Fire-Gazing Art

To reach Heaven Dou City, they had to set out from the Star Dou Great Forest, skirt Shrek City, and keep heading north.

So until they had passed Shrek City, Jiang Hao kept a low profile, sitting cross-legged in the carriage and cultivating his Soul Power.

This time, Fatty Liu had ordered ten carriage-loads of wine and assorted oddities in one go, so they traveled far more slowly than they would have alone. It took them a full three days to get around Shrek City.

"Brother Jiang, do you always work this hard?" Xiaoxiao muttered. Lying sideways on a small bed in the luxurious carriage, she propped her cheeks in her hands and watched Jiang Hao cultivate on the cushioned bench opposite her.

For the past two days, Jiang Hao had been studying how to compress his Soul Power and refine it further.

He owed this to Master's Bro. Through constant dissection of Soul Beasts and the Insight ability of his Second Soul Skill, he had made the impossible possible: a Soul Skill could act directly on the body without being channeled through a Soul Ring.

So Jiang Hao was frantically compressing the Soul Power in his body to make it denser, driving it again and again through his meridians and flesh to temper them. That way, his body could bear more Soul Power at once.

A good deal of Soul Power went to waste in the process. Unable to fully merge with his body, it escaped and dissipated into the air.

That made the concentration of Soul Power inside the carriage twice as high as outside.

Banner Bro was already far ahead when it came to raising their Soul Power Level. Cultivating it himself would accomplish little and waste time.

But if he used that time to scour his body with Soul Power instead, he could make it tougher. Then he could stack the strength of more Clones onto himself at once.

The last time he had stacked their strength, during the beast tide, he had managed only a hundred before he felt the strain. His muscles ached, his bones felt ready to crack, and staying in that state for long might genuinely finish him off.

He could not just leave an advantage like that lying unused.

At that moment, Jiang Hao wavered. A Soul Bone could improve his physique too.

He thought of the four Soul Bones tucked away on his person, one of them a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. Some occupied the same position, but absorbing them would undoubtedly raise his physical strength another notch.

Jiang Hao soon shook his head. He could not do that. He had promised the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone to Ice Sword Bro. Absorbing the three Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones would take up his Soul Bone slots as well. Better to wait until he had suitable Martial Soul Clones and give the bones to them.

After struggling with himself, Jiang Hao once again sealed off that shortcut. He resumed circulating Soul Power through his body, scouring his flesh and muscles without pause.

When Xiaoxiao saw that Jiang Hao was ignoring her, she puffed out her cheeks and gave a huff. She sat up, leaned against the window, and looked at the scenery outside.

Then she suddenly asked, "Brother Jiang, do you think Sister Qingzhu can join the Thirty-Person Group? If I wanted to join, would Brother Xiao agree?"

"Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

As she spoke, Xiao Xiao's eyes lit up. "Brother Xiao helped hunt down the Soul Beast for my First Soul Ring. If I work hard and reach Soul Grandmaster soon enough to get my Second Soul Ring, I can go to the Thirty-Person Group and find him. Then we'll have another chance to meet!"

"That's it! I, Xiaoxiao, am a genius! If I cultivate hard, I can see Brother Xiao sooner!" Having made up her mind, Xiao Xiao copied Jiang Hao's posture, though she guided the surrounding Soul Power into her body instead.

And just as the rhythm of her gathering Soul Power spread through the carriage, something happened.

The Soul Power Jiang Hao had expelled was drawn toward Xiao Xiao's Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, setting off a powerful resonance.

Jiang Hao's Body Martial Soul appeared behind him, while Xiao Xiao's Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron released itself of its own accord.

The eyes of Jiang Hao's phantom self, which had been tightly shut, opened. The imposing Origin Dharma Form glanced at the flames surging inside the pill furnace and murmured softly.

As though whipped up by a gust of wind, the furnace fire burned fiercer. A translucent thread of flame wound around Jiang Hao's Martial Soul.

Jiang Hao felt his formerly attribute-less Soul Power gradually turning to fire. It burned away the Soul Power already in his meridians, and heat flooded his organs.

Xiao Xiao grew restless, her whole body burning hot, but her Soul Power was rising at astonishing speed.

"I broke through! I reached level thirteen!" Xiao Xiao muttered. Forcing open her bleary eyes, she took in the scene around her.

Within the vast phantom of Jiang Hao's Martial Soul, the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron moved in a steady rhythm around him. Flames poured from the pill furnace, while a gentle breeze wrapped the thread of fire extending from it around Jiang Hao.

Then the most flammable parts of the carriage caught fire. Silk and softwood became a sea of flames!

Jiang Hao snapped back to his senses, grabbed the stunned Xiao Xiao, and leaped out of the carriage with her.

The accompanying guards, all Clones, rushed forward. Two water-attribute Soul Masters unleashed their Soul Skills and extinguished the flames engulfing the carriage.

Still shaken, Xiao Xiao stared at the scene around her. She had never encountered anything like this. Could this be a Martial Soul Fusion Skill?

"Brother Jiang, was that a Martial Soul Fusion Skill?" Xiao Xiao asked, bewildered as she looked at the carriage, now burned to ash, and the frightened horses.

A mere Martial Soul Fusion had caused this disaster through one careless mistake. How powerful would it be if they truly mastered the essence of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill?

Jiang Hao was baffled too. How could his Body Martial Soul possibly form a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with a cauldron Martial Soul?

He carefully sensed the change in his Martial Soul. The phantom's once-closed eyes were now open, and through those deep pupils he could see sparks setting a grassland ablaze.

A voice sounded in Jiang Hao's mind. "Fire Gazing."

The heart is fire; when its flames burn bright, they consume stray thoughts. Had his Martial Soul gained a new trait? Was this Martial Soul Evolution?

In the world of Douluo, Martial Soul Evolution was nothing unusual.

Some Martial Souls evolved after their owners absorbed a Soul Ring or reached a certain Soul Power Level. Others changed after absorbing a Soul Bone. The greatest transformations came from absorbing Immortal Herbs.

All of those could cause Martial Soul Evolution. But Jiang Hao had never heard of a case like his. For now, he could only feel the surging fire-attribute Soul Power gradually subside until it settled around his heart.

The heart belonged to fire. Jiang Hao knew nothing of the Five-Elements Art, but he had heard of it in his previous life. Could my Martial Soul have other elemental states in the future? A flicker of anticipation rose in him. Then he noticed that, as the fire-attribute Soul Power receded, every trace of the Evil Soul Master aura left in his body from contact with Banner Bro had vanished. Fire burned away all evil.

Jiang Hao examined his Spiritual Sea and felt that the blazing sun behind his Martial Soul had grown hotter still.

Had this form always existed, only lacking its vital spark?

Jiang Hao surveyed his spiritual world: the blazing sun behind his Body Martial Soul, the lake of his Spiritual Sea, a towering tree, and rocks suspended in midair like meteorites.

He had once thought this place was merely a dwelling for his Clone Martial Souls. Every Clone's Martial Soul appeared here, allowing him to call upon them freely at any time.

Now it seemed his Spiritual Sea was a Five-Elements Cycle.