Given that the gap between their "cheats" was simply too vast and Huo Yuhao had been consistently restraining his strength, he ultimately lost in terms of endurance.
Of course, if Huo Yuhao had used [Spiritual Shock] or [Life and Death are but a Dream], this battle wouldn't have even lasted a second. After all, no matter how strong Long Aotian was, he was only a Soul King, and his spiritual power was only at the Spirit Sea Realm.
Long Aotian shook his numbed fists and cupped them in a salute toward Huo Yuhao, his voice extremely sincere: "I lost. Thank you for the guidance, Brother Yuhao!"
Although he lost, Long Aotian was extremely excited in his heart because it had been a long time since he had felt this refreshed.
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said solemnly: "I was just luckier than Brother Aotian."
These were his true feelings.
If he hadn't met Baili Du, he would likely just be an ignored illegitimate son struggling in the White Tiger Duke's mansion; it would have been impossible to have three martial souls and multiple ultimate attributes.
There is always someone better and a heaven beyond the heavens. By relying purely on cultivation to forge his power to such a formidable degree, Long Aotian had indeed taught Huo Yuhao a lesson.
Du Busi narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly in satisfaction. This kid really does have what it takes!
...
In a forest within the Body Sect, Du Busi and Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged. Du Busi did not immediately guide Huo Yuhao in cultivation but instead asked him a seemingly unrelated question.
"Yuhao, what kind of martial soul do you think is the most powerful in this world?"
Huo Yuhao blinked a few times, thinking, isn't this common sense? He was just about to answer "God-class martial soul" when he bit back his words.
"Sect Master, you mean..."
Du Busi's voice carried a hint of pride: "So-called cultivation is the continuous exploration and development of the upper limits of one's own martial soul. Whether it is a dragon martial soul like Mu En's or Long Xiaoyao's, or a God-class martial soul like the [Angel] or [Sea God], their upper limits are actually locked from the very beginning."
"This might allow them to take advantage in the early stages of cultivation, but that's not necessarily true later on. As a possessor of a body martial soul, you should also be able to feel its benefits, right? A body martial soul is the entity most closely related to the soul master. You could say the body martial soul is constantly evolving along with the soul master's cultivation. Theoretically, there is no end to its strength limit; however strong you are, that is how strong your body martial soul part becomes."
Huo Yuhao nodded thoughtfully. This was a novel perspective. No matter how strong an ultimate beast martial soul was, it was still the power of a martial soul. Only by being strong oneself can one be fearless of everything.
"Take myself as an example. My martial soul is myself. My current cultivation is Rank 98. What do you think the quality of my martial soul is like?"
Huo Yuhao's mind stirred. Although he had only seen Du Busi take action once, the man had suppressed that Evil Phoenix soul master from start to finish. Setting aside the expected level suppression and combat experience, Du Busi's own martial soul quality should not be inferior to that Evil Phoenix martial soul.
And Phoenixes and Great Dragons have always been synonymous with top-tier martial souls.
"Hmm... it shouldn't be worse than that Evil Phoenix soul master, right?"
Du Busi nodded. "Yes. My martial soul quality is not inferior to Yan Shaozhe's Radiant Phoenix. If I can break through to Rank 99, my martial soul quality will not be inferior to Mu En's Radiant Holy Dragon. Speaking of which, Xuan Zi's martial soul is actually stronger than Mu En's, but in a fight, I would absolutely never lose to that old drunkard. Do you know why?"
Huo Yuhao thought carefully for a moment and answered tentatively: "Is it control? Your martial soul is yourself; there shouldn't be anything simpler in this world than controlling your own body, right?"
It's not that a stronger martial soul makes one better at fighting. To exert the combat power a martial soul should have, one needs fine control. Huo Yuhao could feel that when he used the Deep Blue Glazed Dragon or the Holy Demon Angel martial soul, it was much more difficult compared to the Spirit Eye martial soul.
Qian Renxue and Xuan Zi were examples of this.
The Taotie Divine Bull, a divine beast bloodline—impressive, right? And yet he couldn't even catch a Soul King...
The Angel martial soul, with innate Rank 20 power—one could say its martial soul quality was unsurpassed in the world. And the result? It lost to Tang San who knows how many times...
Aside from "cheats," background luck, and other irresistible elements, it was because Qian Renxue's understanding and degree of control over her martial soul were inferior to Tang San's. It was mostly "using brute force to fly a brick"—no finesse, all stats—which is why she fell behind in every battle.
But looking back at body martial souls?
If a body martial soul is your own arm, how simple is it to control your arm to lift and put things down? By the same logic, if the martial soul is yourself, then controlling how you fight is also a very simple matter.
"Correct! But it's more than that. We members of the Body Sect also have another ability: the power of blood essence. And the core method of our Body Sect is the Innate Secret Technique."
Du Busi laughed and scolded: "You rascal, I bet you've had your eyes on our Innate Secret Technique for a long time. Otherwise, why would you use your own blood essence power? With your methods, there are many ways to fight Aotian; why use this most difficult and thankless one?"
Huo Yuhao smiled without speaking. The fact that the Body Sect had the Innate Secret Technique was something Baili Du had told him, and it was the biggest reason for him to join the Body Sect.
"So today, I will first teach you the Innate Secret Technique. Speaking of which, you are likely the only person in this generation who might succeed..."
Du Busi said solemnly: "The greatest characteristic of this Sect's Innate Secret Technique is to trigger the innate Qi from the 'mystery of the womb' within the human body, re-evolving oneself and allowing the body to surpass the limits of humanity."
"It is divided into four realms: Body Penetration, Marrow Cleansing, Remolding, and Golden Body. Once these four steps are completed, one can undergo a... Third Awakening of the body martial soul!"
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened, and he lost his voice: "Third Awakening! Isn't there only a Second Awakening?"
"The world only knows that body martial souls have a Second Awakening, but few know of the existence of a Third Awakening. That is because it is something even the members of this Sect find difficult to complete."
Speaking of this, Du Busi said with some emotion: "My elder brother had better talent than me; he was only one step away from completing the Golden Body. Unfortunately, he was heavily injured and killed by that old thing Mu En..."
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow. It seemed the relationship between the Body Sect and Shrek was poor for many complicated reasons...
"Yuhao, your martial soul part is very important, and it's a spiritual attribute. In my view, completing a Silver-level or even a Gold-level Second Awakening is no problem. But if you can complete a Third Awakening, you will have the strongest spiritual attribute martial soul in the world."
At this point, Du Busi's eyes became radiant as he looked at Huo Yuhao.
"Most importantly, you are a possessor of twin martial souls. By using the powerful bloodline power of your second martial soul to cultivate this Sect's Innate Secret Technique, if you reach Great Success, I am certain that in the entire Douluo Continent, absolutely no one will be able to oppose you—not even the Beast God Di Tian!"
Spiritual-type martial souls are usually "squishy mages" by logic, but this freak Huo Yuhao happened to have a second martial soul, turning him from a squishy mage into a melee-type mage.