Douluo Continent: Long Live the Spirit Hall

"It's troublesome. It's a mix of fire and earth attributes. My true attribute isn't primarily fire, but lava. However, most soul beasts only have one prominent attribute, which reduces the number of targets I can choose from."

Yan stared at his palm. On his fair palm, beneath the dark red flames, there seemed to be a thin layer of strange red light. That was his true source power, the power of lava formed by the combination of fire and earth attributes, which was... magma.

The top-tier beast spirit, the mutated Flame Lord, possesses the molten lava power of a fusion of fire and earth attributes, making it stronger than pure fire or earth attributes. This is certainly a good thing, but the dual attributes also make it difficult for Yan to fully develop his talent potential.

The current Soul Master system, while having distinctions such as control and offensive types, as well as so-called extreme builds and balanced builds, ultimately sees most Soul Masters specializing in developing only one attribute, which is the only way to go further in the game.

A Soul Master can only acquire a limited number of Soul Rings. The best choice is, of course, a Soul Beast of the same attribute or even the same type as their own Martial Soul, which maximizes the benefits. Rushing to absorb Soul Rings under the guidance of some so-called master is risky; only someone with a strong foundation like the Blue Silver Emperor could withstand such treatment. Otherwise, anyone else would have been ruined long ago.

Yan is now facing a similar dilemma: which elemental spirit ring to absorb in the future. If he chooses only fire, he'll be wasting his earth elemental potential. But if he tries to absorb both, he might end up with both useless.

He considered pursuing a single fire attribute build, but that would render his innate earth attribute useless and make his spirit impure, making it difficult to reach the peak of fire attribute power. Choosing a single earth attribute would present the same problem: the final attribute would also be impure.

He had certainly considered absorbing fire and earth elemental spirit rings in turn, but the consequence of that might be that neither attribute would be sufficiently transformed, ultimately harming himself.

Think about it this way: a four-ring Soul Master has four Soul Rings of the same attribute. But if he only has one Soul Ring of each attribute, that's two Fire and two Earth Soul Rings each. Is that really enough for a transformation? He himself doubts it.

Of course, there is another option: absorbing a soul beast that possesses both fire and earth attributes. This option isn't nonexistent, but it's extremely rare. And if one chooses this option, their soul skill will only be a matter of attribute compatibility; its power and other aspects are difficult to guarantee.

Yan had just flipped through the encyclopedia of soul beasts, and the number of soul beasts that possessed both fire and earth elements was far too small—he could count them on two hands—and none of them were particularly powerful. If he were to choose those, his soul rings would be limited to only a few types, which would likely negatively impact his strength.

"It is difficult to maximize both attributes using conventional methods; some trade-offs are inevitable."

Yan looked at his palm, where a dark red halo slowly flowed. At this moment, his eyes also flickered with a strange red light, and a screen of light flowed in his mind.

"If I really want to unleash my full potential, I must take risks and sacrifice some of my current potential. Spirit mutation and twin regression are risky, but they will give me more options."

Yan opened the notebook he kept on his bedside table. It was a bold plan he had devised these past few days to explore the potential of his dual martial soul attributes. It could be said to be just a hypothesis, but if it succeeded, he might have a better future.

The martial spirit mutated, and the twins regressed. This was a method he deduced after much thought and with the help of the AI's Dawn.

Martial Soul Mutation, as the name suggests, is the process of guiding the acquired mutation of a martial soul. A successful example is Dai Luoli, Huo Gua's younger brother, in "Douluo Continent II: The Peerless Tang Sect".

Dai Luoli's original martial soul was a mutated white tiger, a weakened form of mutation, and its power was not particularly strong. However, Huo Gua later activated the spiritual attribute within her martial soul through a special method, causing it to evolve into a mutated blood tiger. This is an example of a martial soul undergoing acquired mutation.

This kind of acquired mutation is more likely to succeed on a congenital mutated martial soul that has already undergone martial soul mutation. Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao could actually use this method to advance step by step to become a true Golden Sacred Dragon. However, this method is extremely difficult and painful. As for Yu Xiaogang, if he really tried it, he would most likely fail.

Yan's Flame Lord Martial Soul is actually an example of a mutation. A typical Flame Lord should be dominated by the fire attribute, rather than his Flame Lord, which combines the fire and earth attributes to achieve the power of lava.

Regarding the mutation of his martial soul, Yan was quite confident after studying the data and sensing his own martial soul. However, the next step was the main reason that troubled him.

The term "regression twins" means that his martial soul mutation is actually moving in the direction of regression. However, saying it is regression is not entirely accurate. To be precise, it means that he is preparing to split his originally perfect martial soul in two, which will definitely affect its quality.

That's right, he plans to separate his two major attributes of martial soul into two martial souls with different attributes. In this way, he will have twin martial souls and will be able to obtain eighteen soul rings before reaching level 100 and becoming a god. Moreover, the range of soul rings he can choose from will be much wider.

Yan's idea sounded like a pipe dream. Twin martial souls are even rarer than ordinary mutated martial souls. How could one possibly obtain twin martial souls by splitting their martial soul?

However, his conjecture does have a theoretical basis, namely the relationship between martial soul mutation, martial soul fusion, and twin martial souls.

Twin Martial Souls, in essence, are a special kind of Martial Soul mutation. The quality of the paternal and maternal Martial Souls is similar, but they have no compatibility and cannot be fused into a completely new mutated Martial Soul, which is why twin Martial Souls are formed.

Yan's theory of spirit regression is derived from the reverse deduction of the spirit fusion theory. The topic of self-spirit fusion seems a bit abrupt in Douluo Continent I, and the real case should come from the two twin spirit owners in Douluo Continent III: The Legend of the Dragon King.

In Douluo Continent III, several individuals possessed twin martial souls. Among them, two were quite unique: Xie Xie, who possessed both the Light Dragon Dagger and the Shadow Dragon Dagger, and Wu Siduo, who possessed both the Netherworld Cat and the White Tiger.

Wu Siduo is a descendant of the current Star Luo royal family. She is able to independently complete the Martial Soul Fusion and use her own Martial Soul Fusion Technique to form the Netherworld White Tiger.

Xie Xie went a step further, his Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger eventually fused and evolved into a brand new martial soul, the Time-Space Dragon. The success of these two demonstrates that twin martial souls with compatible points can indeed fuse and evolve into entirely new martial souls.

By working backward, since there is such a thing as the fusion and evolution of martial souls, there is also the possibility of the splitting and degeneration of martial souls. For Yan, who is currently struggling to tap into the potential of his two attributes, this is a method worth trying.

Once successful, he will be able to share twin martial souls. Even if the quality of the martial souls declines in the early stages due to the split, he will have ways to find opportunities to make up for it and continue to improve.

There are still many opportunities to improve the quality of one's martial soul in the Douluo world, especially in the current timeline, where most of these opportunities still exist. If one improves the quality of their martial soul and then waits until they are granted a title or even a higher level to fuse and sublimate it, they will have a brighter future.

Chapter 9 Dialogue with Feng Lin

"Xiao Yan, Lord Feng Lin has arrived."

Inside the Spirit Hall of Sanlvvis City, Yan, who was hunched over his desk, looked up slightly. Liya's voice came from outside the door, followed by footsteps.

The door opened and closed, but Liya didn't come in. Instead, she remained in the courtyard outside the room, instructing the other junior soul masters on their cultivation.

This trip, where they left the Spirit Branch Hall in Nar City to travel far away, was to send Yan and other young spirit masters who had awakened innate spirit power to the primary academy in Spirit City. However, no one expected that they would be ambushed by evil spirit masters on the way. Fortunately, nothing bad happened in the end.

As the door closed again, only Yan, who was still at his desk, and Soul King Feng Lin, whose expression was rather unsettled and who even had dark circles under his eyes, remained in the room.

"Lord Feng Lin."

Yan wrote in his notebook for a while before slowly looking up at Feng Lin, who was clearly not in a good state. With a call from him, Feng Lin seemed to finally come to his senses.

“You… I just went to Maple Forest Town.”

Feng Lin looked at the calm, seemingly confident six-year-old boy before him and felt a strange sense of unease. The thought in his heart still made him feel like he was going crazy. This child was only six years old! How could he be…

"and then."

Yan remained calm, and this calmness only intensified Feng Lin's anxiety. The Yan before him filled him with terror, for he did not resemble a six-year-old child at all, but rather seemed like a demon.

“I’ve tried it. Flour and flames can indeed trigger that kind of violent energy burst, but it has to be done in an extremely enclosed environment, and a lot of flour needs to be scattered out.”

Feng Lin stared at Yan and said in a deep voice, paying close attention to the child's reaction as he spoke, "I've checked the ruins of Maple Forest Town, the flour in the warehouse, and the spot where you were last seen. Everything is too coincidental, so coincidental it's like..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yan continued, "It's like it was all part of a scheme. You guessed right. From the moment I hit Lassor on the head with lime powder, he was already caught in my trap. Want to hear more?"

Yan pointed to the chair next to him. Feng Lin hesitated for a moment, but still chose to sit down. Facing Yan, who was only six years old, he seemed a little uneasy.

After Feng Lin sat down, Yan thought for a moment and then continued, "At the beginning of that night, I was injured by Rasol's soul skill and passed out. But when I woke up again, I knew that I had to save myself."

Lassall's biggest mistake was letting his guard down around me. Lime powder itself isn't particularly dangerous, but when used unexpectedly, it can easily inflict serious injury.

As Yan spoke of this, he couldn't help but sigh to himself. In the early stages of Douluo Continent, especially in Douluo 1, the level advantage wasn't too obvious. If one used the right methods, even a mortal could turn the tables and kill a Soul Master.

This can also be considered as his good luck. The Douluo Continent during the first Douluo era was equivalent to ancient society. Basically, no one understood things like lime powder and dust explosions, so it was easy for him to succeed.

At this time in Douluo Continent, the technology of soul tools had not yet been developed, and self-created soul skills had not yet begun to emerge. Most soul masters relied heavily on their own soul rings and soul skills, which gave him the opportunity. If this were in the era after Douluo II, his methods would have been suicidal against wanted evil soul masters.

After a brief sigh, Yan continued, "Once Lassor was injured by the lime powder, my plan was half successful. Everything that followed—jumping off the second floor, luring him into the warehouse, and throwing out so much flour—was all part of my plan..."

As Yan calmly recounted everything, Feng Lin across from him felt a chill run down his spine. Even though he had suspected something was amiss, listening to a six-year-old child tell the story of how he had schemed against and killed a fourth-ring evil soul master still filled Feng Lin with fear.

The child opposite him was extraordinary. Ordinary children would just close their eyes and wait to die in that situation, but Yan had planned step by step and forced an evil soul master whose strength far exceeded that of an ordinary soul master to a dead end. If Yan hadn't admitted it himself and described the steps, Feng Lin would never have believed it even if he were beaten to death.

"Is this all Lord Feng Lin wants to know?"

After Yan recounted his scheme against Lasor, he paused and continued, "I think you're a smart person! I heard from Sister Liya that your son's talent is lacking; he's over thirty and still hasn't broken through to the Soul Master level, so it's basically impossible for him to do so in his lifetime."

"After you broke through to Soul King five years ago, you spent a full five years, and now you're only at level 53. Your cultivation has almost reached its limit. If nothing changes, the Feng family will gradually decline after you grow old."

Yan's words reached Feng Lin's ears, causing the latter to clench his fists uncomfortably, because what Yan said was true; his family was indeed in a predicament of not having a successor.

Feng Lin came from an ordinary background; his ancestors were all commoners. When he awakened his martial soul, he was fortunate enough to possess innate soul power. His innate martial soul was neither too strong nor too weak. With his years of hard work, he successfully broke through to the Soul Venerable level before the age of thirty, and then gradually advanced to become the Soul King.

But after advancing to Soul King, he had a premonition that his potential had basically reached its limit. Sure enough, after level 50, his cultivation became difficult. He barely managed to advance two levels in five years, and in the past year, he has made almost no progress.

He wasn't young anymore; even his grandson was over ten years old. Given the difficulty of advancing his own cultivation, he naturally had to turn to nurturing the next generation. Unfortunately, his son was disappointing, failing to break through to level 30 before the age of thirty, making further breakthroughs unlikely.

He didn't have many options left, but now a great opportunity was presented to him: to invest in this genius who possessed both cunning and talent.

Feng Lin is getting old, and his son lacks both talent and ability. If he were to rely on his grandson, he fears the disappointment would only grow. To maintain the family's continued prosperity, besides cultivating the next generation to take over, it is also necessary to find a suitable backer.

He could certainly seek refuge with the higher-ups within the Spirit Hall, after all, he was a Soul King and had some influence. However, such a refuge would require him to offer a pledge of allegiance, which would likely lead to involvement in factional struggles and potentially cost him his life.

Another approach is to invest in talented individuals in advance. Once they achieve success, there will be some return, perhaps even ensuring the continuation of their family's prosperity. And now, a very suitable target has appeared before us.

Chapter 10 Alienation Awakening

"I can protect your family in the future and prevent them from falling into ruin. The condition is that you help me. You don't need to risk your life, but you must give me enough help."

Inside the room of the Sanctuary City Martial Soul Branch Hall, a slightly childish voice echoed for a long time. However, it wasn't until much later that another person in the room slowly spoke.

Feng Lin kept staring at Yan, but even with his keen eyesight, he couldn't see through this six-year-old child. After a long silence, he finally nodded and said, "Okay."

"very good."

Yan spoke again, looking up at Feng Lin with a confident smile, and then stated his request, "What I need now is for you to help me collect enough materials, and also to arrange some things..."

Feng Lin listened silently to Yan's words, his gaze constantly shifting. When Yan finished speaking, he lowered his head slightly and said, "Give me some time, and I should be able to arrange these things by tomorrow."

"can."

Yan nodded, and after the two talked for a while, Feng Lin left the room. Once Yan was alone in the room, he silently walked to his desk, picked up his notebook, and looking at the densely written words, sighed deeply, "Tomorrow, please don't disappoint me."

……

The next morning, as the morning sun shone into the courtyard, three figures began preparations in a courtyard next to the Martial Soul Branch Hall.

"Xiao Yan, what exactly are you and Lord Feng Lin up to? Why did you just say that you need my treatment later?"

In the middle of the courtyard, a bewildered Liya pulled Yan aside and asked in a low voice. She had been summoned by Feng Lin and Yan, and she really had no idea what they were planning to do next.

"Sister Liya, believe me, it's okay."

Yan reached out and patted Liya's hand, then smiled at her. Without much explanation, he knew that what he was about to do was an adventure, and it would be best to have a healing-type Soul Master to assist him. Was there anyone more suitable than Liya?

As for his secret being exposed? To be honest, even if he had succeeded, this secret technique of splitting martial souls isn't something of great value; it requires too many requirements and is too difficult to succeed with.

Ordinary people's martial soul attributes are singular, so there is no need to split it at all. Moreover, according to Yan's speculation, splitting a martial soul can easily cause the quality of the split martial soul to drop. If an ordinary person does this recklessly, even if they successfully split their martial soul, their talent will basically be wasted.

Yan dared to split because he had a deep foundation and could withstand the test. Even if his quality decreased after splitting, he would still be a high-level martial soul and remain a top genius. Moreover, even if his talent decreased, he could make up for it later.

"I am ready."

At this moment, Feng Lin's voice came over. Yan no longer hesitated. After giving Liya a reassuring look, she walked towards Feng Lin, who was just finishing his preparations.

Inside the courtyard, within the mysterious patterned array, were arranged oval black gems. The six gems at the very center were hexagonal in shape, seemingly part of some strange array.

"An Awakening Array? What exactly are Lord Feng Lin and Xiao Yan trying to do? Didn't they already awaken their Martial Souls?"

Looking at the rather complex magic array, Liya's doubts deepened. She had some recollection of the mysterious array; it was a Martial Soul Awakening Array, which involved Martial Soul Awakening and was generally mastered by graduates of Martial Soul Primary Schools.

However, this awakening array is somewhat different from the ordinary one. The ordinary awakening array consists of six array stones combined with the soul master's soul power, which is simple, convenient and lightweight. The one that Feng Lin is setting up now is more complicated. It may not be more effective, but its cost-effectiveness is definitely not high. It is an ancient product and has long been replaced.

This ancient martial spirit awakening array was phased out because it was inconvenient and more expensive. However, it is undeniable that it may have been more effective, with a longer duration of aiding awakening and a greater chance of helping children awaken their innate soul power. Many ancient noble families liked to use this array to help their descendants awaken their martial spirit.

Liya was completely confused, but she didn't stop Yan and Feng Lin's actions. Instead, she watched from the side, quietly gathering her soul power, ready to use it to save people at any time. Of course, she took Yan's words to heart.

"Gale Eagle, possess me."

In the center of the courtyard, accompanied by Feng Lin's low shout, a breeze suddenly swept through the courtyard, and a faint blue light was first released from the center of his brow, after which his appearance changed.

Feng Lin's hands became shaped like claws, and many downy feathers appeared on his cheeks and exposed skin. A pair of wings also appeared on his back, along with five spirit rings, two yellow and three purple.

Feng Lin's eyes transformed into eagle eyes, and the sharp claws extending from his ten fingers gleamed with a faint cold light. As his soul power circulated, the five soul rings on his body also pulsed continuously.