Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Mysterious Martial Soul

It turned out that the strange power overflowing from the acupoints could not only awaken the martial soul but also enable it to grow across levels!

The growth of a martial soul is generally directly linked to the breakthrough of realms. Only by breaking through barriers and entering a new major realm can the martial soul have the opportunity to grow.

In other words, for the martial soul to break through, it must be from the acquired realm to the innate realm, or from the innate realm to the human rank.

Entering the second heaven from the first heaven of the innate realm, such a minor advancement, cannot cause any changes in the martial soul.

Only when breaking through from one realm to another, during the period of breakthrough, can the martial soul possibly gain an increase or undergo a change.

This is not absolute!

It is not the case that every time a martial artist breaks through a realm, the martial soul will immediately grow. Sometimes, the growth of the martial soul requires crossing two, or even three realms!

For example, the "Petrification Martial Soul" of Shi Yan can be divided into four stages.

If a young man of the Shi family possesses the "Petrification Martial Soul," in the first ten days after birth, while still an infant, his skin will turn grayish-white at some point, which is the first stage.

If this young man of the Shi family diligently studies martial arts and fortunately breaks through to the human rank, then the "Petrification Martial Soul" will change again, turning dark brown, which is the second stage.

If he can break through to the earth rank, then the "Petrification Martial Soul" will turn yellowish-green, which is the third stage.

If there is a prodigy who can break through to the heaven rank, the "Petrification Martial Soul" will turn purplish-red, which is the fourth stage!

The "Petrification Martial Soul" of the Shi family is divided into four stages. Only after breaking through two realms will the martial soul undergo a qualitative change, significantly enhancing its strength, and the color of the muscles will change dramatically.

Each time the "Petrification Martial Soul" changes and enters a new stage, the physical defense will double in strength!

The "Petrification Martial Soul" at the first stage can generally only resist the force of punches and kicks, plus a small amount of essence energy impact.

But at the second stage, when the muscles turn dark brown, the physical defense will almost double, not only resisting more intense essence energy impacts but also withstanding the slashing of ordinary sharp weapons!

At the third stage, when the "Petrification Martial Soul" turns yellowish-green, the defense will double again! It will almost be impervious to blades and bullets, and the body's agility will not only not decrease but will increase significantly, which is extremely abnormal!

At the fourth stage, when the body turns purplish-red after petrification, the physical defense will be terrifying, not only impervious to blades and bullets, water and fire, but also able to resist many mysterious secret techniques, making the body incredibly powerful and increasingly agile.

These four stages are all achieved with the improvement of realms. If a young man of the Shi family with the "Petrification Martial Soul" is in the acquired or innate realm, the "Petrification Martial Soul" will always be fixed at the first stage. Without breaking through to the human rank, the "Petrification Martial Soul" will never change.

On the Divine Grace Continent, other various martial souls are the same. Most of them can only grow with the improvement of realms. Only a few extremely rare divine-grade elixirs can change the heavenly rules of special martial souls, allowing them to grow across levels.

Such elixirs only exist in legends on the Divine Grace Continent. Martial artists from the Flame Empire, the Divine Favor Empire, and the Merchant Alliance have only heard of such incidents but have never seen them with their own eyes.

Even the three great pharmacists of the Flame Empire's Medicine King Valley are only spirit-grade alchemists, far from reaching the realm of refining divine-grade elixirs.

However, the strange power overflowing from Shi Yan's acupoints seemed to break this rule!

This strange power not only awakened the martial soul but could also enhance it across levels!

The dark brown color of his petrified arm was clearly a sign of a Shi family expert who had broken through to the human rank.

This was clearly the second stage of petrification!

The ability to awaken and enhance the martial soul, what did this mean?

It meant that he did not need to break through to the heaven rank to have the opportunity to enter the fourth stage of petrification!

Impervious to blades and bullets, water and fire, the body would not only not stiffen but would become even more agile, capable of withstanding various mysterious secret techniques and gaining immense divine power...

Thinking of the wonders of petrification breaking through to the fourth stage, Shi Yan realized he had found a treasure.

This ability was clearly also a martial soul. This martial soul could not only purify the essence energy of the dead through his acupoints but could also go berserk in battle, imposing negative emotions on enemies, making it mysterious and unpredictable.

This mysterious martial soul could extract essence energy from death, which, after being transformed through the acupoints, would become a vibrant and strange power, capable of awakening the martial soul, enhancing the martial soul, and strengthening essence energy...

Shi Yan's dark eyes shone like cold stars at night, bright and radiant.

Sitting there, he was silent but knew that with this wondrous martial soul, as long as he was willing to work hard, he could become the most astonishing and terrifying existence on this magical continent!

...

In a blood-soaked area of the Dark Forest, where bones were scattered everywhere, a group of people stood with grim expressions, observing something.

"These are the people from the 'Wolf Pack Mercenary Group.'" Bernard walked among the bones, his expression solemn. "The leader of the Wolf Pack Mercenary Group and I are both at the Hundred Tribulations realm... It looks like they were completely wiped out."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of Moonshade and Mo Chaoge both frowned.

Moonshade hesitated for a moment, then took out a silver horn and gently blew it.

No sound came from the horn, but a strange wave rippled out from it.

Soon, two men in silver robes with masks emerged quietly from the forest. Their masks had green faces and fangs, different from the pale masks on Moonshade and his group.

"Shadow Messenger, have you found anything?" Moonshade asked coldly.

"Last night, demonic beasts ran rampant, and many martial artists and mercenaries were attacked by them. There are too many footprints around, making it difficult to distinguish which belong to our target," a Shadow Messenger of the Dark Moon said respectfully.

The "Dark Moon" organization is divided into Shadow Messengers and Moon Messengers. Shadow Messengers are responsible for tracking and gathering information, while Moon Messengers are responsible for killing, with ranks divided by sun, moon, and star.

Although Shadow Messengers and Moon Messengers have different responsibilities, the hierarchy is strict, and a star-level Shadow Messenger must obey a moon-level Moon Messenger.

"Is it difficult to find the target?" Moonshade was skilled in killing and combat but not in tracking. Hearing this, his eyes gradually turned dark.

"Sir, the area is indeed too wide, and there are too many martial artists, mercenaries, and demonic beasts around, making it difficult to track. In the past few days, we have been attacked by many mercenaries while tracking, and one messenger has already been killed."

The reputation of the "Dark Moon" is not good. The martial artists and mercenaries active in this area are not afraid of trouble. Sometimes, when they are in a bad mood and see "Dark Moon" people, they might attack and kill them.

In the past two days, Moonshade and his group have encountered such incidents many times. Even after joining forces with the Mo family's martial artists, some people still dared to challenge them, but they did not suffer significant losses.

"Unable to find the target, and the demonic beasts are also restless, this is troublesome..."

Mo Chaoge pondered for a moment and suddenly said, "Randomly searching like this is not a solution. How about we go to the Silent Town? Silent Town is the only way to the Merchant Alliance. They will definitely go to Silent Town once they leave the Dark Forest. We can wait for them on the way to Silent Town."

"That's a good idea." Bernard nodded, his eyes filled with killing intent. "Anyone going to the Merchant Alliance must pass through Silent Town. Waiting for them there is a good strategy."

"Alright, let's quickly cross this area and wait for them on the way to Silent Town." Moonshade remained silent for a while, unable to think of a better plan, and agreed.

The three reached an agreement and did not waste more time searching for Shi Yan and his group. They began to cross the Dark Forest and prepare to ambush on the way to Silent Town.

...

For five consecutive days, Shi Yan and his group moved cautiously in the Dark Forest, trying to avoid demonic beasts and mercenary martial artists.

At night, they would immediately choose a hidden area to rest, not daring to walk at night.

With their cautious approach, they had a relatively smooth journey, avoiding many high-level demonic beasts and human mercenaries, with excellent luck.

During these days, Shi Yan would practice diligently every night, adapting to the second stage of petrification, gradually covering his entire body with the "berserk" changes.

Diyalan, who had been abstinent for many years, found the taste of pleasure after being with Shi Yan. She would often take the initiative to seek him out, and the base of trees, shrubs, and riverbanks became the sites of their passionate encounters.

Mu Yudie knew she couldn't stop them, so she turned a blind eye, often muttering complaints and secretly cursing the two for being shameless.

One night, after a wild session under a large tree, Diyalan, who had been meditating for a short while, suddenly leaped up, exclaiming, "I, I've broken through!"

Not far away, Mu Yudie peeked out from the leaves of another ancient tree, her face full of surprise, staring at the disheveled Diyalan and covering her mouth in shock, "This, this... is possible?"