The talents of two great martial souls! (5.3k) (Seeking investment! Favorites! Recommendation votes!)

Child of Darkness! Ultimate Darkness!

Qin Xu's heart remained still as an ancient well. Ultimate Darkness or Child of Darkness—these were merely different names for beings favored by the Darkness Element.

On the Holy Demon Continent, beings whose innate inner spiritual power exceeded ninety were hailed as "Divine Favored" or "Children of God." Long Haochen, whose innate inner spiritual power stood at ninety-seven, was called the "Child of Light," while Qin Xu was called the "Child of Darkness" by the demon gods.

As a heaven-defying demon dragon, Qin Xu had awakened with a terrifying ninety-nine points of Innate Inner Spiritual Power, just one point short of a hundred. It was the highest recorded among the demons in six thousand years. Even his father, Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu, had initially possessed only ninety-seven points.

On the Douluo Continent, although there was no quantitative standard like Innate Inner Spiritual Power, there was a similar concept that stripped away the false to reach the essence: Ultimate attributes. Martial souls possessing ultimate attributes were called ultimate martial souls, and soul masters who awakened them were called ultimate martial soul wielders.

Although the two worlds followed vastly different paths to supernatural power, they shared some common ground in their perception and understanding of elements. Whether Divine Favored or ultimate martial soul wielders, they were fundamentally beings with the highest affinity for elemental laws.

In short, ultimate attributes naturally resonated with elemental laws, stirred elemental resonance, manifested elemental spirits, and could even receive the blessing of elemental laws, allowing them to suppress, dissolve, or devour power of the same element.

By then, the types and numbers of ultimate martial souls that had appeared on the Douluo Continent could no longer be verified. Only three ultimate martial soul wielders had been conclusively confirmed, yet none of their descendants possessed ultimate martial souls.

Ultimate attributes existed not only in martial souls but also among soul beasts, where their numbers and varieties far exceeded those of martial souls. Examples included the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King with Ultimate Darkness, and the Heavenly Snow Woman and Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion with ultimate ice.

Interestingly, aside from the Heavenly Snow Woman, who was born and nurtured by nature, both the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King and the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion belonged to established species, yet their kin rarely possessed ultimate attributes.

Neither ultimate-attribute martial souls nor ultimate-attribute soul beasts could pass those attributes to their descendants through bloodlines. This showed that ultimate attributes were individual talents rather than shared racial traits.

Thus, ultimate darkness was Qin Xu's talent, not a talent of heaven-defying demon dragons.

As the Darkness Element grew increasingly active around Qin Xu's body, his conversion of innate soul power also approached perfection. The inherited talents that truly belonged to his Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon martial soul emerged in his memories like the moon revealed through parting clouds.

Just like his heaven-defying demon dragon body in his previous life, it possessed all three great talents!

[Great Sun Demon God]—the first talent of heaven-defying demon dragons!

First, heaven-defying demon dragons were a race born alongside the Super Divine Artifact, the Pillar of the Sun. Innately pure yang, they could absorb Solar Essence to strengthen their bodies.

Second, heaven-defying demon dragons possessed pure-yang bodies and thus ignored the suppressive effects of ordinary light element power.

"This..." On the Star-Appointing Platform, Zhang Lexuan watched Qin Xu, surprise appearing on her lovely face. "Little Xu is absorbing solar power?!"

As the talent [Great Sun Demon God] revived, the temperature around Qin Xu noticeably rose. An invisible, scorching current flowed slowly down from high above, sweeping aside the active Darkness Element and washing over his body.

Zhang Lexuan's eyes widened in disbelief. That supremely forceful, supremely yang aura felt both familiar and unfamiliar to her. Lunar power was supremely yin and yielding. A force that likewise descended from the heavens but was supremely forceful and yang could only come from the other supreme celestial body above the firmament—the sun!

A darkness-attribute martial soul capable of absorbing solar power completely exceeded Zhang Lexuan's current understanding of existing martial soul types.

Qin Xu knew [Great Sun Demon God] like the palm of his hand. As the source of a heaven-defying demon dragon's formidable physique, its central effect was to temper the body with Solar Power. It required no conscious control, either. As long as sunlight fell upon him, it would operate on its own—a truly heaven-defying talent.

On the Douluo Continent, where physical cultivation received little attention, this talent was nothing short of an attack from a higher dimension. Apart from the body martial soul masters of the Body Sect, the vast majority of soul masters did not deliberately train their physiques. Even the few exceptional geniuses merely ran with weights or used medicinal herbs.

As long as my body can withstand my soul rings, that's enough. This was how most soul masters thought.

Methods of body tempering were exceedingly scarce in this world. The few scattered methods lacked connections and could not form a coherent system. It was unlike the Holy Demon Continent, which had external spiritual power as its mainstream standard for physical cultivation, supplemented by a battle-aura system.

Yet for Qin Xu, [Great Sun Demon God] brought both joy and concern. He was delighted by its ability to absorb Solar Power and strengthen his body, but this method of body tempering consumed tremendous vitality and vital essence, shortening one's lifespan.

As true dragons, heaven-defying demon dragons possessed immense vitality. Their gains exceeded their losses, so they could naturally ignore this side effect. For a human, however, it was rather troublesome.

If I don't want to pay with my life, I'll have to pay with money, Qin Xu thought.

Its additional effect allowed him to ignore the suppressive effects of ordinary light element power. In other words, unless it was ultimate light, light element attacks could not inflict attribute-suppression damage on him.

[Soul Mage]—the second talent of heaven-defying demon dragons!

First, the souls of heaven-defying demon dragons were innately pure, whole, and flawless. Thus, their spiritual sanctums were naturally opened, and their spiritual awareness grew on its own.

Second, heaven-defying demon dragons possessed soul magic. Thus, their spiritual power could be converted into soul power for use, and their Darkness Element attacks carried spiritual attacks.

Hmm, not bad. It's a size larger than mine was at birth in my previous life.

Qin Xu's consciousness crossed an invisible doorway and passed beyond the boundaries of his soul, becoming a transparent figure suspended above a deep-blue lake, still and utterly pristine. Beyond the lake lay chaotic nothingness, and beyond that nothingness lay dense crimson.

This place was Qin Xu's Sea of Consciousness.

[Soul Mage] was an absolutely top-tier talent in any world. After all, spiritual power was an indispensable attribute in every cultivation system.

Its central effect was to provide Qin Xu with tremendous spiritual power, allowing him to open his Sea of Consciousness ahead of time and letting his spiritual power grow naturally, paving a smooth road for his advancement through the spiritual realms.

This was the fundamental reason heaven-defying demon dragons possessed spiritual power innately different from that of ordinary people.

Based on Qin Xu's experience in his previous life, [Soul Mage] naturally increased spiritual power by one point per day. In other words, even if he did nothing, he would gain one point of spiritual power every day.

One point of spiritual power—this concept came from the Holy Demon Continent's spiritual system.

As far back as ancient times, the professionals of the Holy Demon Continent had understood the importance of spiritual power. Using the Spiritual Power cultivation system as a reference, they expressed mental strength in comparable terms, thereby creating a unit to measure it: points.

After thousands of years of effort by nearly a hundred generations of sages and mighty cultivators, they finally constructed and perfected a rigorous spiritual system.

This system divided spiritual power into individual points, turning an abstract force into concrete numbers, from the baseline of one point for intelligent beings to the world's upper limit of one hundred thousand points. Spiritual realms naturally took shape alongside it, divided into six levels from lowest to highest: Spirit origin realm, spirit connection realm, spirit sea realm, spirit abyss realm, spirit domain realm, and divine origin realm.

The spiritual system of the Douluo Continent in later ages was exactly the same. This was neither coincidence nor convergent evolution between supernatural systems. The two shared the same source—or, more precisely, their relationship was akin to father and son.

The reason was simple. The Douluo Continent's spiritual system originated from the soul spirit system and the Spirit Pagoda established by Huo Yuhao. Yet Electrolux, the true founder of the soul spirit system, was a legendary figure from the Holy Demon Continent. During the glorious era in which he had been active, that continent's spiritual system had already reached perfection.

Thus, the spiritual systems of the Douluo Continent and the Holy Demon Continent were essentially one and the same.

Using this system to measure spiritual cultivation was both clear and straightforward, convenient and intuitive. Viewed through it, the strength of [Soul Mage]'s central effect was plain to see: one guaranteed point of spiritual power every day, without any prerequisites.

At present, Qin Xu's spiritual power stood somewhere between one thousand and eleven hundred points. He still needed to determine the precise figure, but one thing was certain: he was in the third of the six great spiritual realms, the spirit sea realm.

His consciousness returned to his body, and Qin Xu's spirits slowly rose.

As for the second effect, it effectively turned his Sea of Consciousness into an alternative dantian. At the very least, he would not have to worry about his reserves of soul power.

[True Dragon Sovereign]—the third talent of heaven-defying demon dragons!

First, heaven-defying demon dragons bore Heaven's Bane Divine Blood and possessed Dual-Realm Sovereignty. Thus, they held a special sovereign status, were immune to all bloodline suppression except that of the Primordial Dragon God, and had the right to command Dragonkind.

Second, as True Dragon Sovereigns, heaven-defying demon dragons possessed origin essence blood with the powerful ability to elevate draconic creatures into true dragons.

Third, the bloodlines of heaven-defying demon dragons contained the curse of Heaven's Bane. Thus, they dealt enhanced damage to draconic creatures and were immune to Darkness Element attacks that lacked an ultimate attribute.

Here it is, here it is—the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon Clan's racial talent in the truest sense, Qin Xu assessed inwardly.

Of the three great talents, [Great Sun Demon God] came from the Super Divine Artifact, the Pillar of the Sun, while [Soul Mage] came from the core of the Ten Earths, Nine Heavens Demon-Slaying Formation. Neither was exclusive to the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon Clan. The Moon Clan and Star Clan had similar versions of the former, and all three clans shared the latter. Only [True Dragon Sovereign] originated from their bloodline and belonged exclusively to the Sun Clan.

It was precisely this talent that made the Moon Clan and Star Clan bow their heads in complete submission to the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon Clan, willingly accepting subordinate roles.

The central effect of [True Dragon Sovereign] could actually be summed up in four words: Heaven's Bane Divine Blood.

The birth of the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon Clan was extraordinarily unusual. They were not simply creatures of the Holy Demon Continent elevated by contamination from the power of demon god pillars. Rather, they were a race born directly from the Pillar of the Sun. More precisely, they were born after the Sun Pillar was contaminated by the divine blood and power of the God of Heaven's Bane, then baptized by some mysterious, mighty force.

Heaven's Bane Divine Blood made heaven-defying demon dragons exceedingly unusual among dragons. Ordinary true dragons could not simultaneously possess extraordinary strength, extraordinary spiritual power, and extraordinary elemental talent. Usually, they had one or two of the three. Thus, in any world, heaven-defying demon dragons would be overwhelmingly powerful beings that broke the limits—unfortunately, they had been born on the Holy Demon Continent.

Luckily, Austin Griffin can't reach the Douluo Continent. Qin Xu could not help feeling relieved.

[True Dragon Sovereign] was immensely potent, particularly when dealing with draconic and dark creatures.

One obvious benefit was that Qin Xu no longer needed to worry about bloodline suppression when facing the Silver Dragon King hidden deep within the Lake of Life in the Star Dou Great Forest. In fact, the reverse might happen—he might suppress her instead.

As for Di Tian, the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, Qin Xu could confidently say that aside from his cultivation and the divine skill Dragon God Claw, he held no advantage over him.

Demon Dragon Essence Blood was a somewhat lackluster effect. Every drop of a demon dragon's essence blood was exceedingly precious and tied to its very origins. Even a ninth-rank demon dragon could condense no more than ten drops. Why would it use them to sew a wedding gown for some lesser creature?

Besides, Qin Xu was not yet a real heaven-defying demon dragon. He merely possessed the martial soul, making the condensation of essence blood an even greater matter of life and death for him.

Still, this reminded Qin Xu of something. Feng Xiu, his old man from his previous life, had once considered replacing the blood of his nephew-by-circumstance, Long Haochen, with his own essence blood to awaken the boy's true demon dragon form. Tsk, tsk. He wondered how things stood now.

Qin Xu's thoughts inexplicably drifted like floating catkins. Time clearly did not flow in sync between the Douluo Continent and the Holy Demon Continent. He had no idea how far events had progressed over there. In any case, when he died, Long Haochen had not even appeared yet.

...Gathering his focus, Qin Xu shifted his attention to his second martial soul, and his bearing changed with it. The Darkness Element that had surrounded him scattered and vanished, replaced by a warm, enduring heat.

A pale-golden light rose from his chest, flowing with his blood as radiant streams through his body, making his entire body glow gold, sacred and luminous.

The sensation was extraordinary, as though Qin Xu were immersed in a warm spiritual spring, hot yet gentle. His body groaned in comfort, while robust strength welled up within him, flowing on and on without end.

Qin Xu's second martial soul was his heart. More precisely, it was the human body's life-sustaining circulatory system, centered on the heart and supported by the blood—the organs and tissues that powered the body. This was why the Heart martial soul was a powerful second-tier body martial soul, surpassed only by the human body itself.

Golden Heart was the official name of Qin Xu's Heart martial soul. It differed just a tiny bit from the Heart martial soul he remembered.

Like the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon martial soul, the Golden Heart martial soul also possessed three great talents.

[Qi-blood furnace]—the first talent of Golden Heart!

First, Golden Heart was a Qi-Blood Furnace. Thus, Qin Xu possessed an unending supply of Qi and Blood, which would grow naturally with time.

Second, Golden Heart was a Qi-Blood Furnace, with abundant Qi and Blood and a powerful physique. Thus, Qin Xu's base strength doubled, and his strength would increase in multiples.

Third, Golden Heart was a Qi-Blood Furnace that refined Qi and Blood and replenished vital essence. Thus, Qin Xu's base vitality doubled, and his vitality would increase as his cultivation realm rose.

This really is a pillow delivered just as I'm getting sleepy! Qin Xu was overjoyed.

As for Qi and Blood, qi was the mother of blood, and blood was the commander of qi. Qi and Blood generated one another and formed the foundation of life. Qi was an intangible mechanism, while blood was a tangible fluid. Only through their circulation could the body be nourished and its muscles and bones strengthened, thereby drawing out its potential.

When it came to the study of Qi and Blood, the Body Sect was undoubtedly the best under heaven. There was probably no organization or faction in the entire Douluo World more knowledgeable than them. For Qin Xu, that was good news.

Powerful Qi and Blood often meant abundant vitality and brute strength. Yet for Qin Xu, specialization in strength merely added flowers to brocade; specialization in vitality was the coal delivered in a snowstorm.

The third effect of [Qi-blood furnace] was what Qin Xu truly valued—an effect that could complement the Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon martial soul's [Great sun demon god].

The claim that body tempering harmed the body was no joke. Tempering it with Solar Power was even more like dancing on a knife's edge. The slightest carelessness could damage one's foundation and endanger one's life. Heaven-defying demon dragons possessed immense vitality and extraordinary regenerative abilities, so they could naturally act without restraint and ignore the drawbacks.

Qin Xu could not. A human body simply could not withstand the scorching of Solar Power over years and years. Without a proper countermeasure, an early death would be his ultimate fate.

Fortunately, he had a second martial soul, and that second martial soul possessed a top-tier talent like [Qi-blood furnace], granting him immense vitality and removing the greatest obstacle on his path of body tempering!

Qin Xu was thrilled, eager to learn the Golden Heart martial soul's other two talents.

[Perpetual Engine]—the second talent of Golden Heart!

First, the heart was the source of the human body's power, and Golden Heart was a Perpetual Engine that never stopped. Thus, the Golden Heart martial soul remained constantly active in the background.

Second, Golden Heart was a Perpetual Engine. Thus, Qin Xu possessed an endless supply of energy, and his body would remain forever youthful and vigorous.

Third, Golden Heart was a Perpetual Engine that ensured life never withered into stillness. Thus, Qin Xu possessed powerful self-healing abilities, and all bodily injuries could be restored to their original state.

"Holy shit!" Qin Xu's eyes widened. "It's this heaven-defying?!"

The essence of [Perpetual Engine] lay precisely in the word "perpetual." The Golden Heart martial soul remained constantly active, meaning that when he released his Heaven-Defying Demon Dragon martial soul, Golden Heart would also be active. He could use both martial souls simultaneously!

Only soul masters with twin martial souls knew just how incredible this was. Up to this point, not a single one had been able to use both martial souls at once. Even Sea God Tang San from ten thousand years ago had been unable to do so, according to the known records.

The soul master who truly made the soul master world recognize and witness the simultaneous use of twin martial souls was Huo Yuhao. He achieved this because he had cultivated yin-yang complementary dual soul cores and attained Dual-Soul Synchronization.

Yet Qin Xu could reach that state without yin-yang complementary dual soul cores. Such was the power of [Perpetual Engine]!

Only after a long while did he calm his surging emotions. The other two effects of [Perpetual Engine]—freedom from aging and fatigue, and extraordinary self-healing—were equally heaven-defying. But after its perpetual effect, neither could stir further waves in his heart.

[Everlasting Daylight Flame]—the third talent of Golden Heart!

First, among the five elements, the heart belonged to fire, and the heart was the dwelling place of light. Thus, Golden Heart possessed a special accompanying flame—Everlasting Daylight Flame. When your heart held light, it would grant you new power.

Second, Everlasting Daylight Flame was a flame of light. Thus, a god of light would cast a passing glance upon you.

Third, the Everlasting Daylight Flame was a flame of the heart. Thus, a god of light would protect your soul.

"This..."

Silence was Qin Xu's only reaction at that moment. Then, his newly calmed emotions erupted into towering waves.

A god of light!

Those simple words invited endless speculation. Qin Xu was certain that his Heart martial soul's mutation into the Golden Heart martial soul was absolutely connected to this "god of light."

Could it be the God of Light?

In his previous life, Qin Xu had ultimately died and reincarnated because he had been trapped in the Temple of Light, making the God of Light the most likely possibility. But could the Holy Demon Continent's God of Light really extend his dominion to the Douluo Continent? Or was this "god of light" actually the God of Light from the Douluo God Realm?

Qin Xu could not make sense of it and felt an urge to scratch his head and ears in frustration.

"Since things have come to this, I'll leave it at that for now," Qin Xu said optimistically, refusing to dwell on it.

That was simply the truth: what might be demanded of him fell far short of what the god had given him.

Time passed, and the daylight began to fade. Qin Xu stopped converting his innate soul power and left the Star-Appointing Platform with Zhang Lexuan.