Xu Yuan pushed aside his conjectures and refocused on the main topic.
"Specifically, what is the method of nurturing?"
After being questioned by Xu Yuan, En Ci didn't continue to beat around the bush. He began explaining his approach to nurturing.
"Do you know the process of cultivation for soul masters after reaching the Super Douluo stage? Or, to put it another way, what is the essence of cultivation for a Super Douluo?"
"According to my teacher, after reaching Super Douluo, it becomes a process of harvesting."
Xu Yuan spoke calmly.
The teacher he referred to was naturally Yun Ming.
Yun Ming had once explained to him the three stages of soul master cultivation.
Unlike conventional divisions, in Yun Ming's explanation, before reaching Soul King, cultivation was primarily focused on blood and qi. After becoming a Soul King, the increase in soul power became more deeply intertwined with spiritual strength.
At the Soul Sage stage, essence, energy, and spirit would begin to fuse.
By the time one reached Titled Douluo, this fusion nearly reached its peak.
Afterward, once soul power cultivation was complete, one could begin harvesting the fruits of their efforts.
"Harvesting?" En Ci found Xu Yuan's explanation intriguing.
As a Limit Douluo himself, he quickly understood what Xu Yuan meant by "harvesting."
"Harvesting refers to fully assimilating the martial soul as one's own. During this process, soul power will increase. With each epiphany, the soul master gains a deeper understanding of their martial soul, and the extent of this reaping deepens until they reach level 98."
En Ci paused here.
Mu Ye, who was now at level 98, listened attentively.
He sensed from En Ci's tone that the latter was about to explain his understanding of the Limit Douluo realm.
Though it might not be absolute truth, it was still the insight of a Limit Douluo—a perspective worth hearing for potential enlightenment.
"Generally speaking, the Super Douluo stage is when soul masters rapidly increase the fusion between themselves and their martial souls. Calling it a 'harvesting' phase is reasonable because during this fusion, all abilities of the soul master improve significantly. Every step forward leads to a qualitative change in the power of their soul skills. Even simple soul power manipulation becomes much easier than before."
"In earlier stages of cultivation, one is essentially cultivating the martial soul. Although the soul master gains some benefits and can use the martial soul to cast soul skills, they are ultimately relying on the martial soul. But at the Super Douluo stage, through gradual and thorough fusion with the martial soul, the soul master truly takes full control. This process can only be understood through personal experience."
En Ci briefly summarized the cultivation process of Super Douluo and then moved on to the key point.
"As for the final limit, it's essentially the process of complete fusion. However, there are no two identical snowflakes in the world—how could perfect compatibility between a martial soul and a soul master ever be achieved? Even if someone inherits a martial soul naturally, it doesn't mean they are perfectly compatible with it. Theoretically, complete fusion is impossible."
Xu Yuan pondered thoughtfully.
This reasoning made sense.
"Even if a soul master strives for fusion and adapts to their martial soul, they will eventually realize that there's always a tiny gap preventing true, complete fusion. To take the next step and achieve theoretical complete fusion, thereby entering the Limit Douluo realm, they must seek new breakthroughs."
"The new breakthrough involves expanding the characteristics of the martial soul. If we compare the martial soul to a space, even after the soul master has fused as much as possible, there will always be slight gaps that cannot be filled. At this point, one can create new spaces within the original framework, covering the parts the soul master couldn't fuse, thus achieving complete fusion."
Xu Yuan nodded slightly.
This idea wasn't anything groundbreaking.
In fact, similar statements could be found in the recorded teachings of many Limit Douluos.
Moreover, En Ci's explanation was incomplete.
The reason why significant fusion with the martial soul begins at level 95 is that prior to that, the fusion occurs naturally.
The parts of the martial soul that can fuse with the soul master through soul power cultivation before level 94 represent the most compatible aspects between the martial soul and the soul master.
The subsequent fusion, however, involves forcibly reconciling the two.
If the martial soul is powerful, the soul master can adapt to it by aligning themselves with its nature.
But if the martial soul's quality is insufficient, instead of compromising, the soul master can explore other traits of the martial soul, develop its potential, and gradually improve its quality.
In today's soul master community, these two approaches are fairly balanced in terms of prevalence. However, 20,000 years ago, almost all Super Douluos followed the latter path, while the former was exceedingly rare.
En Ci's martial soul was the Holy Light Dragon. Naturally, he only began expanding at level 98 to take the final step. It's possible that he wasn't compromising but simply faced the challenge of the Holy Light Dragon's exceptionally high quality, making expansion difficult. By level 98, he finally found a tiny opportunity to forge a new path.
Seeing the two lost in thought, En Ci didn't rush to continue his explanation. Instead, he waited for them to digest his words before proceeding.
"Therefore, the final step is an evolution of the martial soul and a transformation of the soul master themselves. I synchronized the timing of this transformation with the evolution of my battle armor's soul-forged metal."
Xu Yuan suddenly understood.
He glanced at his teacher.
Mu Ye noticed Xu Yuan's gaze and immediately understood why he was looking at him.
How similar was En Ci's situation to Mu Ye's?
In other words, by deeply fusing the battle armor with oneself, one could simultaneously expand both the martial soul and the battle armor during this special state before breaking through to the limit!
Applying this logic to mecha, it should theoretically work as well.
If Mu Ye's mecha could be nurtured properly and combined with the opportunity of his breakthrough to the limit—
A true divine-level mecha, crafted entirely from heavenly-forged metal, might soon be born.
Both Mu Ye and Xu Yuan were deeply stirred emotionally.
Mu Ye felt excitement, while Xu Yuan felt regret—regret that the first true divine-level mecha might not be created by him.
Of course, the master and disciple merely indulged in brief speculation.
Because achieving this step wouldn't be easy.
"Not all methods of expansion can synchronize with one's battle armor," En Ci said. "The reason I succeeded lies in my path to the limit."
His eyes grew distant, slightly lost in thought.
Back then, he was the hope of the Star Luo Continent.
With no Limit Douluos present on the entire continent, he bore the expectations of everyone and had to walk this path.
And he didn't disappoint—he found the way.
Though it was somewhat of a shortcut, it also gave him the chance to upgrade his battle armor, advancing it to four-word battle armor. That's why he resolutely chose this path.
To forge a new path for his martial soul.
One very common direction was the path of kingship.
Within the dragon race, it meant evolving into a Dragon King.
This aligned perfectly with his method of tempering his battle armor using dragon clouds and dragon souls, synchronizing both processes.
Thus, at the moment he ascended to the limit, the metal of his battle armor itself evolved to the heavenly-forged level.
Likewise, this was why he worried that Long Yue might not be able to follow his path.
Long Yue's martial soul was already a Dragon King.
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