Chapter 10: Diamond Mantis

Hunting Soul Forest.

An elderly and a young figure walked through the dense forest. It looked like a grandfather taking his grandson on a stroll, creating a harmonious and loving atmosphere.

"Chang'an, you've been studying at the academy for over half a year now. What are your thoughts on your second soul ring?" Meng Shenji, walking ahead, waved his hand as his soul power surged, clearing a path by pushing aside vines and thorns. He turned to smile at the young boy behind him.

"Grandfather Meng, although my martial soul carries poison and has some beast soul traits, it is primarily a weapon martial soul," Li Chang'an replied. "So I think it would be better to enhance the sword's attributes. Please find me a soul ring that can improve sharpness and armor-piercing traits. The poison aspect is not important."

During his time at the academy, Li Chang'an had frequently sought advice from the three committee members, learning from them. He had already told them about his martial soul's dual forms. Initially, he planned to keep it a secret, but after reading many materials at the academy library, he realized that having a martial soul with two forms was not as rare as he thought. Apart from the Snake Spear Douluo in the original work, there were several soul masters in the records of the Heaven Dou Empire with similar traits.

Thus, his martial soul, having both beast and weapon forms, was not so special, and there was no point in hiding it. His biggest advantage was the soul beast clone that could share power, and that secret had to be kept. Everything else was fine to reveal.

Regarding the development of his martial soul, Li Chang'an thought it would be best to focus on enhancing the sword's attributes. Instead of dividing his focus between the weapon and beast traits, it was better to specialize in one. Trying to balance both would only lead to mediocrity in the end.

The snake form of his martial soul mainly focused on poison, which could be enhanced through feedback from the soul beast clone. The sword's traits, however, could not be enhanced that way. Therefore, he decided to focus on the sword's sharpness and armor-piercing abilities. He would work to fully utilize the advantages of the sword.

"In martial arts, the fastest is invincible!" If the sword's speed and sharpness were great enough, no enemy would be able to withstand a single strike.

Abandoning other unnecessary abilities and specializing in one would unleash extraordinary power. Moreover, his snake form could be used to handle situations where he was specifically targeted.

After hearing Li Chang'an's request, Dream Shenji stroked his long beard and nodded, agreeing with his choice. He considered it to be the right one. Now, they just had to find a suitable soul beast.

As a place where soul beasts were artificially bred and kept, the forest was well-documented, though this information was generally not made public. Only high-ranking officials like Dream Shenji, or those with connections, had access to maps detailing the locations of soul beasts.

He took out a map, compared it carefully, and quickly confirmed the direction. Leading Li Chang'an, they proceeded swiftly toward the recorded location.

After some time, a soul beast appeared before them.

It appeared to be a praying mantis, with a golden body that looked as though it were forged from iron. Its exoskeleton reflected dazzling light in the sunlight!

"Chang'an, do you know this soul beast?" Dream Shenji turned and asked with a smile.

"I've studied it at the academy," Li Chang'an nodded, recalling the information in his mind. "It's a Diamond Mantis. Its soul rings and abilities are generally focused on enhancing sharpness and cutting power, making it ideal for sword or blade-type martial souls."

"Mm, you're right," Dream Shenji nodded with a smile. "This area is the habitat of the Diamond Mantis. The one before us is about 100 years old, which is too young. Let's keep going and find one that's a better fit."

Li Chang'an had no objections and obediently followed behind him.

Regarding the soul rings, there was no requirement that a weapon martial soul must be paired with plant-type soul beasts. The key was that the soul beast's traits had to match the martial soul's attributes.

What are traits? For example, the Diamond Mantis, with its golden iron exoskeleton and sharp forelimbs, clearly leaned towards metal traits, making it perfect for blade or sword-type martial souls.

In the original work, Tang San's martial soul, Blue Silver Grass, had the advantage of vitality, which should have developed in an auxiliary healing or plant enhancement direction. If he absorbed powerful plant-based soul rings, it would greatly enhance the origin of his Blue Silver Grass and might even trigger the awakening of the Blue Silver Emperor's bloodline.

Instead, his first soul ring was a Mandala Snake, which gave him a useless binding soul skill and a bit of poison. This only polluted the plant martial soul with animal traits, preventing its true potential from being realized.

If it weren't for the help of the Blue Silver King and many Blue Silver Grass, Tang San's martial soul would have been ruined.

As mentioned earlier, the essence of being a soul master is to "plunder" the abilities of soul beasts through their soul rings to improve one's martial soul. The closer a soul beast's traits are to the martial soul, the greater the benefit upon fusion.

The evolution of the martial soul depends on this principle.

Yet, Tang San went against this natural progression, which only highlights how misguided some of the teachings in the original work were. It's no surprise that Yu Xiaogang, with his poor theories and guidance, was criticized.

Li Chang'an didn't dwell on these thoughts. After all, this world was different from the original, and he was more focused on his own path.

"Looks like this Diamond Mantis is just right. Let's go with this one," Dream Shenji pointed to a two-meter-tall Diamond Mantis not far away.

With that, Meng Shenji's body suddenly became ethereal. His form turned into a shadow, black mist rising from his feet. Eight soul rings appeared around him—two yellow, three purple, and three black.

When Li Chang'an saw Meng Shenji's soul ring configuration, he immediately understood why Meng Shenji had remained a Soul Douluo at his age. His fifth soul ring was only a thousand-year soul ring, not a ten-thousand-year one, which meant his foundation was slightly weaker compared to other geniuses, and he had missed the chance to reach the titled Douluo level.

From Mwng Shenji, Li Chang'an realized just how crucial soul rings were for a soul master's growth. A single soul ring difference had sealed Meng Shenji's future possibilities.

As for why Meng Shenji didn't absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring for his fifth, Li Chang'an didn't know but suspected it was due to some reason. After all, absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring was no easy task and carried certain risks, even for a Soul King.

This explained just how outrageous it was that Tang San absorbed a ten-thousand-year soul ring at the fourth ring, something that was almost unheard of among the locals.