Soul Power

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Power Progression

Soul Power has its own ranked realms, distinct from Dou Qi cultivation. The documented advances below belong to its users.

Abilities & Uses

Soul Perception

• Soul Power can extend the user’s senses: Yao Lao sweeps Stone Desert City to find Qing Lin, while Xiao Yan tracks flying treasures in the Book Repository 15 51.
• Strong perception can reveal concealed presences. Xiao Yan detects a chamber beneath the Gate of Life and Death’s stone platform and later notices an unusual soul aura around Qing Lin 115 198.
• Perception has limits: Yao Lao cannot probe the glowing spheres in the Dou Sheng ruins, and the Sheep Talisman can block even his Spirit Realm Grand Perfection senses 146 22.
• Soul Power can inspect objects and receive stored information. Xiao Yan sweeps Yuan Yi’s Storage Ring to examine its contents and probes the Seven-String Spirit-Quelling Melody scroll to receive its instructions 44 52.
• At Heaven Realm Great Perfection, Xiao Yan spreads his perception beyond the Heavenly Dipper Hall, its underground palace, and the Xuanming Mountains. His awareness extends over ten thousand miles and farther, encompassing even minor movements within its range 249.

Pressure and Combat

• Xiao Yan can release Soul Power as pressure, overwhelming Song Qing without a physical attack and later projecting a towering, visible soul form before the Little Pill Tower’s elders 168 169.
• He uses it to suppress the Nine-Headed Ancient Heavenly Snake’s soul and prevent Protector Wu from detonating his own 198 110.
• Soul Power can form a giant hand capable of capturing intelligent Ninth-Grade pills and forcing them back into pill form 160 173.
• Soul Power can clash directly without an obvious outward display. Xiao Yan exchanges several invisible clashes with the Little Pill Tower’s First Elder; although his Soul Power is weaker, his talisman prevents the elder’s pressure from affecting him 169.
• Xiao Yan’s shout crushes Old Monster Hou’s soul and knocks him to the ground during their alchemy contest 172.
• Soul Power can dispel hostile mental influence. Xiao Yan easily clears the vicious aura with which the Ancient Heavenly Snake’s soul attempts to cloud his mind 198.

Soul Techniques and Control

• The Seven-String Spirit-Quelling Melody uses Soul Power to vibrate Dou Qi. Its first movement can soothe souls and speed cultivation; Xiao Yan also uses the technique against Protector Wu’s soul-based formation 52 101 110.
• Xiao Yan sends Soul Power into ancient puppets to erase their existing imprints and replace them with his own 144 147.
• With the Sheep and Tiger Talismans, he draws souls from ten Dou Zun puppets and fuses them into a stronger soul for a new puppet 176.
• By plucking the first three strings of a guqin formed from Dou Qi, Xiao Yan creates a Zither Sound Domain that shields himself and Yao Lao from the awakened Dou Sheng skeleton’s roar 147.
• Soul imprints can enforce obedience. Yao Lao places a soul Restriction on the Amethyst Winged Lion King, while Xiao Yan brands Green Rong’s soul through the Sheep Talisman. Green Rong’s imprint alerts him to thoughts of harming him or his companions and allows him to destroy her soul with a thought; she cannot locate it herself 10 90.
• During Wangcai’s creation, Xiao Yan uses Soul Power carrying the Tiger Talisman’s power to blend the puppet’s components. He then places a drop of Essence Blood containing his Soul Imprint into its forehead, securing its complete obedience 177.
• Soul Power can carry techniques and cultivation knowledge. The Yellow Springs Demon Saint transmits Yellow Springs Heavenly Wrath, Yellow Springs Finger, Yellow Springs Palm, and his cultivation insights to Xiao Yan through a wave of Soul Power 210.

Alchemy

• Reaching Early Spirit Realm makes Xiao Yan’s perception sharp enough to qualify him for Eighth-Tier alchemy, though he still needs practical refining experience 69.
• A Heaven Realm soul is required to suppress the will of a newly formed Ninth-Grade pill. Xiao Yan uses his to complete his first Ninth-Grade Treasure Pill 160.
• Xiao Yan also suppresses and captures a Pill Beast in the Dou Sheng ruins with his Soul Power 146.
• After refining the Ninth-Tier Profound Pill intended for the Yellow Springs Demon Saint’s resurrection, Xiao Yan envelops its humanoid form with Soul Power. The soul imprint within it surfaces, and it returns to pill form 253.

Talisman Interactions and Borrowed Power

• The Sheep Talisman strengthens Xiao Yan’s Soul Power, supports its passive growth, blocks outside Soul Perception, and lets his soul leave his body. While projected, he can pass through walls and restrictions but cannot touch physical objects 22.
• Yao Lao can pour his Soul Power into Xiao Yan to grant him temporary strength. This raises Xiao Yan’s apparent power to Dou Zong against Medusa and, later, to Dou Zun beneath the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower; the borrowed power is not Xiao Yan’s own cultivation 17 60.
• Yao Lao adjusts the transferred power to what Xiao Yan’s body can withstand. Xiao Yan’s unusually strong physique allows him to bear most of Yao Lao’s power with little strain during their descent beneath the Heavenly Flame Refining Tower 60.
• Yao Lao can cloak Xiao Yan in a gauze-like layer of Soul Power to conceal his presence and movements 44.
• The Sheep Talisman allows Xiao Yan’s projected soul to enter Medusa’s sister’s body and access her dream. Yao Lao does not detect the projection, though he notices something unusual about Xiao Yan’s state 22 26.
• Combining the Sheep Talisman with a perception-blocking method lets Xiao Yan seal the Bone Flame Ring so thoroughly that Yao Lao can neither extend his senses outside nor leave the ring 28.
• The Horse Talisman repairs damaged Soul Origin as well as replenishing Soul Power. Xiao Yan restores Yao Lao from a state with less than one percent of his Soul Power remaining and later repairs Yao Tianhuo’s soul before attempting his resurrection 3 78.
• The Sheep Talisman can extract a consciousness body, a state explicitly distinguished from an ordinary soul body. Xiao Yan discovers this use against the Nine Netherworld Python Clan’s First Elder and demonstrates it on Yao Lao, leaving their physical bodies unsupported while their consciousnesses are separated 207 208.
• The Sheep Talisman automatically screens the information transmitted by the Yellow Springs Demon Saint before allowing Xiao Yan to receive it. Xiao Yan also combines it with the Horse Talisman to restore the Demon Saint’s fading remnant soul 210.
• Xiao Yan uses the Sheep Talisman to gather spiritual energy into a seed that enables the Nine Profound Golden Lightning to form a complete consciousness 220.

Soul Materialization and Clones

• Soul Materialization is a characteristic of the Heaven Realm. After Yao Lao’s breakthrough, his soul body becomes so solid and lifelike that an observer cannot distinguish it from a real body without careful examination 156.
• Upon reaching Heaven Realm Great Perfection, Xiao Yan’s soul can exist in a physical form no different from a fleshly body. He can separate a soul clone to fight alongside his physical body, with their seamless coordination producing a combined effect greater than the sum of their individual efforts 249.

Cultivation & Resources

Soul-Strengthening Resources

• Soul Infant Fruit is a rare treasure capable of tempering the soul, with beneficial effects for Magical Beasts as well as humans 144.
• An ancient Eighth-Tier pill formula recovered from the Dou Sheng ruins allows Xiao Yan to prepare pills that help both himself and Yao Lao advance from Spirit Realm Grand Perfection to the Heaven Realm 155 156.
• Soul Origin can be absorbed to strengthen the soul. Before refining the stores taken from the Soul Hall, Xiao Yan uses Heavenly Flames and mysterious thunder to purge their resentment and black energy. His soul then emerges as a tiny figure and absorbs the purified light, gradually developing a crystalline layer during the forty-day process 248.
• The Soul Hall accumulates Soul Origin through its widespread collection of souls. The Human Hall’s reserves exceed the combined amount Xiao Yan finds in twenty-four Earth Fiend Halls; after taking control of the Human Hall, he orders its remaining captive souls released and its collected Soul Origin handed over 242 244 245.

Specialized Cultivation

• Sound Valley’s disciples focus on the soul and music. Most cultivate Soul Power and employ varied sonic Dou Techniques, commonly using musical instruments; the Seven-String Spirit-Quelling Melody originates from the valley 52 237.
• Advancement in Dou Qi can also strengthen Soul Power, but the two retain separate realms. Xiao Yan’s Dou Zun breakthrough advances his body, Dou Qi, and soul together, giving him overall strength far beyond an ordinary cultivator of the same Dou Qi level 136.

Constitution and Physical Balance

• Dan Chen’s rare constitution causes her Soul Power to grow rapidly without deliberate cultivation and passively absorb Soul Power from her surroundings and people she touches 180.
• Excessive soul growth can overwhelm an insufficiently strong body. Dan Chen’s strengthening soul and weakening physique form a vicious cycle that threatens eventual physical collapse; body-nourishing treasures and pills alleviate the imbalance but cannot quickly close the gap 181.
• Xiao Yan treats Dan Chen with medicinal ingredients and a tiny amount of the West Dragon King’s essence to strengthen her foundations and replenish her vitality. The Tiger Talisman can forcibly restore balance between body and soul, but this treats the symptoms rather than eliminating her constitution’s continuing effects; without its support, further soul growth can recreate the imbalance 180 181.