Xu Yuan and his master, Mu Ye, listened intently from start to finish, feeling as though the path to the Limit Douluo was now clear.
Of course, this clarity was only conceptual.
Every individual's physique was different.
Each soul master's martial soul also varied.
The specifics of how to expand weren't something one could grasp simply by knowing they needed to expand.
Especially when it came to En Ci's method of nurturing battle armor while overlapping with his path of expansion—using the moment of breaking through to the limit to elevate his battle armor—it wasn't something everyone could replicate.
The Path of the Dragon King
Ultimately, it was still following the path of the dragon race. In other words, En Ci had chosen to compromise, even relying on "external forces" during his final opportunity instead of breaking through the limitations of his martial soul on his own.
This sealed his fate: demi-godhood was his endpoint.
And this demi-godhood was achieved only with the aid of a four-word battle armor.
Mu Ye fell into deep thought.
He had grasped the key point.
From En Ci's explanation, he understood that the crux lay in merging the process of nurturing battle armor with one's own breakthrough to the limit.
At the moment of breaking through the limit, the battle armor would undergo its transformation.
Not only that, but since En Ci walked the Path of the Dragon King, he used dragon clouds and dragon souls to temper his battle armor, nurturing the spirit of his battle armor into a dragon soul. The moment the dragon soul fully formed within the battle armor was the moment he claimed kingship.
They complemented each other perfectly.
But mere overlap wasn't enough; the two processes had to intertwine completely, each being indispensable and tightly connected.
"Such a path is practically tailor-made for my Body Soul cultivation!" After pondering for a moment, Mu Ye felt that this approach aligned exceptionally well with the Body Soul.
Though he hadn't yet determined the specific methods, they weren't hard to imagine.
Breaking through the limit for a Body Soul also involved expansion—expanding one's martial soul, which was essentially their own body.
If one could fuse battle armor with their body…
This might just be a stable direction for expanding the Body Soul.
Any soul master could attempt it.
"I can have Martial Uncle try it first. He's been stuck at level 98 for years, so maybe all he needs is this one opportunity," Mu Ye thought. "I've gained insights into mecha fusion, which should be applicable to battle armor as well. I'll let Martial Uncleintegrate his battle armor into his body like armor, perhaps even conceptualizing his Body Soul further, extending the concept of his buttocks and abdomen martial souls to encompass his entire body."
The more Mu Ye thought about it, the more promising it seemed.
"Then let Martial Uncle pave the way, and I'll follow closely behind."
En Ci left.
But Xu Yuan and Mu Ye were still lost in thought.
"Teacher, you'll need to delay your breakthrough for now. First, let's push Little Red to the peak of soul-forging."
Soul-forged metal had to be forged to its pinnacle, then nurtured with the essence, energy, and spirit of the soul master until it reached its absolute peak. Only then could it begin the process En Ci described—merging with one's own path of expansion. The moment of breaking through the limit would also be the moment the metal broke through to heavenly forging.
Mu Ye nodded.
"That's true. Little Red still has much room for improvement." Mu Ye added, "Besides, I plan to let your Great Martial Uncle take the lead."
Xu Yuan looked at his teacher, blinking.
No wonder it's you, Teacher.
However, Great Martial Uncle had been away from the sect for many years, so he couldn't just return empty-handed.
He needed to bring back some results, didn't he?
As for Hu Jie's technique for fusing dual martial souls artificially, Xu Yuan had completely forgotten about it.
"By the way, Great Martial Uncle does have the ability. That artificial fusion technique for dual martial souls is quite practical. I'm already confident that after obtaining my seventh soul ring, I can use the True Body of the martial soul to cultivate the merged form of the Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear and my brain martial soul."
"Little Yuan, if we're going to continue improving Little Red, I'll need to return to the continent. I'll have Zhen Hua handle the metals."
As for having Zhen Hua provide a full set of heavenly-forged metals?
Mu Ye knew that even if Zhen Hua got struck down by heavenly lightning, he wouldn't be able to provide that many heavenly-forged metals. At best, he could help push the metal of the entire mecha to the peak of soul-forging, close to the threshold of heavenly forging.
This was a request Zhen Hua could fulfill.
Previously, Mu Ye hadn't thought it necessary, so he hadn't pursued it.
"In that case, I shouldn't waste the area I discovered earlier," Mu Ye thought. After some consideration, he decided to give the place he'd planned to seclude himself to Hu Jie.
---
Three days later
"Teacher, why are you here?"
Xu Yuan ended his meditation and opened his eyes to find Yun Ming standing before him, facing away.
"This lake bottom…" Yun Ming gazed at the Five Elements Lake before him and spoke softly.
"The lake bottom is Tong Yu. He—" Xu Yuan began to introduce, but Yun Ming interrupted him.
"I know him. Tong Yu—I once fought him back in the day." Yun Ming said indifferently.
Although Yun Ming and Tong Yu weren't of the same generation, they were from the same era. Back then, Yun Ming had traveled across the Star Luo Continent—not for exchange, but purely for exploration. At the time, Yun Ming was already a Soul Emperor, and Tong Yu was also at the Soul Emperor level.
Years had passed, and Yun Ming had long since reached the limit and even ascended to the peak of demi-godhood.
Yet Tong Yu remained stuck at level 98.
What a pity.
Still, with a sudden epiphany and the dissipation of his inner knots, with his accumulated strength, rapidly achieving demi-godhood wasn't impossible.
"Were you guiding him?" Yun Ming asked.
Xu Yuan nodded.
"Do you know what happened to him?"
Xu Yuan nodded again.
"He killed his first love, her entire family, right in front of her child."
"And do you know what that child's identity is now?" Yun Ming asked.
Xu Yuan's heart skipped a beat.
He did know the answer to this question.
But this was something he couldn't admit to knowing.
So, he shook his head blankly.
"I don't know."
Yun Ming noticed Xu Yuan's brief moment of tension but didn't think much of it.
"That boy… is Tang Wulin's adoptive parents."
Xu Yuan was shocked once again.
My goodness, Teacher—you've gone and dug into Tang Wulin's family tree?
You even know about his adoptive parents?
At the same time, he was inwardly amazed, thinking, "Teacher's reaction is quick. It seems he's already speculating about Tang Wulin's identity and has drawn conclusions about Old Tang."
"Adoptive parents?" Despite his rich internal thoughts, Xu Yuan didn't forget to react outwardly. He feigned surprise, looking at his teacher: "Teacher, are you referring to Wulin's parents? Was Wulin adopted back then?"
"Tang Ziran, Tang Wulin's adoptive father, was the boy whose family Tong Yu slaughtered." Yun Ming sighed. "I never expected there to be such a connection between you and Tong Yu."
Yun Ming understood Xu Yuan's intentions in guiding Tong Yu.
The Five Elements Kirin bloodline.
It was the perfect solution to fill the deficiency in the origin of Xu Yuan's first soul ring of the Heavenly Origin Brush martial soul.
"So, you need to prepare yourself mentally. When Tang Wulin learns of this karmic connection, your relationship with him…"
Xu Yuan calmly replied, "Teacher, when the time comes, I'll face it."
"By the way, Teacher, I have another matter I'd like you to assist with." Xu Yuan changed the subject.
When he had met Yun Ming after leaving the Dragon Valley, he hadn't brought this up at the time.
Now, he remembered.
"What is it?" Yun Ming looked at Xu Yuan, puzzled.
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