In a swift flight, without noticing the sun's position change in the sky, Diwan, with a pair of brown eagle wings on his back, carried You Chen with one arm while using soul power to shield him from the high-speed airflow, bringing him into the Star Dou Forest.
"You Chen, your progress is even faster than I expected! Reaching Soul King in your thirties, does this mean you still have a good chance of becoming a Soul Saint?" Diwan exclaimed while calculating as he flew with You Chen.
Diwan specifically mentioned the Soul Saint level for a reason.
As is well-known, Titled Douluos, unless suffering from severe chronic illnesses or injuries, can live for two to three hundred years, with some living up to four or five hundred years.
In terms of lifespan, Titled Douluos and lower-level soul masters are entirely different life forms.
But when does this leap in life essence begin?
Actually, at every stage, a soul master's life essence slightly improves.
However, the first significant leap is generally recognized at the Soul Saint stage.
At this stage, the martial spirit undergoes a transformation, releasing accumulated potential and gaining the ability to manifest the Spirit Avatar.
Most soul masters experience an enhancement in martial spirit quality at this stage, and for those with significant accumulation, the martial spirit may even evolve.
If the first three rings rely on the martial spirit's unstable essence to induce mutation, the seventh ring is about accumulated power breaking through previous barriers, resulting in a positive transformation.
The martial spirit's transformation also enhances the soul master's life essence, indirectly extending their lifespan.
A healthy Soul Saint can live at least 150 years.
This effectively slows the decline of vitality, raising the upper limit of a soul master's prime cultivation years, generally extending to around seventy years.
In contrast, Titled Douluo experience a personal evolution in life essence, which then elevates the martial spirit. This is why their lifespan significantly exceeds that of earlier stages.
However, You Chen responded to Diwan with an exasperated look.
"Yes, I'm in my thirties, but I'm 35, not 31 or 32! I'm practically in my forties! The older you get, the more obvious the decline in vitality and the slower the cultivation speed—surely you're aware of this!"
Combined with the increasing difficulty in leveling up and martial spirit quality issues, without the recently acquired system, You Chen would have little chance of reaching Soul Saint before fifty.
You Chen continued, rolling his eyes, "Besides, why does it sound like you're mocking me? If I recall correctly, at 35, you were already considering your sixth ring!"
"Hahaha!"
Diwan laughed heartily, his laughter now tinged with a hint of mischief compared to its earlier carefree nature.
Diwan, now in his sixties, still held hopes of becoming a Titled Douluo if he could avoid falling. However, becoming a Super Douluo was unlikely, with little hope.
"Alright, I can't match you in theoretical debates. If I could, I wouldn't still be a Soul Douluo. So, what's the target for this soul hunt?"
Finally returning to the main topic, You Chen's casual demeanor vanished, his eyes gleaming with focus.
The idea of advancing his martial spirit through energy intensity breakthroughs was a plan You Chen had even before acquiring the system.
Thus, for his fourth ring, he deliberately chose a soul beast with celestial attributes.
Wind-type soul beasts and those with elemental attributes like earth, fire, and water were common, but celestial and sacred attributes were extremely rare. Coupled with the need for suitable age, finding the right target wasn't easy.
Before obtaining the system, You Chen's strengths in the three attribute energies ranked wind as the strongest, celestial as second, and sacred as very weak.
However, now the formerly weakest sacred energy had become You Chen's strongest attribute, necessitating a change in his soul hunt target.
You Chen's dedication to his disciple's cultivation reflected his caution in matters concerning his own martial spirit and cultivation.
At the Soul Elder stage, around the age of 26, he began studying how to observe and assess the connections between the three energies within his martial spirit and their impact on martial spirit evolution.
Martial spirit evolution held numerous mysteries, even beyond You Chen's considerable knowledge. Different martial spirits had unique evolution requirements and tendencies.
Some could even follow multiple web-like evolution paths.
The world's knowledge on related topics was minimal, with even families relying primarily on empirical experience.
You Chen's research started from scratch, highlighting the challenge.
Fortunately, understanding his martial spirit, akin to a part of himself, was easier than analyzing others'.
Although lacking the multitude of samples as with common martial spirits like Blue Silver Grass, and missing trial and error opportunities, his innate talent and the urgency of his age allowed him to achieve significant results in just two years.
Previously mentioned, martial spirit evolution essentially results from an increase in the martial spirit's original power.
Soul rings can enhance this original power, but they're not the only method.
Natural treasures and similar items also enhance original power through external means.
But is there no way for a soul master to enhance this original power independently?
Of course, there is.
However, at lower soul master levels, such efforts often yield little reward.
Typically, only Titled Douluos, facing extreme difficulty in elevating soul power levels and requiring extensive time investment, pursue this path.
To explore the mysteries of martial spirit evolution, You Chen needed to invest time in this area. Without any data, input variables, or output variables, such research would remain mere speculation, too risky to apply directly.
Thus, You Chen chose to spend extra time on preliminary experiments.
He discovered two crucial aspects: "energy limits" and "energy ratios."
Energy limits refer to the maximum enhancement each attribute energy can achieve before his martial spirit evolves to the next stage.
For instance, during the third ring stage, his Stardust Dragon martial spirit had a wind energy enhancement rating of 3 on the martial spirit's six-dimensional scale, close to the strength of a high-level wind martial spirit, representing the limit.
The Wind Hatchling could evolve into a Stardust Dragon because, upon reaching this limit, the martial spirit naturally underwent evolution.
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