Once Jiang Xia gave his confirmation, the research institute began its cross-species breeding research.
Han Tianyi also left Heaven Dou City.
He had to keep an eye on this emerging technology himself to eliminate any hidden dangers for Jiang Xia.
Just because the research institute said there was no danger did not necessarily mean there was none. A bunch of mad researchers might conceal the truth.
Han Tianyi's departure did not affect Jiang Xia's normal cultivation. He could still learn mecha design and mecha manufacturing from Mu Ye.
Another month passed, and Han Tianyi came to Heaven Dou City.
"The compatibility rate between Ice Silkworms and Evil Eyes reached 99.9%. Cross-species reproduction has already been achieved. Some of the resulting individuals are predominantly Ice Silkworm, while others are predominantly Evil Eye. But none of these individuals can reproduce further."
Jiang Xia had no objections to that.
What did a Soul Spirit need to reproduce for?
Being one of a kind was another kind of strength.
As for reproduction, once he became truly powerful, he could always find a solution.
Was passing on a drop of blood or a trace of bloodline not also a form of reproduction?
Back to the matter at hand.
"Among these individuals, those with the best aptitude aren't the offspring of purely spiritual-attribute Evil Eyes and Ice Silkworms. Instead, the offspring of Evil Eyes with both spiritual and fire attributes and Ice Silkworms are more outstanding."
Han Tianyi's words surprised Jiang Xia quite a bit.
The twin extremes of ice and fire?
The principle was easy to understand, but why not spiritual and ice?
Seeing Jiang Xia's surprise and confusion, Han Tianyi explained, "Because both their ice and fire attributes depend on their spiritual attribute. In the resulting individuals, the spiritual attribute naturally divides into two portions, one belonging to ice and the other to fire, so there's no direct conflict."
"But as they grow, the ice and fire attributes will inevitably clash. However, their spiritual attribute completely suppresses their ice and fire attributes. Not only that, the collisions between ice and fire actually temper their spiritual power, making it even stronger."
As Han Tianyi spoke, he marveled at it, his face also full of astonishment.
Even though he had known this already, explaining it to Jiang Xia still left him amazed.
This was the miracle of life.
"Without this cross-species reproduction technology, we probably never would have imagined that combining Evil Eyes and Ice Silkworms could produce individuals with even better aptitude."
In Han Tianyi's view, individuals produced by such a combination would surpass Evil Eyes, provided they did not explode from the collisions between ice and fire.
Jiang Xia looked thoughtful.
For Evil Eyes, more attributes meant worse aptitude. But if those split-off attributes could be reclaimed and fed back into the spiritual attribute, then the additional attributes would instead enhance their aptitude.
Ice Silkworms happened to bring that feedback mechanism with them.
"Teacher, are there any newborn individuals that have mastered Imitation and Spirit Detection?"
Han Tianyi said, "You can rest assured about that. I've kept emphasizing your original requirements, and they've taken them very seriously too. Their research found that most offspring that are predominantly Ice Silkworm can inherit these two Soul Skills, while offspring that are predominantly Evil Eye focus more on spiritual attacks."
"What you need is an Ice Silkworm's Imitation and Spirit Detection, and your Silkworm Dream Martial Soul isn't compatible with an Evil Eye's spiritual attacks, so the research institute also found that a pity. They've proposed a new research direction: having a single soul master fuse with two offspring Soul Spirits from breeding Ice Silkworms with Evil Eyes, one predominantly Evil Eye and the other predominantly Ice Silkworm."
"And the goal of this research is a Soul Spirit Fusion Skill."
A Soul Spirit Fusion Skill?
Jiang Xia had heard a new term that even he had never encountered.
"Naturally, there were projects researching Soul Spirit Fusion Skills before, but they all ended in failure. Even using the most common example of the White Tiger and Hell Civet Martial Souls fusing into the Hell White Tiger still ended in failure."
Failure?
Jiang Xia murmured inwardly, feeling that it might not necessarily have failed.
If this project could be restarted and Wu Siduo were given corresponding White Tiger and Hell Civet Soul Spirits, he wondered what the result would be...
Wu Siduo was an absolute genius of this era, with twin Martial Souls, White Tiger and Hell Civet, and mastery of a self-Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
At the same time, she also had the fastest cultivation speed among her peers.
Time continued to pass, and another three months went by in the blink of an eye.
Eight months had passed since Jiang Xia awakened his Martial Soul.
That day, Han Tianyi received a soul communicator call from the research institute early in the morning.
After ending the call, he looked at Jiang Xia's expectant face and nodded.
"Your Soul Spirit has finally been rolled."
Jiang Xia could not help clenching his fist tightly and pumping it in front of him.
After awakening his Martial Soul with innate full Soul Power, he had forced himself to hold back from absorbing a Soul Spirit for a full eight months.
He felt as though even his Martial Soul was demanding, Do you know how I've gotten through these eight months?
Now, at last, he had endured until dawn broke.
"You'll have to wait another two days. They need to perform spirit ascension on your Soul Spirit. Xiao Ye and I examined your physical condition before. You should be able to withstand the impact of a fifteen-hundred-year soul ring."
Jiang Xia nodded.
He had already waited eight months. Could he really not endure these two days?
Yet over the next two days, he experienced what it meant to toss and turn restlessly.
If his daily cultivation schedule had not been so packed that he had little time to think, he reckoned he would have felt even worse.
Still, after that dull, tedious wait, he finally received his first Soul Spirit.
Han Tianyi personally traveled to the research institute in Shrek City and brought this top-quality Ice Silkworm Soul Spirit, which had taken eight months to roll, to the Blacksmith's Association headquarters.
Jiang Xia now held a Soul Spirit orb in his hand. Inside it, an Ice Silkworm slept quietly.
Its outer shell was snow-white, and its entire body was crystalline and translucent, allowing him to see inside. Unlike its snow-white shell, its interior was fiery red, like flowing lava.
Most unusual of all, there was a vertical eye between this Ice Silkworm's brows. Black-and-red markings spread outward around the eye like individual tentacles.
As Jiang Xia carefully examined his Ice Silkworm Soul Spirit, he liked it more and more.
Compared with a simply cute, dopey Ice Silkworm, his looked much cooler.
Of course, calling it an Ice Silkworm now was actually somewhat inappropriate.
"This is your Soul Spirit. You can name it."
The research institute naturally had many more individuals born from such combinations of Evil Eyes and Ice Silkworms. They had not been named yet because this project had originally stemmed from Han Tianyi's request, so the naming rights had been given to him.
Han Tianyi naturally passed them on to Jiang Xia.
Hearing this, Jiang Xia carefully examined his Ice Silkworm Soul Spirit that was not quite an Ice Silkworm.
"Three-Eyed Evil Silkworm?"
"Ice Fire Silkworm?"
"Ice Fire Three-Eyed Silkworm?"
Jiang Xia looked a little conflicted, unsure what to name it.
Listening to Jiang Xia mutter one name after another, the corner of Han Tianyi's mouth twitched slightly.
These names were all plain and unadorned.
Names based on its features.
"Names are so hard to come up with."
Jiang Xia continued examining the baby silkworm in the Soul Spirit orb, still pondering a more fitting name.