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"Teacher."
"Xiao Yuan, it's rare to see you come to me voluntarily. What doubts do you have this time?" Yun Ming asked.
"Teacher, I've decided to completely split my martial soul," Xu Yuan said softly.
Yun Ming's gaze sharpened.
He stared at Xu Yuan for a long while before slowly exhaling.
"How about it? Are you confident?"
Currently, Xu Yuan was stuck in a limbo of sorts—either continue the separation process to achieve an unprecedented three-life martial soul or give up everything he had accomplished so far and re-fuse the two forms.
But either way, it would inevitably lead to a transformation in his current cultivation path.
After the successful split, Xu Yuan's Tianyuan Five Elements Spear would undoubtedly suffer damage.
Shifting the foundation to blood essence would take time to adapt. With the nourishment of various rare materials, it might be possible to avoid lingering issues, but it would still likely delay his spear training for several years.
As for the Tianyuan Brush, part of its essence would also be separated, causing direct harm.
Similarly, even with the aid of rare materials, there would likely be a period of adjustment.
This wasn't just a normal evolution of a martial soul under the influence of spirit plants—it was a simultaneous process of damaging and compensating for the essence of the martial soul. By taking advantage of the loss of essence, they could integrate medicinal power into the soul to make up for the consumed essence.
"Teacher, please rest assured. I've already prepared. As for martial soul development, I plan to put that on hold for now. In the next few years, my focus will shift anyway—to perfecting the Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique and other skills."
Sharpening the blade doesn't delay chopping wood. This was the perfect opportunity to refine all his techniques.
Fortunately, his brain-type martial soul wouldn't be affected, and his soul power cultivation could continue normally. Both the Tianyuan Five Elements Spear and the Tianyuan Brush wouldn't become entirely unusable.
Overall, the impact wouldn't be significant.
"What questions do you have for coming here today?" Yun Ming asked.
He had some confidence in Xu Yuan.
Setting aside other things, Xu Yuan's cultivation of essence, energy, and spirit had reached an extremely high level. Moreover, his progress in the last three techniques of the Seven Forbidden Techniques was swift. During this process of splitting the essence of his martial soul, Xu Yuan himself might not be entirely powerless to intervene.
With his own guidance and thorough preparation, the risks could be minimized.
"Teacher, I want to ask you about information regarding spirit plants that can strengthen the tip of my brush." Xu Yuan spoke softly.
He did have several options in mind, but these were all theoretical. To actually implement them, he'd need to find the specific rare materials from his list.
"What are your options?" Yun Ming asked.
Xu Yuan handed over a note listing his prepared ideas.
"Ten-thousand-year Wolf Hair Grass? That's basically impossible. Even in those places, it would take at least ten thousand years to cultivate, and constant care would be needed to ensure the grass evolves and matures to that level."
Wolf Hair Grass was considered an ordinary rare material. It was useful for martial souls like Xu Yuan's brush-type soul, which relied on hair-like structures, or for beast-type souls dependent on fur. However, the enhancement effect was limited.
That said, any rare material, when pushed to its limits and grown over extreme periods, couldn't be judged by ordinary standards.
Unfortunately, there was no such thing as ten-thousand-year Wolf Hair Grass.
"Phoenix Tail Orchid?" Yun Ming paused, recalling something. "I think there's a record of that. It should be possible to acquire one for you, but I'll need to negotiate with the Tang Sect to confirm the details."
"Teacher, there's no rush to help me find these. They're all last-resort options," Xu Yuan reminded him.
Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to use bloodline power.
Unless it was exceptionally strong and pure, he preferred not to touch it.
Phoenix bloodline could be acceptable, but truly pure and powerful phoenix bloodline was rare. If the Phoenix Tail Orchid contained inferior phoenix bloodline, Xu Yuan would rather pass.
Then there was the Qilin bloodline. For now, the only lineage Xu Yuan considered acceptable was that of the Five-Element Qilin.
"Alright, you still have such a strong aversion to bloodlines," Yun Ming said with a wry smile, shaking his head.
"Isn't there a student in your class named Tang Wulin? His true dragon bloodline reportedly even suppresses Zuo Shi. Are you worried about a situation like that?"
Xu Yuan nodded.
"Indeed. If it weren't for Tang Wulin, it wouldn't matter. But since someone like him exists in our generation, it's better not to delve too deeply into bloodlines—or even touch them at all."
Yun Ming himself didn't rely on bloodlines or external powers. To this day, he solely depended on his unwavering dedication to the spear.
Taking one path to its extreme was enough; the ceiling was always sufficient.
Bloodlines, bloodlines—the hierarchy within this field was clear. Even without direct superior-subordinate relationships, there was a definitive ranking. Higher-ranked bloodlines exerted obvious pressure on lower ones.
"Any other options?" Yun Ming asked.
Xu Yuan shook his head.
For now, he truly didn't have any good ideas.
He still had half a year to search for other possibilities.
How to strengthen the tip of his Tianyuan Brush remained a question.
After discussing further with Yun Ming about cultivating the Seven Forbidden Techniques, Xu Yuan left the Sea God Island.
Yun Ming watched him go, his gaze distant.
"Brother Ming, isn't Xiao Yuan being overly cautious about bloodlines?" Ya Li asked, concerned.
She felt Xu Yuan was excessively wary of bloodlines.
Yun Ming shook his head.
"Though Xiao Yuan is greedy, pursuing multiple paths, he strives for perfection in each one. Even in auxiliary forging, though he's just starting out, he's learning at the pace of a proper blacksmith. I suspect he harbors ambitions of becoming a divine craftsman.
"It's right for him to avoid bloodlines. Among soul beasts, the hierarchy is rigid because of bloodlines. The oppression of lower-ranked bloodlines by higher ones is too evident. If Xiao Yuan were to enter the bloodline realm, he'd likely pursue extremes again, which would divide his focus even more."
After saying all this, Yun Ming sighed bitterly under Ya Li's gaze. "Of course, the main reason is that I don't know how to help him reach the peak of bloodline cultivation. Forget about surpassing Tang Wulin's absurd Golden Dragon bloodline—I can't even think of a way to get him close."
To put it bluntly, he couldn't find the resources.
Bloodline advancement relied on rare materials or extraordinary opportunities.
However, Yun Ming couldn't think of any opportunity that would allow Xu Yuan to surpass Tang Wulin's bloodline power.
Thus, he supported Xu Yuan's decision to avoid the bloodline path altogether.
Ya Li rolled her eyes.
"I'll never understand you guys."
Why compete so fiercely?
On his way back to the dormitory, Xu Yuan continued pondering rare materials suitable for strengthening the tip of his Tianyuan Brush.
"If it comes to it, maybe I should abandon this aspect of strengthening? The Ink Jade Divine Bamboo already provides significant reinforcement."
Though it leaned more toward strengthening the brush handle, the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo still offered substantial enhancements to the tip of Xu Yuan's Tianyuan Brush.
Moreover, during every six-month assessment, the academy awarded him rare materials with five-element attributes. These were nearly of spirit plant-quality, only lacking in age to reach the immortal-grade level.
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