Desolate Devouring Art-Chapter 1370 - Martial Soul

Chapter 1370 - Martial Soul
After making all the arrangements, Liu Wuxie summoned Mu Yueying, Xu Lingxue, Murong Yi, Chen Ruoyan, Jian Xing'er, Vanya, and Xiao Luo. They were all women, and the instructions he had given earlier had nothing to do with them.
"Wuxie, why did you call us over?" Mu Yueying asked, as she was the oldest among the women.
Back in Azure Billow City, Mu Yueying had given Liu Wuxie a whole year to cultivate, which allowed him to wipe out the Xue Clan a year later.
Everyone turned to look at Liu Wuxie, quietly waiting for his answer.
"I have a separate task for all of you. If you succeed, it'll be a huge help to the Heavenly Dao Society," Liu Wuxie said. He hadn't ignored them earlier; he had been busy with something even more critical.
Everyone's eyes lit up when they heard they had a mission. None of them wanted to remain in the Heavenly Dao Society and live like parasites, especially Xu Lingxue and the other three women, who were already anxious to help their husband.
"Go on. What do you need us to do?" Mu Yueying asked. Influenced by her father and having managed the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion from a young age, she surpassed everyone in her management skills. She had been married to Lin Tong for years, yet they still had no children.
"I need all of you to inscribe martial souls," Liu Wuxie said, leaving everyone baffled, as none of them had ever heard of such a thing before.
"Big Brother Liu, what is a martial soul?" Xu Lingxue asked.
Even Xiao Luo, who had been born in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain and received a great deal of cultivation knowledge from her grandfather, had never heard of martial souls before.
Liu Wuxie answered, "Martial souls are a strange kind of existence. They're different from spiritual talismans, but they can enhance combat strength. There are many astral beasts in the mountain range, and I have asked A'Lei, A'Li, and Fiery to catch some.
"I need all of you to extract the demonic beasts' primordial spirit and engrave them into martial souls. A powerful martial soul can not only boost combat strength, but it can also strengthen the primordial spirit."
History had long since buried the method of engraving martial souls. Even in the Fleeting Cloud Celestial Realm, hardly anyone knew how to engrave them. In the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain, Liu Wuxie had never heard of anyone capable of creating a martial soul.
Liu Wuxie didn't even need to teach Fiery the art of beast-taming. With its bloodline and the giants' strength at its back, capturing astral beasts was child's play for it.
Xiao Luo and Vanya were stunned. "There's such a miraculous technique in the world?"
They had no idea how Liu Wuxie had learned about how to do that. The art of engraving martial souls required delicate, meticulous work, which made it ill-suited for men.
Roughly two hours later, A'Lei and A'Li returned to the fortress with a large number of astral beasts. After delivering the beasts, Liu Wuxie instructed the two giants to build an astral beast garden so they could rear the beasts and extract their soul energy over time.
He had no intention of slaughtering all the astral beasts at once; instead, he planned to extract their soul energy repeatedly. Astral beasts possessed powerful primordial spirits, and even if someone extracted a portion of them, they would eventually recover.
This was a business with minimal cost and limitless profit. This was Liu Wuxie's actual trump card, and he believed that once he launched it on the market, it would sweep through the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain like a storm.
"I'll teach you the Soul Capturing Art now," Liu Wuxie said, and he began imparting it to them. The ladies were all highly talented, and they didn't take long to become familiar with the technique.
"When you engrave martial souls, remember that you cannot let their illusions fool you," Liu Wuxie warned. Many illusion-type beasts could use their primordial spirits to project illusions and lure people in.
If any of the beasts managed to deceive the ladies, they would not only fail, but they could also be controlled. Thus, engraving martial souls was a hazardous task.
Once the ladies became proficient in the process, things would naturally grow easier for them, and they could begin large-scale production of martial souls.
A powerful White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast stood in the stone hall, roaring restlessly.
Liu Wuxie stretched out his hand and made a grasping gesture, freezing the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast in place. Then, he seized the chance to cast the Soul-Capturing Art.
If he were to tame the astral beast, it would lose the ferocity required for engraving martial souls, which was why he hadn't taught the ladies the art of beast taming.
In an instant, a phantom appeared in the air—a strand of primordial spirit that he had extracted from the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast.
"Observe!" Liu Wuxie said. He swiped his right hand through the air, and a bizarre seal appeared, burrowing into the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast's soul.
The beast trembled violently. Then, it gradually stopped struggling as Liu Wuxie continued to engrave. Each time he drew a line, he would explain the key points to the ladies.
The White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast's soul slowly compressed until it shrank into a palm-sized light curtain. It resembled a profound talisman, yet it was still distinctly different.
The beast's cultivation wasn't weak and was comparable to the Primal Origin Realm, but A'Lei had still knocked it out with a single punch.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast's soul condensed into a small sphere the size of a quail egg, which landed in Liu Wuxie's palm with a wave of his hand.
"Big Brother Liu, this is a martial soul?" Xu Lingxue asked, stepping forward to examine it more closely.
"That's right. This is a martial soul," Liu Wuxie answered with a nod.
"How do we use it then?" Murong Yi followed up with another question.
"Come with me," Liu Wuxie said. He led the women out of the stone hall, calling out to A'Lei as well, and together they entered a desolate mountain range.
Unbeknownst to them, a gray figure hovered in the sky ten thousand miles away, watching Liu Wuxie the entire time. However, they dared not draw too near for fear of being discovered.
"Brother Wuxie, do you need me for something?" A'Lei asked. He had been working on the astral beast garden when Liu Wuxie summoned him.
"A'Lei, prepare to fight," Liu Wuxie said, signaling him to assume a combat stance so no one would catch him off guard.
Assuming that Liu Wuxie wanted another physical spar with him, A'Lei quickly took his stance.
Liu Wuxie, however, slowly raised his hand, and a martial soul flew out from his palm. When he injected his soul energy into it, a terrifying scene began to unfold.
A White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast materialized, letting out a thunderous roar as it bared its fangs and lunged straight at A'Lei.
The beast's sudden appearance caught A'Lei completely off guard. This White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast was far stronger than the one he had previously knocked out, and more importantly, it lacked blood and flesh—it appeared only as a phantom.
As the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast grew larger, it swelled to the size of a mountain in the blink of an eye, rising to match A'Lei's height.
Before A'Lei could strike, the beast moved first. They could activate each martial soul by infusing it with soul energy. Liu Wuxie had injected a wisp of his own soul energy, and he could control the beast to attack like an extension of his body.
A'Lei immediately fell back at the sight. Spiritual talismans had reinforced the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast's power, and the two overlapped to multiply its strength by more than tenfold, allowing it to rival cultivators at the pinnacle of the Primal Origin Realm.
Ordinary astral beasts had straightforward fighting styles, but this one fought differently. After Liu Wuxie injected a wisp of his soul energy into it, he could control it freely and even alter its form.
A'Lei finally threw a punch once he recovered from his shock, meeting the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast head-on. His strike sent the beast flying, but he didn't escape unscathed and had to retreat several steps before he managed to steady himself.
"Hold on!" A'Lei yelled just as the beast was about to launch another attack.
Upon hearing A'Lei's shout, Liu Wuxie immediately halted the martial soul with a single thought.
"What the hell is that? How is it so powerful?" A'Lei asked, utterly baffled by what he had just experienced.
"That was a martial soul. Keep it a secret for now, and don't mention it to anyone," Liu Wuxie replied. He didn't hide the truth from A'Lei, but he warned him not to reveal it.
Just the martial soul of an ordinary astral beast like the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast already possessed such frightening power. If someone were to forge a martial soul from pure-blooded astral beasts, wouldn't it become even more terrifying?
However, martial souls weren't of much use to Liu Wuxie himself, as he could already fight opponents stronger than he was. On the other hand, for ordinary cultivators, possessing a martial soul meant they could battle those above their level. When it came to controlling martial souls, Liu Wuxie was undoubtedly the strongest in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.
Far off in the sky, space rippled, and the gray figure vanished. The moment he disappeared, Liu Wuxie glanced in that direction with a faint smile on his lips.
He decided not to expose Elder Sword, allowing the latter to watch from afar.
......
In the Heavenly Dragon Sect's lesser realm, Hua Feiyu was in seclusion. He had exhausted a thousand years of his cultivation to open the Astral Domain Path. After two days of seclusion, his complexion had finally recovered.
Just then, Elder Sword rushed in with shock written all over his face.
"Elder Sword, you've followed me for many years. What happened to you today?" Hua Feiyu asked, looking at him. He had never seen Elder Sword lose his composure like this.
"A m-martial soul has reappeared!" Elder Sword stammered. Martial souls had existed only in ancient records, and the art had long since vanished from history.
Hua Feiyu shot to his feet in shock when he heard Elder Sword's words. "A martial soul?!"
Millions of years ago, the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain once housed a sect proficient in the art of martial souls, which they used to become a superpower. However, that sect later grew overconfident and attempted to engrave martial souls using Quasi-Immortal Realm astral beasts. They suffered a devastating backlash and declined after the disaster. Since then, the art of engraving martial souls had disappeared.
"Liu Wuxie engraved a martial soul, and it's extremely stable with no signs of backlash," Elder Sword said.
"That brat..." Hua Feiyu said with a bitter smile.
"Sect master, should we call him back immediately? The consequences would be unimaginable if the art of martial souls were to be leaked!" Elder Sword asked anxiously. If the Heavenly Dragon Sect could master the art of martial souls, it would only be a matter of time before they surpassed the Grand Unity Sect.
"No! Don't mention it to anyone, and this matter ends here," Hua Feiyu said firmly. If they brought it up to Liu Wuxie, it would be no different from confessing that they had been spying on him this entire time.
......
A'Lei traded hundreds of blows with the White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast before finally collapsing onto the ground.
This gave Vanya and the other ladies a firsthand look at just how terrifying a martial soul could be. With a martial soul supporting them and combined with their own combat strength, they could crush anyone in the same generation.
The White-Armored Earth Dragonbeast's martial soul gradually dimmed, and then it vanished after burning through all its energy. If they could produce martial souls on a large scale, they would overturn the balance of power in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain in an instant.
When everyone turned to look at Liu Wuxie, a mixture of awe and fear filled their eyes. Perhaps only Liu Wuxie could overturn the balance of the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain with his own hands.
Liu Wuxie, however, didn't think much of it. This was only the martial soul of an ordinary astral beast; if they learned that someone in ancient times had engraved a martial soul comparable to an Immortal Emperor, they would know how they would react.
This meant cultivators wouldn't always have to fight personally and could instead summon martial souls to battle in their place[1], completely changing the traditional fighting style.
Then again, there were drawbacks. Controlling martial souls required powerful soul energy, and each martial soul had a time limit. Once they exceeded that time limit, its energy would drain away rapidly, and the martial soul would dissipate.
Next, Liu Wuxie shared everything he knew about the art of martial souls. The two days Hua Feiyu had given him were almost up, and he didn't have much time left.
He knew there had to be a reason Hua Feiyu had sought him out, and he dared not delay.
At dawn on the third day, after making all the arrangements for the Heavenly Dao Society, Liu Wuxie returned to the Heavenly Dragon Sect.
He had designated a separate area in the fortress as a restricted zone and appointed Mu Yueying to oversee it. Of course, no one was allowed to step inside.
1. Veela: I choose you! ☜