Xiao Lin wrote his paper with extensive references, and with his inspiration flowing, he quickly moved on to presenting his own experimental results.
His experimental subjects were none other than Tang San and Su Yuntao.
Xiao Lin directly included his experimental data in the paper.
Of course, he disguised their names and martial souls.
In the paper, Xiao Lin stated that after meditating, soul masters with the Blue Silver Grass martial soul would find that their soul power started to exhibit some life energy.
To support this, Xiao Lin included a month-long observation record.
That is, when a Blue Silver Grass soul master used their soul power to stimulate the growth of Blue Silver Grass seeds on the ground without using any soul skills, the strength and height of the grass showed slight improvements.
Soul masters with wolf-type martial souls, upon obtaining a soul ring, experienced an increase in aggressiveness and found their soul power harder to control, even showing traces of attack properties.
In addition, Xiao Yan also recorded that after absorbing a soul ring, the soul power of a Blue Silver Grass soul master gradually gained life energy and even developed a fear of fire.
Finally, Xiao Yan concluded:
The color of a soul master's soul power is related to their martial soul and the soul skills they absorb.
A soul master's soul power attributes gradually align with their martial soul's attributes through meditation.
When a martial soul absorbs a soul ring, it changes the attributes of the soul master's soul power and may even alter the soul master's physical body.
As a final recommendation, Xiao Yan advised soul masters not to absorb too many poisonous soul rings.
Since the transformation of soul power is irreversible, excessive poison attributes may degrade the quality of a martial soul or even poison the soul master.
Furthermore, he recommended that soul masters avoid absorbing soul rings that are incompatible with their martial soul.
Otherwise, there is a risk of martial soul mutation, which could weaken the martial soul.
After finishing the paper, Xiao Lin nodded in satisfaction.
Although it had been a long time since he last wrote a paper and he had forgotten many formatting rules, and despite its many imperfections, Xiao Lin was still pleased with it.
On this continent of Douluo, where the average intelligence wasn't high, he felt this was more than enough.
After all, everything he wrote was based on real observations, not mere speculation or fabrication.
Next time, he would write a proper paper.
However, the part that satisfied Xiao Lin the most were the two key conclusions at the end.
While others might only see it as advice to avoid problems when absorbing soul rings,
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan would definitely understand what was happening to their martial souls and the source of their poison.
It was quite amusing.
The Pope of the Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong, possessed twin martial souls—two massive spiders—yet she hadn't absorbed nearly as many poisonous soul rings.
Meanwhile, Dugu Bo, the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor, had an entirely poisonous martial soul.
From Xiao Lin's perspective, if Dugu Bo hadn't had the fortune to reach the Soul Sage level and obtain his seventh soul ring to unlock his Martial Soul True Body, he might not have lived to become a Titled Douluo. He would have suffered the same early demise as his unfortunate son.
Why did Xiao Lin believe this?
Because Martial Soul True Body is the first qualitative transformation a soul master undergoes.
A Soul Sage can easily defeat a Soul Emperor.
With the Martial Soul True Body activated, all previous soul skills no longer consume soul power, and their effects double in strength.
It's as if the martial soul and the soul master achieve perfect synchronization.
A soul master can be poisoned, but a martial soul cannot.
That was the only reason Dugu Bo was able to survive long enough to become a Titled Douluo.
That was Xiao Lin's belief.
As for the other conclusion that pleased him, it was that he had managed to take a jab at a certain worthless so-called master.
A martial soul with immense potential, Luo San Pao, had been turned into nothing more than a farting joke.
How laughable.
Xiao Lin eagerly anticipated Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's reaction upon reading this paper.
Unfortunately, Xiao Lin had been too restrained—this paper's impact wasn't lethal enough.
It might not be enough to truly upset Yu Xiaogang.
But that was fine—Xiao Lin would continue writing papers until he completely discredited the so-called master and ruined his reputation.
The so-called "Golden Iron Triangle" and Yu Xiaogang being the "wisdom corner"? What a joke.
To Xiao Lin, Yu Xiaogang was merely a component for martial soul fusion techniques.
Since when did martial soul fusion techniques require plagiarized wisdom?
After packing up the paper, Xiao Lin glanced at Tang San, who was already fast asleep, and walked over, pushing him off the bed.
Xiao San really had terrible sleeping posture.
The Next Morning
After bidding farewell to Master Matthew Nuo, Xiao Lin and Tang San disguised themselves before heading back to the Spirit Hall to submit the paper.
Under the cover of a thick black robe, Xiao Lin stood on Tang San's shoulders, disguising himself as a tall individual.
The Spirit Hall staff glanced at the paper's signature, then at the towering figure before them, forcing a smile.
"Honored Soul Master, this paper requires proof of your identity as Xiao Yan."
"I am Xiao Yan. What proof do you need?"
Xiao Lin deliberately deepened his voice.
"Sir, you have not registered as a soul master in the Spirit Hall records."
The staff member rephrased his statement.
"No need. Just submit the paper. Once it's published, I'll come back to claim my payment."
Xiao Lin said indifferently.
"But how will we verify that you are truly Xiao Yan when the time comes? What if someone pretends to be you?"
"Who would even know about Xiao Yan?"
"Fine, I'll leave a password here. Only the one who knows it is the real Xiao Yan."
Xiao Lin casually said, leaving behind the code "Odd changes, even remains", then turned and left.
No one but him would know the rest of the phrase.
A Few Days Later
As Xiao Lin returned to Holy Soul Village to continue his cultivation and research on martial souls, Wu Ning, an elder of the Spirit Hall's library, was searching for new martial soul theories.
He was a contemporary of Yu Xiaogang, having worked alongside him in the Spirit Hall's library in the past.
However, unlike Yu Xiaogang, who had remained stuck at level 29 for decades, Wu Ning had advanced to level 69, becoming a Soul Emperor.
Now, he needed new theories to help him break through to Soul Sage.
Flipping through various submitted theories, Wu Ning felt disappointed.
Titles such as:
"The Best Soul Skills for Agility-type Soul Masters"
"How to Cut Grass Faster with a Hoe Martial Soul"
[T/N: Huh]
"A New Meditation Posture"
"The Limit of a 99-Year Soul Ring"
"What the hell is all this garbage?"
Choosing soul skills for an agility-type soul master? As if they had a choice.Who cares how fast a hoe can cut grass? Could it make an ordinary person a soul master?What's the point of a new meditation posture? Did it increase soul power? Did it enhance training?And what about a 99-year soul ring? What difference does it make compared to a 90-year one?Why not just aim for a 100-year soul ring instead?
Wu Ning was deeply disappointed.
Was there no one else in the entire Douluo Continent dedicated to theoretical research like him?
Yu Xiaogang?
That fraud wasn't worth mentioning.
He had plagiarized so much data from him and still managed to gain the Pope's favor.
The Pope must have been blind.
After all these years, had Yu Xiaogang come up with any new theories?
Wu Ning sneered, feeling a bit lost on his path to becoming a Soul Sage.
At that moment, the doors to the Spirit Hall's library were suddenly flung open.
A younger scholar rushed in excitedly.
"Elder, you need to see this paper!"
(End of Chapter)