On the Compatibility Between Body Martial Souls and National Arts, and the Essence of Early-Stage Martial Soul Cultivation

"Little brother, is this what you've been researching called Bright Force?"

Wiping the sweat pouring from his body, Su Yuntao recalled the fiercely forceful punch Tang Shan had just thrown, unable to hold back a trace of admiration.

Tang Shan nodded. "This power isn't converted from Soul Power, but originates from the flesh itself. It can be considered one of the results of my research into the Body Martial Soul."

As he spoke, he threw a succession of punches into thin air, producing crisp snapping sounds.

The sound was not only the sonic boom of fists shattering the air, but also the harmonious rhythm of tendons and bones exerting force together.

"Based on what I just felt, little brother, the force behind your strike earlier was probably no less than that of an average Power Attack System Soul Grandmaster with a Beast Martial Soul. Can I learn this?"

As Su Yuntao spoke, his eyes lit up, clearly extremely eager for the effects of the Bright Force Tang Shan had just displayed.

Tang Shan rubbed his own head and fell into a brief contemplation.

It wasn't that he was unwilling to teach his big brother the method for cultivating Bright Force, but rather that he didn't know whether his big brother was suited for the fist technique he had created.

During this period, Su Yuntao had successfully grasped his pores, and Tang Shan's gains would only be greater. Yet the helpless part was that in this world, there was simply no National Arts heritage from his past life; if he wanted to study it, he had to rely entirely on himself.

The reason he studied National Arts was not a sudden impulse or blind research, but rather driven by an extremely clear objective.

It was not difficult to see from the National Arts novels of his past life that no matter how flashy the skill variations were, down to their core and essence, they were all about developing the potential of the body itself.

Setting aside the ideology of strengthening the country and the race hidden within them, their objective training goal was only one: to control the body as much as possible.

Whether it was Bright Force, Hidden Force, or Transformed Force, all were byproducts obtained after gaining a further grasp of oneself.

Even the more wondrous Elixir Force, Hard Force, and the so-called Shattering the Void or Seeing the Divine, Imperishable that came later—while harboring spiritual transformation—similarly used that transformed spirit to further control oneself and unearth one's own potential.

Unearthing one's own potential was a match made in heaven for the Body Martial Soul. Tang Shan had reason to suspect that if he truly researched National Arts himself and cultivated it to a certain degree, his Martial Soul might even undergo an autonomous Second Awakening.

Returning to the matter at hand, the reason he said he didn't know whether his big brother was suited for the fist technique he had created was because of how this fist technique originated.

At the very beginning, after practicing his standing stakes to a certain level of proficiency, he thought about researching further downward, but he quickly ran into problems.

In his past life, he was ultimately just an ordinary person, and many of his wild ideas were things he had randomly stumbled upon in short videos. Whether they could actually be realized was another matter entirely.

Being able to research standing stakes through various brainstormed ideas and information was already the result of his extraordinary comprehension and the massive advantage he held by combining it with his Body Martial Soul. If he wanted to keep moving forward, he needed a fist technique that wasn't necessarily high-level, but at least had some substance to it.

Yet in his past life, he only browsed videos for amusement; even though his mental energy was extraordinary now and he could recall various fragments of his past life, alas, he utterly lacked any systematic fist technique.

Left with no choice, he thought of a barely feasible idea.

If others could create them, he could do the same.

As for how to create one, the method was simple: start by imitating.

However, what he imitated was not animals, but humans.

Some form-imitating fist techniques mimicked the living habits of animals; after long-term practice, walking, standing, sitting, and lying would carry an aura resembling that of a fierce beast.

Yet in Tang Shan's view, the object of imitation for the form-imitating fist technique truly best suited to the human body shouldn't be animals, but humans.

To this end, he frequently had his big brother take him down to the villages and towns to watch old men pushing carts, farmers tilling the fields, and butchers slaughtering livestock...

As the saying went, in every trade, there is a master.

Within their hard-earned movements and behaviors, infinite mysteries were contained.

Only after nearly a year of observation did Tang Shan gain insights from them and create a fist technique exclusive to himself.

Since the fist technique originated from humans, he called it the Human Fist.

This was also the reason Tang Shan worried about whether his big brother could learn it.

Su Yuntao's Martial Soul was the Lone Wolf, and every instance of Martial Soul Possession exerted a subtle influence on his body. It could be said that in a true martial world, he would definitely be a genius at cultivating wolf-style form-imitating fist techniques.

This could be seen from how Tang Shan had Su Yuntao observe the battles between wolf-type and dog-type Soul Beasts, after which his proficiency in utilizing his sharp claws had risen rapidly.

Yet what Tang Shan had created was the Human Fist. It might not have much impact on Tool Soul Masters, but for Beast Soul Soul Masters who were already gradually acquiring behavioral characteristics of their own Martial Souls, it might not be quite so wonderful.

"Hoo... ha..."

Su Yuntao held a hoe in his hands, leaning his upper body back while his right leg, waist, and left arm formed a straight line, then smashed it fiercely toward the ground.

Bang!

Dust flew into the air, and Tang Shan, standing nearby, couldn't help frowning.

"Big brother, how does it feel?"

He stepped forward, looking at the already sweat-drenched Su Yuntao with contemplation in his eyes.

"Little brother, I still can't catch the trick you mentioned. My body feels as though it lacks comprehension in this area—am I actually some kind of good-for-nothing?"

Su Yuntao developed severe self-doubt. When he had observed the wolf-type Soul Beasts previously, he gained massive rewards and thought he was some kind of genius, only for his little brother's fist technique to completely expose his clumsy comprehension.

"It shouldn't be a matter of comprehension. It probably relates to your own Martial Soul, big brother."

Tang Shan thought for a moment and voiced his guess.

"Your Martial Soul is a Beast Martial Soul, big brother. Under long-term cultivation, your body has inevitably taken on some of the living habits and force-exerting methods of wolf-type creatures. This kind of change is naturally exceptionally good, but when it encounters a cultivation method with such extreme human characteristics as the Human Fist, the accident from just now occurs."

The more he spoke, the clearer Tang Shan's train of thought became.

"It's not that Beast Soul Masters can't do normal people's work in the future; ordinary daily labor has no impact on Beast Soul Masters whatsoever. But the Human Fist is different. To exaggerate slightly, big brother, you can view this cultivation method as the sum total of everyday human behaviors. For ordinary people and Tool Soul Masters, practicing this cultivation method does no harm, but for a Beast Soul Soul Master, cultivating it is nothing short of a torment. It's equivalent to having to reshape the bodily instincts that took so much effort to cultivate in the first place—it's entirely a torture of one's own spirit."

Su Yuntao carefully pondered the cultivation insights revealed in Tang Shan's words, looking thoughtful.

"Little brother, so do you think I should forcibly cultivate and deliberately get rid of the wolf instincts?"

Before Tang Shan could answer, Su Yuntao actively negated it himself.

"No, even if I banish them, unless I stop using my Martial Soul in the future, this change will still appear. Could it be that this Bright Force technique is destined to have nothing to do with me?"

Tang Shan was somewhat surprised that his big brother could think of the influence of the Martial Soul, but he quickly reacted.

He studied Martial Souls all day long, and under this subtle influence, although his big brother could not be said to have profound theories, he could still figure out some problems.

"That's not necessarily true. Bright Force is a technique, not a unique boxing method;

besides, big brother, don't underestimate the survival instincts accumulated by beasts and even Soul Beasts from ancient times to the present."

"Since Bright Force is a technique, then I will continue to observe the living habits of those wolf-type Soul Beasts, and even live together with them. Combining this with the theories born from Bright Force, I might just be able to create a boxing method that cultivates Bright Force."

As he spoke, he became somewhat puzzled.

"Little brother, how is this cultivation method so similar to the bonus of the Martial Soul simulation environment to cultivation?"

"Perhaps it's a coincidence, big brother. I'll go back to my room to cultivate first, and when you come back, remember to tell old man that we can prepare to hunt a Soul Beast in the next few days."

Tang Shan returned to his room, his gaze bright.

Indeed, all roads lead to the same destination, all paths converge on the Great Dao.

In this way, the amplification of the Martial Soul simulation environment on cultivation had a relatively reasonable explanation.

The early cultivation of a Soul Master is, fundamentally, a process of mutual compatibility with one's own Martial Soul. The Body Martial Soul is the complete integration of the Martial Soul and the body itself;

a Beast Soul Master is the mutual influence between human and Martial Soul, which can be viewed as a human having a beast's body, or as a beast having a human's wisdom;

as for the cultivation of a Tool Soul, it is the gradual mastery of one's own Tool Soul, and eventually even becoming the Artifact Spirit of one's own Tool Soul. This can be seen from the consumption of soul power by the Tool Soul True Body.

Then, inferring from this, the process by which the so-called simulation environment accelerates cultivation is a method to accelerate integration for the Body Martial Soul, such as the body in relation to body tempering;

for the Beast Soul, it is trying to learn the living habits of beasts similar to one's own Martial Soul, such as the Lone Wolf in relation to a wolf pack;

for the Tool Soul, it is the gradual mastery of one's own implement, such as a hammer in relation to a blacksmith's shop.

This is the early cultivation of Martial Souls, and I do not know how later cultivation should proceed.

For the first time, Tang Shan had such a thorough understanding of Martial Soul cultivation. Although this could not make his cultivation speed skyrocket, it guided his direction of cultivation in the short term.

Before encountering a bottleneck, improving the degree of compatibility between the Martial Soul and the human body itself definitely had no major problems.

Recalling his racing thoughts, he adjusted his mind back to calm and began to absorb the soul power between heaven and earth.

Wisps of soul power were guided by Tang Shan's physique, then surged into his body, underwent refinement, entered the dantian, and became a part of his own cultivation.

It was still level ten soul power, but the soul power itself had become more than a little viscous. If the soul power became sparse again after a breakthrough, he did not know how many levels he could rise in one go.

There was also the exploration of the meridians, which basically had no progress. It was mainly because the degree of control over the body was too low, and hopefully, there would be a good result after obtaining a Soul Ring.

The soul power circulated in the Ren and Du Meridians, and after being branded with Tang Shan's mark, it returned to the dantian.

Wisps of soft halo radiated from all parts of Tang Shan's body, illuminating his calm face.

If there were ultra-high-end instruments monitoring and carefully observing the data, one would find that the brightness of the halo radiating from Tang Shan's body was increasing bit by bit.

The Martial Soul was gradually merging with the body, and when they truly became one, perhaps it would also be the day when the Body Martial Soul became famous across the continent.

PS: Thanks to all book friends for the recommendation tickets; seeking collections, recommendations, monthly tickets, and read-throughs; seeking everything.