In the end, Jiang Xia still failed to come up with a decent name.
Han Tianyi said, "Just call it the Ice Fire Silkworm. Simple and direct. With a mutated Martial Soul like this, it should undergo further changes as you raise its spirit level in the future."
Jiang Xia nodded and stopped dwelling on the question of a more complicated name.
He looked at the Soul Spirit orb in his hand, took a deep breath, and injected Soul Power into it.
As Soul Power flowed in, the core array on the Soul Spirit orb began operating, linking his mind to that of the Ice Fire Silkworm inside.
Their spiritual power resonated.
At the same time, Jiang Xia also used his Broken Dream Martial Soul to connect with Han Tianyi.
The Ice Fire Silkworm Soul Spirit turned into a streak of white light streaked with fiery red and merged into the space between Jiang Xia's brows.
Jiang Xia took the opportunity to sit cross-legged and began refining the Soul Spirit.
The fusion went smoothly.
Han Tianyi's spiritual power was now at the advanced Spirit Domain Realm, even surpassing that of many Limit Douluos.
He did not need to use his own spiritual power to link directly with Jiang Xia. He only needed to construct an illusion and merge it into Jiang Xia's Martial Soul to support Jiang Xia's spiritual power.
Jiang Xia's spiritual power was now in the late Spirit Origin Realm, very close to the Spirit Connection Realm.
According to Han Tianyi's estimate, under the stimulation of a thousand-year Soul Spirit, Jiang Xia's spiritual power could very well break straight through to the Spirit Connection Realm.
After all, this thousand-year Soul Spirit exceeded what Jiang Xia could normally handle. But by completing the fusion through special means, the Soul Spirit would also stimulate his spiritual power to a certain extent, causing it to soar.
Soon, a purple ring of light emerged from Jiang Xia's body, encircling him.
The purple ring slowly settled beside him, bobbing gently up and down.
Its brilliant purple radiance was so dazzling and noble.
Opening his eyes, Jiang Xia's gaze flashed with satisfaction.
"First Soul Skill, Illusory Dream Imitation."
Besides possessing the effects of the Ice Silkworm's original Imitation Soul Skill, it also gained the ability to replicate.
The Ice Silkworm's original Imitation effect altered the propagation of light outside the body to achieve imitation.
But the Illusory Dream Imitation Jiang Xia had obtained could not only alter the propagation of light outside his body to achieve imitation, it could also perform replication-like imitation within dreams. It imitated things at the level of their fundamental principles!
Jiang Xia told the three of them about the Soul Skill's effects and remarked, "It looks like the Evil Eye's genes greatly enhanced the Ice Silkworm's abilities."
Han Tianyi added, "It could also be that your Martial Soul itself possessed that potential."
Mu Ye said, "That's right. The Soul Skill a soul ring ultimately provides a Soul Master isn't selected entirely from the soul beast's repertoire of Soul Skills. It also depends on the abilities of the Soul Master's Martial Soul."
Jiang Xia nodded. He had anticipated this as well.
To absorb an Ice Silkworm's Soul Skill, he needed to understand this in the first place. He had also recognized beforehand that his Martial Soul had potential in this area and could guide the effects of the Soul Skill. Otherwise, choosing an Ice Silkworm Soul Spirit from the outset would have been a mistake.
Eight months after awakening his Martial Soul, Jiang Xia finally obtained his first soul ring and could not resist testing it repeatedly.
It required no technique whatsoever.
Compared to forging, mecha design, and mecha manufacturing, this soul ring's Soul Skill felt innate, as though it had been engraved into his genes and become his natural talent.
He only needed to activate the soul ring to use the Soul Skill.
Moreover, his basic mastery of the Soul Skill had reached a level of at least sixty out of a hundred.
And so, under the gazes of Han Tianyi and the other two, Jiang Xia slowly vanished from where he stood.
Then he reappeared, and soul rings began materializing outside his body. What should have been a single purple soul ring had now turned blood-red.
After it emerged, more than a dozen additional red soul rings gradually appeared.
Watching this scene, Han Tianyi was somewhat speechless.
But in the next instant, his expression shifted slightly.
"What's going on?"
In his perception, the presence of these hundred-thousand-year soul rings became utterly real, as though savage beasts from the primordial wilderness were truly unleashing surging pressure.
Jiang Xia said, "I imitated the presence of your soul rings."
It was not as though he had never seen the hundred-thousand-year soul rings of Han Tianyi and the others over these past eight months.
He had recorded the presence of these soul rings.
While constructing dreams, he had also tried many times to replicate and construct that presence, but every attempt had ended in failure.
Now I have Illusory Dream Imitation. Within his dreams, he had finally succeeded in imitating that presence.
The presence imitated within Broken Dream, combined with the outward appearance of hundred-thousand-year soul rings in the outside world.
Jiang Xia had imitated genuine hundred-thousand-year soul rings.
Of course, they were still only an outward facade.
He did not even understand the principles of the Soul Skills within them, so he could not replicate them at all.
Yet this was a good beginning, the foundation for his dreams to turn from illusion into reality in the future.
"What level is your Soul Power now?"
Mu Ye was more concerned about this.
Over these eight months, Jiang Xia had eaten quite a lot of his good stuff.
"Level nineteen. Hehe."
Sensing his own Soul Power, Jiang Xia could not help chuckling.
How could he have reached level nineteen in eight months by absorbing a Soul Spirit normally and then cultivating?
Instead, after coming to the Blacksmith's Association headquarters, he had feasted on fish and meat every day, all top-grade ingredients brimming with vital Qi. Not only was his physique being nourished, his Soul Power had also advanced by leaps and bounds.
Of course, such speed certainly could not be replicated.
"Level nineteen..."
Mu Ye looked a little worried.
Jiang Xia's Ice Fire Silkworm Soul Spirit had undergone spirit ascension according to what his body could withstand, and now had fifteen hundred years of cultivation.
With the restriction of having only one ring gone, Jiang Xia's physique would undergo explosive growth, but it would still fall short of immediately withstanding another fifteen-hundred-year soul ring.
Reaching level nineteen directly meant that Jiang Xia was not far from absorbing his second soul ring.
Mu Ye raised his head and glanced at Han Tianyi.
At that moment, Han Tianyi also looked over and smiled.
"Xiao Ye, we'll still have to rely on you from here."
Mu Ye's expression turned bitter.
Why did I have to empty my pockets for my martial uncle to raise his disciple?
Of course, he was only grumbling inwardly. Over these eight months, Mu Ye had also taught Jiang Xia the two secondary professions of mecha design and mecha manufacturing.
They could be considered master and disciple in practice as well.
He felt no resistance at all toward nurturing Jiang Xia.
On the contrary, he was very willing.
That was because the talent Jiang Xia displayed in mecha design and mecha manufacturing amazed him.
And those results had come without the assistance of the Broken Dream Martial Soul.
Just hold on for a few more years.
Gritting his teeth, Mu Ye headed to the kitchen to prepare the day's meals.
In the blink of an eye, another three months passed.
It had not yet been a full year since Jiang Xia awakened his Martial Soul.
Yet he had now reached level twenty-one.
Yes, just today, he had broken through to level twenty and then directly fused with the Ice Fire Silkworm's second soul ring.
And the second Soul Skill the Ice Fire Silkworm provided was exactly what he had expected: Spirit Detection.
Spirit Detection, when used normally, falls far short of the Spirit Detection of the Huo Yuhao I know.
Jiang Xia marveled inwardly. Tianmeng really was powerful.
His current Spirit Detection could probe an area extending at most twenty meters around his body.
Moreover, it did not have the effect Huo Yuhao's had, as though another brain were helping him analyze things.
It was merely omnidirectional detection without blind spots. Wherever Jiang Xia wanted to focus, he could observe even the finest details there. But he still needed to look, rather than having someone constantly reminding him and letting him know what was there.
Still, while it fell short in some respects, it surpassed it in others.
Combining it with his Broken Dream Martial Soul, Jiang Xia activated Spirit Detection again.
This time, he used Spirit Detection to spread out his sphere of influence, then used that as a foundation to release Broken Dream.