"Brother Cheng, your insight is unparalleled!"
Nana clapped her hands excitedly beside him, her small palms turning red from the effort.
She perfectly filled the role of a cheerleader.
In Nana's eyes, Xu Cheng was like a divine being—no matter what he said or did, she believed in him unconditionally and supported him wholeheartedly.
Only Huo Qing remained concerned.
Throughout history, every battle for succession had been filled with dangers and unpredictable variables. No matter how great the odds seemed, celebrating victory before the dust settled was never wise…
"…"
Sensing the slightly awkward atmosphere, Xu Cheng coughed twice and restrained his lofty rhetoric.
"Aunt Qing, have you found any leads on the person I asked you to investigate?"
"Not yet…"
Hearing this, Huo Qing responded apologetically,
"I've leveraged my military connections to search for the girl you described—about eleven or twelve years old, with an orange martial soul—but so far, there hasn't been a single clue. We haven't even found a single girl with an orange martial soul."
"…"
Xu Cheng nodded slightly in response.
In the original story, it was mentioned that Juzi was from a border town of the Sun Moon Empire. Her father, a chef, enlisted in the army and died in battle, leaving her to wander alone…
The available information was simply too scarce.
The Sun Moon Empire's border was vast, spanning thousands of kilometers where it met the Star Luo Empire. Finding a single person there was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Of course, in the end, this also highlighted the limitations of Huo Qing's influence. If she were a Rank Nine Soul Engineer like Huo Feng, the chances of success would be significantly higher.
Xu Cheng pondered briefly.
There were two approaches:
Enhancing Huo Qing's strength—If she could break through to Rank Nine, even if she couldn't replace Huo Feng, her status would still rise considerably. This would naturally expand her influence over the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion. Recruiting Huo Feng—If this Rank Nine Soul Engineer were willing to support Xu Cheng, then bringing the entire Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion to his side would be a given. However, the difficulty of achieving this was self-evident.
The four beast-type Soul Engineer Legions never easily involved themselves in succession struggles.
In the original story, Huo Feng remained neutral, focusing solely on military affairs while steering clear of political disputes.
After a long pause, Xu Cheng spoke again.
"Aunt Qing, what is your current progress? If you were to break through to a Rank Nine Soul Engineer, how long would it take?"
"At least fifty years…"
Huo Qing's voice carried bitterness.
"That's the optimistic estimate. Realistically, I might never be able to break through in my lifetime."
"Is it because you can't reach Titled Douluo?"
Xu Cheng asked calmly.
"Yes. Breaking through to Soul Douluo already drained most of my potential. Plus, I took a lot of medicinal enhancements in the past, which left my soul power unstable. If it weren't for the constant battles in recent years helping me compress the excess energy, I'd probably—"
Huo Qing sighed.
"I see."
Xu Cheng nodded slightly—this was within his expectations.
From what he could tell, Aunt Qing had good talent, but she had taken too many shortcuts in her early years. Whether it was for military achievements or for his sake, she had rushed her cultivation with various medicines.
Although the result seemed fine for now, it had also cut off her future prospects.
Reaching Rank Eight as a Soul Engineer in her thirties was proof of her talent…
But this predicament wasn't unsolvable.
In the original story, when a soul master's cultivation reached a certain level, their soul power would transition from liquid to solid. Only after achieving this transformation and reaching the bottleneck at Rank 90 could they obtain a soul ring and truly become a Titled Douluo.
The difficulty of advancing to Titled Douluo stemmed from this transformation. Solidified soul power flowed more slowly than liquid soul power, requiring it to be crushed into particles for use.
For Hyper Douluo, however, their soul power existed in a mixed state—gaseous, liquid, and solid—allowing for much smoother circulation and significantly greater combat strength.
Classic Tang San physics. (smirk)
Back to the main point.
The biggest hurdle for Soul Douluo was condensing a soul core, a process beyond the reach of most soul masters without external assistance.
But in the original story, there were alternative methods.
For example, Xuan Ziwen successfully condensed his soul core with the help of some powerful figures at Shrek Academy, allowing him to reach Rank Nine as a Soul Engineer.
More importantly, Huo Qing wasn't a traditional soul master.
She had minimal reliance on her martial soul—she was a modern Soul Engineer, classified under the "Practical Soul Tool" category in the Sun Moon Empire.
Like Nana, her martial soul functioned more as a supplement, while her true combat ability came from her soul tools.
So what if her soul power was unstable?
Did that stop her from launching an attack?
Did that prevent her from wielding close-combat soul tools?
And as for finding powerful figures to help condense her soul core…
What a joke.
He was the Holy Son of the Holy Spirit Cult, the disciple of Cheng Baiqing, and a student favored by Jing Hongchen—he could never lack strong allies!
The Holy Spirit Cult might be poor, but it was overflowing with experts.
He was confident that he could summon Wu Yun, Zhang Peng, Feng Ling, and even the Holy Spirit Cult's leader, Zhongli Wu, if necessary.
Speaking of the Holy Spirit Cult…
Among the Twelve Offerings, Xu Cheng had close ties with five of them.
But with the Eight Elders, his relationship was rather distant.
Currently, the Holy Spirit Cult was not as stable as outsiders believed. It was only being held together by two mighty figures at the top, forcing a group of notorious butchers to behave.
But think about it—a group of soul masters infamous for massacres, all carrying blood debts too numerous to count… Could they possibly be united and harmonious?
Wishful thinking.
Even within the Holy Spirit Cult, there were factions.
The Eight Elders formed a clique, running all sorts of underground businesses.
The higher-ranking Offerings were aloof loners, refusing to participate in group affairs.
The leader, Zhong Liwu, focused on grooming new talent, steadily building up the organization.
His wife, Feng Ling, though married to him, had a different agenda—her heart secretly yearned for Yan Shaozhe.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Emperor had spent his life fawning over a woman he had only slept with once, reveling in his delusions.
And Ye Xishui?
She claimed their relationship was mutual and insisted she was orchestrating some grand scheme behind the scenes.
So while Xu Cheng seemed to have a strong position in the battle for the throne…
In reality, as Cheng Baiqing had pointed out, the Holy Spirit Cult was a double-edged sword.
As its Holy Son, Xu Cheng was likely just a pawn in Ye Xishui's grand chessboard.
The only reason he was allowed to run wild and engage in "charitable" acts within the cult was that he was still useful.
Having the Holy Spirit Cult's Holy Son sit on the throne of the Sun Moon Empire would be extremely beneficial for the cult.
But whether Xu Cheng would remain a chess piece or become the one moving the pieces would depend on how much strength he could muster.
This was why he was so eager to boost Huo Qing's power.
Right now, his faction lacked depth—it looked impressive on the surface, but his true core allies were too few.
Rank Nine Soul Engineers were even stronger than ordinary Titled Douluo, not because of their martial souls, but because of their soul tools.
If Jing Hongchen or Cheng Baiqing provided top-tier Rank Nine soul tools, Huo Qing might even reach Hyper Douluo-level combat power…
And Soul Engineers weren't just strong individually—they thrived in group combat.
If the entire Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion joined forces, even Xuan Zi would have to retreat.
"Aunt Qing, don't worry—I'll take care of your breakthrough."
Xu Cheng smiled.
"I can summon several Hyper Douluo to assist in condensing your soul core."