Chapter 51: How Are Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Souls Created?
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Zhao Long's only weakness lay in this one aspect.
His forging talent was exceptional, but because blacksmiths didn't show significant progress early on, Zhao Long wasn't considered a prodigy. He followed the standard learning process for blacksmiths and absorbed his second spirit soul when his talent began to manifest.
His first spirit soul had already been raised to the thousand-year level, granting him three soul rings. Unfortunately, for his fourth soul ring, he still needed to fuse with a new spirit soul—a thousand-year spirit soul.
As a result, his fifth soul ring was also a thousand-year ring.
In theory, his fifth ring should have been able to absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring, but instead, he settled for a thousand-year ring, which was already a severe handicap.
Even if his first and second soul rings were raised to the thousand-year level, it wouldn't make up for the regret of his fifth ring not being black.
Though he was a blacksmith, blacksmiths were still soul masters at their core.
Only by advancing far as a soul master could one avoid being held back in forging—and even gain enhancements from it.
"You shouldn't feel disheartened. Since the advent of the Ascension Platform, the difficulty of increasing a spirit soul's years post-formation has significantly decreased. By absorbing enough spiritual energy from the Ascension Platform, soul masters have opportunities to achieve sudden enlightenment in daily life, leading to fortuitous breakthroughs where spirit souls can ascend. This time, you're raising your second spirit soul to just below the ten-thousand-year limit. If you encounter future opportunities, there's still a chance to push it to the ten-thousand-year mark," Zhen Hua said, patting Zhao Long on the shoulder, his tone filled with encouragement.
Though it was difficult, Zhao Long believed in himself and his spirit soul.
The so-called "enlightenment ascension" occurred when the bond between a soul master and their spirit soul reached its peak and was triggered by external stimuli. It tested the connection between the soul master and the spirit soul, and Zhao Long had no doubt about the strength of his bond with his spirit soul!
"Brother Zhao Long, I'll trouble you this time."
"Just call me Brother Zhao or Brother Long."
"In that case, Brother Long, you can call me Xiao Yuan."
Xu Yuan and Zhao Long didn't waste any time and set off from the Blacksmiths Association toward the Spirit Pagoda.
On the way, Xu Yuan was quite curious.
He had previously been far from the level of a ten-thousand-year soul ring, so he hadn't given it much thought. But after hearing Zhen Hua's explanation to Zhao Long today, he became intrigued by the concept.
Xu Yuan was familiar with the idea of enlightenment ascension but hadn't delved deeply into it.
"Brother Long, is enlightenment ascension difficult?"
Zhao Long had clearly researched this topic extensively and began explaining to Xu Yuan: "It's extremely difficult. Across the entire continent, there may not be a single case every decade of a non-ten-thousand-year spirit soul ascending to the ten-thousand-year level through personal enlightenment."
Xu Yuan was astonished.
This ratio seemed surprisingly high.
A ten-thousand-year spirit soul could emerge every decade!
And honestly, in a place like Douluo Continent, such statistics were likely inaccurate.
"Although the Ascension Platform hasn't solved the barrier for ten-thousand-year soul rings, its mechanism for fusing spiritual energy to increase spirit soul years has removed many constraints. After becoming a spirit soul, repeatedly ascending—starting from a hundred- or thousand-year spirit soul and reaching nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine years—creates an experience that leaves a lasting impression on the spirit soul."
"When the bond between the spirit soul and soul master is strong enough, and both encounter the right conditions—whether through environmental stimulation suitable for the spirit soul or the soul master's enlightenment influencing the spirit soul—these situations can lead to a higher fusion between the soul master and spirit soul, triggering a transformation that elevates the spirit soul to the ten-thousand-year level."
"The prerequisite is that the soul master must be powerful enough, with enough spare energy to cultivate the spirit soul while also advancing their own soul power."
"..."
As Zhao Long explained, they arrived at the Spirit Pagoda.
Following the standard procedures, they entered the Ascension Platform under the routine gaze of the staff.
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Intermediate Ascension Platform
"Xiaoyuan, how strong is your burst?" Zhao Long didn't rush to take Xu Yuan hunting for spirit beasts. Instead, he wanted to assess Xu Yuan's strength beforehand.
Understanding Xu Yuan's explosive power would help determine the limits during the spirit beast hunt.
After all, this was the Ascension Platform during normal times, not during a riot period. They needed to finish off spirit beasts to absorb their spiritual energy and increase the spirit soul's years.
The stronger Xu Yuan's explosive power, the greater Zhao Long's margin for error in battle, and the easier it would be to leave the finishing blow to Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan understood Zhao Long's intention and immediately began demonstrating his strength.
A spear appeared in his hand.
The Five-Element Spear Spirit.
Zhao Long frowned slightly upon seeing the spear in Xu Yuan's hand. It felt different from ordinary martial souls.
Xu Yuan had integrated the power of the Tianyuan Spear into the Five-Element Spear Spirit over the past week.
"Is the spirit soul empowering the martial soul?"
Zhao Long found it strange, but it seemed that the spirit soul had fused into the martial soul, making it easier to utilize the soul skills granted by the spirit soul.
Holding the Five-Element Spear Spirit, Xu Yuan's expression turned serious as his focus immersed itself in the spear in his hand.
The five elemental forces flowed.
Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—the five elements generated one another endlessly.
At the tip of the spear, the five elemental forces converged and merged, exuding a sense of intimidation.
The fusion of the five elements seemed ready to explode at any moment, making Xu Yuan's spear even more awe-inspiring.
The surrounding heaven-and-earth energy seemed to be mobilized, and Xu Yuan's aura shifted.
Even though Zhao Long knew Xu Yuan wasn't his enemy, he still felt a subtle pressure from the surrounding environment.
"It's not the momentum of heaven and earth—it's the momentum of the spear!" Zhao Long hadn't expected Xu Yuan to master such a technique.
Not only that, but as the spear momentum unfolded, Xu Yuan also displayed his spear intent.
The embryonic form of spear intent, imbued with the effect of shattering voids, erupted. Xu Yuan thrust his spear forward.
Though there was no visible target in front of him, his spear strike seemed to pierce an enemy, producing a thunderous explosion.
Space trembled, and energy surged chaotically.
Zhao Long's expression grew solemn.
That single spear strike could kill a thousand-year spirit beast.
If a perfectly intact thousand-year spirit beast were trapped and struck by that spear, it would either die or suffer critical injuries.
Zhao Long let out a sigh of relief. At the very least, this meant the mission would be easy. His margin for error was high—even against spirit beasts of five or six thousand years, he only needed to weaken them halfway before letting Xu Yuan deliver the final blow.
"How many years do your two soul rings currently have?" Zhao Long asked, looking at the two yellow soul rings around Xu Yuan.
"Five hundred years."
Xu Yuan wasn't using the Tianyuan Brush martial soul but rather his brain martial soul.
However, due to the nature of spirit souls, he could still utilize the Five-Element Spear Spirit contracted to his Tianyuan Brush martial soul.
This was the special significance of spirit souls for twin-soul masters.
They could better assist the soul master.
In fact, if the spirit soul and martial soul shared the same category, the soul master could allow the spirit soul to bear the full capabilities of one martial soul while personally wielding the other, enabling simultaneous use of both martial souls.
Of course, achieving this level was extremely difficult.
"Five hundred years?" Hearing Xu Yuan's answer, Zhao Long mentally calculated.
They needed to increase it by at least five hundred years.
In that case, hunting two spirit beasts of around five thousand years would suffice.
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Author's Note: Some readers pointed out that fourth-rank blacksmiths don't require Thousand Refinements Grade One. After reviewing the original work, I confirmed this is true, so I've adjusted the settings accordingly.
Additionally, the original work mentions that Thousand Refined metals can be used to craft battle armor components. However, whenever battle armor crafting is depicted, it always uses Thousand Refined Grade One metals. The original work doesn't specify whether the characters are Shrek students, but since pursuing excellence is key—unless using Fusion Forging, one-character battle armor can't be upgraded to two-character, which requires replacing the metal—I've made adjustments.
To ensure smoother and more consistent worldbuilding, my changes are as follows: Ordinary Thousand Refined metals are for practice, while actual battle armor components use Thousand Refined Grade One metals. This allows them to better carry the power of core formation arrays, and the preliminary spirituality of Thousand Refined Grade One metals facilitates synergy across all parts of the battle armor, creating a synergistic effect greater than the sum of its parts.
Therefore, moving forward, I'll continue to adhere to the notion that one-character battle armor requires Thousand Refined Grade One metals. This differs from the original work, so I wanted to clarify it for you.
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