Chapter 458.1. Soul Core

“Don’t tire yourself out, Yuhao. You look so worn out.” Elder Xuan smacked the dust off his shoulders and said concernedly.

Huo Yuhao laughed in embarrassment. Bei Bei’s warning fell on deaf ears. He was excited after completing his experiments, and was eager to tell Elder Xuan everything about the mysteries of soul power.

“Elder Xuan, wasn’t I possessed by the Beast God Di Tian when I was resisting Elder Ye Xishui? Then, the Beast God poured in his strength into my body from afar through spatial power. He descended using my body. Even though my passageways were damaged following that, I managed to understand some certain traits of Di Tian’s soul power. When I did my research after that, I found out something strange.”

Huo Yuhao recounted his discoveries, along with the details of his experiments to Elder Xuan.

Elder Xuan was still smiling when he first started, and nodding his head from time to time. He was very pleased with Huo Yuhao’s curiosity. However, his expression slowly changed as he continued to listen.

He performed high-pressure compression on his soul power and controlled it outside his body, creating a spatial distortion and allowing him to imitate Di Tian’s black hole soul power.

This kid is too brazen.

“…Elder Xuan, whatever knowledge the academy taught before only applies to Soul Douluo and below. There’s no other knowledge beyond Soul Douluo. When one becomes a Titled Douluo, what kind of changes will happen to his soul power? Is Di Tian’s black hole soul power only applicable for Ultimate Douluo? In other words, is he the only one with knowledge of it? Although they are both Ultimate Douluo, Di Tian was evidently stronger than Elder Ye Xishui. If Ye Xishui doesn’t use the Death God, she won’t be Di Tian’s match in a direct confrontation.”

Elder Xuan silently nodded. He sighed before saying, “I didn’t expect you to reach this level so quickly. Since you’ve asked, I guess it’s fine that I tell you.”

“You aren’t wrong. When a soul master becomes a Titled Douluo, his soul power will transform from its original fluid state to a solid state. That’s the Rank 90 bottleneck, and the soul master will obtain his ninth soul ring to become a Titled Douluo. This is a very difficult bottleneck to break through for most soul masters. This is why there are so many Soul Douluo, but a scarcity of Titled Douluo.”

“There’s a very big problem when one’s soul power changes from a fluid state to a solid state. It’s very difficult to cultivate soul power in the solid state. Let’s not talk about those Soul Douluo who can’t transform to become a Titled Douluo. Let’s only talk about Titled Douluo. You’ve already sparred with many Titled Douluo. Have you ever realized that even Titled Douluo of the same rank can actually differ a lot in their abilities?”

Huo Yuhao immediately nodded and said, “Yes! I’ve discovered this point. Isn’t this because of one’s martial soul?”

Elder Xuan smiled and said, “That’s right. It has some relation to one’s martial soul. The stronger one’s martial soul is, the better he is able to unleash the strength of it when he combines it with his soul power. However, you might know about something. The stronger one’s martial soul is, the greater the amount of soul power during cultivation. This is because one’s martial soul can contain a part of his soul power. The stronger a martial soul, the greater the amount of soul power it can store.”

“One can store a portion of his soul power in his martial soul?” Huo Yuhao was astonished. He really did not know about this.

Elder Xuan smiled and said, “Yes. You should be realizing it now. A soul master can unleash his Martial Soul True Body if he’s at least a Soul Sage. His Martial Soul True Body can help him to store some of his soul power. You’ll only learn such knowledge in the academy if you’re at least a Soul Sage. You didn’t realize it because the amount of soul power you have is already greater than other soul masters of the same rank. Don’t forget, you have twin martial souls.”

Huo Yuhao pondered, then asked, “Does this mean that it is very difficult for a Titled Douluo to improve further when his soul power reaches a solid state?”

Elder Xuan smiled and nodded lightly, “That’s right, you’re correct. The reason is also very simple. If your soul power is in the gaseous or liquid state, it can flow inside your body. Now, let me ask you, can your soul power still flow if it’s in a solid state?”

Huo Yuhao was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously shook his head. Yes! How can one’s soul power flow inside his body if it’s in a solid state?

Elder Xuan said, “Your research is going in the right direction. In fact, the situation that you’ve laid out is exactly the soul core that only appears for Titled Douluo. It refers to the core of soul power, the foundation of a Titled Douluo. Soul power is compressed from a fluid state to a solid state, which is then immersed in the dantian of a soul master. That is the soul core. The soul core revolves continuously, and will absorb external soul power through the soul master for the soul master to use. Whether it is in terms of fighting strength or recovery ability, the soul master will be stronger than before.”

“However, it is much more difficult to improve once one’s soul power solidifies compared to when it’s in the fluid or gaseous state. This is because a human can’t possibly circulate solid soul power through his body. This is why a human can only dissect the solid soul power in his body into beads before controlling the circulation of his soul power in the gaseous or fluid state. Not only is this process difficult, but it is also very dangerous. As a result, some soul masters who didn’t think that they were talented would give up on further improvements after they became Titled Douluo. They would remain at Rank 91. This is very safe for them.”

It’s actually so complicated? Huo Yuhao was shocked when he heard that.

Elder Xuan continued, saying, “However, it’s not entirely true that soul power can’t circulate in one’s body in the solid state. If a soul master’s spiritual power is strong enough that he can control the beads of soul power to appear in the gaseous or fluid state, he can naturally circulate his soul power. Given this, solid, fluid and gaseous states could possibly exist together. To control one’s soul power at this level, one can only be a Transcendent Douluo. As a result, after becoming a Transcendent Douluo, cultivation might actually become easier. At least there’s a correct cultivation method.”

“Of course, Transcendent Douluo would still find it difficult to improve. There’s a limit to how much soul power a human body can handle. It can still be compressed in the gaseous or fluid state, and it is already highly compressed in the solid state. It can no longer be further compressed. In order to allow one’s body to handle more soul power, it comes down to the question that you asked earlier – why does Di Tian’s soul power contain such strong spatial power?”

“Di Tian has an eight hundred thousand year cultivation. Although he has not lived in this world for eight hundred thousand years, he has still lived much longer than us. Throughout his entire life, he has been understanding the mysteries of space and time, granting him his current cultivation. No one on the continent can compare to him in this aspect. His soul power, which is every little black hole that you saw, contains an immense amount of compressed soul power. It is stored in his body using time and spatial power, which enables him to handle it. Once a  fight breaks out, he can unleash immense fighting strength by controlling his soul power.”

“My current soul power is Rank 98. All these years, I’ve been troubled by how to control that spatial power and stabilize it after compressing my soul power. I can perform some simple control of spatial power. Come, take a look.”

As he spoke, Elder Xuan stretched out his hand, and a ball of yellow light appeared out of nothing in his palm. It was a yellow ball of light, which looked very real. There were thin spatial cracks around it.

Earth-type soul power! This was clearly Elder Xuan’s solidified soul power!

Elder Xuan’s eyes brightened. Suddenly, the spatial cracks that surrounded the ball started to widen, and the ball started to collapse inward. A small black hole was formed. A terrifying suction force dragged Huo Yuhao toward it, and he almost knocked into Elder Xuan.

After that black hole formed, it started to revolve at high speed. The origin energy in the air started to be sucked into the black hole.

The yellow light on Elder Xuan’s body became more intense. The little black hole stabilized as it was surrounded by a layer of gentle yellow light. It stopped spinning faster, but revolved at a constant speed.

“This is roughly how it is in Di Tian’s body. He uses his own soul power to cause a collapse in space, forming a black hole that can devour origin energy. Theoretically speaking, this black hole can continuously devour origin energy. However, there would be instability if I can’t control it, which would eventually lead to an explosion. I heard Elder Mu mention that if an Ultimate Douluo can complete a black hole and maintain it at a limit that he can handle, the black hole would be able to remain indefinitely. In that case, this black hole can even devour our entire continent.”

“Of course. Such a possibility is very rare. Elder Mu was only making deductions too. Such a black hole soul power would require immense spiritual power to be controlled. After it’s controlled, it can be absorbed into one’s body. I can complete such a process, but I can’t transform my soul power in that way like Di Tian. Currently, there’s only one black hole of soul power in my body right now. It’s my soul core. The soul power that’s flowing in my body is still existing in three states.”

“If I can transform one-tenth of the soul power in my body into a black hole, I can create a second black hole soul core, possibly in my chest or brow, thereby becoming an Ultimate Douluo. However, it’s not easy! I’ve already tried many times, but I’ve always missed by a bit. Compared to substituting my soul power, creating a second soul core is easier. Elder Mu and Long Xiaoyao both took this path. I think Ye Xishui did the same too. Only Di Tian took a different path. This is why he is much stronger than most ordinary Ultimate Douluo.