Douluo: My Clone Is Groudon

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"Take, for example, the Wisdom Corner of the Golden Triangle. From their Fusion Martial Soul Technique, it's clear that their pig-like martial soul is actually a failed mutation of a Light-attribute dragon."

"If this had been discovered earlier as a Light-attribute variation, they should have attached two Light-attribute sub-dragon soul rings to the first two soul rings. Through the connection between soul rings and martial souls, they could complete the bloodline."

"At the same time, both their physical bodies and detached martial souls should consume dragon's blood, bathe in it, and stimulate their latent potential. This would accelerate the mutation of their martial soul, breaking through the innate constraints of their soul power. At worst, it could evolve into a sub-dragon martial soul."

(The author does not advocate for the indiscriminate hunting of spirit beasts. Sub-dragon spirit beasts are rare, yet only the Spirit Hall has taken steps to prevent soul masters from overhunting. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, which relies on sub-dragons, should also set an example.)

After taking a subtle jab at the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, Gu La continued writing:

"The author proposes reclassifying martial souls. Categorizing them based solely on average innate soul power is not appropriate, as a soul master's innate soul power can be influenced by their nutritional levels and physical condition. Instead, they should be classified based on a combination of potential and combat strength."

"Common low-tier and mid-tier martial souls require no further elaboration. These martial souls generally have limited potential. To evolve, they must seek out highly compatible soul rings. Soul masters must study extensively to understand what their martial soul needs. Finding a master is difficult; thus, self-enlightenment is often the only path."

Gu La seemed to radiate a divine light, offering a clear path to salvation while silently pitying the struggles of the lower-tier soul masters. However, he wondered how many of them would have the perseverance to follow through.

He suddenly smiled. "Perhaps they will ensure their children study hard, hoping for sons to become dragons and daughters to become phoenixes."

He lowered his head and continued: "High-tier martial souls, such as the Zhu family's Netherworld Spirit Cat, the Fire Leopard Sect's Flame Leopard, and the Wind Sword Sect's Wind Sword…"

"These types of martial souls possess simple elemental powers. While one ability may excel, there are inevitably weaknesses."

"For instance, the Diamond Mammoth martial soul of the Elephant Armor Sect boasts top-tier defense but comes with the side effect of altering one's appearance, making it difficult for female soul masters to rise to prominence."

"Many of its disciples seek spouses with other martial souls to pass on their heritage. However, their partners' martial souls cannot surpass their own, leading to gradual bloodline degradation and eventual extinction."

Gu La held back slightly here. Given that the average male disciple of the Elephant Armor Sect grew to a towering height of 2.2 meters with a bulky physique, finding a female soul master willing to marry them was akin to hitting the jackpot. No wonder, after thousands of years, the Diamond Mammoth martial soul had disappeared entirely.

…

"Top-tier martial souls include the Hao Tian Hammer, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, most high-tier sub-dragon martial souls, martial souls derived from spirit beast rulers, and tool-type martial souls like the Seven Kill Sword with distinct traits…"

…

"Mentioning the Netherworld Spirit Cat brings up the Star Luo Dai family, which inherits the top-tier beast martial soul—the Evil-Eyed White Tiger. Each generation of the Dai family and the Zhu family produces one or two pairs capable of performing Fusion Martial Soul Techniques."

"Based on the author's earlier hypothesis, these two martial souls likely originated from a single super martial soul—or even a god-level martial soul."

"While these two classifications haven't been explicitly mentioned in the soul master world, the Spirit Hall traces its origins to the Angel God. Personally, I believe a complete six-winged angel martial soul could qualify as a god-level martial soul, possessing the potential of an angelic deity."

"A super martial soul must excel in one aspect to thoroughly suppress other martial souls. For example, the Ice Phoenix martial soul shouldn't focus solely on ice-attribute soul rings. One could seek out phoenix-blood spirit beasts to purify their bloodline and attempt to awaken the ultimate ice attribute."

"Top-tier martial souls can evolve through deliberate soul ring selection, but super martial souls rely on luck and opportunity. However, if elders fail to recognize the value of a super martial soul and attach low-tier soul rings, the purity of the martial soul could be ruined, causing it to fall from its ultimate attribute."

At this point, Gu La paused briefly.

"I once encountered a soul master with a super martial soul. Their innate talent was extraordinary, possessing the ultimate earth attribute and a semi-ultimate fire attribute."

"With my assistance, they consumed a secret elixir and obtained a thousand-year first soul ring, stabilizing their earth attribute essence. In the future, they have the potential to awaken the ultimate fire attribute."

Gu La had effectively patched up his own soul rings, reducing future hostility. As for the inevitable complications, he could deal with them gradually.

"An ultimate martial soul allows a soul master at the Soul Master level to amplify the strength of fellow attribute soul masters several times over. They can fight beyond their rank but face significantly slower cultivation speeds after reaching the Soul Sage level due to the compression of ultimate attributes. Dual ultimate attributes would slow progress even further. However, as long as they don't perish prematurely, they are destined to become Title Douluo."

Gu La couldn't resist praising himself just a little.

He shook his head, realizing his composure still wasn't perfect—he hadn't fully achieved equanimity.

"Ultimate martial souls are rare, appearing perhaps once every thousand years. Semi-ultimate martial souls, however, are more common. Yet, those who lack virtue in proportion with their power are bound to encounter calamities."

"Behind the immense power of ultimate forces lies tremendous pressure on the soul master. A strong will is required to resist side effects and continue cultivating diligently. Otherwise, the greater the influence of the martial soul on the soul master, the easier it is to fall into demonic practices."

Out of gratitude for the year's supply of dragon's blood, Gu La decided to give Flender a heads-up. He hoped Flender would keep an eye on the Spirit Hall Newspaper.

"Additionally, there are many martial souls that inherently possess domains. Their quality varies, but even the lowest-tier among them qualifies as a top-tier martial soul and is excluded from the classification statistics."

"Returning to the main topic, in summary, martial soul evolution can be approached from two aspects: bloodline and energy. However, due to the limitations imposed by spirit beasts, neither method is straightforward."

"For example, the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect has sought for thousands of years to evolve into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tower, but they've never succeeded. This is because the Glazed Tile Pagoda essentially belongs to a variant of an earth-attribute martial soul that has become non-elemental, relying on its powerful auxiliary abilities to survive."

"In nature, earth-attribute spirit beasts that mutate toward Glazing and/or glass are exceedingly rare. Even when encountered, their age may not be suitable. If a suitable age is found by chance, one or two soul rings alone cannot fully compensate for the missing martial soul essence."

"Furthermore, as a non-elemental martial soul, it's difficult to evolve through attribute purification. The author believes that the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect should consider attaching soul rings with attributes closely aligned with their martial soul, such as astral attributes. These wouldn't conflict with their auxiliary abilities and might facilitate evolution. Even if unsuccessful, it wouldn't harm their auxiliary capabilities."

"For martial souls whose evolutionary path isn't clear, one could seek out martial souls with similar compatibility for guidance."

"Mentioning compatibility, most people think of Fusion Martial Soul Techniques. The soul master world views these techniques merely as combat-enhancing skills, failing to see their essence: the compatibility and complementarity between martial souls."

"For example, the Golden Saint Dragon of the Golden Triangle, the Netherworld White Tiger of the Star Luo Empire, and a pair of sisters recently discovered at the Sky Water Academy who possess the Ice Crystal Phoenix martial soul with near-ultimate ice attributes."

"Compatibility exists between individuals and between martial souls. Careful discernment is necessary. The author will outline methods for identifying compatibility later, but one shouldn't blindly trust them—initial judgments will inevitably contain some errors."

Gu La was amused by his own cleverness. He couldn't wait to see the expressions of the great figures in the soul master world when they read this section.

"Next is the main body of the text: how to correctly choose soul rings and the paths of bloodline and energy, and how to decide between them."

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