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**
The quality of an absorbed soul ring has its most significant impact on Mid- and High-tier Martial Souls. For Soul Masters possessing these spirits, absorbing an exceptionally powerful soul ring can trigger a process of fusion and evolution.
This grants their Martial Soul the possibility of undergoing a transformation even before reaching Rank 96. Take, for example, the famous Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo. His Martial Soul was originally the Jade Phosphorus Serpent, a High-tier Martial Soul.
However, during his journey to becoming a Titled Douluo, the soul rings he absorbed were remarkably powerful.
Consequently, once he reached the full completion of nine rings—even before his soul power reached Rank 95—his Martial Soul underwent a metamorphosis, evolving into the Jade Phosphorus Serpent Emperor.
This elevated his spirit to the level of a Top-tier Martial Soul. While it still couldn't compare to the peak of Top-tier spirits like the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, it was enough to rival any average Top-tier Martial Soul.
As long as he continues to cultivate and breaks through Rank 95 to reach Rank 96, his spirit will undergo another transformation. At that stage, it will be sufficient to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a non-evolved Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
As his cultivation rises in the future, it can slowly evolve toward the level of a Super Martial Soul.
Conversely, if Dugu Bo had absorbed weaker soul ring energy during his cultivation, his spirit would have remained in a state of stagnant devouring-evolution. Without reaching Rank 96, a transformation would be difficult to achieve.
Even with nine rings completed, the Martial Soul would still only be at the High-tier level.
However, in such a case, if one managed to break through to Rank 96 in a single leap, the resulting transformation would cause the Jade Phosphorus Serpent to evolve directly into a form capable of rivaling the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
This also highlights the extreme rarity of one hundred thousand year soul beasts.
Although facing the Heavenly Tribulation involves a slim chance of survival, those who succeed undergo a massive bloodline transformation. It can be said that any soul beast that survives a Heavenly Tribulation possesses bloodline power at the very peak of Top-tier soul beasts.
Of course, their developmental paths vary; some might even become quite extreme.
Take Xiao Wu, for instance, who evolved from a Soft Bone Rabbit. Although she is a one hundred thousand year soul beast, her abilities are not suited for direct combat. Instead, she developed multiple abilities focused entirely on survival and life-preservation.
In short, achieving a Super Martial Soul is incredibly difficult; they do not evolve easily. Every possessor of a Super Martial Soul represents a powerhouse at the absolute pinnacle of the path of Soul Masters.
As for a God-Bestowed Martial Soul—an innate Super Martial Soul—one can only imagine its rarity and power. To be honest, Ling Xiao had always been very interested in Qian Renxue.
This interest didn't stem from her status or her beauty, but rather from a burning desire to experience the power of the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul. After all, if one searched the entire Douluo Continent, one likely wouldn't find a third inheritor of the Six-Winged Angel spirit.
The first, naturally, was the current strongest expert in Spirit Hall, the Grand Worship Qian Daoliu.
He was one of the three current Peerless Experts.
In fact, if he fought near Spirit Hall and drew upon the divine power of the Angel Temple, he might even be capable of battling a True God of the lower realm.
However, comparing Qian Daoliu's strength to his own current level was like comparing the clouds to the mud; even that was an overestimation.
He was an expert far beyond Ling Xiao's current reach. The most realistic way to experience the might of such a Martial Soul was to find an opportunity to fight Qian Renxue in the future.
Although he was about four or five years younger than Qian Renxue, and her current cultivation and strength were likely far above his, she had been sent to the Heaven Dou Empire to act as an undercover agent.
To some extent, this had delayed her cultivation. While this lost time might be negligible in the grand scheme of her entire cultivation journey—mostly affecting her early growth speed—it brought a distinct advantage.
There was a high probability that he could face Qian Renxue in the future while they were at the same rank. When that time came, he truly wanted to see exactly how strong this Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul could be.
Thinking of this, a bright light flashed in Ling Xiao's eyes.
Xu Yu didn't quite understand the thoughts in Ling Xiao's heart, but hearing him speak like that, he couldn't help but say, "You guy, you're already cultivating so fast, yet you're still so humble. How are we 'ordinary people' supposed to live?"
Hearing this, Ling Xiao shook his head with a smile. "You are no 'ordinary person,' Xu Yu."
"Even though you come from a commoner background, with your aptitude and the nurturing of Spirit Hall, your future is bound to be limitless. Who knows, maybe Spirit Hall will have one more Support-System Titled Douluo in the future!"
"Oh, right. I guess I forgot. Maybe it's because I'm a Support-System Soul Master—our soul power cultivation is a bit slower compared to you Battle Soul Masters. Plus, there are so many talented students in the Academy; sometimes I don't really feel like I'm that outstanding," Xu Yu said, scratching his head.
Ling Xiao's expression shifted slightly as his smile faded.
He spoke in a complicated tone, "In truth, we are far luckier than the vast majority of people in this world. We awakened with decent Martial Soul talent and received training from Spirit Hall, giving us the chance to become powerhouses."
"There are so many people in this world who either have Martial Soul talent too poor for cultivation, or are so limited by the nature of their spirits that they can hardly achieve anything."
"As far as I know, some of the guards in Spirit Hall began focusing purely on soul power cultivation a few years ago—abandoning soul rings to follow the path of 'Soul Power Warriors' and 'Soul Power Mages.'"
"The Academy has also been developing soul power martial techniques and soul power spells over the years, but the results haven't been significant."
"While they can strengthen the body and hold their own in a fight against each other, they cannot compare to a Soul Master of the same cultivation level. This path of purely cultivating soul power... I'm afraid it won't go far, and it likely won't develop much further."
As the topic turned to this, Xu Yu also felt a bit dejected.
He could only offer some mutual comfort.
"There's nothing to be done about that. But I think eras always change. Perhaps things will develop for the better in the future. After all, we never used to realize there was such a connection between Martial Souls and Innate Soul Power. Maybe there will be new research breakthroughs in the future."
"Mhm."
Without saying more, Ling Xiao freshened up and took a brief rest.
Afterward, he left the dormitory and headed to the residence of his master, Mu Chen, to pay his respects. Passing through the forest paths, Ling Xiao arrived at the courtyard where Mu Chen lived.
As expected, Mu Chen had already sensed his arrival. Just like always, he had walked out of the wooden house and stood in the courtyard waiting for him.
"Disciple greets Master," Ling Xiao said with deep respect as he approached.
Mu Chen looked him over and nodded.
"Not bad. Having gone through the tempering of the Mystic Trace Canyon, you have grown a lot compared to a year ago."
"I owe my current strength to Master's cultivation," Ling Xiao said sincerely.
Although he now understood the relationship between Martial Souls and Innate Soul Power and knew his own talent was extraordinary—meaning he could reach a very high level just by having an expert help him obtain soul rings—it wasn't that simple.
If he had done that, he would have ended up like Flender or Zhao Wuji, relying purely on his innate talent to force his way up. Without systematic nurturing, his foundation would not be deep enough, and he would never have been able to unleash his full potential.
Every missed detail would eventually affect the final realm and strength he could achieve. For instance, if he hadn't taken Mu Chen as his master, he might have had Academy instructors, but they wouldn't have delved deep into his specific cultivation and foundation-laying.
No one would have told him how to fully control his soul power, his physical strength, and the power of his Martial Soul. He wouldn't have gained such peerless physical talent, nor would he have been able to forge a perfect physical foundation.
Even if he reached the same level of cultivation he had now, his actual combat power would certainly be far inferior.
**
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