Over the past few weeks of intensive training with the team, I had begun to notice something troubling about Baixue's combat performance. There was a significant pattern that couldn't be ignored – her combat ability declined dramatically whenever I wasn't actively assisting her with my Spirit Sharing skill. This observation led me to a disturbing realization about my own combat methodology and over-reliance on my most powerful sensory ability.
The problem was clear: I had become far too dependent on my Spirit Eye's supernatural perception abilities. In essence, I was using my martial soul as a crutch rather than developing a well-rounded combat foundation. This dependency created a critical vulnerability – if I ever found myself in a situation where my soul power was severely depleted or if I needed to conserve energy for more crucial techniques, my combat effectiveness would plummet significantly.
To understand this issue better, I began analyzing how normal humans process sensory information. For example, if an average person operating at 100% sensory capacity, approximately 40% of their environmental awareness comes from vision, 20% from hearing, 20% from tactile sensations through skin and body awareness, and the remaining 20% is distributed between smell and taste. However, when someone loses their sight, their sensory distribution adapts remarkably – a blind person typically relies 40% on hearing, 40% on tactile and spatial awareness, with the remaining 20% distributed among other enhanced senses.
In my case, I had been operating almost exclusively through vision and hearing, with my Spirit Eye providing such overwhelming sensory input that I'd never bothered to develop my other natural senses. It was as if I had been playing a video game permanently locked in third-person view, relying solely on visual and auditory inputs while completely neglecting the rich tapestry of information available through other sensory channels.
The only reason I hadn't faced any significant setbacks due to this limitation was the incredible power of my martial soul – the Herrscher's Eye of Truth. But during my recent training sessions and self-reflection, I had come to a startling realization about the true nature of my martial soul that differed significantly from what I had initially understood.
Unlike Huo Yuhao, who possessed a combination of Spirit Eye and brain as his complete martial soul, I had gradually discovered that my martial soul encompassed not just the Spirit Eye and brain, but my entire nervous system. This revelation came through careful observation of my body control and motor functions, which operated with an efficiency that seemed almost supernatural.
My ability to master complex physical movements, my precise body control, and even some of the motor skills I had developed before my martial soul awakening – all of these could be traced back to this comprehensive nervous system enhancement. It was a mysterious aspect that I was still trying to fully understand, but the implications were staggering.
According to the system's classification, I possessed the same martial soul as Huo Yuhao, but I was beginning to suspect that either Huo Yuhao had never explored this particular aspect of development, or his martial soul evolution had been deliberately guided in a different direction. His awakening of the Asura God's Eye might have been the result of Tang San's direct interference, steering his development away from the comprehensive nervous system mastery that I was discovering.
This realization brought both excitement and responsibility. If my martial soul truly encompassed my entire nervous system, the potential applications were limitless – but so was the need for proper development and understanding.
Regardless of these discoveries about my martial soul's true nature, I had identified a critical weakness in my current combat approach that needed immediate attention. Instead of relying exclusively on my Spirit Eye abilities, I needed to develop and strengthen my other senses to create a more balanced and reliable combat foundation.
However, this presented a practical dilemma. Developing other senses to a level where they could meaningfully contribute to combat effectiveness would require significant time and effort – time that could arguably be better spent honing my primary specialization. After all, why spend months developing inferior backup systems when I could continue perfecting my already overwhelming visual advantages?
After considerable deliberation, I reached a compromise solution. I would limit my use of enhanced Spirit Eye abilities to situations where I faced opponents who were genuinely superior to me in terms of raw power or skill. For routine training, sparring, and battles against opponents of similar or lesser strength, I would rely primarily on normal human vision and naturally developed senses.
But this approach created another problem – how could I accurately assess whether an opponent warranted the use of my full sensory abilities? Fortunately, the system had provided me with an invaluable tool for exactly this situation: the Mind's Eye (False) skill. This ability would allow me to sense potential threats and danger levels, helping me determine when enhanced perception was truly necessary versus when I should rely on more conventional sensory methods.
The training period ahead would be crucial for adjusting to this new approach. I needed to deliberately limit my Spirit Eye usage during practice sessions, forcing myself to develop alternative sensory strategies and combat techniques. Additionally, I had to become more proficient with my newer soul skills to maintain battle efficiency even while operating under these self-imposed limitations.
During my contemplation of these challenges and potential solutions, my thoughts naturally turned to the fundamental mechanics of soul power manipulation and how it related to combat applications. Through careful analysis and experimentation with my Spirit Eye's capabilities, I had identified exactly 361 distinct points throughout my body where soul power could be absorbed, stored, and expelled with maximum efficiency.
These weren't just random locations – they formed a complex network that seemed to correspond to major nerve junctions, blood vessel intersections, and what could only be described as energy meridians running throughout my body. The distribution was remarkably systematic, suggesting that this wasn't a unique quirk of my martial soul but rather a fundamental aspect of how soul power interacted with the human body.
The moment I recognized this specific number – 361 – a startling connection clicked into place in my mind. This was exactly the same number as the tenketsu, or chakra points, described in the Naruto series from my previous life's knowledge. The similarity couldn't be mere coincidence, and it led me to develop a fascinating theory about the relationship between soul power and chakra systems.
In the Naruto universe, chakra was described as a combination of physical energy (derived from bodily stamina and strength) and spiritual energy (derived from mental power and willpower), blended together through specific techniques to create a versatile energy source for supernatural techniques. Soul power in the Douluo universe seemed to function as a direct replacement for this chakra system, encompassing both physical and spiritual aspects while providing the energy source for martial soul abilities and cultivation advancement.
If this theoretical connection held true – and the matching number of energy points strongly suggested it did – then it might be possible to adapt certain techniques from the Naruto universe for use with soul power manipulation. This could open up entirely new categories of combat techniques and training methods that no one in this world had ever considered.
The most obvious candidate for adaptation was the Gentle Fist fighting style used by the Hyuga clan, which relied on precise chakra point manipulation to enhance combat effectiveness in both offensive and defensive applications. The style was renowned for its ability to defeat much stronger opponents through precision and technique rather than brute force.
The core principles of Gentle Fist involved timing chakra expulsion from the tenketsu points in one's hands to deflect and redirect incoming attacks, while simultaneously injecting controlled bursts of energy through an opponent's chakra points to cause internal damage and disrupt their energy flow. Applied to soul power manipulation, this could create an incredibly versatile close-combat fighting style that would complement my other abilities perfectly.
The defensive applications were particularly appealing. By timing soul power expulsion from the tenketsu points in my hands at the exact moment of contact with an opponent's attack, I could potentially redirect their force while simultaneously launching a counterattack. This would allow me to deal with physically stronger opponents without having to match their raw power.
More advanced offensive applications would involve injecting my soul power directly into an opponent's energy circulation system, potentially disrupting their martial soul abilities or causing internal damage without relying on external force. This could be particularly effective against opponents with strong defensive abilities or those who relied heavily on their martial soul techniques.
But as I considered these exciting possibilities, I realized there were even more fundamental techniques I should master first. In the Naruto series, basic chakra control exercises included tree walking and water walking – techniques that required precise energy manipulation to achieve seemingly impossible feats that served as foundations for more advanced applications.
Tree walking involved channeling chakra to the soles of one's feet to create adhesion strong enough to walk up vertical surfaces. The technique required precise control to maintain the right amount of energy flow – too little and you would fall, too much and you would damage the surface or launch yourself away from it. Water walking required even finer control to maintain surface tension across liquid surfaces without either sinking through or creating too much disturbance.
These exercises were considered foundational training for any serious ninja because they developed the precise control necessary for more advanced techniques. They also served as excellent measures of someone's overall chakra control abilities – mastering both techniques indicated that a person had achieved the basic level of energy manipulation necessary for more complex applications.
The fact that I had never attempted to replicate these basic exercises with soul power was almost embarrassing given how long I had been in this world and how much I had learned about cultivation and energy manipulation. If my theory about the similarity between chakra and soul power systems was correct, then mastering these fundamental control techniques should be entirely possible and would provide an excellent foundation for more advanced applications.
I decided to begin experimenting with these concepts immediately, starting with the simpler tree walking exercise. The basic principle seemed straightforward – I just needed to focus soul power into the tenketsu points at the soles of my feet and attempt to create enough adhesive force to support my body weight against vertical surfaces.
However, I suspected that the actual execution would be much more challenging than the theory suggested. Controlling soul power with that level of precision while maintaining balance and movement would require practice and patience. I would need to start with shallow angles and gradually work up to truly vertical surfaces as my control improved.
Water walking would be significantly more challenging, requiring not just energy projection but incredibly precise control to maintain the delicate balance necessary to stay on the surface without either sinking or creating too much disturbance. Success with this technique would demonstrate a level of soul power control that few soul masters in this world had ever achieved.
Beyond these basic exercises, I could envision developing numerous advanced applications that would dramatically expand my combat capabilities. Imagine being able to walk on walls or ceilings during combat, completely changing the three-dimensional dynamics of any fight and providing tactical advantages that most opponents would never expect or know how to counter.
Or consider the stealth applications – being able to cross bodies of water silently without boats or swimming, approaching enemies from completely unexpected angles, or moving through terrain that would normally be impossible to traverse quietly.
More direct combat-oriented applications could include using precise soul power control to enhance my physical movements in ways that didn't require my martial soul's more energy-intensive abilities. I could channel energy through specific tenketsu points to dramatically increase the power of punches and kicks, or use controlled expulsion to create short-range projectile attacks that would be nearly impossible for opponents to predict or counter.
The Gentle Fist adaptation could become a signature fighting style that complemented my Spirit Eye abilities perfectly while also providing effective combat options when I needed to conserve soul power. While my enhanced vision allowed me to perceive my opponents' energy flow and identify weak points with supernatural accuracy, the Gentle Fist techniques would provide the precise methods to exploit those weaknesses effectively without relying on overwhelming force.
As I developed these ideas further, I began considering how this approach might benefit my teammates as well. If I could master these soul power control techniques and understand the underlying principles thoroughly, I might be able to teach simplified versions to Baixue and the others. This would give them additional combat options that didn't rely entirely on their martial soul abilities, which would be particularly valuable during extended battles where soul power conservation became critical for survival.
The training regimen I was designing for myself became increasingly complex and ambitious as these ideas continued to develop and interconnect. I would need to practice operating with limited sensory input to develop natural awareness, master basic soul power control exercises like tree and water walking, develop and refine the Gentle Fist fighting style adaptation, and then integrate all of these elements smoothly with my existing Spirit Eye abilities and martial soul techniques.
It was an incredibly ambitious plan that would require months or possibly years of dedicated training to fully implement. But the potential benefits were enormous and could fundamentally change not just my own combat capabilities, but potentially revolutionize how soul masters in this world approached training and combat technique development.
By developing this comprehensive, multi-layered approach to combat, I would become far more versatile and significantly less dependent on any single ability or technique. Even if my Spirit Eye abilities were somehow compromised, sealed, or if I needed to conserve soul power for crucial moments in extended battles, I would still possess multiple effective combat options that could handle a wide variety of opponents and situations.