The Key and the Calm
Three days after Yun Youzi left, Lu Yuan stepped out of the stone chamber. The morning mist in the valley had not yet dissipated, and the outlines of the wooden houses and herb gardens were beginning to appear. The sounds of the disciples' morning exercises were orderly and full of vitality. He slowly inspected the area, and everything was in good order, even faster than he had expected.
But he knew in his heart that there were some things he had to face.
In the afternoon, he returned alone to the cave that served as his research room. The cave was dark, with only a sliver of sunlight illuminating the stone table. He closed his eyes and focused his mind, immersing himself in his inner world.
His Soul Power was powerful and condensed, with a deep blue-gold luster, reaching the peak of level 89. His accumulation had long surpassed the limit of ordinary Soul Douluo, and even touched the threshold of some Titled Douluo.
But I just can't get over it.
That barrier was invisible and intangible, yet exceptionally sturdy. Unlike previous bottlenecks that could be broken down by Soul Power or through precise control, it was more like a "rejection" from the level of world rules. Every time he tried to break through, the moment his torrent of Soul Power collided with the invisible barrier, he could clearly feel as if countless fine "chains" were hanging down from the void, Entanglement his Soul Power, Martial Soul, and even his soul, anchoring him firmly there.
What puzzled him even more was that this feeling of being "chained" had a strange similarity to the "noise" of the continental Soul Power he sensed through the Stone Gate Mark —both seemed like "blockages" or "misalignments" in some kind of operating system.
Lu Yuan opened his eyes, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly on the stone table.
"Level 100 to become a god..." he murmured.
This is the pinnacle depicted in ancient texts and legends: to attain divine status, undergo divine trials, and transcend mortal realm to become a god. A path to heaven verified by countless sages of the past.
But is that really the case?
The broken rules hidden in the cracks of the stone gate, the original intention of the ancient sages in creating the "Gate of Finality," the omnipresent "noise" in the background of Soul Power... all these clues intertwine, and a terrifying conjecture gradually takes shape.
If this revered path is itself a "designed" program? A seemingly perfect path tailored for the Soul Master system, yet fundamentally "limited"? Godhood Inheritance is like installing a "plugin" to gain higher "permissions," but its essence still operates within a predetermined framework.
What is inherited is the rules and authority left by others, rather than an understanding of the rules themselves; what is used is an existing power system, rather than mastering the method of its construction.
What Lu Yuan wanted was never to become the successor. He wanted the "Key"—a Key that could unlock the Shackles cognition and understand the underlying rules of the world. He wanted to mend the "noise," sort out the "fragments," and even find out the origin and flaws of this "program."
This path is completely different from the traditional path to godhood.
Its bottleneck is no longer the amount of Soul Power, but the depth of cognition, the soul's "capacity" for carrying rule information, and the wisdom of using the "Key".
"Bearing capacity..." Lu Yuan murmured, looking at his hands.
He recalled the exhaustion of his soul after overusing the Stone Gate Mark. It wasn't just a drain, but more like an "overload." There was a limit to the amount of "rule information" that his current level of life could bear. The power of the mark invoked and interfered with the rules, and each use brought him closer to that limit.
Breaking through level 89 and entering a higher realm likely means that one's level of life must undergo a qualitative change in order to bear a more complex understanding of rules and a greater burden on the soul.
Traditionally, Soul Master hunt for Soul Ring by "violently expanding" the carrying capacity using the Origin Soul Beast and fragmented rule pieces, and then assigning them specific rule templates (Soul Skill). However, this method is crude, dependent on external objects, and limited by the attributes and age of the Soul Beast.
Lu Yuan's path requires a more fundamental and autonomous breakthrough.
He needs to... "build" his own "rule-carrying unit".
His heart raced slightly. He got up, pulled out some rough paper, and found fragments of ancient runes and energy structures, spreading them across the stone table.
I pick up the pen, wrist suspended. The pen tip trembles slightly, not from fear, but from the excitement of touching the unknown, mixed with the loneliness of walking alone.
The first stroke is made.
The lines are neither written characters nor symbols; they are "descriptive symbols" he created based on mathematical geometry from his past life and observational data of Soul Power in this life, used to represent abstract relationships such as Soul Power frequency, rule interference intensity, and soul fluctuation amplitude.
At first, it was difficult and the concepts were vague, so I sketched it out based on guesswork. As the drafts were discarded and redrawn, the outline gradually became clear.
He was trying to build a model.
The first model describes the growth curve of a traditional Soul Master's "Soul Power - Rule Bearing". After level 70, it slows down significantly, and between Level 90, a near-vertical cliff is formed - which is the "wall" he feels. The amount of external rule information (Soul Ring) required to break through increases exponentially.
The second model, based on limited perception of the Stone Gate Mark, describes the relationship between "direct rule interference" and "soul load." Data is scarce, and the curves oscillate, but the trend is clear: the deeper the interference, the greater the load, and there is a critical point that leads to soul collapse.
The third model is a hypothetical "autonomous construction path": without relying on external rule fragments, it uses its own understanding to "weave" an "internal architecture" that can stably support complex rules from the basic energy structure layer by layer. This model is mostly blank, with only scattered assumptions.
Time passed. The light outside the cave gradually dimmed, eventually being swallowed by the night. Lu Yuan did not light a lamp, but the faint light in his eyes reflected the flow of his Soul Power. The Stone Gate Mark between his brows shone with an almost imperceptible halo in his extreme focus.
He was completely immersed. Confusion, frustration, inspiration, and doubt surged like waves. He overturned old assumptions and established new conjectures. Piles of manuscript paper were covered with lines and symbols that looked like scribbles to ordinary people.
Late at night, I put down my pen.
He rubbed his throbbing temples, feeling utterly exhausted, yet his mind was strangely excited. On the last sheet of paper was a simplified diagram: at the center was a point of light representing his own soul and Martial Soul Origin, surrounded by concentric rings of fine symbols. These rings were not closed; they had numerous "interfaces" and "adjustment structures," dynamically exchanging energy and information with the dotted-line area outside, which represented the rules of the world.
This is no longer a traditional "Soul Ring." It's more like a miniature, living "rule-based interaction and stable interface."
Lu Yuan stared at the diagram, his breathing slightly rapid.
He recalled the core function of the "Gate of Finality" stone gate—"calibration": to sort out, stabilize, and correct chaotic rules.
What if... we followed this principle, not seeking to inherit a fixed set of rules (a divine position), but instead cultivating ourselves into a miniature, dynamic calibration unit capable of actively understanding, organizing, and even partially "harmonizing" the rules we encounter?
It's not about installing plugins, but about becoming a piece of "living code" with adaptive and optimized capabilities.
Therefore, the ninth "ring" may no longer require hunting specific Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast to obtain powerful but not necessarily perfectly compatible rule fragments.
What he needs is to "capture" or "construct" a basic "fragment of rules" that belongs to him. It doesn't need to have powerful direct force, but it must be part of the "Key," helping him better understand the structure of the rules and enhancing the "bandwidth" and "stability" of the interaction between his soul and the rules.
Where to find it? How to construct it?
His gaze fell upon the pitch-black night sky outside the cave. He sensed the mark between his brows with an extremely faint touch, merely "reacting" it.
The faint resonance from the northeast seemed a little clearer than in the past few days. With focused listening, the "noise" in the background of the Soul Power seemed to reveal certain recurring "dissonant intervals."
It was the darkest hour before dawn outside the window. All was quiet.
A shooting star suddenly streaked across the eastern sky, its light brief and bright before vanishing into the deep night.
Lu Yuan stared blankly at the spot where the meteor had disappeared. A thought flashed through the chaos like lightning, making him shudder.
He suddenly looked down at the diagram, then looked up again, piercing through the darkness, as if gazing directly at the invisible rules flowing deep within the universe.
His lips moved slightly, his voice soft yet trembling, carrying a thrill of sudden enlightenment.
"Perhaps... what my ninth Soul Ring needs is not hunting Soul Beast."
He paused, his eyes gleaming like stars.
"Instead... we're going to 'capture' a ray of starlight?"
"Or perhaps try to 'understand' a 'ripple of rules' that truly belongs to the foundation of this world?"