Self-Martial-Soul Fusion Technique?

"What, Xia Yu? You're interested in Martial Soul Fusion Techniques? Well..."

Seeing Xia Yu's interest in the half-finished Martial Soul Fusion Enhancer, Jing Hongchen had initially been rather puzzled.

But he quickly realized that Xia Yu possessed Twin Martial Souls. In theory, he was naturally qualified to use a Martial Soul Fusion Technique.

The power of Martial Soul Fusion Techniques was universally acknowledged, so it was hardly surprising that Xia Yu was interested in them, or even wanted to study them.

Jing Hongchen had guessed right. After awakening the memories of his previous life, Xia Yu had indeed researched how to use Ghost and the Velvet Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum to perform a Self-Martial-Soul Fusion Technique.

Back in the era of Spirit Hall ten thousand years ago, the Martial Soul Fusion Technique formed by these two Martial Souls—the Two Extremes Stillness Domain—had earned an illustrious reputation.

Since he possessed such conditions, Xia Yu naturally had to make the most of them.

Yet things had not gone as he wished. After numerous attempts, Xia Yu had made no headway at all with Martial Soul Fusion Techniques.

He had gotten stuck at the very first step, without making the slightest progress.

At first, Xia Yu suspected that the strengths of his two Martial Souls were incompatible, that the gap between them was simply too great.

After all, the Ghost Martial Soul had nine soul rings attached to it, while the Velvet Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum did not have even one. There was naturally a difference in their strengths.

But after careful consideration, he dismissed that conclusion.

In truth, Martial Soul Fusion Techniques had little to do with the relative strength of the Martial Souls involved.

Take Huo Yuhao as an example. If Martial Soul Fusion Techniques were truly closely related to a Martial Soul's strength, then someone with a million-year soul ring attached should theoretically have been unable to perform one with any other soul master.

Yet Huo Yuhao happened to possess Martial Soul Fusion Techniques with both Wang Dong'er and Wang Qiu'er.

When it came to strength, neither Wang Dong'er's Radiant Goddess Butterfly nor Clear Sky Hammer, nor Wang Qiu'er's Golden Dragon, could compare to Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes with its million-year soul ring.

So Martial Soul Fusion Techniques really had nothing to do with differences in Martial Soul strength.

Then why had Xia Yu failed at the very first step?

By his estimation, the problem lay in the resonance between the Martial Souls' origins.

He only knew from his memories that Ghost and the Velvet Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Technique. As for all the complexities involved, he understood very little.

So it was only natural that he had fallen at the very beginning.

But now, he had a solution to the problem of origin resonance.

Xia Yu believed that as long as he found a viable path, his peerless talent would allow him to see it through and complete that Self-Martial-Soul Fusion Technique.

There was no time to waste. He could hardly wait to test the effects of the Martial Soul Fusion Enhancer.

"Old man, can this Martial Soul Fusion Enhancer still operate normally? Would using it harm a soul master in any way? If possible, I'd like to give it a try."

Having made up his mind, Xia Yu immediately told Jing Hongchen what he wanted to do.

"This..."

Jing Hongchen was stunned by Xia Yu's idea as well.

He had clearly explained every detail of this half-finished, useless contraption to Xia Yu, so why did Xia Yu still want to try it?

It was truly baffling. In the end, he could only attribute it to Xia Yu's boundless curiosity.

Young people were like that. Whenever they saw some novel technology, they wanted to try it out.

Still, that was not a bad thing. Maintaining curiosity about technology was indeed highly beneficial for the development of soul tools.

In short, Jing Hongchen did not dislike Xia Yu's curiosity. On the contrary, he rather appreciated it.

So, seeing Xia Yu's interest in this half-finished Martial Soul Fusion Enhancer, he personally began debugging it.

How should he put it? After the soul engineer who had developed it failed to achieve the desired results, he had simply shelved it.

Although Virtue Hall frequently assigned researchers to maintain it because of its rarity and commemorative value,

so much time had passed that even Jing Hongchen could not guarantee it would still function.

Thus, debugging it was necessary, as it would eliminate many potential hazards in advance.

Perhaps Xia Yu was lucky. Despite having been left unused for so long, the device remained in good condition and was still capable of operating normally.

Before long, after resolving several minor, nonessential issues, Jing Hongchen activated the Martial Soul Fusion Enhancer.

"Alright, Xia Yu, you can try it now. But I must remind you: don't get your hopes up. The effect of this thing can only be described as better than nothing."

Before Xia Yu began, Jing Hongchen still gave him a serious warning.

"Mm, I understand!" Xia Yu nodded at Jing Hongchen.

Then he resolutely stepped into the blue field created by the Martial Soul Fusion Enhancer.

The instant he entered it, Xia Yu's entire body jolted, as though he had plunged into a warm sea of energy.

"What unusual energy. It actually made the origins of both Martial Souls within me stir with excitement at once. As expected, I can't underestimate the people of this world."

Feeling the changes within his body, a trace of shock inevitably flashed through Xia Yu's eyes.

Then he sat cross-legged within the special field and carefully sensed the resonance between the origins of his Martial Souls.

And sure enough, Xia Yu really sensed it.

His Twin Martial Souls, which had originally been clearly distinct within his body and never interfered with each other, now produced a faint resonance between their origins under the effect of the special field.

That subtle feeling of two things blending together perfectly could not be mistaken. It was precisely the prerequisite and foundation for a Martial Soul Fusion Technique.

In an instant, Xia Yu unconsciously held his breath, afraid that even his breathing might disrupt that sensation.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately gathered all his spiritual power and began guiding and strengthening the sensation of origin resonance between his Martial Souls.

At first, Xia Yu did not know the proper method. He often ended up working against himself; not only did he fail to help, but one careless mistake could even sever that faint resonance.

Fortunately, the special field allowed the resonance between their origins to recover.

Otherwise, Xia Yu would have been in for a miserable time.

Hard work paid off. After failing time and again, Xia Yu finally found the trick.

Under his careful guidance, the origin resonance between the Ghost Martial Soul and the Velvet Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum Martial Soul finally began to deepen slowly.

Bzzzz!

As the origin resonance between Xia Yu's two Martial Souls continued to deepen, strange phenomena began to appear around him.

Deep, icy ghostly qi and scorching golden-red blood qi emerged from Xia Yu's body, violently intertwining behind his back.

Vaguely, they even gathered into a diagram of taiji and the two primal forces.

"Th-this... could Xia Yu really have found the trick?"

Watching the phenomenon appear around Xia Yu, Jing Hongchen stood dumbfounded, his eyes filled with disbelief.

A Martial Soul Fusion Technique—and one that could be performed by a single person. A Self-Martial-Soul Fusion Technique unlike anything seen before. What an astonishing feat that would be.

If Xia Yu truly succeeded in creating it, it would be absolutely incredible.