Yu Xiaogang's Defense Broken! The Flaw of the Out-of-Body Spirit?

At the same time.

Inside the Shrek Academy staff dormitory, the light appeared somewhat dim.

Yu Xiaogang sat alone on his hardwood bed, legs crossed, assuming the Five-Heart-to-Sky posture.

After leaving the training grounds, this master, who had been tormented by his useless martial soul for most of his life, clung to the Five-Heart-to-Sky Cultivation Method like a drowning man grasping at a straw, beginning to practice it frantically.

He wanted to prove himself; he did not want to be a cripple for the rest of his life.

Suddenly.

"Pfft—!"

Yu Xiaogang abruptly opened his mouth, and a large mouthful of blood sprayed onto the bedding in front of him, staining it a deep crimson.

His face turned deathly pale in an instant, and he clutched his chest, coughing violently.

"How could this be..."

Yu Xiaogang's breathing grew rapid, his eyes filled with a touch of madness as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.

"I could clearly sense the cosmic origin energy, and I was able to absorb it into my body according to the technique."

"The Sky Screen said that once the energy enters the body, it strengthens the bones and cells. Why did the Genetic Origin Energy simply vanish into thin air after entering my body?"

Yu Xiaogang was sweating from the pain, unable to fathom the reason.

"Not only did I fail to become stronger, but I was injured for no reason!"

He leaned against the wall, his mind racing as he recalled every detail of his cultivation just now.

As a master of theory, his mind was extremely agile.

"Logically speaking, energy cannot just disappear. When soul masters absorb soul power, they convert it into their bodies, compress it, and store it; cosmic origin energy should be no exception!"

"Unless it was absorbed by something else."

"But what could be absorbing cosmic origin energy inside my body..."

At that moment, a flash of inspiration struck Yu Xiaogang's mind, and he thought of a possibility he had overlooked.

"Come out, Luo Sanpao!"

Enduring the pain in his chest, he channeled the meager soul power within him.

Accompanied by a flash of pale yellow light, a creature that looked like a cross between a pig and a dog appeared in the cramped dormitory—it was Yu Xiaogang's failed mutation martial soul, Luo Sanpao.

The moment Luo Sanpao appeared, it collapsed onto the floor with its limbs splayed, letting out a weak whimper.

Visible to the naked eye, faint specks of soul power were drifting out from Luo Sanpao's nose and mouth; it was clearly severely wounded.

Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang froze.

"So that's how it is..."

He muttered to himself, his voice filled with deep despair.

"The cosmic origin energy I absorbed didn't stay in my body at all; it was all absorbed by Luo Sanpao!"

Cosmic origin energy was extremely violent.

Luo Sanpao, this mutated, useless martial soul, could not withstand the scouring of such energy at all, which was why it had emerged in such a heavily injured state.

"Luo Sanpao and I are of one body and soul."

"Even if I hadn't summoned it just now, it would have been hidden within my body and suffered the same damage. And its injuries would be synchronized to me without any loss!"

Yu Xiaogang slumped dejectedly onto the bed, clutching his head in agony.

He had thought the Five-Heart-to-Sky Cultivation Method was a path to the heavens that would bypass the limitations of his martial soul and make him strong.

But now, this cruel result told him that because of his unique mutated martial soul, even this new path was completely locked off.

He simply could not cultivate Genetic Origin Energy!

"No! How can this be!"

In the silent room, Yu Xiaogang let out a low, unwilling roar.

However, having suffered through hardships for the first half of his life, Yu Xiaogang had long since forged a resilient character. After a brief moment of panic and despair, he took a few deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.

Then, his brain began to race, deducing various possibilities.

"Could it be because of the unique nature of an externalized martial soul?"

Yu Xiaogang stared at the weak Luo Sanpao on the floor, his brows tightly locked.

"A martial soul and the human body are essentially of the same origin. Because my martial soul is in an externalized form, when I don't summon it, it exists within my body. Does the cosmic origin energy I absorb automatically go to strengthen this externalized martial soul?"

"Do all people with externalized martial souls transfer energy to their martial soul when practicing the Five-Heart-to-Sky?"

Yu Xiaogang dared not be certain.

There was only one sample right now, and even as a master of theoretical research, he could not judge whether this was a special case unique to him or a common defect for all externalized martial souls on the Douluo Continent.

"I need more cases!"

"As long as I can uncover the patterns and find the reason for the energy transfer, I might not be unable to solve this problem!"

"As long as I can solve this problem, I can still cultivate!"

"I finally have a glimmer of hope; I absolutely cannot resign myself to this fate!"

Spirit City, Pope Palace.

Bibi Dong stood up abruptly from the papal throne, an unprecedented light erupting in her beautiful eyes.

All of her attention was focused on the black-haired youth and the flying blade shimmering with silver light.

"Is that... the physical manifestation and control of spiritual power?"

Bibi Dong's voice trembled slightly, still somewhat uncertain.

On the Douluo Continent, spiritual power was typically used only for detection or triggering illusions. A very small number of spirit masters who possessed spiritual-type martial spirits were capable of launching spiritual shocks.

But a method like this—using spiritual power to manipulate objects through the air and control weapons to kill—was unheard of!

The Douluo Continent did have methods for cultivating spiritual power.

This was done to increase one's spiritual power so that one could withstand spirit rings of higher age. Naturally, as a spirit master's spirit power increased and the number of spirit rings they carried grew, their spiritual power would rise accordingly.

The spiritual power of high-level spirit masters far exceeded that of low-level ones.

Yet, even with her current cultivation at rank ninety-nine spirit power, she could not achieve the feat of using spiritual power to manipulate objects and kill from a distance!

"A technique for using spiritual power to kill invisibly from afar, without the need for spirit ring skills..."

Bibi Dong immediately realized the terrifying value of such a method on the battlefield.

If the spirit masters of Spirit Hall could master this long-range attack method, even low-level spirit masters could become terrifying killing machines on the battlefield!

This was a method that could completely change the existing landscape of war!

"Pass down the order: if anyone from Spirit Hall is among the next group chosen by the Sky Screen, spare no cost to find this method of using spiritual power to manipulate objects!"

Meanwhile, in the imperial court of the Star Luo Empire, Dai Tianfeng was equally filled with fanaticism.

"Spirit Master... that world calls people like this Spirit Masters!"

He had just heard the term from the exclamation of a team member on the Sky Screen.

"If my Star Luo Empire could mass-produce these Spirit Masters and form an army, what would the heavy cavalry of the Heaven Dou Empire amount to?"

"And what would the spirit master legions of Spirit Hall be?"

"They would all be defeated by my Star Luo Empire's Spirit Master troops!"

"Even if they cannot be trained on a large scale to form an army, they could be cultivated in small groups to be used for assassinations, decapitation strikes, and scouting... the uses are endless!"