With that, the first soul rings for Bai Chen in both the Douluo I and Douluo III eras had preliminary solutions.
Meanwhile, the Bai Chen of Douluo II had been summoned to the internal training arena of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
When he arrived, quite a few people had already gathered there.
At the front stood a middle-aged man who appeared refined and easygoing. A little girl stood beside him, and not far in front of them a red-haired girl was pouting unhappily, as if she had suffered some great injustice.
As the orphan of a high-ranking member of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, Bai Chen naturally knew exactly who these people were.
The middle-aged man was Ning Jingchen, the current sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, a level 79 support-type Soul Sage.
Bai Chen didn't know many details about the sect's internal leadership, but one thing was certain: ever since Ning Jingchen took over as sect master, the development of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had grown increasingly rapid.
Since the man was Ning Jingchen, the sect master, the identity of the girl standing beside him was obvious.
She was Ning Tian, the young sect master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
Just yesterday, she had awakened her martial soul alongside Bai Chen. Her innate soul power was as high as level eight. Although it wasn't as high as Bai Chen's, for a support-type soul master it was still an exceptionally impressive talent.
As for the red-haired girl standing protectively in front of Ning Tian, there was no need to guess.
She was Wu Feng, Ning Tian's personal guard in the original story.
Her martial soul was the Fire Dragon, a powerful top-tier martial soul. As its wielder, Wu Feng had awakened innate level-seven soul power.
The moment she saw Bai Chen arrive, her expression immediately changed. Anger filled her eyes as if Bai Chen were her sworn enemy.
The elder of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect who had brought Bai Chen stepped forward to Ning Jingchen and said respectfully:
"Sect Master, I've brought him."
"Good."
Ning Jingchen responded briefly before walking straight up to Bai Chen.
"Child, do you know why we summoned you here today?"
"…"
Bai Chen silently shook his head.
In truth, after seeing the flames practically burning in Wu Feng's eyes, he had already guessed what this was about.
But at a time like this, it was better not to stand out unnecessarily. The Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect was not completely united internally, and he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself.
Ning Jingchen spoke calmly:
"The core members of our Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect all possess the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul. As the number-one support-type tool martial soul in the world, it holds an extremely prestigious status. However, it lacks combat capability."
"To compensate for this weakness, each core member of the sect is paired with a partner whose role is to protect the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda soul master."
At this point, he paused and glanced at Wu Feng.
"To better protect the most important successor to the sect master, the successor's partner must also be the most outstanding candidate available. Originally, before you appeared, the girl named Wu Feng here was the one we had the highest hopes for."
Wu Feng's parents were also members of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. Both possessed some of the strongest martial souls and combat strength within the sect.
Unless someone awakened a mutated martial soul, Wu Feng would most likely have become Ning Tian's partner.
Unfortunately for her, she ran into Bai Chen—who had awakened innate full soul power.
Although Bai Chen had no backing within the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and lacked any family support, rules were still rules. They couldn't simply be rewritten based on background.
If anyone could casually violate the sect's most important rules, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect would never have survived for so many years.
Thus, it had come to a familiar situation within the sect.
"After discussion, we came to the conclusion that the two of you will have a one-on-one duel. The winner will obtain the position of Tian'er's partner."
As expected.
Bai Chen sighed helplessly in his heart.
In the end, it still came down to fighting.
Fortunately, he truly possessed enough strength. There was absolutely no possibility of him losing this battle.
Against his Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff martial soul, Wu Feng simply wasn't enough.
It was true that martial souls didn't completely determine combat power. Otherwise, the three generations of the Six-Winged Angel lineage in Douluo I wouldn't have been consistently suppressed by the Clear Sky Hammer.
But at the very least, the difference between martial souls couldn't be an entire tier.
Many people tended to underestimate the Clear Sky Hammer, believing that the Six-Winged Angel was vastly stronger. But according to the descriptions in Douluo I, both the Clear Sky Hammer and the Six-Winged Angel were super martial souls.
The widely circulated idea that the Six-Winged Angel was a god-level martial soul actually referred to Qian Renxue's Six-Winged Angel after she became a god.
At that stage, Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor could also be called a god-level martial soul.
Therefore, the difference between the Clear Sky Hammer and the Six-Winged Angel wasn't actually that insurmountable.
But Bai Chen and Wu Feng's situation was completely different.
Wu Feng's Fire Dragon was merely a top-tier martial soul. According to descriptions in Douluo II, its quality was even inferior to the White Tiger, another top-tier martial soul, and far below Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire Phoenix.
On the other hand, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff was unquestionably a super martial soul among super martial souls—something that humans could not normally awaken on their own.
In Douluo II, the White Tiger martial soul was consistently suppressed by the Golden Dragon.
Yet even the Golden Dragon King, which stood above the Golden Dragon in hierarchy, did not demonstrate power as absurd as the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff.
A ten-thousand-year cultivation base possessing strength comparable to a 480,000-year Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear…
Even considering it had the support of a domain, such numbers were still outrageously exaggerated—far beyond what a human should normally possess.
The gap between them was simply too large.
Bai Chen couldn't see any possibility of himself losing.
Still, the process had to be followed.
Coincidentally, Bai Chen's hands had been itching for a fight. He was curious about his current combat strength.
After all, since the martial souls of his three incarnations across the three eras awakened simultaneously, the Bai Chen of Douluo I had been abducted by the Three-Eyed Golden Lion that very night.
The Bai Chen of Douluo III had also been busy with various matters—going to Aolai City to pick up Na'er, researching information online, and studying.
As a result, until now he hadn't had the chance to truly experience his power as a soul master.
This was the perfect opportunity.
"Alright. I understand."
Seeing Bai Chen accept, Ning Jingchen turned to Wu Feng.
"Then let's begin. Prepare for battle. Both of you take this seriously. This fight will determine which of you becomes Tian'er's partner."
After saying this, he took Ning Tian's hand and walked up to the spectator platform.
Bai Chen leapt lightly onto the arena stage.
Across from him, Wu Feng slowly walked up as well.
The two stood facing each other from a distance.
Their gazes collided in midair, sparks seemingly ready to fly.
"Begin!"
With Ning Jingchen's command, the battle that would determine the fate of Bai Chen and Wu Feng officially began.