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**
"Heritage?" Ling Xiao couldn't help but reflect on his own thoughts.
Had he unconsciously underestimated the heritage of those great sects? This was not a good sign.
With a slight smile, Chrysanthemum Douluo explained, "This kind of heritage isn't just a simple matter of monetary wealth, nor is it the accumulation of natural treasures, rare herbs, or spiritual medicines. It is the legacy and inheritance regarding Martial Souls themselves."
"As you know, a Soul Master primarily focuses on cultivating their Martial Soul. Although a soul ring provides a soul skill for the Soul Master to use, that is not its greatest purpose. Soul rings and soul skills are merely a pathway to help master their own Martial Soul."
"Of course, it cannot be denied that when utilizing a soul skill, a Soul Master receives a boost from the power of the soul beast's bloodline contained within that soul ring. Compared to not invoking a soul ring and relying solely on one's own soul power to stimulate the Martial Soul, a soul ring skill is usually stronger."
"However," Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes flashed with a deep intensity.
"This is not absolute. Have you ever considered how much power a soul ring actually grants you? When a soul ring is activated, the strength borrowed from the soul beast amounts to only about one-third of its original power. The rest remains behind."
Ling Xiao's eyes widened slightly as he grasped the profound meaning behind those words.
Chrysanthemum Douluo continued smoothly, "This one-third rule is precisely why the soul beasts a Soul Master absorbs at their absolute limit upon reaching a multiple of Rank 10 will clearly possess a cultivation age far exceeding the Soul Master's current level."
"For instance, for a Rank 10 Soul Trainee, the absolute limit for their first soul ring is just over four hundred years. A four-hundred-year soul beast possesses strength that completely outclasses a Rank 10 child; it isn't something they could ever defeat alone."
"But once absorbed, that remaining one-third of the beast's source power inside the soul ring provides a massive, undeniable stat boost to a Rank 11 Soul Master."
"Yet, as a Soul Master's own strength and cultivation break through to the two-ring Soul Grandmaster realm, the diminishing returns begin. Even at Rank 21, their cultivation is already roughly equivalent to a five-hundred-year soul beast."
"At this stage, one-third of a four-hundred-year soul beast's source power naturally appears quite weak when compared to the source power of the Soul Master's own growing Martial Soul. It still has value, but the stat boost is no longer as prominent."
"But by the time they reach the three-ring Soul Elder realm, the first soul ring no longer provides any meaningful enhancement to the body. At that stage, the soul ring merely acts as a bridge between the Martial Soul and the soul skill itself."
"Under those circumstances, the skill's actual might depends far more on the strength of the Soul Master's own Martial Soul. The ring's own power becomes minuscule, until eventually, it can no longer integrate with the full output of a higher cultivation."
"That is also why sufficiently powerful self-created soul skills can surpass ordinary soul ring abilities, even before reaching the Titled Douluo realm. They are not constrained by the limitations of soul rings."
"Once you reach the realm of a Titled Douluo, this phenomenon becomes an absolute wall. In the realm beyond Rank 95, the margin of growth for one's cultivation with each rank breakthrough is far greater than it is before Rank 95. Furthermore, at that stage, a Soul Master can no longer absorb any more soul rings to alter their foundation."
"Therefore, after breaking through Rank 95 and reaching Rank 96, if your ninth soul ring is not a One Hundred Thousand Year soul ring, you will not receive a noticeable boost in power even if you unleash your ninth soul skill with all your might."
"For a Rank 96 Super Douluo, a two-hundred-thousand-year soul ring can still provide a noticeable enhancement. After all, one-third of the power possessed by an equal-tier existence is still enormous."
"But ordinary ninth soul rings are different. Their soul skills become increasingly insignificant, serving only as a medium through which the Martial Soul's true power is released."
"But if one breaks through to the level of Rank 97, the power of the Martial Soul advances yet another step. At that point, even a two-hundred-thousand-year soul ring will fail to enhance the Soul Master."
"It remains just barely sufficient to combine with the Martial Soul's power to unleash its full underlying might, but any soul ring under one hundred thousand years will utterly fail to bring out the Martial Soul's maximum potential."
"And if one takes another step forward to an even higher cultivation level, reaching the realm of Rank 98, even a two-hundred-thousand-year soul ring becomes incapable of bringing forth the true, full power of the Soul Master's Martial Soul."
"These matters are things that most high-tier Soul Masters in the Soul Master world are completely unaware of. The information regarding the ranks beyond Rank 96 was something even I only learned after joining Spirit Hall. Today, I am telling you all of this."
"Ling Xiao, do you understand?"
Hearing this, Ling Xiao nodded slowly, his heart churning with shock as he processed this revolutionary perspective on soul rings.
He recalled some comparisons between the strength of soul beasts and Soul Masters that his teacher, Mu Chen, had once mentioned to him. For a soul beast, if its soul power cultivation reaches ten thousand years, it is comparable to a human Soul Master at around Rank 55.
A soul beast with fifty thousand years of soul power cultivation is equivalent to a Soul Master at around Rank 77 in the Soul Saint realm.
Once a soul beast passes its first Heavenly Tribulation and reaches a cultivation of one hundred thousand years, it becomes equivalent to a human Soul Master breaking through Rank 95 to reach the Rank 96 Super Douluo realm.
From then on, every additional two hundred thousand years of cultivation and completion of a Heavenly Tribulation is equivalent to a Rank 96 Super Douluo breaking through one rank to reach a new realm.
To put it simply: One hundred thousand years is equivalent to Rank 96. Three hundred thousand years is equivalent to Rank 97. Five hundred thousand years is equivalent to Rank 98. Seven hundred thousand years is equivalent to Rank 99.
When a soul beast's cultivation approaches nine hundred thousand years, it no longer needs to undergo another Heavenly Tribulation. This realm is similar to a human Soul Master at the peak of Rank 99 Limit Douluo.
If they take another step forward to reach a cultivation of one million years and survive the final Heavenly Tribulation, they can achieve the realm of a Divine Beast, which corresponds to a human Soul Master reaching Rank 100 to become a God.
'If the scaling matches up like that,' Ling Xiao thought, his mind racing, 'then a Rank 90 Soul Master theoretically needs a soul ring from a Fierce Beast above three hundred thousand or five hundred thousand years to perfectly match their power at Rank 97 or 98.
But a Fierce Beast of that caliber possesses the raw power of a Rank 97 or 98 human powerhouse! For a newly advanced Rank 90 Soul Master to target a beast like that... it's absolute suicide. No one can bypass the physical and mental constraints.'
Even if a Soul Master possessed extremely high innate soul power and sufficient innate capacity, and strictly absorbed soul rings at their absolute limit to strengthen their body throughout their cultivation—coupled with two or three precious ten-thousand-year soul bones—
Then for their ninth soul ring, they could at most attempt to absorb a One Hundred Thousand Year soul ring.
Even so, the limit of a One Hundred Thousand Year soul ring that can be absorbed as a ninth soul ring is only around two hundred thousand years of cultivation, which is equivalent to the mid-level of Rank 96.
This was the absolute, unyielding ceiling.
If one rashly chose a far more powerful One Hundred Thousand Year soul beast—such as one close to three hundred thousand years, or one that had already passed its second Heavenly Tribulation—their body would be unable to withstand the impact of the soul ring's power, causing them to explode and die.
Even if they managed to enhance their physical fitness by absorbing more soul bones to endure the physical impact of the soul ring's energy, if their spiritual cultivation was lacking, they would still be obliterated by the soul beast's soul during the absorption process.
This was entirely different from the Soul Shock experienced when absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring. The spiritual power of a One Hundred Thousand Year soul beast was on an entirely different dimension.
When a ten-thousand-year soul beast dies, its soul power does not dissipate as rapidly as that of a soul beast below ten thousand years. Before fading completely, a portion of its soul power remains trapped within the soul ring it forms.
When a Soul Master absorbs it, their body endures the impact of the soul ring's energy while their spiritual world simultaneously faces the impact of this residual spiritual power.
Conversely, because the soul power of a One Hundred Thousand Year soul beast is vastly superior, its soul will not quickly dissipate even upon death.
Instead, it automatically fuses into the soul ring. Although the soul beast's soul suffers significant trauma the moment it is slain, the damaged soul remains remarkably strong and retains its full sentience.
When a Soul Master absorbs a One Hundred Thousand Year soul ring, a second confrontation will take place within the Soul Master's spiritual sea. Only if the Soul Master can utterly crush the soul of this One Hundred Thousand Year soul beast can they truly succeed in absorbing the soul ring.
Otherwise, if they fail this spiritual clash, their mind will be annihilated. They will lose control over the energy within their body, causing the soul ring's power to run rampant and their physical form to completely collapse.
One could say that absorbing a One Hundred Thousand Year soul ring demands a far higher level of spiritual cultivation from a Soul Master than absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul ring.
After all, the Soul Shock produced by a ten-thousand-year soul ring is merely the residual spiritual malice and resentment of the soul beast; it lacks distinct sentience and is purely a raw spiritual impact.
But a One Hundred Thousand Year soul beast is capable of preserving its soul entirely within the soul ring, allowing it to utilize its accumulated knowledge and fight the Soul Master using its spiritual power.
Therefore, from this perspective, it was clear that even if a Soul Master absorbed a One Hundred Thousand Year soul ring as their ninth soul ring, the soul beast's cultivation can at most be around two hundred thousand years.
Although such a cultivation level is exceptionally high—having passed the first Heavenly Tribulation, gaining the ability to take human form, and possessing strength comparable to a Rank 96 Super Douluo among human Soul Masters, earning them the title of a Fierce Beast—
This level of cultivation still pales in comparison to powerhouses at Rank 97 or Rank 98. After all, the gap between Rank 96 and Rank 97 is massive; they are practically two entirely different realms. Furthermore, a soul ring does not contain the entirety of a soul beast's power.
The soul ring produced after a soul beast's death contains the majority of its bloodline power and soul power, accounting for roughly two-thirds.
The remaining portion of its power stays within the soul beast's carcass, scattered across its flesh, blood, and bones. During absorption, part of the soul ring's power merges with the Soul Master's body to strengthen their physique.
Only the remaining portion splits into two: one part merges with the Martial Soul, while the other part binds with the Martial Soul to establish the connection that generates the soul skill.
This remainder stays within the soul ring, allowing the Soul Master to mobilize and utilize it whenever they invoke the soul ring to unleash their soul ring skill.
**
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