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Even though they were relatives, Ge Long couldn't unconditionally side with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect. After all, the ties of interest between the Ge family and the Tian Dou Empire had lasted for at least a thousand years.
Moreover, as the first task Ye Wen entrusted to Yu Yuanzhen, Yu Yuanzhen didn't want to mess it up—not even the slightest possibility was acceptable. Therefore, he specially consulted Ning Fengzhi on how to handle the matter most securely.
Ning Fengzhi naturally had deep insights into the Ge family. After all, in version 1.0 of Douluo, there were only so many top-tier martial souls. The Ge family possessed considerable power and wealth, making them an extremely valuable target for recruitment. Ning Fengzhi certainly wouldn't let such an opportunity slip away.
Furthermore, since Ning Fengzhi intended to form an alliance with Yu Yuanzhen, he needed to demonstrate sincerity. Thus, he personally guided Yu Yuanzhen step by step.
The first step was absolute military intimidation—using the lives of the entire family to ensure Ge Long wouldn't leak any information.
The second step was to reveal the alliance between the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, reinforcing Ge Long's reverence for their side.
The third step was to entice him with benefits. Ning Fengzhi firmly believed there was no such thing as absolute loyalty—it was merely a matter of insufficient incentives.
So, what kind of benefit would make Ge Long defect?
For soul masters, the things they sought were limited. Power and wealth were already at their peak for Ge Long, so those wouldn't sway him. What remained was strength.
The reason the top three sects were considered the top three was because each had its own method for cultivating top-tier combat strength.
Across the entire Douluo Continent, aside from the Spirit Hall, only the top three sects possessed Title Douluos—a testament to their value.
For outsiders, the method to break through to Title Douluo was a closely guarded secret. But for the top three sects, it was simply a matter of passing down generational secrets and providing sufficient resources.
Secrets were one aspect, but more importantly, it depended on aptitude and resources.
Don't be fooled by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's reputation as the strongest beast-type martial soul while only having a single Title Douluo—far fewer than the Hao Tian Sect. This was due to the uniqueness of their martial soul.
The dragon-soul beasts required by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon were exceptionally rare, making it difficult for each generation to produce even one Title Douluo.
This scarcity also led to the fierce dispute between Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Luomian over the inheritance, ultimately causing Liu Erlong's mother to meet a tragic end.
Were they not of similar age? Was Yu Luomian truly far inferior to Yu Yuanzhen?
The answer was no. Otherwise, Yu Luomian wouldn't have reached level 89, just one step away from becoming a Title Douluo.
Now, Ge Long had come seeking the resources necessary for his breakthrough.
Though it pained Yu Yuanzhen to part with these resources, Ge Long excelled in every other aspect—he just lacked this specific resource.
Ge Long's battlefield experience ensured his spiritual power was strong, and his soul power had already reached the peak of level 89. The only thing lacking was vitality.
After all, on the Douluo Continent, one of the key factors in breaking through to Title Douluo was age—the younger the better, especially before the age of 50. Conversely, the older one became, the more difficult it was to break through.
In recent years, Yu Yuanzhen had also realized the narrowness of his previous understanding of martial souls.
Having joined under Ye Wen's command, Yu Yuanzhen revisited and carefully studied Ye Wen's theories.
Long ago, he had dismissed Ye Wen as someone who had stumbled upon remarkable theories by sheer luck. But the more he read Ye Wen's theories, the more he was awed by their profound wisdom and insight.
Thus, Yu Yuanzhen made a decision in secret over the past few years.
To restructure the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect—or rather, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family.
While the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was powerful, among true dragons, it ranked quite low.
Additionally, due to its unique lightning attribute, it heavily influenced soul masters, resulting in a high probability of offspring developing mutated martial souls.
Fortunately, these mutations still resulted in true or sub-dragons—but that wasn't enough, far from it.
These mutated dragon martial souls were even weaker than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. While diligent cultivation could allow the latter to reach Soul Sage or Soul Douluo levels, breaking through to Soul Douluo with these mutated dragon martial souls was incredibly difficult.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family—or rather, the Yu family—now urgently needed a high-quality true dragon beast martial soul capable of consistently breaking through to Soul Douluo or even Title Douluo to prepare for the future.
Thus, Yu Yuanzhen placed the family's hopes on Yu Xiaogang.
Seeing Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao gradually taking on the form of the Golden Holy Dragon, Yu Yuanzhen felt particularly gratified. Though his attitude back then might have offended Ye Wen somewhat, it also gave the family a chance for a better inheritance.
The gentle attribute of light was unlikely to cause frequent mutations like the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
Moreover, the Yu family's dragon-soul beast compendium clearly stated that the rank of the Holy Light Dragon surpassed that of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
Therefore, in one bold move, Yu Yuanzhen arranged ten wives for Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang had been living a blissful life these past few years—though he had grown thinner, walked with a slight tremor, and occasionally held his lower back. These were minor issues.
Under Yu Xiaogang's efforts, only two of his ten wives had become pregnant over the years. However, Yu Yuanzhen understood the difficulties of reproducing with top-tier martial souls, so he was already quite satisfied.
But for the rapidly approaching future, if the Yu family only had this level of strength, Yu Yuanzhen felt deeply inadequate.
Thus, Yu Yuanzhen turned his attention to the branch families.
They all possessed dragon martial souls, and their ancestors traced back to a common lineage. Compared to the Spirit Hall's chaotic assortment of martial souls, this was a natural advantage.
As the sole Title Douluo-level true dragon martial soul holder of this era, Yu Yuanzhen believed he had the right to take up the banner of leadership for dragon martial souls.
One of the conditions for helping Ge Long break through to Title Douluo was to have him return to his ancestral roots—though his surname needn't change.
After all, the Ge family had been separated for so long that the Ge surname had become a symbol of faith for them.
Besides, the Yu family already had several internal power branches, so it wasn't too awkward.
"Once this matter is settled, you may come to the family to find me. I will personally oversee your breakthrough."
Being stuck at level 89 for so many years had almost become Ge Long's nightmare, which was why he had come in such urgency to seek a breakthrough. However, with Yu Yuanzhen speaking in this manner, Ge Long couldn't insist further.
After all, the Ge family had now merged into the Yu family—or rather, the newly established sect called the Dragon Soul Sect, founded by the Yu family.
This was a new sect centered around dragon martial souls, no longer limited to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
However, not just any dragon martial soul would be accepted—at the very least, it had to be a true dragon martial soul. And the Ge family's Yazi martial soul fell into this category.
{T/N: Author has previously said that Yazi is one of the sons of the Dragon God}
Though it was a mixed-blood Yazi martial soul, it was still comparable to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
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