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"From level fifty to seventy, it's the process of the martial soul absorbing spiritual power to grow stronger. At the moment you break through to level fifty, the connection between the martial soul and the soul master's spiritual essence becomes much closer, allowing the soul master to withstand the soul-shaking effects of ten-thousand-year soul rings."
"Level seventy is the stage where the martial soul initially matures into its true form—the True Body stage."
"After seventy, it's about further growth for the martial soul. The emergence of the True Body at level seventy begins to unify the soul master's essence, energy, and spirit. This continues until level ninety—or more precisely, level ninety-four—marking the martial soul's journey to its peak."
"As for after level ninety-five—"
Yun Ming looked at Xu Yuan, who was brimming with curiosity, and smiled faintly without continuing.
"Teacher, what comes after level ninety-five?"
"What do you think?"
"Expansion?"
Yun Ming shook his head.
"Do you think those super martial souls are just tools for expansion? Some martial souls don't even need expansion—they're capable of supporting the soul master all the way to the Limit Douluo stage."
Xu Yuan carefully reflected on Yun Ming's earlier explanation, contemplating what the stage beyond level ninety-five might entail.
Yun Ming didn't rush to provide an answer, patiently waiting for Xu Yuan to think it through.
The growth of the martial soul...
Xu Yuan easily summarized Yun Ming's division of cultivation stages—it was akin to the process of a living being growing.
But soul masters were cultivating themselves!
Xu Yuan took a deep breath, and after arriving at an answer, he couldn't help but smile.
"It seems you've reached an answer," Yun Ming said with a look of satisfaction.
"Yes, Teacher. Beyond level ninety-five is the stage of harvest—the soul master's stage of reaping rewards."
The entire cultivation process of the martial soul, from beginning to end, was meant to serve the soul master. The soul master was the foundation.
Before level ninety-five, the martial soul grew, reaching its peak. Afterward, it was the soul master's time to reap the fruits of their labor.
"Mm. Now that you understand this, I believe you should know why cultivation slows down after level fifty," Yun Ming said calmly.
He didn't need to teach Xu Yuan specific solutions.
He trusted that by providing Xu Yuan with these deeper insights, Xu Yuan would find a path that suited him best.
After all, over the years, Xu Yuan had developed numerous small techniques and methods with excellent results. He had even begun forming the foundations of cultivation techniques for the three systems of essence, energy, and spirit.
Yun Ming believed that his guidance at this moment was sufficient for Xu Yuan.
"I already have a direction."
The slower cultivation speed after becoming a Soul King wasn't solely due to the increase in soul power levels—it was more about a misalignment in effort.
Most soul masters experienced a consistent cultivation speed during the Soul King and Soul Emperor stages because, despite the increasing difficulty of advancing soul power with higher levels, they subconsciously began to grasp certain thresholds. Similarly, this applied to the stages after Soul Sage, up to Soul Douluo or even level ninety-four.
Now that Xu Yuan had directly learned the division of cultivation stages from Yun Ming, his cultivation would naturally progress faster.
However, under normal circumstances, his cultivation speed during the Soul King to Soul Emperor stages might still slow down as levels increased—unless he could develop refined techniques tailored to this phase within two years.
The one-month vacation ended quickly, and Xu Yuan spent the entire month cultivating alone in his dormitory.
"Unexpectedly, the final plague curse from the Plaguebringer has become an aid to my current cultivation."
Xu Yuan opened his eyes and smiled.
In one month, his soul power hadn't directly advanced to the next level—he was still at level fifty-one—but he felt hopeful about breaking through within two months.
That meant advancing one level every three months, or four levels per year, which was the efficiency of solo cultivation.
Of course, this was aided by the various rare medicinal herbs he had consumed, the accelerated cultivation effects of the Life Gold Fusion, and his ongoing digestion of the Primordial Spirit Pill.
With all these factors combined, his cultivation speed was roughly the same as before.
This was the inevitable result of advancing levels.
Fortunately, Xu Yuan had temporarily compensated for the decrease in cultivation speed caused by the level increase.
"Teacher also said I need to go out and gain more experience, but where can I train now? The truly challenging places are few. I'll wait another two years until I reach the Soul Emperor stage and upgrade my battle armor and mech to purple-grade."
Two years wasn't long.
Xu Yuan could afford to wait.
He stood up, stretched his body, and headed to the forging room.
Inside the forging room, rare metals were neatly arranged.
Xu Yuan selected a crystal essence and a piece of Azure Mist Iron.
"I've perfected the multi-material infiltration unification formation array. All the required technologies for my one-word battle armor are complete—I can begin crafting."
Due to the complexity of his abilities, the requirements for Xu Yuan's battle armor were high. To integrate all his abilities, he naturally needed more materials.
For three-word and four-word battle armor, it wouldn't be an issue—he could fuse multiple rare metals to satisfy as many conditions as possible, concentrating the advantages of various rare metals.
But for one-word battle armor, Xu Yuan could only use spirit alloys forged from two rare metals.
To meet the sharpness demands of the Tianyuan Five Elements Spear, perfectly utilize spiritual power, and amplify elemental control—all these requirements were too much for just two rare metals to fulfill.
Thus, he adopted a method of using different spirit alloys for different parts of his one-word battle armor.
The arms used spirit alloys optimized for the Tianyuan Five Elements Spear martial soul. The headband enhanced spiritual power, the waistband amplified elemental control, and the legs and chest pieces focused on coordination.
However, this approach led to imbalances.
The enhancements for the arms were more pronounced, making it difficult for other parts to keep up. Without corresponding strength, the arms couldn't unleash their full potential.
Therefore, over the past month, Xu Yuan had developed this multi-material infiltration unification formation array. It unified the characteristics of different spirit alloys across various parts of the battle armor, leveraging the armor's overall structure. Upon completing the core formation array and integrating the armor into a single entity, it achieved preliminary fusion.
Now that the technology was perfected, it was time to begin crafting.
"Level five mech engineer, level five blacksmith, and I personally designed the battle armor formations. I aim to complete this project within the school year."
The reason he set aside a year was to give himself the opportunity to forge Divine Alloys with a fusion rate of ninety-nine percent.
To date, Zhen Hua's original plan for Xu Yuan was still underway, and Xu Yuan had reached the final step. As long as he continued using the dual-reality Sky and Earth Furnace Method to repeatedly forge Jade Silver with a fusion rate of ninety-eight percent and attempted to preserve its state, he could then forge it purely through technique in its normal state. After that, he'd make another trip to Tiandou City to attempt the final breakthrough under Zhen Hua's guidance.
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Work-study Dormitory
Tang Wulin happily returned to his dormitory.
"With the time acceleration bonus in the Hall space, I've gained an extra eleven hours of cultivation time per week. Catching up to Brother Xu is looking promising."
Thinking about the gains from his recent trip to Donghai City, he felt even more excited.
Surpassing Xu Yuan is within reach!
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