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Li Luochen directly crushed the divine-bestowed soul ring, and a white soul ring appeared around him. Simultaneously, his Coiling Dragon Staff materialized.
However, within moments, the white soul ring encircling the Coiling Dragon Staff turned yellow, then purple, and finally became a pale black.
In just a few seconds, it had evolved from a ten-year soul ring to a ten-thousand-year soul ring. After all, Li Luochen's mental strength and physical body were extraordinarily powerful, so the divine-bestowed soul ring naturally transformed quickly.
The black soul ring on the Coiling Dragon Staff grew increasingly darker. After several minutes, a hint of red began to appear on the deep black soul ring, indicating that it was nearing the hundred-thousand-year tier.
However, this process didn't have much impact on Li Luochen. He was curious about the limits of the divine-bestowed soul ring—was its limit truly at the hundred-thousand-year mark, or would it continue to grow stronger based on the spirit master's abilities? If the limit wasn't at a hundred thousand years, should he consider obtaining a ferocious beast soul ring with an even higher year count for his seventh soul ring?
After all, the most important aspect of the seventh soul ring for achieving True Body was its year count—the higher the year count, the stronger the True Body would be.
When the black-red soul ring gradually turned completely blood-red, devoid of any trace of black, it officially entered the hundred-thousand-year tier.
However, Li Luochen also sensed a limit—not his own, but the limit of the divine-bestowed soul ring. This confirmed his suspicion: the upper limit of this divine-bestowed soul ring was indeed one hundred thousand years. Beyond that, it couldn't progress further. Still, Li Luochen wasn't disheartened—a hundred-thousand-year soul ring was more than sufficient.
Moreover, his spirit power had directly reached level eighty. Logically speaking, absorbing a hundred-thousand-year seventh soul ring should have elevated him to level seventy-four and a half. The fact that he jumped straight to level eighty demonstrated just how abundant the spirit power from the Golden Dragon Torso Bone was.
Li Luochen felt the surge in his strength. For weapon-type spirit masters, their true power only began to shine after achieving True Body. Normally, when martial soul qualities were comparable, beast type martial souls were stronger than weapon-type ones. Why? Because beast type martial souls were more resilient.
Offensive beast type martial souls could both attack and endure, while weapon-type spirit masters had extremely high attack power but lacked defense. However, Douluo Continent could also be called the "Iron Headed Continent"—fights were often head-on clashes, dominated by brute force tactics. Strategies like kiting or maneuvering were rarely employed.
This made weapon-type spirit masters significantly stronger after achieving True Body, as beast-type spirit masters couldn't withstand repeated attacks, leading to their defeat. For example, Yu Yuanzhen had once lost to Tang Zhen, the father of Tang Hao.
According to Du Gu Bo's description, Tang Zhen used the Hao Tian Hammer's Nine Absolutes combined with the "Disorderly Splitting Wind Hammer Technique" to overpower Yu Yuanzhen's defenses.
However, Dugu Bo specifically pointed out one detail: Yu Yuanzhen and Tang Zhen's battle involved dragon claws clashing directly with hammers, which was absurd.
Why would anyone directly resist the astonishing weight of the Hao Tian Hammer? Li Luochen himself was a weapon-type spirit master, but he understood that while his attacks were powerful, they often left openings. Thus, he created the six forms of his "Combat Battle Techniques," one of which was specifically designed to confuse opponents.
Fighting wasn't purely about brute strength—it also required intelligence. Take Tang Hao's Great Sumeru Hammer, for instance. Why was it so powerful? Because he detonated his soul rings, channeling the explosive force inward to multiply his strength.
But there were limitations. First, detonating soul rings disabled the use of spirit skills. Second, even if your strength increased, missing your target rendered the explosion useless. Third, the enhanced power lasted only briefly, and the side effects were severe, causing significant damage to the body.
If Li Luochen were to face the Great Sumeru Hammer, he wouldn't rely on anything else—he'd simply use the Demon-Breaking Divine Light from his head spirit bone to launch a mental attack. Tang Hao's strength might multiply, but did his mental power increase as well?
Once your mental sea was shaken, your attacks would deviate greatly. I can dodge this move and strike you down during the gap in your attack!
Unless you manage to ambush me and unleash all nine detonations at once to catch me off guard, I can toy with you until the end.
In this light, Xiao Wu's Invincible Golden Body was excellent—it could withstand three attacks below god-level. No matter how strong Tang Hao was, the power of detonating all nine rings only approached god-level. Achieving a true god-level attack? Do you think that's easy?
Tens of thousands of years later, Yun Ming, the Atlas Douluo, achieved semi-divinity and reached an invincible state below godhood. Even he needed to burn his divine position to unleash a single god-tier strike. Could detonating soul rings surpass burning a divine position?
Li Luochen didn't believe Tang Hao could surpass Yun Ming—or even Tang Chen. After all, twenty-five Title Douluos, thirty-one-year-old Limit Douluos, and thirty-nine-year-old Limit Douluos reaching their peak were achievements that sent shivers down one's spine.
Among current geniuses, You Tianshang was the strongest at thirty-nine years old, having reached level eighty-nine. But he still needed a year to break through to become a Title Douluo.
The gap was clear. However, figures like Yun Ming only appeared once every few centuries. Li Luochen didn't think he was inferior to Yun Ming just because no deity favored him. Compared to Mu En, though, he felt he could hold his own—after all, many of his records were benchmarked against Mu En's.
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Inside the Cultivation Room
Li Luochen slowly released his martial soul and noticed its transformation—more accurately, its evolution. This was the third evolution.
The first time was when he consumed the Ice and Fire Immortal herbs, transforming his original Dragon Marked Staff into the Coiling Dragon Staff. Now, his martial soul had evolved again. The previously deep-purple staff had grown even deeper in hue. Using art terminology, the staff had shifted from "violet" to "dragon purple."
Moreover, the golden hoops at both ends of the staff had disappeared. It was now a uniformly deep-colored staff with raised patterns. Upon closer inspection, Li Luochen realized these patterns represented the soul beasts he had hunted. The most prominent among them were the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger and the Golden Earth Dragon King.
Li Luochen felt that his martial soul exuded a chaotic aura—and understandably so. His staff now contained elements of wind, fire, water, earth, light, darkness, thunder, space, strength, wood, and metal.
What was once the weakest element, wind, had been greatly amplified by the Golden Dragon Torso Bone. All these attributes had fused together, forming this entirely new martial soul.
Li Luochen believed his martial soul had surpassed the concept of a super martial soul. Its level could now be classified as a divine martial soul. He felt that choosing multiple attributes was the right decision.
First, the worldview here was different. Deities in this world possessed multiple attributes, though specialized deities existed as well. For example, elemental gods were limited to first-rank divinity, while innate gods like Destruction and Life were on another level entirely.
Thus, Li Luochen had capitalized on the benefits of this world. In this realm, possessing multiple attributes didn't mean sacrificing mastery—in fact, multiple attributes could refine a supreme divine artifact.
Li Luochen envisioned his martial soul becoming his personal life-bound super divine artifact. After all, he had practiced with a staff for so long. While Asura wielded a sword, he wielded a staff. Though both styles emphasized wide, sweeping movements, there were subtle differences.
Li Luochen believed that refining his martial soul into a divine artifact was the wisest choice. Now that his martial soul had evolved into a divine martial soul, it could manifest as a physical entity—a true divine artifact.
However, this process was challenging, and Li Luochen hadn't yet figured out the specifics.
Still, he carefully weighed his martial soul. Its current weight had reached twenty-five thousand kilograms—equivalent to twenty-five tons. Truly terrifying.
Even among Title Douluos, the Hao Tian Hammer typically weighed only five thousand jin (2.5 tons). The gap between Li Luochen and others was vast. He believed that relying solely on the power of his martial soul, he could crush the Hao Tian Hammer into "bamboo shoots."
Li Luochen gave his martial soul a new name: Atlas Divine Dragon Staff. 'Atlas' symbolized the staff's ability to prop up the heavens—after all, in the myths Li Luochen knew, the Atlas was indeed supporting the sky. 'Divine Dragon' referred to his original Dragon Pattern Staff martial soul. Li Luochen had a deep connection with dragons.
The leader of the dragon race was the Dragon God. By bestowing his martial soul with the title 'Divine Dragon', Li Luochen was subtly echoing the Dragon God. Moreover, his martial soul encompassed numerous attributes, aligning perfectly with the Dragon God.
Thus, the name Atlas Divine Dragon Staff—or simply Atlas Staff—was fitting. Over time, the staff's texture had grown increasingly distinct from a traditional staff.
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