Essence of a Martial Soul

Essence of a Martial Soul

Author: Yu Xiaogang.

Yu? Could the author be a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan? The moment Quan Yi saw the name, he thought of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

It was one of the Three Upper Sects among the Seven Great Sects, and one of the most powerful clans on the Douluo Continent. Its inherited martial soul—the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon—was renowned far and wide, hailed as the continent's number one Beast Martial Soul.

He opened the book.

The table of contents listed the author's ten core principles of martial souls.

The first one read: "The amount of Innate Soul Power is directly proportional to the quality of one's martial soul."

At the sight of that line, Quan Yi's pupils contracted and his mind trembled.

This was the secret behind his Innate Full Soul Power. He had never expected someone else to propose a theory similar to his own.

Quan Yi was astonished by the author of this book.

He immediately turned to the explanations that followed and discovered that the author's arguments included a vast amount of data analysis.

This included comparisons between different martial souls, as well as comparisons among identical martial souls.

What shocked Quan Yi was that data collection on such a scale could not possibly have been accomplished by one person alone.

As expected of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Not only was it immensely powerful, but it also possessed such profound insight into martial soul research.

With both wisdom and strength, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan inspired a trace of fear in Quan Yi.

Quan Yi continued reading, but he noticed that the author had not connected Martial Soul Quality with Physical Quality.

This meant that Yu Xiaogang believed martial souls were innate and could not be changed.

It also meant that he was still trapped in the mindset of Talent Theory.

From this, Quan Yi understood that the author's limits had already been set.

The author had yet to recognize the influence Physical Quality had on the formation of a martial soul.

Even so, this research conclusion was still a tremendous breakthrough.

Humanity approached the truth one step at a time.

What Quan Yi did not know, however, was that his Martial Soul Awakening had not been influenced by Physical Quality alone. There were deeper reasons behind it.

First, Quan Yi's experience was difficult to replicate, because luck had played a part in his awakening.

Quan Yi's luck was his mutated martial soul.

If Quan Yi had inherited the Gauntlets Martial Soul, then no matter how much he strengthened his body, the martial soul's upper limit would have remained fixed. It might have grown stronger, but it could never have reached the level of Innate Full Soul Power. The Blazing Sun Lion was no different.

However, both of his parents possessed mutated martial souls. The Black Iron Gauntlets had mutated from the White Gloves, while the Blazing Sun Lion had likewise mutated from an ordinary lion.

His parents' martial souls possessed a certain mutability. Influenced by this, Quan Yi's own martial soul had actually been progressing toward mutation as well.

The vast majority of martial soul mutations were negative mutations. Like the offspring of close relatives, the odds of defects were high.

Mutation represented uncertainty, but it also represented opportunity.

During the formation of his martial soul, Quan Yi had strengthened his body and consumed Soul Beast Meat, continuously providing energy to his martial soul. This had a positive effect on the martial soul undergoing mutation.

In the end, an incomparably powerful martial soul was born.

Of course, because it could not be observed, Quan Yi himself knew nothing of this. Yet his effort and wisdom allowed him to firmly seize an opportunity that not even gods could have foreseen.

At that moment, Quan Yi was somewhat puzzled. Why had this book been placed in such an obscure corner?

But when he considered the entrenched and rigid mindset of Spirit Masters, Quan Yi somewhat understood what had happened.

Even in his previous life, the emergence of new viewpoints had always been accompanied by great controversy. They would not be readily accepted by the world.

Much less in this medieval era.

Novel ideas would always be resisted by the majority.

Quan Yi stopped dwelling on it and continued reading.

He found this scholar's theoretical research extremely interesting. Though some of it was "shocking to the world," it was actually quite reasonable.

For example, the Martial Soul Mimicry Theory proposed that, under certain conditions, Plant Martial Souls could absorb Soul Rings from non-plant Soul Beasts, while Beast Martial Souls could also absorb Soul Rings from plant Soul Beasts.

There was also Martial Soul Heterogeneous Fusion: Martial Soul Fusion Skills could be performed between different martial souls.

These two points could, in fact, be considered together.

Martial Soul Heterogeneous Fusion involved Martial Soul Fusion Skills.

Between two martial souls that could complement each other, a Martial Soul Fusion Skill could be performed, unleashing a skill greater than the sum of one plus one.

Yet even heterogeneous martial souls—that was, martial souls with no significant connection—could apparently perform Martial Soul Fusion Skills.

This meant that martial souls could absorb only the elements they needed while avoiding the influence of other elements.

Combined with the Martial Soul Mimicry Theory, if a non-plant Soul Beast's Soul Ring contained only elements that a Plant Martial Soul could absorb, then a Plant Martial Soul could completely absorb that non-plant Soul Beast's Soul Ring.

And vice versa.

At their core, Soul Rings were energy bodies, and martial souls were also energy bodies condensed from soul power.

Absorbing a Soul Ring meant one energy entity absorbing the energy of another. As long as the energies did not conflict, anything was possible.

He could not be misled by so-called outward appearances; he had to cast aside phenomena and see the essence.

At that thought, Quan Yi was so excited he wanted to jump up, just like Archimedes discovering buoyancy in a bathtub.

Quan Yi became immensely curious about the author of this book.

The author's imaginative ideas and vast knowledge had completely broadened Quan Yi's horizons.

Quan Yi immediately thought of borrowing the book—no, he wanted to buy a new copy.

Quan Yi immediately walked to the Library reception desk. The person in charge was a boy of around ten, likely an upper-year student.

"Hello, may I borrow this book?"

Quan Yi raised a hand and pointed at the book he was holding.

The boy looked up at it and said, "Yes. After borrowing it, please do not damage it, and return it within a week."

Then, he took out a booklet.

"Please fill out the registration form with your name, class, book title, and borrowing date."

Quan Yi froze for a moment.

"Senior, I'm a new student. I haven't been assigned to a class yet."

The boy had not expected Quan Yi to be a new student either. This student, who looked about the same age as him, was actually a freshman.

"Oh, then you can write down your Dormitory number. If you haven't returned it by then, I'll need the information on it to remind you to return the book." The boy paused.

"But you probably won't do that."

Quan Yi was somewhat surprised. "Why?"

A shrewd glint flashed through the boy's eyes.

"You came to the Library to borrow a book before school has even officially started, which shows that you're eager for knowledge. Someone like you will definitely cherish books. Besides, there are only a handful of students in the entire Academy who borrow books. Even if someone doesn't return one, they can easily be found."

He had not expected a child barely over ten to possess such insight.

Quan Yi immediately asked for the other party's name. His name was Zhang Ming.

He was a work-study student at the Academy, responsible for managing the Library.

Quan Yi had seen information about work-study students in the guide. The Academy admitted Commoner Soul Masters capable of cultivation and waived their tuition fees.

Quan Yi felt that getting acquainted with him would not be a bad thing.

After chatting with Zhang Ming, Quan Yi raised his question.

"Senior Zhang, do you know where I can buy this book? I want to buy a new copy."

Quan Yi pushed the book in his hands in front of Zhang Ming, hoping the other boy might have a way to get it.

After carefully examining the cover, Zhang Ming said in surprise, "Yu Xiaogang! Why would you want to buy his book?"