Understanding the Mechanics

Although it was only the faintest, almost imperceptible connection with the Dragon Pill, having it and not having it were entirely different matters.

After entering meditation, Chen Ming could sense that the Dragon Pill he held in his arms seemed to have become a Dantian outside his body.

For the time being, he could not use the Dragon Pill to directly draw Soul Power from the heavens and earth, but he could inject the Soul Power within his body into the Dragon Pill and retrieve it when needed.

And just how much could the Dragon Pill hold?

In Chen Ming's perception, if the Soul Power of his complete state counted as ten units, then this Dragon Pill had a capacity of at least ten thousand units. Moreover, as the Dragon Pill awakened, its capacity should continue to increase.

Furthermore, because its inherent attribute possessed ultimate life and it had fused with the miraculous metal known as Essence of Life Gold, this Dragon Pill had another special function.

The Soul Power Chen Ming injected into the Dragon Pill was rapidly consumed. After being purified and converted, it became pure Life Force, then flowed through the skin connecting Chen Ming and the Dragon Pill into his body.

Chen Ming, who had felt weak from excessive blood loss, rapidly recovered beneath this Life Force. The slight pallor on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a healthy flush. A wave of comfort spread through his body, as though his entire body had become much lighter.

Though he had not examined it closely, Chen Ming could feel the impurities that had accumulated in his body from long-term use of various medicines gradually being expelled under the cleansing of this Life Force. The hidden injuries left behind by training were also slowly recovering.

"What an incredible effect. From now on, it's like I always have an excellent Healing System Soul Master at my side."

Chen Ming opened his eyes and stretched lazily. Although his Spiritual Power and Soul Power were still severely depleted, the comfort in his body could not help but lift his mood.

Yet after that brief delight, Chen Ming looked at the Dragon Pill in his hand, which seemed to have become faintly more lustrous, and still felt a trace of doubt.

"This Life Force is of extremely high quality. But why do I feel like it still falls somewhat short of the Nine Heart Begonia...?"

In terms of raw numbers, the Life Force Chen Ming had just converted exceeded what Ye Lingling had displayed that day by an unknown amount. Yet even so, he still did not sense that "priority +1" quality within it.

The difference lay in the mechanics, not the numbers.

It was like how Tang Chen's Clear Sky Hammer could smash mountains and, through Exploding Ring, unleash a strike comparable to a god's. Yet no matter how Tang Chen erupted, he could never use his Clear Sky Hammer to conjure a sausage.

Previously, Chen Ming had thought it was merely because he lacked knowledge, and that some special Martial Souls inherently possessed unique mechanic-based abilities. But after witnessing the life of the Sky Blue Jade Dragon, Chen Ming felt that the truly special one was the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul itself.

Because the mechanics of the Nine Heart Begonia seemed fundamentally different from those of Douluo Continent. It was the product of a version one level higher.

"When I have the chance, I should visit Ye Lingling more often and take the opportunity to observe the Nine Heart Begonia."

"Come to think of it, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda also seems like a good subject for observation. Its fixed percentage enhancement that ignores level differences, and its Soul Skills that never change regardless of what Soul Beast Soul Rings are equipped... Could the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda also be a mechanics monster?"

Chen Ming stroked his chin, countless thoughts churning through his mind.

"What about the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon? The Clear Sky Hammer? The Blue Silver Emperor? The Six-Winged Angel?"

"Are these famous Martial Souls stat monsters or mechanics monsters—or simply both?"

"Could the Martial Souls of those Titled Douluo conceal something extraordinary? Do the inherited Martial Souls of Sea God Island—the Sea God—and Spirit Hall's Six-Winged Angel have some special secret as well?"

"Angel Domain, Sea God Domain, Divine Slaughter's Domain, Demon Breaking Domain, Two Extremes Stillness Domain..."

"Invincible Golden Body, Teleportation, Martial Soul Fusion Skill..."

At that thought, Chen Ming slapped his thigh. He felt as though he had gained a spark of inspiration regarding his future path.

"Although the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul seems to have neither mechanics nor stats, Dugu Bo's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor is the ultimate form of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul. It should differ greatly from Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphorous Serpent. When the time comes, I can find a way to observe it up close..."

"Wait, now that I think about it, does the fact that Dugu Bo's bloodline can poison itself count as a special mechanic? Though it's a negative mechanic, it should still count as one, more or less, right?"

"Then let's make another assumption. Are Martial Souls that innately possess Domains an expression of mechanics? If one artificially creates a mechanic, or uses the traits of a Martial Soul to imitate one, could one obtain a Domain that way?"

"The place where the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King died became the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Could I use that to glimpse the essence of the two Dragon Kings of old?"

"Now that I think about it, do Immortal Herbs also possess their own mechanics?"

"Could it be precisely because of these mechanics, whose priority exceeds the stacking of attributes, that things such as Immortal Herbs, Domains, and God-Tier Martial Souls came into being?"

A single moment of enlightenment surpassed ten years of bitter cultivation. Chen Ming's mind gradually became frenzied, and he seemed to enter a peculiar state.

Before he knew it, he seemed to have entered a special world, where two openings appeared before him.

Through those openings, Chen Ming seemed able to sense the manifestations of countless laws. If he wished, he could extend his consciousness through them and peer into that world of laws.

The moment he stepped into the first opening, Chen Ming understood its nature.

It was the manifestation of his First Soul Ring, the First Soul Ring from the five-hundred-year Bilin Seven Absolute Flower.

If ordinary people absorbing Soul Rings was like eating blind boxes of prepackaged meals, then Chen Ming's previous method of absorbing Soul Rings had been like selecting prepackaged meals. It was far more precise than eating blind boxes, but it was still confined within the broad scope of prepackaged food itself.

Chen Ming entering this opening now was equivalent to secretly sneaking into the back kitchen of a hotel.

There were no ready-made prepackaged meals, but the cooking utensils and ingredients before him were free for him to use. Whether he wanted to cook according to a recipe or mix things together however he pleased, the choice was in Chen Ming's hands.

However, since he had snuck in after all, there was a limit to how freely he could choose.

Whether it was the cooking utensils, the raw ingredients, or even the finished dishes, Chen Ming could only keep them within the kitchen for now. He could not take them out of the kitchen. Even if he ate them, whatever he had consumed would disappear the moment he left the kitchen, because those things did not truly belong to him.

And if he crossed a certain line and indulged in unlimited greed, then Chen Ming, the thief, might be left in the kitchen forever and become part of those utensils or ingredients.

But compared with the benefits, these possible negative costs were simply too insignificant to mention.