A few days later, at the Body Sect.
"Flawless Body Casting Art?"
"That's fitting. All right, that's what we'll call our sect's cultivation art from now on."
In the vast, magnificent main hall, Lu Lin stood before Si Yuan Ye, his little face solemn as he announced the name.
Si Yuan Ye smiled at that and agreed, though he didn't take the matter to heart.
The Body Sect had always valued martial souls, teaching its disciples not to rely too much on soul rings and soul skills. When it came to developing martial souls and battle skills, the sect stood in a league of its own.
Si Yuan Ye truly didn't care much about such trivial matters.
Nearby, Mo Yin sat in a chair dressed in black. When he heard the name, he raised an eyebrow, his expression inscrutable.
Decades ago, when he had first joined the sect, he had also thought it was terribly undignified for their cultivation art not to even have a name.
So he had eagerly suggested a few names to the previous sect master—Si Yuan Ye's own master—including Overlord Art and Body Art. Unfortunately, every one of them had been rejected without mercy.
The past and present were uncannily alike.
But the outcomes were completely different.
Ah, so this is what playing favorites looks like.
Mo Yin grumbled inwardly, his gaze shifting between Si Yuan Ye and Ji Ming.
Si Yuan Ye frowned and turned to look. Mo Yin was just tilting his wine gourd skyward and pouring liquor into his mouth, acting as if nothing around him concerned him. Si Yuan Ye shook his head.
Lu Lin, who had noticed the little exchange, also looked a bit puzzled.
During his time at the Body Sect, Lu Lin had gained a rough understanding of the sect's circumstances in this era.
There were about thirty people in the Body Sect.
Si Yuan Ye's martial soul was his own body, the finest Body Martial Soul of the age. His title was Origin.
Lu Lin didn't know Si Yuan Ye's exact Soul Power Level, however.
Mo Yin, an elder, was also a Titled Douluo. His martial soul was rather unusual: his own shadow. His title was "Shadow."
Aside from Ji Ming, Si Yuan Ye had another disciple, though that person seemed to be in seclusion at the moment.
Lu Lin still hadn't met this person, who might have been his senior brother or senior sister.
As for the sect's other elders and disciples, they were either in seclusion or training elsewhere on the continent. In short, only the three of them were currently active in the sect.
That was why the Body Sect seemed so desolate to Lu Lin.
Si Yuan Ye composed himself and looked at Lu Lin. "Ji Ming, I'm going to use the sect's secret technique to unlock your potential and improve your physique. The process will be excruciating. Are you ready?"
"Reporting to you, Teacher. I'm ready."
A faint smile appeared on Si Yuan Ye's face. "Good. Let's go."
As he spoke, Si Yuan Ye swept out his long sleeve. Lu Lin heard a rumble, and a corner of the main hall opened as a bronze gate slowly swung aside. Si Yuan Ye stepped through, and Lu Lin took a deep breath before hurrying after him on his short legs.
Watching the master and disciple pass through the Bronze Gate, Mo Yin wore an expectant look.
The sect's secret technique wasn't something just anyone could endure.
Thinking of this, Mo Yin took a sip from his gourd and glanced around the main hall, a faint smile flickering in his eyes.
Come on, Young Ji.
The sect's future might rest on your shoulders.
After all, Mo Yin had personally brought Ji Ming back.
Naturally, Mo Yin treated Ji Ming differently from the sect's other disciples.
Given his martial soul's nature and his cultivation, Mo Yin knew he wasn't suited to be Ji Ming's teacher. Otherwise, he would have talked Ji Ming into becoming his disciple on the day his martial soul awakened. Then Si Yuan Ye wouldn't have had a chance.
Time flew by. A month had passed since Lu Lin, in Ji Ming's body, followed Si Yuan Ye through the Bronze Gate.
Frostwind Junior Soul Master Academy.
The sky was clear, the sun bright, and a gentle breeze stirred the air.
In a grove behind the hill, Yao Yue had a small black sickle floating above his right palm. Yet his gaze kept drifting toward Lu Lin, who sat cross-legged on a boulder not far away.
Yao Yue was a work-study student from an ordinary background. But he was outgoing, so he got along well with his classmates.
Lu Lin was different.
Lu Lin was quite good-looking.
He had delicate features and a little baby fat. Just looking at him, it was easy to feel drawn to him, but in practice he was difficult to approach. That was what most of Lu Lin's classmates thought.
As Lu Lin's roommate, Yao Yue was one of the few exceptions.
At least, the two of them got along well.
Yao Yue's martial soul was a sickle, and he had Innate Soul Power Level three. He was more or less on par with Lu Lin.
That was what an ordinary soul master on Douluo Continent looked like.
Yao Yue knew his talent was average and never expected to achieve much as a soul master.
He had heard that the geniuses who entered Shrek Academy all had Innate Soul Power Levels of eight or nine, or even Innate Full Soul Power.
With an Innate Soul Power Level of only three, Yao Yue had accepted reality early on.
Lu Lin's Innate Soul Power was only one level higher than his.
Yao Yue figured that, like himself, Lu Lin's potential as a soul master was already set.
But unlike him, Lu Lin worked himself to the bone when it came to cultivation.
The junior academy's classes were easy. Whenever he had free time, Yao Yue's roommate did only one thing: meditate and cultivate, endlessly refining his Soul Power.
Yao Yue had barely ever seen Lu Lin take even a moment's rest.
However, ever since Lu Lin had suddenly fallen seriously ill a month ago, Yao Yue had noticed that his health seemed to be getting worse and worse.
Over the past month, Lu Lin would sometimes wake in the middle of the night, crying out in pain.
Even while cultivating, his expression would contort uncontrollably, his face twisting with agony as if he were enduring some terrible torment. He had even passed out from the pain several times.
Yao Yue had witnessed this more than once.
Strangely, when the academy's soul masters examined Lu Lin, they found that apart from some malnutrition, he was in excellent health.
There were no hidden ailments, not even signs of a minor illness. Then Lu Lin's "episodes" became less and less frequent, and the matter was eventually dropped.
Lu Lin couldn't do anything about it either.
The reason, of course, was that Ji Ming had followed Si Yuan Ye through the Bronze Gate.
Lu Lin had split his consciousness, solving the problem of his main body falling asleep whenever he entered his other body.
But now that he had two bodies and one soul, the pain Ji Ming endured from the secret technique was transmitted in full to his main body's consciousness as well.
It wasn't the kind of pain you could simply grit your teeth and endure.
If the Body Sect's cultivation art, Flawless Body Casting Art, was the foundation of all its teachings, then its secret technique was the true core secret and the source of its strength.
Put simply, the Body Sect's secret technique was an extremely domineering tempering method with immense risks.
The method used medicine, special arrays, rare natural treasures, and the pressure of Soul Power to force the body's life energy and potential to ignite and explode.
To put it in an imperfect analogy, the process was like smashing every part of the body to pieces, then rebuilding it, only to smash it apart and rebuild it again.
Over and over.
The process came with immense pain and risk.
Of course, the greater the risk, the greater the benefits.
Normally, a soul master could awaken their martial soul only once, at the age of six.
But soul masters with a Body Martial Soul could undergo a second awakening with the help of the Body Sect's secret technique.
This was a special ability and privilege unique to Body Martial Souls.
Looking at his disciple, whose Bloodline Power surged throughout his body as he activated his Necromancer's Heavy Eyes martial soul, Si Yuan Ye smiled with satisfaction.
"Good. Your Body Martial Soul has undergone its second White Eye Awakening. When you reach the ninth ring, you might even have a chance at a third awakening: the Golden Awakening."
"The physical enhancement from your beast martial soul is even greater than I expected.
"With your current physique, you should be able to absorb a soul ring of around sixteen hundred years."
"Once you've absorbed the Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber I brought you, I can take you to obtain your First Soul Ring."
Si Yuan Ye looked at Lu Lin and spoke.
Before you continue