Chapter 43: Yu Yuanzhen, The Bibi Dong Salesman

To be honest, a genius with innate full soul power and top-tier twin martial souls, even if their cultivation was crippled due to an accident, was still worth 100 million gold soul coins and a few profitable businesses.

At least, that was what Ning Fengzhi believed.

After all, if they had such a genius, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect might be able to establish two powerful soul master families that could serve as their sect's guardians.

As a sect of support-type soul masters, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's biggest weakness was the lack of strong battle soul masters!

But the problem was…

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was also one of the Upper Three Sects.

Even if they weren't as wealthy as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, they still shouldn't be lacking money.

Even if this genius with innate full soul power and top-tier twin martial souls had attributes that conflicted with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's martial soul, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, if he were the sect master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan…

He would rather choose an outer sect disciple, who was not from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon bloodline but had decent talent and unwavering loyalty to the clan, to produce offspring with this genius.

That way, they could strengthen the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

Even if they feared that doing so would weaken the bloodline's dominance over the sect, they could simply keep her hidden away.

But selling her to another sect?

That was outright benefiting the enemy!

Besides, a genius with innate full soul power and top-tier twin martial souls…

If she were born a commoner, Spirit Hall would have definitely taken her in.

If she wasn't, then her family or sect would have surely hidden her away.

How could such a genius just happen to have her cultivation crippled and end up in the hands of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?

Something wasn't right!

Something was seriously wrong!

Ning Fengzhi furrowed his brows as countless thoughts ran through his mind. He felt that there was a huge problem here.

But since there was still a chance that it was just a coincidence, he pretended to be somewhat tempted while maintaining a hint of skepticism as he asked,

"Sect Master Yu, why wouldn't your Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan keep such a genius with innate full soul power and top-tier twin martial souls?"

"And why was her cultivation crippled?"

Yu Yuanzhen had already prepared an explanation. With a look of helplessness, he calmly and shamelessly lied without a trace of guilt.

"Ah! Sect Master Ning, this is a long story."

"This genius with innate full soul power and top-tier twin martial souls is actually an evil soul master. Her name is Ghost Spider."

"Both of her martial souls have evil attributes, which greatly conflict with our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul."

"She ended up in our hands and had her cultivation crippled because, when we first discovered her, she was slaughtering an entire village to increase her cultivation."

"Naturally, as righteous soul masters, our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan couldn't stand by and do nothing. During the battle, we accidentally shattered her dantian, crippling her cultivation."

"I know, Sect Master Ning, you might be wondering why we're selling her to you instead of keeping her."

"Even though her martial souls are incompatible with ours, making it difficult for her to produce strong offspring, or even if she does, the child's martial soul might degrade or mutate…"

"We could still give her to an outer sect disciple who isn't part of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon bloodline."

"But I worry that if two powerful martial soul families rise within the sect, they might become too difficult to control in the future."

"So after careful consideration, I decided it would be best to sell her to you, Sect Master Ning."

Yu Yuanzhen spoke with an air of sincerity, and his explanation was quite convincing.

Yet, for some reason, Ning Fengzhi still felt that something was off.

While Yu Yuanzhen's reasoning made sense to some extent…

The problem was that if this so-called genius was an evil soul master, then there was absolutely no need to treat her with any mercy.

Although the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul and evil-attributed martial souls did have some conflict…

The conflict wasn't that significant.

If they truly didn't care about this female evil soul master's life or death, they could just force her to have children.

Among those children, there would eventually be ones whose martial souls mutated favorably or naturally inherited a mix of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul and the evil soul master's martial soul.

As for the worry that allowing an outer-sect disciple to take her might lead to the rise of two powerful martial soul families that could challenge the clan's authority…

Ning Fengzhi could only think, 'Just arrange more intermarriages! There's no such thing as a gain without some drawbacks!'

No matter how he looked at it, Ning Fengzhi felt like there was a trap.

And he wasn't about to take the risk.

Even though the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was wealthy, 100 million gold soul coins was no small amount.

Money didn't just fall from the sky!

"Sect Master Yu, I appreciate your offer."

Ning Fengzhi hesitated for a moment before finally letting out a long sigh. With a helpless smile, he shook his head and said,

"But buying and selling people is something I simply cannot bring myself to do, even if she is an evil soul master who deserves to be punished."

"After all, as long as someone is born human, they have the right to freedom."

With a compassionate expression, Ning Fengzhi spoke about how he would always buy and release slaves whenever he found them being auctioned at the Heaven Dou Empire's auction houses.

Hearing this, Yu Yuanzhen's face stiffened, but he had no choice but to force a smile in response.

After rejecting the offer, Ning Fengzhi stood up with Bone Douluo and bid farewell to Yu Yuanzhen before leaving the teahouse.

"Father, why did you try to sell Bibi Dong to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"

After making sure that Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo had completely left, Yu Dalong couldn't help but ask.

"Our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has a traitor. Qian Xunji already knows what we did to Bibi Dong."

Yu Yuanzhen's face darkened, looking grim as he clenched his fists.

"Previously, when he summoned me, it was to warn me and tell me to release Bibi Dong."

"After all, no matter what, Bibi Dong was once Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden."

"But if we just let her go like that, our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan would suffer a huge loss!"

"So, I thought about selling her to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect instead."

"But I didn't expect that even after making up such a well-crafted excuse, Ning Fengzhi still didn't fall for it!"

Yu Yuanzhen was furious.

In his mind, as an old fox, he should have been able to outsmart Ning Fengzhi, who was still a younger fox.

But clearly, he was overestimating himself!

While Ning Fengzhi was indeed younger than him, when it came to intelligence and cunning, he was far superior to Yu Yuanzhen.

To put things into perspective, before Ning Fengzhi's rise, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect wasn't even considered one of the Upper Three Sects.

It was solely because of Ning Fengzhi's strategic recruitment of Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo that the sect managed to rise in power.

As those two eventually broke through to become Title Douluo, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect successfully became one of the Upper Three Sects.

Within his sect, Ning Fengzhi's authority was absolute—his word was law.

But what about Yu Yuanzhen?

As the sect master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he had managed to let his own son become ostracized and discriminated against within both the clan and the sect.

Wasn't that just slapping himself in the face?

Yet, he still had no way of resolving the issue.

Under Yu Yuanzhen's leadership, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan hadn't been able to regain its former glory. In fact, it was gradually declining.

In the original story, among the Upper Three Sects, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had the lowest presence.

Their most significant contribution to the plot was becoming Spirit Hall's biggest kill count in Bibi Dong's extermination campaign.

When it came to ruthlessness, Yu Yuanzhen might have been competent.

But when it came to intelligence and strategy, he was severely lacking!

Failing to sell Bibi Dong to Ning Fengzhi left Yu Yuanzhen feeling unsatisfied.

He suddenly thought of the Clear Sky Sect.

Compared to the cunning and sly Ning Fengzhi, the three young masters of the Clear Sky Sect were still naive and inexperienced, having never ventured out for training.

They would definitely be easier to fool!

He had to see if he could sell Bibi Dong to the Clear Sky Sect!

With that thought, Yu Yuanzhen immediately stood up and took Yu Dalong with him to find Tang Xiao, Tang Hao, and Tang Yuehua.

By sheer coincidence, Tang Xiao had taken Tang Yuehua out for a stroll.

Only Tang Hao remained in the hotel room.

After asking the front desk for the room number of the Clear Sky Sect trio, Yu Yuanzhen quickly found Tang Hao's room and knocked on the door.

He was ready to pitch Bibi Dong as a deal.

A female soul master with innate full soul power and top-tier twin martial souls, just over twenty years old, guaranteed to be a true virgin.

Now, how could he not be tempted?

…

Author's Note (From the fanfic author, not I, the translator):

Some readers have pointed out that there were no evil soul masters in the first Douluo Dalu novel.

However, I believe that the concept of evil soul masters—those who cultivate by devouring soul power, soul rings, spiritual energy, flesh, souls, martial souls, etc.—shouldn't have only appeared in Douluo Dalu 2.

They must have existed ever since martial souls and soul masters first emerged.

After all, in a world like this, there would always be people looking for shortcuts or extreme ways to grow stronger.

These people can all be classified as evil soul masters.

The difference is that Douluo Dalu 2 had a stricter definition—if a martial soul even had the potential for such cultivation, it was automatically classified as evil.

However, I believe it should depend on actions.

In Douluo Dalu 1, Bone Douluo, Bibi Dong, and Ma Hongjun all had martial souls with the potential to become evil soul masters, yet none of them actually turned into one.

Then there's the distinction between evil soul masters and fallen soul masters.

This novel is a fanfiction, so I've adjusted the setting a little.

For example, there's a clear difference between fallen soul masters and evil soul masters.

A fallen soul master is someone who commits crimes—such as murder—without repenting. They are considered minor offenders.

An evil soul master, on the other hand, cultivates by killing people. Their crimes are far more severe.

Additionally, I've refined the history between Spirit Hall and the two great empires, as well as explained the origins of the ruins where storage-type soul tools were discovered.

Originally, I wrote a chapter detailing these settings, but it ended up feeling like filler, so I deleted it.

However, I will gradually introduce these elements over time.

If there are any mistakes, feel free to point them out.

But keep in mind that some of these are my own settings as the author.

Since I noticed there were questions, I wanted to clarify them here.