Douluo Continent: This Tang San is different

Chapter 240 The Theory of Martial Soul Evolution

"That's quite a bold guess."

Xue Qinghe laughed and said, seemingly unconsciously, "If that's the case, then the Spirit Hall might also have been established by a god. After all, the Spirit Mountain in Spirit City is said to have been cut off by the first creator of the Spirit Hall, the Angel God, and then transported there."

"That is indeed possible." Tang San nodded seriously. "However, compared to inheriting a godhood, I prefer my martial soul to materialize into a god."

"The mother and daughter's beast spirits have already materialized in the state of possession."

"You could say they are born gods."

Xue Qinghe frowned.

A born god?

Although the martial souls of the catwoman and her daughter did seem to be materialized, they were too weak, not even having level ten soul power. How could they possibly be born gods?

"Do you find it unbelievable? Or even hard to understand what I'm saying?" Tang San said decisively, "But their appearance is indeed a true embodiment of their martial souls. The reason they are weak is simply because their soul power is absorbed by their bodies when it reaches level ten, which prevents them from obtaining soul rings and thus from improving their cultivation."

"Is that so?" Xue Qinghe nodded slightly, not intending to delve any further. After all, if they continued talking, Tang San might say that the mother and daughter's talent was comparable to the Spirit Hall's six-winged angels!

Furthermore, even if the mother and daughter were truly born gods capable of cultivation, their inability to obtain a soul ring meant they would likely fail in their lifetime. If they were to focus solely on cultivation, the resources they would consume would be enormous.

This is definitely not a good deal!

Now that it's confirmed that Tang San will stay in Heaven Dou City for at least a month, she'll have plenty of time to visit him during that month.

After seeing Xue Qinghe off, Tang San began to organize the information he had gathered along the way, preparing to write a theory on the evolution of martial spirits.

The so-called theory of evolution is that a martial spirit can evolve under a person's will, through a long period of time and the accumulation of generations.

This is similar to the concept of "the harmony between man and martial spirit," and it is also the foundational theory that Tang San developed before publishing this theory. His previous work, "The Theory of the Primary and Secondary Aspects of Man and Martial Spirit," was also based on this.

The basis for "The Theory of Martial Soul Evolution" lies in the villages Tang San and his companions encountered along their journey, villages with relatively distinct individual martial soul styles.

Daohua Village.

The villagers in this village mainly possess three types of martial spirits: hoe, sickle, and shovel.

They are all farm tools.

Tang San once asked the elders in the village, and they learned that since the village was established, it had been intermarrying with other villages. The women who married into the village basically had a hoe or Blue Silver Grass as their martial soul.

According to the elderly, the village initially only had hoe spirits, but later, sickle and shovel spirits gradually appeared.

The appearance of these martial spirits also puzzled the old man, since none of the women who married into the village possessed a sickle or a shovel as their martial spirit.

Then, Tang San asked about the village's initial situation.

The old people said that at first, when the village needed to build roads and cultivate fields, almost everyone in the village had a hoe spirit. Later, when the roads were built, the fields were cultivated, and the crops were grown, some children awakened a sickle spirit.

However, based on the portrait the old man showed him, the sickle actually looked very much like a hoe, except that the handle was shorter and thinner, and the blade was twisted and tilted, with one side becoming sharper.

Then, the town near Daohua Village became a small city, and there was a demand for a certain type of tree fruit... and then, the shovel spirit reappeared.

According to the portrait, the first shovel spirit that appeared was very similar to a hoe, except that the blade changed from horizontal to vertical and the blade surface became wider.

Environmental changes and the yearning for a better life have caused the spirit of the hoe to evolve along with people's thoughts.

However, this is just one of the cases Tang San found.

Another example is a village built around a mine. A hundred years ago, the villagers made a living by mining, and their martial spirits were all pickaxes. Later, when the ore was exhausted, in order to survive, their martial spirits evolved over three to four generations into hoes, and the village then made a living by farming.

There are more than a dozen such cases.

Or, in villages where food-based martial spirits are the main focus, the food tastes better and looks better in order to sell these martial spirits.

Or it could be a village where bows and arrows are the main weapons, and people originally made a living by hunting. However, the wild animals have been hunted to extinction. In addition, they have been influenced by a band from a nearby city. Some people want to make a living by singing, so they influence the thinking of the new generation. For example, they say: "If only my martial soul were a zither."

Thus, the bow-wielding spirit gradually evolved into a peculiar single-stringed zither.

Although the people in these cases either lack innate soul power or only have half a level of innate soul power, and thus cannot break through to the level of soul master in their lifetime, they yearn to become soul masters and have a kind of aversion to their own martial soul.

Martial spirits possess sentience. Even if humans do not communicate with them, they do not want to be treated like birds. However, a martial spirit is ultimately a part of a human. In the darkness, it will accumulate power for its master's better survival, thus undergoing slow changes.

After compiling this "Theory of Martial Soul Evolution," Tang San summarized two rules governing the evolution of Martial Souls:

Firstly, a martial soul can change depending on a person's thoughts, but for ordinary people who are not soul masters, the evolution of a martial soul requires at least three generations.

Secondly, when a martial spirit evolves to the point where it adapts to and satisfies the needs of human life, it will temporarily stop evolving in order to fix the form of the martial spirit and achieve stable heredity.

Both of the above points must exclude cases of sudden mutations caused by external factors that are not universal—such as special environments or special drugs.

After organizing the draft, Tang San bound it and discovered that it was over two centimeters thick. He slapped his forehead and chuckled to himself, "This is so thick, it's probably not suitable for publication in the 'Martial Soul Newspaper.' Should I write a concise version?"

After much deliberation, Tang San decided to give up.

After all, he is already famous now, so there is no need for him to focus on the "Martial Soul Newspaper". Publishing a book directly is not out of the question. However, this theory still needs to be sent to the Martial Soul Newspaper. As for the remuneration, it cannot be a direct buyout as before, but needs to be split... Tang San thinks that he can mention a contractual profit-sharing cooperation method to the Martial Soul Newspaper.

Presumably, the Martial Soul Society will give him, the Holy Son of the Martial Soul Hall, some face.

"What are you writing?"

Suddenly, a familiar child's voice came from behind. Gu Yuena had entered the study at some point, and was lying on the table, curiously looking at the book "The Theory of Martial Soul Evolution" on the desk.

He reached out to take it, but Tang San pulled his hand away first, saying, "It's very impolite to come in without knocking."

"This is my home, I can do whatever I want here." Gu Yuena put her hands on her hips, tilted her chin up, and looked directly at Tang San.

"What's with this self-righteous attitude of yours?" Tang San rubbed his forehead, speechless. "By the way, have you learned how to wash dishes yet?"

Gu Yuena exclaimed, "I've learned it!"

Tang San was about to nod when Gu Yuena said, "The bowls are broken, so there's no need to wash them. Aren't I clever?"

"...That's quite clever, but the bowl is broken, so we need to spend money to buy a new one. We'll leave this debt for now, and you can pay it back slowly later." Tang San put the "Theory of Martial Soul Evolution" into his storage wristband. "Let's go. I'll help you awaken your Martial Soul. It's impossible for humans living in this world to be without a Martial Soul unless they can't awaken it by ordinary means. Perhaps I can try to help you."

However, Gu Yuena didn't care much about awakening her martial soul. Instead, she stared at the storage wristband on Tang San's left hand and asked, "Is that a storage soul tool? Can I have one?"

"People without soul power can't use storage soul tools," Tang San refused. "Besides, I spent 30 million gold soul coins to buy you."

Gu Yuena pouted and snorted, "You're so stingy. When I grow up, I'll pay you back a mere thirty million in the blink of an eye."

"When you grow up, it won't just be 30 million."

"Why?" Gu Yuena asked, puzzled. "Do you mean you want me to pay you back even more?"

"We'll have to add interest, and then, during your growing up period, you'll eat my food, use my things, live in my house, and learn all sorts of knowledge from me. That'll be another huge expense, at least over 10 billion." Tang San gestured with his five fingers, as if he were really calculating how many gold soul coins Gu Yuena would have to repay him when she grew up.

Gu Yuena had some concept of numbers, but upon hearing "tens of billions," she immediately protested: "How could it be so many? Are you trying to scam me?"

"Congratulations, you guessed right. I was indeed setting a trap for you, and you've already fallen into it!" Tang San chuckled.

"Hmph!" Gu Yuena turned her head away, pouting, realizing that Tang San was teasing her, and was a little unhappy.

"Alright, don't be so upset." Tang San raised his hand to touch Gu Yuena's head, but she dodged it. However, how could she dodge Tang San's big hand? In the end, Tang San pressed her head down.

"If anyone else dared to treat me like this, I would have bitten them long ago. It's only because you provide for me that I'm not bothering you." Gu Yuena said with a proud and aloof expression, a blush rising on her cute round face.

Tang San smiled and suddenly asked, "Miss, where did you learn this word? The Luo Wang Auction House wouldn't teach something like that, would they?"

"Before I was taken to that auction house, some woman dressed in brightly colored clothes told me about it. It sounded pretty good, so I took it and used it," Gu Yuena said casually. "Let me tell you, I've learned a lot along the way, far more than you can imagine!"

"Really? Then how come you only learned to use chopsticks yesterday?" Tang San asked, feigning confusion.

Gu Yuena blushed immediately and said, "That's because I've never seen chopsticks before. When those people fed me, they just put the meat directly in front of me."

"Damn it! Those bastards!"

"When I grow up, I'll definitely teach those guys from the Luo Wang Auction House a lesson!"

Tang San nodded: "Indeed, the slave trade is really inhumane. Such an industry will eventually disappear with the development of the times."

Gu Yuena glanced at Tang San and said, "You're a good person."

Tang San: "???"

(End of this chapter)