Bloodline Secret Art, Developing Soul Skills

Cultivating the Bloodline Secret Art was an extraordinarily wondrous thing.

Chen Yumo found it difficult to describe in words.

If he had to find an analogy, cultivating the Bloodline Secret Art felt more like searching for memories he had lost to time.

It was also like relearning skills that had once nearly become instinctive, yet had now been forgotten.

His heart pounded, and his blood boiled.

Scenes continuously surfaced in his mind. The Frost Illusion Butterfly resting on his fingertip gradually beat its wings in rhythm with his breathing.

At a certain moment, Chen Yumo abruptly opened his eyes. Subtle spiritual fluctuations began spreading from his body, and the surrounding light gradually distorted within them.

Within that faintly warped light, he slowly transformed into Xiao Chenyu.

"Soul Skill—Simulation!"

One of the Ice Silkworm's innate soul skills, it used spiritual power to distort the light around the user's body. Combined with Spiritual Interference, it created visual camouflage. If one's spiritual power was sufficiently strong and one's mastery of the skill high enough, it could even disguise the color of Spirit Rings and imitate another's aura.

The first innate soul skill Chen Yumo learned from the Bloodline Secret Technique was Simulation.

This soul skill was immensely useful, especially for someone like him who preferred to lie low. If developed properly, it could produce unexpected results at any time.

With his current disguise as Xiao Chenyu, it would be difficult for anyone without exceptionally powerful spiritual power to distinguish truth from falsehood with the naked eye alone.

Only Spirit Masters with powerful spiritual power could spot flaws in Chen Yumo's disguise.

Given Chen Yumo's current proficiency, deceiving Spirit Masters below rank fifty should not have been a problem. He had been born with powerful spiritual power, while Spirit Masters of this era had barely developed the spiritual field at all, making Simulation particularly effective.

Probably only Tang San, with his Purple Demon Eye operating at full power, could notice anything amiss.

To simulate someone so perfectly that no one could detect it required not only sufficient cultivation from Chen Yumo himself, but also an extremely high level of mastery over Simulation.

Both the advantages and flaws of bloodline soul skills lay here. Though they were called bloodline soul skills, they were actually no different from Self-Created Soul Skills. How much power they could display depended entirely on how thoroughly the user developed them.

They were unlike soul skills from Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones, which could be used as soon as they were acquired. Even with poor proficiency, they still had a guaranteed level of power based on their age.

Weak Self-Created Soul Skills might not even compare to a hundred-year soul skill, while strong ones could rival a hundred-thousand-year soul skill.

What was powerful was not the skill, but the Spirit Master.

Of the Ice Silkworm's bloodline talents, Chen Yumo had only unearthed Simulation. After all, he did not primarily cultivate spiritual attributes. Further developing abilities such as Spiritual Detection and Soul Shock would consume too much energy and could easily turn him into another Feng Xiaotian.

Thus, after mastering the use of Simulation, he began developing the Frost Illusion Butterfly's bloodline abilities.

Like the Ice Silkworm, the Frost Illusion Butterfly possessed dual ice and spiritual attributes. However, compared with the Ice Silkworm's survival-oriented abilities, the Frost Illusion Butterfly's use of spiritual power leaned more toward visual deception and spiritual illusions.

As before, he would set aside spiritual development for now. His energy was limited, and what Chen Yumo needed were ice-attribute abilities.

Before long, the familiar sensation of his blood and qi surging rose within him again.

Chen Yumo carefully experienced the feeling, searching through his boiling bloodline for the power hidden within.

A breathtaking ice-blue butterfly fluttered through his mind. Bewitchingly colored Ice Mist spread outward with every beat of its wings. Wherever it passed, frost formed and chilling air filled the space.

Ice Mist.

The Frost Illusion Butterfly's most basic ability. It created a large mist-covered area, greatly lowering the surrounding temperature. The mist could also reduce visibility and work with the Frost Illusion Butterfly's other spiritual abilities to form a vast bewildering illusion array.

If used on its own, this soul skill only had three supporting effects: lowering the temperature, slowing movement, and blocking vision.

"That's already enough! After all, my Martial Soul is only the 'useless Ice Silkworm Martial Soul.' There's no need for the abilities I reveal to look absurdly overpowered."

Chen Yumo immediately began cultivating the Bloodline Secret Art, learning the Ice Mist soul skill engraved deep within the Frost Illusion Butterfly's DNA.

After learning soul skills twice in a row, Chen Yumo had more or less figured out the effects of the Bloodline Secret Art.

Simulation was the Ice Silkworm's means of survival. To stay alive, this skill was its most fundamental ability. Ice Mist was likewise the foundation for the Frost Illusion Butterfly's spiritual techniques. Only after releasing Ice Mist could its other abilities achieve their greatest effects.

The development of soul skills through the Bloodline Secret Art worked the same way: step by step, from shallow to deep.

Like unlocking a technology tree, one gradually developed the soul skills buried deeper within the bloodline.

Such basic abilities were easy to grasp. Chen Yumo had been able to disguise himself as Xiao Chenyu as soon as he gained Simulation.

Likewise, after acquiring Ice Mist, he could quickly spread a mist-covered area with a radius of roughly thirty meters. The already small dorm room was instantly blanketed in Ice Mist, and even the walls and floor became coated in a thin layer of white frost.

"Bu Hao, my room!" Chen Yumo's expression changed drastically as he immediately canceled the soul skill.

But it was already too late.

After the Ice Mist dispersed, frost covered every corner of his room. His bedding, clothes, books, and other belongings had all been affected.

"...It hurts. It hurts so much!"

He did specialize in ice attributes, sure, but who wanted to live somewhere cold and damp? This experiment had not caused much damage, but it had brought him no small amount of trouble.

Fortunately, he kept two or three spare sets of daily necessities in his Portable Space. Otherwise, for the sake of a decent night's rest, he would have had to go out and buy new bedding and clothes right away.

After stopping his cultivation, Chen Yumo tidied up the room. He no longer dared continue cultivating the Bloodline Secret Art or testing soul skills in his room.

Sitting on the freshly made bed, Chen Yumo lowered his head and looked at the Frost Illusion Butterfly slowly beating its wings in his palm, his gaze turning thoughtful.

Although he had only sustained Ice Mist for a short time after developing the soul skill, his feeling could not have been wrong.

The Frost Illusion Butterfly's Ice Mist ability could naturally work with its own spiritual skills, and Chen Yumo had discovered that his Simulation soul skill could likewise be used within the mist.

The Frost Illusion Butterfly itself did not possess Simulation, yet that did not prevent Chen Yumo from combining the two abilities.

Using Simulation within Ice Mist seemed capable of creating some very interesting little tricks.

There was another point worth noting.

Soul skills generally could only be used through a Martial Soul. No matter the type of Martial Soul, it had to serve as a medium to activate Spirit Rings before soul skills could be used.

But bloodline soul skills allowed Chen Yumo to use them independently, without relying on his Martial Soul.