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*****
Increasing the soul power at the time of awakening does not mean the innate soul power itself has increased. It means that even if Su Wen's method boosts a child's soul power to Level 3 upon awakening, it does not mean their Martial Soul quality will reach the strength of Su Wen's original Book Martial Soul, nor even that of Yu Xiaogang's Luo San Pao, which possessed less than half a level of innate soul power.
In the past, such poor Martial Soul quality would have rendered further cultivation impossible. But times have changed. The entire continent has undergone earth-shattering transformations. Poor aptitude now simply means one has more time—a vast amount of time—to practice cultivation techniques, "Soul-Rising" methods, and body-tempering arts. No matter how poor one starts before reaching Level 10, with effort, there is always a chance to change one's fate. Even if it takes twenty years to break through Level 10, those years are enough to master cultivation methods and temper the body to such a high degree that the first spirit ring can easily withstand seven or eight hundred years of power.
That first spirit ring alone is enough to defy fate. Coupled with the mindset forged during those dozen or so years, the cultivation after the Martial Soul transformation becomes even faster. There is a hope to reach Level 20 before twenty-five, where one could choose a thousand-year spirit ring. With a reasonable spirit ring combination, these two rings are enough to rectify the fundamental weakness of a Martial Soul, making the breakthrough to Level 30 far less arduous than it was for Yu Xiaogang.
This is the beauty of "over-limit" absorption. Different types of Spirit Masters, under normal circumstances, possess an incredibly similar limit to the age of spirit rings they can withstand. The limit Yu Xiaogang previously cited was a universal standard, applying to Power Attack Spirit Masters and Support Spirit Masters alike. This is because the limit corresponds to the developmental stage of the Martial Soul itself, rather than the Spirit Master's body or spirit. The stronger the Spirit Master's body and spirit, the easier it is to absorb, but the core constraint remains the Martial Soul.
By tempering the body and using various other methods to absorb spirit rings beyond the limit, one breaks through the Martial Soul's current developmental level and artificially raises its ceiling. If a first spirit ring is meant to raise a Martial Soul to the Level 20 limit, but absorbs a ring that should belong at the second position, is the "limit" reached still the same limit? A single drop of true dragon blood is hope for evolution to a hundred-year flood dragon, but what is it to a ten-thousand-year one?
This was another of Su Wen's theories: the weaker the Martial Soul's developmental stage, the greater the possibility of significant evolution through external stimulation. Conversely, the more fragile the Martial Soul, the greater the hope for evolution. Thus, a method that only improves cultivation possibility without enhancing the innate Martial Soul quality became a reform that could overturn the continent when championed by Xiao Zhan!
This method alone was not enough to overturn the continent, but when combined with Su Wen's previous groundwork, it was sufficient!
"This, to a certain extent, eliminates some of the barriers to cultivation caused by innate aptitude." As long as one has the desire to cultivate, there is a chance. While there are some "technical difficulties" like having been born to the wrong parents, Su Wen had mapped out every other possible path.
Su Wen nodded. He did not know how effective this would be on the Haomiao Continent, but on Douluo Planet, this awakening method would surely harvest a massive amount of faith. Once popularized, the faith power he could harvest on Douluo Planet might skyrocket several times over! Previously, while he had harvested faith, it was limited to Spirit Masters. Now, with this method, his reach encompassed every single human on Douluo Planet.
Because the foundation of this method was the Academic Realm, allowing ordinary people to obtain soul marks and enter it, Su Wen had taken the step to open the realm to the common man, enriching the projects within it.
"Rongrong, Uncle Zhan, I leave Douluo Continent to you. I still need to make arrangements on the Sun-Moon Continent."
Su Wen could rest easy leaving Douluo Continent to Ning Rongrong and Xiao Zhan, but the Sun-Moon Continent required slightly more effort. However, it was not overly complicated. He approached both the Sun-Moon Divine Cult and the Sun-Moon Imperial Family, handing over the groundwork for popularizing the awakening method. He then randomly selected over a thousand Spirit Masters from the Sun-Moon Continent who were already in the Academic Realm, gathered them, informed them of the information, and tasked them with its dissemination.
After making these arrangements, Su Wen did not rush to dissipate his consciousness projection. There was something else he wanted to verify. Having negotiated cooperation with the envoys of the Four Holy Lands, Su Wen returned to his hotel. He connected with his consciousness projection on Douluo Planet, attempting to link to the Academic Realm through this trace of contact. Across the vast distance, he sensed the existence of the Academic Realm, but unfortunately, the consumption was too great.
He had intended to use this communication to open a branch of the Academic Realm here, using Douluo Planet's realm as a foundation, just as he had expanded the realm from Douluo Continent to the oceans and the Sun-Moon Continent, ultimately enveloping the entire Douluo star. But it seemed this model was not suitable for the current situation.
"Still, I have the positioning. As long as I open a branch of the Academic Realm here, I can use this coordinate to link the two, enabling communication." Communication carried a cost, but by basing it on the two realms, the burden remained within a tolerable range.
After the experiment, Su Wen sealed his consciousness projection. The process of condensing and dissipating was too resource-intensive; it was better to seal it and simply unseal it next time. With the dissemination of the awakening method on Douluo Planet resolved, Su Wen continued to develop the "Heavenly Bead Transformation" technique.
The technique had four layers, corresponding to the four stages of Heavenly Power cultivation. But in reality, only the first three layers involved opening acupoints; the fourth layer, Heaven Dao Power, tested one's perception of the heavens and earth. Within the technique, this corresponded to the changing operations of Heavenly Power rather than the opening of acupoints. The "Undying Divine Art" was similar: once all "death points" were opened, one reached the peak of Heaven Void Power, or the threshold of Heaven Dao Power. Beyond that, there was no longer a "technique" to guide one. Any technique at the Heaven Dao Power level was merely a summary of how to utilize that power.
Currently, the third layer of "Heavenly Bead Transformation" that Su Wen was perfecting involved the opening and coordination of all acupoints—a massive engineering project.
(End of Chapter)