based buffs, the entire soul master system of Douluo Continent would be overturned.

This power is too extraordinary; it's impossible for it to be widespread.

Lu Ren thought for a moment and then reorganized the language using the Douluo Continent framework:

"It's like swearing an oath with your own martial spirit."

Jing Hongchen raised an eyebrow slightly.

"The most sincere transaction between Soul Masters is to swear an oath to the heavens with their Martial Soul."

"Once the contract is breached, at best the soul power will decline and inner demons will arise, and at worst the martial soul will shatter. The principle of the binding is similar, using the martial soul as a medium to form an absolute contract with one's own soul power, exchanging an irreversible price for an equal return."

"Irreversible?" Jing Hongchen grasped the key word.

"That's right." Lu Ren nodded. "Once you've made a vow, you can never go back on it. Of course, you can go back on your word if you want, but what awaits you next is an unknown and terrifying punishment. This punishment may torment you for the rest of your life, or it may lead you to an unexpected death."

"The price of going back on your word is extremely heavy."

"And I have forever lost the right to use my first and second soul skills, in exchange for the normal amplification ability you see."

"From the moment this deal is made, it's best not to have any thoughts of going back on it."

"So, now you understand why I was able to reap such a huge reward?"

"What is most important to a Soul Master? Of course, it's their Soul Rings and Soul Skills. Can you imagine a Soul Master paying the price of losing their Soul Skills? This price is one of the heaviest for a Soul Master."

"If I didn't have my own self-created soul skill, what use would the attribute boost I got be? Unless I could crush people with soul power." Lu Ren shrugged.

"So, you all know the advantages and disadvantages; it's a very balanced situation."

Is it really balanced?

To be honest, this is not fair; at least Lu Ren exploited a bug and cheated.

He gave up the power of his martial soul and soul skills in exchange for a significant improvement in his own techniques. The price he paid was like a tickle to him.

He already possesses numerous techniques, and these techniques can be used to develop even more moves. Not to mention that in the future, he will have more than just the Imperial Chef and Crimson Blood Manipulation techniques...

Therefore, not being able to use martial souls and soul skills comes at no cost to Lu Ren, but in return, he can gain an extremely powerful numerical boost.

The training ground fell silent for a moment.

Jing Ziyan sat up from the ground, counted on her fingers, and her eyes widened.

"You're currently a four-ring Soul Master, but you're maintaining a 60% increase in all attributes... Doesn't that mean your soul power is almost on par with a Soul Emperor?"

"Subtract another 10%," Lu Ren corrected, "which is roughly equivalent to level 59."

"Why subtract ten?" Meng Hongchen asked blankly.

Ji Juechen picked up the conversation:

"It's probably related to his two ten-thousand-year spirit rings. Could you briefly explain?"

Lu Ren smiled slightly and shook his head.

"It's a secret; you'll find out later."

He wasn't lying; he also established self-restraint for his third spirit ring.

In exchange for the inability to use the third soul skill forever, he gained a special ability: in normal state, all his attributes are reduced by 10%, but in battle, once the battle lasts for more than five minutes, he can unleash 200% of his combat power.

The inspiration for this self-imposed constraint comes from Nanami Kento, a first-class sorcerer in the world of sorcery.

However, Nanami Kento's self-imposed restrictions were far less extreme, only allowing him to achieve limited improvement in his abilities.

Lu Ren's self-imposed restrictions were even harsher, after all, he had permanently abandoned his soul skills that he had used for about ten thousand years.

Overall, he usually only uses 90% of his strength, sacrificing that 10% to unleash double the power five minutes later.

No matter how you look at it, this is a win-win situation. Moreover, the normal 10% increase from the first spirit ring perfectly makes up for the missing 10%.

Therefore, this constraint has no side effects for him.

This is the path he chose.

In the future, he will also collect 100,000-year-old soul bones, absorb them, and use them to establish a bond in exchange for even more terrifying abilities.

Then, starting from the fifth spirit ring, all of them must be at the 100,000-year level. Each one is a new bargaining chip. Then, one must establish self-restraint, abandon spirit skills, and exchange them for stronger abilities.

By then, he will have unparalleled stats and an unparalleled mechanic.

With both numerical values ​​and game mechanics, who can beat him?