The Drawbacks of Twin Martial Souls

"Vitality" was a relatively vague concept within Douluo Continent's system of understanding.

It was neither Soul Power nor Spiritual Power, but a form of Life Energy hidden deep within one's Flesh and Blood, Tendons and Bones, closely tied to Life, Soul Power, and even the very origin of one's Martial Soul.

It was formless and intangible, yet truly existed. Powerful Soul Masters, such as high-level beast Martial Soul Soul Masters, often possessed vitality like a dragon—vast and vigorous, supporting their terrifying physiques and explosive strength.

Whether one's vitality was abundant directly affected the foundation of the body, recovery ability, and even the depth of one's potential. In a sense, it could perhaps be considered one manifestation of Life's origin.

In this Ring Quenching Method experiment, aside from the routine collection of data as samples for later improvements, the secondary goal had been to attempt to reach and guide vitality.

In his hypothesis, the immense energy released by Explode Ring should serve as a catalyst, activating and guiding the subject's own abundant vitality.

If vitality could actively devour, transform, and merge with this external force, rather than relying solely on the "brute force" of Body Forging Method movements to squeeze and endure it, the efficiency of tempering would multiply, the risks would be greatly reduced, and it might even bring about a deeper transformation.

Unfortunately... it had failed.

The soldier's will and Body Forging Method foundation had been strong enough to guide the energy as it washed over his tendons, bones, flesh, and blood, allowing his physique to repeatedly break through its limits.

But when it came to controlling "vitality," he still had no way in.

"Ming'an," Kong Deming's steady voice rang out again.

"Failure in an experiment is nothing unusual. Being able to use Explode Ring as a daily cultivation method already means you have stepped into territory no one before you has reached. Since it involves vitality, there is no need to be so anxious."

Kong Ming'an remained silent, merely sighing softly and shaking his head.

His gaze calm, he looked toward Miss Meng beside him, who was holding a recording board.

"Meng, collect the data."

"Understood."

Meng Hongchen immediately answered, nodding obediently. Then, carrying the recording board, she quickly walked to the data terminal and began collecting the data according to standard procedure.

With only the grandfather and grandson left for the moment, Kong Ming'an finally turned to his old man. "Grandfather, what level are you now?"

"Level 97," Kong Deming answered frankly.

"Ever since I obtained the improved Ring Quenching Method you developed, I have been able to steadily explode eight Soul Rings or fewer for body-tempering cultivation.

"Combined with the resources accumulated over the years, my physique still has room to improve. Once I temper it to its current limit, the five remaining vacant Soul Ring slots of my Second Martial Soul should be enough to fill at least three with Soul Rings over ninety thousand years old.

"Reaching Level 98 should not be a problem. But Level 99... I do not know."

Level 97...

Kong Ming'an's heart tightened slightly. He had not expected his old man to improve so quickly. If he remembered correctly, more than half a year ago, his old man had only just broken through to Level 95. Yet he had risen another two levels in half a year...

Was this the advantage brought by Twin Martial Souls?

However, rather than relaxing, Kong Ming'an's brows furrowed even more deeply.

As everyone knew, cultivating Twin Martial Souls was both an opportunity and an enormous hidden danger.

First, cultivating both Martial Souls at once caused Soul Power to grow too quickly. If one's physique and Spiritual Power could not keep up, it could easily lead to Soul Power losing control and the body exploding to death.

Second, and even more fatal, was the issue of Martial Soul compatibility. If the two Martial Souls' attributes opposed each other and their energy natures conflicted, forcing cultivation or using them simultaneously was no different from burying two bombs within one's body that could detonate each other at any moment!

And his old man's Twin Martial Souls...

His First Martial Soul, Silver Moon, was a rare mutation of the Moon Martial Soul, one of the Sun Moon Empire royal family's three great Inherited Martial Souls. It had discarded the Moon Martial Soul's original attributes and leaned more toward the spiritual domain.

His Second Martial Soul, Sun, was likewise an Inherited Martial Soul of the Sun Moon Empire royal family. It was supremely yang and unyielding, containing power extremely close to ultimate fire and ultimate light, making it exceptionally powerful in direct combat.

Silver Moon and Sun.

One was extremely yin, the other extremely yang.

They were the perfect embodiment of the Sun Moon Empire's symbol, and in a sense, there was a possibility of "sun and moon shining together."

Yet in terms of their actual energy natures and operating principles, they possessed a fundamentally violent conflict, like ice and fire.

Even though his old man only cultivated the Silver Moon Martial Soul, a certain degree of conflict still existed during cultivation.

For his old man to have reached Level 94 while handling Sun Moon governmental affairs, conducting all manner of experiments, and cultivating only the Silver Moon Martial Soul was nothing short of astonishing.

With his current store of knowledge, there was only one known method that could perfectly resolve the conflict between Twin Martial Souls...

That was a God Trial.

Whether it was Bibi Dong from ten thousand years ago or Tang San, both Practitioners of Twin Martial Souls had ultimately relied upon the power of a Deity's inheritance to completely reconcile the two conflicting Martial Souls within their bodies.

But God Trials were elusive and could only be encountered by chance. He could not place his hopes on such a slim opportunity.

Then there was only one path left—an ultimate physique!

A body powerful enough to bear, suppress, and even forcibly reconcile the two conflicting powers!

His initial choice to use body cultivation as an entry point had indeed been partly because it had the lowest research threshold.

But at the same time, an immensely important driving force had been to find his old man a way to resolve the conflict between his Twin Martial Souls.

He still needed considerable time to grow. Before that, it was only natural to find himself a powerful protector.

And his old man, whom he could trust absolutely, was clearly the best possible choice for that role.

The stronger his old man became, the more confidence he would have.

"Ha..." Kong Ming'an sighed soundlessly in his heart, an inexplicable sense of urgency rising within him.

I need to cultivate faster.

I need to obtain my First Soul Ring, then use Explode Ring to guide vitality.

As long as vitality appears within my body, I can gain complete control over it... after all, vitality is also a form of energy.

At that point, there would no longer be any obstacle to researching, sensing, guiding, and controlling his own vitality.

As long as he could personally control vitality and incorporate it into the body cultivation system, his old man would have a chance of raising his strength to the Limit Douluo level!

At that point... he could truly act without restraint!

Body cultivation is still far too restrictive. In the end, it cannot pull off any real tricks...

Kong Ming'an thought silently, yet he unconsciously raised his eyes to look at his old man.

As far as he knew, because the Sun Moon Emperor intended to make Xu Tianran the Crown Prince, he had recently begun allowing him to try handling government affairs.

His old man had therefore taken the opportunity to delegate much of his authority.

Aside from keeping control over certain important Empire affairs and matters of the Hall of Worship, he had devoted most of his remaining energy to his Lifebound Soul Tool, the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield.

In the Original Work, his old man had completely fused his Martial Soul with his Lifebound Soul Tool, becoming the first Rank 10 Soul Engineer in Douluo history.

Even though his Soul Power cultivation had only been Level 95 at the time, he had still been able to unleash strength comparable to a Limit Douluo!

And now, his old man was already Level 97, with Level 98 practically guaranteed. If the research into fusing his Lifebound Soul Tool and Martial Soul succeeded...

So long as a certain shameless Deity did not personally descend to interfere, he would have nothing to worry about.