"Collapse!"
With his last safeguard already prepared, Muyang let out a low cry. In an instant, the golden-red solidified soul power within his middle dantian collapsed, transforming into a blood-red vortex.
The very moment it took form, the blood-red vortex stilled for an instant before beginning to rotate counterclockwise.
When his spiritual power probed within, there was nothing else inside that crimson whirlpool — only endless scarlet.
As it spun, faint strands of dark-golden threads rippled out within the vortex.
Before long, the dense web of dark-golden lines interwove, and from within the counterclockwise-turning blood-red whirlpool condensed a polyhedral crystal the size of a duck egg, its entire surface covered in intricate dark-golden patterns.
The Sun Soul Core — formed!
The instant the Sun Soul Core was born, the soul core power rotating counterclockwise within his middle dantian surged explosively, its strength many times greater than the weakened clockwise Iceflame Soul Core in the lower dantian.
In that instant, Muyang felt a violent tearing force assault his body.
"Tsshh—"
A sound like ripping rang out. Under that brutal tearing, his spiritual inner vision showed muscles across his entire body being torn apart. Though no wounds were visible on his skin's surface, bright blood seeped out from countless ruptured capillaries.
The truth was that his level had risen too quickly in too short a time, his soul power control having fallen far behind. On top of that, his recent growth in spiritual power had been nowhere near his explosive increase in soul power. Thus his spiritual control, which was his key advantage during soul core condensation, had been sharply reduced.
As a result, when the Sun Soul Core formed and its power spiked, he failed to maintain balance between the two cores at the very first moment — showing signs of losing control.
Fortunately, it was only a sign, not a full collapse. Ignoring the pain of his damaged body, Muyang immediately reinforced his spiritual control, isolating the Sun Soul Core's connection to the outside to a manageable degree.
At the same time, the Silver Jade Undying Ginseng's undying effect activated. His soul power drained slightly, but as a profound vitality enveloped him, all his injuries instantly healed.
If not for the blood still staining his skin, it would have seemed as though his earlier injuries had been illusions.
Concentrating on controlling the balance of power between the two soul cores, Muyang slowly eased the restrictions on them, searching step by step for that singular equilibrium point.
Enduring the tearing forces generated by the opposing rotations of the twin cores, after more than half an hour — and countless cycles of recovery thanks to the undying state — Muyang finally found it.
In that instant, the storm vanished. All the pain was gone in a heartbeat, like clouds scattering and the sun shining bright again.
Looking inward, seeing the Iceflame Soul Core and Sun Soul Core spinning in opposite directions yet operating stably side by side, a relieved smile spread across Muyang's face.
The Yin-Yang Complementary Twin Soul Cores — complete!
The moment they stabilized, under the twin soul cores' combined power, Muyang's spiritual vision revealed countless soul power vortices appearing across his entire body. They spun seemingly without order, each flowing in a different direction.
Together, these countless vortices formed a massive suction force. Heaven and earth energy in the surroundings surged in from all directions, condensing above his head into a vast energy cloud, which funneled down like a vortex into his body.
At this moment, Muyang was like an energy black hole, greedily devouring the converging spiritual essence of heaven and earth.
As torrents of energy poured into him, refined and transformed by the twin cores, Muyang felt his own soul power recovering at an unprecedented speed.
Soon, his soul power returned to its peak. Yet the twin cores did not stop.
The flood of heaven and earth energy continued to be swallowed by the two cores, becoming nourishment to elevate his Iceflame Soul Power. With every clash, fusion, refinement, and compression between the cores, Muyang felt his Iceflame Soul Power growing even stronger.
"Not enough… Though it's stronger, Iceflame Soul Power is already a fusion of ice and fire, not a low-level force to begin with. Even with refinement and sublimation by the twin cores, it still hasn't undergone a true qualitative transformation. Perhaps… I must condense the final Lunar Soul Core?"
At his fingertip, a small flame of icy-blue fire shimmered, haloed faintly with golden light. Feeling it carefully, Muyang could not help but ponder to himself.
In his view, while possessing multiple soul cores was a blessing, there was a saying: "To dabble in everything is not as good as excelling in one."
Thus, his plan was this: the Iceflame Soul Core providing iceflame attributes, the Sun Soul Core bringing blood and fire attributes, and later the Lunar Soul Core contributing spirit and ice. If successful, he could attempt to merge these five — iceflame, blood, fire, spirit, and ice — into one higher attribute.
If, once the Lunar Soul Core was formed, this plan proved impossible, then Muyang would replace the Sun Soul Core with another type — perhaps a Space Soul Core, for instance.
After all, his earlier attempts at deduction had given him feedback that soul core attributes could indeed be replaced a second time. He simply had not spent the unknown, likely vast, amount of time needed to deduce the exact method.
As for whether the fusion of iceflame, blood, fire, spirit, and ice through the Iceflame and Sun Cores could truly create a higher evolution — that was something his deduction talent had failed to confirm.
It wasn't that his deduction ability had failed. Rather, at the time, he had not yet formed the Sun Core or Lunar Core. With so much basic information missing, combined with the likely immense difficulty of merging five attributes, even deducing mere feasibility would have required an indeterminate, but certainly lengthy, investment of time.
And since the time required was unknown, and since the answer wouldn't affect his immediate actions anyway, he had decided not to "dig the well to the bottom."
Once the Lunar Soul Core was formed, everything would be revealed.
At that time, even if it proved impossible, he could still deduce the secret method of attribute replacement, altering the properties of an existing soul core.
As for when he would condense that final Lunar Soul Core?
Hah. Muyang knew it would not be anytime soon.
Even forming the Sun Soul Core to complement the Iceflame had cost him tremendous effort. To now condense the Lunar Soul Core to complement the Sun — that was nothing but wishful thinking.
And if he couldn't do it now, then once his cultivation level surged again in the future, it would be even more impossible.
For additional chapters
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
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