Although Ling Xiao wasn’t a soul clan member, his innate soul strength was formidable. Combined with his Mountain and River Martial Soul, his soul force, while not as monstrous as Ling Yixue’s, surpassed most people’s—even most soul clan members’.
Tianren Academy likely chose these two quasi-mortal martial arts for a reason.
Snow Lotus True Solution required mastery of Snow Lotus Qi Technique to cultivate, rendering it useless to most martial artists.
Burning Soul Technique was only effective for those with strong soul force, making it meaningless to the vast majority.
They picked these two quasi-mortal martial arts to spite Qianlong Camp in case of a loss.
Yet, they unwittingly aided Ling Xiao and Ling Yixue.
Ling Xiao smirked and handed the two martial arts to his Mountain and River Martial Soul for decoding.
As expected, it took mere moments to crack them.
He then retrieved a copy of Burning Soul Technique from the Mountain and River World and gave it to Ling Yixue to study.
Using the quasi-mortal secret technique Shadow Cultivation Method, he created two clones.
His main body cultivated Snow Lotus True Solution, one clone worked on Burning Soul Technique, and the other reinforced Tianlong Golden Body.
The recent battle had been highly rewarding.
He limited himself to two clones for a reason.
While clones boosted cultivation speed, they also increased physical and soul force consumption proportionally.
For instance, a clone raising cultivation speed by seventy percent would also increase consumption by seventy percent.
He couldn’t afford to summon too many clones.
Thanks to his foundation in Snow Lotus Qi Technique, Ling Xiao reached a minor mastery of Snow Lotus True Solution in just half an hour.
Snow Lotus True Solution had nine levels; he’d reached the third, feeling a qualitative leap in his true essence’s quality.
It was purer and stronger.
For a quasi-mortal martial art to reach minor mastery so easily would shock anyone to the point of disbelief.
The true essence gained from Snow Lotus True Solution was called Snow Lotus True Essence.
Though far inferior to Tianlong True Essence, it was significantly stronger than ordinary true essence.
Even after advancing to martial master, where all energy becomes true essence, quality varies.
The gap between advanced, top-tier, and quasi-mortal martial arts was especially stark.
This explained why martial masters eagerly sought quasi-mortal internal techniques.
By converting all but a small portion of his Tianlong True Essence into Snow Lotus True Essence, Ling Xiao’s strength doubled at least.
If he faced that Tianren Academy genius again, he could win without using Tianlong Golden Body.
As a mortal martial art, Tianlong Golden Body was best kept hidden to avoid trouble.
In the prior fight, he believed only General September noticed he used Tianlong Golden Body; others likely mistook it for Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique, given their visual similarity.
He spent another hour solidifying Snow Lotus True Solution at the third level.
His handling of Snow Lotus True Essence grew more adept.
Meanwhile, Burning Soul Technique reached the first level, boosting his soul force considerably.
He discovered that using soul force alone for Terrifying One Finger amplified its power dramatically.
He now suspected the blue-clad woman he met in the Fulong Mountains was tied to the soul clan.
Additionally, he made an intriguing discovery: with Burning Soul Technique, he could perform his martial techniques using soul force instead of true essence, with nearly identical power but vastly different effects.
True essence techniques focused on physical damage.
Soul force techniques targeted the soul.
This meant his techniques had two distinct applications. Used flexibly in combat, they’d catch opponents off guard.
Moreover, while cultivating Tianlong Golden Body and quasi-mortal martial arts, he gained insight into the first move of Snow Lotus Sword Technique, derived from a mortal martial art fragment.
This was likely tied to Snow Lotus True Solution and the mortal mysteries of Tianlong Golden Body.
After absorbing Tianlong Golden Body’s mortal mysteries, his Mountain and River Martial Soul began simulating Snow Lotus Sword Technique’s mortal mysteries.
It wasn’t easy—after all this time, he’d only grasped sixty to seventy percent of the first move, Flying Snow.
He could try using it in attacks; its power wouldn’t lag behind quasi-mortal martial arts but wouldn’t reach mortal martial art levels.
At this rate, he’d soon fully master the first move.
When that happened, he’d have another trump card.
Feeling he couldn’t progress further for now, Ling Xiao stopped his secluded training and reviewed his status.
He possessed two complete martial souls: Cherry Tree Martial Soul and Black Cloud Martial Soul.
Complete martial souls weren’t to be used lightly, as they drew envy. He’d only use them in life-or-death situations.
He had four martial soul fragments: Ghost Ship Fragment, Giant Sword Fragment, Blood Blade Fragment, and Black Bear Fragment.
Each had unique uses.
Ghost Ship Fragment, paired with Soaring Cloud Step, matched quasi-mortal movement techniques in speed, conserved true essence for travel, and had some offensive power.
Giant Sword Fragment enhanced sword techniques, boosting their power.
Blood Blade Fragment made sword techniques unpredictable and eerie.
Black Bear Fragment aided bare-handed combat, increasing move power and physical strength.
All four fragments were valuable, suited to different enemies.
His main martial arts were:
Mortal Martial Art: Tianlong Golden Body
Mortal Fragment: Snow Lotus Sword Technique
Quasi-Mortal Martial Arts: Burning Soul Technique, Snow Lotus True Solution, Shadow Cultivation Method
Top-Tier Martial Arts: Heavy Shadow Sword Technique (power comparable to quasi-mortal), Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique (final revolution), Black Iron Scroll of Sword Control (attack power akin to quasi-mortal)
Unique Skills: Soaring Cloud Step, Bull Demon Technique (surpassing all advanced top-tier martial arts, slightly below quasi-mortal)
Special Techniques: Terrifying One Finger, Earth Core Ice Lotus Bind
Advanced martial arts were falling behind. Though he defeated the Tianren Academy genius with Meteor Fist, it relied on Tianlong Golden Body.
He urgently wanted a fist or palm technique for bare-handed combat.
With Tianlong Golden Body, bare-handed fighting maximised its strengths.
Sword techniques would continue, but bare-handed combat couldn’t be neglected.
