This novel has been finished on Patreon! Over 600 Chapters total 👀! Thank you to all my Patrons for the support over this and the other novels <3
------------------------------------------------------
Stellar attribute.
This was the source of Jue's ninth soul ring.
However, placing the stellar attribute within the Douluo universe was merely a fundamental cosmic power attribute, which was relatively too ordinary.
When Xu Yuan initially decided on this soul ring, it was somewhat rushed.
Now, with an opportunity for evolution, he hoped that Jue's stellar attribute could evolve once.
It wasn't necessary to evolve into the more primal chaotic power, but at least the stellar attribute should be enhanced once, strengthened to the level of rule power.
Space fluctuations. Xu Yuan glanced to the side as Xu Zhi's figure suddenly appeared.
"Dad."
"Have you figured out how to nurture it?"
"I'm already prepared."
"How is your spirit power cultivation? For you, cultivating spirit power is still essential. The process of Spiritual Furnace fusion still requires the power of your spirit nodes and spiritual pill."
Xu Yuan smiled and said, "Although I've been nurturing Spiritual Furnaces for the demons during this time, I haven't neglected my cultivation. Although no one has walked the path I am on, with a super divine-level foundation, I'm nearly ready to condense the spiritual pill."
Condensing a spiritual pill with three spirit nodes.
This was something cultivators of the Holy Demon Continent had not attempted.
But Xu Yuan had the foundation. His essence, energy, and spirit were inherently equivalent to the strength of a Divine Knight, each transformed into a spirit node. Condensing and reflecting the spiritual pill wasn't difficult—it was merely a matter of accumulating spirit power.
After hearing Xu Yuan's explanation about using the stellar attribute to create a small world, Xu Zhi pondered for a long while.
"What's wrong, Dad? Is there something off?" Xu Yuan asked upon seeing this.
Xu Zhi replied, "No problem. But when your three Spiritual Furnaces ultimately merge, will they return to your body or to Jue's body?"
Xu Yuan was also taken aback.
"Your thinking is very unconventional, beyond the norm, not bound by rules. But you must understand, your current path relies on integrating essence, energy, and spirit into three Spiritual Furnaces, then merging them into your body to create an opportunity for Jue to advance. Here, the body refers to your Three Lives Spiritual Furnace, part of which is composed of Jue. And among the three Spiritual Furnaces you plan to integrate, the most crucial one—do you intend to use part of Jue's power to nurture it? Could there be errors?"
Xu Zhi pointed out a flaw in Xu Yuan's plan.
However, Xu Yuan didn't abandon his plan because of this.
"Dad, there's no problem. Stellar power is an external force, and I'm simply forging a new path for Jue's stellar attribute, enriching my stellar power with the primordial forces of this world."
Xu Yuan continued, "This world possesses the power of creation. Though it's difficult for me to integrate such power into the Spiritual Furnace, at least the origin power born from creating a small world has the chance to share its source with the power of creation. Integrating this power into the Stellar Spiritual Furnace is also integrating this world's power into Jue."
"As for the body, it's not my body but Jue's body."
Xu Yuan smiled as he addressed the key point of Xu Zhi's doubt.
Hearing this, Xu Zhi instead revealed a puzzled expression.
"Jue's body?"
"The Three Lives Spiritual Furnace, in essence, consists of three martial souls, not me. These three martial souls have been cultivated by me to achieve a martial soul fusion technique, and the fusion technique is centered entirely around Jue. Moreover, this time, only Jue came here in his true form. The martial souls within this Spiritual Furnace are all derived from him as a foundation. So, I say this Spiritual Furnace is his body."
"Of course, that's just one aspect."
Xu Yuan held Jue in his hand, carefully stroking it, and after a long while, continued his explanation.
"Once, my teacher imparted to me what he believed was the essence of soul master cultivation. He said that the cultivation of soul masters is a process of feeding and reaping. When the martial soul is fully nurtured, it's the season for the soul master to reap."
"Afterward, I discussed with him, pushing the moment of reaping further back, resulting in the divine-level system for soul masters."
"Now, I have a different idea."
Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
"The way of martial souls still relies on external forces. I don't reject using external forces, but after Jue fused with my blood essence, achieving the blood essence martial soul, it became impossible for me to completely reclaim his power."
In his hand, Jue's spear shaft trembled.
"Jue is a spirit soul, but he has also become my martial soul. Therefore, his power isn't a fruit for me."
Xu Zhi fell silent.
How could this sound like Xu Yuan was giving up the opportunity to harvest the fruit that Yun Ming had discussed?
Feeding the martial soul, then reaping its fruits—this harvest would be the key to breaking through the final bottleneck.
Yet Xu Yuan seemed to be giving it up.
"Jue has inherited the power of my three martial souls. His attributes encompass all the attributes of the brain martial soul and the Celestial Origin Brush martial soul, and he has completed their fusion. Now, with favorable conditions, this is his chance to fully mature and separate from me."
Xu Yuan gazed at the spear in his hand, gripping it tightly, and swept the spear tip across the space before him.
"This time, it's Jue who came over, while I am merely a wisp of consciousness tagging along."
"This is the moment of separation between me and Jue."
"The Three Lives Spiritual Furnace is his body. My essence, energy, and spirit merged into three Spiritual Furnaces, which is the final preparation I can make for him to advance."
Xu Yuan's tone was extremely calm.
"Jue, there's no need for resistance. This time, it's merely a complete division of our powers. You inherit the power of my three martial souls, and upon my return, I'll leave behind the essence of the three martial souls to reshape myself."
"At that time, I will be the martial soul."
"I have witnessed the power of Wulin's Golden Dragon King bloodline and felt the might of the Dragon God. The strength of bloodlines seems to form an unavoidable and despair-inducing path. On this road, powerful bloodlines suppress everything, and the suppression of rank is suffocating."
"On the entire Douluo Star, the strongest martial souls are all associated with the bloodlines of powerful soul beasts, and the strongest among them are undoubtedly dragon bloodlines."
"In such an era where bloodlines reign supreme, must I also fuse with dragon bloodlines and submit to the oppression of the Golden Dragon King bloodline?"
"Perhaps it grants early power, but it's also despair-inducing."
"Therefore, I have consistently avoided touching bloodline power, and I have succeeded."
"Beyond bloodlines, there are other paths to reach the pinnacle."
Xu Yuan revealed a gratified smile.
"Any path, when pursued to its extreme, becomes immensely powerful."
"Jue is the strongest weapon-type martial soul I have nurtured, the pinnacle of weapon-type martial souls, and my answer."
"Now, only the final step remains—liberating his power."
Granting Jue a true spear body, allowing him to completely detach from Xu Yuan, would truly unleash his transcendent divine artifact-level power.
"Having written this answer, I need to prepare for my second answer."
As Xu Yuan spoke, he had already carved nine massive fissures into the spatial barrier of the Holy Demon Continent.
The nine fissures spread and connected instantly, shattering the space and forming a colossal void.
Heavenly and earthly energies surged violently, and rule forces permeated. Xu Yuan mobilized spirit power to suppress the shattered space, simultaneously controlling the dispersed spatial forces to converge.
A brilliant starlight erupted from Jue's spear shaft.
Stellar power surged, guiding the reshaping of spatial forces and constructing a world.
A world shaped like a spear.
Xu Zhi watched everything unfold, recalling Xu Yuan's words.
Ultimately, all emotions condensed into a single exclamation.
What audacity.
Giving up everything cultivated, transforming it into external objects.
Then turning to cultivate oneself again.
This might be another path to the extreme.
Xu Yuan answered his initial doubts with extremity.
The path of the ultimate weapon-type martial soul.
The path of the Ultimate Self.
Of course, renouncing the power of the martial soul and fully realizing Jue doesn't mean losing this power—it makes Xu Yuan even stronger.
Xu Zhi remained silent, attentively watching Xu Yuan create the small world.
He had no experience in creating small worlds, so he absorbed knowledge, preparing to learn from it.
When he heard that Xu Yuan excelled at creating small worlds, apart from being speechless, he also felt a flicker of interest, making minor adjustments to his future path.
Under Xu Yuan's effortless control, a small world gradually took shape.
However, the small world was only in its rudimentary form.
Xu Yuan invoked the rules of the Holy Demon Continent, using its rules to nurture this world.
Logically, after creating a space, the Holy Demon Continent would treat this space as a vassal, attaching it to itself, without actively helping it grow.
But the one Xu Yuan created was different.
Though it was a small world, it was the rudimentary form of a Spiritual Furnace.
The entire small world was enveloped by Xu Yuan with a Spiritual Furnace.
To promote the formation of this Spiritual Furnace, the rules of the Holy Demon Continent had no choice but to participate.
"The nurturing process will take a while; I should begin my final cultivation," Xu Yuan said.
He and Xu Zhi began meditating not far from the small world.
Heavenly and earthly energies poured into Xu Yuan's body, transforming into spirit power and driving the operation of the three spirit nodes of essence, energy, and spirit.
The three spirit nodes coordinated harmoniously, nearing fusion.
At this moment, a substantial vortex of spirit power condensed.
"Fuse!"
Xu Yuan shouted, transferring the spiritual pill into Jue's body.
Jue's appearance became much more solid.
With the spiritual pill condensed and formed, Xu Yuan's spirit power fluctuations instantly increased more than tenfold.
He directly leaped over the eighth rank, advancing from the seventh rank with three spirit nodes to condensing the spiritual pill.
At this moment, Xu Yuan was already at the ninth rank in the spirit power system.
"This power is roughly equivalent to my full strength at the peak of the True God level."
If he continued to cultivate and reached the limit of the ninth rank—
Xu Yuan furrowed his brow.
It was slightly off from his expectations.
"Ninety-nine thousand spirit power might not reach half-step God King level. A true half-step God King should be someone like Electrolux—a demigod."
Being a demigod doesn't mean lacking just a bit of spirit power to ascend to godhood; it means having the ability to suppress oneself from becoming a god forever.
There's a vast difference in these concepts.
Only such demigods, upon ascending to godhood, can theoretically achieve the realm of a God King.
"Ninety-nine thousand spirit power is probably the peak of the Main God level."
Having broken through to the ninth rank, Xu Yuan didn't become complacent but continued his cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, two months had passed since the creation of the small world.
Xu Yuan himself wasn't entirely sure what level his spirit power had reached.
He had always relied solely on three spirit nodes, forcibly and continuously increasing his spirit power, so it was impossible to judge by the conventional methods of the Holy Demon Continent.
"The Stellar Spiritual Furnace is ready."
Xu Yuan looked at the Spiritual Furnace suspended in mid-air, radiating noble stellar light, and smiled.
"Though I don't know how many opportunities for evolution it has, I can feel that it has fused with many rules of this world."
This meant that the upper limit for the Stellar Spiritual Furnace's evolution was extremely high.
After collecting the Stellar Spiritual Furnace, Xu Yuan and Xu Zhi turned to leave.
"Where is this?"
Xu Yuan was brought by Xu Zhi to a massive fissure.
"This is the final inheritance site of the Holy Necromancer, Undead Calamity, Electrolux."
Xu Yuan understood.
So, this was where the Tower of Eternity used to be.
Now, the Tower of Eternity should be in Long Haochen's hands, so what was the purpose of coming here now?
"Do you know where I fused my Spiritual Furnace?"
"Here?" Xu Yuan frowned, observing the area, then suddenly pointed to a region.
It was empty, with a dense aura of the undead lingering.
Apart from the undead aura, the space there was also peculiar, forming a strange vortex.
"That's right. Even Electrolux put great effort into choosing the location for his inheritance site."
Xu Yuan listened to his father repeatedly referring to it as an inheritance site and found it absurd.
This wasn't some inheritance site.
It was a real gravesite, alright.
If it weren't for Long Haochen and Cai'er's protagonist halos, they would have been toyed to death by Electrolux' residual soul.
"The space within the Tower of Eternity was well-formed. Electrolux also modified the space here, and the surrounding heaven and earth were nurturing this node, naturally enhancing the strength of the Tower of Eternity."
"Long Haochen took the Tower of Eternity, and afterward, I alone transformed the space here, making it suitable for Spiritual Furnace fusion."
Xu Zhi briefly explained the history of this place and then let Xu Yuan try.
Walking to the core of the spatial vortex, Xu Yuan took out three Spiritual Furnaces.
The Holy Attraction Spiritual Furnace, the Primordial Vortex Spiritual Furnace, and the Stellar Spiritual Furnace.
All three Spiritual Furnaces were in their most basic forms, yet to undergo evolution.
The three spirit nodes operated, each fusing with a Spiritual Furnace.
Xu Zhi sat cross-legged nearby, guarding Xu Yuan. If anything unexpected happened, he would intervene.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
Three days later, Xu Yuan fully integrated the three Spiritual Furnaces.
Another three days, and he evolved the three Spiritual Furnaces to their second form.
Three more days later, the three Spiritual Furnaces evolved again, entering their third form.
Compared to their initial state, the starlight on the Stellar Spiritual Furnace was even more brilliant. The raw and violent stellar power now carried a gentleness—not the tameness after refinement, but an inclusive, creative aura.
For the final evolution, Xu Yuan spent ten days.
"Let's fuse."
Xu Zhi looked at the three Spiritual Furnaces above Xu Yuan's head, revealing an excited expression.
This fusion would benefit him greatly, providing abundant experience for his subsequent Spiritual Furnace fusions.
Xu Yuan nodded.
The shadow of Jue surged out from his body, transforming into the shape of a Spiritual Furnace mid-air.
The Three Lives Spiritual Furnace.
The three forces of essence, energy, and spirit separated from Xu Yuan's body, and the three spirit nodes turned into three points of light, pulling the three Spiritual Furnaces to merge into the Three Lives Spiritual Furnace.
In the end, Xu Yuan left only a faint shadow.
In contrast, the previously ethereal Jue instantly gained substance.
In this bottomless great fissure, infinite brilliance blossomed.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead Guaranteed: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)