Douluo Continent has a system, but I don't want to use it.

Chapter 35 The Essence of Soul Skills

After Fang Tian condensed the God-Slaying Flying Knife, he absorbed all kinds of metals that could be found in Soto City before he finally calmed down.

Now, not only is Soto City out of new metals, but Fang Tian's money is also exhausted. He can't buy any new special metals anywhere else.

After the matter of the God-Slaying Flying Knife came to an end, Fang Tian began to study his martial soul and soul rings.

Without a doubt, Fang Tian's martial soul follows the path of life. Or, in terms of the five elements, it follows the path of wood.

Fang Tian then began to use his vitality to communicate with other plants around him. The first one was the sweet potato vine.

The sweet potato vines had no consciousness, only instinct. Fang Tian made the sweet potato vines dependent by transferring life force to them, and by repeating this process continuously, he finally made a portion of the sweet potato vines submit to his martial spirit.

After this part of the sweet potato vines submitted, Fang Tian could extend his senses through these vines and "see" things further away. This was somewhat similar to an increase in the rank of his martial soul.

Fang Tian kept planting sweet potatoes around Wanghun Village. It was easy; he would cut a 20-centimeter-long section of sweet potato vine, stick it in the ground, water it, and give it some life force, and it would instantly take root and sprout into a sweet potato seedling. Within a month, Fang Tian had planted sweet potatoes all over the surrounding barren hills and fields.

Fang Tian began his journey to elevate the rank of his martial spirit. Although success was not guaranteed.

While studying his own martial soul, Fang Tian also did not forget to study his soul rings and soul skills.

Fang Tian discovered that every time he activated a soul skill, soul power entered the martial soul, then flowed from the martial soul into the soul ring and back to the martial soul, and only then could the martial soul activate the effect of the soul skill.

The soul power remained unchanged when flowing into the martial soul, but changed after flowing through the soul ring. This shows that the soul ring is responsible for the effect of the soul skill.

However, due to his limited mental strength, Fang Tian was unable to figure out exactly how it worked.

After racking his brains for several days, Fang Tian finally found inspiration from the coloring and marking method he had learned in his previous life.

If you can't sense the flow of soul power within your soul ring, you can find something that won't affect the flow of soul power but is still conspicuous and integrate it into your soul power. By sensing this thing, you can then know how your soul power is flowing.

Fang Tian used the purple aura to dye a small portion of his original green life-attribute soul power into a light purple. Although it would soon be assimilated back by other soul powers, it was enough for studying the circulation of soul power.

Fang Tian activated this portion of purple soul power into a soul skill and found that the effect was the same as before. However, he could clearly sense the flow of soul power within the soul ring.

Fang Tian repeatedly sensed the trajectory of soul power within the soul ring and recorded it one by one.

Fang Tian finally compared all the recorded soul power circulation trajectories together, eliminated those that occurred occasionally, and finally came up with something that resembled a rune.

Fang Tian believed that it was precisely because the soul power was transformed through this rune that the soul skill's effect was finally manifested. If one directly mastered the rune, one wouldn't need a soul ring to activate the soul skill.

It's even possible to inscribe runes onto certain objects to create soul tools. Perhaps this is the principle behind soul tools. Of course, this is just Fang Tian's speculation.

Fang Tian decided to use his martial spirit to try and verify this rune.

Fang Tian controlled his martial spirit to grow into the shape of runes, with each fork marking a branch. However, the result was not as expected.

If the grown rune is too large, even the slightest error will result in a huge mistake.

However, Fang Tian did not have the strong control over his martial soul to complete such a precise operation when the runes shrank and grew.

Fang Tian had no choice but to think of another way and use external tools.

This external object must be able to smoothly transmit soul power so that the soul power can circulate smoothly. Some special metals would certainly work, but Fang Tian was short of money.

Things that are frequently nourished by soul power are also acceptable. For example, the flesh and bones of soul masters or soul beasts.

Fang Tian first released a little of his own blood to verify that he could indeed circulate his soul power while maintaining his vitality.

Next, Fang Tian rushed to the official Soul Hunting Forest of Soto City overnight and reached a cooperation agreement with a team outside. Fang Tian would help them hunt the soul beasts they needed, and in return, they would take Fang Tian into the Soul Hunting Forest.

After two days of effort, Fang Tian finally obtained the blood of a six-hundred-year-old soul beast. He nurtured it with his life force along the way, fearing it might lose its vitality.

Back in Wanghun Village, Fang Tian tried to draw runes with his homemade brush. This was no easy task; it required precise control and a certain level of comprehension.

Having practiced the Nine Palaces Blade Step and Willow Leaf Flying Knife techniques for many years, Fang Tian's control over his physical body and his martial spirit are completely different.

Fang Tian can split a single hair vertically with a knife, but he cannot make every part of his martial soul have the precision of a single hair when it grows.

Fang Tian began to carefully draw runes with a brush dipped in the blood of the soul beast. After practicing dozens of times, a qualified rune was born.

While the blood of the soul beast on the rune was still active, Fang Tian quickly inputted soul power from one end. He then guided the soul power output from the other end into a section of sweet potato vine.

Because Fang Tian chose a rune that rooted in this soul skill, the section of sweet potato vine used for the experiment quickly regained its vitality and fine roots sprouted from its base.

"Hahaha! It worked!" Fang Tian was overjoyed. This proved that his guess was correct; soul skills were indeed determined by these runes.

"You succeeded?" Qiu Fengyan's voice came from the side, startling Fang Tian.

"What have you been up to these past few days? You've been so secretive, you haven't even told me." To be honest, Qiu Fengyan was a little dissatisfied. The two of them had been through thick and thin together many times, and were sworn brothers who could entrust each other with their final affairs.

"Hehehe! It's not that I didn't want to tell you, it's just that I didn't have time to tell you when the idea suddenly struck. Besides, I didn't know if it would work, so I kept it from you for now," Fang Tian quickly explained. He absolutely couldn't let such a small thing cause any trouble.

"Oh? So what have you been researching these past few days?"

"Hehe, I've been researching the essence of spirit rings and spirit skills, and I've successfully verified it." Fang Tian proudly introduced to Qiu Fengyan, "With this, we might be able to increase the age of spirit rings in the future."

"You're serious about increasing the age of your spirit rings?" Qiu Fengyan asked in shock.

"Of course it's true. I've already figured it out. The essence of a soul skill is actually a rune. Hmm, I named it 'rune.' Look, this is a rune." Fang Tian pointed to the rune he had just drawn on the table that was rooted in this soul skill.

"This rune is the reason why my first soul skill exhibits a rooting effect. I have already replicated it in the outside world. If it is fixed in place using special metal processing, it can form a special soul tool," Fang Tian introduced proudly.

"Soul tools? What's this about soul tools?" Qiu Fengyan asked in confusion.

(End of this chapter)