A Different Soul Spirit, a Different Spirit Pagoda

Historical records stated that ten thousand years ago, Huo Yuhao, the Ice Spirit Douluo, invented the Soul Spirit Method and founded the Spirit Pagoda upon it.

This history was real—or so everyone believed.

Yet only Huo Yuhao himself, along with a small number of mysterious people, knew that while the Ice Spirit Douluo had indeed founded the Spirit Pagoda, he was not the one who invented the Soul Spirit Method. It had come from the mysterious inheritance he obtained by chance.

In the original timeline, Electrolux died far too early. Not long after Huo Yuhao founded the Spirit Pagoda, he ascended to the God Realm, leaving the initial version of the Soul Spirit Method exceedingly crude.

Moreover, because the Soul Spirit Method involved the knowledge system of the Holy Demon Continent, even after ten thousand years, the Spirit Pagoda had failed to develop mature artificial Soul Spirit technology.

In this timeline, the Soul Spirit Method Huo Yuhao received from the mysterious inheritance was no crude initial version, but the complete deluxe version developed by Meng Xinghe with Electrolux's assistance.

The two versions of the Soul Spirit Method were utterly different.

The version from the original timeline had been developed by Electrolux from Huo Yuhao's perspective—or rather, from the perspective of human Soul Masters—and because time was limited, it was extremely rudimentary.

The current version, however, had been developed by Electrolux from the perspective of Soul Beasts.

To truly empathize with them, and for the plans to come, Electrolux used the rules of Douluo Planet to transform himself into a Wraith-Type Soul Beast.

(Those with physical bodies were undead, while those without physical bodies were wraiths. When Qian Renxue and Electrolux transformed into Soul Beasts, neither had a physical body, so they were wraiths rather than undead.)

That was right. So long as the rules established by the Dragon God remained unchanged, the fundamental nature of Soul Beasts serving Soul Masters could not be altered. No matter how advanced the Soul Spirit Method became, it could not change that.

However, while the Soul Spirit Method could not change the fact that Soul Beasts served Soul Masters, it could place Soul Spirits and Soul Masters on equal footing, rather than leaving them in a relationship akin to a master-servant contract.

First, after a Soul Beast transformed into a Soul Spirit, it could exist independently without relying on a Soul Master. It no longer needed to remain inside a cramped Soul Spirit orb to survive, and could even cultivate on its own like a Soul Beast.

Second, the Soul Spirit Contract was no longer modeled after the master-servant contract of the Holy Demon Continent, but an equal contract. During the signing process, any intent to resist from either side would cause the contract to fail.

Forcing a contract required altering the contract method, and altering the contract method required reverse-engineering the cultivation system of the Holy Demon Continent.

Reverse-engineering an entirely new and complete cultivation system? Sorry, the people of the Douluo Continent did not possess that capability. Otherwise, the Mysterious Heaven Skill would not still be Douluo's number one cultivation method.

After a contract was formed, the Soul Master and Soul Spirit could nourish each other. The stronger the Soul Master became, the stronger the Soul Spirit became; the stronger the Soul Spirit became, the stronger the Soul Master became. This formed a positive feedback loop, allowing Soul Spirits to evolve on their own because of their Soul Masters' strength, while the Soul Masters' Martial Souls could likewise evolve because of their Soul Spirits' strength.

The soul skills granted to Soul Masters by Soul Spirits were no longer randomly generated either. To a certain extent, they could be selected.

Soul Masters could choose the racial talents of their Soul Spirits, or merge abilities the Soul Spirits had acquired later with their own Martial Souls. The resulting soul skills could either fully inherit the Soul Spirits' talents or abilities, or combine with the Martial Souls themselves to form new skills.

Generally speaking, if the Martial Soul was weak and the Soul Spirit strong, one chose the former; if the Martial Soul was strong and the Soul Spirit weak, one chose the latter. If both the Martial Soul and Soul Spirit were weak, or both were strong, either choice was possible.

But nothing was absolute. Neither method was superior to the other; the best choice depended on the circumstances of the Soul Master or Soul Spirit.

For instance, every spiritual-attribute Soul Master who contracted an Ice Silkworm Soul Spirit invariably chose to fully inherit the Ice Silkworm Clan's simulation talent as a soul skill.

After all, aside from its simulation talent, an Ice Silkworm Soul Spirit was a downgrade for Soul Masters in every other respect.

If they chose an ice attribute, then regardless of the method, the soul skills an Ice Silkworm granted could not even serve as an air conditioner in summer.

If the Ice Jade Scorpion Clan had abandoned its poison attribute in pursuit of the power of Ultimate Ice, then the Ice Silkworm Clan had chosen its spiritual attribute in pursuit of survival. As for its ice attribute, due to its living environment, it had abandoned it—but not entirely.

At the same time, because Soul Spirits and Soul Masters signed equal contracts, they could terminate the contract as long as both parties agreed. This allowed the Soul Spirit to regain its freedom, while the Soul Master whose contract was terminated would lose the soul ring provided by the Soul Spirit.

Imagine a Soul Master terminating their contract with their Soul Spirit when their life neared its end, then, with the Soul Spirit's consent, passing it down to the next generation, and then the generation after that...

After repeating this for several generations, the Soul Spirit would grow increasingly powerful through continuous inheritance. So long as it was passed down for long enough, even a ten-year Soul Spirit might transform into a ferocious beast Soul Spirit. During that process, the Soul Spirit itself would also forge deep bonds with the Soul Master's family.

Such Soul Spirits were known as Legacy Soul Spirits. (Inspired by ten-thousand-year-old Yuhao.)

The more Soul Master families possessed Legacy Soul Spirits, the more stable the peace between Soul Beasts and humans would become, and the harder it would be for anyone to disrupt their peaceful coexistence.

After ten thousand years, Soul Beasts and humans had achieved true peaceful coexistence.

The unprecedented maturity of artificial Soul Spirit technology had kept Soul Spirit prices within a reasonable range, rather than making them exorbitantly expensive as in the other timeline.

Common families could purchase a ten-year Soul Spirit without burden. Those with slightly better family circumstances or Soul Master talent could apply for an interest-free loan for their first Soul Spirit, enough to buy a hundred-year Soul Spirit.

Soul Masters with sufficiently outstanding talent could even obtain a hundred-year Soul Spirit for free without joining the Spirit Pagoda.

Everything was developing in a better direction. The Soul Beast race had fundamentally solved its problem of survival and reproduction, if only...

If there were no Heavenly Tribulations, everything would have been perfect!

Like the Sword of Damocles, Heavenly Tribulations hung above the heads of every Soul Beast with more than one hundred thousand years of cultivation.

Even after becoming Soul Spirits, Heavenly Tribulations would arrive on schedule once they reached the required age. Only Soul Spirits that successfully survived them could transform into ferocious beast Soul Spirits.

For Soul Beasts with less than one hundred thousand years of cultivation, this era was heaven. But for Soul Beasts with over one hundred thousand years of cultivation, this era was not fundamentally different from before; only their living environment had improved.

What was wrong with Soul Beasts merely wanting to live?

Why was it so difficult for Soul Beasts to survive?

Heaven was unfair! The God Realm gave them no refuge!

Dragon God, if you still have even the slightest shred of conscience, then open your eyes and look—

Your people could have lived carefree lives, yet because of the sins you committed, they had no choice but to walk a path of no return just to survive.

Better to rely on oneself than beg others. Rather than waiting for the Dragon God to grow a conscience and repent, they might as well fight for a path to survival for the Soul Beast race themselves!

And that path was called—the Reincarnation Plan!

If Soul Beasts took human form and cultivated anew, then once their strength surpassed the gods who had established these laws of heaven and earth, they could break those laws and save the entire Soul Beast race.

However, there was one thing Meng Xinghe had not told them: the true culprit behind all this was not some other deity, but the ancestor they revered most deeply—the Dragon God!