Martial Soul

Biodata

Awakening and Manifestation

• Martial Soul awakening is treated as a defining event for a child's future; the Sun Moon Imperial Family holds a unified awakening ceremony supervised by a clan elder and an awakening array. 3
• Innate Soul Power is tested with a crystal ball after awakening. Higher innate soul power corresponds to greater cultivation potential and speed; Xu Tianzhen awakens level nine innate soul power. 3
• A Martial Soul can visibly alter its wielder during manifestation or possession:
  • Xu Lanqing's Ultimate Ice Ice Phoenix produces ice-blue crystal wings, ice-blue hair and eyes, and a phoenix phantom. 3
  • The Purple Imperial Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon produces sharp fingers, illusory dragon scales, and vertical dragon pupils. 3
  • Jing Hongchen transforms into a more than twenty-meter-tall Three-Legged Golden Toad through his Martial Soul Avatar. 14
• High-level Soul Masters can use a Martial Soul Avatar, a seventh-soul-ring ability that manifests or greatly enlarges the Martial Soul's form. 10 14

Types and Evolution

Mutation

• Martial Souls can mutate at awakening. Xu Lanqing expected either the royal Sun or his mother's Ice Crystal Butterfly, but instead awakened the Ultimate Ice Ice Phoenix. 3
• A mutation may produce a Twin Martial Soul situation. Xu Lanqing manifests the Ice Phoenix first, followed by the Purple Imperial Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon. 3
• Mutation is not inherently beneficial: the Golden Dragon King's violent and murderous aura threatens irreparable damage to Xu Lanqing's spirit if cultivated without resolution. 4 5
• The Golden Dragon King retains destructive influence from the Purple Imperial Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon even after devouring it, allowing Xu Lanqing to enter the imperial Ancestral Land. 36

Soul Rings and Soul Skills

• Soul Rings accompany a Martial Soul and enable soul skills. During Martial Soul combat, their colors and number are displayed around the user or Martial Soul. 2 10
• Xu Lanqing's first Golden Dragon King Soul Ring is purple-gold and identified by Kong Deming as a million-year Soul Ring. 45
• Xu Lanqing's Golden Dragon Bloodlust is a continuous first soul skill that increases all attributes by 20%, with an additional 20% per added Soul Ring; it also enhances destruction-attribute damage and can purify the user once during its duration. 70
• Soul Rings can be incompatible with a changed Martial Soul. Xu Lanqing claims—and later demonstrates—that his Snow Maiden-type Martial Soul cannot attach Soul Rings. 23 31
• Despite this limitation, Xu Lanqing can access the Ice Empress's soul skills through their contract after her awakening. 23
• Through his contract with the Snow Empress, Xu Lanqing can use the Snow Maiden and Golden Dragon King Martial Souls simultaneously, a combination described as nearly comparable to a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. 78

Soul Spirits and Martial Souls

• The Soul Spirit Method extracts a Soul Beast's soul while preserving its intelligence, then contracts it to a Soul Master. A Soul Spirit can provide multiple Soul Rings and even Soul Bones. 96
• The method permits an unusually close fusion: the Soul Beast's abilities may combine with the Soul Master, allowing greater choice over the resulting abilities than ordinary Soul Ring absorption. 120
• Tang Ya becomes the first documented Soul Master on the continent to possess a 100,000-year Soul Spirit after fusing with the Blue Silver Emperor. Her Martial Soul evolves in the process. 120
• Electrolux describes a prohibited reverse application: forcibly stripping a Soul Master's Martial Soul, Soul Rings, soul power, soul, and destiny to create a self-aware Soul Spirit resembling that Martial Soul but without its former memories. 96
• A Soul Spirit produced through the reverse method may be absorbed for Soul Rings or killed to condense all of its power and insights into a Soul Ring; killing it completely annihilates it. 96

Risks and Limitations

• Martial Souls are tied closely to the human soul, making treatment or intervention dangerous; Kong Deming warns that a mistake involving one could lead to total ruin. 5
• Destructive or evil attributes can erode a user's mind:
  • Xu Lanqing's dragon Martial Soul carries violent urges toward slaughter and ruin. 3 4
  • Tang Ya's life-devouring Dark Blue Silver Grass risks drawing its wielder's sanity into evil. 103
  • Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire corrupts both her Phoenix Martial Soul and her spirit. 172
• Attempting to merge incompatible cultivation methods for soul power and bloodline power can cause injury, regression in cultivation, demonic deviation, or crippling failure. 176