The Limits of Spiritual Power (Please Follow!!!)

"What do you mean?"

For a moment, Zhu Jiuyang failed to understand.

"It means that the same Soul Spirit can attach multiple Soul Rings to me at once," Su Ming said.

Little Gold was utterly confused at the side. He had not even sensed it himself—how did the Soul Master already know?

He began sensing himself with newfound confidence, gradually finding the feeling. Only then did he realize that he really seemed to possess this talent and could attach another Soul Ring to Su Ming.

Zhu Jiuyang understood what Su Ming meant, and surprise appeared on his face as well.

However, rather than simply following Su Ming's line of thought, he raised a question.

"Even if it can provide multiple Soul Rings, there's no need for that, is there? With that Soul Ring slot, you could completely choose a new Soul Spirit."

Roar!

The moment Zhu Jiuyang finished speaking, before Su Ming could respond, Little Gold became displeased. He growled low at Zhu Jiuyang, clearly hostile.

Zhu Jiuyang did not take offense at Little Gold's rudeness. He simply reasoned with him. "Once Xiao Ming has more Soul Spirits, they'll definitely have to help with Forging in the future. Your workload will become much lighter too."

Roar!

Little Gold continued growling.

Zhu Jiuyang looked at Su Ming, unable to understand what Little Gold meant.

Su Ming translated for him.

"Little Gold says what you said makes sense, but it's useless, because he forges to improve himself, not because I force him to work."

A huge question mark seemed to appear above Zhu Jiuyang's head.

He looked at his disciple. He had not expected Su Ming, at such a young age, to have shaped Little Gold's values so well.

Zhu Jiuyang was no pushover either. Turning to Little Gold, he said, "But you're Xiao Ming's first Soul Spirit, the big brother of all the Soul Spirits. You forge for cultivation, but can't you leave the miscellaneous tasks outside of Forging to them?"

Roar?

Little Gold was startled.

That actually seemed to make a lot of sense.

Repairing the forging platform was fine—it was still Forging—but repairing houses was a bit of a waste of energy.

Moreover, there was plenty of unnecessary work during Forging. If someone helped him, he could save some effort while still enjoying the full benefits of his improvement. That was getting twice the result with half the effort!

Drawing inferences from one instance, Little Gold felt as though he had discovered a whole new world.

Just as Zhu Jiuyang had convinced Little Gold, Su Ming gave him a helpless reply.

"Teacher, Soul Spirits are also a burden on my Spiritual Power."

Spiritual Power?

Zhu Jiuyang was shocked. He looked at Su Ming and asked for the details.

"My Spiritual Power should be considered high among Soul Masters. That was how I was able to absorb Little Gold back then. It has also been improving during this period, but I'm still far from being able to absorb a second Soul Spirit. At least from how it feels to me, bearing Little Gold alone is already extremely strenuous."

Su Ming's description was vague. There was no helping it—during the era of Dou Yi, he had no way to quantify it precisely.

If measured by the standards of Dou San, he was currently at the Spirit Connection Realm, and his value would not be low. It was likely close to two hundred.

Over the following twenty thousand years, Soul Masters developed both the physical and spiritual fields. Spiritual Power was divided into specific realms: from low to high, the Spirit Origin Realm, Spirit Connection Realm, Spirit Sea Realm, Spirit Abyss Realm, and Spirit Domain Realm. Beyond those was the domain of gods, defined as the Divine Origin Realm.

One to fifty points was the Spirit Origin Realm, fifty-one to five hundred was the Spirit Connection Realm, five hundred and one to five thousand was the Spirit Sea Realm, five thousand and one to twenty thousand was the Spirit Abyss Realm, and twenty thousand and one to fifty thousand was the Spirit Domain Realm.

Even Soul Masters with the Mental Attribute usually only broke through to the Spirit Connection Realm around the age of nine or ten. Reaching one hundred points generally required them to be twelve.

When Gu Yue underwent her first test at Eastsea Academy, she had just turned nine, yet her Spiritual Power was as high as one hundred and fifty points.

Dou Yi Su Ming was already nine years and eight months old, with Spiritual Power close to two hundred. That was enough to show his talent in the spiritual aspect.

It was not because he possessed a Mental Attribute talent, but rather a talent he had brought with him through transmigration.

On the Douluo Plane, the growth of Spiritual Power mainly depended on two aspects. One was spiritual growth driven by the body, while the other came purely from talent and cultivation. The former was more or less a fixed increase: as a Soul Master's body developed and grew naturally, Spiritual Power would rise as well.

Su Ming exceeded the norm in this regard. His initial Spiritual Power was high, and with feedback from his body, its natural growth was greater too.

This was not limited to Dou Yi Su Ming. Dou Er Su Ming was the same, with Spiritual Power slightly higher than that of ordinary Soul Masters.

Zhu Jiuyang frowned.

"The fusion of a Soul Spirit is actually tied to Spiritual Power as well. In that case, having Little Gold provide your third Soul Ring is indeed feasible. But are you sure you don't want to consider an ordinary Soul Ring with a higher cultivation age?"

The advantages of Soul Spirits were obvious. Soul Spirits could continue evolving, which meant their Soul Rings had the chance to increase in cultivation age as well.

However, the disadvantages of Soul Spirits were equally obvious: they were too singular.

If one Soul Spirit provided three Soul Rings, it meant that those three Soul Rings of a Soul Master's Martial Soul could only gain traits from that one type of Soul Beast, rather than develop in a more diverse direction!

For Soul Masters, all nine Soul Ring slots were extraordinarily precious. Every Soul Ring could acquire certain traits from an external Soul Beast. This was the key to a Martial Soul's growth, the embodiment of the differences between each Soul Master's Martial Soul, and a testament to every Soul Master's cultivation.

Besides, did Little Gold still have room to grow?

Zhu Jiuyang did not think so.

That evolution had most likely already been his limit. Beyond that, he had never heard of the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear possessing any higher-tier evolutionary path.

So if Little Gold bestowed the Soul Ring, then the Third Soul Ring would basically be four thousand years old. And Su Ming could certainly attempt a Third Soul Ring of five thousand, six thousand, or even seven or eight thousand years!

"Roar!"

Little Gold let out a roar as well.

He felt that he had little chance of improving any further, so he might as well try for a Soul Ring with a higher cultivation age.

Although he had been forging all this time, using the Spirituality fed back by the forged metals to enrich himself, his cultivation age had not actually changed. The spirit he absorbed was merely stored within his body, like the Soul Power a Soul Master cultivated upon reaching every tenth level—it could not manifest and required a qualitative transformation before it could continue converting into cultivation.

However, he had already evolved into a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear. There was no longer any hope of a qualitative transformation.

Of course, more importantly, he felt he had no particularly special Soul Skill to bestow upon Su Ming. The strongest thing he possessed was the Dark Gold Dreadclaw, a racial talent. If bestowed upon Su Ming as a Soul Skill, it would probably only be a dreadclaw simulated with Soul Power, clearly far inferior to his true claws.

Su Ming stroked Little Gold's head.

"Teacher, I believe in Little Gold. He can still improve."

Zhu Jiuyang and Little Gold had entirely different reactions.

"Don't forget, I possess the inheritance of Soul Tools. The key to Little Gold's evolution this time was also a Soul Tool I made—or, more accurately, something I would prefer to call Spirit Armor."

A look of realization flashed through Zhu Jiuyang's eyes.

Right, he had nearly forgotten about that.

By the normal path of a Soul Beast, Little Gold had evolved to his limit. But he could still continue improving—for example, as Su Ming had said, by equipping Little Gold, using human wisdom to arm him and bring about an unnatural evolution!

"Roar?" (Can I really?)