"Your Second Grand-Uncle is usually very busy—he has a lot of research to do, and now that your cousins have returned, he has to guide them," Chen Yu said with a smile.
"Now, let me introduce you to our Chen Clan's cultivation system, known as 'One Root, Three Foundations, Five Essences.'
The One Root refers to our martial soul: the Seven Kill Sword. Just now, your Second Grand-Uncle described its characteristics.
The Three Foundations are soul power, physical body, and spiritual power. In soul master cultivation, these three have always complemented each other. A strong body and resilient spirit make soul power cultivation twice as effective with half the effort.
That's why, from a young age, we gave you medicinal baths, herbal meals, and physical training—to strengthen your physique.
Also, the Chen Clan's innate soul power tends to be relatively high, which is closely related to this foundation.
Another piece of supporting evidence: beast martial soul users generally cultivate faster in the early stages than other soul masters. That's because beast martial souls affect physical development, making it easier to absorb the essence from soul rings and improving the body. Conversely, support-type soul masters progress the slowest because their martial souls don't enhance the body, making it harder to increase soul power.
A strong body also allows one to withstand higher-level soul rings, release skills faster, handle sudden soul power surges, and make the effects of soul skills more potent—the upper limits are higher.
It's the same with spiritual power: strength, endurance, and concentration all play a role.
The so-called "three thresholds" of soul masters—aren't they all closely tied to soul power, physical strength, and spirit?
When all three develop in parallel, a soul master's future is never bleak—it raises both their minimum and maximum potential.
The Five Essences are: Heart, Body, Eyes, Will, and Technique—emphasizing unity among all five. They are the expression of the Three Foundations working together.
First—Heart: This refers to the continent's various meditation techniques. Most rely on spiritual power to guide meditation, circulate energy channels, and absorb soul power.
Our clan's Zhongzheng Sword Qi Method is a top-level technique that combines meditation with breathing techniques, letting spirit and breath work together in harmony, following natural flow. We refer to this as a Heart Technique.
Though our soul power grows slightly slower than with other top-tier techniques on the continent, our method strengthens the body and spirit alongside soul power, producing a dense, long-lasting, and robust soul power.
It was tailor-made for the Seven Kill Sword. At high levels, it allows one to use the Ring Embedding Technique, which integrates soul rings into the Seven Kill Sword.
Thus, our clan members often reach level 90 and become Titled Douluo in their sixties or seventies. While slower, we experience fewer bottlenecks, allowing for strong late-game breakthroughs. This technique has contributed greatly to our clan producing Super Douluo. It is one of the two core foundations of our cultivation.
Second—Body: This refers to the Sword Shadow Body technique. When activated, a sword-shaped projection appears behind the practitioner. It adjusts bodily flexibility and strength to an optimal, natural state—enhancing harmony between body, soul power, spirit, and sword. This is known as a Body Technique.
Combined with the Zhongzheng Sword Qi Method, it's effective in both battle and cultivation. This is a secret technique unique to our Chen Clan.
Its highest realm is known as "My Body Is the Sword."
It includes two supporting skills:
Sword Steps: Eight total forms, also called the Eight Sword Steps. The first three—"Starstream Thunderstrike," "Lotus in an Inch," and "Swift Soaring Wild Goose"—you've already practiced well. Now, with soul power, their effectiveness is greatly amplified and will last until the Soul Sect stage.
The later forms are much more powerful and require large amounts of soul power, so they're best learned as a Soul King.
Peerless Sword Finger: Channels soul power through special meridians and emits it from between the index and middle finger of the right hand, fast and fierce, catching enemies off guard with overwhelming force. Because it originates from the lower soul core, the power is violent—so to avoid damaging meridians, it's only taught from the Soul Elder stage onward.
Master Sword-Grasping Grapples and you'll be able to fully control Peerless Sword Finger.
These two secret techniques are essentially Chen Clan's self-developed soul power applications for hands and legs—you can think of them as unique soul skills.
There's also an advanced method: the Chanting Technique. Our ancestors used soul incantations as templates and developed the ability to use poetry as soul spells, allowing Sword Shadow Body to enter a resonant state with soul skills, enhancing their power and speed.
These poetic chants are not fixed—they serve as a way to enter a special state. Each person may have their own; most just tend to use certain phrases that pair well with specific big moves.
Third—Eyes: This refers to Sword Eyes. Not only do they give excellent vision and long sight—useful for sword control techniques—but at higher levels, they shine like stars. This advanced state is called "Starry Sword Eyes." These can pierce illusions and greatly enhance spiritual and illusion-based soul skills.
Starry Sword Eyes can be cultivated over years to form a spiritual sword, called the Starry Primordial Spirit Sword. A single slash can dissolve the soul of the target—deadly and vicious.
Fourth—Will: This is the second core foundation of the Chen Clan: Seven Kill Aura Concealment Technique.
It evolved from our old Seven Kill Meditation Method. Instead of a soul master enduring the killing intent, it lets the Seven Kill Sword absorb and refine it, enhancing spiritual power and control. It uses the killing aura without harming the user, and when combined with Zhongzheng Sword Qi, it tempers the heart and reduces the risk of losing control. At worst, a deviation—but never full demonic corruption.
As soul masters grow and coexist long-term with killing intent, it helps them comprehend Will, or more specifically, Sword Intent.
The Kill Character Technique was the core move of the old meditation method. After modification and integration into the Seven Kill Aura Concealment, its power multiplied. When unleashed, it's earth-shattering.
Fifth—Technique: This refers to swordsmanship—Sword Control Technique, the Chen Clan's signature offensive skill.
Besides the ultimate move Human-Sword Unity, there are seven distinct techniques, each created by different ancestors. They aren't necessarily connected—some are complex, others simple, known as Three Complex and four Simple.
Mastery depends on individual comprehension. Their power is no less than soul skills of the same level, but they consume much less soul power. Their power scales with cultivation and can even rival a Titled Douluo's ninth soul skill.
These techniques were developed both as combat strategies and as substitutes for soul bone techniques—since soul bones are rare. These techniques can sometimes surpass soul-bone abilities, which are otherwise fixed in strength.
The five ultimate arts:
Ring Embedding, My Body Is the Sword, Starry Primordial Spirit Sword, Kill Character Technique, and Human-Sword Unity—
Are deeply connected and interlinked.
Using Human-Sword Unity as the base, each additional integration of one of the other four doubles the power. If all five are unified into one—Pure Harmony—it becomes the Chen Clan's legendary ultimate technique:
Descent of the Sword God—a divine skill only Peerless Douluo can perform.
Combined with a domain ability, our ancestors Chen Xili and Chen Feiyi used this move to slay Peerless Douluo of the same level, earning them the title of Living Sword Gods—and giving the Chen Clan its reputation as possessing the world's top offensive martial soul."
(Author's Note):
In the Soul Land anime, Chen Xin's strongest move is "My Body Is the Sword, Human-Sword Unity."
But here, the author separates them:
My Body Is the Sword is the highest body technique.
Human-sword unity is the highest sword technique.
So when combined, their power doubles. After all, at the time, Chen Xin had only recently reached level 97, far from the peak of the Chen Clan.
In this book, the Chen Clan is the protagonist's clan—a hidden aristocratic family. Their cultivation system was designed to be comparable to the Clear Sky Hammer and had to have techniques and feats to rival it.
"Indeed," Chen Xiaojun thought with longing, "In Soul Land I, Chen Xin wasn't yet the peak of Chen Clan's power. His father and grandfather—Chen Jianjun and Chen Xun—were both level 98 Ultimate Douluo, with even deeper cultivation. Not to mention the Descent of the Sword God, which represents the peak strength of a Peerless Douluo."
Chen Xiaojun tapped his finger on the armrest and thought to himself:
"Chen Xin's power is about on par with Tang Xiao. In my view, Tang Hao was a pure strength-focused Clear Sky Hammer soul master, which is why the Titan—an extreme strength type—admired and followed him.
But Tang Xiao, being meticulous and restrained, had refined mastery of Clear Sky techniques. He was a balanced type, equally skilled in power and technique—maybe even favoring technique more.
If it were a sparring match, Chen Xin and Tang Xiao would win. But in a real fight to the death—they'd perish, but Tang Hao would also be crippled.
The soul master world revolves around cultivating soul power, which then strengthens the body and spirit. The Chen Clan's method emphasizes balance and neutrality, controlling a killing sword with a calm heart. It resembles Taoism more than Buddhism or Confucianism—and honestly, that suits my outlook better.
Tang San may have originated from the half-good, half-evil Tang Sect, but his foundations trace back to Taoism. Even his name, 'Xuántiān' (Mystic Heaven), has deep Taoist roots—either meaning 'mystical and profound' or referring to the Northern Sky, often used to denote the Taoist Northern Emperor.
So the Tang Sect's skills being effective in this world makes sense. Especially Xuan Tian Skill—quiet and unassuming, yet foundational and profound. Its traits are endless vitality, and vast strength, and its ultimate state shows the sign of Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown."