Hearing Xu Lin speak like this, Ling Xiao couldn't help but ponder.
It makes sense. The Agility Attack System possesses strong offensive power and speed. Faced with a Control System soul master's skills, they can choose to use their speed to dodge or their attack power to break the skill.
It shouldn't actually be like those battles between Tang San and Zhu Zhuqing where the Control System showed such overwhelming suppression. If that were the case, everyone would just choose the Control System.
Xu Lin continued, "The four major cultivation directions for Battle Soul Masters do not actually possess mutual counters. Comparing the Control System to the others: faced with a Control System soul master's abilities."
"A Power Attack System can use their immense offensive power to forcibly destroy the restraint. A Defense System can rely on their own durability to resist the control. The key lies in the strength of one's own power versus the strength of the enemy's control."
"If the enemy is stronger, you will be trapped. If you are stronger, you can destroy their control ability and break free. Student Ling Xiao, do you understand?"
After saying this, Xu Lin looked at Ling Xiao with great interest.
"I think I understand. There is no inherent superiority among the four directions; it only depends on which one fits the Martial Soul and the strength of the soul master's own cultivation."
"Exactly. And you even mentioned the matching relationship between the Martial Soul and the cultivation direction—that's excellent. That is exactly what I was going to discuss next," Xu Lin said with praise.
"Students, earlier I spoke mainly of the four basic cultivation directions for Battle Soul Masters. However, the cultivation of a soul master involves more than just that. To be precise, these four are merely the basic directions."
"The reason I say this is because soul master cultivation also involves the classification of Cultivation Streams."
When Xu Lin mentioned this, Ling Xiao couldn't help but think of the scene where Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang explained the cultivation system to Tang San. He remembered being utterly baffled when he first learned about it.
According to Yu Xiaogang, the reason the Five Element Academies of the Heaven Dou Empire selected team members from a single system was that they followed the Extreme Stream in their personal cultivation, pursuing a single attribute.
Meanwhile, the Star Luo Empire's pursuit of balance in team composition was because they pursued the Balance Stream in individual training. At the time, Ling Xiao wondered if the flaw was in Yu Xiaogang's logic or his own. What kind of explanation was that?
What did selecting a team from one system have to do with an individual's path being the Extreme Stream? Did pursuing extreme individual development somehow mean you'd logically prefer an extreme team composition? What kind of brain-dead logic was that?
That answer was completely nonsensical and couldn't be explained away!
Besides, there was the issue of the Balance Stream. Even when he first learned about soul master streams in his past life, he felt the Balance Stream was unreliable.
It was like a game.
Excluding soul bones, you had at most nine soul skill slots.
With four directions, how could you balance them? Even if you ignored the fact that later soul rings provided stronger boosts, you'd still have an extra slot.
The moment you filled it, one aspect of your ability would inevitably become unbalanced. Furthermore, during that explanation to Tang San, Yu Xiaogang didn't specify how to follow the Balance Stream.
He merely claimed that Shrek Academy followed a "half-extreme, half-balanced" approach called the Fusion Stream, and claimed Spirit Hall followed the same path. He then explained that the so-called Fusion Stream was simply "Individual Extremity, Team Balance."
What kind of cultivation stream was that? That was just following the Extreme Stream while adding coordinated teamwork! He called that a new cultivation stream?
He even claimed Spirit Hall followed it. Ling Xiao felt that even putting it nicely, that should be called "Cooperation Stream" or "Team-up Stream"—it certainly didn't count as a distinct personal cultivation stream.
Back then, Ling Xiao had wondered: Are the people of the Douluo Continent idiots?
Does nobody else know that coordinating different systems produces the best combat results? Do only you, Yu Xiaogang, and the people of Spirit Hall know how to do this? Any normal person who understands soul master classifications could see that.
Ling Xiao felt there were only two possibilities for Yu Xiaogang saying that.
First, everyone else on the continent truly was stupid, and only he and Spirit Hall were clever (though Ling Xiao felt the probability of this was near zero).
The second was that Yu Xiaogang was a fool—a fool who thought that besides Spirit Hall, he was the only smart person in the world and everyone else was an idiot, unaware that in the eyes of outsiders, he was the true fool.
He understood neither the real cultivation streams of soul masters nor the perceptions of Spirit Hall and other academies; he simply possessed a mysterious self-confidence while teaching others.
Thinking of this, Ling Xiao frowned.
He felt a bit of pity for Bibi Dong. He truly didn't know why the Pope would love such a man, to the point he became her obsession. Now, he wanted to hear what Spirit Hall Academy had to say about cultivation streams.
He heard Xu Lin say from the podium, "Currently, there are two major cultivation streams in the soul master world: the Extreme Stream and the Fusion Stream."
"The Fusion Stream only gradually appeared in the soul master world about 3,000 years ago. Before that, the Extreme Stream was the only one, making it the most orthodox and ancient cultivation stream."
"Both the Extreme Stream and the Fusion Stream are divided into two aspects: the acquisition of soul rings and soul skills, and the enhancement of the Martial Soul's origin."
"Let's talk about the Extreme Stream first. It was the first path discovered by soul masters and is relatively simple to understand. The Extreme Stream involves choosing one of the four major cultivation directions and pursuing it to the ultimate limit."
"When obtaining soul rings, one must ensure the soul skills match the chosen direction. For example, if you choose the Power Attack System, you must try to ensure your soul skills enhance your offensive capabilities."
"As for the enhancement of the Martial Soul's origin, this needs a separate explanation. First, does everyone know how soul rings and soul skills are formed?"
"When a soul master reaches the rank to obtain a ring, they must hunt a suitable Soul Beast. After the Soul Beast dies, according to the laws of our Douluo Continent, half of the bloodline power within its body combines with soul power to transform into a soul ring."
"When we use our Martial Soul to absorb the ring, the power first enters our soul and then impacts our body. If we withstand this shock, the absorption is successful; the rest follows naturally."
"About one-third of the soul ring's power fuses with our body, enhancing our physical fitness. The remaining two-thirds returns to the Martial Soul. Half of that combines with the Martial Soul's origin to strengthen it, while the other half coordinates with the Martial Soul to form a soul skill."
"Note, however, that this final portion of soul ring power is not permanently fused with the Martial Soul. It is only called upon to integrate when the soul master manifests a soul skill. Normally, it stays within the soul ring."
"Once we call upon that specific power, the ring enters an 'empty' state and manifests outside the body once. Therefore, obtaining a soul ring isn't just about getting a skill; it is also the cultivation and enhancement of the Martial Soul's origin."
"The requirement of the Extreme Stream is not only to obtain skills that fit your direction but also to identify the source attribute or characteristic of your Martial Soul and pursue the extreme enhancement of that origin."
"This is the Extreme Stream, the oldest and most orthodox cultivation stream in the soul master world."