Three days later.
In the west of Notting City, at Zhou Chen's residence.
In a bedroom, Zhou Chen sat cross-legged on the bed, surrounded by a dazzling golden soul ring.
"What exactly is the skill of this god-level soul ring?"
Zhou Chen muttered to himself, frowning.
For days, he had been trying to figure out his soul skill, but to no avail.
When he asked the system, the dog system simply said, "Soul skills are entirely random, I don't know either," and other such nonsense.
Thinking it over, Zhou Chen realized that shutting himself away like this would lead nowhere; he needed to consult an expert.
For example, Yu Xiaogang, the first soul master theorist and the biggest scoundrel in Douluo, who was currently staying at Notting Primary Spirit Academy, much to Zhou Chen's discontent.
Nonetheless, discontent aside, disdain aside, as a protagonist with a normal IQ, Zhou Chen was adept at analyzing problems from the perspective of pros and cons—Yu Xiaogang could be useful.
Of course, he wouldn't take Yu Xiaogang as a master; that scoundrel didn't deserve it. On the contrary, Zhou Chen planned to establish a force and recruit Yu Xiaogang.
After all, relying solely on himself, he couldn't gather much gold soul coins. Only by building a massive force could he deploy countless subordinates to collect gold soul coins for him, or even directly mine gold.
In a martial power-centric fantasy world like Douluo Continent, building a powerful force required a large number of soul masters.
Thus, someone like Yu Xiaogang, skilled in large-scale training and teaching of soul masters, could be very useful.
Although having Yu Xiaogang pledge allegiance to him, a six-year-old, seemed absurd, dreams are always worth having; what if they come true?
Suddenly, heavy footsteps came from outside the door.
The next moment, the bedroom door was pushed open, and Old Jack entered, pushing a very heavy black box.
"Chen'er, I got you the ten thousand gold soul coins you asked for," Old Jack said, wiping the sweat from his forehead, breathless.
Seeing Old Jack's weary appearance, Zhou Chen immediately jumped off the bed, took a handkerchief, and began wiping Old Jack's sweat, "Grandpa Jack, why did you personally carry such a heavy thing? What if you hurt your back?"
"Haha, no worries, I'm still strong."
Feeling Zhou Chen's concern, Old Jack laughed heartily, stretching deliberately to show his robustness.
"Sure, the lady next door can vouch for that," Zhou Chen teased with a wink.
At this, Old Jack's face turned red, and he was momentarily speechless.
After a while, Old Jack regained composure and asked seriously, "Chen'er, why did you suddenly need these ten thousand gold soul coins? Almost all the liquidity from our shops has been drained."
"This..."
Hearing Old Jack's sharp question, Zhou Chen felt troubled, unable to answer.
He couldn't very well say he had a system that loved gold, could he?
Seeing Zhou Chen's reluctance to answer, Old Jack didn't press further but instead spoke gently, "Never mind, everyone has their secrets. I believe in you, Chen'er; you're destined for great things! No matter what, Grandpa is with you!"
Saying this, Old Jack patted Zhou Chen's little head, smiled, and left.
Zhou Chen felt his eyes redden slightly.
Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself, then opened the box, filling the room with golden light.
Another ten thousand gold soul coins.
"System, time to work."
"Here I am, here I am."
Faced with the adorable gold coins, the typically aloof system suddenly became enthusiastic.
The next instant, a brilliant light surged from Zhou Chen's palm, instantly turning the ten thousand gold soul coins into a golden stream absorbed into his hand.
"Ding... Ten thousand gold soul coins received, converted to ten thousand gold soul points. Host, please check," the system's crisp voice chimed with joy.
"System, I want to draw a prize."
"Ding... Received, processing."
"Ding... Deducting ten thousand gold soul points, one draw initiated."
Instantly, in Zhou Chen's mind, a colorful wheel with only the "Pill" section illuminated began spinning rapidly until finally...
"Ding... You've drawn a 'Pill' category reward: Ziwei Barrier-Breaking Pill! This pill is from the primordial world, refined by the pill boy under the Ziwei Emperor of the North Pole, one of the Four Royals of Heaven. It can disregard any physical barriers and help cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage to break through a level!"
"Hiss..."
Reading the pill's description, Zhou Chen gasped.
A Nascent Soul stage cultivator is equivalent to a Titled Douluo on Douluo Continent, meaning this Ziwei Barrier-Breaking Pill could help anyone below a Titled Douluo break through a level in soul power!
This was a precious treasure!
If Zhou Chen needed more soul power rather than soul rings, he would have used it himself.
However, even if he didn't use it, he could use this pill to win over someone useful.
Unfortunately, Titled Douluo couldn't use it; otherwise, he could have used it to recruit Tang Hao as his temporary enforcer.
And he didn't know any other strong individuals.
Even giving it to seemingly righteous figures from the original story like Ning Fengzhi, Flender, or Titan, Zhou Chen didn't feel secure!
People's hearts are difficult to predict; if they accepted the pill and then turned on Zhou Chen, who could he complain to?
Only a transmigrator lacking intelligence would give a precious barrier-breaking pill to an unfamiliar, unknown strong individual. Even with acquaintances, Zhou Chen would need years of observation before trusting them.
But time was of the essence; with various forces pursuing him, he couldn't hold onto this pill for years.
After thinking it over, Zhou Chen concluded that the only way was to give the pill to someone timid and weak, who was no match for Zhou Chen, completely under his control, yet useful in certain areas.
For instance... Yu Xiaogang, whose martial spirit mutation permanently limited his soul power to level 29 but could train Zhou Chen's army of soul masters.
Even if Yu Xiaogang broke through to level 30 or even level 60, he would still be no match for Zhou Chen.
If he dared to betray, Zhou Chen could deal with him at any time.