"Phew…"
After completing the adoption procedures for Na'er, the group returned to the Bai family residence.
Bai Jiaming, who had just gained a cute new daughter, looked extremely happy. He turned to Bai Chen and asked:
"Xiao Chen, speaking of which, when are you going to the Spirit Pagoda to obtain a soul spirit?"
In his view, Bai Chen had refused to purchase a soul spirit earlier simply because he was in a hurry to pick up Na'er. Now that Na'er had become a member of their family, there was no reason not to go and finish this matter.
However, to his surprise, Bai Chen shook his head and said:
"Dad, I don't want an artificial soul spirit from the Spirit Pagoda. Can you find a way to help me obtain a real soul ring?"
In the original Douluo Dalu III, Wu Zhangkong once personally stated that although soul masters of this era possessed battle armor to increase their combat power, artificial soul spirits were inferior to genuine soul beast soul rings. Because of this, soul masters of this generation had actually fallen behind those of earlier eras.
In fact, the cultivation resources available to soul masters in this era were the scarcest in history. In this age, when the plane itself was nearing decline, obtaining even a normal soul ring had become extremely difficult, let alone higher-level soul bones.
The soul rings of this era might look impressive on the surface, but in reality they were little more than painted decorations. They lacked the terrifying suppression that high-level soul rings once exerted over lower-level ones in the previous two generations.
The so-called battle armor and self-created soul skills were essentially methods people of this era used to compensate for the loss of powerful soul bones and soul rings.
In Bai Chen's view, among the three current ways of obtaining soul rings—soul spirits, natural soul rings, and artificial soul spirits—the most superior was naturally natural soul spirits, followed by natural soul rings, with artificial soul spirits coming last.
Natural soul spirits were no different from natural soul rings when it came to soul skills. At the same time, they also had two advantages: they reduced the requirements needed to absorb them and allowed the soul spirit to assist in battle. Overall, they were unquestionably the best option.
Although natural soul rings lacked those two advantages of natural soul spirits, they could still provide a comprehensive enhancement to a soul master. When a soul master obtained a soul ring, they didn't just gain a soul skill—their physical strength and even spiritual power would also be strengthened significantly.
That was why the combat strength of a soul master with a soul ring and one without was completely different. Even if everything else were identical, a soul master with one additional soul ring could easily dominate one with fewer rings.
As for artificial soul spirits, they were replicas cultivated from the genes of soul beasts. They could provide soul skills, but the strength of those skills and the enhancement to the soul master were far inferior to those provided by natural soul rings.
Bai Chen had awakened the Dark Devilgod Tiger martial soul. In terms of cultivation methods, he was already behind the people of this era, so he didn't want to fall behind them in how he obtained his soul rings as well.
Natural soul spirits were out of the question for now, but he at least wanted to obtain a natural soul ring.
As for the fact that natural soul rings couldn't upgrade their age…
That might be troublesome for other soul masters, but not for Bai Chen.
After all, in this era his martial soul was the Dark Devilgod Tiger. Once his cultivation reached the level of Soul Saint, he would be able to begin divine trials.
Not to mention whether he could obtain the position of the Evil God— even if he failed, increasing the age of his soul rings wouldn't be difficult.
The soul ring enhancements granted through divine trials were genuine upgrades—miracles created by divine power itself, far beyond anything the Spirit Pagoda's techniques could achieve.
"A real soul ring, huh…"
Hearing Bai Chen's request, Bai Jiaming pondered for a moment.
"There is a way, but you'll have to wait a while."
"What do you mean?"
Bai Chen immediately became attentive.
Bai Jiaming explained:
"In Tianhai City, every so often a group of soul masters who aren't satisfied with the Spirit Pagoda's soul spirits will head out to sea to hunt their own soul rings. Since the demand is high, the city government organized specialized soul-hunting companies. As long as you pay the fee, they'll help arrange everything. From what I know, the last group that went out hunting should be returning soon."
As Bai Jiaming said, Tianhai City had a unique advantage in soul-ring hunting compared to other cities.
The reason was simple: it was a coastal city.
In the era of Douluo III, due to various factors, soul beasts were indeed on the verge of extinction, making it difficult for ordinary soul masters to hunt natural soul rings.
However, what was disappearing were mainly land soul beasts.
Sea soul beasts, on the other hand, still existed in huge numbers.
No matter how advanced technology became, humans were still land creatures. Their combat power dropped drastically in the ocean.
And to hunt sea soul beasts, one had to fight them in the sea itself—something extremely dangerous.
Moreover, the ocean covered a far larger area than land, and the total number of sea soul beasts far exceeded that of land soul beasts.
That was why, even in this era, so many sea soul beasts still lived in the ocean.
And these sea soul beasts had become an important path for soul masters to advance.
It wasn't just for hunting natural soul rings. In the original story of Douluo III, Hades Emperor Halosa would secretly go to the ocean from time to time to kill sea soul beasts in order to increase his cultivation while avoiding detection by the Federation.
In theory, Bai Chen could also cultivate this way.
But his current strength simply didn't allow it.
As mentioned earlier, hunting sea soul beasts was extremely dangerous. Halosa dared to do it because he was already an extremely powerful evil soul master capable of protecting his own life.
Bai Chen, however, hadn't even obtained his first soul ring yet. Trying to imitate him would be nothing more than a fantasy.
Therefore, he could only follow a large group to hunt a soul ring together.
In fact, the Spirit Pagoda also did this kind of business. They surrounded the Star Dou Great Forest not only to restrict soul beasts but also to sell entry tickets to ambitious soul masters.
Some soul masters found it difficult to obtain suitable soul rings from sea soul beasts—the most typical example being fire-attribute soul masters.
If such soul masters didn't want to absorb artificial soul spirits and insisted on obtaining natural soul rings, they could only go to the Star Dou Fortress and pay the entrance fee.
Of course, the Spirit Pagoda only sold the ticket. Whatever dangers one encountered in the Star Dou Great Forest were entirely their own responsibility.
If someone wanted guaranteed protection…
They would have to pay extra.
What Bai Jiaming was referring to was precisely this type of business.
"Alright, then I'll wait."
Bai Chen had no objections to the proposal.
Because of the special nature of the Dark Devilgod Tiger, he could barely cultivate normally anyway. Delaying for a while wouldn't matter much.
Worrying wouldn't help. He might as well use this time to study soul spirit technology, so that the version of himself from Douluo I could earn the trust of the fierce beasts sooner.
"Oh right."
At that moment, Bai Jiaming suddenly seemed to remember something and smiled at Bai Chen.
"Xu Zhiguang will be coming in a few days. His son and daughter will come along too. Be ready to welcome them."