Chapter Twelve: The Chosen One

Among the six warriors from the Radiant Seven Stars who went into battle, Long Chen’s talent and strength were unquestionably first. However, his martial soul was the Radiant Holy Dragon. If this martial soul had existed ten thousand years ago, Xu Zhao would surely have recruited him under his banner. But in the current Douluo Federation, where any beast-type martial soul is suppressed by the Dragon God’s bloodline in this Dragon King Era, dragon-type martial souls are nothing but clowns before Tang Wulin and Guyue. Even the Mountain Dragon King soul of Long Yue is merely a mediocre fighter when compared to the Dragon God bloodline.

After Long Chen was single-handedly defeated by Tang Wulin, Xueliu Shuang took over as acting captain, proving that her talent and strength ranked second among the Radiant Seven Stars. Weng Daimin, who shared the martial soul fusion skill with Xueliu Shuang, held the rank of a three-ring Soul Master in that battle. His exact talent was unclear but was estimated to rank fourth to sixth among the Radiant Seven Stars.

Jian Mochen was the third among the six, aside from Long Chen and Xueliu Shuang, to achieve the level of a four-ring Soul Lord. His martial soul was the Heavenly Tiger Shield, a top-tier martial soul combining offense and defense. Although an excellent martial soul, it was both his strength and his weakness. The Heavenly Tiger Shield could only absorb tiger-type soul spirits, meaning in the era of soul beasts it could only absorb tiger-type soul beast rings. This indicated the shield possessed some tiger-like beast martial soul qualities and was thus suppressed by the Dragon God bloodline.

Jian Mochen had one advantage: he shared a martial soul fusion skill called Tiger Summon with another three-ring Soul Master, Kuang Zhan Tian. However... this grand fusion skill was effortlessly countered by Guyue’s triple blue fireball attack. If the Ice Snow Goddess was defeated by the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King’s Divine Dragon form and thus eliminated, it was understandable. But the Tiger Summon being melted by a triple-charged fireball from a three-ring Kuang Zhan Tian—one that fused water, fire, and wind elements—was humiliating. This caused Jian Mochen’s standing in Xu Zhao’s eyes to drop from positive to negative.

Among the six Radiant Seven Stars who fought, one remained: You Dingqi, whose martial soul was the Meteor Hammer, ranking as a three-ring Soul Master. Compared to the others, his martial soul, talent, and strength were all average. He neither possessed Long Chen’s overwhelming personal power nor had a partner capable of performing martial soul fusion skills. For this reason, Xu Zhao never included him in his plans. Quality over quantity.

Xu Zhao’s talent cultivation program, which began grooming geniuses from childhood, had very stringent selection criteria. First, all beast martial souls were excluded, and soul masters of the food category were not on the list. Secondly, super martial souls that were not beast-types could be selected—such as Xu Yucheng, who awakened the Dark Demon Scythe. Then, there were conventional top-tier martial souls possessing powerful fusion skills, like Xueliu Shuang and Weng Daimin. Both Fen Guangjian and Xue Ying had top-tier martial souls, though in the lower ranks of that tier, but their fusion skill Ice Snow Goddess perfectly compensated for this slight shortcoming. Lastly, there were powerful martial souls with special abilities, such as Xu Xiaoyan’s Star Staff after its ascension. However, Xu Xiaoyan’s timid personality and lack of a strong will posed a serious problem. In the novel, Lezheng Yu changed that through the power of love, but Xu Zhao himself could hardly sacrifice his own charm for a Star Staff martial soul!

The talent cultivation program’s selection conditions were so harsh that, so far, only Xu Yucheng, Xueliu Shuang, and Weng Daimin had been selected—four including Xu Zhao himself. Because it was a cultivation plan, it required peers of similar caliber. Among the named peers, no one else impressed Xu Zhao enough to be considered. Outside his generation, however, there was Aru Heng, the inheritor of the main sect, and Sima Jinchi, the soul of the Dragon Slayer Blade. But Sima Jinchi’s submission was of a different nature. The Dragon Clan’s lawful blade, the Dragon Slayer Blade, as its name suggests, was meant for slaying dragons. Such a formidable weapon was perfectly suited to counterbalance the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King, provided its soul intelligence was erased and it was brought completely under control.

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On the second floor of the attic, after Xueliu Shuang recovered from hearing that Ye Xinglan’s martial soul was the Star God Sword, her gaze shifted first to Xu Zhao’s sun-and-moon dual pupils before turning to Xu Yucheng.

“Sorry if this sounds presumptuous,” she began, “but I want to ask how you managed to fully control the Dark Demon Scythe. Of course, if it involves family secrets and you can’t say, just consider my question unasked.”

“It’s not exactly a family secret,” Xu Yucheng shook his head and said, “but if you want to know, you have to defeat me first.”

“I can’t defeat you alone,” Xueliu Shuang admitted straightforwardly, “everyone knows that the one-ring Soul Master stage is when the Dark Demon Scythe is at its strongest. Although overcoming the martial soul backlash hasn’t made you stronger, it hasn’t weakened you either. I’m certain I can’t do it alone, but if Daimin joins me, then I have absolute confidence we can beat you.”

“Do you dare to accept the challenge?” Xu Yucheng asked.

“One against two? No way,” she said frankly. “Two against two sounds more reasonable. How about you and your boss versus the two of us?”

“Boss?”

Xueliu Shuang caught the keyword again, instinctively looking at Xu Zhao beside him. She didn’t know much about Xu Yucheng’s character, but someone revered as a boss by a genius with a super martial soul must be at least as strong as him.

Xu Zhao’s martial soul, the sun-and-moon dual pupils derived from the solar and lunar mutations, indeed had the potential to rival the Dark Demon Scythe.

Sun-and-moon dual pupils and Dark Demon Scythe facing two super martial souls fused together—it was no easy task. After all, the fusion skills’ power increased significantly in later stages. Currently, everyone was a one-ring Soul Master, so their base strength was low, and the power of fusion skills wouldn’t be much greater. Still, it was difficult, not impossible.

So...

“No problem, I accept,” Xueliu Shuang said after consideration, agreeing to the two-on-two match.

“Good,” Xu Zhao said, waving his hand to signal the others to follow. “This banquet venue isn’t a good place for a fight.”

“Follow me.”

Xueliu Shuang’s move suited Xu Zhao’s intentions perfectly. The simplest and most effective way to subdue a child was to defeat them in combat. Simple, direct, effective—and children especially responded to this approach. The prerequisite was that the attacker had to be of the same age group to achieve the desired effect.

The four left the attic and boarded a ship docked on an outer island. Once aboard, Xu Zhao quietly instructed the helmsman, “Take us to any island—neither too close nor too far from here.”

“As you command, young master,” the helmsman replied simply. Opening the map on his device, he selected an island, and the ship set course along the marked route toward their destination.