Douluo: In an extraordinary world, with unparallel understanding!

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Su Yu had already tested the effects of the power of faith.

The reward of 10,000 points of faith energy from the first trial had been partially utilized. Su Yu spent a total of 3,000 points, with 2,000 of them specifically used to increase the age of his spirit rings.

According to Elder Yi's estimation, when the power of faith is used proficiently and to its maximum effect, a single point can increase the age of a spirit ring by approximately two years.

Now, with the second trial rewarding him with an additional 50,000 points of faith energy—plus the 4,000 or so points he gained in the Soul Burial Valley—Su Yu currently had over 60,000 points remaining.

This was more than enough to raise any one of his first four spirit rings to the 100,000-year level! Naturally, Su Yu chose to upgrade his fourth spirit ring.

He activated the power of faith, infusing it into his fourth spirit ring, nurturing its spirituality.

"Brother Yu, that white flame you used back then was incredible! It's practically a nemesis for evil spirit masters!"

Huo Yuhao recalled the pure white flames and their terrifying purifying ability. It seemed as though the flames were specifically designed to counter evil spirit masters.

Su Yu himself wasn't entirely sure how to explain the existence of necromantic magic.

Fortunately, Huo Yuhao was quick to draw his own conclusions.

"Brother Yu, how exactly do you train your soul skills?"

The Skydream Iceworm and Ice Empress, having witnessed Su Yu's purifying fire, persistently urged Huo Yuhao within his spiritual sea to learn Su Yu's methods for cultivating soul skills.

From Su Yu's past demonstrations, it was clear that many of his training methods weren't strictly tailored to himself. Instead, they followed a structured process that revealed the core principles of cultivation, ultimately forming a complete system.

This was precisely why the Skydream Iceworm and Ice Empress kept pressuring Huo Yuhao.

Even though Su Yu's extraordinary vitality and purifying soul skills were unique and couldn't be replicated by Huo Yuhao, the young spirit master could still learn Su Yu's approach to developing soul skills and refine his own techniques.

"Soul skill development?"

Su Yu quickly understood Huo Yuhao's intent. Clearly, Huo Yuhao had linked Su Yu's purifying fire to the broader concept of soul skill creation.

To be fair, this connection wasn't entirely wrong.

When Su Yu had used the purifying fire, it was an extension of his second soul skill, the power of purification.

Even though it was Su Yu's first time utilizing the purifying fire as necromantic magic, his prior insights into the power of purification—gained during the development of the Purifying Blade of Life—had laid the groundwork.

Later, further refinement of his second soul skill allowed him to seamlessly merge it with the purifying fire while in the Soul Burial Valley.

Thus, calling it a product of his soul skill development techniques wasn't incorrect.

In fact, Su Yu had a wealth of unique techniques and experience when it came to developing soul skills.

Huo Yuhao wanted to learn?

Su Yu didn't refuse, but he needed to see how the boy performed.

So far, Huo Yuhao hadn't contributed much to the Sun Moon Empire or the Mingde Hall—he was simply reaping the benefits.

In fact, just recently, Su Yu had even helped Huo Yuhao take advantage of the blessings from the God of Life.

If Huo Yuhao didn't show some effort, Su Yu couldn't justify investing more resources into him.

After all, if the investment failed, it would be a huge waste.

Especially since Su Yu knew all too well that Huo Yun'er was still in Tang San's hands.

That was practically a trump card!

The fact that the God King himself hadn't yet taken any drastic action against Su Yu likely had to do with Huo Yun'er's captivity.

"Developing soul skills? I can only say that the first step is mastering your own soul skills. If you can't deeply comprehend your existing soul skills, there's no point in talking about further development.

Start by practicing your own soul skills. When you can fully unleash the power of a soul skill without relying on a soul ring, you'll have reached the beginner's level."

"What?" Huo Yuhao exclaimed in shock.

Just reaching the beginner's level was already this difficult?

From the sound of it, Su Yu's method of developing soul skills seemed incredibly challenging.

Not relying on a soul ring didn't mean using a soul skill while the soul ring was visible. It meant completely relying on one's own control over soul power and spiritual power to unleash the skill's full potential.

This was no simple task.

Huo Yuhao's surprise wasn't merely because this approach defied common sense.

In the world of Douluo Continent, soul masters trained in a strictly conventional manner, with very few innovations. Genuine self-created soul skills were extremely rare.

When it came to utilizing soul skills, few explored such seemingly thankless directions. Naturally, these paths were seldom attempted.

And what was rarely attempted was often deemed impossible.

It was an entrenched way of thinking that no one seemed willing to challenge.

But beyond this, what shocked Huo Yuhao the most was how difficult Su Yu's requirements were.

Soul skills weren't just about the flow of soul power and spiritual power; they also involved the techniques used to unleash their power.

Achieving this required both insight and skill.

When soul power flows, a soul master's will controls the state of its activation. Sometimes, invoking a soul skill even requires tapping into certain rules of the world.

The soul skills granted by soul rings weren't as straightforward as the clear patterns found in a soul tool's core formation arrays.

Most of them had been simplified during the creation process, with key points in the flow of soul power linking directly to the rules of the world to trigger their effects.

This meant that to use a soul skill without relying on a soul ring, one would first need to recreate these key points manually. This required replicating the effects through the precise operation of soul power and spiritual power while integrating these into the overall flow of the soul skill.

Alternatively, one could achieve this by directly comprehending and connecting to those rules at the critical points.

Either way, fully reproducing a soul skill and using it without the aid of a soul ring was exceptionally difficult.

Su Yu had his own unique advantages that allowed him to achieve this. While Huo Yuhao also had his own "cheats," they didn't extend to this aspect.

That said, Huo Yuhao wasn't someone who gave up easily.

Since Su Yu had laid out the challenge, Huo Yuhao resolved to give it his best shot.

Why go through all this trouble to comprehend and unleash a soul skill on your own when the soul ring could do it for you?

If he hadn't seen the effects of Su Yu's purifying fire, Huo Yuhao might have dismissed the idea outright. But knowing it was effective meant the effort wasn't entirely without value.

Even so, considering the cost-benefit ratio, he wasn't going to bet everything on soul skill development.

After all, even without developing new skills, he would never lack soul skills. With two martial souls, he could potentially gain at least eighteen soul skills, giving him a far larger repertoire than Su Yu.

The two didn't return to Mingdu.

After making such a significant move in the Soul Burial Valley, returning to Mingdu for a few days and then disappearing again would only arouse suspicion.

What Su Yu didn't know was that Scorpion Tiger Douluo had classified the incident as an attack and pinned the blame on the three Douluo Kingdoms.

"Brother Yu, we're almost at the Heavenly Soul Empire," Huo Yuhao said.

On his earlier solo journey to the Extreme North, Huo Yuhao had passed through the Heavenly Soul Empire. However, since he was in a hurry, he hadn't stopped to explore.

Now, traveling with Su Yu, they crossed the border and arrived at Tianjia City. Huo Yuhao marveled at the sights like a curious child.

That said, Tianjia City wasn't nearly as prosperous as Mingdu, and after a brief moment of amazement, Huo Yuhao quickly adjusted.

The state of martial law that Su Yu had seen during his last departure from Tianjia City was no longer in effect.

However, Su Yu once again felt an unsettling presence.

Unlike the intense feeling from last time, this time the discomfort only became apparent after entering the city—a nauseating aura lingering in the air.

*"Third Trial: Investigate and stop the Holy Spirit Cult's Corruption Plan. Reward: One God-bestowed Soul Ring."*

The message from the God of Life echoed in Su Yu's mind.