NOVEL WEB Chapter 63: Defining Potential
Ling Yi gazed into the void before him, muttering to himself quietly.
With the current speed at which his soul power was growing, it was evident that it could not satisfy Ling Yi's aspirations for the future.
In the year 2591 of the Douluo Calendar, having just reincarnated, when Ling Yi realized he was on the continent of Douluo—a world filled with extraordinary powers—he set a series of goals for himself.
Short-term goal: Solve the family’s subsistence problem.
Mid-term goal: Become a Soul Master.
Long-term goal: Achieve a Title.
Ultimate goal: Become a God.
Final goal: Eternity.
In terms of his short-term goal, Ling Yi expended considerable effort. From encouraging his father, Ling Xiaoshan, to lay trap nets for capturing and breeding wild chickens and rabbits, and persuading his uncle, Zhang Dahe, to dig fish ponds, to uniting local villagers to cultivate more land collectively, planting and harvesting together, he successfully achieved a modest but prosperous life for his family over the years.
As for his mid-term objectives—or the first stage of becoming a Soul Master—he successfully awakened his innate soul power through various methods, such as developing spiritual practices from an early age, activating his mental strength, and supplementing his diet while refining his body, laying the foundation for becoming a Soul Master.
Starting from the age of six, after four relentless years of training day and night, he meticulously cultivated the century-old "Blue Silver Grass," achieving the status of a one-ring Soul Master at the age of ten!
The long-term goal of becoming a Titled Douluo requires Ling Yi to achieve one milestone after another. Only then can he hope to ascend step by step to the pinnacle, a supreme realm that ninety-nine percent of the people in Douluo Continent can only look up to.
After that, there are two ultimate goals, which cannot be achieved solely with the native powers of Douluo Continent.
Before becoming a Titled Douluo, Ling Yi can only keep these two ambitions in his heart, never forgetting his initial intention.
According to the terms from his previous life, 'ultimate' as a verb refers to the dynamic process of continually delving deep, constantly striving to the utmost limit, while as a noun it means the end; whereas 'end' alone denotes a point, or endpoint.
On Douluo Continent, reaching the 100th level to become a god represents the endpoint, but eternity requires one to leap out of this pond and seek something grander among the stars and seas.
Now, in October of the year 2603 of Douluo, after two years of exploration and research during his military career, Ling Yi is finally about to complete one of the preliminary small objectives of the second phase goal.
"Question: What methods can accelerate a soul master's cultivation speed, making soul power accumulation more efficient?"
"Answer: 1. Absorbing soul rings and soul bones to directly increase soul power; 2. Consuming potent heaven and earth treasures like various rare flowers, exotic herbs, and special fruits; 3. Using medicinal baths concocted from precious materials; 4. Regular diet of high-year soul beast meat, training under the support of powerful healing, food, and other auxiliary soul masters; 5. An environment with a high concentration of natural energy, or a simulated cultivation environment matching one's martial soul's attributes..."
"Question: What kind of people can achieve or possess these conditions?"
"Answer: Sons of masters from great sects like the Haotian Sect's Tang Hao, the Pope's disciple Hu Lie Na of the Spirit Hall, and fated protagonists like Tang San..."
The original work did not specifically describe the innate soul power of Tang Hao and Hu Lie Na, yet it was clearly recorded that Hu Lie Na achieved Soul Sect status by the age of fifteen!
Tang Hao's talent surpassed even Tang Xiao, who became a Titled Douluo in his fifties. At the age of twenty, Tang Hao was already known as the foremost of the young generation in the "Clear Sky Sect," receiving one of the sect's three inherited spirit bones. By thirty, his spirit power broke through to the seventieth level, earning him a second inherited spirit bone.
"Clear Sky Sect," the top-notch force branded as the world's top sect by the 99th-level supreme Douluo, "Clear Sky Douluo" Tang Chen, wielded spirit bones of what caliber and age?
Similarly, with fathers, uncles, and elders who were a cluster of Titled Douluo and Spirit Douluo, in selecting spirit beast types and years for spirit rings, there were few across the entire Douluo Continent who could compare.
It is common knowledge that spirit masters must cultivate ten levels in each rank before breaking through to the next.
Yet, for ordinary civilian spirit masters, it is hard to imagine that geniuses, heirs of great powers, experience no role for the first two or three levels in each rank.
Many calculate spirit master cultivation by saying a certain person is at a particular level at a certain age, and at another age reaches another level, calculating how many levels they cross in between, and dividing it by the time to deduce how many levels are gained per year.
For example, those with innate spirit power of level two or three find it hard to comprehend what speed is considered fast or slow when cultivating from 0.5 to level two or three.
Since people with such levels start that way, how do you measure the speed of someone with such talent cultivating from scratch?
A paradox of causality!
Similarly, different martial spirits, physical qualities, dietary standards, cultivation environments, and a multitude of other factors defy any universal standard for assessment in this world.
Cultivation is something uniquely subjective, not subject to quantification or materialization.
This isn’t a game where you can level up just by accumulating experience points.
Thus, Tang San, with innate full spirit power, reached level thirty as a Spirit Master at twelve years and seven months old.
Oscar, who also had full spirit power at birth, became a Spirit Master at fourteen.
Feng Xiaotian, sharing the same full spirit power at birth, reached level forty-four at twenty-four.
Dai Mubai, however, achieved Spirit Master status at thirteen despite not having full spirit power innately.
Meng Yiran became a Spirit Master at fifteen, Hu Liena a Soul Elder at fifteen, and Huo Wu at nineteen with level forty-three...
From these data, it's clear there is almost no single rule that purely follows innate spirit power as a basis!
Innate spirit power, quality of martial spirit, meridian width, mental strength, physical constitution, external environment...
These resemble scaffolding for constructing a building.
If one is tall, that side of the wall goes up swiftly and high, but if another is short, that side naturally progresses slowly, with limited height, ultimately slowing the overall construction pace, necessitating other scaffolds to fill in that height inadequacy.
Perhaps this metaphor isn't so vivid, but from Ling Yi's personal experience, this is the reality of the current Douluo Continent!
Therefore, if Ling Yi could start to strengthen these various factors, the speed of his cultivation would naturally increase.
In terms of innate spirit power and martial spirit quality, nearly all native residents of Douluo Continent share a common understanding: Except by divine power, no one can alter a person's innate spirit power and martial spirit quality post-awakening.
As for before awakening?
Sorry, but from their viewpoint, that question is entirely meaningless!
Do you understand the implication of the term 'innate'?
Reflecting on the original series, the protagonists consistently enhance their spiritual power through cultivation of divine artifacts:
the Celestial Chrysanthemum, the Immortal Narcissus Jade Flexibility, the Graceful Tulip, the Eight Petals Orchid, the Phoenix Caped Sunflower, and so forth.
What defines a celestial artifact? What does the term 'celestial' truly signify?
Reflecting on the vivid descriptions of these mystical flora, Ling Yi can do nothing but covetously admire, powerless in the present moment.
Fortunately, one of his self-crafted enhancements, the first soul ring he nurtured personally—a three-century-old Blue Silver Grass—has merged with his being, augmenting the quality of his spiritual weapon and boosting his innate soul power from a mere fraction to a solid level one.
There's also an unexpected boon.
Ling Yi's spiritual source, the Blue Silver Grass, after willingly merging with its three-century-old counterpart, has commenced autonomous growth!
It absorbs the vitality from its surroundings, enhancing its core essence bit by bit, fortifying the quality of his spiritual weapon.
Although this process unfolds slowly, it inexorably progresses nonetheless.
Over two years, as Ling Yi practices and uses soul power to hasten the refining of vitality, he can sense that the age of his spiritual weapon has increased by approximately twenty years!
Ling Yi feels both elated and somewhat disappointed by this outcome. Despite having immense fortune in his grasp, it remains challenging to convert this potential into immediate tangible gains.
Therefore, Lin Yi decided to focus his strategy on aspects such as the width of meridians, strength of the spirit, physical constitution, and external environment.
(End of Chapter)
