"Go and get the second martial soul right now? Although Big Brother would love to take you to get it right now, you already have your third soul ring, so you don't have any current need for a soul ring slot. There is no way I can make her become your soul ring right now."
"So I can only obtain it when I have an empty soul ring slot? I understand."
Recalling Huo Yuhao's plot from the original story, Tianmeng had asked Huo Yuhao to go find the Ice Empress specifically when he was lacking a second soul ring.
Judging by Tianmeng's affection for the Ice Empress, having an available soul ring slot seemed to be a strict requirement. However, the next soul ring would be needed at level 40, whereas Xiao Qiang had only just broken through to level 30 a little over half a year ago.
Considering the Snow Emperor had only stated that she chose to undergo human transformation after failing to find the Ice Empress in the Far North, the worst-case scenario was that right after Huo Yuhao took the Ice Empress away in the original story, the Snow Emperor started preparing for her transformation upon finding the Ice Empress missing.
In the original work, it took Huo Yuhao about a year to reach level 20 and travel to the Far North. Factoring in the time needed to merge with the Ice Empress and subsequently persuade the Snow Emperor, it meant Xiao Qiang had to break through to level 40 in less than a year and rush to the Far North.
Reaching level 40 in under a year without the aid of immortal herbs could be described as a heavy task with very tight time constraints. Fortunately, this would practically be the last time Xiao Qiang had to risk his life cultivating.
As long as he obtained the Ice Empress as his second martial soul and had the Snow Emperor as his bodyguard, paired with the Myriad-Year Xuanbing Marrow hidden beneath the Earth Dragon Gate that Xiao Qiang knew about, plus the Yin-Yang Dual Well—that mandarin duck hot pot.
Even if Xiao Qiang just coasted along, he should easily be able to coast his way to an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo before the age of twenty, and around age thirty, he could probably make a push for Limit Douluo, or even already be one.
Although this estimate was slightly slower than Huo Yuhao, Huo Yuhao had the bonuses of a whole pile of cheat-like modifiers and all sorts of advantages as the Child of Destiny. Compared to that king of cheaters, the cheats available to Xiao Qiang were indeed far fewer.
Even so, that was more than enough. Setting aside the fact that he could challenge the realm of Limit Douluo before thirty or even become one, simply reaching Titled Douluo by age thirty already made him a top-tier genius.
After all, this era only went up to Douluo II. Although the prestige of a Titled Douluo was not quite as high as in Douluo I, it still held substantial weight.
In Douluo II, as long as you could cultivate to a Titled Douluo—even the weakest Titled Douluo—an emperor would still give you face and might even call you brother.
That Titled Douluo whom Princess Xu Jiujiu of the Star Luo Empire addressed as Granny Mianyi was herself only an ordinary Titled Douluo, rather than a Super Douluo who had reached level 95.
With Tianmeng around, Xiao Qiang didn't need to worry much about innate talent or soul rings. What he needed to worry about the most right now was whether he could safely grow up.
As a top-tier genius of the Sun Moon Empire, the only thing he needed to avoid in order to grow up safely was that Dragon God Douluo Mu En, who already had one foot in the grave.
"Alright, I've also modified your other two soul rings. Now all three of your soul rings are at the two-thousand-year level," Tianmeng said while Xiao Qiang was deep in thought.
"By the way, since your second soul ring ability is Simulation, just disguise your soul rings as the normal two yellows and one purple to save people from capturing you and interrogating you about your soul rings. I'm going to sleep first; don't call me unless something happens."
With that, Tianmeng lay down inside Xiao Qiang's Spiritual Sea, displaying an enviable quality of sleep.
As Tianmeng fell into slumber, Xiao Qiang slowly opened his eyes. As his eyes transformed into the double-tomoe Sharingan, two purple millennium soul rings and one white-gold soul ring orbited his body—those were precisely the two soul rings modified by the Tianmeng Ice Worm alongside Tianmeng's own soul ring.
Then, under Xiao Qiang's control, two of the three soul rings shifted to yellow, while Tianmeng's soul ring turned purple, displaying the so-called optimal soul ring configuration of two yellows and one purple.
As for why it was a so-called configuration...
As a former reader of Douluo Continent, Grandmaster's theories were famously unreliable.
Retrieving the flying knives that had previously fallen to the ground, although he had only secured the baseline reward, Xiao Qiang was quite satisfied with it. Anyway, forcibly snatching Eleos from Huo Yuhao wasn't going to work; having already harvested a bountiful reward, Xiao Qiang intended to leave.
At that moment, however, a sharp, angry shout suddenly rang out, stopping Xiao Qiang in his tracks.
"Stop right there! Who gave you permission to leave? Little Yuhao was almost blown to death by you!" Xiao Qiang turned toward the source of the voice, where Huo Yuhao, Tang Ya, and Beibei stood, and the one pointing the finger of blame at him was none other than Tang Ya.
Xiao Qiang ignored Tang Ya's reprimand and looked at Huo Yuhao. "It looks like you're fine. That's good; I was worried earlier that the flight tool I gave you might overload and explode."
"Hey! Don't make it sound so trivial! If Beibei and I hadn't been quick-eyed and fast-handed, little Yuhao almost would have been blown to pieces by your soul tool!" Tang Ya said angrily.
To this, Xiao Qiang wore an innocent expression. "Are you saying that soul tool exploded?"
"Duh! Do you have any idea what kind of thing you gave little Yuhao! It actually exploded!"
"I know. But that thing was meant as a last-ditch life-saving measure I prepared from the start. All the previously stored Soul Power would be released in a very short time, and the probability of that thing exploding wasn't low at all."
"And you still dared to let little Yuhao use it! Beibei, don't hold me back! I'm going to teach him a serious lesson today!"
Tang Ya released her martial soul, preparing to fight Xiao Qiang, while Xiao Qiang maintained his innocent look.
"Is there a problem? I also said that thing was meant for preserving one's life at the very last moment. If you don't use it, you're dead for sure; if you do use it, you might survive."
"Facing a soul beast whose age is at least 1,500 years or more, and with only two soul rings to my name, Huo Yuhao would have been dead for sure if he stayed here. That soul tool of mine at least guaranteed he wouldn't die at that moment, and after that..."
Xiao Qiang looked at Huo Yuhao, then glanced at Beibei and Tang Ya. "Judging by the current outcome, it turned out well."
"You!"
Tang Ya said angrily, but Beibei held her back.
"Alright, Teacher Xiaoya, Brother Li Feiyu is right. If it really was a soul beast over 1,500 years old, little Yuhao leaving was indeed the best choice."
"But I'm just so mad!"
Beibei smiled helplessly, then raised a hand to comfort Tang Ya.
Not far from Beibei and Tang Ya, an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo was observing Beibei's situation from a distance.
Just as Xiao Qiang had anticipated, as the great-grandson of the Sea God's Pavilion Master, even though Beibei was only helping Tang Ya hunt for her third soul ring, a Soul Douluo bodyguard had been watching over Beibei from the shadows all along. At this moment, however, his gaze was drawn to Xiao Qiang.
"At this age, a Three-Ring Soul Elder with the optimal soul ring configuration, yet he isn't studying at our Shrek Academy, and the corpse of the soul beast is missing as well..."
The Soul Douluo protecting Beibei in secret pondered for a moment, then dialed a soul communication device.
"Father, you're looking for me?"
"Yang Peng, I recall that your mission for the Shrek Enforcement Corps isn't finished yet."