Douluo Continent: Not enough bloodline? Make up for it with brains

Chapter 51 How is a ten-thousand-year-old soul born?

Zhao Long's only weakness is this.

His forging talent was excellent, but because a blacksmith's early efforts are not obvious, Zhao Long did not reach the level of a prodigy. He still followed the normal learning process of a blacksmith, and had already absorbed a second soul spirit when his talent was displayed.

His first soul spirit was upgraded to a thousand years old, and he added three soul rings to himself. Unfortunately, he still needed to fuse a new soul spirit for his fourth soul ring, so he fused with a thousand-year-old soul spirit.

Therefore, the fifth spirit ring is only a thousand-year spirit ring.

Theoretically, this should be able to absorb the fifth ring of a ten-thousand-year soul ring, but he only has a thousand-year soul ring attached to it, which is already a serious hindrance.

Even if the first and second spirit rings are upgraded to a thousand years, so what?

In the presence of an excellent Soul Master, the opening of five purple Soul Rings at once would overshadow the shock caused by the first and second Soul Rings, even if it was a disappointment that the fifth Soul Ring was not black.

Although they are called blacksmiths, every blacksmith is also a soul master.

Only by progressing far in the Soul Master realm can one avoid being hindered in forging and even receive enhancements.

"Don't be discouraged. Since the appearance of the Spirit Ascension Platform, the difficulty of increasing the lifespan of a soul spirit has been greatly reduced. With more spiritual power absorbed from the Spirit Ascension Platform, soul masters also have the opportunity to have sudden enlightenment in their daily lives and, by chance, allow their soul spirits to advance in rank. This time, you raised your second soul spirit to the limit of less than ten thousand years early. If you have the opportunity in the future, you will still have the chance to raise it to ten thousand years." Zhenhua stepped forward and patted Zhao Long on the shoulder, his tone filled with expectation.

Although it was difficult, Zhao Long believed in himself and his soul.

The so-called enlightenment advancement is a miraculous effect achieved when the soul master and soul spirit are perfectly in sync and stimulated by external factors. It tests the bond between the soul master and soul spirit, and Zhao Long has no doubt about the bond between himself and his soul spirit!

"Brother Zhao Long, thank you for your help this time."

"Just call me Brother Zhao or Brother Long."

"Then you can just call me Xiao Yuan, Brother Long."

Xu Yuan and Zhao Long didn't waste any time and set off from the Forging Masters Association towards the Spirit Pagoda.

On the way, Xu Yuan was also quite curious.

He was still quite far from achieving a ten-thousand-year spirit ring before, so he hadn't considered it. It was only after hearing Zhenhua and Zhao Long talk about it today that he came into contact with this field.

Xu Yuan was naturally aware of the concept of sudden enlightenment leading to advancement, but he had not studied it in depth.

"Brother Long, is it difficult to advance to the next level through sudden enlightenment?"

Zhao Long had clearly done research in this area, and explained to Xu Yuan, "It's very difficult. There's probably only one case every ten years on the entire continent where someone can elevate a soul that wasn't originally ten thousand years old to ten thousand years old through their own enlightenment."

Xu Yuan was surprised.

This ratio should already be quite high.

A ten-thousand-year-old spirit can be born every ten years!

Moreover, to be honest, in a place like Douluo Continent, such statistical data is most likely inaccurate.

"Although the Ascension Platform did not solve the barrier of ten-thousand-year soul rings, its mechanism of fusing spiritual power to increase the lifespan of a soul spirit has opened up many constraints. After becoming a soul spirit, one can ascend multiple times, even from a thousand-year or hundred-year soul spirit to nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years. Such a journey is enough for a soul spirit to remember this feeling."

"When the bond between the soul spirit and the soul master is strong enough, and both sides have the opportunity to be stimulated by a suitable environment for the soul spirit, or the soul master has an epiphany that affects the soul spirit, both of these situations will lead to a higher degree of fusion between the soul master and the soul spirit, causing the soul spirit to undergo a transformation and thus advance to a ten-thousand-year soul spirit."

"The premise is that the Soul Master is strong enough and has extra energy to hone the Soul Spirit in addition to cultivating Soul Power."

"."

As Zhao Long explained, both sides had arrived at the Spirit Pagoda.

Following the normal procedure, both parties entered the Ascension Platform under the accustomed gazes of the staff.

Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform.

"Xiao Yuan, how was your outburst?" Zhao Long didn't rush to take Xu Yuan to hunt soul beasts; instead, he planned to understand Xu Yuan's strength in advance.

Understanding the power Xu Yuan can unleash will help determine the limits when hunting soul beasts later.

After all, this is the Spirit Ascension Platform during normal times, not during the riot period. It is necessary to finish off the enemies in order to absorb the spiritual power of the soul beasts and thus increase the lifespan of the soul spirit.

The stronger Xu Yuan's power is, the greater Zhao Long's margin for error in battle, and the easier it is for him to finish Xu Yuan off.

Xu Yuan understood Zhao Long's meaning and immediately began to demonstrate his strength.

A long spear appeared in his hand.

Five Elements Spear Spirit.

Zhao Long frowned as he looked at the spear in Xu Yuan's hand, sensing that this spear was different from ordinary martial spirits.

Xu Yuan incorporated the power of the Heavenly Origin Spear, which he had experimented with over the past week, into the Five Elements Spear Spirit.

"Has the spirit been enhanced by a spirit?"

Zhao Long felt something was off, but he felt that what he had just experienced was the process of the soul spirit merging into the martial soul, making it easier to use the soul skills granted by the soul spirit.

Xu Yuan held the Five Elements Spear Spirit in his hand, his expression serious, his mind focused on the spear.

The power of the five elements circulates.

Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—the five elements generate each other in an endless cycle.

At the tip of the spear, the power of the five elements converges and merges, giving it a sense of awe.

The fusion of the five elements seemed poised to explode at any moment, making Xu Yuan's spear even more awe-inspiring.

The power of heaven and earth around him seemed to be mobilized, and Xu Yuan's aura changed.

Zhao Long sensed that although Xu Yuan was not his enemy, he still felt as if the surrounding world was subtly targeting him.

"The power of heaven and earth, to be precise, is the power of the spear!" Zhao Long hadn't expected Xu Yuan to be able to master this technique.

Moreover, as he unleashed his spear techniques, Xu Yuan also displayed his spear intent.

The nascent spear intent, containing the power to pierce through the void, erupted as Xu Yuan thrust out with his spear.

There was clearly no target ahead, yet his shot seemed to have struck the enemy, producing a loud bang.

Space is in turmoil, and the vital energy is in chaos.

Zhao Long's expression was solemn.

That single shot could have killed a thousand-year-old soul beast.

If you imprison a perfectly healthy thousand-year-old soul beast and let this spear pierce it, the thousand-year-old soul beast will be severely injured even if it doesn't die.

He breathed a sigh of relief, which at least meant that this mission was easy and he had a high margin for error. Even if it was a five or six thousand year old soul beast, he only needed to beat it half to death and then let Xu Yuan take action.

"How many years old are your two spirit rings now?" Zhao Long asked, looking at the two yellow spirit rings on Xu Yuan's body.

"Five hundred years."

Xu Yuan did not use the Heavenly Origin Brush Martial Soul, but instead used the Brain Martial Soul.

However, due to the characteristics of the soul spirit, he can also use the Five Elements Spear Spirit that is contracted with the Heavenly Origin Brush Martial Soul.

This is the special significance of the spirit for a twin martial spirit master.

It can better assist Soul Masters.

Furthermore, if the soul spirit and the martial soul are of the same type, the soul master can have the soul spirit bear all the abilities of a certain martial soul in battle, while he himself uses the other martial soul, thus unleashing both martial souls simultaneously.

Of course, it's very difficult to achieve this.

"Five hundred years?" Zhao Long knew the answer in his mind.

It requires at least five hundred years of cultivation.

In that case, hunting two soul beasts that are around five thousand years old will suffice.

Some readers pointed out that a level four blacksmith doesn't need to refine a thousand times to achieve the first grade, and after checking the original text, I can confirm that's true. These settings will follow the original text, though I'll make some minor changes.

The original work states that thousand-refined metal can be used to craft battle armor components. However, when battle armor crafting is mentioned in the original work, I noticed that it always requires first-grade thousand-refined metal. The original work doesn't say that Shrek students are pursuing higher grades, since a one-word battle armor can't be upgraded to a two-word grade unless it's forged using fusion. Upgrading to a two-word grade requires changing the metal and starting over. Therefore, this isn't about pursuing the ultimate, but rather because while one-word battle armor can be crafted with thousand-refined metal, it's impossible to use only ordinary thousand-refined metal. At least some core components require first-grade thousand-refined metal to withstand its demands.

To make the setup smoother and more complete, my changes are: ordinary thousand-refined metal is for practice, while the actual battle armor parts are made using first-grade thousand-refined metal. This allows it to better bear the power of the core magic array, and the first-grade thousand-refined metal, which has begun to possess spirituality, facilitates the linkage between all parts of the battle armor, creating a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.

Therefore, I will continue to use the statement that the One-Word Battle Armor needs to be made of first-grade metal forged a thousand times. This is different from the original work, and I wanted to explain it to you.

(End of this chapter)