After the second awakening, the Shadow Martial Spirit, originally aligned with the element of Yin, evolved into the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit by gaining the attribute of darkness.
The black figure that had overlapped with Lü Buliang just moments ago was the manifestation of his Dark Shadow Martial Spirit. Compared to its previous form, the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit not only possessed a tangible, physical shape but had also advanced to a top-tier quality, standing as the king among all shadows.
Originally, shadows were merely a part of darkness, existing only because of light. Stronger light produced stronger shadows; without light, shadows could not exist. Consequently, the Shadow Martial Spirit was limited by the presence of light.
Now, having transformed into the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit, this flaw had been completely eradicated.
In pure darkness, the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit would not weaken; instead, it would only grow stronger.
For Lü Buliang, both intense light and intense darkness had become ideal conditions for cultivation.
Even more exciting was that during the second awakening, while eliminating its former weaknesses, the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit also evolved a domain-exclusive ability: the Shadow Grave.
The Shadow Grave—literally a graveyard of shadows—had three major effects:
1. Domain Control: Upon activation, it covers a 300-meter radius, intensifying all shadows within to a near-physical darkness. Lü Buliang could manipulate any shadow within the domain at will, using them for combat or instantaneously teleporting to any area containing a shadow.
2. Attribute Suppression: The domain would suppress enemy shadows, causing all of their attributes to drop by 10%, preventing them from fighting at full strength. Meanwhile, Lü Buliang and his allies within the domain would experience a 10% boost in power.
3. Shadow Sealing: Lü Buliang could seal the shadows of the dead within the domain, binding them to specific artifacts. By wearing such an artifact, he could gain all the abilities the deceased had in life and, by summoning the darkness deep within his mind, call forth dark soldiers modeled after those spirits.
As more shadows of the dead were sealed into the Shadow Grave, the domain would expand and evolve. Eventually, if the domain grew large enough to blanket the entire world, it would herald the arrival of ultimate darkness.
After comprehending the effects of the Shadow Grave, Lü Buliang's consciousness, tortured by the extreme cold and fire poison produced by the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot, began to blur until he finally lost consciousness, his body slowly sinking deeper into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
No one knew how much time had passed when Lü Buliang's consciousness returned. When he opened his eyes, he was still sinking, seemingly into a bottomless abyss.
Activating his soul power, dark energy exploded from within him. Lü Buliang twisted his body mid-water, facing the abyss. Deep below, he saw nothing but endless darkness.
"The extreme heat and cold within the spring no longer affect me, nor do I feel the agonizing fire and ice poison anymore. It seems the medicinal effects of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot have been fully absorbed. My body has now attained immunity to both extreme fire and extreme ice—and is impervious to all poisons," he thought.
Circulating his soul power, he realized the energy coursing through his veins was fierce and overbearing, following the flow of his blood to strengthen every meridian in his body. Wherever it passed, it produced currents of heat and cold—not painful, but gentle and nurturing.
The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot had completely fused into pure elemental energies of extreme ice and fire within him, forming a small, gentle Yin-Yang Ice and Fire Core.
In the future, when infusing his soul rings with energy, he could also channel this extreme ice and fire energy into them, enhancing his soul skills with additional ice and fire effects—fire for explosive offense and ice for control.
Now that his Shadow Martial Spirit had evolved into the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit—maximizing strength, defense, and speed—and with the addition of extreme ice and fire energy, Lü Buliang could hardly imagine how overwhelmingly powerful his attacks and control abilities would become.
Previously, he needed to partner with Dugu Yan to defeat the duo of Yu Tianheng and Ye Lingling. Now, Lü Buliang was confident he could crush them both single-handedly—or even take on all seven of Yu Tianheng's team members alone without any issue.
The transformation brought by absorbing the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot was absolute.
Lü Buliang was no longer the same. His talents and strength had now far surpassed those of any soul master of his age.
Armed with the "Shadow Grave" domain, even if he were to face an entire team of dozens of soul masters alone, he could annihilate them within his domain.
Moreover, the Shadow Grave could seal the shadows of the dead, allowing him to build an army of shadows.
By then, not just one team, but even facing all the soul masters on the continent would no longer be something to fear.
As long as his spiritual power was strong enough, he could summon an endless army of tireless, powerful shadow soldiers, overwhelming any sect or force through attrition.
Taking a deep breath, Lü Buliang suppressed his excitement. The immortal herbs he had dreamed of were now his; his Shadow Martial Spirit had evolved into a king-tier Martial Spirit; he had obtained a new domain skill; and his body had become immune to extremes of ice, fire, and poison.
He had turned what was once a fantasy into reality. He now possessed a cultivation cheat ability unmatched by anyone.
At this moment, how could he not feel overwhelmed with excitement?
The only regret was that although his body and Martial Spirit had reached an extreme level after absorbing the herbs, his soul power level remained at thirty-seven.
In the original story, even Tang San didn't experience a direct soul power increase after absorbing the two jmmeory herbs, suggesting that most of the medicinal energy went into body refinement rather than power growth.
This was actually a good thing, considering Lü Buliang was living among others at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. A sudden spike in soul power would have been difficult to explain—especially to Xue Qinghe, for whom he had already fabricated a false background. Another lie could easily arouse suspicion.
Clearing his mind of distractions, Lü Buliang focused. He wasn't done yet—obtaining immrotal herbs and completing body tempering wasn't enough for him. He knew that deep within this endless well lay the corpses of two ancient dragon kings.
If he could extract treasures from their remains, this trip would truly be unparalleled.
With a thought, Lü Buliang released his martial spirit and soul rings. Three soul rings glowed brightly as a massive black figure over five meters tall materialized behind him, casting the surrounding environment into an endless black.
The faint red and blue light of the extreme cold and heat springs illuminated the figure, revealing its shape and face—identical to Lü Buliang's, as if he had been wrapped in darkness. His eyes, one crimson and one milky white, radiated a chilling sense of oppression.
This was the current form of the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit—the king among all shadows, demanding submission from every other shadow it encountered. The immense sense of pressure it exuded was no surprise.
The black glow converged back into the martial spirit, which then turned into a streak of black light and merged into Lü Buliang's body. His eyes shifted to heterochromatic—his left eye crimson, his right milky white—and a faint dark aura surrounded him.
After the transformation, the Martial Spirit Possession state had changed.
Now, with his heterochromatic eyes and the black aura, Lü Buliang was fully enveloped in the power of the Dark Shadow Martial Spirit.
The heterochromatic eyes and black aura were not just for show. The altered eyes, influenced by the extreme ice and fire energy, enhanced both his soul skill application and his eyesight.
With sufficient spiritual strength and vision, Lü Buliang could precisely target an enemy's shadow and infuse it with extreme ice or fire—burning or freezing the target through their shadow.
If a shadow was destroyed, its owner would suffer the same damage.
The black aura wrapped around his body was actually ice and fire energy fused with darkness, containing the powers of searing fire and freezing ice. It could burn or freeze any enemy that came near and would significantly amplify the effects of his soul skills.
Because the dark attribute wasn't yet at an extreme level, it was still suppressed by the extreme ice and fire within his body. Thus, the black aura only exhibited fire and ice effects and not the devouring traits of pure darkness.
With the Martial Spirit Possession complete, Lü Buliang's vision enhanced by his heterochromatic eyes, he gazed downward—but all he could see was still endless darkness.
To witness the corpses of the two ancient dragon kings, he would have to sink even deeper—down to the abyss itself.
Activating his second soul skill, Shadow Attack, Lü Buliang transformed into a streak of shadow, gaining a 50% speed boost as he plunged rapidly toward the bottom of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Half an hour later, as the effect of Shadow Attack faded, Lü Buliang activated his Shadow Grave domain again. Centered around him, a faint black light spread outward, forming an invisible barrier.
Within the Shadow Grave, any abilities related to shadows would be even more potent than before.
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