‘What?’ This explanation made sense, but it confused Dyon beyond belief. ‘In this kind of environment, how could the Soul Path lose to the Energy Path?’
‘That’s obvious. The Soul Path has never been able to effectively translate their soul strength into battle prowess. I have no doubt that soon after your soul unseals, it will advance by leaps and bounds into the dao levels. But, I also have no doubt that even then, you would be no match for true dao formation experts. If you tried to fight, you’d die without leaving a corpse behind.’
‘I don’t believe it’s so simple.’ Dyon’s frown deepened. ‘Maybe in one on one combat, a soul cultivator would be looked down upon, but in war, I dare to say that no one is more effective than a soul cultivator. Everything from pills for recovery, to weapons for fighting efficiency, to formations for battles of attrition, soul cultivators are unmatched in all of these aspects.’
‘You’re too naïve. Not every soul cultivator is lucky enough to be gifted the [Dao of Array Alchemy] like you were, and even if they were, the formations you’re talking about were things you learned from the second trial world, no? Haven’t you noticed that large scales formations are rare in this day and age? It’s a lost art.
‘Something like using the feng shui of your surroundings to construct and power large scale formations is a feat that only the most ancient clans can do. And, even they can only maintain the formations they had from long ago, having lost the ability to construct new ones.
‘Also, don’t you find it odd that this quadrant is being controlled by others behind the scenes? Obviously this wasn’t a fair a war.’
‘Are you trying to say that this has something to do with the ban on Array Alchemy?’
‘That’s very likely the case. Such an accumulation of soul talent would definitely be a threat. Even with the general consensus being that formation theory and alchemy should be kept separate, it was only a matter of time before someone became curious enough to test it.
‘Obviously, there’s no such ban on array alchemy in the transcendent world because those who’ve lived for millions of years aren’t so easily manipulated. Instead, there was just immediate all out war between the Chaos and Balanced Paths.’
‘Alright… But if this quadrant was once known for its soul talent, how did everyone somehow forget that?’
‘It’s not that they forgot, everyone with enough power either learns of it or remembers it. It’s just that they receive benefits from the current situation in this quadrant.
‘There was a time where this quadrant was ranked into the top 20. It wasn’t any higher because ranks were mostly fought for through combat, and for obvious reasons, a soul-based quadrant was weak in that aspect.
‘However, after the Energy Path won, they no longer had the talent to sustain their ranking and continuously fell into disgrace.
‘The vicious cycle continued because those with exceptional soul talent were taken away while only those who willingly crippled themselves or didn’t have soul talent were able to continue living a normal life.’
Dyon didn’t like where this was going. He understood why the Dragon King and Zabia would think he would go and do something stupid now.
Although having cultivation talent didn’t necessarily mean that you would have good soul talent, having good soul talent almost guaranteed having good cultivation talent. Dyon was an exception only because his energy and body cultivation talent were sealed away, if not for that, how could his cultivation talent have been so poor before? Dyon didn’t doubt that his original set of meridians were at least of the third grade, if not better.
The soul was capable of helping comprehension to varying degrees. Obviously someone with high levels of comprehension would also have high cultivation talent, and even in the cases where this talent was lacking, comprehension abilities could make up for it.
A person with high soul talent, but a poor meridian grade, could cultivate with the effectiveness of someone two to even three grades above them. Meaning, that girl that was taken away for her soul talent, even though she only had fifth grade meridians, could cultivate with the effectiveness of a person with third grade meridians at the very least. This was the benefit of soul talent.
So, if all those with soul talent were being taken away, that meant that all the true talents were either gone or were forced to cripple themselves at an early age. On top of that, without the resources of a high ranked quadrant, nor the benefit of using those soul talented individuals as alchemists, there was no method of repairing those crippled souls here. In fact, the level of pill needed to heal someone with an injured soul was unfathomable and the requirements increase depending on the talent level of the soul.
If it wasn’t for Amphorae, Dyon’s soul was still be unrepairable. Even though Zabia’s soul was healed with a master level pill, Dyon’s soul was so far and away more talented that even a comet level pill, even by the standards of his grand teacher, wouldn’t be enough.
‘Stop beating around the bush, Old Lizard. What is happening here?’
‘There are very few mystic level techniques in this plane, but one among them was a core teaching of the former Soul Rending Peak of this quadrant. That sect was nothing like what’s it’s become today, it once had the ability hold its head high even among the best sects in existence.
‘However, that mystic technique was very evil. So, although it increased the prestige of the sect, it was banned from being put into practice and only acted as reference for cultivation due to its profundity.
‘This technique allows one to integrate the soul of another, making all of their experiences your own and even allowing you to absorb their soul cultivation to increase yours. The limitation of this technique was that those with weak soul talent wouldn’t survive the process, thus making what you could gain from their soul very limited.
‘As you might have guessed by now, those with soul talent aren’t killed. Instead, they’re brought to Soul Market where they’re groomed. Most focus on learning a single technique for years, practicing it over and over again until perfection…
‘Then, once they’ve reached their full potential, they’re then ranked according to the usefulness of their soul.
‘Sometimes they’re auctioned. Sometimes they’re bought out right. But in the end, the result is the same. Their souls are devoured for the knowledge it holds, and they become human vegetables. Without purpose, without will, and barely with life.
‘Their bodies are then refined down into pills to be consumed to benefit from their energy and body cultivation, thus leaving behind no loose ends.’