The Drawbacks of Enhancement Soul Skills and the Difficulty and Levels of Self-Created Soul Skills

"That's because they never received systematic training."

Tang Shan pointed at himself.

"Big brother, I've trained you for nearly four or five years. If you couldn't crush a Soul Grandmaster after all that, what was the point of everything you went through?"

Su Yuntao considered it. That did seem right, but he still couldn't make sense of the Soul Grandmaster who had stood in place and attacked.

"But why didn't that guy move? He just stood there using Soul Skills."

At Su Yuntao's question, Tang Shan's mouth twitched.

"Big brother, the man you met was probably an exception. He might have won fight after fight, but I'd guess he owed those victories entirely to how well his Soul Skills worked together.

"Put another way, winning every fight meant he never had a chance to discover his problems. Only a loss against someone at his level would expose his weaknesses and give him reason to fix them."

"No wonder."

Su Yuntao finally understood what Tang Shan meant, but another doubt immediately arose.

"Then do you think I have those weaknesses too?"

Tang Shan snapped his fingers.

"Probably, but not many. Both your Soul Skills are enhancements, so beating an opponent depends heavily on how well you fight. You're already much better at that than they are."

"Exactly. Yuntao, there was nothing seriously wrong with how you fought this time. You just lack experience, and you need to act more decisively."

Su Haichao strongly agreed with Tang Shan, but he also pointed out Su Yuntao's critical weakness.

"Yuntao, there's another obvious weakness you haven't noticed. You lack a burst-damage Soul Skill. Against a control-type Soul Master, you'd be at a severe disadvantage—perhaps with no way to fight back at all."

"Then how do I fix it?"

Su Yuntao immediately saw the problem. His two enhancement skills could improve his usual combat strength, but against a control-type Soul Master, he would probably have little room to resist.

"There are two ways."

Tang Shan held up two fingers.

"Big brother, you're already planning to travel the continent. Whether you solve this depends on what you gain along the way."

Su Yuntao grew curious. "What do you mean?"

"The first way is simple: choose an attack-type Soul Skill for your Third Soul Ring, and your lack of burst damage is solved;

"the second is to keep stacking enhancement skills with your Third Soul Ring and push that approach as far as it can go. As for your burst-damage weakness, aren't you going to travel the continent and take part in Soul Fighting? Use that time to work out a Self-Created Soul Skill."

"You want me to create a Soul Skill?"

Su Yuntao stared at him in disbelief and pointed at his own face.

"I'm a Soul Master who started with Level 3 Innate Soul Power. Isn't creating a Soul Skill a bit unrealistic for me?"

Tang Shan curled his lip. "Creating a Self-Created Soul Skill isn't directly tied to Innate Soul Power. Why would it be impossible?"

"Look at Dad's second Soul Skill. Isn't that a good model? When you have time after the fights these next few days, ask him about it. You might learn something."

Su Haichao had been listening to the two of them discuss training plans. He hadn't expected to be able to help.

Meeting Su Yuntao's eager gaze, he spread his hands helplessly.

"All right. I'll demonstrate my second Soul Skill when we have some free time."

By then, the three of them were nearly out of the Great Soul Arena, and the stone stele they had seen earlier came back into view.

The old man was still leaning against it. Beside him stood a chubby boy of about three.

One look made it clear they were grandfather and grandson. Both were devouring large chicken drumsticks in perfect unison, even their movements alike.

Remembering how absurdly he had behaved earlier, Tang Shan's mouth twitched. After a moment's hesitation, he walked over to the old man.

"Sir, is this your grandson?"

The old man looked up. He recognized the child who had called him "senior" earlier and, though puzzled, nodded.

"That's right. This little rascal's my grandson. He's no ordinary kid—he's had a huge appetite since he was tiny. Now he can almost eat as much as I do. I reckon once his Martial Soul awakens, he'll have Soul Power for sure and become our family's first Soul Master."

Tang Shan was left speechless. It seemed the old man really was an ordinary person.

His grandson, however, caught Tang Shan's interest.

Tang Shan exchanged glances with Su Haichao and Su Yuntao, gestured for them to wait, then continued talking to the old man.

"If you don't mind me asking, sir, what's your Martial Soul?"

"Just an ordinary ox. Nothing to hide."

The old man seemed to sense Tang Shan's interest, and a trace of hope appeared in his eyes.

"Young man, do you think this boy really has a chance to become a Soul Master? Look at my appetite: three big bowls of rice and more than a dozen chicken drumsticks every day. This boy can eat every bit as much as me. There must be something special about him."

"There's a good chance."

With his suspicion largely confirmed, Tang Shan reached out and patted the little boy's head. "What's your name?"

Before the child could answer, the old man answered for him. "His name's Xuan Ji—Ji as in hunger. He eats so much that I figured he'd better not go hungry when he grows up."

The old man was clearly pleased with the name he had chosen. He even stroked his beard.

Tang Shan smiled and nodded. "A good name."

After exchanging a few more words with the old man, the three set off again.

"Shanzi, what's special about that family?"

Once they had left the Soul Fighting Arena, Su Haichao looked at Tang Shan.

"Their Martial Soul is probably starting to revert to an ancestral form. That child in particular should have decent talent in the future," Tang Shan replied.

"Remember how much stronger my body was than normal when I was little? That chubby kid is much like I was back then. His chances of awakening Soul Power are almost certain."

"Should we bring him into Spirit Hall?" Su Yuntao suggested.

"No need."

Tang Shan shook his head.

"His Martial Soul hasn't awakened yet, so we can't say exactly what will happen. Besides, the continent has plenty of talented people. One more won't make much difference."

That was genuinely what Tang Shan thought. The reason he had paid particular attention to the old man and child was that their Martial Soul bore a striking resemblance to the Martial Soul of the Taotie Douluo from the era of Douluo II.

Tang Shan suspected they were probably the Taotie Douluo's ancestors. An ox Martial Soul, the surname Xuan, and a special fondness for chicken drumsticks—there were too many similarities to dismiss.

Back at the inn, Su Yuntao and Tang Shan washed up and sat facing each other.

"Little brother, can I really create a Self-Created Soul Skill?"

Even after what Tang Shan had said earlier, Su Yuntao still lacked confidence.

"Of course... it won't be that easy."

After that small joke, Tang Shan grew serious and explained his view.

"What counts as a Self-Created Soul Skill depends on how you understand the term. To me, using Soul Power to strengthen your body counts in a sense. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's Heart Separation Control is fundamentally a Self-Created Soul Skill too."

Su Yuntao had never heard a theory like that before, and his interest was immediately piqued.

"As I see it, any ability that doesn't rely on a Soul Ring and instead uses Soul Power, the body's Qi and Blood, or Mental Power independently can loosely be called a Self-Created Soul Skill. Otherwise, what standard would you use?"

Tang Shan's question made Su Yuntao think. There really didn't seem to be a clear standard for Self-Created Soul Skills anywhere on the continent.

Satisfied to see Su Yuntao gradually shedding his doubts, Tang Shan shared the deeper thoughts he had developed about Self-Created Soul Skills while studying the use of Soul Power.

"If we had to set a standard, Self-Created Soul Skills could be divided into four levels.

"Being able to mobilize any one of Qi and Blood, Soul Power, or Mental Power would be the first level;

"being able to mobilize any two and combine them perfectly would be the second;

"being able to mobilize all three and fuse them perfectly would be the third."

Tang Shan stopped there.

Su Yuntao couldn't help asking, "What about the fourth?"

"When you reach the third level, big brother, I'll tell you."

Keeping the answer to himself, Tang Shan turned and walked back to his bed.

"By that standard, do you still think Self-Created Soul Skills are difficult?"

"What's so difficult about it? I've already trained to the Bright Force stage and can mobilize my Qi and Blood to a degree. By your definition, that already counts as a Self-Created Soul Skill."

Seeing Su Yuntao regain his confidence, Tang Shan lay back on the bed with a faint smile.

He thought back to the theory he had just proposed and reflected on it.

Divided this way, the entire cultivation system of Douluo Continent became clear.

Its core was cultivating Soul Power, with a Soul Ring needed every ten levels. The highest level currently known was ninety-nine;

beyond that, breaking through to Super Douluo seemed to require an understanding of heaven and earth and the achievement of Heaven-Man Unity, a process that depended on Mental Power;

finally, there was physical cultivation. That had always been uncommon on Douluo Continent. Before the rise of the Body Sect, essentially only those with Twin Martial Souls placed much importance on physical strength.

It seemed complicated, but in essence it was the cultivation of essence, energy, and spirit together, with Soul Power—the "energy"—at its core.

Self-Created Soul Skills ultimately came down to using those three energies. Sovereign's Descent and Hao Dong's Three Techniques, for instance, combined Mental Power and Soul Power to unleash astonishing strength.

If someone truly managed to fuse all three energies into a Soul Skill, its power would surely be terrifying.

In the future, the Body Sect would attain a profound understanding of Qi and Blood. Tang Shan wondered whether it had created a Self-Created Soul Skill of his theoretical third level.

As for fourth-level Self-Created Soul Skills, Tang Shan believed they were, at their core, applications of rules.

The Sea God's Unfixed Wind Wave and the Clear Sky Sect's Ring Detonation were examples.

The former needed little explanation: it could forcibly immobilize a target;

as for the latter, even detonating an ordinary Hundred-Year Soul Ring gave a substantial boost to an ordinary Titled Douluo. That far exceeded the strength a Hundred-Year Soul Ring should possess. Unless it contained some deeper power tied to rules, it was hard to explain.

In the future era of Legend of the Dragon King, every Limit Douluo who advanced to quasi-godhood did so by comprehending rules and making them their own power. That showed fourth-level Self-Created Soul Skills truly existed.

At that thought, another question occurred to Tang Shan.

Of Douluo Continent's three current Peerless Douluo, Tang Chen aside, the other two were both high priests of gods, able to draw on the power of faith. If they could use that power to control rules indirectly, just how much strength could they unleash even without the base enhancement of a Soul Core and Battle Armor?

Would they be demigods, or quasi-gods?

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