Douluo Continent: From Internal Martial Arts to the Law of Heaven and Earth

"It's no exaggeration. We all want to see just how exaggeratedly powerful a genius, unparalleled in history on the continent, will become after breaking through to the next level of power," Qian Renxue said calmly with a gentle smile.

Dugu Yan and Zhu Zhuyun nodded at the same time, while Gu Yue stood aside, her spiritual power quietly spreading out, constantly monitoring Tang Shan's condition.

"Kid, let's begin." Qianjun and Jiangmo, the two Douluo, summoned their martial souls, the Panlong Staff, to protect Tangshan.

Tang Shan glanced around at his relatives and friends, then without further hesitation, took out the divine soul ring given to him by Qian Renxue, crushed it, and began to absorb it.

Is this a divinely bestowed spirit ring? Everyone present stared wide-eyed in curiosity. Most of them were seeing a divinely bestowed spirit ring for the first time. Some of them didn't even know of its existence before, since a divinely bestowed spirit ring could only be obtained by passing the divine test.

A pale white spirit ring materialized out of thin air, fell from above Tang Shan's head, and enveloped him. Waves of spirit power began to emanate from it, and the color of the spirit ring itself gradually changed.

Tang Shan temporarily ignored the subtle soul power surging into his meridians. He skillfully activated his first soul skill, using self-control to allow his consciousness to penetrate deep into the divinely bestowed soul ring, find the core of the soul ring, erase the rudimentary soul skill on it with a single thought, and then use his consciousness to outline the rules of power on it.

Compared to before, outlining the prototype of the soul skill this time is much simpler. After all, perception-type effects are not really related to the power rules, but the effect of this ninth soul skill, which amplifies power, is the essential ability of the power rules.

Once the soul skill imprint is successful, the soul ring base appears out of thin air, enveloping the soul ring core. As the number of soul ring bases increases, the rules of heaven and earth silently manifest, actively driving the changes and growth of the soul skill.

While observing the evolution of soul skills within the soul ring and the rapid improvement in his understanding of the power rules, Tang Shan also discovered some of the mysteries of the divinely bestowed soul ring.

The divinely bestowed soul rings do not rely solely on the power of the gods; on the contrary, they also make extensive use of the rules of the Douluo plane itself.

The higher the age of the spirit ring, the stronger the effect of the spirit skill, or the more complex the spirit skill imprint. This is a fundamental rule engraved at the bottom of Douluo Continent. With this rule, it becomes possible to deduce spirit skills by using the Douluo Continent plane.

The core, base, and foundation of a divinely bestowed soul ring are all provided by the gods. However, the strength of the soul ring core provided by the gods is not very strong. The reason why soul masters who absorb divinely bestowed soul rings can obtain soul skills that match the age of the soul ring is because, during the growth of the soul ring base, the rules of heaven and earth descend, promoting the enhancement of the soul skill's effect.

It makes sense. If all the soul skills of the divinely bestowed soul rings were provided by the gods, how many rules would the gods have to be involved in? Or would it be more reasonable for the gods to provide the prototype of the soul skills and then let the heavens and earth deduce them?

Gathering his scattered thoughts, Tang Shan began to refine the increasing pure energy within his body. Compared to the soul rings obtained by hunting soul beasts, absorbing a divinely bestowed soul ring has two additional advantages.

First, there is no soul impact to withstand, and the upper limit of a divinely bestowed soul ring depends on your physical fitness; second, although the energy of a divinely bestowed soul ring is vast and continuous, it is not violent and does not have the inherent restless characteristics of soul beast soul ring energy, which also reduces the difficulty of absorption.

It truly lives up to its reputation as a divine reward; its effects are extraordinary. It eliminates the need for mental strength testing and greatly reduces the difficulty of absorption. If one had to find a drawback, it would be that the divinely bestowed soul ring lacks the characteristics of a high-level soul beast soul ring, preventing soul masters from perfectly absorbing the residual mental strength after the soul beast's soul tremors.

Tang Shan on the Douluo Continent is absorbing his ninth soul ring, while the Rakshasa God and the Angel God once again cast their gazes upon him.

"Angel, are we really just going to ignore it and let that kid absorb it like this? You know, the older the spirit ring is, the more difficult it is to improve." Rakshasa God looked at the spirit ring in the mirror image that kept changing color and asked with some heartache.

Unlike the Rakshasa God, the Angel God answered quite decisively: "Just let him absorb it. At most, it will take a million years. The Dragon God's rules are there, and he cannot break them. Don't tell me you haven't accumulated any faith power."

Rakshasa God smiled awkwardly: "Isn't this a bit of a pity? The faith power of a million-year soul ring is equivalent to all the divine power of an ordinary priest. It takes many years to accumulate that much."

The Angel God ignored the Rakshasa God and instead looked intently at Qian Renxue, who was dressed in imperial robes beside Tang Shan, with eyes full of expectation: "My junior, I hope that you will be able to merge the two divine positions in the future, or even go further, and go see the scenery at a higher level for us."

P.S.: Feeling better now, resuming updates.

Chapter 529: Successive Breakthroughs!

Although the Angel God and the Rakshasa God disliked each other in the divine realm, they had a common successor and thus reached a certain tacit understanding.

Regarding the divinely bestowed soul ring, they decided to share the resources spent and bear the losses of the reward together.

They originally thought that creating a few ferocious beast spirit rings would be the limit, but they never expected that Tang Shan would appear as an anomaly. His eighth spirit ring was 550,000 years old, and his ninth spirit ring was even aiming for a million-year spirit ring.

Fortunately, the Dragon God set a limit that soul beasts would face death when they reached a million years of cultivation. There are no soul beasts with a higher age in the world. Otherwise, they would probably be in even more pain, because the angel and the Rakshasa believed that a million years was by no means the limit for Tang Shan.

Although Tang Shan has only recently broken through to the Soul Douluo level, he has already largely completed the development of his physical growth potential.

If the level of internal martial arts that allows one to see the divine is about perfect control of the whole body and rapidly tap into one's own potential, then the level of Vajra Indestructible is about the physical body taking over the body autonomously, and being able to automatically transform potential into physical qualities to a certain extent.

……

The pure and powerful soul force surged through the meridians, but faced with those meridians that had been strengthened countless times, no matter how powerful the soul force was, it was like clear stream water, unable to disturb or affect the wide river channel in the slightest.

The immense energy was refined, and all the cells and tissues throughout the body were nourished, resulting in increased strength and potential.

The twelve regular meridians, the eight extraordinary meridians, and other smaller meridians are all filled with energy and soul power. These densely packed meridians are like a net that locks the energy firmly within the body.

The color of the spirit ring changed from pitch black to blood red, and a ferocious crimson color appeared around Tang Shan. His aura quietly spread, giving onlookers an unparalleled sense of oppression.

"To have reached a 100,000-year spirit ring so quickly, what an incredibly powerful physique!" Thousand-Pound Douluo couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. He knew the rules for absorbing a divinely bestowed spirit ring, and he understood even more clearly what it meant for Tang Shan to raise his divinely bestowed spirit ring to 100,000 years in such a short time—a terrifying physique far surpassing that of an ordinary Title Douluo.

After the spirit rings reached 100,000 years old, their rate of change showed no signs of slowing down. Before long, a golden pattern appeared on Tang Shan's ninth spirit ring, followed by a second, a third, and so on...

As the golden patterns increased, a terrifying aura began to emanate from Tang Shan's body and spread outwards.

Click!

Cracks spread outwards from where Tangshan was meditating, radiating outwards in a spiderweb pattern. Keep in mind that this was merely the aftershock of energy; one can only imagine the immense pressure Tangshan was under at that moment.

When the eighth golden pattern appeared on the blood-red soul ring, its rate of change only slowed down slightly. In less than a minute, the ninth golden pattern also quietly appeared, and the pressure surged again.

Nine golden lines connected end to end, adding a touch of nobility and transcendence to the blood-red soul ring. The speed of change began to slow down significantly, but the golden lines began to slowly erode the traces of blood.

"What kind of spirit ring is this?" Dugu Bo couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. He didn't know if it was normal for a 100,000-year spirit ring to have golden patterns, since he had never seen a 100,000-year spirit ring on anyone other than Tang Shan and Tang Hao. But he was certain that this golden spirit ring, which was about to completely devour the blood color, was definitely not normal.

"Could it be a million-year soul ring? After all, every change in the color of a soul ring represents a tenfold increase in its lifespan?" Dugu Yan inadvertently revealed the truth, but no one present was willing to believe it.

A 100,000-year-old soul beast is already invincible to anyone except a top-tier Title Douluo. If a million-year-old soul beast truly exists, just how powerful would it be?

Tang Shan was unaware of the immense shock his spirit ring had caused to the onlookers. Feeling the energy gradually stabilizing and flowing in, he murmured to himself: Is this the limit? He wondered if this was the upper limit set by the gods or the limit of the Douluo Continent itself.

Calming his mind and focusing his consciousness, he began to refine the energy contained within the million-year soul ring. It's important to understand that this wasn't the era of Douluo Continent II, where the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm only possessed a fragmented million-year soul ring with its spiritual essence remaining. Tang Shan's million-year soul ring contained abundant and surging soul power.

The Zhou Tian cultivation technique accelerated, transforming energy into soul power, which settled in his dantian. Even though Tang Shan's soul power was of extremely high quality, the sheer size of his million-year soul ring meant that, despite his repeated compression, the soul power flowing through his meridians still surged like a mighty river, while the soul power within his dantian transformed into a vast ocean, showcasing his unparalleled and terrifying foundation.

As for the level 90 bottleneck, it was completely shattered in less than a breath when faced with the flood of energy from the million-year soul ring, without causing any trouble.

Splash!

A clear sound of flowing water came from Tang Shan. This time, it wasn't the boiling and surging of his blood and qi, but the undulating waves of his surging soul power.

Opening his eyes, blinding golden light burst forth from Tang Shan's eyes, and his aura as powerful as a Title Douluo erupted!

The terrifying aura seemed to materialize into flames, enveloping Tang Shan's entire body, with ripples of space surging around him, proof that space could not withstand its immense power.

Even without activating his soul skills, every move he makes is accompanied by immense power. His body becomes increasingly connected with the surrounding天地元气 (heaven and earth energy), as if he could mobilize天地元气 with a single thought to support himself.

Tang Shan knew that this was not an illusion; it was the source of a Title Douluo's ability to fly through the air. By connecting the surging soul power within their bodies with the external spiritual energy, a Title Douluo could maintain a fixed speed of flight without consuming soul power. If they activated their soul power, their flight speed would be even faster.

Tangshan did not rush to try to break through the flight ability that came with the title, but planned to continue to break through.

That's right, he continued to break through. All the accumulated strength he had accumulated erupted after he broke through to the Title Douluo level, and his cultivation would also advance by leaps and bounds at the Title Douluo level.

As mentioned before, there were no soul cores in the Douluo Continent era. The cultivation method of Title Douluo was to infuse their martial soul with insights, open up the upper limit of the martial soul, and allow the martial soul to transform and improve. Then, the purified martial soul would in turn purify the soul power, making the soul power more and more refined, thereby increasing the capacity of soul power in an alternative way.

The insights gained from unlocking the upper limit of a martial soul are not differentiated by type. Take Sword Douluo Chen Xin as an example—his insights into improving his martial soul include both the sword intent he comprehends and the changes and growth of his own sword techniques. There is no distinction between good and bad, strong and weak, as long as it is related to the Seven Kill Sword.

You can think of unlocking the upper limit of your Martial Soul as feeding a pet; the type of food doesn't matter, as long as it nourishes the pet. Of course, unlocking your Martial Soul will become increasingly difficult as you progress, and the required understanding will definitely become more profound.

Getting back to the main point, Tang Shan had long been prepared to unlock the upper limit of his martial soul, and the will he had comprehended at the first ring was now officially taking effect.

After breaking through the title barrier, instincts emerged, making Tang Shan's perception of his martial soul clearer than ever before. His will followed this instinct, infusing his insights into his martial soul.

A vague sense of growth emerged in Tang Shan's heart. This feeling was mysterious, similar to the second awakening of one's own martial soul, but also different.

The second awakening of the Martial Soul can be seen as the ultimate exploitation of the potential of this unified entity after the Martial Soul and the human body have completely merged. Its upper limit is the potential inherent in the physical body and the Martial Soul itself. Even if one consumes immortal herbs, it only increases the potential of this unified physical body and Martial Soul, not the essence of this unified entity.

This infusion of will is different. Both the inherent potential and the essence of the entire unified entity are growing and transforming in sync, with a transformation far exceeding that of the past.

The original spirit is truly unique. If beast spirits and weapon spirits are like forging a divine weapon or a god-level external possession, then a spirit master with an original spirit, by enhancing their spirit through comprehension, is essentially forging a divine body directly. Tang Shan couldn't help but sigh inwardly. This breakthrough gave him a deeper understanding of the Douluo spirit system.

The insights gained from integrating one's martial soul actually determine the direction in which the martial soul's upper limit is opened. Tang Shan's will is similar to the embodiment of power, which leads to the upper limit he has opened this time being biased towards power amplification.

Crack! Squeak!

The former is the crisp sound produced by bone growth, while the latter is the buzzing sound of muscles and fascia stretching and bouncing.

Tang Shan's body underwent a change while he was sitting cross-legged. Instead of a surge of qi and blood, his body began to expand automatically, his muscles bulging as if inflated, and large, bluish-black veins appearing one after another, as if ropes were forcibly binding Tang Shan's immense strength within his body. His palms were as large as palm-leaf fans, and his ten fingers, which had expanded further, were as thick as rolling pins. When his fists were clenched, they were as large as a clay pot.

His arms were thicker than an adult's thighs, and his legs, which he sat cross-legged, were also exceptionally muscular, with a thickness comparable to the waist and abdomen of a thin man.

Even when sitting cross-legged, Tang Shan is about 1.5 meters tall; if he stands up, his height would definitely exceed 3 meters.

Three meters and three-thirty-three meters! This figure naturally came to Tang Shan's mind, which was exactly equivalent to one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters), still quite a distance from the legendary sixteen-zhang golden body.

Collecting his thoughts and calming his mind, Tang Shan carefully felt the transformation of his body by his martial soul. His will had already reached its limit, which meant that he could open up the upper limit of his martial soul by relying solely on his own will, and the essence of his five souls could rush all the way to the Limit Douluo.

His body was changing every moment: his skin became tighter, his muscles became more elastic and compressible, his tendons grew slowly but steadily, and dense neural networks began to grow, spreading throughout all the muscles in Tangshan's body. His bones were rapidly improving in both hardness and toughness. His internal organs were transformed into furnaces and millstones, respectively, maintaining this terrifying physique.

Besides the aforementioned areas, the remaining tissues are also undergoing fundamental changes, but no matter how they change, their ultimate goal is quite unified: power, greater, stronger, and more powerful power.

The transformation of the body by the martial spirit never stops, and the purification of soul power has also officially begun.

The soul power in the dantian circulates automatically throughout the body. With each circulation through the meridians, the total amount of soul power, which was originally like a vast ocean, decreases rapidly, but its quality increases exponentially.

Chapter 530 Tangshan's Soul Power Level

The vast amount of soul power rapidly decreased under the purification of the five souls, which had been upgraded in quality, but its quality increased rapidly. Each unit of soul power had a stronger effect, and if it was used to activate soul skills, the effect would be far greater than before.

Tang Shan's aura was in a contradictory state. On one hand, due to the decrease in the total amount of soul power, his aura was rapidly weakening. On the other hand, due to the rapid increase in the quality of soul power, his aura was rapidly increasing. It was truly a rollercoaster ride.

"Sixth Grandfather, Seventh Grandfather, is Tangshan alright?" Qian Renxue unconsciously clenched her fists as she looked at the two Douluo, Qian Jun and Jiang Mo, standing to the side.

"It's nothing, just a series of breakthroughs. It's just that Tangshan's accumulated foundation is too terrifying, which is why there has been such a drastic change," Qianjun Douluo reassured him.

The Demon-Slaying Douluo nodded in agreement: "Before becoming a Title Douluo, he has already accumulated enough foundation to directly reach the Peerless Douluo level. His talent is beyond description; there may never be another genius as brilliant as him in the future."

Gu Yue's eyebrows unconsciously curved upwards. Even though the Demon-Slaying Douluo's praise didn't involve any deities, she was still proud of Tang Shan's current achievements: This is the person I, the Silver Dragon King, have taken a liking to!

The soul power was continuously purified and refined, and its amplification and nourishing effects on the body increased dramatically. Even though the total amount decreased rapidly, it was still a surplus compared to the vast soul power accumulated in Tangshan.

A faint golden hue appeared in Tang Shan's soul power, slowly circulating along his meridians. Wherever it passed, his body seemed to have taken some kind of powerful tonic, and began to transform once again. Moreover, this transformation continued to be maintained as Tang Shan's soul power was purified.

Time passed quietly, the sun rose and the moon set, and in the blink of an eye, seven days had passed. The onlookers took turns to rest, but Gu Yue kept her big, bright silver eyes open, watching every change in Tang Shan.

"Why don't you go and rest for a bit?" An aged voice rang in Gu Yue's ears. Space was torn apart, and the Golden Crocodile Douluo, dressed in a gray robe, walked out from the spatial passage.

Gu Yue didn't turn her head, and replied indifferently, "No need." From beginning to end, her eyes never left Tang Shan.

Golden Crocodile Douluo was not angered by Gu Yue's somewhat unreasonable behavior. He looked at the silver-haired girl, who was even more noble than Qian Renxue, and suddenly asked, "Are you a successor of a god?"

"So what if it is, and so what if it isn't?" Gu Yue didn't turn her head and continued to focus on protecting Tang Shan.

Golden Crocodile Douluo fell silent, and the garden returned to stillness. After a long while, Golden Crocodile Douluo broke the silence: "Are you a god?"

Gu Yue finally showed some interest, turning her head with great interest to look at Golden Crocodile Douluo with curiosity: "Why do you say that?"

For the first time, Golden Crocodile Douluo's expression changed. Although his expression was obscured by his dense wrinkles, it was easy to deduce from his trembling pupils that his mind was far from calm.

"Our Spirit Hall possesses the legacy of the Angel God, and Xiaoxue is the chosen successor of the Angel God. As long as she passes the divine test, she can become a god. However, in terms of demeanor, she is still far inferior to you." Golden Crocodile Douluo took a deep breath and continued, "If we don't count Xiaoxue, our Spirit Hall's Grand Elder is the Angel High Priest. It can be said that he is the Angel God's representative on earth. However, in terms of solemnity and temperament, he is still inferior to you. Temperament, though ethereal, cannot be created out of thin air. A god's successor, a human at the pinnacle and a god's high priest, cannot surpass your demeanor. No matter how unbelievable the answer may seem, there is only one way."

His body trembled slightly, whether from fear or excitement, Golden Crocodile Douluo said, enunciating each word clearly: "You are a god."

"How interesting." Gu Yue smiled faintly, neither admitting nor denying, her slender white fingers twirling her silver hair as her eyes returned to Tang Shan.

Golden Crocodile Douluo looked at Tang Shan with complicated eyes. Gu Yue's unpredictable attitude had already said it all. Recalling the process of Gu Yue and Tang Shan's encounter during the information gathering, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

A god being hunted by a soul beast—isn't that a bit absurd? But then, remembering Qian Renxue's plan to usurp the kingdom, Golden Crocodile Douluo understood—if a god's successor can go undercover, then what's wrong with a god being hunted by a soul beast?