Two days ago
'I've fully recovered...' Huo Yuhao thought to himself as he opened his eyes.
He clenched his right fist and felt the familiar stable circulation of his soul power throughout his pathways and meridians. His spiritual power was also back to full capacity.
'And this is a surprise,' Huo Yuhao closed his eyes, 'seeing' a strange golden ball the size of a golf ball forming in his spiritual sea. Soul power and spiritual power swirled around it in perfect harmony, intertwining like yin and yang, continuously refining and compressing themselves into an even purer form.
'A Soul Core.... with the Spiritual attribute. This would help increase the recovery of both my soul power and spiritual power, mostly the latter. I didn't think I would form a Soul Core while recovering.
Though I shouldn't be surprised. My soul power, spiritual power, and perfect control over these have reached the necessary requirements—all except my physical body, until it underwent a refinement through Ultimate Ice-Fire.
So why now? Hm. The soul core formation might've triggered because after surviving the Heavenly Tribulation, recovering in the Lake of Life, and circulating the Heavenly Tempering Soul Technique must've stimulated my energies to undergo an evolution.'
Huo Yuhao gulped at the prospect of forming his soul core. He learned the basic information from Snow Empress and understood that almost all soul masters who formed a soul core are Titled Douluo level!
Moreover, the first soul core would always be formed in one's chest or dantian—simply because it was far safer, in the opinion of many, than forming it in the head first.
Nonetheless, right now, Huo Yuhao has the combat strength of an ordinary Titled Douluo but it was still theoretical. Most of those who reached Titled Douluo were once a genius after all and they normally wouldn't have the same skillset and power.
But....when he reaches Titled Douluo himself, how powerful could he become? Would he truly become the strongest in the mortal realm?
But first, he still has to complete the soul core formation.
"It's almost complete, yet, why do I feel that something is missing?" Huo Yuhao muttered to himself as he observed his soul core. Now that he was awake, he took full control over his soul power and spiritual power; making sure that they wouldn't collide accidentally.
Being a Shinobi that prioritizes being all-round and master of control, even when sleeping, his control over his soul power and spiritual power was flawless.
Huo Yuhao spent some time observing his soul core when his eyes widened, a flash of understanding crossing his mind.
'It lacks a second attribute! Since I practiced the Heavenly Tempering Soul Technique, which works like a complement of Yin-Yang, it left some kind of influence in my energies and body—ergo, my soul core as well.
My soul core right now only has the Spiritual attribute, it needs a second attribute in order for my soul core to function. But what kind of attribute would I attach it with?' Huo Yuhao was troubled.
He never heard Snow Empress and Ice Empress mentioning that a soul core could have dual attributes, simply because he wasn't ready to form a soul core yet before they all went into hibernation.
He was going down this completely blind.
Even more so when forming a soul core in the first place is supposed to be outside the body and not inside! It's a miracle that he didn't die straight up for this.
Should he continue on forming his soul core? But if he stops, his cultivation would stall for a while or worse—causing severe damage to his brain.
'Well I don't have much of a choice,' Huo Yuhao exhaled deeply and started contemplating on what other attributes he should use to resonate with his Spiritual Core.
He couldn't just add whatever attribute he wanted, it needed to be one that would mix well with the Spiritual attribute.
Ultimate Ice? Ultimate Fire? No, those elemental attributes are more fitting to be used in his dantian and could be a future dual-attribute core of Ice-Fire Soul Core.
He thought about adding the Space element, but decided not to after mulling over it. The reason was that his mastery over space came from his soul skill and not from his own comprehension.
'Could...Genjutsu/Illusion work? Could that work as an attribute?'
If so, then it would resonate well with the Spiritual attribute.
Illusions—twisting the perception of others' reality to distort their senses, manipulate their minds, and create false truths. If he could integrate the concept of illusions into his soul core, it would amplify his mental attacks, making them nearly indistinguishable from reality.
He might be able to recreate forbidden Genjutsus as well—like Izanagi and Izanami; forbidden Sharingan techniques that would've caused a bloodbath in the Uchiha Clan. It was a long shot, but hey, a guy could dream.
Huo Yuhao exhaled and focused.
He reached deep into his consciousness, pulling on the sensation he felt whenever he cast a Genjutsu. That subtle shift in reality, the way he bent perception and wove illusions so seamlessly that even the strongest minds would struggle to discern truth from fiction.
To distort the truth into falsehood.
To make lies into the truth.
To take control of another's senses.
To manipulate another's actions.
He channeled that feeling into his forming soul core, compressing that illusive energy, spiritual power and soul power into a tiny ball.
Two days passed.
The golden sphere pulsed violently in response. The energies had accumulated so much that it glistened like a metal ball. The forming soul core had become solid and dense, like a true physical ball. It just shows how much pure and refined energies were compressed.
It resisted at first, fluctuating in instability, but Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth and pressed on.
He wasn't simply adding an attribute—he was defining a new path, something never done before. Even amongst spiritual-type soul masters.
'Genjutsu isn't just an illusion. It's a mental force that manipulates the very fabric of perception, of reality!'
The moment he thought of that, something clicked.
The resistance vanished, and the core absorbed the concept of illusions like a missing puzzle piece. Dark-red streaks of shifting, hazy energy intertwined with the golden glow of the soul core, as if shadows of false realities had been etched into its essence.
Profound energies of Spiritual and Illusion revolved together like a ball of golden light and crimson light but did not blend completely, instead maintaining a delicate equilibrium—like Yin and Yang, but not, these energies were in complete synergy.
Huo Yuhao's mind expanded a little bit, but it didn't make that final step for a breakthrough to the next stage; simply because forming a soul core doesn't increase the cultivation of the soul master.
The advantage of condensing soul cores is reflected in the recovery speed of soul masters' soul power, or spiritual power in the case of spiritual-type soul masters.
But also, his comprehension was still somewhat lacking. After all, those who formed a Spiritual Core, are somewhat known to have reached the true limit of spiritual power in mortal cultivation—Spirit Domain!
They would have formed a Domain, formed through the comprehension of the laws, making it so those without one would be suppressed by their laws and spiritual power.
However, Huo Yuhao had understood something during the formation of his soul core—an enlightenment!
It was just a matter of time before he would create his Domain, and he already had some foundation for it.
Huo Yuhao exhaled a deep breath, bubbles forming out of his mouth.
He opened his light blue eyes, glinting a sharp golden light as he adjusted to the newfound clarity in his mind. His perception of the world had subtly shifted—but he wasn't completely sure what it was since he was still floating in the Lake of Life.
He clenched his fist and tested his soul core's basic function: energy recovery speed.
His eyes flickered into the Sharingan, four soul rings appeared beneath his feet. His first soul ring shined brilliantly as he used Spiritual Detection.
"Alright. I haven't gone all out in using this for a while now, so let's see..." He muttered under his breath.
A three-dimensional image of around three kilometers from his current location appeared in his mind with crystal clear clarity, every detail captured; even the dust particles in the air of three kilometers could be seen observed precisely.
The surge of tremendous amounts of information would've melted the brain of an ordinary Soul Sage.
The sheer depth and precision of his Spiritual Detection had improved tremendously clearly, but the biggest improvement was the increased range to around 3 kilometers.
And if he focused in a single direction, the range would increased to around 5 kilometers.
Huo Yuhao reckoned that it was because he had absorbed more of Skydream's sealed origin essence that the latter's soul ring has evolved to nearly 100,000 years old. He wasn't completely sure until he asks Skydream or experts like Mu En and Di Tian.
Huo Yuhao wasn't done as he quickly started using his third soul ring, Spirit Fyre, and an invisible fire appeared on his right palm—harming only one's mind and soul. In his eyes however, it appeared like a blazing tornado of orange flames.
He kept using them for a full ten minutes straight.
Using two soul skills at full force for so long was certainly draining his spiritual power, yet to his surprise, the outflow was offset by the constant influx of spiritual power from his newly formed Soul Core.
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened. 'My spiritual power consumption is almost perfectly balanced with the recovery rate... No, it's even regenerating slightly faster than I'm using it.'
This was the true power of a Soul Core—unparalleled efficiency and sustainability in battle. Before, prolonged use of Spiritual Detection, Spirit Fyre or other soul skills of his Sharingan would have left him mentally drained.
Now, he could maintain them almost indefinitely.
'Now I don't have to worry about a lack of energy when I use Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu.' Huo Yuhao realized, making him grin widely.
Huo Yuhao made a few experiments of the capabilities of his soul core, which he calls as the Spiritual Illusion Core, he looked up towards the surface of the lake—having seen the numerous eyes gazing at the lake, awaiting for his resurgence.
Huo Yuhao looks hesitant for a moment, glancing down at the seemingly bottomless abyss of the Lake of Life.
Even after using his Spiritual Detection that could cover around 3 kilometers, he still couldn't see what was hiding in the unknown bottom of the Lake of Life. There seems to be a powerful force blocking his path, and considering that he was in the territory of Soul Beasts, he stopped probing further.
However, he did manage to get a brief glimpse.
A familiar emerald ore that radiated profound amounts of life energy.
Life Gold!
"Forget about it. I would be a suicidal idiot if I were to try and steal that thing." Huo Yuhao shook his head and started swimming up.
From the depths of the Lake of Life, a large dragon eye flickered open, its purple iris gleaming with an unreadable expression as it observed Huo Yuhao's retreat to the surface.
"One last time.... I'll place my trust in a human.... Auspicious Emperor, Qiu'er, you better not betray your kind like those traitors ten thousand years ago did..."
The eye closes once more, and they went into another sleep, continuing to heal grievous wounds from a long past.
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1/5 chapters of the week!