Su Yuan had no objections to Wang Xian'er's arrangements. On the contrary, he readily followed her guidance, committing every sentence-even every word-to heart.
A veteran's experience might not always be entirely correct, but there was bound to be sound reasoning behind it.
Moreover, while Wang Xian'er's guidance might not suit ordinary Soul Masters, it certainly suited geniuses.
The best example was none other than Long Aotian of the Body Sect.
That bastard, whose very name practically screamed king of the show-offs, truly embodied the word genius to its fullest.
Unlike Xiao Hongchen, he had not squandered his potential by popping pills, nor had he used Evil Soul Master methods to slaughter others and grow stronger like Tang Ya and Yan Feng. Yet he had become a Soul Saint before the age of twenty, and had even grasped the profound principle of unity between man and heaven, something only Super Douluos normally comprehended.
Only someone with an extraordinarily deep understanding of the power of heaven and earth, along with exceptional understanding and control of their own martial soul, could achieve such a thing.
Countless Titled Douluos were stuck at this step, unable to break through to Super Douluo for their entire lives.
Under Du Busi's guidance, Long Aotian might already have embarked on the path of comprehending his martial soul when he had only two rings, or even one.
That was the true cultivation path of a genius.
Then there was Huo Yuhao.
He had started out with nothing but a haphazard approach. He had neither the Body Sect's secret cultivation methods for body martial souls, nor a proper method for cultivating ultimate ice from that bunch of clueless fools at Shrek.
How had he cultivated?
His body martial soul's second awakening had come from eating the immortal herb Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew. He had never undergone any process of unearthing his martial soul's potential, instead relying entirely on the immortal herb, gold of life, and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's origin power to make a brick fly through sheer force.
Then there was the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. His ultimate ice soul power brutally suppressed his cultivation speed, leaving him crawling forward like a tortoise. He had no understanding of the ice attribute, relying entirely on the wheelchair soul skills supplied by the Ice Empress and Snow Empress to bulldoze his way through with raw stats.
He had not even come to understand the essence of ice until he entered the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Cave and received the Snow Empress's instruction.
Before that, what the hell had he known?
The only self-created soul skill he developed, Haodong's Three Absolutes, had not only become synonymous with memes and mockery, but was also a patchwork of Mu En's Sovereign's Arrival and the Snow Empress's Three Absolutes. There was barely anything of his own in it.
Granted, with all his advantages and cheats, Huo Yuhao really could afford not to care about martial soul comprehension or self-created soul skills. His raw stats alone could let him roll his wheelchair right over Long Aotian's face.
But anyone with even a little ambition, even a little of a powerhouse's spirit, would never willingly rely solely on the strength of others.
Wasn't there a saying?
The weak borrowed strength from outside; the strong unearthed it within themselves!
Only one's own strength was the greatest!
Sometimes, Su Yuan even regretted not having a body martial soul, leaving him unable to follow the Body Sect's path of pushing his own potential to the limit and shattering all techniques with his body alone.
Su Yuan had nothing against self-created soul skills.
He was no ordinary Soul Master, after all. He, too, came equipped with a whole set of wheelchair cheats. Even without cultivating, he could become a God King in twenty-two years, so he had plenty of time to develop self-created soul skills.
Still, he had some self-awareness and knew his own talent very well.
His cultivation speed might indeed keep pace with the top tier, but his martial soul was certainly on the weaker side for now, and his comprehension and creative talent could not compare to those buffed-up cheat users.
Su Yuan did not expect to comprehend unity between man and heaven early on through his own insight like Long Aotian.
But learning more about his martial soul and improving his control over soul power certainly could not hurt.
Over nearly half a month, Su Yuan consumed enormous quantities of resources. All three meals each day consisted of top-grade medicinal dishes, supplemented by various spiritual herbs and medicinal baths. His daily expenditure could only be described as astronomical.
His cultivation tasks were also exceptionally grueling. Every day, he squeezed his stamina and soul power to their limits, fully drawing out his potential.
Comprehending a martial soul and finely controlling soul power were not things that could be accomplished simply by sitting in meditation.
Much as the Body Sect trained body martial souls, Wang Xian'er took Su Yuan into all sorts of harsh environments across the Star Luo Empire.
There were boundless deserts like the Far Western Wasteland, where even a few drops of water were hard to find, and natural training grounds like the South Sea Volcanic Islands, which combined the two high-pressure environments of volcanoes and the deep sea.
She even flew him to altitudes above five or six thousand meters, placing him amid the thin air and bitter cold of the extreme heights.
At such times, Wang Xian'er showed no mercy whatsoever.
No matter how much her heart ached or how reluctant she felt, she still carried out the training plan to the letter. Only after pushing Su Yuan's potential to its limit did she stop subjecting him to the tempering of those extreme environments.
Only by pushing his body to its limits could those precious medicines, medicinal meals, and medicinal baths have their greatest effect.
Being gentle and going easy on Su Yuan during training would not be doing him a favor. It would be harming him, and failing in her responsibility toward him.
Although this training was brutal, it was undeniably effective.
In just half a month, Su Yuan rose another level, reaching rank thirty-four. During his training, he also completely fused with the Ice Bear left palm bone, until the two were one.
Beyond that, his understanding of his Frost Dragon martial soul also reached a very high level.
Under extreme pressure, Soul Masters could more easily form a close connection with their martial souls and comprehend profound principles they would ordinarily never discover within them.
Martial souls possessed spirituality. When a Soul Master faced intense pressure or danger, their martial soul would instinctively "fight for its life" as well.
That was also why many Soul Masters gained insights during battles to the death and advanced further as a result.
With his current understanding of the Frost Dragon, Su Yuan could even perform partial-body Dragon Transformation, just like the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Masters in Douluo I.
Since he had trained for only half a month, Su Yuan could currently transform only his arms into dragon claws. He could not yet transform any other parts of his body.
That was already extraordinary, because it meant Su Yuan had successfully unearthed the dragon bloodline within him. Through his martial soul, he could indirectly awaken his dragon blood and cause his body to display draconic traits.
What ordinary Dragon Soul Master had that kind of ability?
Even Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Masters had to master Dragon Transformation through sustained effort and increasing their cultivation.
If he encountered an Ice Bear again, Su Yuan could pin it to the ground and grind it into the dirt with Dragon Transformation alone.
After he developed Dragon Transformation, even his Frost Dragon martial soul grew somewhat stronger. Its dragon bloodline became richer and purer, showing every sign of evolving from an earth dragon toward a lesser dragon.
Fine control over his soul power also allowed Su Yuan to use his soul skills more freely and bring out greater power from them.
The most obvious improvement was in his newly acquired third soul skill: Ice Dragon Annihilation Breath.
This soul skill had always placed considerable demands on his control over soul power.
To make the breath reach farther, he needed highly condensed soul power. To make it spread wider, he needed to disperse his soul power evenly.
Now, Su Yuan could also precisely control the intensity of the cold within his breath and the strength of its annihilation power.
After nearly half a month, Su Yuan truly understood just how vast the difference was between systematic, tailored training and growing wild through a haphazard approach. They were not even remotely the same thing.
Before you continue