"This..."
After hearing Xu Lin's question, Ling Xiao couldn't help but sink into deep thought.
"Beast Martial Souls modeled after Soul Beasts are easy to judge; you can determine their elemental attributes or characteristics based on the Soul Beast's traits. However, ordinary wild animals lack elemental powers or any other special strengths."
"In that case, one can only develop based on the characteristics of the corresponding animal. But... is that really a good path?"
The thought of an ordinary animal-type Beast Martial Soul following the Extreme Stream based solely on common animal traits felt a bit strange to him.
"Some might think of following the Extreme Stream by leaning into the characteristics of a common animal, but in reality, that isn't practical. The essence of our cultivation as Soul Masters—"
"Whether through the Extreme Stream or the Fusion Path—is to strengthen the source power within the Martial Soul. Soul Skills are merely a way to utilize that source power," Xu Lin explained.
"Beast Martial Souls based on Soul Beasts are just like the creatures themselves."
"Even if the corresponding Soul Beast is a extremely weak existence among its peers—take the Soft-Bone Rabbit, a low-level Soul Beast—it is theoretically possible for it to cultivate to the one hundred thousand year level."
Hearing this, Ling Xiao, sitting in his seat, couldn't help but roast her in his mind: 'Teacher, it's not just theoretical anymore.
Two Soft-Bone Rabbits actually had heaven-defying luck and managed to hide away until they reached the one hundred thousand year level. There's even a weaker worm out there sleeping its way through a million years of cultivation.'
"One could say that a weak Soul Beast like the Soft-Bone Rabbit, even when fully grown, is only a ten-year Soul Beast. Its Soul Power cultivation isn't high, and it still couldn't defeat a common tiger," Xu Lin continued.
"However, as a Soul Beast, if it continues to cultivate and reaches the thousand-year or even ten-thousand-year level, it can kill an ordinary tiger with a single kick. This is the contrast between Soul Beasts and ordinary animals. Ordinary animals cannot cultivate, and their lifespans are much shorter."
"Of course, I'm not saying that Beast Martial Souls based on ordinary animals cannot be cultivated. As long as there is a certain amount of Innate Soul Power, cultivation is possible. "
"What I want to tell everyone is that, from a Martial Soul perspective, the source power of a Soul Beast-type Martial Soul is stronger than that of an ordinary animal-type Martial Soul. This strength is primarily reflected in quality, not total volume."
"When we Soul Masters obtain Soul Rings, if the hunted Soul Beast's source power is much stronger than our own Martial Soul and the compatibility between the two is high enough, then absorbing that Soul Ring can trigger a Martial Soul Evolution."
"From this perspective, high-level Martial Souls are actually harder to evolve because the probability of satisfying both conditions is low. Mid- and low-level Martial Souls find it easier, and the easiest of all are those ordinary animal-type Martial Souls."
"Because the quality of their source power is weak, they evolve easily when absorbing a Soul Ring. However, if this evolution remains uncontrolled, it isn't necessarily a good thing."
Xu Lin paused, looking at the curious faces.
"Some might wonder how an easy evolution could be bad. Let me give you an example. If a Martial Soul is just an ordinary wolf, its speed characteristics are naturally stronger than its strength or defense."
"It would be suited for the Agility Attack System, hunting fast and high-attack Soul Beasts for Soul Rings. If, in the early stages, the user absorbs a Soul Ring from a powerful tiger-type Soul Beast, it might cause the Martial Soul to change."
"Its strength might begin to exceed its speed. Suddenly, the user is no longer suited for the Agility Attack System but is better for the Power Attack System."
"Therefore, for ordinary animal Martial Souls to follow the Extreme Stream like Soul Beast-types is difficult. Because their source power is weak, absorbing rings easily alters their traits, making it highly likely they won't be able to pursue a true 'extreme' attribute."
"The key for ordinary animal-type Martial Souls when following the Extreme Stream lies in 'controlled evolution.' Usually, one must absorb Soul Rings from the same type of Soul Beast as much as possible—ideally from the exact same species multiple times."
"Even if that's not possible, the similarity between the hunted Soul Beasts must be as high as possible. This is done to guide the Martial Soul to evolve into a corresponding Soul Beast-type Martial Soul."
"By doing this, not only can you ensure the general direction of your Martial Soul's traits won't deviate, but once the Martial Soul completely evolves into the chosen Soul Beast-type, you can then develop it based on that Soul Beast's specific attributes."
"As for why we choose similar species? It's because the evolutionary effect is best when the species match. For example, if the Martial Soul is an ordinary wolf, one should first select a wolf-type Soul Beast, like the Stormwind Demon Wolf."
"During cultivation, by repeatedly absorbing Soul Rings from Gale Demon Wolves, the Martial Soul will grow closer and closer to a Stormwind Demon Wolf as the rank increases, until the evolution is complete."
"At that point, the user can proceed with the Extreme Stream based on the Stormwind Demon Wolf's source attributes."
"So that's how it works."
After hearing Xu Lin's explanation, the doubts in Ling Xiao's heart were cleared.
It turned out that when ordinary animal-type Martial Souls follow the Extreme Stream, it is divided into two stages: the first focuses on evolving the Martial Soul into a Soul Beast-type, and the second follows the Extreme Stream based on that result.
Of course, the first stage could also be considered a special kind of Extreme Stream.
'Huh.' Suddenly, Ling Xiao thought of Plant Martial Souls.
Although Plant Martial Souls have the characteristics of Tool Martial Souls, they differ from pure Tool Martial Souls and share commonalities with Beast Martial Souls.
If ordinary animal-type Martial Souls cultivate in these two stages, then ordinary plant-type Martial Souls should be the same.
After all, while some Plant Martial Souls correspond to the plant-type Soul Beasts of the world, others are just ordinary plants. At that moment, Ling Xiao thought of Tang San's Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and felt a flash of confusion.
In his view, before Tang San awakened the Blue Silver Empress bloodline, aside from having incredibly high Innate Soul Power, his Blue Silver Grass was truly just Blue Silver Grass.
Blue Silver Grass was just an extremely common, ordinary grass on the Douluo Continent; it didn't inherently belong to the category of plant-type Soul Beasts.
The ten-thousand-year Blue Silver King and the one hundred thousand year Blue Silver Empress seemed more like special cases. After all, there didn't seem to be any other Blue Silver Grass Soul Beasts besides them.
Looking at the attitude people on the continent held toward it, Blue Silver Grass was not considered a Soul Beast.
From that perspective, cultivating the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul should follow a path similar to ordinary animal-type Beast Martial Souls: first evolving it into a plant-type Soul Beast Martial Soul before progressing further.
Yet, the existence of the Blue Silver King and Blue Silver Empress seemed to prove that if Blue Silver Grass has the possibility of cultivation, pursuing the extreme of its own attributes can turn it into a powerful Soul Beast.
Translated to a Martial Soul, this meant the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul could pursue its own source attributes directly, without needing to evolve into other plant-type Soul Beast Martial Souls.