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In the world of Douluo Dalu, the more advanced your meditation technique is, the more efficiently you can absorb the energy of heaven and earth, and the better you can convert it into soul power. It also helps refine your spiritual power more effectively.
The modification system here really focuses on physical condition and mental strength. That's because this world is kinda weird—every breakthrough in cultivation requires killing a soul beast and absorbing its soul ring before you can move to the next stage.
But taking in a soul ring isn't that easy—it demands a certain level of physical and spiritual strength.
The stronger the soul ring you absorb, the more benefits you gain. But every Soul Master has a limit, so there's this idea of an "optimal soul ring combination."
If you try to absorb a 10,000-year soul ring, the leftover soul of the beast can bite back at you. That's when your spiritual strength gets tested. So yeah, the cultivation method in this world is pretty straightforward and kinda brutal. Meditation is all about pulling soul power from the world's energy while improving your spiritual strength.
As for physical fitness, that part's on you—there's no specific technique for training the body. Most Soul Masters are about the same physically at each level. Beast-type martial soul users are usually stronger, and then there are rare cases like people with twin martial souls or those from powerful clans with secret body-tempering methods—they can absorb stronger soul rings than usual right from the start and outpace average Soul Masters early on.
Even the protagonist from the original Douluo story, according to Meteor's memories, only had a slight head start in soul ring configuration thanks to the Xuantian Technique and his twin martial souls.
But Meteor felt like he and Liuying had a major advantage. Even though Liuying had somehow turned into a little girl for reasons unknown, her foundation was still rock solid. And since Meteor inherited her physical traits, his body was also way beyond his peers'.
And when it came to spiritual strength, Liuying had fought through countless life-or-death battles. Her mind was like a steel trap, and Meteor was no different. Otherwise, there's no way he could've learned Douluo Continent's written language in just one month.
Normally, learning a completely new language with his original mental strength and memory would take years. But now? One month was enough—that was thanks to the spiritual strength he inherited from Liuying.
In Liuying's original universe, only a tiny handful could set foot on the path of Star Gods. Every single one of them had a rock-solid will—without that, you didn't even qualify.
Liuying just never used her insane mental power properly. But that kind of spiritual strength has all kinds of subtle benefits—like when it comes to learning. People with strong mental power are naturally ahead of the game.
Stuff that takes others a year to learn? You might get it down in a month. Over time, that kind of gap becomes huge.
As he picked up more foundational knowledge, Meteor's understanding of this world deepened. With his memories from his past life, he now had a solid grasp of what this period in Douluo Continent's history looked like.
Of course, he wasn't blindly trusting his memories—this was a real world, not some made-up fantasy. His memories could be off. He needed to see things for himself to be sure.
What if this world was just a parallel universe that happened to look like the one he remembered? It wasn't impossible.
He glanced out the window. Outside, Nan Qiuqiu's body was glowing with a yellow ring of light, bobbing up and down. Her right hand was shaped like a claw, glowing faint pink as she lunged at Liuying. But Liuying just slightly shifted her body and effortlessly dodged the attack.
She didn't fight back—just relied on her insane instincts and that battle experience that seemed burned into her bones to dodge every strike. Even when Nan Qiuqiu got frustrated and used her first soul skill, Hand of Annihilation, Liuying dodged it in a flash, leaving Nan Qiuqiu stomping her feet in frustration.
Nan Shuishui was watching from the side, her expression a mix of confusion and awe. She couldn't wrap her head around how a four-year-old girl could have such terrifying battle instincts. In the end, she could only chalk it up to one explanation—Liuying was just born gifted.
After all, this wasn't one of those immortal cultivation novels Meteor had read. There was no body-snatching or ancient masters being reincarnated here. The only possible explanation was pure, raw talent.
"I give up, I give up! Liuying, you're way too good at dodging!"
Nan Qiuqiu was bent over, panting hard, her face flushed bright red. The chase had completely wiped her out. She'd even used her first soul skill twice. At her current soul power level, she could only manage about three uses of that skill, and after dodging both of them, Liuying had left her drained. She didn't want to push it any further—this was just a sparring match, not a real fight!
Still, getting beaten by a little sister two years younger than her who hadn't even awakened her martial soul yet—that really stung. Nan Qiuqiu had always been undefeated among the kids of Dilongmen. She used to think she was unmatched, like a mini champion of the world. But now? The loss hit her hard. She was so upset she could cry.
Off to the side, Xu Shenshu scratched his head and said with a goofy grin, "You're already super strong, boss. When I fought second sister, she beat me so bad I had bruises all over my face."
Just thinking about those times when Liuying's tiny fists smashed into his face made him shiver. After being crushed a few times, he had nothing but respect for their second sister. Her fists looked soft, but they hit like iron. He never wanted to go through that again.
"Yeah, yeah! You're already amazing, boss—way stronger than the rest of us."
Xiao Feng, Feng Jue, and the other Dilongmen kids all nodded in agreement. In their eyes, anyone who could keep up with that monster Liuying—even just for a while—and only lost because they ran out of stamina, was already incredible.
"Hahaha! Of course I'm awesome! Why else would I be your boss?"
Nan Qiuqiu puffed up with pride again after the compliments. She put her hands on her hips and wiped her nose smugly.
Nan Shuishui smacked her own forehead, speechless. This kid's hopeless. I think I raised her wrong…
Meteor chuckled quietly at the scene. Out of everyone, he understood Liuying's physical strength the best. Don't be fooled by how she was running away earlier—she was basically just warming up.
Still, Nan Qiuqiu's soul skill had impressed him a bit. Just a few days ago, she'd broken through to Level 10 soul power, and Nan Shuishui had taken her to the Sunset Forest to get her first soul ring. She was now officially a Level 11 one-ring Soul Master.
Given that she was born with Level 9 innate soul power, if she hadn't been so playful, she probably could've reached Level 10 sooner.
According to her, her first soul ring came from a beast that was around 450 years old—which already pushes the theoretical limit for a first soul ring.
"....."