When Yang Xiong heard his father's words, he couldn't help but feel a bit helpless. That's just how things were within the sect, there were all sorts of rules and restrictions when it came to nurturing children, especially those with outstanding talent, who were held to even higher standards.
Recently, Yang Xiong had been researching information about spirit masters and the awakening process of martial souls. Based on statistics within the spirit master world, there were approximately 100,000 spirit masters in total, more than 70% of whom were below the rank of Spirit King. The distribution formed a typical pyramid structure.
Among them, the proportions of Spirit Masters, Grand Spirit Masters, and Spirit Elders were roughly the same. Anyone who awakened with an innate soul power level unless it was something pitiful like a half-level could generally cultivate to the Spirit Elder realm. The only difference was how long it would take.
However, starting from the Spirit Ancestor rank, the number of individuals declined sharply. With each advancement in rank, the number of spirit masters would drop dramatically shrinking by several times each stage. At the same time, the rarity of high-level ranks made them proportionally more significant.
For example, within the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, there were an estimated 5,000 spirit masters. But only two had reached the rank of Titled Douluo, a little over twenty had reached Spirit Douluo, and over a hundred had become Spirit Saints.
Don't underestimate his father just because he was a Spirit King. Even though he served as an outer sect deacon, he didn't have too many responsibilities unless a special mission came up. Most of the time, he could rest for nearly half the year.
If a Spirit King went outside the sect, he could easily become the lord of a small city or lead a senior-level spirit master academy team.
As for innate soul power levels at awakening, there were likely fewer than five people in the entire sect who reached level seven. As for those who exceeded level seven, there might be one or two, but that would be rare and only counted on a per-year basis.
Just then, Yang Lin continued, "Xiao Xiong, I have good news. The young lady of our sect just awakened with level nine innate soul power. She's one of the highest recorded for our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul in history."
Yang Xiong replied, somewhat confused, "What does that have to do with anything? The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda may be powerful in support, but it has an innate flaw, it can only reach a maximum of level seventy-nine soul power."
Yang Lin sighed, "Exactly. That's the greatest limitation of our sect. Otherwise, with the Pagoda's powerful support capabilities, we could rival even the Clear Sky Sect."
Yang Xiong said nothing.
That afternoon, under his father's guidance, Yang Xiong began his first meditation session.
Meditation was the act of clearing one's mind, allowing innate soul power to begin circulating through the body, thereby absorbing the same-type energy from the surrounding air.
The meditation methods throughout the Douluo Continent were mostly the same, with only slight differences in the internal energy flow paths. Because martial souls and physical constitutions varied from person to person, each would eventually develop a unique flow pattern.
The foundation of all this, however, was innate soul power. The higher one's innate soul power level, the faster the soul power circulated during meditation. Likewise, higher-quality martial souls allowed for broader energy channels in the body. Typically, a person's innate soul power level and martial soul quality were roughly in sync.
This is why sects became increasingly powerful, they not only had complete training systems but also developed methods to refine their strongest martial souls. Additionally, martial soul inheritance and quality tended to be more stable in sect families.
By comparison, body martial souls had no fixed attribute. They could absorb all types of energy from the air, which was both an advantage and a drawback. The energy in the air was chaotic and noisy, making early-stage cultivation with a body martial soul especially difficult.
Another major flaw of body martial souls was their inability to be summoned visibly like other martial souls.
On the Douluo Continent, whether it was tool-type or beast-type martial souls, they could all be summoned. During meditation, a spirit master could gradually synchronize their energy flow with the form of their martial soul. When a spirit master reached level ninety-nine, their body and martial soul could achieve perfect fusion.
But body martial souls were different. Because they couldn't be summoned or externalized, early cultivation was extremely difficult and relied entirely on constant physical training. It's worth noting that the current cultivation methods were far inferior to those thousands of years in the future, especially since there were no known spiritual cultivation techniques available on the continent yet.
After meditating the entire afternoon, Yang Xiong felt only the slightest increase in his soul power. The progress was minimal and hardly worthy of someone with a level six innate soul power, considered a genius by most standards.
During dinner, Yang Lin asked, "Xiao Xiong, today was your first meditation session. How did it go?"
Yang Xiong carefully reflected on the afternoon and replied, "Father, the results were quite poor. My soul power increased only a little. Maybe it's due to the limitations of my martial soul."
His mother, Sun Yu, comforted him, "Xiao Xiong, I was the same when I started meditating. It felt like my body and martial soul weren't in sync at all. But once you get used to it, things improve bit by bit."
Yang Xiong smiled and said, "Mom, starting tomorrow, I plan to focus more on physical training during the day, studying and exercising. I'll leave meditation for the evenings."
Yang Lin was a little confused. "While it's true that physical strength matters for spirit masters, soul power is the foundation. Training does help, but it's more efficient to focus your time on meditation, especially since your innate soul power is level six."
Yang Xiong responded, "Father, I have my own training plan. Please trust me, I believe I'll adjust quickly. By the way, doesn't our sect offer medicinal baths? Could you help me register for one?"
Yang Lin looked even more puzzled. "Yes, our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is wealthy enough to provide medicinal baths to all disciples. But usually, they're only given to those who are at least twelve years old or have reached the Grand Spirit Master level. Although the baths enhance physical fitness and aid cultivation, they can be risky for younger children whose bodies aren't fully developed, they might even hinder future growth."
Yang Xiong quickly replied, "Father, my martial soul is unique. I want to start the medicinal baths early in hopes of stimulating its growth."
Though still a bit unsure, Yang Lin eventually agreed. "Very well. As long as you're confident in your training plan, that's what matters. The materials for the bath are precious, but it's nothing to our sect, we're the largest herbal supplier on the entire continent."
The rest of the family wasn't surprised by Yang Xiong's request. He had always been a remarkably independent and self-disciplined child. Everything he did was thought-out and orderly, he was mature beyond his years.
Suddenly, Yang Lin remembered something. "Oh, right, Xiao Xiong Aunt Li's son is already twenty. He used to work in the patrol team for a while. I've arranged for him to help take care of you. Since you'll be going to and from school every day, six is still too young to be alone."
"If you're planning to train your body as well, it's safer to have someone watching over you. I know you don't like being waited on, but sometimes it's necessary to have someone by your side, to ensure your safety at the very least."
Yang Xiong nodded helplessly.
In truth, by Douluo Continent standards, Yang Xiong's family was quite well-off. Both his parents were spirit masters and served as outer sect deacons in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. The sect provided generous salaries and numerous benefits.
Aunt Li, for instance, was the family's hired housekeeper, responsible for cooking, cleaning, and other chores. After all, it wouldn't make sense for spirit masters to waste time on such trivial matters better to use that time for meditation.
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