The Azure Emperor Spirit-Calming Art was extremely difficult to cultivate. Its circulation route not only passed through three important nodes-the upper, middle, and lower dantians-but also required mental power to sort the Five Elements Attribute power absorbed into the body. These five kinds of power then had to be guided into the lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, and spleen to form condensed Soul Power cores similar to Soul Cores.
It looked difficult, and practicing it was indeed no simple matter.
The first step, drawing mental power out of the upper dantian's Niwan Palace and sensing the free-floating power the art absorbed from the outside world, went fairly smoothly for Lu Chen. He completed it in just five minutes, but problems arose during the second step.
The heart was the first of the five organs, governing consciousness and blood vessels and housing innate spirit.
For the art to circulate smoothly, Lu Chen had to use his mental power to carry the absorbed power into his heart, expel everything other than the fire attribute, and guide it toward the second important node-the middle dantian's Jiang Palace.
During this process, condensing the fire soul core and guiding the remaining power farther downward had to happen simultaneously. A problem with either would render all his previous efforts worthless.
And this was the most difficult step in the entire cultivation process.
Lu Chen suffered quite a bit when he first tried it. Although the Azure Dragon was innately endowed with a fairly strong fire attribute, it was not an ultimate one. Thus, his control over fire-attribute power was far from being as effortless as moving his own limbs. The slightest lapse in his mental stability let him savor the exquisite agony of flames consuming his body, and naturally, his cultivation did not go smoothly.
But after repeated attempts, he finally found the trick—the Divine Attribute!
Releasing his Azure Dragon and Spirit-Suppressing Spear Martial Souls simultaneously, Lu Chen sat cross-legged on the bed, the spear laid across his knees and a winding azure dragon silhouette hovering behind him. A sacred, majestic presence continuously flowed from both Martial Souls into his body.
Suppressed by the Divine Attribute, the once unruly fire-attribute power seemed to change its personality instantly, transforming from a brat who called Lu Chen small fry and lashed out with punches and kicks at the drop of a hat into a sweet, meek girl he could push around. It assumed whatever posture Lu Chen willed, and he finally succeeded in condensing his first crimson fire soul core.
"Phew~"
He let out a long, heated breath. By now, over an hour had passed since he began cultivating.
Although plenty had gone wrong along the way, the results were gratifying. He had cleared the hardest hurdle: the fire soul core had formed, and his circulating Soul Power had passed through the Jiang Palace. All that remained was to copy the cat to draw the tiger, following the same method to condense the four cores of lung metal, liver wood, spleen earth, and kidney water, then guide his Soul Power to the lower dantian's Qihai. At that point, essence, Qi, and spirit would all be in place, the five elements would flow, and the cycle would sustain itself.
Four hours later, dawn was breaking outside when Lu Chen suddenly shuddered all over as he sat cross-legged on the bed. Large amounts of sticky, mottled grime then emerged from all over his body, accompanied by an indescribable smell, fouling the bedding beneath him in moments.
Lu Chen opened his eyes, two gleams of light shooting from his pupils. Though he looked a mess, he showed not the slightest fatigue after a night of cultivation. His face held only indescribable ecstasy.
[Congratulations, host, on completing the exclusive mission-First cultivation.] [You have received the exclusive mission rewards: Pure Enhancement Title—Azure Emperor Spirit-Calming · Copper (forcibly activates the domain's base effects, Soul Power cultivation speed +10%, Soul Power consumption -10%, Soul Skill activation time -10%, Soul Skill effects +10%; can be upgraded by completing title missions.) Martial Soul Synchronizer: Allows simultaneous use of Twin Martial Souls. Bloodline Soul Ring: A Soul Ring condensed from the host's bloodline power. Its age will increase as the host's physical tolerance improves. Fortune Points: 2,000]
"System Sis, show the Martial Soul panel."
[Your Martial Soul panel has been displayed.] [Host: Lu Chen] [Soul Power: 10] [Martial Soul 1: Azure Dragon "+"] [Martial Soul 2: Spirit-Suppressing Spear "+"] [You have a new Bloodline Soul Ring available to condense. The Bloodline Soul Ring's age will increase as the host's physical tolerance improves.]
Good news: I have an adaptive Soul Ring!
Bad news: am I still human?
After a token moment of agonizing over it, Lu Chen figured it out. His Azure Dragon bloodline came from Huaxia in his previous life. He was a descendant of the dragon, instructed by a true dragon, and not even the same species as the local Soul Beasts.
According to System Sis, in terms of Martial Soul rank alone, even if the one recuperating in the Star Dou Great Forest glared until their eyes went blind, it would amount to no more than a gentle breeze brushing his face.
Those shattered Plane Spirits serving as the system's intelligence really were far too shrewd. They had picked a transmigrator like him, giving him not only twin God-level Martial Souls with ultimate attributes, but even Martial Soul types that were true dragon grandpas please enter text, letting him gobble up every version's perks in one go.
After washing up, he ignored System Sis's tearful reaction image and tossed the filthy bedding straight into the system space.
Once properly dressed, Lu Chen checked the time and knocked on Lu Yun's door.
Elderly people needed little sleep to begin with. Lu Yun was already up, writing a letter to his younger brother, mainly about Xiao Wu and the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast bodyguard who might be lurking in the shadows.
This was not the later era of inflated combat power. There were only so many known Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, and given Lu Tian's position in Spirit Hall, there was a good chance he could uncover Xiao Wu's background.
Knock, knock, knock~
"Grandpa, are you awake?" Lu Chen's voice came from outside.
Lu Tian answered as he walked over and opened the door.
"Xiao Chen, did you need something?"
As he spoke, the old man did not forget to cast a meaningful glance toward the guest room. His meaning was obvious: why wasn't the brat working on his grand plan to win over a Soul Beast instead of coming to bother an old man so early in the morning?
Lu Chen rolled his eyes. Ever since the ceiling on his cultivation disappeared, the old geezer's personality seemed to have grown increasingly cheerful over these past few years.
"Just a little something."
"Go ahead."
"I'm going to condense a Soul Ring."
"..."
After staring at Lu Chen for a while, Lu Yun said in a faintly plaintive voice, "So you've finally decided to live as a Soul Beast? Is it too late for your grandpa to put righteousness above family and take you down?"
Lu Chen hurriedly told him not to. Getting branded a transformed Soul Beast would be trouble.
Lu Chen explained, "I just tried cultivating last night and accidentally caused my two Martial Souls to resonate. Most likely, I'll only be able to condense the First Soul Ring myself."
At Lu Chen's words, Lu Yun, who had only been joking, turned serious. "Is there a Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"
Throughout the history of the Soul Master World, over ninety percent of cases involving resonance between Martial Souls had signified the emergence of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
"There's no sign of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill yet." Lu Chen shook his head and said,
"I just felt both Martial Souls grow stronger after they resonated. Then the thought that I could condense a Soul Ring appeared in my mind. To be safe, I came to tell you first, Grandpa."
Lu Yun nodded in gratification. His precious grandson's caution certainly deserved praise.
From beginning to end, Lu Yun showed not the slightest ill will toward Lu Chen condensing his own Soul Ring, something completely beyond the bounds of humanity.
A close-family affection score of 100 really was absolute.
Looking toward the guest room again, Lu Yun asked,
"You want to deliberately let her see you condense a Soul Ring?"
As a rank-forty-one Soul Ancestor, Lu Yun had no ability to conceal the Soul Power fluctuations produced by a Soul Ring. In other words, Lu Chen's condensation of a Soul Ring would inevitably attract Xiao Wu's attention.
From Lu Yun's perspective, Lu Chen might be trying to deliberately mislead her this way. Ideally, he could make Xiao Wu consider him one of her own kind; failing that, he could still greatly increase their closeness.
Lu Chen did indeed have that intention. As the female lead, Xiao Wu was involved in almost every crucial event node concerning Tang San in the original worldline, while he had to maintain those nodes even as he drastically altered the events-
That meant having the right people at the right place and time, but with something different from the original worldline happening. Given the extent of Extraterrestrial Tang San's monitoring, as long as he confirmed the right people appeared in the right places, he would not specifically divert his attention to closely investigate a world whose storyline had only just begun.
Under these circumstances, Xiao Wu's importance went without saying.
Scores above 70 fell within the special affection range, corresponding to an extremely intimate relationship. Xiao Wu was currently at 69, just one final kick away from an affection score of 70.
Naturally, Lu Chen would seize every opportunity to score.
With no bed available, and worried there might be another impurity-expelling stage after condensing the Soul Ring, Lu Chen declined Lu Yun's offer to give up his own bed out of concern for his grandson and simply sat on the floor of his room.
Soul Masters often slept outdoors while hunting Soul Beasts. He could consider it getting used to that in advance.
[Today, I'm going to condense a Bloodline Soul Ring.]
The Notebook suddenly updated, startling awake everyone who had stayed up late last night and had only recently fallen asleep.
[Netherworld, Spirit Cat, Angel, Little Princess... have completed today's check-in.] [Netherworld: @Xiao Wu, ?] [Spirit Cat: @Xiao Wu, ?] [Angel: @Xiao Wu, ?] [Little Princess: @Xiao Wu, stop sleeping! Hurry outside and look at an immortal!]
In the guest room, Xiao Wu was finally forced to boot up by the group members' repeated tags. Rubbing her eyes, she saw the baffling sentence in the Notebook.
Xiao Wu: ???
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