Bit by bit, the mental power belonging to Huo Yuhao withdrew, and he returned control of the Blazing Flame Tiger King's body to the beast itself.
The golden light faded from his eyes, revealing the Blazing Flame Tiger King's original amber beast pupils.
A flash of confusion and trance-like wonder passed through his gaze, but upon seeing the fragments of information Huo Yuhao had pre-emptively left in his mind, the Blazing Flame Tiger King showed a glimmer of realization.
The 「Dharma Body」 dissipated, and the fused seventh soul ring emerged from within it, coming to rest by his side.
At this moment, the Blazing Flame Tiger King remained in his soul beast form—a real body with real power. Currently, there was no difference between the Blazing Flame Tiger King and his former self as a soul beast!
The only distinction was the presence of a blood essence soul ring representing his martial soul true body hovering beside him.
"Feel it carefully. Are there any issues?"
As Huo Yuhao spoke, he habitually pulled out a notebook.
"No issues... In fact, all my previous injuries have been fully healed. I have returned to my peak state!"
The Blazing Flame Tiger King's voice was filled with excitement, but the surrounding 100,000-year-old Soul Beasts noticed a specific detail: the Blazing Flame Tiger King was speaking!
To speak in human tongue—aside from special soul beasts like the Three-eyed Golden Lion who is an Auspicious Beast—is usually the exclusive privilege of a 100,000-year-old Soul Beast!
Could this be interpreted to mean that the Blazing Flame Tiger King could now be considered a 100,000-year-old Soul Beast?
"What about your lifespan?"
Huo Yuhao asked the question that all the soul beasts were most concerned about.
"All my injuries are gone. Now, I have the confidence to survive the Heavenly Tribulation!"
The Blazing Flame Tiger King answered earnestly.
Huo Yuhao nodded again. Transforming from beast to human, and then human back to beast, was essentially equivalent to reconstructing the physical body. It brought about a fundamental metamorphosis that normal soul beasts did not possess.
"Change back to human form."
Upon hearing the command, the Blazing Flame Tiger King did not delay. His seventh soul ring flared brilliantly, and soon, the soul rings that had been merged flew out one by one from that seventh ring, revealing eight blood essence soul rings.
Simultaneously, the Blazing Flame Tiger King's massive beast body gradually shifted back into the form of a middle-aged man with crimson hair.
Huo Yuhao observed closely with his Eye of Destiny and quickly reached a conclusion.
Firstly, the method was sound. Using the 「Dharma Body」 as a transit station and the soul ring as the power source to convert between a human body and a soul beast body was feasible.
Using the Blazing Flame Tiger King as an example: when he uses his soul beast body now, it is equivalent to a super energy-saving standby mode.
His energy is entirely restrained and inert, not reacting much with the external heaven-and-earth primordial energy. The vast majority of his energy is dedicated to sustaining life.
In this form, cultivation efficiency is extremely low, but his lifespan is extended by an untold number of times. The trade-off is that his combat power can only be compared to the traditional soul master system.
One must realize that under the 「Blood Essence Body Cultivation」 system, a Soul Saint can use their physical body to clash with a Soul Douluo, a Soul Douluo can take on a Titled Douluo, and a Titled Douluo can fight a Super Douluo. The further one progresses, the stronger the combat power becomes.
And this is purely the 「Blood Essence Body Cultivation」 system—not counting blood essence soul rings, Battle Armor buffs, or anything beyond physical strength and the soul bones reinforcing the frame.
By comparison, the traditional soul master system is truly outdated.
When using the human body, it is equivalent to releasing the limiters. The power used to sustain lifespan is entirely diverted into cultivation and strength.
In this form, cultivation efficiency is high. Although the lifespan is reduced, the energy in the body is active, allowing for the true display of his full strength!
And when using the 「Dharma Body」, it is effectively an "overdrive" state. All the power in the body transforms into powerful blood essence, using the martial soul true body as a foundation to forge the 「Dharma Body」.
Just like that Blazing Flame Tiger King 「Dharma Body」 that exceeded a hundred meters just now—it is a manifestation of total mastery over all one's power.
In such a state, even though the Blazing Flame Tiger King only equates to a Rank 89 Soul Douluo in the traditional system, he could actually clash with a Super Douluo of the traditional system for the duration of the 「Dharma Body」!
"As I thought, the traditional soul master system never truly tapped into the potential it should have possessed..."
Huo Yuhao sighed s
oftly, his eyes flickering.
At this moment, he truly saw the wheels of the era moving forward, slowly crushing the traditional soul master system with its heavy history, turning it into raw material to be completely integrated into the new path.
The only pity, however, was that Huo Yuhao had not achieved a "perfect" integration in one step. He had yet to truly unify the martial soul true body, the 「Dharma Body」, and the soul master themselves into a single entity.
This "unification" step seemed impossible for someone else to perform; it required the soul master to personally comprehend it. Only then could they enjoy the long lifespan, terrifying cultivation speed, and immense power regardless of which form they took.
For now, it was still incomplete.
Turning his head, Huo Yuhao looked at Gu Yuena, who had approached him at some unknown point, and spoke with a smile:
"What do you think?"
Gu Yuena remained silent. She watched the Blazing Flame Tiger King, who was having the time of his life switching forms, and felt a strange sensation in her heart.
What was this exactly? Was it soul beasts merging into humanity, or... humans merging into soul beasts?
She was no fool. If this system were to spread, then humans would, in a sense, become soul beasts—but their self-perception would not change.
At that point, would the soul beasts be considered extinct, or reborn?
She hesitated, confused and conflicted.
This system would undoubtedly resolve the conflict between humans and soul beasts to a great extent. After all, it was hard for humans to accept soul beasts, but it was exceptionally easy for humans to accept "other humans."
If everyone is the same, and the cultivation system is the same—if you can turn into a beast and a human, and I can also turn into a beast and a human—then what is the difference between us?
It would simply be that you started as a beast and I started as a human.
In the end, both paths lead to the same destination.
"In my vision," Huo Yuhao began, "for the soul beast soul master path, once they break through to Soul Saint and possess a 「Dharma Body」, they must understand humanity and become human if they want to go further and merge the 「Dharma Body」 perfectly with themselves.
"Similarly, if a human soul master wants to perfectly merge the 「Dharma Body」 with themselves, they must understand the soul beast represented by their martial soul and become a soul beast.
"The conflict between humans and soul beasts has always existed. Beyond issues like soul rings and soul bones, it is also because the two sides simply do not understand each other.
"I don't expect the conflict between humans and soul beasts to vanish entirely, but I am certain that if this cultivation system spreads, it can alleviate the tension to some degree.
"In the future... if the conflict still exists and doesn't improve, we could simply isolate humans and soul beasts completely so they don't disturb one another.
"After all, now that humans don't need soul beasts to cultivate, they won't go out of their way to provoke them for no reason.
"That is also a solution."
Huo Yuhao did not hide anything, speaking his thoughts with total sincerity.
As a human who had been helped so much by soul beasts, he truly did not want there to be constant conflict between the two races.
If possible, peace was always better.