As time passed, the ice-blue crystal at the center of the rapidly rotating liquid soul power grew larger and larger.
Before long, all of the liquid soul power had vanished, replaced by a solidified soul power the size of a duck's egg, gleaming like an ice-crystal gemstone.
At the instant the transformation was completed, a small soul power vortex formed around the solidified core of soul power.
The moment the vortex appeared, it immediately released a powerful suction force, frantically drawing in the external spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
As the torrent of heaven-and-earth energy surged in, even the surrounding light seemed to twist and distort.
Of course, what had now condensed into solid soul power absorbed not only the energy of heaven and earth.
At this stage, even if Muyang no longer actively injected soul power, the solid soul power—soon to become a soul core—would continue to greedily draw the soul power from within his own body.
If Muyang interrupted the supply, or the supply proved insufficient, failure in condensation would be the inevitable outcome.
Fortunately, Muyang was a cautious man. He had prepared thoroughly in advance, storing a considerable amount of pre-refined Red Jade Soul-Returning Ginseng inside his soul-guide storage bracelet.
Soul power was not something infinite and inexhaustible, but as long as it was not consumed in massive bursts all at once, it was more than enough to support the consumption required to condense a soul core.
Time passed, second by second. The solidified soul power resembled a black hole of energy, greedily devouring both the heaven-and-earth spiritual energy and Muyang's internal soul power.
After a long while, when the accumulated energy had reached its limit, the formed ice-blue solid soul power ceased devouring energy. Around the clockwise-spinning vortex of soul power, tiny black cracks began to appear.
"Collapse!"
Seeing this, Muyang shouted inwardly. In that instant, space suddenly caved in, and the ice-blue solid soul power before him completely shattered, transforming into a black hole vortex.
Within that black hole vortex, nothing but darkness could be seen, as though it would swallow everything, making it impossible to perceive anything inside.
In the very next moment, a strange sensation arose.
Muyang distinctly felt that he had formed a mysterious, inexplicable connection with this black hole vortex.
Before long, faint threads of ice-blue radiance flickered into being around the black vortex.
Gradually, these increasingly luminous strands of ice-blue light transformed into dense rippling waves of ice-blue energy that oscillated around the vortex.
Then, within the black hole vortex, an ice-blue multifaceted prism, inscribed all over with arcane patterns, condensed into existence.
"Iceflame Soul Core—formed!"
Looking at the fully condensed Iceflame Soul Core before him, Muyang nodded to himself with quiet satisfaction.
A soul master's body contained three apertures capable of housing soul cores, located at the Upper Dantian between the brows, the Middle Dantian at the chest, and the Lower Dantian at the abdomen.
In other words, a soul master could condense a maximum of three soul cores.
Moreover, the attributes of a soul core were not fixed. They could be elemental, or of other types such as spiritual or bloodline attributes.
For this first condensation, Muyang did not attempt anything excessive or complicated. He simply condensed the Iceflame Soul Core, intending to integrate it into his Lower Dantian.
As for the Middle and Upper Dantian later? That was something to consider in the future.
Steadying his emotions, Muyang drew a deep breath and began guiding the Iceflame Soul Core into his Lower Dantian.
The instant the Iceflame Soul Core fused into his body, Muyang immediately sensed a wave of pressure spreading throughout him. This pressure felt familiar—it was similar to the oppression produced when attaching a soul ring.
Clearly, aside from the demands for strong spiritual power and refined soul power control, a soul master's physical constitution was also tested during the condensation of a soul core.
Of course, this oppressive force was not strong—far from reaching Muyang's limits. It was comparable to attaching an ordinary ten-thousand-year soul ring at his current strength; hardly a challenge at all.
After all, if even someone like Muyang could not withstand the pressure generated by a soul core's fusion, then no soul master in the world would be able to successfully condense one.
The process of fusing the first soul core into the body was simple. Before long, the Iceflame Soul Core had completely fused, stably rotating clockwise within his Lower Dantian.
After carefully sensing it for some time, Muyang discovered that with the Iceflame Soul Core's ceaseless operation, the quality of his soul power—which already far surpassed that of soul masters at his level—was becoming even more refined and condensed.
Although the effects were not yet obvious due to the short time elapsed, with the passage of time, once the purification reached its limit, the results would undoubtedly be extraordinarily significant.
Beyond the improvement in soul power quality, the most immediate benefit of condensing the Iceflame Soul Core was that his soul power recovery speed had increased several times over.
And most importantly, the reason the soul core enabled rapid recovery of soul power was because its stable operation automatically absorbed heaven-and-earth spiritual energy, without requiring Muyang to deliberately circulate his meditation technique for recovery.
This meant that during battle, Muyang could continually restore his soul power. If the intensity of the combat was not too extreme, this effect could be regarded as a form of near-infinite soul power.
In contrast, his previous soul power recovery had always required the active circulation of meditation. The difference between the two methods was immediately obvious.
It could be said that condensing the soul core had greatly compensated for his previous shortcoming in the endurance of Martial Soul Fusion Techniques.
"Boom—"
Just then, from a secondary peak in the distance, a small mushroom cloud abruptly blossomed, and the violent explosion reverberated into his ears, pulling Muyang's thoughts back to reality.
Seeing this, Muyang couldn't help showing a speechless expression.
That sudden mushroom cloud was precisely the result of Shui Bing'er's failure in condensing her soul core.
Although his soul power level had surged far beyond Shui Bing'er's in recent times, Muyang's level of control over his soul power was still superior to hers. Moreover, having once consumed the immortal herb Autumn Water Dew, his spiritual strength also far surpassed Shui Bing'er's.
With these two crucial conditions combined, and with his soul power a full major rank higher, Muyang held a much greater advantage in soul core condensation.
Thus, while he had successfully condensed the Iceflame Soul Core, this did not mean Shui Bing'er could do the same—at least, not yet.
However, though Shui Bing'er's first attempt at soul core condensation had ended in failure, Muyang was not the least bit worried about her safety.
For another soul master, failure would indeed pose a mortal danger.
After all, when the condensation of a soul core failed, it most often happened when the solidified soul power was on the verge of transformation into a soul core. At that point, the solid soul power contained a vast and explosive energy, and once it lost control, the resulting detonation was powerful enough to blast a soul master to pieces.
But Shui Bing'er was different. The Ice Luan Skull she possessed carried with it two Hundred-thousand-year soul bone abilities, one of which—Ice Luan's Protection—was equivalent in effect to the Invincible Golden Body. It was sufficient to shield her from the dangers of a failed soul core condensation.
Sure enough, before the rising mushroom cloud had fully dissipated, Muyang saw Shui Bing'er, clad in her Spiritgold Battle Armor, spread her wings and soar toward him through the sky.
For additional chapters
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
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