Douluo: Divine Fire Xuanyuan

Chapter 335 The Art of Gathering and Transforming + The Method of Soul Collection = The Art of Absorbing Spirits
"Xiao Tuo, did you get what you wanted? You made us wait here for over a month just to wait for Huo Yuhao?" Ling Luochen stepped forward and asked.

Yuwen Tuo had previously prevented her from absorbing the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass, undoubtedly because of the spirits of the dead he had just extracted from Huo Yuhao's body.

Yuwen Tuo nodded. "That's right, I've already gotten what I wanted. Sister Luo Chen, I'll lend you a hand now and help you obtain the soul ring!"

The group approached the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass. Yuwen Tuo said, "Eight-Cornered Ice Grass, I will use the Absorption Technique to have Sister Luo Chen absorb your power. Please do not resist. I swear on my martial soul and my life that I will never harm your soul in the slightest!"

"Alright, you speak sincerely. It was my own initiative to follow this young lady, so naturally I won't resist!" The octagonal ice grass swayed in the wind, as if nodding to them.

Yuwen Tuo intends to use his newly acquired cultivation technique to help Ling Luochen complete the process of transformation.

The method of soul cultivation is actually quite simple, and Yuwen Tuo has long been proficient in the art of soul absorption. After combining the two, Yuwen Tuo named it the art of soul absorption, but it is not so easy for Ling Luochen to learn it completely.

Fortunately, the God of Fire and the God of Water are husband and wife deities. Through the divine seals on their foreheads, their spirits can be temporarily connected. In this way, Yuwen Tuo can help her complete the conversion.

Yuwen Tuo took Ling Luochen's hand, and two beams of light, one red and one blue, flashed on their foreheads respectively.

"Spirit Absorption Technique!" Ling Luochen stretched out his hand, and his soul power surged towards the Eight-Cornered Mystic Ice Grass.

The Eight-Cornered Ice Grass then opened its sacrificial array, and its body gradually turned into molecules, surging into Ling Luochen's body.

Six spirit rings appeared around Ling Luochen's body: two yellow, two purple, and two black. Soon, a seventh red spirit ring was placed on top of the six spirit rings.

Ling Luochen's soul power was also completely unsealed at this moment, reaching the level of a level 75 Soul Saint. This was the effect of combining immortal herbs with a 100,000-year soul ring.

Since the eight-cornered ice grass is absorbed voluntarily, it is very easy to absorb.

On the ground, the body of the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass transformed into a small blade of grass. Ling Luochen stepped forward and picked it up. She could sense that the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass was still alive. As long as she channeled her soul spirit into this body, the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass could recover its 100,000-year-old soul beast cultivation and assist her in battle.

In addition, there was a leg bone, which Ling Luochen also put away. She didn't rush to absorb it, but planned to go home first.

After all, she didn't know Huo Yuhao. Now that Huo Yuhao knew they were here, what if what he said just now was all a lie, just trying to keep Yuwen Tuo in check?
Go home and tell Yan Shaozhe and the others that Yuwen Tuo is alone and that it would be troublesome if he gathered a large group of Title Douluos to assassinate him.

The cautious Ling Luochen couldn't bear to let the person he loved be in danger.

Just then, as if sensing something, she opened her palm and saw a beautiful, soul-formed octagonal ice grass appear in her hand.

This Eight-Cornered Mystic Ice Grass is different from the Ice Emperor and Snow Emperor within Yuwen Tuo's body. Because it incorporates the Soul Spirit Technique, it is like the Little Snow Maiden in the original story. Even without entering the original body, it can still come out to assist Ling Luochen in battle.

"What a wonderful feeling! I feel like I'm still alive, and I still have my master. You don't need to hunt for spirit rings anymore. As long as your level is high enough, I can also condense your eighth and ninth spirit rings. The most regrettable thing is that your first six spirit rings were too poor. Otherwise, I could have helped you condense nine spirit rings, all of them being 100,000 years old." The Eight-Cornered Mystic Ice Grass said regretfully.

"What? You mean you can condense nine soul rings for a soul master all by yourself?" The most excited people this time were none other than Qiu'er and the Crimson King.

“Yes, that’s how I feel too. And my soul rings aren’t fixed; they all grow along with their master,” said the Eight-Cornered Ice Grass.

Yuwen Tuo smiled slightly. It seemed that his experiment had been successful. The biggest difference between a soul spirit born using the Soul-Gathering Technique and an ordinary soul spirit lay in this.

It's not like in the original story, where a ten-year soul spirit gets one soul ring, a hundred-year soul spirit gets two soul rings, and even ferocious beast soul spirits only get six soul rings.

Even a ten-year-old soul spirit can still condense nine soul rings, because they are actually alive. As the master becomes stronger, they also become stronger.

However, this will increase the soul power and mental power required for each level up of a Soul Master. The extra part is for the growth of the Soul Spirit, which increases the difficulty of cultivation. But the Soul Spirit is not just for show; it can also assist the Soul Master in cultivation. The two combined are actually not much different. In fact, if the Soul Spirit itself has a strong aptitude, its cultivation ability may not decrease but increase.

For example, Ling Luochen's soul spirit is of the Immortal grade. If she needs 50% more soul power to level up now, her cultivation speed is at least 70% faster, so overall she still gains. When their masters grow to the Title Douluo level, their abilities will be at least equivalent to a ten-thousand-year soul beast, or even a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, depending on the soul master's foundation.

In other words, there is no need for a spirit ascension platform, and souls do not need to devour each other. Even if a soul master only absorbs a ten-year soul spirit, as long as the soul master cultivates to the level of a great soul master, the soul spirit will naturally grow stronger and evolve to a hundred-year soul spirit. After the Soul Venerable and Soul Sect, it will be a thousand-year soul spirit. The Soul King and Soul Emperor will then become ten thousand-year soul spirits.

To give an analogy, an ordinary soul spirit is equivalent to an ordinary soul bone, while a subdued soul spirit is similar to an external soul bone.

As long as one can cultivate to the level of Soul Saint, the lowest level is seven ten-thousand-year soul rings. If one reaches the level of Title Douluo, a ten-year soul spirit can grow to a level comparable to a hundred-thousand-year soul spirit as its master grows. In that case, nine hundred-thousand-year soul rings are not impossible.

Of course, there are also drawbacks. Once the Soul Master uses the Soul Absorption Method to absorb a Soul Spirit, the Soul Master's own Martial Soul will be bound to the Soul Spirit. Unless it is a Twin Martial Soul, there is another Martial Soul that can be bound to another Soul Spirit. Otherwise, the Soul Master's Martial Soul will not be able to control too many Soul Spirits to grow together. Moreover, the Soul Master will no longer be able to obtain Soul Rings by hunting Soul Beasts, as they will be rejected by the Soul Spirits within the body.

Because the soul spirit and the soul master's martial soul are bound together, they are inseparable unless both the soul spirit and the soul master agree to unbind and use the Soul Absorption Method together in reverse. In other words, whether the soul spirit can be passed on to future generations does not depend on the soul master himself, but on whether the soul spirit itself agrees.

If it would rather die than continue serving humanity, then there's nothing that can be done.

"Tuo, is your Spirit Absorption Technique applicable to all levels of soul beasts?" Qiu'er asked excitedly.

Yuwen Tuo nodded and explained the advantages and disadvantages of collecting and transforming souls one by one. He said that it would be up to them to decide whether to promote this method in the future.

After all, while this method can reduce the death of soul beasts to some extent, it enslaves their souls, though not as severely as Huo Yuhao's method. This is the law of this world; soul masters must kill soul beasts to become stronger, and Yuwen Tuo currently has no way to change this.

Whether to maintain the status quo or reduce the killing using this method is up to the leaders of these soul beasts to decide.

In fact, for Qiu'er and Chi Wang, Yuwen Tuo's last two shortcomings were not shortcomings at all.

The first rule stipulates that only one soul spirit can be accommodated at a time, meaning that unless a soul master is deliberately killing indiscriminately for the sake of a soul bone, it is meaningless for him to kill any more soul beasts.

Secondly, the fact that it cannot be inherited greatly shortens the time that soul beasts are enslaved. Even the titled Douluo among humans only live for a few hundred years. At least it allows soul beasts to choose whether or not to continue helping humans.

Secondly, if the inheritance of souls is determined by humans, they can imagine that given human greed, souls would likely become collectibles for powerful forces that surpass even soul bones. The inability to inherit them is actually a good thing.

From then on, a Soul Master only needs to kill one Soul Beast in their lifetime, and it is mandatory to kill only one. Killing more is useless, and since they cannot be inherited, there is no need for humans to collect and store them.

Given the rate of reproduction of spirit beasts, the human need to hunt spirit beasts, coupled with the amount of self-destruction among spirit beasts due to the law of the jungle, might just be able to reach a delicate balance with the reproduction rate. Humans would not need to over-hunt spirit beasts, and the number of spirit beasts would not grow excessively and thus threaten humans, forming a stable existence similar to a food chain.

The reason for this is that the Soul-Gathering Technique that Yuwen Tuo passed on to Elex was incomplete, which is why it has such a big flaw. A perfect Soul-Gathering Technique can gather any number of souls.

But that was a closely guarded secret of the Guigu School, the true art of transformation. How could Yuwen Tuo easily teach it to others? Xiao Xiao was formally accepted as his disciple, and only because she was his lover was she allowed to learn it. He didn't even teach Cao Jinxuan.

However, given the unique nature of this world, imperfection is actually better than perfection; otherwise, if everyone possessed the true art of transformation, this world would be in complete chaos.

"By the way, Qiu'er, there's another drawback to the Soul Spirit Technique. If one day, Soul Masters' demand for Soul Beast Soul Rings decreases, then the demand in other areas might increase. You must know that for Soul Masters, every part of a Soul Beast is a treasure. Relying on a Soul Spirit Absorption Technique to help your Soul Beasts is far from enough," Yuwen Tuo reminded him.

"Then what should we do?" Qiu'er thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. With the demand for spirit rings decreasing, they might no longer be worried about the number of spirit rings and instead turn to spirit bones or spirit beast flesh and blood, hunting spirit beasts even more frantically.

Yuwen Tuo laughed, "So whether the method of absorbing spirits should be promoted depends on the guy behind your soul beasts. I won't make the decision alone. There are ways to solve the problem, but I can't help much with the rest. After all, it's your soul beasts' business. You should rely on your own efforts. Actually, your Dragon God set a very good example back then. Qiu'er, you may have that potential now."

"Tuo, what do you mean?" Qiu'er was startled. In the stories Yuwen Tuo had told her before, there was also one about the Dragon God.

She had initially thought it was just a story to listen to, but when Yuwentuo brought it up again, it seemed to make her realize something.

(End of this chapter)