Chapter 40: The Plan to Split the Martial Soul

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Xu Yuan hadn't forgotten his chosen path.

The pinnacle of weapon-type martial souls.

However, as he continued cultivating, he became acutely aware that he had deviated somewhat from this goal.

Fortunately, it wasn't too late to correct course.

Xu Yuan was quite versatile—ahem, quite knowledgeable. Thanks to the unique nature of his brain martial soul, his learning aptitude was extraordinary, allowing him to simultaneously study numerous branches of knowledge without falling behind in either of his martial soul's two forms.

Having two innate forms for a martial soul was both a blessing and a curse. While it was a remarkable trait of his martial soul, it also posed a significant obstacle on his chosen path.

Xu Yuan could learn combat techniques for both forms, but when it came to the development of his martial soul, he had to make a decision—he had to choose one.

Since he was pursuing the ultimate weapon-type martial soul, Xu Yuan naturally wanted to develop his Tianyuan Spear into a divine artifact, an ultra-divine artifact, or even something beyond that level.

But if he allowed himself to be distracted by developing both forms...

Though the two forms were part of the same martial soul, attempting to enhance both simultaneously through spirit soul and soul ring additions would inevitably prevent the Tianyuan Spear from reaching its full potential.

At the very least, it would fail to achieve the pinnacle enhancement for a particular soul ring slot.

Yet, with such a dual-form martial soul, each form having its own strengths, could Xu Yuan truly bring himself to abandon one of them?

"No," Xu Yuan answered himself.

From his ambitious pursuit of mastering all four secondary professions, it was clear he wasn't one to settle for less. He wanted everything—he wanted the Tianyuan Brush's ability to manipulate heaven-and-earth origin energy and walk the path of elemental control, but he also didn't want to give up the Tianyuan Spear's overwhelming offensive power.

"The first spirit soul and first soul ring currently have no impact on either form of the martial soul—they are perfectly aligned. However, the second soul ring will inevitably favor the Tianyuan Spear."

This meant the Tianyuan Brush form would receive minimal enhancement.

But the mere existence of the Tianyuan Brush form would still influence how the Five-Element Spear Spirit added the second soul ring to the Tianyuan Spear. Though the impact might be negligible, it would undoubtedly exist.

"Split the martial soul!"

"Separate the two forms of the martial soul!"

Xu Yuan had an idea, and a sense of urgency welled up within him.

"I must complete the split before I reach level twenty."

But how exactly should he go about splitting it?

Xu Yuan thought of his father and his approach of using a symbiotic spirit soul to compensate for martial soul deficiencies.

"My father's path wasn't thorough enough. A symbiotic spirit soul can not only address the shortcomings of a martial soul and allow a soul master to cultivate soul power—it can completely replace the martial soul itself."

In this regard, Ji Juechen had indeed taken things to the extreme.

Xu Yuan used Shrek Academy's internal network to research Ji Juechen's records, gaining a more detailed understanding of his cultivation journey.

Ji Juechen had been born with a level-three innate soul power and an ordinary iron sword as his martial soul—a plain, unremarkable iron sword with no special abilities. Yet, he had grown powerful because he infused his soul into the sword, perfectly integrating his martial soul into meteoric iron from beyond the heavens. Over time, he gradually forged the meteoric iron into his own sword.

In other words, he had fully transformed the meteoric iron into his sword, his martial soul.

Xu Yuan could follow this blueprint, fusing his Tianyuan Spear into the Five-Element Spear Spirit, transforming it into something akin to another martial soul.

However, the Five-Element Spear Spirit was already the spirit soul of the Tianyuan Brush martial soul and had provided the first soul ring for the Tianyuan Brush. If it were completely separated, how would the first soul skill of the Tianyuan Brush be preserved?

Xu Yuan knew that even if the spirit soul were removed, the granted soul skills would remain, but their potency would significantly decrease.

While this might seem acceptable, it was something Xu Yuan couldn't tolerate. Even if he could enhance the power of the Five Elements through further development, a weaker foundation would ultimately limit his potential.

Moreover, whether this soul ring could continue to undergo spiritual ascension in the future was also a concern.

"For now, I'll focus on studying Ji Juechen's specific methods." Xu Yuan rubbed his temples and temporarily outlined a plan.

Given Shrek Academy's close ties with the Tang Sect, they likely had detailed records of Ji Juechen's cultivation process. Tomorrow, when he went to the archive room, he would thoroughly investigate.

"I also need to brush up on my knowledge of spirit soul contracts and formation arrays, to see if there's a way to minimize the damage to the Tianyuan Brush form caused by splitting the martial soul."

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The Next Day

Xu Yuan visited the various associations and accepted a task from each.

Unlike the assessments, the association tasks were more complex, requiring several hours to complete each one. A single task might involve an entire set of parts rather than just one or two.

Even for Xu Yuan, he could only complete one task per day for a single association.

That day, Xu Yuan completed a task for the Mecha Design Association, earning a reward of one hundred contribution points.

After finishing the association's task, Xu Yuan immersed himself in the archive room.

As he had hoped, detailed records of Ji Juechen's cultivation path were available in the academy's archives, and they were fairly comprehensive.

It made sense. As a sacred ground for soul masters' cultivation, Shrek Academy's collection of cultivation theories was bound to be extensive. Even though Ji Juechen wasn't from Shrek, he was from the Tang Sect. Such a unique cultivation experience would have been acquired by Shrek at little cost, and over ten thousand years, opportunities would have arisen to include it in the archives.

"A vessel?" The key term Xu Yuan extracted from the records gave him a headache.

This was what he lacked.

When the Five-Element Spear Spirit was created, it was based on rare metals, but its essence was closer to a soul-like spirit without a physical form.

Only after being separated from the rare metal did it truly become a spirit soul.

Without a physical form, how could the martial soul be integrated into it?

Because a martial soul was inherently intangible, it required the constraints of a physical entity, like meteoric iron, to achieve integration.

As Xu Yuan read Ji Juechen's reflections on his cultivation path, he fell into deep thought.

"My Five-Element Spear Spirit has no physical form."

"If only I had Huo Yuhao's experiences and insights from obtaining his second and third martial souls—I might be able to split my martial soul without relying on Ji Juechen's method."

But unfortunately, Huo Yuhao had left no records of his cultivation experiences or insights.

If Xu Yuan wanted to proceed with his plan—to split his martial soul while retaining its ability to continue receiving soul rings for upgrades—he would have to follow Ji Juechen's path.

Did this mean his plan was doomed to fail from the start?

Should he rein in his ambition and simply cultivate his dual-form martial soul as it was?

Sitting at the desk in the archive room, Xu Yuan leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, letting his thoughts wander.

Though he appeared to be spacing out, his mind was still active, thinking and searching for a solution.

He knew that at this moment, what he needed wasn't rationality but creativity—an imaginative leap to provide direction and support for completing his plan.

His thoughts continued to expand.

"Forge a real spear and integrate the Five-Element Spear Spirit into it. Then, infuse the essence of the Tianyuan Spear form?"

This could serve as a backup plan.

"Besides physically crafting a spear to house the spirit soul and the essence of the Tianyuan Spear form, what else could serve as a vessel for all of this?"

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