Beast Spirit

Du Busi's lips twitched as he continued, "That senior spent an entire year completely eliminating the effects of the filth tainted by the soul beast's memories and soul."

"Afterward, I have to say, that senior was quite ruthless. To warn future generations against dabbling in such crooked methods, he even wrote down his experiences and feelings from that period in a diary and passed it specifically to every generation of Sect Leader."

"As for what it contained, your teacher can only say—"

"Utterly shocking!"

"That senior sacrificed greatly for the Sect and deserves to be remembered by future generations." Minghui offered his evaluation expressionlessly.

Anyone fierce enough to withstand that kind of social death truly deserved to be remembered!

"Teacher, may I ask that senior's name?" he asked instinctively.

"Gui Li," Du Busi replied.

? Was Ghost Douluo from the Douluo I era some relative of yours, Senior? Minghui thought, though his face showed only reverence.

"I have long admired your great name. This disciple will certainly remember it!"

Du Busi did not intend to continue the subject. He gave a light cough and said calmly, "Compared to complete Beast Souls, remnant souls do not have these issues."

"Remnant souls possess no intelligence or memories. They retain only the primitive instincts originating from the physical body."

"They can be fully absorbed by humans, especially after being nurtured by human aura."

"To that end, that senior specifically developed a Secret Art that used Soul Bones to transfer remnant souls. The Soul Bone served as their vessel, while its energy nurtured them, preventing them from dispersing and even allowing them to grow. As for human aura, once a Soul Bone is absorbed by a human, it naturally carries human aura."

"But even a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone could host only a limited number of remnant souls, and its energy was limited as well."

"If one pursued quantity, Soul Bones had a low drop rate, while slaughtering Soul Beasts on a large scale would offend the natural order. Under such circumstances, there was only one solution."

"Hunt Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts?" Minghui asked instinctively.

"Correct!" Du Busi nodded.

"The Sect sent many experts into the Star Dou Great Forest three thousand years ago and hunted seven Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in succession for precisely this reason. Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts always dropped Soul Bones upon death. Their quality was sufficient and their energy abundant, making them the best choice for housing and nurturing remnant souls."

"As for our Body Sect, Body Martial Souls are simply too rare, and there are few disciples to begin with."

"Thus, the remnant souls transferred when disciples hunted Ten Thousand Year Soul Beasts for Soul Rings in their daily lives were enough to meet our needs, with some left over. After all, Martial Souls cannot evolve without limit. Their upper limit also depends on the Martial Soul's own potential."

"Otherwise, there would be no distinction between the four awakening grades: Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold."

"In fact, Black Iron Grade is already the awakening limit for the vast majority of Sect disciples. At that awakening grade, absorbing one Beast Spirit is generally enough to complete the process."

"Yet the cultivation realms those disciples can reach afterward do not stop at Soul King. Therefore, every generation produces some excess remnant souls."

Minghui nodded slightly. "Disciples whose Martial Souls awaken to higher grades can cultivate to higher realms after completing their awakening, so they produce even more remnant souls. That offsets the amount consumed before."

"So there will still be some left over."

"Teacher, if we follow that logic..." He looked up and asked, "after three thousand years of accumulation, the number of remnant souls preserved by the Sect should be far greater than a few hundred, shouldn't it?"

"Oh, right, Teacher. You just mentioned Beast Spirits. What exactly are those?"

"A Beast Spirit is a special energy entity formed when a Soul Beast's remnant soul gathers Soul Bone energy and condenses a beastly body," Du Busi said.

Minghui froze, thoughts churning through his mind. Why did this sound so much like the operating principle of the Spirit Ascension Platform mentioned in the sequel, Douluo III?

Before Du Busi decided to self-destruct during the Douluo II era, he had passed the Secrets of the Body to Huo Yuhao. The Spirit Ascension Platform, meanwhile, had been developed by the Spirit Pagoda founded by Huo Yuhao.

Could this Spirit Ascension Platform have been an improved version based on the Body Sect's methods?

As he pondered, Du Busi suddenly straightened his back and said solemnly, "Hui'er, whenever one of our Body Sect ancestors cultivated to the realm of Titled Douluo and absorbed a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, they would force their lifetime of cultivation into that Soul Bone at the brink of death."

"Only Titled Douluo-level experts can accomplish this."

"And the reason for doing so is not merely that even Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones contain abundant energy. As the remnant souls housed within them steadily increase, the energy required to nurture them will also grow. Sooner or later, it will be exhausted."

"Therefore, it must be replenished in time."

"And most importantly, only when Soul Beast remnant souls are nurtured with Soul Power carrying human aura will they grow close to humans after becoming Beast Spirits and willingly allow themselves to be absorbed once defeated. The reason is that although these Beast Spirits become friendly toward humans after being nurtured by human aura, they still retain the pride of Soul Beasts. Unless they are defeated in a one-on-one battle, they will never submit."

"So that's how it is!" Minghui nodded solemnly.

Du Busi's expression also softened at that moment, though the pride in his eyes remained. "These were also discoveries made through Senior Gui Li's research. According to him, Martial Souls should be products derived from the combination of the human soul, Soul Power, and one's own Life Force."

"And the Soul Rings produced after Soul Beasts die happen to contain these things, which is why absorbing them strengthens Martial Souls. It was precisely because he realized this that he began researching Beast Spirits."

"And naturally, he succeeded."

"However, Beast Spirits are ultimately pure energy entities. They possess no life, so they cannot replace Soul Rings or strengthen their host's physical body. Furthermore, they cannot increase the host's cultivation in any way. They act only upon the Martial Soul, injecting the power of the soul into a Body Martial Soul while supplying energy to Soul Rings and increasing their age. The two advance together, forcibly breaking through the Martial Soul's shackles and driving its further evolution."

"This is also the principle behind how this Secret Art can induce a Body Martial Soul's Second Awakening. It can only affect Body Martial Souls because Body Martial Souls are parts of the human body. Humans and beasts are both animals, after all, and share common traits. Soul Beasts possess the organs humans have as well, though their forms differ."

"A genius idea!" Minghui commented.

"Indeed." Du Busi nodded. "However, the process still carries certain risks."

"Soul Rings are manageable. Once you feel saturated, you can stop. But as for the remnant souls within Beast Spirits, even if they are willing, the Spiritual Impact during absorption will still occur."

"After all, this thing is ultimately a Beast Soul."

Minghui nodded to show that he understood.

"Therefore, one's Spiritual Power must not be low if one wishes to undergo a Martial Soul's Second Awakening." Du Busi continued, "As for the Beast Spirit's strength, since it is formed from a remnant soul, the Beast Spirit it condenses is not particularly powerful."

"It is roughly one-tenth of its strength in life."

"In other words, the remnant soul of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast becomes a Beast Spirit with only the strength of a Thousand Year Soul Beast. Soul Elder cultivation is enough to handle it. However, the Spiritual Impact one must face is comparable to absorbing a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, since both are formed from remnant souls."

"Thus, under normal circumstances, Body Sect disciples must cultivate to Soul King before they are qualified to come here and undergo the Martial Soul Second Awakening ritual."

"Additionally, one must consider the Soul Skill attached to the Soul Ring."

"When absorbing Beast Spirit energy, one can choose exactly which Soul Ring's age to increase. Whichever Soul Ring you activate, the energy will flow into that Soul Ring."

"And Soul Ring age often corresponds to the effects of Soul Skills. The more energy there is, the greater the enhancement."

"Take your teacher, for example. My fifth Soul Ring is called Myriad Poison Golden Body. Once activated, it enhances all of my abilities, especially my physical strength. It was the Soul Skill that boosted my combat power the most in the early stages, and it was itself a Ten Thousand Year Soul Skill, making it especially worth strengthening."

"It was also one of the Soul Skills my predecessors invariably chose."

"Your teacher learned the effects of this Soul Skill early on, so naturally I waited until I had obtained it before coming to undergo the awakening ritual."

No wonder Teacher's first four Soul Rings were still yellow, yellow, purple, purple... Minghui nodded repeatedly as he listened.

"There is also the Martial Soul Avatar. Back then, your teacher was very fortunate to find an eighty-thousand-year Thousand Jin Ant Emperor."

"In terms of strength and defense, it was no weaker than a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. So I decisively chose to absorb its Soul Ring, then raised its age to one hundred thousand years by absorbing Beast Spirits after my Third Awakening."

"That is also the main reason why I can unleash several times my own combat power after using my abilities."

"Do not be fooled by the fact that your teacher's Soul Power is only Rank 98. In close combat, even against a Rank 99 Limit Douluo, I have nothing to fear." Du Busi spoke with great confidence.

"And as for why I was able to raise my Seventh Soul Ring to one hundred thousand years, that brings us to the question you just raised, Hui'er: why only several hundred Soul Beast remnant souls remain in the Sect today." Du Busi smiled.

"Hui'er, have you considered that even a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone has a limit to the number of remnant souls it can house? Not to mention that Body Martial Souls can undergo a Gold-Grade Third Awakening."

"Let the remnant souls Devour one another and cultivate stronger ones?" A flash of insight struck Minghui, and the words nearly flew from his mouth.

"Clever!" Du Busi nodded.

"After Silver-Grade Awakeners have attached all nine Soul Rings to their Martial Souls, they have a great chance of undergoing a Third Awakening. That also means they can absorb another Beast Spirit."

"At that time, they cannot possibly still absorb Thousand Year Beast Spirits like they did as children, can they? Defeating and absorbing them one by one would be a waste of time, wouldn't it?"

"That is true." Minghui nodded.

The original work did not explain the Body Sect's Secret Art in detail. The author is using the sequel as a reference for this extended setting, so everyone can just take it with a laugh. The result is the same anyway, as long as the protagonist receives the improvements he should have.

Also, the Soul Spirit created by Electrolux possesses life and is a special life-form. It cannot be compared to the lifeless Beast Spirits of the Body Sect.