"Whoa, it's a Dragon Pill…"
Xu Cheng couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.
In the original novel, Mu En entrusted this to Long Xiaoyao before his death, instructing him to pass it on to Huo Gua. It laid the foundation for Huo Gua's late-stage power surge.
The Dragon Pill—according to Snow Empress—is quite literally "the pill of a dragon."
As the name suggests, it condenses the essence of a true dragon. But perhaps to prevent the power boost from being too over-the-top, the original only mentioned that absorbing it would drastically increase one's physical defense, on par with a true soul beast.
However, being something that contains the life essence of a dragon, it naturally holds immense energy. Accelerating soul power cultivation is just the most basic effect; with enough intent, it could even mutate one's martial soul and evolve it toward a dragon form.
So why is it said that this Dragon Pill marked the beginning of Huo Gua's meteoric rise?
Was it because of the epic-level enhancement to his body?
Exactly.
Which brings us to the concept of the soul core.
According to Douluo Soul Master theory, an ordinary person's soul power is in a gaseous state—this is the base, the lowest tier. When a soul master reaches the Soul Douluo stage, their soul power transitions from gas to liquid, allowing more soul power to be stored in the body.
As one advances from Soul Douluo to Title Douluo, they must condense a soul core, which is when that liquid transforms toward a solid state. Once the core forms, they advance to Title Douluo.
There's a cap on how much soul power can be stored, but changing its form lets a soul master contain much more.
However, during the transformation from liquid to solid, a huge amount of energy is released. This energy surge is one of the biggest challenges for soul masters trying to ascend to Title Douluo. Even if the transformation fails, just enduring that energy release is something the average body can't handle.
Here's an important point—the stronger the spiritual power, the higher the success rate in advancing to Title Douluo. There are even cases of spiritual-type soul masters who, upon reaching Title Douluo, are said to instantly approach the Super Douluo level (as confirmed by Xuan Zi).
Thanks to the Dragon Pill, Huo Gua successfully condensed his first soul core at the Soul Sage stage, leading to a massive surge in cultivation speed. Later, thanks to the Dragon Pill serving as a safety net, he even created yin-yang dual soul cores—the same setup as Di Tian.
And not just ordinary soul cores—they were black hole-level soul cores.
Let's clarify this concept:
Even among Limit Douluos, strength varies.
The reason lies here.
According to the original novel, there are only two ways to become a Limit Douluo. First, by forming dual soul cores. Mu En, Ye Xishui, and Long Xiaoyao all followed this path, forming one soul core when becoming a Title Douluo, and a second when becoming a Limit Douluo. So, forming the second soul core is as difficult as breaking into the Limit Douluo stage.
Second, after forming the first soul core, one could instead evolve it into a black hole soul core. If even just one-tenth of one's soul power is converted into a black hole, they can ascend to Limit Douluo.
A black hole is a top-tier soul core manifestation. It causes spatial collapse by drawing in soul power, forming a black hole. Theoretically, it can store infinite soul power.
Now things are clear.
Other Limit Douluos with dual soul cores possess regular-level ones, which have fixed upper limits. But Di Tian not only had dual cores—they were both black hole-level, and with his ancient age and long years of accumulation, it's no wonder he was indisputably the strongest on the continent.
And Huo Gua? He formed his first soul core at the Soul Sage stage—and it was black hole-level!!!
Now you understand just how insane Huo Gua's cheat was, right?
Simply put, without the Dragon Pill, there's no way he could have formed a soul core at the Soul Sage stage, let alone an abnormal one at the black hole level.
Of course, condensing a black hole core requires monstrous spiritual power, but also a freakishly strong body as a foundation…
"It's a Dragon Pill?!!"
The strange aura of the Dragon Pill also startled the others within the Sea of Spirit.
Tianmeng condensed into his mini form and flew circles around the Dragon Pill in Xu Cheng's hand, eyes full of awe.
"Such a pure Dragon Pill… Even in the world I came from, it would've been considered extremely rare," Electrolux said with emotion.
"Prepare yourselves. I need to break through to Soul Sage and start condensing a soul core," Xu Cheng muttered.
"Soul core?" Bing Di asked in surprise. "Ah Cheng, isn't it a bit too early for that? Trying to form a soul core at the Soul Sage stage… That's harder than ascending to the heavens."
As one of the Three Great Kings of the Extreme North, she had naturally formed a single soul core, but dual cores were still far beyond reach.
"Yeah, Ah Cheng," Tianmeng Ice Silkworm added. "If it were you, the ideal situation would be to wait until you break through to Title Douluo and condense dual soul cores in one go. Then you'd be set to break into the Limit Douluo stage—and after that, transforming them into black hole cores would put godhood within reach."
"Heh, with the Dragon Pill, my body is already at least at the level of a Title Douluo. And my spiritual strength has long surpassed the Title Douluo stage. So forming a soul core won't be hard. The real challenge… will be condensing the second core when I become a Title Douluo. That will be as hard as breaking into Limit Douluo…"
Xu Cheng chuckled.
"All these little monsters have caught up. I'm still just a Soul Emperor. If I don't bring out some real trump cards, I'll end up being the one relying on them to survive, won't I?"
In recent days, Wang Qiu'er had shown signs of restlessness.
Maybe she was getting rebellious, maybe it was something else—either way, she was starting to act like she didn't want to be controlled.
The others weren't much better. Meng Hongchen, Tang Ya, and the like were on the verge of advancing to Soul Emperor, and even Ning Tian was giving him that "you're a lamb to be devoured" look.
It was as if he were surrounded by wolves. They were eyeing his body, not just with intent, but ready to take it by force?
Every one of them wanted to be on top.
Sure, being on the receiving end, cough cough, has its sort of thrill, but how could Xu Cheng be willing to be the one beneath?
If he didn't show some overwhelming strength, he might get ganged up on by those little girls.
"…I didn't expect you to understand the use of the Dragon Pill," Bing Di said with a sigh.
Her first impression of Xu Cheng had always been that he handled things with a calm, calculated manner, like one of those cunning old human schemers. A little fox.
Back then, her attitude toward Xu Cheng had simply been that of "two grasshoppers tied to the same rope." Nothing more. But as she witnessed him develop the artificial soul ring, as a soul beast, she came to understand the deeper meaning behind his initial words: "Trust me."
He wasn't just making empty promises. He meant it—and he acted on it.
He was sincere with his people, ruthless to his enemies. That, in itself, was a kind of personal charm…
"Oh, right, there's one more item."
Xu Cheng grinned and lightly brushed his storage ring. A long handle materialized in his hand, and an intense aura of slaughter immediately surged out.
"The second item: a fragment of the Rakshasa Demon Scythe."
(End of Chapter)