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Just as Zang Xin arrived, several figures rose into the air and blocked his path.
Zang Xin smiled faintly. "Everyone, long time no see."
"Long time no see, Passionate Douluo."
The purple-robed man at the front glanced at Bai Chen standing behind Zang Xin and asked indifferently, "Is he the candidate you've chosen this time?"
"Yes. He may very well be the greatest genius Tang Sect has seen in ten thousand years."
"Oh?"
Hearing Zang Xin's assessment, the purple-robed man let out a soft exclamation of surprise. He then truly looked at Bai Chen for the first time. Bai Chen felt a gentle surge of power wash over him, enveloping him in a warm and comfortable sensation.
After a moment, the purple-robed man nodded thoughtfully. "I see. With that, he certainly lives up to the praise. Seven years old, rank twenty-nine, a physical strength at the Soul King level, and spirit power at the Nether Sea realm — he is a truly all-around, flawless genius."
In the purple-robed man's eyes, what was truly frightening about Bai Chen was his age. How had this child reached such a level at only seven? According to the records, he had only awakened his martial soul a year ago. Could it be that he had awakened his martial soul earlier than most people by several years?
He had personally witnessed how Tang Sect had developed over ten thousand years and had met countless human heroes. It was not impossible to find someone at rank twenty-nine with equal spirit power and physical strength — but someone who possessed this level of soul power rank at the age of seven? Absolutely no one.
What the purple-robed man didn't know was that what he could detect was only Bai Chen's hard stats. What he couldn't detect was the part that made Bai Chen truly terrifying: after his tempering journey ascending the Spirit Platform during the outbreak period, Bai Chen's total number of soul skills had already reached an astonishing forty — his extraordinarily diverse combat techniques were his most fearsome quality.
"Alright, formalities must still be followed. Hand over the Tang Sect Ice-Fire Token."
"Sure."
Bai Chen retrieved the Tang Sect Ice-Fire Token from his storage soul tool and handed it to the purple-robed man. The man took the token, did something unknown, and a faint purple mist enveloped the token, covering its original red and blue colors. He then tossed the Ice-Fire Token directly to Zang Xin and said, "Go pick your herbs below. By the rules, you may take at most two plants."
"Huh?"
Bai Chen was stunned and couldn't help but freeze.
Seeing his reaction, Zang Xin smiled with some amusement. "I never said I'd only give you one herb. Alright, go choose quickly."
After a year together, Zang Xin had come to understand this child, Bai Chen, extremely well.
What he valued most was not Bai Chen's talent, but this child's character. No matter how strong one's talent, if there was a flaw in one's nature, it could easily lead to ruin — the Dark Phoenix of Spirit Hall was a cautionary example. As the wielder of the Dark Demon Tiger martial soul, the scrutiny applied to Bai Chen in this regard would be even stricter than that applied to the Dark Phoenix.
Yet after a year of observation, Zang Xin gave Bai Chen a perfect score in character. This child's inner maturity was nothing like a seven-year-old's — one could tell from how he interacted with Yuan En Yeehui that his emotional maturity far surpassed his peers.
More importantly, the hallmark traits of evil martial soul masters — impulsiveness, hot temper, a murderous streak — were almost entirely absent in Bai Chen. This, in Zang Xin's view, was the most astonishing thing of all.
It was well-known that evil martial souls tended to influence their masters. The Dark Phoenix had been so extreme in personality precisely because of her martial soul's attributes. Yet Bai Chen seemed completely unaffected — it was almost unbelievable.
Until one day, Zang Xin finally couldn't resist asking Bai Chen about it, and learned the truth: Bai Chen was not unaffected by the Dark Demon Tiger — if anything, the martial soul's influence on him was enormous. When he had first hunted his first and second soul rings, he had felt the evil attributes of those soul rings stir the dark nature within him, nearly unable to suppress his urge to kill.
But Bai Chen's willpower was strong enough to tame that dark force. He clearly understood that the power of evil was merely a tool for battle — not his master. He was the "king" of this body; the Dark Demon Tiger was merely his mount for combat. How could a king be defeated by his mount?
This was also the reason Bai Chen's spirit power was so exceptionally high. Ordinary Grand Soul Masters could not attain the Nether Sea realm of spirit power — precisely because Bai Chen had constantly been using his willpower to resist the destructive impulses of the evil attributes, his spirit power had far surpassed ordinary people's. In other words, Bai Chen had always been training his spirit power; it was just that the process was invisible to others.
After learning the truth of why Bai Chen was unaffected, Zang Xin finally gave him his complete inner approval. At the subsequent internal Tang Sect meeting, it was he who argued against the majority and decided to allocate Tang Sect's once-in-a-century quota of two immortal herbs entirely to Bai Chen.
In his view, Bai Chen's talent even surpassed Yun Xiao, the continent's greatest powerhouse, and could potentially rival the two god-ascended predecessors of Tang Sect. To nurture him fully might just give a continent on the brink of extinction — with life force depleting — a last ray of hope.
Watching Bai Chen descend to the ground, Zang Xin smiled at the purple-robed man and asked, "Brother Luo, what immortal herb do you think would suit my disciple best?"
This purple-robed man was none other than Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang, the current king of all immortal herbs in the Two-Sense Ice-Fire Eyes. He had once been lovers with the fragrant Qi Luo immortal, and the two had later merged into one, with his power greatly enhanced. At this moment, Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang seemed to be pondering something, and only after hearing Zang Xin's question did he slowly reply: "For him, probably a strength-type or dark-type — I can sense dense dark elemental energy from him."
Zang Xin raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking about? Why so distracted?"
"I was thinking… whether or not I should become your disciple's soul."
"What?"
Hearing this, not only was Zang Xin startled — all the immortal herbs around him were equally shocked and dismayed. A woman in red cried out urgently: "Xiang Xiang, are you out of your mind?! Why would you do this?!"
Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang let out a helpless sigh. "If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to either. But you know my situation, Jiao Jiao — my time limit is approaching fast. With my current strength, it's impossible to survive the heavenly tribulation that comes in two hundred thousand years."
"This…"
At those words, Lie Huo Xing Jiao was struck speechless. Indeed, plant-type soul beasts were generally weaker than animal-type ones, and Qi Luo Yu Jin Xiang was not a particularly battle-strong existence among them.