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"Sun and Moon—two types of martial souls. Can they perform a Martial Soul Fusion?"
Su Wen had never uncovered this specific secret. However, given the thematic connection between Sun and Moon martial souls, the probability of a fusion was high, and the two could easily represent opposing forces. If they could indeed manifest a Martial Soul Fusion, it would open up a distinct possibility.
Of course, other pairings could satisfy the condition, such as Water and Fire or Light and Darkness. However, it couldn't be just the raw attributes; there had to be a medium for integration. For instance, the foundation for the Sun and Moon's fusion is the Star attribute. Water and fire would need a carrier capable of providing fusion, as would light and darkness—such as True Dragon martial souls of those attributes, which might use the inherent power of the Dragon attribute to reconcile opposing elements and give birth to a Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
Thus, if a single soul master possessed martial souls that were both opposing and capable of fusion, they would have the opportunity to use the ancient method to integrate a Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Core.
Of course, this had little to do with Su Wen himself. At the very least, he wouldn't be able to achieve it that way. Furthermore, his ultimate goal was a Triple Soul Core system; he wouldn't stop at just two. Based on his previous deductions, he was more inclined toward a Triple Resonance configuration.
Now that he had found a way to bridge the gap at the dual-core stage—using the ancient method to elevate the power of a Resonance system to the level of a Complementary system—Su Wen finally had no more lingering concerns.
With the Soul Core condensed, Su Wen's soul power rank broke through naturally. The Source Soul Power accumulated within the Martial Soul Space rapidly converted into liquid soul power, flooding Su Wen's meridians, which had been left empty following the solidification of his core.
Rumble!
The soul power was like a torrential flood, surging through Su Wen's body with a thunderous roar. With the Soul Core spinning and coordinating the entire body's circulation, his meridians felt like vast rivers. Every surge of energy was carried by an irresistible momentum, flowing faster and providing a superior tempering effect on his physical body.
"With this Soul Core, my cultivation speed at Rank 70 won't be any slower than it was at Rank 50."
The Rank 60 stage had been a unique period. Because Su Wen had been actively compressing and purifying his soul power, he had remained at that rank for a full three years. Even when his martial soul was at its weakest during the Soul Master stage, he hadn't stayed at one level for that long.
In fact, including the time he spent intentionally bottlenecked, he hadn't spent three years as a Soul Scholar before age ten, nor three years as a Soul Master. His progression through Grand Soul Master, Soul Elder, and Soul Ancestor—a span of thirty ranks—had only taken about three and a half years!
This showed just how long Su Wen had been "stuck" at the Soul Emperor level. Now, with the Soul Core condensed and the breakthrough to Rank 70 achieved, Su Wen felt that a period of rapid growth was returning.
"Cultivating through the Soul Sage and Soul Douluo stages... I'll strive to finish them within three years!" At the very least, he aimed to complete them within five.
Su Wen set a simple goal for himself before turning his attention back to reality. "Condensing the seventh ring is currently impossible."
This time, his travels across the continent had taken two months, followed by another month of Deep Meditation. Three months had passed, and while his harvest was plentiful, he still hadn't perfected the theory for self-condensing a Soul Ring.
"Sigh, I'm still missing a research subject. If I could observe a transformed soul beast condensing its own ring and study the process, I could finalize the theory much faster."
"No, it doesn't even have to be a transformed beast. Any unconventional ring condensation would do. For example, the ring Tang San gained in the original story when the Blue Silver Grass awakened him, or something like a 'Natural Soul Ring.' Those would work."
God-given Soul Rings were also an option, but their quality was too high, involving divine power and faith. Even though Su Wen had observed them once and gained insights, what he could actually analyze was limited. However, things were different now. When he watched Ning Rongrong absorb a God-given ring before, his understanding of faith energy wasn't deep enough. Now, he was confident he could discover much more if he watched the process again.
"I should check in with Rongrong first." Su Wen contacted Ning Rongrong through the Academic Realm, instructing her to alert him the next time she was ready to absorb a God-given ring.
After finishing with Rongrong, Su Wen pondered other possibilities. It had been a year and two months since she absorbed her fifth ring. Even with the Sea God Island rewards, she was only at Rank 57. She still needed three levels to hit the Rank 60 bottleneck, which could easily take another year. Even if she timed her second trial completion to skip the Rank 60 threshold, it would still take over six months.
Six months wasn't that long, and it was within Su Wen's acceptable range. However, Su Wen was ambitious. While keeping Ning Rongrong as a backup, he thought of other unique scenarios.
"Sigh, transformed soul beasts are probably out of the question. Everyone who should be dead is dead."
Wait. Su Wen froze. He suddenly realized—wasn't Xiao Wu still alive? After dealing with Tang San, Su Wen had subconsciously forgotten about her.
"Tch. I'll focus on getting the Academy established on the Sun Moon Continent as quickly as possible, then it'll be time to head back. When I go to find Di Tian, I can pick up Xiao Wu for some research along the way."
"Besides Xiao Wu, Ah Yin might also be salvageable. Given her essence as the Blue Silver Emperor, she can quickly recover her human form. I could observe her at close range then."
Su Wen added these to his list of backup plans. But after thinking in a circle, he realized there was one more viable option. And it was right in front of him.
Ning Rongrong would take at least six months; Xiao Wu and Ah Yin wouldn't be much faster, considering he was on the Sun Moon Continent and the journey back would take over three months.
"The Sun Moon Imperial Cult... they should have God-given Soul Rings, shouldn't they?"
Their two Holy Sons were said to be at the Soul Sage level and in their thirties. Comparing them to Qian Renxue, they followed a similar pace, but these two couldn't possibly be exactly like her. Even if they were still Soul Sages, they were likely approaching Rank 80.
"Back to Radiant City." Su Wen pulled his thoughts together. Tasks had to be handled one at a time.
Radiant City.
The Sacred Mountain.
Elder Yang let out a long, deep sigh.
Half a year!
For nearly half a year, Su Wen had seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. Even with the vast intelligence network of the Sun Moon Imperial Cult, they hadn't been able to find him.
"Perhaps the Imperial Family got to him first?" Elder Yang felt utterly dejected, ready to give up.
(End of Chapter)