Rebirth: Supreme Soul Master

Above the Spirit Mud stage are, in order, the Spirit Formation stage, Foundation Establishment stage, Expansion stage, Strengthening stage, Enhancement stage, Evolution stage, Purification stage, Advancement stage, Illusion stage, and finally, the Legendary stage, which is the spiritual enhancement stage.

Even those considered geniuses in this world are mostly at the Foundation Establishment stage. With each increase in soul power, the martial soul also improves, entering a higher realm.

However, if that's the case, then the ultimate stage that any Soul Master in this world can reach is limited to the Martial Soul Enhancement stage, or at most the Martial Soul Evolution stage.

To surpass one's previous strength, one needs to reach a higher level. To have a chance to fight the Nine-Tailed Fox, one must at least reach the Spirit Advancement stage.

However, improving his spiritual cultivation techniques wasn't a major issue for him. The main problem lay in the path he had chosen. Once a Soul Master had chosen the path of their future soul body, it was impossible to change it easily.

Even someone as naturally gifted as Berry has the opportunity to cultivate to the peak. However, their choices are limited by their innate spirituality.

Nevertheless, the Soul Masters here would consider Mud Aspect Soul Masters weak and unsuccessful. But William knew that from the outside, they were lucky. They had paved all the paths for their own spiritual development, unrestricted by their inherited spirituality.

In contrast, people like Berry would face limitations. For example, even though she possesses twin martial souls, she cannot fuse with earth-type, water-type, or ice-type demon spirits.

Both of her martial souls are fire-type. Earth-type demon spirits would hinder the ferocity and brutality of her fire spirits. As for how water-type and ice-type demon spirits react with fire, that's common knowledge.

Her only options were fire, light, dark, and lightning-type spirits. It's important to know that fire-type spirits are common, while the other types are extremely rare, valuable, and difficult to kill.

Take Bailey as an example. Although fire-type monsters are common, not all of them are suitable for her. After all, she possesses twice the power of a high-end fire-type martial soul.

Low-level or even mid-level fire-type spirits offer her absolutely no value. Her choices are limited to mid-grade and high-grade fire-type spirits. These types are harder to find and harder to kill.

Therefore, sometimes a blessing can bring a curse, and vice versa.

As for William, he's not considering fire-type spirits for now. If he had to choose, he would target rare spiritual energy, such as lightning, light, and darkness.

Choosing the first spirit to fuse with was not a simple decision. For William, choosing a rare type of spirit was far better than choosing a common one.

The fundamental spirit he integrates will determine many things in the future. If he only limits himself to using fire, water, and earth-type spirits, he will face many difficulties in the future.

Choosing rare spirits is better, because they are not only rare, but also flexible and domineering against ordinary spirits. For example, if he chooses a light-type spirit as his base spirit, he can then add fire-type, water-type, ice-type, earth-type, and even wind-type spirits without worrying about conflicts between them.

The Nine-Tailed Fox possessed a dark-type martial soul, which helped him create his own legend. This was also one of the reasons why he was superior to most of the enemies he faced. Even William failed due to the difference in the quality of the spirits.

Therefore, when considering what type of martial soul he should have, he couldn't help but yearn for light or lightning. Light is the nemesis of dark souls. Lightning also has an effective purifying effect on darkness.

He was planning a revenge war against that damned fox in the distant future, even though he was so weak now!

But hope is one thing, and actually attaining either of these two spirits is quite another. William's experience of this forest in his previous life was limited to the outer areas.

He only ventured deep into the area once, when the world was crumbling and he was fleeing for his life. Within the outer regions, he was certain there were no light or lightning-type spirit beasts whatsoever!

These monsters would be considered brutal. However, even though he didn't know the inside of the forest, he had heard his disciples tell stories of adventures there.

He had heard that some light and lightning monsters existed deep within this forest. But he had never seen a detailed map of the forest's depths in his previous life.

Even if he knew these locations, getting there was trouble in itself. Moreover, with his current strength, he had no chance against any of the ferocious monsters.

It's important to understand that both of these monsters are renowned for their insane speed and devastating attack power. Even with the best of luck, if William were to find one of the white-level monsters among the two martial souls, he would be utterly powerless against it with his current strength.

"I need to increase my soul power first." He came to this conclusion, so he was not in a hurry to venture into the depths of the forest.

His current goal is to use the same method as before to hunt down more monkeys and weaker monsters. After spending a whole day on the outskirts of the forest, William finally killed thousands of these monsters and devoured their cores.

His soul power is now fifty-six. In just one day, his spirit value increased by twenty-one points. Even so, he is still not satisfied.

"Sure enough," he muttered to himself as he stood up after swallowing the last batch of monkey cores, "the higher my soul power increases, the weaker the effect of these monkey cores becomes."

He was now certain he could absorb the cores of the monsters he had killed. Besides monkeys, he had also slain several other types of monsters and been able to absorb their cores as well.

In the previous batches, he devoured thousands of pill cores but only gained five points of spirit value. His rate of advancement is now affected by the increase in soul power.

"I can't go on like this any longer." Having come to this conclusion, he decided to leave the safe outer forest area and venture deeper into the interior.

The problem isn't just about increasing soul power, but also about the mud-element soul. He needs to improve it before reaching seventy points.

This will help him increase his soul power more quickly. Moreover, he can use his martial soul during battle, which will greatly enhance his strength.

William began to venture deeper into the forest, remaining cautious as he entered unfamiliar areas.

He drew his sword and hung it at his waist, and took out his bow and arrows, always keeping them at bay. He was ready to fight at any moment should a monster appear before him.

Although the bow is not as powerful as the sword, it is still useful. Its main function is to slightly increase speed, allowing the arrow to travel faster.

But this did not enhance his strength or the power of the arrow itself. William knew that if the bow had either of these effects, it would be considered a silver or even gold-grade weapon.

He had examined his golden sword before. It had not only enhanced sharpness but also strength and agility. Any movement it made would create a series of afterimages in its wake. And William was certain that even against a dark gold monster, the sword's enhanced sharpness and power would leave deep wounds.