A full hour passed before Xu Zhengyang gradually recovered from his shock. Even if he could not become a peerless expert, heaven never sealed off every path. He would surely overcome his martial souls' flaws, change the course of this world, and save his family.
Besides, although his innate soul power was poor, he still had twin martial souls. In the Douluo world, twin martial souls were synonymous with power, an existence akin to a cheat. As long as he could find his own cultivation method, he would definitely break through his current limitations.
With that thought, Xu Zhengyang began carefully studying his martial soul.
The trace of soul power within Xu Zhengyang flickered, and a massive iron rod appeared in his right hand.
The entire iron rod was over three meters long and more than ten centimeters in diameter. It looked extremely heavy.
Xu Zhengyang set the iron rod on the ground, which gave a dull thud. Judging by its weight, the great iron rod itself weighed over five hundred jin.
Although the iron rod's surface was mottled with rust, it was clearly anything but ordinary. Its weight even exceeded that of an ordinary strength-type Soul Ancestor's martial soul.
And this was before he had absorbed any soul rings. Once he began absorbing soul rings, especially strength-type soul rings, his martial soul's weight could increase further.
Xu Zhengyang could hardly imagine how heavy his great iron rod would become after absorbing nothing but strength-type soul rings-or just how powerful it would be.
Even the Clear Sky Hammer, hailed as the world's number-one tool martial soul, weighed no more than this before absorbing soul rings. And an iron rod would be more flexible to wield than an iron hammer, its moves more nimble and convenient.
Soon, Xu Zhengyang's attention focused entirely on the tip of the great iron rod.
Clearly, the tip was considerably thicker than the rest, exceeding twenty centimeters in diameter. At its very end, in particular, it actually began to taper.
Although it had no sharp edge or destructive power, Xu Zhengyang distinctly sensed a faint chill there, as though some danger might burst out of its shell at any moment.
After pondering for a moment, Xu Zhengyang suddenly opened his eyes, disbelief showing in them.
"No, this isn't a great iron rod at all. It's a spear, a spear forged as one seamless whole. This martial soul inherited my mother's martial soul, and it's also undergone a mutation."
Only then did Xu Zhengyang examine the great iron rod itself closely. Although it was mottled with rust, those rusty markings looked ancient and weathered. It did not resemble ordinary iron at all, but rather some extremely rare and mysterious metal.
After all, this iron rod was three meters long and roughly ten centimeters in diameter. Even an ordinary iron rod of that size could not possibly weigh five hundred jin. This could only mean that its metal was extraordinary.
The more Xu Zhengyang studied it, the more unusual he found it. Beneath the rust, some kind of ferocity seemed to lurk, like that of a fierce tiger.
In particular, the pure yang power emanating from the iron rod itself faintly intimidated Xu Zhengyang's mind.
As everyone knew, the tiger was a creature of pure yang, as well as the king of beasts, born unyielding and indomitable, fearing no desperate situation.
At this moment, all of Xu Zhengyang's thoughts were focused on the great iron rod. He seemed to feel waves of searing heat coming from it, as though he were facing the blazing sun. The sensation was somewhat like facing his father.
His father's martial soul was the sun, filled with scorching heat, but the heat from the iron rod was somewhat different. It was more like the ferocity of a wild beast.
After studying it closely for a long while, Xu Zhengyang finally concluded that his great iron rod martial soul should be a great spear, one forged entirely from rare iron ore, and that this spear was connected to tigers.
Xu Zhengyang suddenly thought of a name: the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear.
The Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear was a spear that only truly powerful warriors of ancient Blue Star could wield. Its wielder needed not only supreme strength but also extraordinary proficiency in spear techniques. It could be called the king of heavy weapons.
At this moment, Xu Zhengyang began to grow excited. Although this Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear had not been sharpened or fully awakened, as long as he cultivated in this direction and tempered it along the path of the spear, there would definitely be a way to bring it fully into form.
Throughout the entire original Douluo story, the only person Xu Zhengyang could truly emulate on the path of cultivation was Ji Juechen. His path was the true way to grow stronger.
Ji Juechen's innate soul power had been a mere rank three, and his martial soul was nothing more than an ordinary longsword. Yet through his own efforts, his secret methods, and even the honing of his longsword, he had ultimately cultivated to the Titled Douluo level.
Ji Juechen was also the most inspiring and moving figure in the entire Douluo world. One could even say that he had truly defied heaven and changed his fate.
Xu Zhengyang believed that as long as he cultivated painstakingly and walked the same path as Ji Juechen, he would definitely break through his martial soul's limitations and become a true expert.
Then, with the advantage of twin martial souls, he could reach even greater heights than Ji Juechen. At that point, he could truly defy heaven and change his fate.
At this thought, Xu Zhengyang suddenly remembered his second martial soul.
After he summoned the martial soul, a snake over two meters long appeared before him. Yet it differed from a snake, having four short limbs. Its head, in particular, had neither a snake's forked tongue in its mouth nor a snake's four pointed teeth, but rather a mouthful of fangs.
There were two small bumps on top of its head, and another small bump on its back. These bumps seemed ready to burst out of their shells at any moment, yet also seemed filled with some mysterious power.
The entire martial soul was purple, and its surface was not snakeskin, but something resembling a thin layer of scales.
Xu Zhengyang found it increasingly unbelievable.
"How is this possible? My father's martial soul is the sun. How could I awaken a martial soul like this? Could it really be caused by the power hidden in my bloodline?"
Xu Zhengyang grew increasingly alarmed. His second martial soul was definitely not a snake, much less a lizard. The only possible explanation was that this was the martial soul passed down through the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family: the Purple Brilliant Heaven-Destroying Dragon.
But his family belonged to the Sun Radiance Lineage. The martial soul he should have inherited was his father's sun. How could the Purple Brilliant Heaven-Destroying Dragon appear?
Xu Zhengyang knew very well that the Purple Brilliant Heaven-Destroying Dragon was not only one of the Sun Moon Empire's strongest martial souls, but also its symbol. It was exceedingly rare throughout the empire; even within the imperial family, few possessed a pure Purple Brilliant Heaven-Destroying Dragon.
Once his martial soul fully awakened and was exposed, it would cause upheaval throughout the Sun Moon Empire, and might even bring utter catastrophe.