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**
Otherwise, if she were to choose a soul beast with an excessively powerful racial bloodline, she would likely fall onto the path of Fusion Evolution.
This would cause Hu Liena's Charming Fox Martial Soul to be significantly influenced by the power of the soul ring.
While she might obtain powerful soul skills immediately after absorbing such a soul ring, and her Martial Soul origin might appear stronger compared to the Devouring Evolution path, this strength would only be temporary.
In reality, it would cause her to deviate from the Nine-Tailed Charming Fox cultivation path, making it impossible to continue developing toward the Nine-Tails direction.
Of course, some might have doubts: if one develops the Charming Fox Martial Soul toward the Nine-Tails direction by prioritizing Devouring Evolution to excavate the soul's latent potential, does that mean they can only choose mid-tier soul beasts as soul rings in the early stages to let the Martial Soul evolve slowly?
Following this logic, only when the number of tails on the Charming Fox increases and it transforms into a four-tailed high-tier Martial Soul could she choose high-tier soul beasts for her soul rings.
Only after it transforms again into a seven-tailed top-tier Martial Soul could she finally absorb soul rings from top-tier soul beasts. In that case, even if she ensured that the age of every soul ring absorbed was at the maximum limit she could endure.
Wouldn't she still be a level lower in terms of the total volume and intensity of her Martial Soul origin compared to those disciples from sects with inherited top-tier Martial Souls?
After all, for Hu Liena to develop toward the Nine-Tails direction, she must use Devouring Evolution, whereas young Soul Masters with innate top-tier Martial Souls can choose top-tier soul beasts and maximum-age rings from the very beginning.
Some might even be reminded of the example of ordinary Tool Martial Souls.
Suppose a person with extremely high innate soul power wants to forge their ordinary Tool Martial Soul into a high-tier Martial Soul with special powers to be passed down to descendants—
Leaving behind hope for their family to become a Soul Master clan—while also hoping that they themselves can maintain combat strength comparable to others.
In such a case, they would apply the Single-Attribute Fusion Stream, first adding elemental power to their ordinary Tool Martial Soul to fuse with an elemental attribute.
Once the Martial Soul reaches the mid-tier level, they stop seeking soul beasts with superior bloodlines and instead switch to absorbing mid-tier soul beasts as soul rings.
By choosing this devouring method, they avoid the poor compatibility between the Martial Soul origin and the soul ring power that often occurs during a state of fusion, which would otherwise hinder the soul ring's effectiveness.
Instead, they strengthen the Martial Soul origin by excavating the fused elemental power, gradually cultivating it into a high-tier or even top-tier Martial Soul.
This was exactly the cultivation method explored by the Sword Master, Yun Xi, years ago. After deducing the Single-Attribute Fusion Stream, she attempted to solve the flaws of the Yun Clan's Martial Soul.
Based on her conjectures regarding the absorption process and observations of weak Soul Masters who reached powerful realms, she found a way to pass down an evolved Martial Soul while ensuring the first generation remained strong, rather than sacrificing the first generation for the benefit of posterity.
The cultivation of an ordinary Tool Martial Soul and the cultivation of Hu Liena's Charming Fox toward the Nine-Tails direction are similar to a degree: the early soul rings come from soul beasts with weaker bloodlines, only becoming stronger later on.
This leads to the question: compared to those born with top-tier Martial Souls, will their Martial Soul origin be inherently weaker? After all, top-tier Soul Masters can absorb rings from powerful soul beasts starting from their very first ring.
The answer, of course, is no.
Such a result will not occur.
While this cultivation method does lead to being a step behind high-tier or top-tier Soul Masters in the early stages, by the later stages, there will be no gap between them in terms of Martial Soul origin.
The reason lies in the fact that the tier of a Martial Soul and the upper limit of its origin power are extremely closely linked. The core of a Soul Master's cultivation is the Martial Soul.
Aside from the basic cultivation of soul power, absorbing soul rings is the most direct means of cultivating the Martial Soul, as it has a visible effect on the growth of the Martial Soul origin.
Consequently, some might believe that because Hu Liena and those with ordinary Tool Martial Souls choose mid-tier soul beasts early on, their Martial Soul origin power will be weaker.
Even if the soul eventually evolves into a top-tier Martial Soul, it would supposedly remain inferior to those who absorbed top-tier beasts starting from their first ring.
However, they overlook one point: although absorbing soul rings is the most direct way to strengthen the Martial Soul origin, it is not the only way.
Otherwise, how would Titled Douluo continue to cultivate their Martial Souls after obtaining nine rings? Why is it said that for a Titled Douluo beyond Rank 95, every single rank is a completely different world?
Furthermore, the Soul Master cultivation system centers on the Martial Soul as the foundation. In terms of methods and philosophy, it is fundamentally different from traditional systems that focus on cultivating a specific type of energy.
Among Soul Masters, those with Beast Martial Souls or Plant Martial Souls share a certain degree of similarity with soul beasts in their cultivation. The Martial Soul can be considered the "Life Source" of a Soul Master.
Unlike Tool Martial Soul users, whose performance focuses more on human characteristics, Beast and Plant Soul Masters reflect the traits of the corresponding soul beast. This is the ultimate charm of the Martial Soul.
Humans use the Martial Soul to harness the power of soul beasts, and their forms of expression are similar to those beasts.
This unique point explains why the Soul Master system is divided into Power Attack System, Agility Attack System, Control System, and Defense System, rather than the traditional categories where humans simply gain combat power through various techniques.
Because Beast Martial Souls are the mainstream, a Soul Master's combat style and form inevitably mirror the corresponding soul beast after cultivation.
Soul beasts happen to have distinct specialties: some excel in speed, some in strength, some in defense, and some in control. While balanced soul beasts exist, most lean heavily toward one specific attribute.
In contrast, while regular Tool Soul Masters might be seen as excelling in strength or speed based on their weapon type, the characteristics of a soul beast are no longer as prominent; instead, they reflect a human style.
If a human were compared to a soul beast, they would be considered a "balanced type," similar to practitioners in traditional cultivation systems.
In this view, a Tool Soul Master's Martial Soul can be seen as the weapon of a practitioner in a traditional system.
If the Douluo Continent lacked Beast Martial Souls, Plant Martial Souls, and other special souls, and only possessed regular Tool Martial Souls, the world of Soul Masters likely would never have established the four major cultivation directions.
**
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