Douluo Continent: On Becoming a God Through Science

Chapter 158 Breakthrough in Divine Sense, Change in Strength, Wings Fully Formed

Soul Ring Skills: Curse of Stardust Heart; Light of Despair.

Soul Bone Skills: Curse of the Heart of the Ocean; Mermaid's Guardian.

When the production of soul rings and soul bones is the same, both can receive a bonus. Naturally, the bonus will be greater for two energy reflection skills with the same effect.

It is even more powerful than the original Heart of the Ocean due to the high compatibility brought about by the soul sacrifice.

The original Ocean Heart skill had a one-month cooldown, while the two rebound skills, Wandering Dust, each only had a half-month cooldown.

If you use them in rotation, it's equivalent to only having a quarter of the cooling capacity.

If both soul skills are activated at the same time, there are additional effects.

The original Heart of the Ocean lacked the ability to defend against and absorb physical attacks, but under this dual soul skill, it directly transformed into "all attacks." In other words, the true effect became short-term invincibility, gathering all the energy and power of attacks onto oneself to enhance the next attack.

Moreover... You Chen vaguely sensed the hidden effect of this soul skill.

Just like the Heart of the Ocean, which claims to resist and deflect "all energy attacks", there is still an upper limit to "all".

The Invincible Golden Body clearly states that it can only be immune to damage below "God-level", and attacks at the God-level will only be reduced in damage.

The Heart of the Ocean did not explicitly state that it possessed "everything" that included energy attacks of god-like strength.

However, reaching the god level means transcending the rules of the world to a certain extent, which means that god-level attacks cannot be accurately measured, hence the ambiguity.

The strength that the Heart of the Ocean can withstand is most likely only up to the level of a high priest.

The combined power of Stardust Heart and Ocean Heart... let's call it Starry Sea Heart for now. You Chen vaguely sensed that the limit of this dual soul skill was far beyond that of Ocean Heart.

As for whether it can withstand attacks from a level three or level two god, it's hard to say until it's actually used.

As for the remaining two soul skills, they were also enhanced compared to the original version, but they were not as overpowered as the first two soul skills.

Soul Ring Skill: Light of Despair.

It fires a white wave that can instantly seal the target's soul power and imprison their movement for up to 5 seconds. It is a forced control skill similar to Stardust Demon's Capture.

Generally speaking, this type of mandatory skill will have usage restrictions.

However, unlike Stardust Demon's Gathering, the Light of Despair is not limited by its attribute, so its cooldown time, which is originally a limited soul skill, is slower than the time it takes for energy to regenerate naturally...

Therefore, its cooling limit is working correctly. It can only be used three times a day.

Finally, there's the Soul Bone Skill: Mermaid's Protection.

Unlike the original version, which required bloodline restrictions, You Chen's Soul Bone Skill can be used directly as long as a spiritual anchor point is left in the target's spiritual sea. The spiritual anchor point will draw spiritual power from the target's spiritual sea to maintain itself, and will remain as long as You Chen does not actively remove it.

Through mental anchors, Youchen can sense the general situation of a target and provide alerts when the target is in danger. He can pull the target to his side at any time or actively teleport to the target's location.

Planting a spiritual anchor doesn't consume much soul power, but teleportation requires increasing soul power based on the distance and the target's life level. Given You Chen's strength, the soul power consumption for active teleportation would far exceed that of rescuing someone.

This soul skill can anchor a maximum of 3 targets at the same time. If a fourth target is forcibly anchored when three targets are already anchored, the first mental anchor point will automatically be released in sequence.

It can be used a maximum of three times per month.

Given You Chen's current mental speed, confirming this information would only take him a blink of an eye.

Now was not the time to confirm the specific effects of the soul skill, and he didn't care about Lina's current situation. He directly took out the "Looking Through Autumn Water Dew" from his storage soul tool.

Even You Chen was somewhat moved at this moment.

With a 600,000-year spirit ring primarily focused on mental power, and a 600,000-year head spirit bone specifically designed to enhance mental power, the combination of these two factors caused You Chen's mental power to increase at a rocket-like rate.

If he hadn't deliberately suppressed it, his surging spiritual power would have directly broken through the peak of the Spirit Realm and reached the Divine Origin Realm.

The reason he deliberately suppressed it was quite simple.

All rare and precious materials will have significantly reduced effects once the user's corresponding attributes reach the divine level.

He wanted to use up the "Looking-through-Autumn-Water Dew" before his spiritual power truly transformed, so as to maximize the effect of this immortal herb during the brief period when his consciousness transformed into divine sense!

Unlike when he suppressed his spiritual power to break through to the Spirit Realm, the transformation of his divine sense could not be easily suppressed even with You Chen's abilities. Without any hesitation, he chose to refine the Dew of Longing for Autumn Water in an instant!

boom!

In a daze, You Chen felt his spiritual sea emit a tremendous roar, as if the universe had just been created.

The spiritual core, located in the upper dantian (the core of the spirit), rotated rapidly, causing the surging spiritual sea to become turbulent and unpredictable.

But at one moment, the sea suddenly returned to calm.

Given the vastness and endlessness of the ocean, such calm without a single ripple seems somewhat eerie.

Only that crystal-clear spiritual core continued to operate at high speed.

From that soul core, a golden light suddenly burst forth, enveloping the entire world in golden radiance.

You Chen's consciousness has naturally transformed into divine consciousness!

Perhaps because he had just broken through, his control was insufficient, and his overly powerful divine sense overflowed from his body.

You Chen himself did not stop the leakage of his divine sense. Instead, he added a bit of force as if pushing the wave, and naturally spread his divine sense to spread freely, naturally covering the outside world.

Everything came into view, as if he were seeing it with his own eyes.

The sea spirit beasts surrounding the outer ring of the core palace had anxious faces, and the structure of the mysterious Crystal Palace ruins, passed down from an unknown era...

Then came the azure waves and the clear blue sky.

An unprecedented feeling welled up in Youchen's heart.

The world was so vast, yet he seemed to be able to easily control it all.

However, despite possessing such abilities, You Chen did not entertain any such thoughts. Instead, he allowed his spirit and will to merge into this harmonious and expansive world.

A surge of joy welled up in You Chen's heart.

At that moment, he forgot his ambition and the worries about the many threats.

In this state of non-calculation and non-thought, he managed to think without thinking.

It is a paradox, yet it can be made so naturally.

He realized that this was what those who cultivated their minds referred to as the state of selflessness.

A heart as clear as a mirror and as still as water.

The insights gained over the past six months from studying the completely opposite "Distraction Refining Soul Technique" to understand the state of mind of clarity and stillness have now erupted at this moment.

You Chen's consciousness had never been so clear.

"If hyper-focus is about overloading the mind, expending vast amounts of mental energy to achieve faster thinking and a more concentrated mental density after compression, then a clear and tranquil mind is the complete opposite, placing the mind in a state of zero load. In this state, the concept of thinking speed disappears; each thought appears like a bubble and bursts as soon as it's released. Therefore, despite countless thought processes, there is no burden or pressure on the mind. It's even a means of restoring mental energy."

You Chen felt as if his thoughts could extend indefinitely, but that was ultimately just an illusion.

This state does not involve consumption, but it is by no means a state that can be maintained indefinitely.

If it could truly be maintained indefinitely, then human consciousness could probably rise all the way up to the level of an omniscient and omnipotent creator.

Having grasped the true meaning of the mind as clear as a mirror and still as water, and having resolved this doubt for himself, Youchen naturally broke free from it.

However, compared to the last time and the time before that, You Chen's face showed no regret.

Unlike before, Yu Chen is now somewhat confident in actively entering this state again, but he still can't maintain 100% stability like Fudo Yusei in the original work.

But he was certain that he had indeed reached the state of a clear and still mind.

If one can enter anytime, anywhere, with a 100% probability, that is roughly what is called "the supreme state of mind of clarity and stillness".

"It really does have the effect of restoring mental strength. Even the weakness in my soul caused by the spiritual eruption has been completely restored?"

You Chen's eyes lit up slightly.

Afterwards, he finally had the time to check on Lina's condition.

You Chen immediately had a thought, his consciousness entering his sixth spirit ring, and asked, "Lina, how is she?"

In fact, he already knew the answer when he asked the question.

His divine sense had already detected Lina's soul within the soul ring.

Furthermore, he has complete control over the permissions of this spirit ring and can grant Lina permissions as needed.

The permissions, from highest to lowest, are: forced sleep, soul hibernation; autonomy of the soul within the soul ring; the ability to actively communicate with You Chen's soul; the ability for Lina to extend her spiritual power out of the soul ring to observe the outside world; and the ability for Lina's soul body to directly manifest in the outside world.

You Chen secretly curled his lip as he recalled how Xiao Wu could easily escape at will after sacrificing her soul to Tang San in the original story.

This little guy might not have any divine sense and not know that he could operate this authority, or he might have given Xiao Wu complete freedom, but You Chen had no interest in having someone constantly observing his life.

However, having promised Lina he would help her rebuild her body later, You Chen granted her the autonomy of her soul within the spirit ring, allowing her to sleep and wake whenever she wanted. As for the rest, he'd deal with that later.

"Master, you didn't lie to me! I can still stay conscious! That's wonderful!"

Lina's joyful voice came through You Chen's mental link.

You Chen replied, "You've expended a lot of energy helping me absorb the soul rings and soul bones, so go and rest first. I'll wake you up after I bring your two daughters back."

"Thank you, Master!"

Soon, Lina fell silent.

During You Chen's investigation, the sea princess seemed to have just finished a vigorous workout and was fast asleep within the spirit ring.

Seeing that Lina had fallen asleep, You Chen immediately began the experimental test and switched back to his previous life.

He had always been curious about what happened to the other character card when he switched between two character cards, and this was a good opportunity to peek into it.

As for why Lina was put to sleep before the test?

You Chen wasn't sure if the system would treat Lina as a foreign object and reset her immediately after he switched back, leaving him with no soul.

If that really happens, at least give her a peaceful death. With this in mind, You Chen let Lina go to sleep first. Even if she dies, dying in her sleep wouldn't be such a bad way to die, right?

Fortunately, this isn't the first or second time the system has been bugged.

After switching, You Chen discovered that although he could not sense the soul rings of his second incarnation, he could still inexplicably sense Lina's presence. However, he could not grant Lina any permissions.

Then, he quickly noticed another problem.

"So, 'no burden' only refers to the time spent absorbing spirit rings?"

During the process of switching between the two character cards, You Chen could clearly feel the weight of these 600,000 soul rings.

It's definitely not the kind of situation where you can get the full boost of a 600,000-year spirit ring without having to bear the pressure of one.

That makes sense, as the original text describes it this way: under such a sacrificial condition, regardless of Tang San's strength or whether he has reached the level requiring a spirit ring, the fusion of this 100,000-year spirit ring with him will be absolutely successful. He only needs to reach the corresponding level to continue improving.

The so-called "burden-free" does not mean that the spirit ring itself is without burden, but that the absorption process will be absolutely stress-free, and can achieve perfect absorption regardless of the spirit master's tolerance limit.

For example, as Tang San's own endurance increased, the enhancement of his spirit rings was gradually restored to the level that a 100,000-year spirit ring should have.

This is actually a dynamic adjustment. For example, if Tang San absorbs another spirit ring that exceeds his own limit, the strength and burden of Xiao Wu's spirit ring will continuously decrease until she can absorb it successfully. Of course, if the spirit ring's strength drops to the ten-year limit and she still can't absorb it... then this soul sacrifice spirit ring is useless no matter how dynamically it's adjusted.

In addition, due to perfect absorption, the burden on the soul ring from soul sacrifice is indeed smaller.

For You Chen, the burden of the Sea Princess spirit ring was indeed greatly reduced compared to spirit rings of the same age and quality. Despite the 600,000-level enhancement, it was estimated to be only as much of a physical burden as a 200,000-300,000-year-old ferocious beast spirit ring.

In other words, You Chen's current incarnation is blessed with a total lifespan of 91 years, but only bears the burden of a soul ring that lasts for about 60 years.

In that case, the maximum lifespan that Youchen's second incarnation can ultimately withstand will naturally be higher.

The maximum lifespan a spirit ring can withstand is mainly related to physical strength. The reason why other factors such as mental strength are not so important is that the physical requirements of a spirit ring are the easiest to reach the limit, and the difference between them and other factors is relatively large. Therefore, it is not wrong to directly regard physical strength as the maximum lifespan a spirit master can withstand.

According to You Chen's calculations, a Title Douluo's physique can withstand a spirit ring of about 90 years at most. Only if the physique breaks through to the level of Super Douluo can it absorb a spirit ring of a million years.

Situations such as soul sacrifice and self-sealing are not included.

The difficulty of killing a million-year-old soul beast is not taken into account.

But... normally, only Super Douluo or a very small number of Title Douluo can achieve the physique of a Super Douluo. But if you've already become a Super Douluo, where would you find a spirit ring slot?

Therefore, under normal circumstances, only those with twin martial souls have a chance to acquire a million-year soul ring. Although, even twin martial souls are hardly considered normal anymore…

Of course, in this new era, given the true limit of soul ring lifespan—100,000 years for a seventh ring and 200,000 years for an eighth ring—with a little effort, it is not impossible to break through this threshold ahead of time.

The problem is that by this time, your spirit ring's lifespan has already been occupied by at least 30 years, so you won't be able to absorb a million-year spirit ring.

Therefore, in reality, a million-year soul ring is an additional optional feature for twin martial souls.

Titled Douluo can only withstand about 90 years of spirit ring duration, Super Douluo goes a step further and can withstand about 120 million years of spirit ring duration, while Limit Douluo... can withstand at least two million years of spirit ring duration.

The above timeframes are based solely on physical strength and do not take into account the boost from Soul Ring attributes, so the actual timeframes would be higher.

When calculating the lifespan of twin martial souls, the lifespan of the two martial souls is not simply added together. After all, the martial soul also bears a large part of the burden. The reason why it is affected by the lifespan of the spirit rings borne by the other martial soul is probably largely due to the conflict between the martial souls.

You Chen didn't have more data on how to calculate it, so it was difficult for him to draw a conclusion.

However, judging from Tang San's ending in the original novel, at least after reaching the Limit Douluo level, considering the additional physical enhancement brought by the spirit ring, a single spirit should be able to withstand a lifespan of two million years.

If one only has a single martial soul, given the configuration of its preceding soul rings, its maximum lifespan could probably reach three million years!

As for the current incarnation's spirit ring age, it is completely within the acceptable range, so the strength of its spirit ring is naturally fully unlocked, and the corresponding load is also at its maximum.

The approximately 300,000 years of endurance provided by the Sea Princess's spirit rings also allows You Chen to be more daring and relaxed in his choices for the subsequent spirit rings.

This Sea Princess Soul Ring is primarily based on mental power. You Chen could feel the huge difference in mental power after switching between character cards.

If his spiritual power was at the early stage of the Divine Origin Realm in his first life, with more than 50,000 spiritual power, then after obtaining the Sea Princess's soul ring to amplify his spiritual power, it had reached nearly 70,000 points, which could be considered as the mid-stage of the Divine Origin Realm at the God Official level.

In addition, the boost this spirit ring provides to physical strength is absolutely top-tier among spirit rings of the same level.

Even with the additional 10,000-year limited-time card from You Chen, which brought about a minor qualitative change to the Sea Princess's Soul Ring, the physical enhancement it provided to You Chen was only comparable to that of the Demonic Tiger Whale King's Soul Ring.

It is not a super soul beast with top-level bloodline. At 500,000, it is already equivalent to a level 98 super Douluo of human soul masters. It is the kind of super Douluo with a soul core that will be available 10,000 years later. At 600,000, it is only about the same as going from an ordinary level 98 to the peak of level 98.

It is indeed not easy for a soul beast to improve its strength.

Even mermaids with golden bloodlines are no match for ruthless characters like the Demonic Orca King Evil Tiger, Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear King Xiong Xiong Jun, and Black Dragon King Di Tian Na. Even with 600,000 power, they are only comparable to a Super Douluo at the peak of level 98.

Even so, You Chen's physique achieved another small breakthrough.

After the Ice and Fire Refining Gold, You Chen's physical strength was at level 95. With the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force Dragon Elephant Chapter, he broke through to level 96, which was close to level 97.

The spirit ring of the Emperor Golden Lion Beast allowed his physical strength to break through the bottleneck and reach level 97. Then... the three spirit rings of the Holy Spirit Bird, the Demon Orca King, and the Sea Princess finally allowed him to break through again, reaching level 98 in physical strength.

You Chen's evaluation criteria take into account strength, toughness, and agility. For the Douluo people, whose evaluation criteria are relatively lenient, You Chen's body, which has no shortcomings in any aspect, can already be considered the absolute number one person below the Limit Douluo.

Despite having so many 100,000-year-level spirit rings, the improvement has only been this slight...

Overall, the improvement to Youchen's physical body is only slightly more than one level.

However, as stated in the original work, for a powerhouse at the Super Douluo level, one or two 100,000-year spirit rings are no longer enough to create a significant difference; the only true path is to master the power of one's martial soul's origin.

Most Limit Douluos, before breaking through to level 99, probably have physical qualities that are at most comparable to You Chen's current level. They rely on the leap in life level to allow their physical bodies to reach the limit, but they are definitely the foundation of the limit body.

As for You Chen... he just cultivated step by step, and with only two life leaps at levels 90 and 99, his physical body was able to be upgraded to at least the level of Di Tian ten thousand years later.

Di Tian's physical body is still considered a level 99 body, but it can only be said that... there are differences even among levels 99.

Soul beasts' physical bodies are usually one to two levels higher than humans'. However, as they get higher, they gradually develop into hexagonal shapes, and the difference in physical strength between humans and soul beasts gradually decreases.

But those who are truly physically outstanding still have an advantage in this regard.

For example, Xiong Jun ten thousand years later, his physical body is definitely stronger than that of Qian Daoliu and Poseidon in this era.

If we divide the level 99 physical body into beginner, minor success, major success, and perfection, then... Qian Daoliu and Poseidon are at the early beginner stage, Xiong Jun, who has been comparable to a level 98 Super Douluo for forty-eight years, is at the late beginner stage, and Di Tian must be at least at the late major success stage.

Why are there such detailed divisions when it's just a level 99 physical body? But considering that the original work divided level 99 into three seemingly insurmountable combat power levels—quasi-demigod, demigod, and quasi-god—then such detailed divisions are perfectly reasonable.

Now, You Chen's soul power has naturally reached the level 90 bottleneck. With the extra soul power gained from absorbing the Sea Princess's soul ring, he can easily reach the Super Domain level by absorbing just one 100,000-year soul ring.

Physical body level 98, invincible below the limit.

His mental strength and spiritual awareness are undoubtedly the strongest in the Douluo Continent today.

Its wings... are now fully grown.

You Chen clenched his fist, a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes.

Even if his current strength is still insufficient to overcome the insurmountable barrier of the Limit, he is definitely capable of going toe-to-toe with a Limit Douluo!

This level is comparable to the Undying Poison who has mastered the Golden Awakening ten thousand years later!

In terms of burst damage, he's even more powerful than Poison Undying!

A 100,000-year-old Martial Soul True Body plus the Spirit Realm Outburst is absolutely superior to the Golden Awakening of the Original Martial Soul Burning Life!

"Um?"

You Chen suddenly raised his eyebrows, looked up at the wall, but his gaze pierced through the barrier and looked towards the distant sea.

A slight twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth as he softly murmured, "Sea God Douluo, Poseidon?"

There was a hint of doubt in his eyes, but also a hint of suppressed...excitement!

(End of this chapter)