So, Gu Ziyi decided to try creating his own soul ring.
Because Gu Ziyi understood that what is most suitable for oneself is always the best.
What kind of soul ring could be more suitable than one that is personally created and condensed?
Of course, Gu Ziyi also considered more extreme methods.
For example, destroying his martial soul. Since cultivation of soul power is limited by the martial soul, why not just get rid of it altogether?
However, Gu Ziyi only dared to think about this and didn't actually try.
After all, soul power cultivation requires the martial soul to absorb the energy from the world.
If he were to destroy his martial soul, maybe he wouldn't be restricted by it anymore, and could directly absorb energy to cultivate, just like the cultivation systems in other novel worlds.
But Gu Ziyi still didn't dare, because if it failed, he would be finished.
Besides, figuring out how to destroy his own martial soul was also a problem.
If all else failed, he could try blowing up the soul ring.
Gu Ziyi had seen the story "Douluo: Starting from Exploding Soul Rings".
Of course, Su Xing destroyed his soul ring to avoid being restricted by it for his soul skills.
If the soul ring were created by himself, then this problem wouldn't exist.
So, Gu Ziyi decided to simply try creating his own soul ring rather than going to such extremes.
As for how to create a soul ring, Gu Ziyi had already come up with a plan.
For this, Gu Ziyi asked every teacher in the school, as well as two seniors who had broken through level 10 and absorbed soul rings.
Gu Ziyi mainly inquired about the detailed process of absorbing the soul ring of a soul beast.
The school never taught this part.
It only said that after finding the right soul beast, the soul ring could be absorbed directly after hunting it.
But the specifics of the absorption process weren't mentioned at all.
Perhaps, to them, it wasn't important—they just said to absorb the soul ring after hunting the soul beast.
Most of the teachers and students Gu Ziyi asked couldn't give a clear answer.
"Just absorb the soul ring of the soul beast, and that's it!"
"Details? I don't remember..."
"You just absorb the soul beast's soul ring into your body, then refine it, and after refining, my first soul ring was formed!"
"Can you be more detailed? After the soul ring is absorbed into the body, it's first absorbed by my martial soul, and then it begins refining..."
"..."
After combining everyone's recollections and confirming with multiple sources, Gu Ziyi learned the truth about soul ring absorption.
Soul masters hunt soul beasts and absorb the soul rings produced by the beasts after their death. The soul rings are not directly condensed onto the soul master.
Instead, after the soul ring is absorbed into the soul master's body, it is first absorbed by the martial soul inside the body. Then, after a period of absorption, the soul ring is finally transformed into the soul master's own soul ring.
By examining the phenomenon, Gu Ziyi realized that the formation of the final soul ring for a soul master is completed through the martial soul.
As for whether the final soul ring condensed by the soul master is the same one that came from the soul beast, Gu Ziyi had his doubts.
All the other soul masters said it came from the soul beast.
Gu Ziyi, however, felt that it wasn't—it was simply a soul ring that was absorbed and refined by the soul master's martial soul, and then re-condensed with the characteristics of the soul beast's ring.
Many soul skills' manifestations proved this.
Except for some special martial souls, no matter which soul beast's soul ring was absorbed, the resulting soul skills were fixed. Other soul masters' condensed soul skills were always a combination of their own martial soul and the characteristics of the soul beast.
Whether the soul ring on a soul master's body comes from the hunted soul beast or from their own absorption and re-condensation didn't matter to other soul masters, but Gu Ziyi cared a lot about it.
This was crucial to his plan to create his own soul ring.
If the absorbed soul beast's soul ring were treated as energy, it would be to inject energy into the martial soul, causing it to undergo a transformation and condense the soul master's own soul ring.
So, what if, instead of using the soul beast's soul ring, the soul master injected soul power into the martial soul themselves?
Could they then condense their own soul ring?
Gu Ziyi wasn't sure.
Because if that were really the case, wouldn't it be very simple?
Why hadn't any of the soul masters figured this out already?
However, even if this was the truth, Gu Ziyi wouldn't be surprised.
The reason the soul masters hadn't discovered it was because they were restricted by conventional thinking.
They believed the soul ring a soul master needed must come from the soul beast.
No one had ever thought to break the norm and considered that a soul master could actually create their own soul ring.
This idea didn't bother Gu Ziyi, as a modern person with access to abundant information—nothing was too bold to consider.
"Ha—"
"Let's begin!"
Gu Ziyi took a deep breath and closed his eyes again, calming his mind and sensing his own being.
Soon, in his meditative state, Gu Ziyi quickly sensed the existence of his martial soul.
Then, Gu Ziyi began to control his soul power and started injecting it into his martial soul.
Buzz—
Gu Ziyi's soul power easily flowed into his martial soul under his control.
In his mind, he saw his martial soul's symbol tremble slightly, and as soul power flowed in, it emitted a faint glow.
Everything was going smoothly.
However, when Gu Ziyi had injected all his soul power into the martial soul, the martial soul symbol only became brighter, but there was no other change.
And Gu Ziyi had no more soul power to continue injecting.
"...Failed!"
Gu Ziyi opened his eyes and sighed with some disappointment.
As soon as Gu Ziyi stopped pouring soul power into his martial soul, the soul power naturally flowed out of the martial soul and back into his body.
Gu Ziyi tried a few more times, but each attempt ended in failure.
His martial soul didn't produce a soul ring.
"Did I guess wrong, or is there another reason?"
Gu Ziyi furrowed his brow, wondering if there was something he had overlooked.
"Is it because of insufficient energy?"
If the soul beast's soul ring were really a form of energy, then maybe the energy was lacking.
That was the only reason Gu Ziyi could think of.
"Then I'll continue cultivating for a while and try again!"
Gu Ziyi gritted his teeth and decided to keep trying.
He was willing to wait to add a soul ring to his martial soul. After all, even if the academy helped hunt for a soul ring, it would probably just be a low-quality ten-year white soul ring.
Unless he was extremely lucky, the academy didn't have the ability to help students find a suitable hundred-year soul ring.
Even in the original story, Xiao Chenyu, the son of the city lord of Notting City, only had a ten-year white soul ring as his first.
Even the steward Su Yuntao, who joined the Spirit Hall, had a white soul ring for his first.
It's clear that in smaller places, it's difficult.
Moreover, after reaching level 10, even if the soul master doesn't absorb a soul ring to break through, they can still continue cultivating to increase their soul power, just without leveling up.
So even if Gu Ziyi ultimately fails to create his own soul ring, it won't slow him down much.
"I don't believe it's impossible!"