Deep within his soul, the Black Book emitted a faint light.
Wang Chen controlled the book, turning to the newest page — the skill Soul-Into-Sword appeared before his eyes.
His consciousness fused with the skill, and in that instant, a flood of knowledge poured into his mind, allowing him to rapidly comprehend the technique.
Moments later, Wang Chen's consciousness returned to his body.
He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and murmured, "So that's how it is."
A glint of light flashed in Wang Chen's eyes as full understanding dawned upon him — he had completely grasped how Ji Juechen's Soul-Into-Sword cultivation method worked.
Ji Juechen's understanding of his own martial spirit was incredibly deep. By relying on that comprehension, he merged his spiritual will into his martial spirit, gaining complete mastery over it. Through this, his sword martial spirit transformed into an energy state, allowing it to merge seamlessly with his weapon.
Then, Ji Juechen infused his own soul power into the weapon, intending to enhance its might — and by accident, he achieved the fusion of spiritual power, willpower, and soul power.
Though the fusion was crude and only a prototype, there was no doubt he had set foot on the correct path.
Touching his chin, Wang Chen thought inwardly, "To merge my spiritual will with my martial spirit and fully master it… I wonder what changes will occur once I completely control my Weapon Spirit Martial Soul."
With that thought, Wang Chen directly placed Ji Juechen's Soul-Into-Sword skill into the Black Book's crystal imprint.
Ji Juechen's Soul-Into-Sword was excellent, but it had only been created recently. Coupled with Ji Juechen's limited experience, many parts of it were imperfect and immature, overly personal — something others couldn't cultivate.
Therefore, what Wang Chen needed to do was use the Black Book's two crystal imprints to simulate and refine Soul-Into-Sword, transforming it into a stronger, more complete, and more suitable skill for himself.
A quarter of an hour later, Wang Chen had perfected the technique. His improvements focused on simplifying and optimizing the process of fusing one's spiritual will with the martial spirit.
Looking at the newly completed version, Wang Chen renamed it Martial Soul Control Secret Technique, then began cultivating it.
The technique refined through the Black Book's deduction was extremely profound.
Following the prescribed method greatly reduced the difficulty of merging spiritual will and martial spirit.
Behind Wang Chen, a faint white, hazy silhouette appeared — the manifestation of his Weapon Spirit Martial Soul.
Step by step, he cultivated according to the technique. Gradually, his spiritual will and martial soul became closely intertwined and began fusing.
An hour later—
Wang Chen slowly opened his eyes. The Weapon Spirit Martial Soul behind him was constantly changing shape — turning into a sphere, then a cube, then an oval.
As his spiritual will fused with his martial spirit, Wang Chen felt a wondrous sensation unlike anything before.
Every inch and every fragment of the Weapon Spirit Martial Soul became vividly clear in his perception — as if everything lay completely under his control.
Even the six black soul rings attached to the Weapon Spirit were crystal clear.
He could feel that as his spiritual will merged with his martial spirit, the attached soul rings were enveloped within it as well.
The six soul rings now felt like extensions of his body — moving as smoothly as his own limbs, without the slightest resistance.
He even realized that, without entering Martial Soul Possession, he could still use soul skills simply through his spiritual link and control of the martial spirit.
(In the original canon, Super Douluo can use soul skills without possessing their martial spirit.)
This feeling of mastery was simply incredible.
Wang Chen released his Martial Soul Possession, yet through his connection with it, he directly activated his fourth soul skill — Blink!
A black soul ring rose and shone from his body, and his figure flashed instantly from the bedside to the door.
Now, Wang Chen's speed in casting soul skills was like lightning. Without needing to activate possession or any preparatory movement, he could unleash soul skills purely by thought.
Just this alone would allow him to seize initiative and gain the upper hand in any sudden battle.
Glancing at the dark soul rings around him, Wang Chen willed them to retreat back into the Weapon Spirit Martial Soul.
When a soul master absorbs a soul ring from a soul beast, the ring fuses into their martial spirit.
Now that Wang Chen's spiritual will was fully merged with his martial spirit, he could control whether the soul rings appeared or remained hidden.
(As stated in the original novel.)
Once again, Wang Chen activated the fourth soul skill — Blink! — moving instantly from the door back to his bed.
This time, under his deliberate control, the soul rings did not appear externally but remained within the martial soul.
The ability to control the manifestation of soul rings was a practical combat trick — many soul masters and engineers judged their opponent's strength by the color of their soul rings.
If, during battle, an opponent saw no soul rings appear on Wang Chen's body and underestimated him, they would likely suffer a devastating blow.
After experimenting a few times, Wang Chen focused completely, immersing his consciousness within his martial spirit.
As his spiritual will fused with the Weapon Spirit, the mysteries of the martial soul began to unfold before him.
At the deepest level of the Weapon Spirit Martial Soul, the core origin power that formed its foundation revealed itself before his eyes.
That power was white, radiating with pure aura and shimmering brilliance — mesmerizing to behold.
Every top-tier expert who stood at the peak of the soul master world had mastered their Martial Soul Origin Power.
Whether it was the Body Sect's poison-immortal Origin of Venom…
Or Shrek Academy's Dragon God Douluo, Mu En's Light Origin Power…
Or Dark Holy Dragon, Long Xiaoyao's Dark Origin Power…
These supreme soul masters were so powerful that a single one of them could elevate a force to greatness, decide the outcome of wars, or deter entire nations from daring to provoke them.
Such experts disdained even using their attached soul skills, for the self-created battle techniques derived from their origin power far surpassed ordinary soul skills.
Staring at the dazzling white origin power deep within his Weapon Spirit, Wang Chen began trying to draw it forth.
At first, he attempted to mobilize it with spiritual will — and failed instantly.
Then, he tried to use pure soul power to communicate with it, but the origin power acted like a proud queen, completely ignoring his efforts.
After several more attempts, he finally tried using the energy produced by fusing spiritual power, soul power, and willpower — and for the first time, the origin power trembled.
But it still wasn't enough. The forces weren't perfectly harmonized, and the origin power remained unresponsive.
Seeing this, Wang Chen simply transmitted the incomplete technique he'd formed into the Black Book's crystal imprint for deduction and refinement.
If he couldn't figure it out, he'd just let the Black Book brute-force it for him.
Another hour passed.
Through the Black Book's simulation, Wang Chen finally discovered the issue — the ratio between spiritual power and soul power was wrong.
The fusion technique he used, Sovereign's Domination (君临天下), had been created by Dragon God Douluo Mu En.
Mu En used Sovereign's Domination as the basis to harness his Light Origin Power, developing two ultimate techniques — Dragon Emperor's Light-Breaking Slash and Dragon Emperor's Domain Suppression.
The ratio of spiritual to soul power in Sovereign's Domination was perfect for Mu En's Light Dragon Martial Spirit — but completely incompatible with Wang Chen's Weapon Spirit Martial Soul.
Using Sovereign's Domination to control his Weapon Spirit's origin power was like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.
He needed to find the fusion ratio best suited for his own origin power.
Fortunately, he had the Black Book. Without it, discovering the correct method might have taken him years.
Following the deduction, Wang Chen adjusted the proportions between his spiritual and soul power.
With the right method, he succeeded quickly.
If Mu En's Sovereign's Domination favored soul power as the main force and spiritual power as support—
Then Wang Chen's version reversed it: spiritual power dominant, soul power auxiliary.
This new technique clearly deserved a new name. Wang Chen called it the Spirit Battle Technique (灵之战技).
Then he began using the Spirit Battle Technique to mobilize the origin power of his Weapon Spirit.
Two hours later—
A vast, faint-white domain spanning several hundred meters erupted from the great hall where Wang Chen sat — and vanished a moment later.
But even that brief instant caused all soul masters below the Soul King level within the domain to faint outright.
Such a disturbance immediately alarmed the Wang Family elders nearby.
One by one, they jumped out of bed, their gazes fixed on the hall where Wang Chen resided.
Inwardly, they thought, "That massive fluctuation just now came from the Patriarch's hall… Could this be a new technique of the Patriarch? Truly terrifying!"
At the center of that vanished domain—
Wang Chen's body was shrouded in a layer of white radiance. His black pupils had turned completely white, and he looked like an immortal descended from the heavens — impossible to gaze upon directly.
He murmured, "So this is my origin power — the Spirit Origin."
The ability of his Spirit Origin was to grant sentience to non-living matter.
The domain he had just released was born from this — the Spirit Domain.
The Spirit Domain was founded upon the Spirit Battle Technique and structured by the Spirit Origin Power itself.
This was a battle technique unique to Wang Chen, comparable in might to Mu En's Dragon Emperor's Light-Breaking Slash and Dragon Emperor's Domain Suppression.
Within the Spirit Domain, all non-living matter — heaven and earth energy, soil, water — anything without life would gain a trace of sentience under the influence of the Spirit Origin, allowing Wang Chen to command it freely.
Within this domain, Wang Chen was the absolute ruler.
The most cost-effective use was to grant sentience to the ambient energy of heaven and earth itself.
With the vast power of nature supporting him, Wang Chen's combat strength would soar dramatically, while his enemies would be rejected by that same energy — their power weakened.
Having mastered his Origin Power, Wang Chen finally possessed the qualifications to fight on equal terms with Title Douluo and Rank Nine Soul Engineers — the apex beings of the world.
Looking out the window at the bright moonlight, Wang Chen's heart surged with excitement.
At last, he had the strength to protect himself — and his family.
He couldn't help but laugh aloud.
Inside the hall—
Tang Zi, who had fainted from the violent surge of energy moments earlier, slowly regained consciousness.
Dazed, she looked around and thought, "What… what just happened? Why did I suddenly pass out?"
..................
At the same time—
In Xu Tiannan's mansion, within a secret chamber.
Xu Tiannan sat in a wheelchair, eyes closed, hands resting on the armrests.
He thought grimly, "Today marks the third day. I wonder if the people from the Holy Spirit Church are willing to cooperate and help me install a weak prince as a puppet emperor."
His face was tense; he hadn't eaten or slept properly for days. The pressure was immense.
At present, the Second Prince and Third Prince were steadily devouring his remaining influence. If things continued this way, his power would be completely consumed.
Xu Tiannan knew clearly that if the Holy Spirit Church refused to cooperate with him, he was finished — death would be his only fate.
Just as anxiety filled his heart, and he began to think the Holy Spirit Church had abandoned him—
A terrifying aura filled the chamber as a man in black robes appeared before him.
Seeing the black-robed man, Xu Tiannan finally relaxed.
He looked at the newcomer — Zhongli Wu, the Sect Master of the Holy Spirit Church — and said with a smile,
"Master Zhongli Wu, may our cooperation be fruitful."
Zhongli Wu regarded Xu Tiannan coldly. He intended to give the deposed prince a lesson right from the start — cooperation was fine, but the hierarchy had to be clear: who led and who followed.
This time, he had secured his mother's permission to cooperate with Xu Tiannan and support a weak prince as a puppet ruler.
After all, if they helped strong princes like the Second ascend the throne, such men might later suppress the Holy Spirit Church just like Emperor Xu Jing once had.
Rather than risk that, it was far better to place a useless hedonist on the throne — someone easy to control. That way, the Holy Spirit Church could use the Sun Moon Empire's power to grow stronger.
As for Xu Tiannan's promise of "half the empire," Zhongli Wu dismissed it outright — only a fool would believe such words.
Did he think the likes of Kong Deming, the royal clan, and the high-ranking nobles of the military were blind?
The Sun Moon Empire might be the Emperor's empire, but it also belonged to these people.
If an emperor ever dared to hand over half the empire to the Holy Spirit Church, he'd be found dead that very night.
Of course, there would be benefits in this cooperation — but nowhere near as grand as Xu Tiannan imagined.
Expressionless, Zhongli Wu said coldly,
"Cooperation is possible — but you must obey the Holy Spirit Church."