Douluo: Brains Over Bloodline

Under Xu Yuan's on-site guidance, Jiang Wuyue's mastery of blood essence rapidly matured.

During yesterday's battle with Xu Yuan, he had already figured out many techniques for using blood essence, but they were still too crude.

Back in his dormitory that night, he studied the numerous secret techniques from the Body Sect that Xu Yuan had given him, gaining new insights into the circulation of blood essence.

The current battle served as a verification.

As the battle progressed, his mastery of blood essence was rapidly improving.

However, Xu Yuan's guidance expedited the process.

"Gradually replace soul power with blood essence. Training blood essence in the Abyss yields the best results. As you increasingly use blood essence to activate soul skills and perfectly achieve substitution, you can begin attempting fusion techniques."

Fusion techniques—Jiang Wuyue naturally knew what that referred to: it was the secret technique Xu Yuan developed for transforming blood essence martial souls.

So, smoothly activating soul skills with blood essence and realizing several of his martial soul's soul skills—is this the prerequisite preparation for transforming a blood essence martial soul?

Through the battle, Jiang Wuyue felt he was very close to transforming his martial soul into a blood essence martial soul.

"My martial soul is inherently suited for blood essence cultivation."

At this moment, Jiang Wuyue increasingly understood what Xu Yuan had previously said.

It wasn't just the physical talent inherited from his martial soul; more importantly, all of his martial soul's soul skills were enhancement-based, all perfectly substitutable by blood essence.

Because of this, during the battle, he quickly replaced his soul power with blood essence.

Moreover, as the battle progressed, Jiang Wuyue suddenly realized that Xu Yuan had unknowingly removed the spatial range, leaving him completely exposed to the Abyssal passage environment. His soul power began to be suppressed, yet his martial soul continued to function normally, all supported by blood essence.

Blood essence drove his martial soul, allowing him to maintain the martial soul embodiment state.

This was only the outermost periphery of the Abyssal passage, so the suppression wasn't very noticeable, but it allowed Jiang Wuyue to more smoothly substitute blood essence for soul power.

"This Ba An appearing here is actually my opportunity!"

The more Jiang Wuyue fought, the more his blood boiled.

Fighting Xu Yuan required consideration of holding back and not going all out, but battling Ba An was a true life-and-death struggle—a single mistake could cost him his life, and there was no need to hold back.

The battle lasted a full half-hour.

Jiang Wuyue adapted to using blood essence to drive his martial soul and soul skills to a certain extent, after which Xu Yuan stepped in to help eliminate Ba An.

"I don't know why this Ba An appeared here, but undoubtedly, the battle with it has deepened my understanding of blood essence. Especially, I feel that at this rate, I can fulfill the prerequisites for transforming my blood essence martial soul today."

Completely replacing soul power with blood essence to drive the martial soul and soul skills.

This might only be achievable in the Abyss.

Xu Yuan smiled, unsurprised by Jiang Wuyue's reaction.

Jiang Wuyue's progress over these two days was unprecedented.

It might even be more effective than gaining another soul ring.

The emergence of blood essence gave his overall training a new direction rather than merely adding another soul skill to master among the existing six.

"Don't rush. We're here for research, not fighting or training. You should recover your state first. After you've recovered, we'll return, and I'll continue researching some details." Xu Yuan advised Jiang Wuyue against getting carried away.

Jiang Wuyue scratched his head, showing an awkward expression.

Right.

Today's main task wasn't his own training but Xu Yuan's research.

"Uh, Xu Yuan, after you finish this research, can you bring me back here in a few days?" Jiang Wuyue asked as they retreated from the Abyssal passage range, slightly requesting Xu Yuan to return to the Abyss in a few days.

Next time, it would be purely for training.

"Don't worry, I also need to hone my blood essence. I'll definitely come here often. If you're free, just join me," Xu Yuan agreed without hesitation.

Entering the Abyssal passage together was safer.

"Good!"

The two exited the passage and retreated another hundred meters before finding an open space to sit cross-legged in meditation.

Xu Yuan mainly focused on restoring his energy while contemplating his next research approach.

Jiang Wuyue needed to restore his consumed soul power, eliminate bodily fatigue as much as possible, and replenish his body's energy through food.

After two and a half hours, the two finally re-entered the Abyssal passage.

Consumption was fast, replenishment difficult.

Without Xu Yuan's Great Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique, Jiang Wuyue's efficiency in recovering blood essence consumption was somewhat low.

Although they only fought for half an hour, it took five times that long to recover, and even then, eating enough beforehand meant those five times were for digesting the food.

The dishes were the finest from the cafeteria, quite costly in merit points, and he ate three portions to quickly replenish his consumption.

However, Jiang Wuyue didn't feel any regret.

The single Ba An they killed and divided between them was enough to buy over a dozen such meals.

Of course, eating three portions didn't mean he fully absorbed them; the energy was still being continuously absorbed by Jiang Wuyue to compensate for his upcoming consumption.

"Wuyue, you keep watch."

With that, Xu Yuan re-entered the dream space.

Having spent two and a half hours organizing in advance, Xu Yuan's thoughts were clear.

He had already verified many basic effects earlier.

For instance, the dream space could isolate Abyssal energy.

But like how the Blood God Legion didn't adopt methods to seal the energy of dead Abyssal creatures, simply isolating large amounts of Abyssal energy in the dream space was meaningless and instead posed a potential threat.

If one day the Abyssal Sage King had an idea and directly triggered the Abyssal energy in Xu Yuan's dream space, it would become a ticking bomb.

Even for research, Xu Yuan tried to conduct his studies within the Abyssal passage range, using the dream space platform for better operation rather than keeping the energy in his dream space for too long.

"Directly devouring Abyssal energy with the Great Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique is the worst method. Without the Golden Dragon Spear, I can't guarantee the devoured energy won't have residual Abyssal imprints."

In the original story, the early growth of the Tree of Life also relied on Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Spear as the devouring mouthpiece, partly for this reason.

"But the Sand Demon Worm's mechanism doesn't thoroughly devour Abyssal energy either."

However, Xu Yuan had a new idea.

Two and a half hours of contemplation weren't wasted on this dead end.

"The Sand Demon Worm's mechanism gives me temporary control over Abyssal energy."

Not relying on the Seven Forbidden Techniques or spear intent, but simply the layer of energy attribute impartation.

"The idea behind soul-guided weapons has already utilized this mechanism effectively. What I want isn't temporary control over Abyssal energy to gain extraordinary power in the Abyssal environment to fight Abyssal creatures."

Xu Yuan's demand was always simple: energy.

Vast energy.

Energy vast enough for him to devour and easily consume.

If Abyssal energy didn't work, he'd switch to another type of energy.

"This place is rich in Abyssal energy, but other energies might exist."

Xu Yuan opened his eyes, looking around with a deep gaze.

In his sea of spirit, the starry sky visualization chart operated, rays of starlight blooming, resonating with corresponding stars.

"In this place, drawing in stellar energy is easier!"

However, while drawing in was easy, entering the passage was hard.

Xu Yuan could gather a large amount of stellar energy, but he felt it being repelled by the Abyssal environment, making it hard to truly enter and be touched by him.

"The Abyss is really domineering."

However, everything wasn't without opportunity.

For example—

Xu Yuan isolated a large amount of Abyssal energy in the dream space, trying to create a small gap connecting the dream space to reality, allowing Abyssal energy to return to the Abyss through this gap.

On the other hand, as Abyssal energy flowed, wisps of stellar energy were drawn into Xu Yuan's dream space.

"Energy is conserved. In the process of swapping in these stellar energys, the Abyss itself uses its force to pull its energy back. This force is naturally generated by the plane's operation, essentially free energy for me to exploit. But pulling Abyssal energy into my dream space requires my own strength, creating losses."

In this give-and-take, there were indeed losses.

Though these losses wouldn't nullify the process's gains, they significantly reduced the "profit."

"In fact, this raw stellar energy isn't easy to absorb. I can use Abyssal energy to grind away many impurities in the stellar energy as it enters the dream space, making it easier to absorb."

This grinding wouldn't erase the essence of Abyssal energy but would consume its energy.

Like soul power used by soul masters, which can be quickly replenished by absorbing ambient primal energy, the soul power cap remains unchanged, and the essence representing this cap isn't lost in usage.

Similarly, Xu Yuan wouldn't erase the essence of Abyssal energy but would consume it. As this essence returned to the Abyss, the Abyss itself could quickly replenish it by absorbing external raw stellar energy.

What's truly hard to increase is the cap.

"With the Abyssal Plane's instinct to recover energy consumption, my mechanism can blend in, attempt to borrow its path, gain its assistance, leverage it, and thus increase profit?"

Considering these two factors, it was uncertain if this idea would yield sufficiently enticing returns.

Xu Yuan reviewed the logic of the entire process while tackling each detail.

The dream space, being inherently illusory, allowed Xu Yuan, as its master, to achieve many details difficult to realize in reality, which was his advantage.

"It's challenging, but even just preliminary simulations show tangible gains."

Xu Yuan compared the consumption of achieving everything just now with the gains from half-tamed stellar energy and found it wasn't inferior to what he'd get by investing all his effort into attracting, absorbing, and devouring stellar energy.

This was just the initial attempt; both energy utilization and techniques were quite rough.

And yet, it wasn't a loss!

Finally, satisfaction flickered in Xu Yuan's eyes.

Indeed, there were ways to harvest from the Abyss.

Compared to directly devouring Abyssal energy, this method seemed safer?

"Pity, it's self-serving without significant harm to others."

For the Abyss, Xu Yuan's actions might not substantially weaken it.

However, from another perspective, even if Xu Yuan directly devoured, the amount of energy a single soul master could consume wouldn't notably weaken the Abyss.

Unless Xu Yuan reached Limit Douluo solely through devouring, it might slightly impact the Abyss, consuming considerable energy from the lower layers of the Abyss's 108 levels.

But this would provoke the Abyssal Sage King's early intervention and potentially plant hidden dangers.

All considered, leveraging the Abyss's operation to absorb and transform stellar energy for himself was more convenient.

"Using the concept behind soul-guided weapons, forming a soul-guided array within the dream space can make the entire process smoother and reduce costs."

"Yes, the process of devouring Abyssal energy into the dream space can also use soul-guided weapons. By leveraging the charging of soul-guided weapons in the camp, I can further reduce my investment."

Ideas kept emerging in Xu Yuan's mind.

Soon, an inspiration akin to the source of all evil burst forth.

"If soul-guided weapons are involved, can outsiders help me complete this?"

Once this thought emerged, it couldn't be suppressed.

Xu Yuan's mind was filled with this tempting inspiration.

"I'll create a new dream space as a transfer platform, place it here or outside the Abyssal passage, hidden between reality and illusion, then improve the core array of soul-guided weapons so their energy can directly supply my dream space."

Xu Yuan took a deep breath.

Then he would directly gain a large workforce.

The entire legion's power!

Harnessing the entire Blood God Legion's power to nourish his acquisition of stellar energy?

And it would be semi-automated, easily absorbable stellar energy!

Moreover, the soldiers of the Blood God Legion wouldn't train to obtain stellar energy but would acquire Abyssal creature energy by killing them in battle, converting it for temporary use.

The energy composing Abyssal creatures should be higher-level, right?

Thus, the borrowed force should be greater, and profits richer.

"Hiss~"

Is this the correct way to utilize the Abyss?

Of course, the premise is that Xu Yuan could implement these processes and streamline them, turning every soldier's soul-guided weapon into individual nodes.

"There must be sufficient benefits; otherwise, no soldier would use these soul-guided weapons in battle. The benefit they receive is nothing but sharing a portion of the profits."

As long as I take a fixed portion from the profits, I'll never be at a loss.

Providing only technology and tools.

And you provide labor.

Perfect!

Xu Yuan revealed a joyful smile.

Jiang Wuyue noticed Xu Yuan's side, seeing his childlike happy expression, feeling puzzled.

"Did you achieve something?" Jiang Wuyue internally admired him.

This was a topic countless excellent researchers had attempted over six thousand years, yet Xu Yuan completed it in just one trip into the Abyssal passage?

Moreover, it seemed the results were fruitful.

"Wuyue, help me kill an Abyssal creature and bring it to me." Xu Yuan spoke.

Jiang Wuyue didn't ask for specific reasons, following Xu Yuan's instructions. He ventured fifty meters inward, found three four-clawed bats, lured them to Xu Yuan's location, then unleashed his full power, killing these four-clawed bats.

Xu Yuan sensed the four-clawed bats and waited for their demise.

After the four-clawed bats died, Xu Yuan swiftly transformed their power from solid to void, integrating it into the dream space.

Within the dream space, Xu Yuan again attempted the entire process.

"Profit generated."

Simply replacing the absorption of ambient Abyssal energy with devouring the energy of dead Abyssal creatures generated profit, and it was a full twenty percent!

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, exiting the dream space, and said to Jiang Wuyue, "Let's go. We're done researching."

"Huh? Done researching?"

"That's right. Back to base, I need to research some other technologies first."

Jiang Wuyue looked confused but followed Xu Yuan out of the Abyssal passage.

The two walked silently.

Mainly because Jiang Wuyue didn't know what to say.

He admired Xu Yuan's ability to truly devour part of the Abyssal energy and was curious about what Xu Yuan had researched that made him so happy.

Of course, he wanted to know more why Xu Yuan suddenly wanted to return to the base.

Research other technologies?

What technologies?

Xu Yuan didn't explain, heading straight to the research institute upon returning to the base.

"Colonel Xu, I heard you were going to the Abyssal passage today?"

Facing him was a middle-aged man in a white coat and glasses. Seeing Xu Yuan, he exclaimed in surprise, "At this hour, haven't you left yet?"

"I've already returned," Xu Yuan replied.

"So fast?" The middle-aged man showed a surprised expression, curiously asking, "Any leads?"

Though he didn't expect progress, the middle-aged man still asked out of curiosity.

What if there was progress?

That would be progress for the entire Blood God Legion and a milestone for the entire Federation in combating the Abyss.

The project of devouring Abyssal energy had always been someone's responsibility, but without significant progress, competition for dominance in this field wasn't intense.

Xu Yuan, a young man leading this field's research, didn't face challenges from anyone regarding his qualifications.

"Yes, first help me find some data on soul-guided weapons."

"Soul-guided weapons?" The middle-aged man was taken aback, then realized, "Is it a new idea for further refining soul-guided weapons?"

This was a fallback option for researchers in this field when they couldn't directly develop Abyssal energy devouring technology. After all, holding this position required some results.

But Xu Yuan had just started researching and was already abandoning the study of Abyssal energy devouring technology?

The middle-aged man frowned.

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