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*****
Su Wen would look for Xiao Zhan whenever he had a research project that needed addressing.
This had led Xiao Zhan to subconsciously assume that Su Wen's visit this time was once again to assign him a new project to develop.
In reality, Su Wen really hadn't come to assign him a task this time.
Xiao Zhan harbored no complaints. He knew that the projects Su Wen brought to him were all things he could personally benefit from.
Using results you developed yourself provided a completely different feeling. For instance, regarding the condensation of the second soul core, Xiao Zhan had researched and developed the soul power circulation techniques for it entirely on his own. He had even conducted simulation experiments for yin-yang complementarity and co-site resonance. This had made him incredibly knowledgeable in theory, giving him an exceptionally thorough understanding of how two soul cores operated.
Not long after the method was developed, he made a direct breakthrough, successfully condensing his second soul core in the form of co-site resonance.
By now, Xiao Zhan's soul power had already reached rank ninety-four, just a single step away from becoming a Hyper Douluo.
"Uncle Zhan, what do you mean by that? Is it impossible for me to just come and bring you something good?" Su Wen said, speechless.
Xiao Zhan froze.
"Bring something good? Bring what?"
"The Soul Bone Cultivation Method," Su Wen said testily.
He had discussed with Xiao Zhan before about cultivating the human skeletal system as if it were a soul bone, using the condensation of soul bones as a form to cultivate vital energy and blood. Condensing each soul bone would mean taking another step forward in one's vital energy and blood cultivation.
Regrettably, up until now, Su Wen had not made the actual Soul Bone Cultivation Method public.
It wasn't that he refused to release it, but rather that he hadn't yet developed a version suitable for the general public.
"I've made some gains over the past few years. This is the initial version. With your realm, Uncle Zhan, you should be able to cultivate it directly."
For this initial version, Su Wen had referenced the settings of a Consolidated Equipment Master, utilizing many of their skills to develop the soul bone cultivation system.
"It requires the use of soul tools? And it needs a soul master with space-attribute guidance?" Xiao Zhan felt a headache coming just looking at the first lines.
Was this even something he could cultivate?
Su Wen reassured Xiao Zhan, "Uncle Zhan, keep reading. For the soul master cultivation part of this soul bone cultivation system, those conditions actually aren't necessary."
"Absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nurture the spirituality of one's own bones, using vital energy and blood as the guide..."
Xiao Zhan read it from beginning to end and came to an understanding.
"It's not overly complex, but it tests one's patience. Compared to cultivating soul power, tempering the bones of each specific area makes it difficult to perceive any concrete progress."
Soul power could at least be quantified and divided into ranks, but the Soul Bone Cultivation Method Su Wen had developed now lacked any clear divisions.
They couldn't exactly call it: ten percent bone tempering is entry-level, thirty percent is minor accomplishment, fifty percent is grand accomplishment, seventy percent is peak, eighty percent is the limit, ninety percent is completion, and ninety-nine percent is great perfection, right?
"No matter. We can establish a monitoring system within the academic world. With big data comparison, we can roughly judge everyone's respective cultivation progress."
Su Wen shook his head.
With the academic world around, there was no need to worry about many things.
The most critical thing right now was to simplify the Soul Bone Cultivation Method and popularize it so that ordinary soul masters could understand and cultivate it.
"Uncle Zhan, try cultivating this Soul Bone Cultivation Method first and see if there are any areas that can be improved. Ideally, refine it to a degree that the general public can accept."
Xiao Zhan gave a chuckle.
Just as expected, I knew it.
He waved his hand, indicating that these problems weren't a big deal.
"Right, anything related to spirituality cannot be changed. This involves the subsequent cultivation of contract fusion with soul tools. Uncle Zhan, what you need to modify is the process of vital energy and blood condensation, as well as the process of tempering bones with vital energy and blood."
"Understood."
Su Wen handed the task over to Xiao Zhan, having immense trust in his efficiency.
What Xiao Zhan excelled at was precisely this kind of simplification process.
The Soul Bone Cultivation Method was a technique to help soul masters break through bottlenecks from a lateral angle. Although it could be treated as a primary cultivation method--allowing soul power and vital energy and blood to be cultivated simultaneously alongside mental power--cultivating soul power alone was already difficult enough for ordinary soul masters.
The cultivation of vital energy and blood was more tangible than mental power and was more helpful for breakthroughs in soul power. Therefore, promoting the Soul Bone Cultivation Method was highly necessary.
After all, this was a cultivation method Su Wen had adapted from the Consolidated Equipment Master system, allowing for fusion with soul tools. It was similar to consolidation, fusing soul tools into the body.
It was very similar to consolidated equipment.
Furthermore, Su Wen estimated that in the later stages, the condensed soul bones could turn into genuine soul bones. One could either fuse the bloodline of a soul beast into them or rely purely on one's own strength to nurture the soul bones into a form resembling a martial soul, capable of an explosive burst to achieve the effect of a soul skill.
Condensing a single soul bone was equivalent to fusing a soul bone during a soul power bottleneck period, which naturally helped break through that bottleneck.
Even on the current Douluo Continent, after so many years of accumulation, the soul bones passed down through generations were limited. Not just any soul master was qualified to fuse with one, and even soul masters with high status and position didn't dare to fuse with them carelessly.
Fusing with a soul bone that was too poor might hinder an opportunity to obtain a better soul bone in the future, resulting in a conflict of positions where they would be forced to give up a later, superior soul bone.
On the other hand, for a soul bone that was too excellent, they had to consider how to maximize its utility, ensuring good steel was used on the blade. In most cases, top-quality soul bones were reserved for bottlenecks that might trap someone for an entire lifetime.
Take Yu Luomian for example. Despite having decent talent, breaking through rank eighty in soul power was difficult for him, let alone cultivating past rank eighty.
After being trapped at rank seventy-nine for many years, under normal circumstances, he would have used his authority as the Grand Elder of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan--which he had never touched--to select a top-quality soul bone. After fusing with it to break through to rank eighty, he could use this soul bone and his subsequent eighth soul ring to further enhance his talent, giving him a fair chance to push for rank ninety.
If he could cultivate to rank eighty-nine as quickly as possible, after being stuck at rank ninety for a while, the clan would make an exception to provide him with another top-quality soul bone, letting him attempt to break through to rank ninety.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was, after all, one of the upper three sects. They still possessed soul bones within the clan, including top-quality ones. These were all part of their foundation, and they were used in situations just like this: fusing them into the clan's Titled Douluo to strengthen their peak combat power, or helping other powerhouses break through to Titled Douluo.
There were only three top-quality dragon-type soul bones, but there were quite a few lightning-attribute soul bones and even strength-type soul bones.
Back then, Dugu Yan had required a dragon bloodline, top-quality, and preferably a soul bone of tens of thousands of years. The entire Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan only had three that met such requirements. The remaining unfused one should have rightfully belonged to the Clan Master, but Yu Yuanzhen had not absorbed it, keeping it instead for Yu Luomian.
It was also because Yu Luomian failed to live up to expectations, cultivating too slowly with rank eighty-nine nowhere in sight. Just as Yu Yuanzhen was about to change his mind, Dugu Yan brought up her request.
Returning to the main topic, the significance of the Soul Bone Cultivation Method to the soul master world was beyond doubt.
Of course, its effect on harvesting the power of faith for Su Wen was already very negligible.
As Su Wen had mentioned before, the types of faith power he collected now had to start shifting.
At the very beginning, he needed to harvest on a massive scale, expanding the scope of his faith collection from the soul masters of the Douluo Continent to the sea soul masters, and then to the soul masters of the Sun Moon Continent.
After that came the expansion from soul masters to ordinary people.
Su Wen had even dragged the soul beast clan into it now.
Aside from the Douluo Plane, Su Wen had also established academies and opened up academic worlds on another plane, the Heavenly Jewel Plane, expanding his harvest of faith to the entire human race.
By now, the scope of faith collection he could expand had reached a limit.
The quantity was sufficient; it was time to focus on quality.
And the Soul Bone Cultivation Method was meant for exactly this.
People believed in Su Wen because he provided knowledge and opened up a new era for the soul master world. However, as time passed, soul masters would become more and more accustomed to it. Even if they looked up to and revered Su Wen, the depth of their faith would be limited.
After all, what could make someone more grateful than helping them break through a bottleneck?
The greatest benefit of the Soul Bone Cultivation Method was helping the vast majority of soul masters break through their bottlenecks.
As long as it was arranged reasonably, when soul power was cultivated to a bottleneck right before a multiple of ten, using vital energy and blood to temper a soul bone wouldn't lower one's growth in strength. Instead, once the vital energy and blood tempering of the soul bone reached a certain level, the soul power would receive feedback, providing a clear sign of an impending soul power breakthrough.
This would make a soul master's cultivation much more continuous.
There wouldn't be that suffocating feeling of being trapped at a single rank for a long time.
In addition, for those who had cultivated to their limit and could never seem to break through, they could use the Soul Bone Cultivation Method to cultivate their vital energy and blood power, opening up the possibility of taking a step further.
It was even possible that once the vital energy and blood became powerful to a certain extent, it could reversely induce a mutation in the martial soul, breaking through the limits of one's soul power talent.
This was the grace of guiding someone onto the path.
However, Su Wen's current cultivation tasks were heavy, and he had no desire to spend time simplifying the Soul Bone Cultivation Method, which was why he handed this task over to Xiao Zhan.
It could only be said that when Su Wen became a god, Xiao Zhan would be able to claim half the credit.
"With Uncle Zhan's current situation, cultivating to rank ninety-eight won't be a problem. The techniques for condensing the third soul core should be figured out by me first. When the time comes, Uncle Zhan can directly use my techniques and experience as a reference to make his breakthrough."
Rank ninety-nine was not unachievable.
And after rank ninety-nine, Su Wen could actually help Xiao Zhan break through to the God rank.
Whether it was his inner world or the academic world, both were supreme treasures that could assist a soul master in breaking through to the God rank.
Becoming the master of an inner world and controlling a small world would make comprehending rules much smoother, and it also allowed one to experience God-rank level power in advance, thereby assisting in a God-rank breakthrough.
A God rank in the sense of the normal cosmic dimension, rather than a divine position.
If Xiao Zhan wanted to achieve a divine position, he would likely have to put effort into Su Wen's academic world. The divine positions that the academic world could help condense definitely numbered more than just a single God of Knowledge.
To take a step back, even if Xiao Zhan couldn't find an opportunity to condense a divine position within the academic world, Su Wen could easily give him a hand when he opened up his own Divine Realm.
It could only be said that Su Wen would never mistreat those who had exerted effort for him.
"My vital energy and blood power is already strong enough, but nurturing bones is still this slow."
Su Wen let out a sigh.
This Soul Bone Cultivation Method was developed by him, yet even his cultivation progress was this slow, which showed what other soul masters would think.
It wasn't much different from the speed of accumulating soul power bit by bit.
Furthermore, vital energy and blood cultivation required a massive amount of supplements. If one's digestive ability wasn't up to par, they might even be limited by their digestion and unable to cultivate for extended periods.
"It still comes down to tapping into the physical body's origin."
Su Wen stimulated his own bones, using them to carry the origin of his vital energy and blood while merging the heaven and earth elemental energy, allowing it to settle into his bones.
The strengthening of his bones also drove the improvement of his physical fitness, which in turn promoted the enhancement of his vital energy and blood.
"To condense a soul bone, the most important thing is still the settling of origin power. If one scatters their own life origin into the bones of the entire body, that would definitely be inappropriate. In fact, it would be an act of suicide."
As for tapping into the physical body's potential?
The so-called potential referred to the physical body's capacity, meaning it could store that much energy after being tapped into, not that the physical body inherently possessed that energy from the start.
Cultivation, at the end of the day, was always about taking from the outside.
Plundering the creation of heaven and earth.
This was the essence of cultivation.
"Settling it slowly is too slow; the improvement effect on my vital energy and blood cultivation isn't obvious."
Su Wen mobilized his visualized inner world.
The visualized inner world belonged to the visualization method, a small world controlled by mental power, and could not directly provide feedback to Su Wen's physical body.
However, he didn't mobilize the visualized inner world for its feedback; he was merely borrowing its pathway.
The visualized inner world was located in another dimension, absorbing energy from the universe--which was the more primitive energy outside the Douluo Plane.
Su Wen absorbed the cosmic energy, refining it into his bones.
"The efficiency is indeed higher. Is it because the heaven and earth elemental energy of the Douluo Continent is more suited for cultivating soul power, or is it due to something else?"
Su Wen shook his head.
"The greater likelihood is that cosmic energy is more primitive and contains more original substance."
After all, for a plane to develop, when it refined external energy, there naturally had to be something used to elevate the plane itself. This part was the original substance, and the amount of original substance remaining in the energy after being refined would inevitably be much less.
"Faster, I need to be even faster!"
Su Wen cultivated with cosmic energy for three days but still felt it wasn't fast enough.
He compressed the cosmic energy, merging it into his bones, and his armor suit emerged, fusing into his body.
It was only a six-piece armor set, which included a pair of wings, but it managed to cover nearly Su Wen's entire body.
The entire armor fused into Su Wen's body.
According to the Soul Bone Cultivation Method, Su Wen's bones had not yet reached the point where they could fuse with soul tools, meaning he shouldn't be able to perform tool fusion.
But Su Wen was different.
He was the creator.
He understood the essence of it thoroughly, and at the same time, his armor suit was unique. It was a consolidated equipment suit from the Heavenly Jewel Plane, which was already in a state of fusion with Su Wen.
Using the same principle, he awakened the consolidated equipment suit that had previously 'contracted' with Heavenly Energy.
The armor transformed into a stream of energy, merging into the bones of Su Wen's entire body.
Cosmic energy poured in like a flood.
Fusing the tool ahead of time vastly increased the load-bearing capacity of Su Wen's bones, and at this moment, the speed at which the origin settled became even faster.
"The efficiency is three times what it was before."
Can be even faster!
Su Wen released his spiritual domain.
His words became law.
"Fuse!"
"Refine for me!"
Su Wen's mental power was being consumed, and at the same time, the settling of the origin within his bones was proceeding at an extremely rapid pace.
Time flew by.
Since Su Wen cooperated with the soul beasts, the Myriad Beast World had already undergone five updates.
Every single minor bug had been fixed, and now, the Myriad Beast World was open to all soul masters.
And Su Wen, after vanishing from public view for half a year, finally emerged from his secluded cultivation.