"Child, would you like to join the Spirit Hall?"
Su Yuntao led Chen Ming to a quiet corner of the room and asked the question with genuine sincerity.
"Spirit Master, I—"
"I'm only a bit older than you. Just call me Brother Su," Su Yuntao interrupted with a smile.
In truth, there was more than a twenty-year gap between them—by the standards of this era, Su Yuntao was practically of the same generation as Chen Ming's unseen parents. Still, he deliberately chose a more casual form of address, hoping to close the distance between them.
"Brother Su… could you first explain my Martial Soul to me? What do you mean by 'the weight of the earth'? And what exactly is an Armored Earth Dragon?"
"That's fair." Su Yuntao nodded and began his explanation. As an awakening master of the Spirit Hall, he had memorized a vast number of spirit beast and Martial Soul records. Aside from a few obscure cases, he was familiar with most common types.
"The Armored Earth Dragon is a high-level spirit beast, said to carry the bloodline of an earth dragon. It possesses immense physical strength, extraordinary defense, and an affinity with the earth element. These creatures are known to consume various metals, breaking them down and integrating them into their bodies. The older they grow, the stronger their defenses become."
"Because they tend to dwell deep within mineral veins and rarely venture out, they aren't particularly aggressive. Combined with their incredible durability, they're often referred to as embodying 'the weight of the earth.'"
"There's also a lineage within the Spirit Hall known as the White Armored Earth Dragon. That Martial Soul is considered a superior evolution of yours—a true top-tier draconic variant. One of their line even rose to become a Titled Douluo elder within the Spirit Hall."
"This is my first time seeing an Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul in person," Su Yuntao added, lightly tapping the "armor" covering Chen Ming's body. His fingernail struck the scales with a crisp, metallic sound. "Yours differs somewhat from what I know, but it should be more or less the same in essence."
Privately, Su Yuntao estimated that without using Spirit Abilities, even his claw attacks would struggle to break through this layer of armor. Unless he struck a vital point directly, he might not be able to pierce it at all.
The Lone Wolf Martial Soul he possessed was considered decent among lower-tier types—but compared to something with true dragon blood, the gap was immense.
"Thank you, Brother Su… I…"
Chen Ming scratched lightly at the armor covering his body, hesitation flickering in his heart.
Logically speaking, he did want to join the Spirit Hall.
After all, it was the most powerful organization of this era. Not only did it actively seek out talented individuals, but it also offered a relatively fair and transparent system of advancement. Resources, guidance, opportunities—so long as one proved their worth, all of it was within reach.
If he performed well enough, it wouldn't be impossible to rise step by step—from a branch hall to a main temple, and perhaps even to the central headquarters.
But there was one problem.
A very big problem.
Tang San's father—that man—was still living in Holy Soul Village.
Ordinary Titled Douluo, no matter how petty, would rarely go out of their way to kill a low-ranking Spirit Master from an opposing faction. But Tang Hao… was different. Infamous for his narrow-mindedness and unpredictable temperament, his way of thinking defied common sense.
Joining the Spirit Hall didn't necessarily mean instant death—but the chances of being casually crushed like a roadside insect weren't exactly low either.
After all, even while staying by Tang San's side, Tang Hao would occasionally go out of his way to smash Spirit Hall branch locations just to vent his anger.
After weighing the pros and cons, Chen Ming decided to set the matter aside for now.
"I think… I'd like to wait until I understand the world of Spirit Masters better before making a decision," he said at last, neither accepting nor refusing—carefully leaving himself room to choose later.
"That works too."
Su Yuntao nodded, clearly unsurprised, then spoke with a hint of pride, "I can say this with confidence—once you understand how the Spirit Master world truly operates, you'll only want to join the Spirit Hall even more. Its strength and status across the continent are absolutely unrivaled, without the slightest exaggeration."
"You can head to Nuoding City's junior Spirit Master academy first and study there for a while. Joining the Spirit Hall afterward won't be too late. But with your level of talent, you mustn't let it go to waste…"
After a brief pause, he seemed to make up his mind. "Here—this is a meditation method I copied by hand. Take it and have a look. Practice it a bit before you enroll. And if you do decide to join the Spirit Hall, I can speak with Master Ma Xiu Nuo. The two of us can help you hunt a suitable hundred-year Spirit Ring."
"Thank you, Brother Su."
Chen Ming accepted the thin booklet with visible excitement and immediately began flipping through it.
But the moment he saw its contents, his expression turned… complicated.
It wasn't that it was too profound.
It was that it was far too shallow.
This so-called meditation method merely explained how to calm the mind, how to sense one's Martial Soul, how to perceive the natural energy of the world, and then guide that energy into the Martial Soul for refinement.
That was it.
There was nothing about meridians, nothing about the flow of energy within the body, nothing about elemental transformations or energy purification—not even a hint.
The entire method was contained within a dozen or so pages. That was all there was to it.
"This…"
There was a saying: true teachings can be summed up in a single sentence, while false ones fill volumes. Many martial arts manuals in stories were only a few hundred words long—but even so, this meditation method felt absurdly thin.
Even without this booklet, given enough time, Chen Ming was confident he could have figured out these basics on his own.
"It's simple and easy to understand, right? That's what a meditation method is. Whether it's the Spirit Hall or the academies, this is what they teach," Su Yuntao said, clearly pleased. "As a Spirit Hall Spirit Master, I was fortunate enough to receive guidance from my hall master, so I've added some personal notes and insights at the end. That's quite a rare benefit."
"Is this… what most Spirit Masters on the continent use to cultivate?"
"Over ninety percent, yes. Even the stronger Spirit Masters build upon this foundation, modifying it with their own experience to create more advanced methods."
Hearing this perfectly matter-of-fact answer, Chen Ming felt his heart sink.
Only now did he recall something important—in this era, even the best native meditation method mentioned was the one taught to Tang San by Yu Xiaogang. It included some rudimentary understanding of meridians, and Tang San himself had commented that it barely resembled the beginnings of an internal cultivation technique.
Yu Xiaogang might have been flawed—perhaps even foolish in some ways—but his knowledge was undeniably real. Whether he had created that method himself or obtained it elsewhere, what he gave Tang San was undoubtedly the best he had access to.
And what was Yu Xiaogang's background? The favored son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan's leader, someone who had once been closely tied to the Spirit Hall. Even if his strength was lacking, his status granted him access to some of the most core knowledge available.
Yet even under those circumstances, the best he could produce was merely a technique that only resembled the beginnings of internal cultivation.
Chen Ming understood now.
The first real problem before him wasn't what kind of Spirit Ring he should obtain.
It was something far more fundamental—
How to develop a cultivation method that truly suited him.
Because if he relied solely on this simplistic meditation method—one that didn't even touch upon the concept of meridians—then no matter how talented he was, his path in this life would ultimately lead nowhere.