The Soul Spirit Method

Yu Xiaogang's mind jolted.

The Soul Spirit Method?

He had actually obtained the Soul Spirit Method!

This was a technique Huo Yuhao had only succeeded in creating with Electrolux's help ten thousand years later.

Electrolux had researched the core principles of the Soul Spirit Method, and Huo Yuhao had refined and popularized it as an alternative to the traditional practice of hunting Soul Beasts for Soul Rings. He had later even established the Spirit Pagoda on this foundation, influencing an entire era.

He stood where he was as vast amounts of information about the Soul Spirit Method flooded his mind, including contract runes, soul communication, how the Sea of Consciousness housed Soul Spirits, and the laws of symbiosis between Soul Spirits and their hosts...

Every piece of information was clear and complete, like a tome engraved upon his soul.

The traditional method of cultivation for Soul Masters was simple and brutal.

To advance, a Soul Master had to kill a Soul Beast and seize its power to turn it into a Soul Ring.

When a Soul Beast died, its soul dissipated, leaving behind nothing but the remnants of its energy.

This plundering form of cultivation had continued for tens of thousands of years, causing the number of high-level Soul Beasts to dwindle and the conflict between humans and Soul Beasts to grow ever sharper.

The core principles of the Soul Spirit Method were entirely different.

There was no need to kill Soul Beasts.

It required a Soul Beast to willingly enter into a soul contract with a Soul Master.

The Soul Beast did not have to die. It retained its complete consciousness, memories, and intelligence, becoming a Soul Spirit and residing within the Soul Master's Sea of Consciousness.

Soul Spirits could still provide Soul Masters with Soul Rings and Soul Skills, and could even grow alongside their Soul Masters, becoming stronger together.

Soul Spirits could also be recovered after their Soul Masters died, amounting to a form of immortality. As time passed, Soul Masters' need for living Soul Beasts would continue to diminish.

The contract was a two-way symbiosis, not mere plunder.

If the Soul Spirit Method could be popularized, it would undoubtedly be a good deed of boundless merit, capable of fundamentally easing the conflict between humans and Soul Beasts that had persisted for tens of thousands of years.

But Yu Xiaogang quickly calmed down again.

He remembered the Soul Beast Clan's plight in the era of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King. The Soul Spirit Method had originally been born to protect the Soul Beast Clan and ease its relationship with humanity, but it had later become the fuse that ignited the clan's destruction.

With Soul Spirits, human Soul Masters no longer even needed living Soul Beasts.

Since they no longer needed Soul Beasts, there was naturally no need to protect them.

Coupled with the explosive development of soul guidance technology, humanity's strength had surpassed the Soul Beast Clan's in every respect. The final result was that humans had driven Soul Beasts to the brink of extinction.

Standing beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Yu Xiaogang's thoughts raced like lightning.

The Soul Spirit Method had to be spread, but not blindly.

Strict restrictions had to be imposed, and the manner and pace of its introduction had to be carefully considered. Otherwise, the Soul Beast Clan's fate would likely be no different from that of the other timeline.

"Xiaogang? Xiaogang?"

Liu Erlong's voice pulled him out of his contemplation.

Yu Xiaogang blinked and realized he had been lost in thought for quite some time. All three of them were looking at him.

"What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"

Liu Erlong tilted her head as she looked at him.

"Nothing."

Yu Xiaogang gathered his thoughts and smiled.

"I was just thinking about a few things."

There was no need to rush the matter of the Soul Spirit Method.

Even if Yu Xiaogang wanted to popularize it now, he could not. Setting aside the extensive practical testing this system still required, the backing and channels needed to spread it were a major problem in themselves.

To popularize the Soul Spirit Method, he would need the approval of both Soul Beasts and humans.

On the human side, the strongest organization was unquestionably Spirit Hall.

Given his relationship... with Bibi Dong, things would go much more smoothly if he could gain Spirit Hall's support and endorsement.

As for the Soul Beasts... at this point in time, he did not know whether Beast God Di Tian, who slumbered in the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest, was awake yet.

And then there was Dong'er.

Standing beside the spring, Yu Xiaogang watched the white mist rise, his thoughts involuntarily drifting into the distance.

He owed her an apology.

Back then, Dong'er... had broken up with him to protect him.

That stubborn girl had shouldered everything alone, pushing him away to keep him far from the whirlpools she could not bear to have him face.

Yet he had not known the truth and had even resented her for so many years.

In the original story, Bibi Dong had still loved him, even at the very last moment.

But he had known nothing and had never managed to say anything in time.

At that thought, Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists, something gently stirring a corner of his heart.

It looks like I'll have to make a trip to Spirit City someday.

With matters at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well settled for the time being, everyone packed up and returned to Heaven Dou City.

Although the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in this valley was astonishingly abundant, that was precisely the problem. The energy was too violent and concentrated for human Soul Masters to stay there for long; remaining too long could instead easily throw their meridians into disorder.

After returning to Blue Tyrant Academy, his days suddenly became full.

With nearly two months left of Nuoding Academy's vacation, Yu Xiaogang settled down in Heaven Dou City without worry.

Since Dugu Yan had already become his disciple, she simply chose to complete the transfer procedures and moved from Heaven Dou Advanced Soul Master Academy to Blue Tyrant Academy.

After getting settled, the first thing Yu Xiaogang did was take Dugu Yan to obtain her third Soul Ring.

They ultimately chose a Dragon Iron Rhinoceros a little over twenty-three hundred years old, with extremely strong defenses and a trace of residual Dragon Clan bloodline.

The absorption went smoothly.

At just fourteen years old, Dugu Yan had broken through to become a rank thirty-five Soul Elder. With the medicinal power of an immortal herb bolstering her, her foundations were solid, far surpassing those of her peers.

Her third Soul Skill, "Jade-Scale Heavenly Dipper Shield," was also quite practical, allowing her to form a jade-green shield of scale armor around her body with considerable defensive strength.

Yu Xiaogang did not remain idle in the days that followed, either.

Just as he had once taught Tang San and Xiao Wu, he passed all of the Six Styles on to Dugu Yan.

Liu Erlong naturally learned them as well. She already possessed the strength of a Soul Saint, and her foundations were far more solid than those of children like Tang San. She progressed through the Six Styles at a tremendous pace, grasping the essentials of Shave and Iron Block in fewer than ten days and developing a respectable Finger Pistol as well.

Yu Xiaogang could not help marveling that high-level Soul Masters truly achieved twice the results with half the effort when learning these moves.

"Xiaogang, these are the Six Styles you created?"

After watching Yu Xiaogang use Shave and land steadily, Liu Erlong's eyes were filled with astonishment.

"What powerful Self-Created Soul Skills! They don't depend on any particular Martial Soul at all. Anyone can practice them."

Dugu Bo was also watching from the side, and even he could not help praising them. "To think these are Self-Created Soul Skills that don't rely on Martial Souls at all. If word of your Six Styles spread, who knows how many organizations on the continent would go mad over them, especially those support system sects."

Yu Xiaogang understood what he meant.

Support system Soul Masters had always lacked combat ability, while the Six Styles required no particular Martial Soul. Anyone with access to the training methods could practice them, including support system Soul Masters.

This amounted to opening an entirely new path of combat for every single support system Soul Master.

"I only pass these Six Styles down within my own teaching lineage."

Yu Xiaogang smiled. "Anyone else who wants to learn can forget it. But if you'd like to learn, Senior Dugu, I could teach you."

"Oh?"

Dugu Bo raised an eyebrow.

"I can learn them too?"

"Heh, of course you're different, Senior Dugu."

Yu Xiaogang smiled.

"But you can't pass them on after learning them."

"Hahahaha, rest assured!"

Dugu Bo clapped his large hands together.

"I absolutely won't pass them on!"

He had always been renowned for his poison techniques and was a typical control system Soul Master. Close combat was his weakness.

If he could master the Six Styles, his combat strength would surely increase greatly, and the gaps in his fighting abilities would be substantially filled.

At that thought, the look Dugu Bo gave Yu Xiaogang grew even more eager.

Standing to the side, Liu Erlong saw how generous Yu Xiaogang was being toward Dugu Bo. With her hands on her hips, she sidled over and rubbed against him with a beaming smile. "Hehe, Xiaogang, I'm not your disciple, you know~"

Yu Xiaogang rolled his eyes and raised a hand to rub the top of her head. "Isn't what's mine yours too?"

Liu Erlong's face flushed red in an instant. Although she was no longer a girl in the springtime of youth, before Yu Xiaogang, she was forever just as she had been back then.

Dugu Bo tactfully turned away, while Dugu Yan covered her mouth and giggled at the side. "Teacher and his wife really do have such a good relationship."