Douluo Continent: From Internal Martial Arts to the Law of Heaven and Earth

Tang Shan's words were not an exaggeration. Before achieving a title, one relies on aptitude; after achieving a title, one relies on comprehension. Forget about soul cores; without some brains, could an ordinary soul master even condense one?

As for so-called soul skills, unless they are rule-based soul skills, they are really useless at the title level.

"It must be a Title Douluo!" Zhu Zhuyun answered without hesitation, although she still didn't understand what the difference was between a powerful Soul Master and a Title Douluo.

Fortunately, Tang Shan was clearly very satisfied with her answer and quickly gave an explanation: "Powerful Soul Masters, with decent aptitude, specialize in various battles, master their own Soul Skills, and even comprehend their own unique techniques through countless battles. The advantage is that they are basically the strongest among their peers and can challenge opponents of higher levels when they are at a lower level; however, the disadvantage is also obvious. Their overall direction is to improve their strength, so they are slightly inferior in terms of cultivation accumulation."

Those who aim to become Title Douluo focus their cultivation on improving their soul power and aptitude; combat is not the core, but rather a means to assist in their breakthrough.

Zhu Zhuyun seemed thoughtful. However, Tang Shan, fearing she still didn't understand, gave a very representative example: "You know about Blue Silver Grass, right? What kind of spirit ring do you think Blue Silver Grass should absorb?"

Zhu Zhuyun thought for a moment and quickly gave an answer: "Blue Silver Grass is a plant martial soul. According to the master's theory, the most suitable thing for it to absorb should be the soul ring of a plant soul beast."

Tang Shan nodded and continued, "Plants also have different properties. Some are tough, some are flexible, some are highly poisonous, and some even have elemental properties. What choice do you think Blue Silver Grass should make?"

This question stumped Zhu Zhuyun. Her first instinct was to answer with either a strong binding ability or a powerful additional attack, but a premonition made her swallow the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

"Think about it carefully tonight, and practice internal martial arts tomorrow morning." Tang Shan did not give an answer immediately, but instead told Zhu Zhuyun to take the question back with her.

If Zhu Zhuyun can come up with the answer, it means her understanding of the Martial Soul system surpasses that of the vast majority of Soul Masters on the entire continent; if she can't, it's not surprising. After all, Yu Xiaogang's theories in the original work are contradictory, yet people still choose to trust them, which speaks volumes.

Some might say that it was because Bibi Dong was backing him up, but that's impossible—Bibi Dong is the Pope, the face of the Spirit Hall. Her relationship with Yu Xiaogang is known at most to high-level or even top-level forces, not to the entire continent.

The fact that someone chose to trust Yu Xiaogang when their relationship was not public only shows that the Douluo Continent people's understanding of martial spirit cultivation is still limited, and they might even think that a certain "Gangzi's" theory "has some merit".

……

Inside the small tent, Tang Shan sat cross-legged, eyes slightly closed, breathing evenly, with a peaceful expression.

The liquid soul power flowed like a babbling brook, circulating endlessly along the twelve meridians, becoming increasingly refined and mellow with each cycle. Streams of primordial energy were actively drawn into Tang Shan's body, flowing into his meridians like rivers flowing into the sea. Under the repeated compression and refinement of the pure soul power, they quickly transformed into glistening water droplets, merging into the surging liquid soul power.

Skin, muscles, bones, internal organs—every part of the body is reflected in the heart's lake. Under Tang Shan's precise control, the Qi and blood flow like thousands of fine needles, subtly stimulating every part of the body and the mind.

The immense potential, like a floodgate opened, is continuously guided and released by Tangshan, transforming into gentle energy that flows throughout the body, continuously nourishing the cells, promoting their transformation, and constantly strengthening the body's foundation.

Sure enough, after reaching the level of "Undying Before Seeing Gods," the speed of potential development increased dramatically. At this rate, he might be able to fully develop his potential before reaching the sixth ring. Would his body change again then? Tang Shan's consciousness fluctuated slightly, but he quickly regained his composure. Next, he planned to conduct an experiment—an experiment that was safe but extremely interesting to him.

The first soul skill, Self-Control, increases one's control over oneself by 20%. When used on the body, it's equivalent to temporarily achieving a level of control over a portion of the body that reaches the Divine Realm. So, for someone like me who is now indestructible at the Divine Realm, what kind of effect will this soul skill have?

Chapter 351 The Future of Internal Martial Arts

hum!

A faint fluctuation of soul power emanated from Tang Shan, and rings of soul power appeared one after another, three purple and one black. The four soul rings emitted a faint halo, illuminating the tent slightly.

Gu Yue, whose breathing was even, furrowed her brows almost imperceptibly. Her small hand moved slightly, and after grasping Tang Shan's clothes, her furrowed brows relaxed, and her sleeping face returned to tranquility.

Tangshan used his mental energy to scan the area and, after confirming that the girl hadn't been awakened, proceeded to the next step.

As his soul power flowed smoothly in and his soul skills were activated, his first soul ring, located at the bottom layer and appearing as a pale purple color, suddenly flashed. A special rule descended upon his body, and a clear sense of control reached his mind. The next moment, his expression changed slightly.

……

In another tent not far from Tangshan, Zhu Zhuyun tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

"Sister, can't you sleep either?" Zhu Zhuqing snuggled closer to her sister and asked softly.

Zhu Zhuyun gently stroked the girl's hair in her arms and sighed, "So much happened just now, how could I possibly sleep? Zhuqing, do you think it's right for us to take him as our master?"

The mental growth brought about by experience cannot be offset by wisdom. After the previous exchange, Zhu Zhuyun still felt a sense of bewilderment.

"He is the best choice—he has the Crown Prince of Tiandou behind him, his talent is unparalleled, and he has close ties with the famous master. Meeting him is our good fortune."

“Yes, he is the best choice. Without the support of a powerful force, we can’t even imagine what our future would be like.” Zhu Zhuyun wholeheartedly agreed with her sister’s words. Even if they weren’t being hunted down by the Star Luo Empire, they still needed to find a powerful force to rely on as soon as possible. After all, the reputation of the Zhu family women for their beauty was no joke.

This can be seen from the fate of the women in the collateral branches of the Zhu family. If the Star Luo Empire had not possessed a sufficiently strong deterrent force, it is estimated that many direct descendants would have suffered at the hands of some special organizations.

"Sister, what if Tangshan can't protect us? After all, our enemy is an empire." Zhu Zhuqing asked with concern.

"It's alright. Just as Tang Shan said, he has the Heavenly Dou Crown Prince Xue Qinghe behind him. He's definitely on our side."

"But he and Tang Shan are in a superior-subordinate relationship. We were just brought out by Tang Shan. Even if Xue Qinghe supports us, the strength of his support is not guaranteed."

"Therefore, regardless of whether Tang Shan agrees or not, we must acknowledge him as our teacher, and accept him from the bottom of our hearts. By exchanging sincerity for sincerity, we can naturally win over his heart and gain his approval from the bottom of his heart. Xue Qinghe may not value us, but he cannot disregard Tang Shan. As long as Tang Shan regards us as his disciples, the threat from the Star Luo Empire can be temporarily put aside."

After hearing her sister's explanation, Zhu Zhuqing felt completely at ease: her sister was indeed wise; without her, she might not have been able to escape Xingluo City.

Feeling the girl in her arms gradually breathe more evenly, Zhu Zhuyun's smile slowly faded, and she tightened her embrace, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.

There were some things Zhu Zhuyun didn't tell Zhu Zhuqing, nor did she tell her ultimate plan—to conquer Tang Shan's heart. Becoming her disciple was merely a facade; she had another way to truly free the two sisters from the Star Luo Empire's pursuit and allow them to live in peace. However, it might require paying a price.

"Crown Prince Xue Qinghe of the Heavenly Dou Empire, if the princess consort of the Star Luo Empire were to become your woman, would you refuse? Such a blow to the prestige and face of the Star Luo Empire, you wouldn't want to miss it, would you?"

Zhu Zhuqing, who was already fast asleep, naturally did not hear her sister's mutterings, otherwise she might have been startled and jumped out of bed.

Having escaped the fate of becoming a prince's consort, she now has to willingly submit to the Crown Prince of Tiandou, which is tantamount to repeating the same mistake.

Moreover, given Zhu Zhuyun's sensitive status, it is absolutely impossible for her to become Xue Qinghe's Crown Princess; she will only become an ordinary concubine, and her final fate would be no better than staying in the Star Luo Empire.

Zhu Zhuyun had thought it through very clearly. Zhu Zhuqing was her only relative in this world. As the older sister, she naturally had to protect her younger sister. What did it matter if she had to pay a price for it?

Teacher, I'm sorry, please allow me to bet on both sides. It's out of necessity for Zhu Qing's sake.

Even with good plans, things often don't go as planned. Guilt in one's heart may become a trigger, completely changing the originally pure teacher-student relationship.

……

Tang Shan, who was conducting the experiment, was naturally unaware of Zhu Zhuyun's "earth-shattering plan." At this moment, his mind was completely focused, and he was immersed in a mysterious perception.

When Tang Shan activates his first soul skill, he usually gains a clearer and more distinct sense of control over his body. As his consciousness gathers, this sense of control will transfer throughout his body until he locks onto a part of his body and applies the soul skill effect to it. Then, his control over that part of his body will reach the level of a god.

Now that Tang Shan has reached the state of being indestructible even when facing gods, he has two completely different feelings when he activates his first soul skill again.

The first type is somewhat similar to the first time he activated his first soul skill. It also involves controlling the body and a large area of ​​control. However, this time, he divided his body into five equal parts, each of which covered a large area of ​​his body.

A sudden realization arose in Tang Shan's heart. This was an instinct stemming from his martial spirit, or perhaps a feedback from his subconscious—the second stage of self-control, cellular-level control, through communication between will and subconscious, gradually gaining true mastery over his body.

Inspiration erupts like a volcano, with ideas constantly arising and disappearing, and the future path of internal martial arts is naturally deduced.

After achieving the indestructible state of the divine, one must then communicate with the spirit within the body, allowing the will to gradually merge with the subconscious, ultimately redeveloping and returning to the innate state, reaching the upper limit of the body's perfect development since infancy.

As for the levels beyond Vajra Indestructible, Tang Shan has not yet deduced them, but he has already clearly understood the direction of future advancement.

Embracing the Dan and exchanging blood is a crucial step in building the foundation of internal martial arts. It not only taps into the body's remaining growth potential but also harmonizes Qi and blood, stabilizes the foundation, and adjusts the physical state to the optimal level for the current stage.

Seeing the divine is not destructive, which means completely opening up the body's blood and qi, as well as the meridians and bones, awakening all the hidden power in the physical body, leaving no strength behind, and touching the ultimate boundary that the current physical body can reach.

The indestructible Vajra is a transcendence of the constraints of the existing physical body, as if the body has returned to its birth, undergoing a re-tempering and growth from the muscles to the internal organs, maximizing the potential of gene expression, and making the physical body's strength and resilience far exceed those of the past, almost without any flaws.

Following this logic, could we eventually break the existing genetic framework, re-edit the expression of life sequences, and allow the physical body to grow completely according to the optimal life trajectory, just as it would be conceived anew from a fertilized egg, reaching the theoretical limits of life development?

The final stage requires altering genes, which corresponds precisely to cellular control. That level is probably the true limit of internal martial arts!

After clarifying his path forward based on this realization, Tang Shan barely managed to suppress his somewhat turbulent thoughts, took a deep breath, and began to experience the second effect of self-control.

That's right, it's the second type. The previous cell control and even finding the next direction for progress in internal martial arts were only the first effect of Tangshan's second stage of self-control. What Tangshan is experiencing now is the second type.

The body was becoming ethereal, the physical form was becoming empty, and with the emergence of this feeling, four strange fluctuations were also detected by Tangshan.

"What are they?" Tang Shan asked, somewhat puzzled. "Why don't we try and see?" With that thought, Tang Shan didn't hesitate any longer. The self-control granted by his first soul skill enveloped the four unusual fluctuations.

Insufficient control. This was the feedback Tang Shan received after releasing the effect of his soul skill. What was most amazing was that the feedback was very clear and distinct, instantly making Tang Shan understand its meaning.

You can only control one, not all of them? Tang Shan was somewhat surprised by the information he had come to understand. This was the first time he had received such clear feedback on the effects of a soul skill.

What's even stranger is that if those four strange entities were individual entities, then he should only be able to control 20% of one of them; if these four strange entities were a collective, then he was still 5% short of fully controlling a source of fluctuation.

But now, the feedback from the soul skill is that he can fully master one, which clearly breaks the rules of the first soul skill.

Wait, the rules of soul skills, the rules of soul skills!

Tang Shan seemed to realize something, his heart pounding wildly. Without further hesitation, his self-control enveloped the weakest fluctuation.

hum!

An invisible channel was established, and streams of strange energy appeared out of nowhere within Tang Shan's body. Under the influence of the surging liquid soul power, they were instantly refined.

Subtle fluctuations of rules emanated from Tang Shan's body and spread outwards. Gu Yue, who was fast asleep, was swept away by these spreading fluctuations of rules and suddenly woke up. She sat up with wide eyes and looked at Tang Shan, or rather, at his first spirit ring, in disbelief.

The pale purple color, which had been bright due to the release of his soul skill, quickly dimmed, while the strange energy refined by Tang Shan transformed into cultivation, causing his soul power to surge at an extremely terrifying speed, as if he were riding a rocket.

The spirit ring dimmed rapidly, and in just a few breaths, a bright yellow light was about to appear. Gu Yue's brows furrowed instantly, and she was about to warn him, but fortunately, Tang Shan seemed to have noticed something was wrong at the crucial moment. He decisively poured all the spirit power he had gained from refining into the source of the strange fluctuations through the invisible connection.

The soul ring, which was about to degenerate into a bright yellow, returned to a light purple color under the influence of that soul power. Moreover, as soul power continued to be injected, the color rapidly intensified, and soon it returned to a color similar to before.

Tang Shan was completely unaware of the changes in his soul ring until his first soul skill completely controlled the strange fluctuations. Only then did he realize that streams of somewhat violent energy were flowing into his body through the newly established connection and being rapidly refined by his soul power.

As the violent energy dissipated, the aura of the thing controlled by Tang Shan began to weaken rapidly, and soon it fell to a critical point.

Chapter 352 The Structure of Soul Rings

At the critical moment, the premonition ability of internal martial arts came into play once again, and a vague sense of crisis made Tang Shan forcibly suppress the rapidly dissipating strange energy.

However, the previous energy had already been refined by soul power and could not be replenished at all. Tang Shan finally came up with a desperate solution: to try to replace it with soul power and see if it could work.

This attempt, though bold, was largely under control. The lack of warnings about a potential crisis suggests that while it's unclear whether this approach will bring positive changes, the changes are unlikely to be too bad.

The final result was gratifying. With the injection of soul power, the strange fluctuations began to recover rapidly. However, Tang Shan soon discovered a problem: the soul power that was added was equivalent to his fundamental cultivation level, meaning that he was replenishing his own original soul power.

Fortunately, the refinement of abnormal energy had caused his soul power to surge rapidly, so replenishing it now would only result in some loss, which Tang Shan wasn't too distressed about.

Soon, his soul power dropped back to the level before the upgrade, and Tang Shan voluntarily stopped pouring more soul power into him.

Only now did he have time to calm down and carefully examine what exactly he was controlling. However, Tang Shan already had a general idea in mind.

Consciousness penetrated through an invisible connection, and streams of profound and ineffable information surged into it. This information was mysterious and lofty, yet carried a certain familiarity. Tang Shan quickly understood its essence: it was the manifestation of a portion of the rules of power.

Sure enough, what I controlled was the spirit ring, or more precisely, the first spirit ring. The information that flooded into my consciousness was part of the rules corresponding to the spirit skills.

Even though he had made preparations beforehand, Tang Shan couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement: this was a spirit ring, the core and foundation of the martial spirit system, and he had actually controlled it with a single spirit skill—it was simply unbelievable.

After a long while, Tang Shan finally calmed down and began to carefully study the structure of the soul ring to see if it could be of sufficient benefit to his future cultivation.

The more he studied it, the more amazed he became. The overall structure of the spirit ring seemed simple, but it actually contained hidden rules. It was divided into three closely related parts, each with its own function.

The first part, which Tangshan calls the bottom of the Soul Ring, is composed of the condensed rules of heaven and earth and is the foundation of the Soul Ring's existence. With his current level of understanding, he is still unable to fathom its mysteries.

The second part, which Tangshan calls the Foundation of the Soul Ring, is very simple and familiar in composition. It is the violent energy that surges out when a Soul Master absorbs a Soul Ring during a breakthrough, and its essence is the residual original Soul Power of the Soul Beast. This part of the energy is far purer and more concentrated than when the Soul Master first absorbs it, and it is very easy to refine and transform into one's own Soul Power. Its essence corresponds to the age of the Soul Beast.

The third part, which Tangshan calls the Soul Ring Core, is the core hub of the Soul Ring and the source of Soul Skill release. It is also formed by the rules of heaven and earth and carries the rule effects of the Soul Skill.

However, compared to the rules of heaven and earth that form the foundation of the soul ring, the rules of heaven and earth that form Tangshan's first soul skill are much easier to understand, and they should all be related to the rules of power.

Through meticulous exploration of the Soul Ring space, Tang Shan also reached the following conclusions: the base of the Soul Ring supports the Soul Ring Foundation, and the Soul Ring Foundation determines the lifespan of the Soul Ring. If the Soul Ring Foundation grows, the lifespan of the Soul Ring will increase, and the Soul Ring Core will naturally evolve and strengthen.

Conversely, if the foundation of a spirit ring weakens to a certain extent, the core of the spirit ring will also weaken and collapse, even causing the spirit ring to shatter. This is why Tang Shan felt a sense of crisis before.

After all, spirit rings are made of rules, and the aftershocks of the collapse of those rules are something that Tangshan cannot withstand in its current state.