"I didn't expect that the Splitting Soul Skill would enhance the passive effect of the First Soul Skill—it can increase both the quantity and speed of absorbing solar power. That's quite a pleasant surprise!"
After the Sun Martial Soul split into two, the rate and volume of solar energy absorption increased by 80%. Splitting it into four resulted in a 1.3x increase, and eight splits doubled the intake.
Originally, it could be split even further for greater bonuses, but when Xu Yang attempted it, the explosive solar energy nearly scorched his meridians. Terrified, he immediately limited his Martial Soul to eight suns and focused on cultivating with those.
With this terrifying acceleration in cultivation, Xu Yang could maintain his personal training speed while allocating more soul power to tempering his body and nourishing his spiritual power. This allowed him to pursue a path of simultaneously cultivating essence, energy, and spirit—a stark contrast to other soul masters who passively improved their physique and mental strength while prioritizing soul power cultivation.
Over time, this approach allowed Xu Yang to outpace his peers across all dimensions—not just in physical strength and mental power, but also in soul power itself. The benefit of triple cultivation was that the three aspects complemented one another, rendering his soul power more refined and easier to control.
Most importantly, this training method gave him a significantly higher soul power reserve compared to other soul masters of the same level. For example, while a typical Rank-22 Grand Soul Master might have 1 unit of soul power per level, Xu Yang had 1.3 units. This gap would only widen the longer he cultivated this way.
With soul power and mental strength far exceeding his age group, he could eventually form a soul core at the Soul King or even Soul Sage level—laying an unshakable foundation for future breakthroughs.
This understanding came to Xu Yang thanks to his second life and heightened perception, which he used to grasp the benefits of this body-tempering technique. That's why he willingly invested large amounts of soul power into refining his physique and spirit.
Through two years of study in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Xu Yang learned that many had once considered using soul power to strengthen the body, creating invincible warriors within the same rank. However, this approach slowed soul power cultivation, causing practitioners to miss their prime growth phases. As a result, even those with the potential to become Titled Douluo fell short. So, the research into this method was ultimately abandoned.
Ning Fengzhi valued this technique because it synergized with whale rubber use, maximizing its effects and enabling soul masters in the sect to absorb spirit rings beyond normal limits. Moreover, due to the innate limitations of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul—preventing advancement to Contra level—this technique could significantly boost their strength and survivability. That's why he had Bone Douluo help develop it.
Xu Yang only learned this later. At first, he believed the method could be popularized, but it turned out only a select few could utilize it.
As noon approached, the intense solar energy became too violent, so Xu Yang halted his cultivation and turned to studying his second soul skill. He wanted to explore its limits—how far could it split?
"If one day I can split it down to the molecular or even atomic level, this soul skill would have unlimited potential."
"Currently, I can only split the Martial Soul into objects the size of a fava bean. Even when I try to control them individually, I can only manage a small fraction—the rest are uncontrollable. Looks like that's my current limit due to insufficient mental power."
Sigh.
With a soft sigh, Xu Yang merged his Martial Soul back into one and withdrew it. After tidying himself up, he headed to the training ground. In his view, every soul skill had potential for further development, even offering insights that could evolve into secret techniques.
Over the last two years, thanks to the rich heritage of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Xu Yang had found many ancient combat techniques in the sect's library—resembling martial arts from his past life—including methods for unleashing internal strikes. He'd studied them briefly.
The Splitting Soul Skill was incredibly versatile. If it could be used offensively, it would be devastating. For example, if a punch containing internal energy could be split into two or more after impact, even with reduced force, it would be extremely hard to defend against.
Or consider sword energy—if a slash could split into multiple strikes mid-air, it would be a terrifying weapon.
Xu Yang decided to start with the simplest: internal strikes.
In front of an iron training post, he recalled the tearing sensation of soul power when his Martial Soul split. Gathering soul power into his fist, he threw a punch at the iron post.
Bang!
A deep thud sounded as the post shook, leaving a single fist imprint.
"That's not right. The internal energy didn't split—otherwise there would've been two fist marks, not one."
Frowning, Xu Yang kept mentally simulating the tearing sensation of soul power. Then, focusing again, he struck with another punch.
Bang!
The post shook once more. This time, alongside the main fist imprint were two smaller ones.
"Still not good. After splitting, the internal energy isn't as concentrated—it's too dispersed. The attack power isn't where I want it."
"Again!"
Bang!
"Again!"
Bang!
…
Thus began Xu Yang's repetitive training. Punch after punch, he struck the iron post—each time reviewing the impact in his mind, refining his flaws, and gradually integrating the splitting ability into muscle memory. His goal was to wield it instinctively and effortlessly.
After practicing punches, he moved on to his sword techniques, attempting to make his sword aura capable of splitting and merging at will. With experience from internal strikes, his progress in sword techniques was relatively smoother.
This cycle continued for two months, until the start of the Tian Dou Imperial Academy's semester.
Compared to the First Soul Skill "Morning Light," transforming the Second Soul Skill "Split" into a secret technique was much simpler. After all, "Morning Light" involved altering the nature of soul power to grant healing properties—that was the truly difficult part.
"Split," on the other hand, only required breaking one unit of soul power into two, then four, and so on—it didn't involve any elemental change.
Thus, although the healing technique remained incomplete, the secret technique for "Split" was already fully developed.