Chapter 260: Establishing One's Own Belief

Join my Patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel releases:

patreon.com/ZeroMoney

I would appreciate your help if you could join my Patreon and support me because it would keep me motivated. 

******

Su Yu didn't stay in seclusion for too long. He had just begun to connect with the fundamental power of the plane when he received news.

Huo Yuhao had arrived.

After conquering the last piece of territory of the Star Luo Empire and incorporating it into the Sun and Moon Federation, Huo Yuhao finally had time to spare.

Although the second wave of the army's deployment wasn't yet complete, Huo Yuhao came over at the earliest opportunity.

"Not bad, how did you manage to improve your soul power so quickly?"

Su Yu was a bit surprised when he saw Huo Yuhao.

He had noticed that Huo Yuhao had already broken through to level 80.

At their current level, soul masters who reached level 70 and formed their first soul core had no standardized method for judging soul power based on future soul energy and quality.

In other words, it was impossible to determine their soul power purely by external perception.

After all, their soul power's quality and total amount far exceeded others at the same level.

However, Su Yu, in comparison to himself, could almost feel that Huo Yuhao had already reached the level of a Soul Douluo.

"Heh, Brother Yu, it's all thanks to the Life God's exam. I was lucky to break through. But your soul power is the one that's really increasing fast," Huo Yuhao scratched his head and said.

"Which stage of the Life God's exam are you on?" Su Yu asked curiously.

"Heh, I've already passed the seventh test."

Now Su Yu understood why Huo Yuhao had progressed so quickly.

Back during the Soul Dueling Tournament, Su Yu had already reached the fourth exam, while Huo Yuhao had only completed two. Now, Su Yu had just barely completed the fourth and fifth exams and had not yet received any substantial soul power rewards. On the other hand, Huo Yuhao had earned tangible rewards, including improvements to his soul power level and the god-given soul rings, completing five tests in total.

From the exam content itself, it was clear that the Life God had different expectations for them.

While Huo Yuhao seemed to be groomed for a higher-tier deity, his path seemed better suited for substantial soul power enhancement and god-given soul rings. Meanwhile, Su Yu was more suited for receiving rewards of a supportive nature.

After completing the fifth test, Su Yu had received the reward from it: the primordial power of the Life Tree.

When he broke through to become a Titled Douluo and formed his ninth world soul ring, Su Yu incorporated this primordial power into his soul ring, successfully completing the fusion.

After the fifth test, Su Yu received the sixth test's instructions.

"Sixth Test: Establish your own belief. Reward: Universe Star Map."

It could only be said that Su Yu's tests were becoming more and more abstract.

He felt that this had little to do with the Life God anymore, and it seemed more like an excuse to provide him with rewards.

However, during this process, he still had to abide by the rules of the God Realm.

The God Realm had lost contact with Douluo Continent, but the connection was not entirely severed.

The divine exams were the closest form of connection between the God Realm and the lower realms, and were the last safeguard of communication between the two.

An independent space, separated from both Douluo Continent and the God Realm, was the ultimate place where all divine positions' legacies were passed on, connecting the God Realm to all subordinate planes.

This plane's system was extremely well-developed and was the very foundation of the God Realm. Its rules had to be followed.

This was also the reason why Su Yu and the others could still reach the God Realm at present. If anything went wrong, they could use the Life God's exam as a connection to reach both the Life God and the God of Destruction to resolve the Abyss Crisis.

Huo Yuhao's arrival did not alter the situation in the depths of the Extreme North.

Su Yu continued developing his martial arts techniques.

Time passed.

Three months had passed since the Abyssal Whirlpool passage was established.

The Federation's second military recruitment had reached the outskirts of the Extreme North.

Meanwhile, Su Yu had finally developed the foundation of his martial arts technique.

"Primordial Arts, it's finally starting to produce normal results," Su Yu personally tested it. By simply activating his soul power and running the Primordial Arts technique, he refined the Abyssal energy into his own soul power.

"Although it's slower than absorbing the world's spiritual energy, the effect of devouring and refining Abyssal energy is inherently better than refining the world's spiritual energy."

The Abyss was more powerful than Douluo Continent and was an energy plane. The very fact that it had a plane made its energy nature superior to Douluo Continent's.

Thus, refining Abyssal energy was naturally far more effective than refining the world's spiritual energy from Douluo Continent.

Especially for soul masters who had been stuck at a bottleneck for years, refining Abyssal energy could potentially allow them to break through their limitations and achieve breakthroughs.

Su Yu was quite satisfied with the effects of the Primordial Arts now.

"Stellar Energy?" Su Yu ran the Primordial Arts again, sensing something different from before.

Previously, Su Yu had researched the power of the stars and even absorbed and refined it. As he operated the Primordial Arts, Su Yu felt the difference between the star power he had refined before and the Abyssal energy.

After some analysis, Su Yu understood the reason behind this difference.

The star power Su Yu had refined in the past, strictly speaking, was just a form of energy with star attributes that originated from Douluo Continent's absorption of external energy. In essence, it was still the power of Douluo Continent, just sourced from the external universe's energy.

Unfortunately, despite further attempts to sense it, Su Yu couldn't detect the most primordial energy from the universe.

"Perhaps I need to venture beyond Douluo Star to truly experience the roaming energy of the universe."

"Teacher, this is the Primordial Arts I've developed, its function is to absorb Abyssal energy and refine it into soul power."

Su Yu passed on the technique of the Primordial Arts to Kong Deming, Jing Hongchen, and the others.

"This technique's absorption efficiency is only about the same as the normal soul master's training speed. Your training won't have much of an impact on the Abyss. It's necessary to teach this technique to the soul masters in the army," Su Yu said.

"You mean to make this technique completely public?" Jing Hongchen asked, seeming to ponder deeply.

"Exactly."

"But even if we teach it to the new army of 30,000 soul masters, their training wouldn't cause any significant drain on the Abyssal energy, would it?"

If the energy is merely being used to support training, the consumption of Abyssal energy will be minimal. Apart from the "swallow" character in the sealing array that Su Yu set up, which absorbs some of the energy, there will be almost no loss.

This absorption process doesn't continuously absorb in proportion; it has an absorption limit. Even though the "swallow" character improves over time, it's still just a single rune, so the amount of energy it can absorb is capped.

If an energy tide were to come, the "swallow" character wouldn't significantly affect the Abyss.

As long as it isn't absorbing the primordial energy of dead Abyssal creatures, it wouldn't matter to the Abyss.

But, considering the entire vast Abyssal plane, would 30,000 soul masters' energy consumption really affect them?

Although Jing Hongchen didn't have a direct sense of the Abyss, he could relate it to Douluo Continent.

If 30,000 soul masters trained within Sun-Moon Hall, it might strain the resources there, but outside of Sun-Moon's area, it wouldn't cause much trouble.

During the last Soul Fighting Tournament, the number of soul masters in Sun-Moon Hall definitely surpassed 30,000, and it had no impact at all.

So, would a vast energy plane like the Abyss be affected by such minor consumption?

Even in the Abyssal domain within Douluo Continent, although the area was not vast, it continuously received energy from the Abyss through spatial channels.

Su Yu shook his head.

"Hall Master, the Abyss isn't the goal. The primary purpose of the Primordial Arts is to strengthen the soul master community, enhance the strength of the soul masters from Douluo Continent who are coming to the Extreme North to participate in this war, and motivate them."

Jing Hongchen was taken aback for a moment, then quickly understood Su Yu's point.

Therefore, whether or not the Abyss is significantly affected isn't the priority. What matters is the improvement in the strength of the soul masters in the army.

"Got it, I understand your intention now. But do we directly issue the Primordial Arts?"

Su Yu thought for a moment and replied, "The technique can be exchanged for killing three Abyssal creatures of the same level."

In the end, the Primordial Arts was not just for absorbing Abyssal energy. In the future, it could also absorb energy from outside of Douluo Continent, refining those foreign energies to increase one's soul power.

It can be said that the value of this technique is already incredibly high.

If given away completely for free, it might even fail to earn the gratitude of the soul masters.

Out of the 30,000 soul masters in the army, only a portion will be able to receive the Primordial Arts.

The Primordial Arts has been added to the military's merit-based exchange system, and Su Yu chose not to dwell on it further.

"The second batch of the army is about to arrive. Among them, over ten thousand soul masters possess the ability to enter the Extreme North. There are five thousand above the Soul Sect level, who, with the assistance of soul engineering devices, can reach near the core area. Additionally, nearly a thousand are Soul Kings or higher, who could easily join the Battle Armor Corps and help counter the Abyssal army."

The situation between the two sides had reached a standoff, but it wasn't without conflict.

From time to time, both sides engaged in small-scale clashes. They were not as intense as the initial battles, but after a prolonged period, both sides had suffered significant losses.

For the Abyss, while its creatures can be revived after death, soul masters from Douluo Continent truly die when they fall.

Thus, the Abyss maintained this pattern of attrition.

As long as the scale of the clashes remained controlled and didn't provoke the likes of Gu Yuena, or Electrolux, or result in the targeted consumption of the Abyssal creatures' primordial energy, the Abyss would suffer far less than Douluo Continent.

In fact, it could be said that even the Abyss was actively managing the scale of the conflicts.

"Teacher, Elder Yi, I plan to leave for a while. If there are any unusual movements from the Abyss, you can contact me through the communication soul guide," Su Yu said, unable to bear the isolation in the Extreme North and preparing to leave.

Now that the situation in the Extreme North had met Su Yu's expectations, with both sides in a standoff, his task had shifted to becoming stronger.

He needed to grow as quickly as possible.

Otherwise, the standoff would lose all its meaning.

"Complete the sixth trial of the Life God and obtain the Cosmic Star Map," Su Yu thought.

Since the Life God had set this as his reward, there must be something within the star map's range that could help him rapidly improve his strength.

Moreover, with enough effort, Su Yu believed he could reach the location of the opportunity.

"You're leaving?" Kong Deming frowned. "We've been relying on you to get information about the Abyssal kings' attempts to create a second passage. If you leave, and the Abyss tries to establish a second passage during your absence, we won't be able to detect it in time."

Su Yu had already prepared for this. "Teacher, you don't need to worry about that. Elder Yi's necromantic half-plane can also integrate with the world and sense spatial fluctuations."

The necromantic half-plane was essentially a small plane. With Electrolux' breakthrough, it had become more refined, evolving into a small plane.

Though it was attached to Douluo Continent, Electrolux was its creator and could fully control it. He could also integrate this half-plane into Douluo Continent's space if needed.

In this situation, when the spatial passage to Douluo Continent was forcibly established, Electrolux would also be able to sense it through the necromantic half-plane.

Kong Deming turned to look at Electrolux, who nodded, confirming that he could indeed do this.

"Since that's the case, proceed at your own pace," Kong Deming said. At this point, it was hard for him to offer any further guidance to Su Yu. "Whether or not you can consume the Abyss will depend on you all."

"Just right, I also need to leave the Extreme North and improve myself," Gu Yuena said.

With the arrival of the army and a more stable situation, she naturally wanted to find ways to grow stronger.

While occasionally using the Silver Dragon Spear to devour enemies on the battlefield could provide some boost, it wasn't as effective unless she consumed Abyssal beings of the level of the Eight Great Kings.

On the other hand, there was a place where her improvement could be more substantial.

"I also need to leave for a while," Du Bushi said at this point.

His words immediately drew suspicious looks from Kong Deming and Jing Hongchen.

Du Bushi's face showed slight displeasure. "What, do you think I can't improve my strength quickly? I might not be able to get a Super Battle Armor for now, but I can still increase my power a bit in a short period."

Hearing Du Bushi's words, Su Yu was suddenly struck with a thought.

"Golden Behemoth."

When the full-scale battle had erupted earlier, Su Yu and the others didn't have time to ask Du Bushi about the Behemoth bloodline. After the battle, it was a private matter, and Su Yu had forgotten about it, so it had been delayed.

The Behemoth, another great race.

It was on par with the Dragon Clan.

Su Yu's bloodline soul rings now only had five, still missing four. Excluding the seventh soul ring prepared for the Fate Bloodline Soul Ring, and possibly the eighth and ninth rings he would develop later, he still lacked a sixth soul ring.

The Golden Behemoth was an excellent choice.

As for whether the Golden Behemoth's bloodline power would conflict with the Dragon Clan bloodline in his body, Su Yu was actually hoping for a conflict.

A conflict would be beneficial.

Only through such a conflict could Su Yu potentially identify the parts of the bloodlines he had yet to fully refine.

Refining bloodline powers and forming bloodline soul rings were, in essence, about strengthening oneself.

Su Yu would not allow himself to leave any part of this power underdeveloped.

With the relationship between the Dragon Clan and the Behemoth Tribe, this conflict might help Su Yu more effectively target the parts of his bloodlines that needed refining, finally addressing the last remaining issue.

"The Golden Behemoth's bloodline was something I discovered in a spatial rift on Phoenix Continent, and it was preserved very well."

Did he not find a living Golden Behemoth? Su Yu felt a sense of regret in his heart.

(End of chapter)