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The essences of the two martial souls were wounded, but as the effects of the Five Elements Celestial Fruits Xu Yuan consumed and his own blood qi surged in, the martial souls began to stabilize individually.
With the stabilization of his martial souls, Xu Yuan finally let out a sigh of relief.
His essence, energy, and spirit had integrated with the surrounding heaven and earth. Now that the situation was under control, he finally had the mental space to divert a fraction of his attention to sense the changes within himself.
It wasn't exactly a diversion of focus—more like a necessary allocation of energy to utilize the external forces of heaven and earth to assess his body's condition.
Seeing that Xu Yuan's condition had stabilized, Yun Ming and the others also breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. Little Yuan has always been careful and methodical. If he decided to split his martial soul, it's clear he made thorough preparations long ago."
There hadn't been any particularly dangerous moments. Even the spitting of blood was merely the result of the turbulence caused by the splitting of the martial soul's essence. But after just a short while, Xu Yuan's soul power fluctuations began to stabilize. Although his blood qi was being consumed, this was clearly a positive sign—the shadow of his Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear above his head grew increasingly solid.
Before this split, Xu Yuan had forged Spirit-Forged Jade Silver to enhance Jue's foundation. Now, as the vessel for the Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear martial soul, it merged seamlessly with Xu Yuan's blood qi, and everything proceeded smoothly.
Changes in one's essence were an incredibly mysterious matter.
This was the very root of a person's martial soul, even tied to their life essence. Immersed in the sensations of his internal transformation and the perception of the external world, two different perspectives converged in Xu Yuan's mind, bringing to mind a recent technique he had used.
The Heaven and Earth Furnace Technique.
Xu Yuan's heart stirred. At this moment, he felt a sudden urge to try something.
Using heaven and earth as a furnace, creation as craftsmanship, nurturing his essence and his martial soul.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't be possible. But the concept of a furnace was rooted in forging during times of change—and wasn't his martial soul currently undergoing a transformation?
Moreover, it was a process of splitting and then mending his essence.
Perhaps… he could give it a try.
However, an inexplicable resistance in his mind stopped him from immediately attempting it. Instead, he paused to carefully consider the implications.
"The Heaven and Earth Furnace Technique. I perfected it into a dual-layer technique combining real and illusory dimensions when I pushed for Spirit-Forging half a month ago. If I'm going to attempt it, I should use both layers simultaneously."
With his illusory Dream Space as a reference, if anything went wrong during the nurturing process in the external world, he could cross-reference and verify between the two realms.
First, it would serve as a reference point for the development of his Dream Space.
Second, he could choose the common aspects of the nurturing processes in both realms, striking a balance. This approach would prevent him from being overly influenced by the Douluo Plane or being assimilated into the void of his illusory Dream Space.
After reaching this conclusion, Xu Yuan began his experiment.
Yun Ming's expression shifted.
He sensed the surrounding space.
"Something's off."
Was Xu Yuan drawing upon the forces of heaven and earth?
Did splitting a martial soul require the forces of heaven and earth?
Didn't he say earlier that he only needed to use the external environment to sense his condition?
Had something gone wrong?
Numerous speculations flashed through Yun Ming's mind.
But soon, he broke into a smile.
After all, Xu Yuan was someone who had already formed the rudimentary shape of a divine position. His perception and insight were extraordinary. In just a moment, Yun Ming realized that the surrounding heaven and earth were now targeting the two martial souls above Xu Yuan's head, not to forge but to nurture them.
It was more accurate to describe it as nurturing rather than forging.
Heaven and earth seemed to have transformed into a furnace, with roaring flames enveloping and nurturing the two martial souls at Xu Yuan's core.
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While Yun Ming grasped the essence of what was happening, Xu Shengqun and Ye Yuan were left bewildered.
Though they could tell from Yun Ming's reaction that it wasn't a bad thing, the sight of the entire world shifting still filled them with unease.
Could splitting a martial soul really cause such changes in heaven and earth?
Xu Shengqun silently noted this down.
It was indeed possible. After all, martial souls were, to some extent, gifts from heaven and earth and were considered a part of them. It made perfect sense that splitting a martial soul could resonate with the heavens.
Pondering this, Xu Shengqun fell deep into thought.
So, what about the cultivation of martial souls?
For Super Douluos, the key to advancing further lay in achieving complete fusion with their martial souls. For those without truly top-tier martial souls, reaching the 95th rank often represented the pinnacle of perfect fusion. Each step beyond that involved jointly expanding the potential of both the martial soul and the soul master, delving deeper into their own martial soul and themselves.
Xu Shengqun's martial soul had mutated, and though the mutation had made it powerful, mutations often implied incompleteness.
Perhaps only the tip of its true form had emerged, while the rest remained buried.
Thus, after reaching the Super Douluo level, each step forward for Xu Shengqun wasn't about breaking new limits for his martial soul but about continuously refining its essence.
At his current level, even though his martial soul was a mutation, it had already gained the ability to pass down stably through generations. Among the thousands of genetic factors, perhaps only a few had mutated in his case, but through his cultivation process, he had compensated for the others, forming a cohesive genetic whole centered around his mutated factors. This would be passed down through his bloodline.
If he could reach the 99th rank, he would have elevated his martial soul to the true pinnacle. If his descendants could perfectly inherit the characteristics of this martial soul, it would become a top-tier martial soul.
These were the research findings of Xu Zhi, which Xu Shengqun spent his free time studying, analyzing, and contemplating. By identifying the essence and direction, his cultivation had remained systematic and steady.
Now, moved by these thoughts, his understanding deepened further.
Perhaps the refinement of a martial soul could also resonate with heaven and earth?
Could the fusion of a soul master with heaven and earth guide their martial soul to new heights?
Though Xu Shengqun didn't see that Xu Yuan was using the forces of heaven and earth to nurture his two martial souls, the intent behind the Furnace Forging Technique was unmistakable. Even if the essence of Xu Yuan's active manipulation wasn't clear, one could faintly sense that heaven and earth were nurturing him—a good sign.
Of course, these were all perceptions.
Without Yun Ming's expressions as confirmation, Xu Shengqun wouldn't dare to delve deeply into these insights, fearing they might be mere illusions.
Under the dual verification of the real and illusory realms, subtle changes were occurring in Xu Yuan's two martial souls.
These were changes at the essence level, and Xu Yuan could sense them to some degree.
From the depths of his heart, he felt that his Blood Qi Martial Soul had become more harmonious. The Blood Qi Martial Soul, which had been fused artificially, now felt more natural, free of the flaws of artificial crafting, growing increasingly complete.
As for the Heaven Origin Brush, it had shed its impurities and returned to its purest form, restoring its original state.
The departure of the Five Elements Spear Spirit had dimmed the first soul ring of the Heaven Origin Brush. While the five elemental forces from the celestial fruits stabilized the first soul ring, allowing it to retain the abilities appropriate for its age, fully restoring its essence would require finding a spirit soul perfectly suited to this soul ring. Only then could it regain mastery over the five elements and integrate into the soul ring once more.
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