Soul Master

Biodata

Power Progression

Awakening and Cultivation

• Martial souls are awakened through a hexagonal formation of six black stones activated by soul power. A crystal then measures the awakened person's innate soul power. 1
• Possessing soul power is sufficient for admission to a junior Soul Master academy, even when a martial soul is considered weak or impractical. 4
• Awakening and training can be financially inaccessible to commoners. Yao Shi pays twenty silver soul coins for his awakening and one silver soul coin to register at Bluestone Town Junior Soul Master Academy. 1 4
• Junior academies primarily provide basic Soul Master theory and sparring; their low-ranked teachers rarely arrange live Soul Beast combat because they cannot reliably protect students. 5
• Advancement normally requires Soul Beast hunting to obtain soul rings, creating a major obstacle for practitioners without money, protection, or influential backing. 2 3

Soul Rings and Soul Skills

• Soul rings provide active soul skills and may also grant passive traits. Yao Shi's first ring grants Conceptual Healing, while his second ring grants Longevity Blessing and the passive traits Immortality and Abundant Physique. 3 7
• Ring quality is associated with age and color. Hundred-year rings are yellow, thousand-year rings are represented by purple, and blood-red rings are regarded as the highest-year, hundred-thousand-year variety. 3 7 41
• Ring configurations visibly communicate a Soul Master's strength. The Blood Scythe Evil Soul Master's yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black configuration immediately reveals his seven-ring cultivation. 45
• Some soul skills are non-combat abilities but remain strategically significant. Glazed Abundance Pure Land creates an independent space that can shelter living beings, accelerate cultivation, and connect believers across distances. 28
• Domain-type soul skills are exceptionally rare. Yao Shi's Snow Dance Shining Sun freezes and suppresses opponents so completely that they cannot release their martial souls or use soul power. 68

Self-Generated Rings

Yao Shi is an abnormal case: his soul rings form naturally once his soul power reaches the required level rather than being obtained through hunting. This phenomenon causes others to suspect that he may be a Soul Beast rebuilding in human form. 3 28 32

• His first self-generated ring is a gold-tinged yellow ring with potent life energy. 3
• His third and fourth rings are crystalline gold-green rather than conventional colors. 28 41
• After forming his fourth ring, energy from the Ambrosial Arbor evolves his first yellow and second purple rings into blood-red rings. 41

Combat Roles and Specializations

Observed Soul Master classifications include:

• Support-type — Provides assistance to allies; Yao Shi is initially treated as a support-type practitioner despite using vines for battlefield control. 23
• Auxiliary-type — Focuses on supporting a team; Xu Jiujiu's Star Crown abilities are most effective when coordinated with allies. 72
• Defense-type — Uses shields, protective martial souls, or defensive Soul Tools to withstand attacks. 45 55
• Agility-attack type — Emphasizes speed in both offense and defense. 23
• Food-type, beast-type, and tool-type — Additional martial-soul categories represented among academy students. 23
• Soul Engineer — A Soul Master specializing in the design and creation of Soul Tools. Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy requires tournament candidates to make any Soul Tools they use themselves. 53 55

Soul Tools and Education

• Soul Engineers advance through graded ranks. Yao Shi becomes a Class 1 Soul Engineer after eight days at Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy and reaches Class 3 within a month. 52 53
• Reserve-team selection at the academy requires at least Soul Elder cultivation and third-class Soul Engineer status. 55
• Soul Tools can compensate for or amplify cultivation, but activation still depends on sufficient soul power. Tian Dali and Niu San cannot use Level 5 offensive Soul Tools because they are not yet Soul Ancestors. 96
• A Class 8 defensive Soul Tool is considered a valuable apprenticeship gift from Jing Hongchen to Yao Shi. 53
• Little Spirit, an awakened Life Metal formerly known as the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, retains the knowledge of more than thirty Soul Engineers and can manufacture ninth-grade Soul Tools if supplied with materials. 65 66

Impact of Abundance Power

• The Ambrosial Arbor grants Soul Beasts regenerative, immortal bodies; they continue reviving unless destroyed completely, such as by being blasted into bloody mist. 85 89
• This immortality disrupts Soul Master advancement. Newly awakened practitioners may be incapable of destroying even low-year Soul Beasts thoroughly enough to obtain rings. 89 91
• Low-level human Soul Masters exposed to the Divine Tree's blessing begin reviving after death, while Titled Douluo do not initially share this effect. 86
• Consuming the blood of immortal Soul Beasts can grant humans regenerative immortality, as demonstrated when Xuanzi regrows a severed arm. 87
• Abundance Power can also mutate extremists who devour others for strength into mindless Aberrants, whose instinct is to consume people, objects, and other Aberrants. 91