However, Zhang Ming's breakthrough was very different from that of the Flamehorn Race.
The Flame-Horned People relied primarily on the "Flame-Horn Breathing Technique."
Zhang Ming, on the other hand, relied primarily on his innate talent, [Attribute Conversion].
Though the two methods achieved similar results, their details differed enormously.
Simply put, once stripped down to its essentials, the Flame-Horn Breathing Technique contained only about ten percent of the Black Tortoise Breathing Technique's essence.
As a higher-order ability, [Attribute Conversion] offered greater compatibility and potential than a "Breathing Technique."
As his [Physique] continued to rise, the pathways of the Spirit surging through his body gradually began to shift.
"Strength Burst" was being steadily absorbed and integrated.
A mysterious sense of enlightenment welled up within him.
At that moment, Zhang Ming vaguely sensed his own "soul"!
He actually felt as though his soul had left his body. It was like a lucid dream: he was extraordinarily clearheaded, and his perception had improved so dramatically that he could even "see" the contractions of his muscle cells!
Modern science seemed unable to determine whether humans truly had souls. It was more of a religious concept. Some claimed experiments had proven that the soul weighed twenty-one grams; others believed that experiment was completely flawed.
Now, Zhang Ming had sensed the existence of a "soul"...
The answer was starkly abstract, like a mathematical formula, difficult to describe in ordinary words. Put in the simplest possible terms, the "soul" was the "self."
Who was I, and what made me myself? In the first century AD, the philosopher Plutarch posed a question: if the wood in Theseus's ship was gradually replaced until none of the original wood remained, was it still the same ship?
The same paradox applied to human beings.
Most of the body's cells were replaced within