Chapter Nine: Xu Tianran? Nothing More Than a Rootless Eunuch!

Xu Zhao could tell that the tone in Xu Yucheng’s introduction of his soul spirit carried a hint of pride.

To be fair, if it weren’t for Xiaoyue being a mutated silver wolf, he might have been overshadowed by the demonic flower mantis.

But precisely because Xiaoyue was a mutated silver wolf, Xu Zhao still won in the soul spirit comparison.

Xu Yucheng had lost both the soul master duel and the soul spirit comparison.

No matter how mature he was, he was still a genuine six-year-old child at heart.

Feeling childish, Xu Yucheng proposed again, “Let’s take a break and then have another match, shall we?”

“I’m happy to accompany you,” Xu Zhao replied promptly.

Since he intended to subdue his opponent, he naturally wanted to win convincingly, so the other would be thoroughly convinced.

So, half an hour later,

Xu Yucheng, having lost the match once more, looked somewhat dejected, deeply affected by the defeat.

He couldn’t imagine that during the peak period of his Dark Demon Scythe soul weapon, he still couldn’t defeat Xu Zhao.

Therefore, as their soul power levels continued to rise, the gap between them would only widen.

“Don’t be discouraged,” Xu Zhao sat beside Xu Yucheng and comforted him, “My soul rings are older than yours, and my soul spirit is stronger, so it’s no shame for you to lose to me.”

Upon hearing this, Xu Yucheng’s mood grew even gloomier.

As the bearer of the Dark Demon Scythe soul weapon, the age of his soul rings was his greatest pain.

Xu Zhao understood the depth of this pain and had seen through it.

His previous words were merely to lead into the next statement:

“So, do you want to solve the backlash of the Dark Demon Scythe on your body from its root?”

“You have a way?” Xu Yucheng, sitting on the ground, suddenly raised his head, a glimmer of hope shining in his gray eyes.

“Of course.” Xu Zhao placed his hand on Xu Yucheng’s shoulder, channeling the power of his mental soul into him.

“Now, calm your mind and try to resonate deeply with your soul weapon, the Dark Demon Scythe.”

Having lost twice to Xu Zhao and feeling the influence of the mental soul’s power, Xu Yucheng blindly trusted Xu Zhao’s words and obediently closed his eyes, beginning to resonate with his soul weapon.

The fundamental reason the Dark Demon Scythe would cause backlash to the soul master’s body was that the weapon itself was too powerful for the soul master to fully control, resulting in self-inflicted harm.

It was similar to why the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear and the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger never appeared as soul weapons for soul masters.

Their power was simply too great for any soul master to wield.

The clearest example was Long Yue, who possessed the Mountain Dragon King soul weapon.

The overwhelming power of the Mountain Dragon King soul weapon forced Long Yue to control his temper strictly; any loss of control would cause him to be lost within the weapon’s power and lose himself.

The Dark Demon Scythe was exceptional because it was an artifact soul weapon, an external one, unlike beast soul weapons which were internal soul weapons requiring soul possession, allowing them to be passed down normally among soul masters.

Xu Zhao’s solution was to use the power of the mental soul to help Xu Yucheng establish a deeper connection with the Dark Demon Scythe, enabling him to fully master the weapon and thus solve the backlash issue at its source.

Forming a deeper bond between soul master and soul weapon was essentially the cultivation process for ranked Douluo above level ninety-five.

Only by gaining profound understanding of one’s soul weapon could one break through the cultivation bottleneck of soul power.

In other words, the mental soul had the power to help ranked Douluo break through to higher realms.

Of course, the chance of success was never guaranteed.

Because the mental soul only helped build a bridge, serving as a guide to make breakthroughs easier, not certain.

Whether one succeeded depended on the soul master’s talent and fate.

Xu Yucheng’s awakening of the Dark Demon Scythe proved his innate talent was already exceptional.

With the help of the mental soul, his chances of fully mastering the weapon were not certain but at least seventy to eighty percent.

Even if he failed once, he could try repeatedly until he succeeded.

In fact,

Xu Yucheng’s attempt to fully master the Dark Demon Scythe was smooth and succeeded on the first try.

At the moment of mastery, he felt a long-lost sense of ease.

Before awakening his soul weapon, this feeling had been commonplace.

But after awakening, it had vanished completely.

Thus, he deeply realized how precious it was to have a body free from harm.

Xu Zhao shared this sentiment deeply.

In his previous life, only when his body was wracked with illness did he appreciate the goodness of pain-free health.

“No need for thanks,” Xu Yucheng said sincerely to Xu Zhao, “From now on, you are my leader. I, Xu Yucheng, am at your command.”

As he spoke, his appearance underwent a dramatic transformation.

His gray hair gradually turned black, and the color of his gray eyes deepened until they became clear black again.

His pale cheeks regained a flush, freed from the backlash’s effects.

“Hmm,” Xu Zhao nodded in agreement. “You know, I actually have a request for you.”

“What request?”

“You’re not allowed to go to Shrek Academy!”

“Ah? Why not?” Xu Yucheng was greatly puzzled.

“I was just going to ask you the same,” Xu Zhao replied with a question of his own.

“Don’t you know about the feud between the Xu family and Shrek?”

“I know, but—” Xu Yucheng explained the reason, “Our ancestor, the last emperor of the Sun and Moon Empire, greatly admired Shrek Academy.”

“The historical records say he once declared that after unifying the empire, he would wear the Shrek Academy uniform and enter the school to make up for not having studied there.”

“I’m curious about what makes Shrek Academy so special that our ancestor would remember it so deeply, so I thought about going there someday to see for myself.”

“I see.” Xu Zhao nodded thoughtfully, then asked, “The emperor you mentioned, could it be Xu Tianran?”

“That’s him,” Xu Yucheng confirmed.

Xu Zhao fell silent for a moment before scoffing, “Ancestor? Xu Tianran is hardly an ancestor of the Xu family.”

“He was just a rootless eunuch with no heirs—how could he be considered an ancestor of our family?”

“So remember, the current Xu family is not descended from Xu Tianran the eunuch. His ridiculous ideas should be taken as nothing more than jokes.”

“Eunuch!” Xu Yucheng was shocked.

“But how come the history books don’t mention this…”

“Well, that’s understandable. Such a disgraceful secret would never be recorded in official history.”

He was so shocked that he overlooked a blind spot:

If the history books didn’t record it, how did Xu Zhao know Xu Tianran was a eunuch?