Chapter 7: The Limit
Left-Right Mutual Combat Technique, from Jin Yong's martial arts novels. Those who have mastered it can make different moves simultaneously with their left and right hands.
The first thing Quan Yi thought of was this technique.
Right now, Quan Yi was able to do the simplest form of splitting his focus into two, and this was all thanks to the Gauntlet Martial Soul.
"You must have already sensed it. This is the special trait of our family's martial soul. Although our family's martial soul doesn't have an advantage in attack power, defense, and so on, it does have its unique function," Quan Yue began explaining the special role of the Gauntlet Martial Soul.
"You should also know about our Quan family's other martial soul — the White Glove. And our Black Iron Gauntlet Martial Soul is a variant that mutated from the White Glove Martial Soul."
"The White Glove Martial Soul, as a type of Tool Martial Soul, belongs to the support category. It has neither attack power nor defense."
"But the White Glove Martial Soul makes people dexterous and skillful with their hands. Because of this, our Quan family can create all kinds of exquisite handicrafts, which is also one of our main businesses."
"Although your martial soul mutated, it still retained this advantage."
Quan Yue paused, looked closely into Quan Yi's eyes, and solemnly said: "But this trait isn't just for making handicrafts. Its real value is shown in combat. Simply put, it gives you an extra hand and an extra mind. That's why we later called it — Divided Focus."
At once, Quan Yi understood Quan Yue's point. Normally, people in combat have a dominant hand, while the other hand is relatively weaker. But Divided Focus allows the other hand's abilities to match the dominant hand.
Not only that, the two hands can each perform different moves. When facing someone with Divided Focus, it feels like fighting two people at once.
To think that this realm could be achieved with just a martial soul alone… The world of martial souls was deeper than Quan Yi had imagined.
Quan Yue didn't expect Quan Yi to fully understand immediately; he knew Quan Yi would figure it out during future training. Bringing up this topic now was to remind Quan Yi to explore his martial soul's traits more deeply.
Because only by doing this could he choose soul rings that truly fit him. They gathered in the basement to study Quan Yi's martial soul carefully, all so that Quan Yi could gain a deeper understanding of it.
Many soul masters don't study their own martial souls deeply, which often leads to them adding soul rings whose attributes conflict with their martial soul. This all comes from not understanding their own martial soul.
Family clans of soul masters have an advantage in this regard. Roughly calculated, the combined experience of two generations of soul masters adds up to more than fifty years. Then the third generation can directly benefit from these fifty-plus years of accumulated experience.
Although the Gauntlet Martial Soul had only been inherited for three generations, it had already accumulated a huge amount of experience. Knowledge about its traits, combat methods, suitable soul rings... Talent is, of course, very important, but so is the inheritance of knowledge and experience.
And now was when the family's advantage could truly show. Quan Yue and Su Ling'er's experiences in their respective fields were all becoming nourishment for Quan Yi, helping him grow strong and healthy.
"Xiao Yi, have you thought about a name for your martial soul?" Su Ling'er asked.
"Mm, I have. I'll call it Fiery Sun Gauntlet." The name was simple, combining the Fiery Sun Lion and the Black Iron Gauntlet, symbolizing the inheritance from both martial souls.
"Not bad." Quan Yue asked Quan Yi: "Now that you've named it, you should also decide your development path yourself."
In the growth of every soul master, due to factors like martial soul traits and soul ring skills, they naturally develop into different categories.
Like Power Attack, Support, Control, and so on. Just like professional specialization in the previous world, this naturally emerged as soul master society developed.
After thinking for a moment, Quan Yi quickly had his answer.
"I choose the Power Attack category," Quan Yi answered firmly.
With such a powerful martial soul, and with both parents being Power Attack type soul masters, if he still didn't know which to choose, then all his years of studying would have been for nothing.
Now that his development path was set, the choice of the first soul ring became especially important.
Quan Yi had outstanding talent, so he couldn't just casually pick any soul ring.
The first soul ring needed to meet the following conditions.
First, it had to be a fire-attribute soul ring, to fully use the advantage of the Fiery Sun Gauntlet as a top-grade fire-attribute martial soul.
Second, the soul ring skill must fit the requirements of the Power Attack category; it couldn't be a support-type skill.
The couple was currently troubled by this matter. Quan Yue didn't have a solution yet, so he wanted to ask Quan Yi's thoughts first.
"Xiao Yi, have you thought about what kind of first soul ring you want?"
Quan Yi lowered his head and thought for a moment, then quickly looked up, determination flashing in his eyes as if he had made a decision in his heart. Staring straight at Quan Yue, he replied:
"Father, regarding the first soul ring, I've checked a lot of information. The most suitable soul beast should be one that combines both strength and fire attributes. And the higher the soul beast's age, the better."
For the past four years, Quan Yi had been gathering information about such soul beasts, always thinking about his first soul ring.
Besides thinking about what kind of soul skill would suit him, Quan Yi often pondered the soul ring itself.
Soul rings come from soul beasts; they are the condensed power of soul beasts. And only the person who personally kills the soul beast can absorb its soul ring.
Soul rings have many uses. First, they provide a soul skill; second, they strengthen the martial soul; finally, they enhance the body's attributes.
Normally, people focus only on the first two points, but Quan Yi was different — he valued the last point even more.
The better the body's physical condition, the greater the soul power it can withstand. So if, when absorbing a soul ring, he could absorb one with higher age and quality, wouldn't that boost his body even more?
The faster his body improved, the higher the soul ring age he could withstand, forming a virtuous cycle.
Therefore, his four years of physical training weren't just for awakening innate soul power.
Training hard was also so he could absorb a higher age soul ring.
According to the records of Douluo Continent, the current limit for the first soul ring that could be withstood was 423 years. After that, no one had ever broken this limit.
That number seemed like an uncrossable red line, blocking all soul masters from moving further.
Quan Yi felt disdain toward this so-called limit. Over the past four years, he had broken his physical limits countless times.
What's called a limit is merely a restriction you place on yourself.
Quan Yi rationally analyzed all his current conditions and realized that he already far surpassed the recorded person.
With extremely strong physical fitness, a top-grade martial soul, innate full soul power, plus fire immunity, Quan Yi had great advantages. He could absorb a higher age fire-attribute soul beast's soul ring.
Therefore, he didn't want to waste the precious first soul ring slot.
"I want to absorb a soul ring over five hundred years old!"
In Quan Yi's eyes, it seemed as if a flame was burning. The patterns on the Fiery Sun Gauntlet also appeared to turn an even deeper red.
(End of Chapter)