Chapter 49: Blood And Qi Contract
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Xu Yuan sighed in exasperation.
Did he really look like such a reckless and impulsive person?
He was someone who could learn, reflect on mistakes, and listen to advice, thank you very much.
After receiving Zhen Hua's suggestion, Xu Yuan had fully agreed with it himself, recognizing it as the safest and most effective method.
The planning for the transition between his martial soul cultivation paths had been made by him afterward.
At any rate, in the current era of the continent, the distinction between primary and secondary martial souls in twin-soul cultivation wasn't as critical anymore.
Since spirit souls didn't provide much soul power feedback, even when contracting with actual spirit beasts, surplus soul power was only provided at the initial stage of the contract. Therefore, using the second martial soul to rapidly accumulate soul power—a method applicable in the past—was no longer viable under the spirit soul system.
Additionally, due to the existence of the Ascension Platform, the issue of soul ring years was no longer a major concern for twin-soul masters seeking to attach soul rings to their secondary martial soul early on.
Now, the only consideration for twin-soul masters was the burden of spirit souls on both martial souls.
And clearly, Xu Yuan didn't need to worry about that.
Thus, regarding which martial soul to prioritize at different stages of cultivation, Xu Yuan could switch between them freely.
For now, before truly achieving the unity of man and spear and transforming into a blood and qi martial soul, it was very likely that Xu Yuan's Tianyuan Brush martial soul wouldn't receive additional soul rings. Instead, breakthroughs in soul power would be achieved through attaching soul rings to his brain martial soul.
None of this was a problem.
Even if Xu Yuan's main combat methods remained spear techniques and controlling heaven-and-earth origin energy with the Tianyuan Brush, it wouldn't be affected by prioritizing one martial soul over the other.
Spear techniques—he could practice them. With the Five-Element Spear Manual as a foundation, Xu Yuan already had a solid grounding in spear techniques.
Elemental control—with the cultivation of his brain martial soul and the increase in spiritual power, combined with the foundational soul skill of Five-Element Mastery, Xu Yuan's progress wouldn't be hindered either.
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Xu Yuan sat in the center of the formation array.
To ensure success and safety, Xu Yuan divided the entire blood and qi contract process into three parts.
The first part involved the external formation array. This was the original form of spirit soul development, where external arrays were used to assist human soul masters in forming contracts with spirit beasts. As the spirit soul system evolved, this method gradually became obsolete.
The second part was Xu Yuan modifying the existing contract between himself and the Five-Element Spear Spirit. This step was essential because integrating blood and qi into the contract fundamentally altered the nature of their relationship. Fortunately, after evolving into a thousand-year spirit soul, the Five-Element Spear Spirit had stronger spirituality and cooperated willingly, making this process smoother.
The third part involved Xu Yuan circulating soul power to stabilize his own martial soul, stimulate his blood and qi, and thereby enhance the success rate and ensure safety. Different patterns of soul power circulation produced different effects.
Calmly focusing, Xu Yuan began modifying the contract.
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Spiritual Sea
The Five-Element Spear Spirit appeared.
As both parties exerted effort, the contract linking them surfaced, and Xu Yuan began altering it.
Throughout the process, the Five-Element Spear Spirit suppressed its instinctive resistance.
Beads of sweat formed on Xu Yuan's forehead.
Modifying a contract post-formation was a significant challenge, even for his level of spiritual power—it was quite taxing.
Fortunately, all plans accounted for his personal factors, and Xu Yuan persisted until the contract formation was perfected.
Once the formation was complete, his blood and qi began to circulate.
The blood and qi flowed through his meridians, while the contract formation remained within his spiritual sea. The two were separated by spatial boundaries and hadn't yet truly merged.
Fortunately, at this moment, the external formation began to take effect.
Xu Yuan's spiritual power and the Five-Element Spear Spirit were drawn out by the formation, and his blood and qi also seeped out of his body, merging into the process.
The entire procedure proceeded smoothly.
After all, this was a project built on the foundation laid by Xu Zhi, supplemented by numerous references from the Body Sect's blood and qi cultivation materials and guided by Zhen Hua's real-life example of integrating blood and qi with a martial soul.
As the light of the formation dimmed, the Five-Element Spear Spirit flickered and merged into Xu Yuan's body.
This time, the Five-Element Spear Spirit didn't return to Xu Yuan's spiritual sea but was instead directed by him to merge into his blood and qi.
A spirit soul was, after all, an energy form capable of assuming various shapes. At this moment, it integrated into Xu Yuan's blood and qi, circulating throughout his body along with the blood and qi.
With the Five-Element Spear Spirit now integrated into his blood and qi, Xu Yuan attempted to execute the Great Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique.
It wasn't for digestion enhancement.
Instead, he simply circulated the power of the Five-Element Spear Spirit, allowing the five elemental forces to transform and flow between his internal organs, promoting the fusion between the Five-Element Spear Spirit and himself.
Seeing Xu Yuan enter his cultivation state, Zhen Hua and Mu Ye let out a sigh of relief and patiently waited for him to finish this session of cultivation.
Two and a half hours later.
Xu Yuan opened his eyes.
"Teacher, Uncle Zhen Hua, everything went smoothly," he said with a smile.
This meant his transformation into a blood and qi martial soul was highly promising.
"Mm, from now on, don't stop practicing your spear techniques. Even if you can't reach Ji Juechen's level of single-minded devotion to the sword, at least focus entirely on the spear when practicing," Mu Ye advised.
Though Xu Yuan didn't possess Ji Juechen's singular obsession with the sword, he had his own advantages.
The Five-Element Spear Spirit was a natural spear soul, with an exceptionally pure understanding of the spear. These insights were shared with Xu Yuan, allowing him to inherit the spirit and essence of the spear when practicing. This enabled him to focus more deeply on his craft.
The spirit and essence of the spear represented a high level of mastery, empowering Xu Yuan to integrate the Tianyuan Spear form into the Five-Element Spear Spirit and, subsequently, into his blood and qi.
"I understand. From now on, whenever I practice spear techniques, I'll attempt to merge the Tianyuan Spear into the Five-Element Spear Spirit, using the latter as the foundation to incorporate the former," Xu Yuan explained.
Previously, Xu Yuan wielded the Tianyuan Spear with the Five-Element Spear Spirit merging into it. In the future, he would wield the Five-Element Spear Spirit while incorporating the Tianyuan Spear into it. When he could do so seamlessly—wielding the Five-Element Spear Spirit as if wielding the Tianyuan Spear—his cultivation would have reached its goal.
"For now, continue cultivating here. By the way, I'll also pass on some advanced techniques for integrating blood and qi and martial souls," Zhen Hua added.
Zhen Hua's initial integration of blood and qi and martial soul had been accidental, and he had painstakingly developed the techniques over time to achieve true fusion.
"Thank you, Uncle Zhen Hua."
Over the next week, Xu Yuan continued his cultivation at the Blacksmiths Association.
His soul power was sealed.
It was a simple seal, not some secret technique from the Hao Tian Sect.
Though his soul power was sealed, his martial soul and blood and qi could still be mobilized.
Every day, Mu Ye prepared medicinal meals for Xu Yuan. Using blood and qi to refine the medicinal properties and employing the Five-Element Spear Spirit to activate the Great Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique, Xu Yuan absorbed the medicinal benefits.
In the process, Xu Yuan also gained an unexpected bonus.
His Five-Element Spear Spirit seemed to have been nurtured further. Though he couldn't confirm whether its years had increased tangibly, Xu Yuan was certain that his Five-Element Spear Spirit had grown stronger.
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