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**
Ling Xiao only felt a surge of intense cold air invading his body.
A sudden chill rose within him, and the circulation of blood through his veins seemed to stagnate. His body and limbs gradually grew rigid, causing him to furrow his brow. However, an offensive of this level was not enough to stump him.
With everything he had learned, he naturally had ways to counter it.
Sensing the cold air growing increasingly dense, he immediately circulated his soul power and executed the Heavenly Astral Qi Method. He released his soul power, transforming it into a layer of Astral Qi outside his body to protect himself.
The moment the blackish-red Astral Qi emerged, the biting cold was instantly isolated outside.
Ling Xiao was no longer affected by the frost; his blood flowed smoothly, and his limbs and body returned to normal. Thus, even though Ling Xiao was in the midst of this land shrouded by freezing mist, he walked through it as if it were nothing.
The only pity was that although he could clearly sense the positions and energy fluctuations of the seven Huyan brothers through his spiritual power, his vision was blocked by the ice-blue chilling mist.
He could not clearly see the specific situation outside, which slightly hindered his control over the battle. This could be considered a flaw of Ling Xiao's—though one that was hardly a true weakness.
Ling Xiao believed that while spiritual power was not his strong suit, it could not be called a defect either. In terms of spiritual power, he was about the same as an ordinary non-Spiritual System Battle Soul Master.
When comparing a non-Spiritual System Soul Master to a Spiritual System Soul Master of the same cultivation level, the former was naturally bound to be inferior.
The reason it was considered a flaw that wasn't truly a weakness was that his spiritual power was still considered at an upper-level mid-tier among those of the same rank.
However, he had never cultivated any techniques to increase his spiritual power, nor had he practiced any ocular techniques. His usage of spiritual power was merely foundational; he lacked the specialized mastery that Spiritual System Soul Masters possessed.
In his view, since he had no innate talent for spiritual power, why should he waste his efforts on cultivating spiritual power techniques for little reward? One should not be too greedy; excessively pursuing perfection was never a good thing.
After all, he was not a Soul Master with the Spiritual attribute.
Even if he constantly strove for perfection and wished to leave himself without any weaknesses, spending massive efforts to cultivate spiritual power techniques would still not allow him to match a Spiritual System Soul Master of the same rank.
Unless, of course, he spent an immense amount of extra time and delayed his primary cultivation—but that would just be a waste of time.
Rather than wasting time on spiritual power techniques, it was better to seize the moment to cultivate the Seven Injuries Fist, contemplating the method to merge spiritual power into soul power.
By achieving a complete and perfect fusion of spiritual energy and soul power into a unified whole, he could even birth his own will. When that time came, even if he faced a powerful Spiritual System Soul Master, he would no longer be suppressed by them.
Furthermore, even in the early stages—before the Soul King realm—non-Spiritual System Soul Masters were not completely helpless when facing Spiritual System Soul Masters.
The growth of spiritual power and the increase of its might were far more difficult compared to the increase of pure physical destructive power.
Therefore, even with a difference of an entire major cultivation realm, a Spiritual System Soul Master could not easily instant-kill a non-Spiritual System opponent with just a single Spiritual Shock.
At most, it would cause noticeable spiritual trauma to the opponent's soul, inflicting pain and affecting their combat state. Only by unleashing multiple spiritual attacks could they severely wound or even obliterate the opponent's soul.
That window of time was precisely the opportunity for a non-Spiritual System Soul Master to counterattack. As a Soul Master's combat experience grew, non-Spiritual System Soul Masters would also develop different ways to improve when facing Spiritual System methods.
For instance, over the years of sparring with Hu Liena, Ling Xiao had gained a lot of insights into dealing with Spiritual System Soul Masters. Whether it was countering spiritual charm controls or enduring spiritual trauma to continue fighting, he had accumulated rich experience.
Furthermore, even though he did not specialize in training spiritual power, continuously increasing his understanding of the Spiritual System could prevent him from being suppressed by Spiritual System Soul Masters in the early stages.
Based on what he had learned at the Spirit Hall Academy over the years, the abilities of Spiritual System Soul Masters on the continent could mainly be divided into three aspects. The first was the direct utilization of spiritual power itself, which generated effects like spiritual attacks, defenses, and controls.
The second type was somewhat more complex.
It involved applying spiritual power to the eyes, taking advantage of the eyes' proximity to the upper dantian, the Niwan Palace, and the trace of connection between the two. By concentrating spiritual power there, a much more powerful effect could be generated.
This method generally required cultivating specific ocular techniques.
Compared to the first two types, which could be acquired through postnatal cultivation, the final type appeared quite precious. It was uniquely blessed by heaven and born innately.
In the Soul Master world, an extremely small number of people were born with a pair of eyes possessing special powers, which were incredibly miraculous. Some even manifested directly as Body Martial Souls, allowing them to be cultivated as a Martial Soul.
Even without learning any ocular techniques or soul skills, they only needed to inject soul power and spiritual energy to unleash the might of the Spirit Eyes.
Moreover, the efficacy and power of these innately divine eyes were often difficult to achieve directly through spiritual cultivation methods. As their cultivation grew stronger, their power would also continuously elevate.
It was worth mentioning that at this time, Body Martial Souls had already appeared on the Douluo Continent. However, they had only been around for a few decades, not even a century.
Because this type of Martial Soul was extremely peculiar and unprecedented—upon careful examination, it actually turned out to be a human body part acting as a Martial Soul—it was too bizarre.
Therefore, when Body Martial Souls first appeared.
They faced discrimination from many people in the Soul Master world.
In addition, most Body Martial Souls were just ordinary Martial Souls, mostly based on a single part of the human body, with a rare few being the entire body, and none possessed special powers.
Consequently, the Body Martial Souls that gradually emerged in those early years did not have very high awakened Innate Soul Power, and powerful experts among them were rare.
Gradually, the Soul Master world grew accustomed to the emergence of this new category of Martial Soul and stopped paying it much mind.
After all, they were just ordinary Martial Souls that did not possess extraordinary power, making it difficult to form powerful Soul Master Clans or sects with stable heritages in a short period of time.
Thus, although Body Martial Souls had already existed for several decades, their reputation was not prominent in this era.
While the majority of Body Martial Soul Masters banded together for warmth, gathering to establish the Body Sect to enhance their status and strength while putting their heads together to explore the cultivation path of Body Martial Souls, they were still minor.
During this period, the Body Sect was merely a small-to-medium-sized sect in the Soul Master world, far from comparable to the Seven Great Sects.
The sect's numbers were small, and its strongest expert was only a Soul Saint. It was a far cry from the prestige it would possess ten thousand years later as a top-tier Soul Master sect on the continent.
Right now, on the square, Ling Xiao was enveloped by the freezing mist spat out by Huyan Ba, unable to see the outside situation clearly. However, relying on his own perception of energy fluctuations, this was not a serious matter.
For a Soul Master, although an increase in cultivation could improve their physical fitness, eyesight, and hearing, when it came to perception, Soul Masters still relied more on spiritual power for an all-around awareness of their surroundings.
This was far clearer and more comprehensive than the naked eye, and it was a basic tool for any Soul Master.
Even as a non-Spiritual System Soul Master, this was true for him. He truly could not understand why, on the Douluo Continent ten thousand years later, non-Spiritual System Soul Masters seemed to only know how to use their naked eyes.
It was as if the profession of Soul Master had been castrated. Huo Yuhao, a Spiritual System path cultivator with an eye Martial Soul, possessed the Spiritual Detection and Spiritual Sharing soul skills, and it was treated as something incredibly mind-blowing.
He instantly became a genius of the Soul Tool Department, as if only he—or only Spiritual System Soul Masters—could use spiritual power to enhance precision when using soul tools, while other Soul Masters had to rely entirely on their naked eyes.
As Soul Masters, they lacked even a shred of spiritual perception for their surroundings.
**
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I have 100+ advanced chapter now on Patreon. I will post 5 advanced chapter on Patreon everyday except Sunday