[Douluo 2]
At the moment Su Ming from Douluo 3 had completely solidified his spiritual domain, Su Ming from Douluo 2 was also proceeding with his next breakthrough.
The one who gained the most from this round of Heaven Refinement was undoubtedly Little Chaos.
Not only had he completely fused with the multiple elemental essences Su Ming had separated, he had also merged with the Elemental Control Spirit Gold at the Heaven Refinement level. He had even transformed into Su Ming's Martial Soul, forming a deep bond with him, making his foundation exceptionally solid.
With all these cumulative enhancements, Little Chaos, who was once just a small thousand-year Evil Eye, had now undergone a dramatic transformation and broken through to a hundred-thousand-year cultivation level.
A hundred-thousand years meant a tribulation.
That's right, even after becoming Su Ming's Martial Soul, Little Chaos still had to undergo a tribulation.
This was also the cultivation path Su Ming had set for this particular Martial Soul of his.
Back when his Body Sect Martial Soul was first taking form, he knew he couldn't attach Spirit Rings to this artificial Martial Soul.
Tianmeng's mechanism was a special case. Its core was actually Tianmeng, not Huo Yuhao. Based on Tianmeng's pure, uncontaminated ice-attribute cultivation, it established the foundation for a second Martial Soul.
The Death Holy Necromancer Martial Soul that Electrolux could bestow upon a Spirit Master, the third Martial Soul represented by the Rakshasa God Power on Huo Yuhao's body, and the Sea God's Divine Sense on Wang Dong'er could all be considered special Martial Souls.
The same principle applied to Su Ming's second and third Martial Souls.
If he couldn't rely on attaching Spirit Rings to improve them, then he had to find another way.
"Is this Heaven Refinement? This tribulation lightning has even reached the level of a Limit Douluo, hasn't it?"
In Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness, Tianmeng's mouth hung open, stating that any single bolt of this thunder posed a threat to him comparable to the Fierce Beast that had devoured him back in the day.
"Even at my peak, I wouldn't be able to survive a tribulation like that," the Ice Empress said.
Listening to the evaluations from his two Spirit Souls, Huo Yuhao fell silent.
Could Shrek Academy really oppose him?
Heaven Refinement...
"Brother Tianmeng, if I were to undergo Heaven Refinement, what are my chances of surviving such a tribulation?"
"Zero, of course! What are you, an idiot, thinking?" Tianmeng said, exasperated.
"I don't mean now, of course. I mean after I have nine Spirit Rings and try then?"
"Zero, still zero. Did you really not feel it just now?" Tianmeng gestured wildly to convey the enormity of the concept. "That tribulation lightning could absolutely kill a Limit Douluo."
"But... I'll reach the limit level eventually, right?" Huo Yuhao argued. "Su Ming, as a six-ringed Spirit Emperor, could withstand it. Couldn't I, with nine rings?"
"Difficult, difficult, difficult."
Tianmeng shook his head.
"Unless—"
"Unless what?"
Huo Yuhao's eyes gleamed slightly as he stared at Tianmeng.
"Unless you can form a Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Spirit Core."
"Tianmeng, have you lost your mind?" the Ice Empress interjected.
"What is that?" Huo Yuhao pressed.
"A Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Spirit Core means that when forming the second Spirit Core..." Tianmeng began to explain.
Huo Yuhao's gaze flickered.
Was it possible?
"Don't listen to Tianmeng's nonsense. There's no real benefit to attaining Limit-level combat power early. Just follow the proper steps and cultivate to level 99, and you'll be a Limit Douluo," the Ice Empress hoped Huo Yuhao would cultivate steadily.
Given the current trends, Huo Yuhao's attainment of the Limit Douluo level was almost a foregone conclusion.
As long as he stopped provoking Su Ming and stopped being misled by Tianmeng.
"How is that nonsense?" Tianmeng retorted unhappily. "Yin-Yang Complementarity is absolutely necessary. Don't forget our goal is to help Yuhao become a god. If Yuhao can't achieve Yin-Yang Complementarity, why would any deity take notice of him?"
"What about three Spirit Cores?" the Ice Empress countered. "If he could form three homotypic, resonating Spirit Cores, that would hold enough weight too."
"How is that possible? There's no cultivation experience for three Spirit Cores in the entire Spirit Master world."
"But there's no experience for Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Spirit Cores either," the Ice Empress shot back mercilessly.
"But Fierce Beasts have it!" Tianmeng grew anxious.
"Di Tian? What makes you think he'd teach you?" the Ice Empress sneered.
Tianmeng fell silent.
Huo Yuhao also fell silent.
From their argument, he heard two different proposed paths, both difficult. One advocated for innovation to make him stand out in the eyes of deities, while the other advocated for a steady, reliable approach.
"Yuhao, don't forget, Su Ming already has dual Spirit Cores now. He will inevitably form a third in the future, and definitely before you. You could simply seek guidance from him. Compared to Di Tian, I think you have a much higher chance of gaining experience from Su Ming."
The Ice Empress offered her own suggestion.
Huo Yuhao hesitated.
The Ice Empress's proposal was undoubtedly safer and also offered a bright future.
"The greatest difficulty with three Spirit Cores is that you must form the first one before reaching level 80, and the second before level 90. As long as you focus on these two milestones, you can both break through to the Limit and achieve three Spirit Cores."
"But why would Su Ming give Yuhao his experience?"
"Don't forget, Su Ming himself published the Infinite Spirit Core Theory. We can study that theory; it must contain useful information. And..."
Here, the Ice Empress fell silent.
She glanced at Huo Yuhao and said softly, "Shrek Academy has truly fallen behind."
"No!"
Huo Yuhao immediately rejected the idea.
He could never use Shrek Academy as a bargaining chip.
"Sigh, I was just giving you a suggestion. The choice is yours."
Having said that, the Ice Empress began to sink into slumber.
Huo Yuhao could sense that the Ice Empress's emotions were very troubled right now.
Clearly, Su Ming had made her feel immense pressure, and this had ignited the Ice Empress's dissatisfaction with Huo Yuhao's current stance.
The talk about Spirit Cores was just a topic, an outlet for the Ice Empress to vent her frustrations.
As the Elemental Lightning Tribulation dissipated, the audience buzzed with heated discussion, Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness hosted an argument, and Juzi sharpened her metaphorical blades preparing to encircle the participating teams...
Thunder rolled once more.
The familiar scene descended again.
By now, before and after the finals, this was the fourth time the spectators had witnessed such a spectacle.
Two aborted tribulations that failed to fully form, one successful Elemental Lightning Tribulation.
This time, what kind of tribulation was it?
Hearts pounded with trepidation as everyone looked up at the sky.
After sensing the intensity of this new tribulation, they collectively breathed a sigh of relief, commenting that this lightning was far too weak.
"Is this tribulation a joke?"
"Did the heavens have a bit of gas left after the last one and are just letting out a final puff now?"
"This tribulation... I think I've seen records of it. It seems to be the hundred-thousand-year tribulation for Spirit Beasts."
"Chaos, go ahead."
Chaos was overjoyed, indicating his success rate for this tribulation was at least 98%.
And 98% was a conservative estimate.
With a roar, he charged into the sky, allowing the tribulation lightning to strike him. He simply focused on operating the many new Spirit Skills he had mastered, perfectly devouring the hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation.
Allowing even a wisp of the tribulation's power to leak out would belong to that 0.2% outside the 98% success rate.
Only by fusing with Heaven Refinement metal and sharing Su Ming's spiritual foundation could he be considered truly qualified.
The tribulation concluded.
The audience felt it ended too soon.
Juzi breathed a sigh of relief. Confirming that Su Ming had no other actions planned, she gave the order to surround and block the participants from the three Douluo Continent nations.
However, aware of the risks of this operation, she strictly forbade actually firing any Spirit Cannon shells that could cause casualties.
Encircle only, do not kill.
No sooner had she given the order than Su Ming's side caused yet another tribulation. This time, it was a Heavenly Tribulation.
"Why a Heavenly Tribulation?"
"Could it be that his new Martial Soul follows the exact advancement system of a Spirit Beast? And it only needs to devour one hundred-thousand-year tribulation to directly reach two-hundred-thousand-years of cultivation?"
Huo Yuhao looked up, his face showing shock.
Because at this moment, within his Sea of Consciousness, the Ice Empress, who had been pretending to sleep, couldn't help but awaken.
"Heavenly Tribulation!"
"A Fierce Beast's Heavenly Tribulation!"
"And it's not just for two-hundred-thousand years!"
"Also... this aura feels so familiar!"
***
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