As the refreshing sensation in his eyes gradually faded, Huo Yuhao slowly opened them.
There was no violent surge of Soul Power. Instead, his mind felt clearer than ever before.
The improvement was not a quantitative accumulation, but a qualitative leap.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, the water, which had originally been a brilliant gold, now shimmered with a faint purple glow. The two noble colors intertwined and merged, becoming a dazzling, mysterious purple-gold.
Whatever his thoughts touched, everything within his Sea of Consciousness was entirely under Huo Yuhao's control.
Even Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was now surrounded by a faint purple halo.
"Master... I think I can see the dust in the air."
Huo Yuhao raised his head in a daze and looked at Gu Yuejin.
"Not just dust. I can even sense the water flowing through the veins of that Blue Silver Grass leaf a hundred meters away. It's as if... my Spiritual Power has become tangible."
"Not bad. From what I know, this is called Spiritual Power taking on a physical form, though it's not yet complete."
Gu Yuejin glanced at his apprentice, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.
"Yuhao, congratulations. Your Spirit Eyes Martial Soul has entered an entirely new realm—form without substance."
"Even I might not be much better than you in terms of eye purity now."
(The Original Work establishes that a Body Martial Soul can also turn any part of the body into a Martial Soul.)
"Also, don't just stand there feeling things. Look in a mirror."
Gu Yuejin casually conjured a bronze mirror and held it up in front of Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao looked at it instinctively, and his whole body stiffened.
The boy in the mirror was still handsome, but his eyes had undergone a world-shaking transformation.
A second pupil had appeared in his originally pure black eyes.
It was purple-gold, overlapping the black pupil and radiating an eerie yet noble light.
Double Pupils!
"This... This is..."
Huo Yuhao's voice trembled. Deep disgust and fear welled up from the bottom of his heart.
Double pupils.
They were the most prominent characteristic of the White Tiger Duke's lineage, and the mark of the man who had given him life but also brought him endless pain.
"Could my Martial Soul mutation... be because of that man's bloodline?"
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms.
He wanted nothing to do with that cold-blooded family!
"What are you thinking about?"
Gu Yuejin smacked Huo Yuhao on the back of the head, interrupting his wild thoughts.
After spending this time together, Gu Yuejin had long since become someone Huo Yuhao trusted without reservation. He had even told him his true identity.
"This has nothing whatsoever to do with the White Tiger bloodline."
"This is proof that your Body Martial Soul—your Spirit Eyes—has undergone a Second Awakening."
"Double pupils are the path to invincibility. Why borrow another's bones?"
"This is your own power, a symbol of yourself. Understand?"
At the words "Second Awakening," the gloom in Huo Yuhao's eyes instantly vanished, replaced by delight.
"Second Awakening? Master, is this the Second Awakening you mentioned? Like your Martial Soul?"
"I've succeeded?"
"Mm."
Gu Yuejin nodded.
"Try it. Circulate your Soul Power and see what color light you can gather."
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath. No longer rejecting his eyes, he poured all his Soul Power into them.
Buzz—
Two brilliant silver beams burst from his eyes like twin swords, piercing through the space before him.
"Silver..."
Huo Yuhao murmured to himself.
"Silver Grade Second Awakening."
Gu Yuejin nodded, his expression calm, as though he had expected this.
"Not bad, but that's all."
"Eating Immortal Herbs alone won't be enough to reach the highest level, Gold Grade."
"That requires facing death and surviving. You'll have to fully unleash your Body Martial Soul's potential amid the great terror at the brink of life and death."
"But there's no rush. Take it one step at a time."
With that, Gu Yuejin turned and looked toward the two boiling springs.
They were the heart of extreme heat and extreme cold, and the most dangerous place in the valley.
"Yuhao, stand guard for me."
"Yes, Master!"
Huo Yuhao's gaze sharpened. He immediately activated Spiritual Detection and warily scanned the surroundings. Even a fly that entered would be detected at once.
Loyalty!!!
Gu Yuejin didn't consume the Immortal Herbs right away.
First, he laid out the three supreme Immortal Herbs meant for body refinement—
Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Narcissus Jade Bone, and Earth Dragon Golden Melon.
Then he reached out and beckoned.
The Origin Essence offered earlier by Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot—the core of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes' extreme powers—appeared in his hand as well.
"Ordinary people would explode if they ate even one."
"But today is Freaky Friday."
"I, Gu Yuejin, am going to have the whole bucket."
Without the slightest hesitation,
Gu Yuejin leaped straight into the place where the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eyes converged—the center of the red-and-white whirlpool!
"Madman!"
Youyou, watching from afar, went pale with fright. "He actually dares to jump straight into the chaotic springs?! He'll die!"
Yet the very next moment, an even more shocking sight unfolded before them.
Gu Yuejin sat cross-legged, suspended between the water and fire.
He opened his mouth and stuffed the three supreme Immortal Herbs and both clumps of extreme ice-and-fire essence into it all at once!
Then he sank back between the ice and fire.
Boom—!!
The violent medicinal power exploded inside him in an instant.
Five terrifying energies, each utterly different from the others, surged through his meridians like five enraged dragons.
Gu Yuejin's skin instantly turned bizarre colors.
First came the golden hue brought by the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, followed by the jade hue of the Narcissus Jade Bone, then the earthy yellow of the Earth Dragon Golden Melon.
But soon, all three colors were overwhelmed by the far more domineering red and blue.
Extreme heat and extreme cold.
The left half of his body froze solid, while flames burst across the right half.
"Hmph!"
Gu Yuejin grunted, the veins on his forehead bulging.
Pain?
That was an excuse for the weak.
"Body Martial Soul, suppress them!"
He frantically circulated his Bloodline Power, forcibly crushing and merging the five forces, then pounding them bit by bit into his marrow, imprinting them into every cell.
This wasn't merely absorption. It was a complete reforging!
Time passed, second by second.
The valley's primordial energy surged wildly, forming a gigantic funnel that poured into Gu Yuejin's body.
No one knew how long had passed.
When the last trace of medicinal power had been completely absorbed,
Gu Yuejin suddenly opened his eyes.
His left eye was as blue as the sea; his right was as red as the sun.
Boom—!
A suffocatingly terrifying shockwave swept out, sending the surrounding spring water soaring a hundred meters into the air!
He slowly rose to his feet. His clothes had long since been reduced to ash, revealing a body as perfect as a god's.
Every muscle brimmed with explosive power, and a golden-jade luster faintly flowed across his skin.
And at his dantian,
the once-violent Extreme Ice and Extreme Fire had miraculously fused, forming a slowly revolving pattern of the Red and Blue Taiji Fish.
Endlessly renewing, revolving without pause.
"Ice Fire Golden Body Refinement... complete."
Gu Yuejin clenched his fist, feeling the power within him, as if it could tear the sky apart.
With a thought,
his Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul appeared once more.
The vines, which had originally been blue-gold all over, now underwent an astonishing transformation.
Complex, mysterious patterns covered their crystalline vines.
Half were crimson, half ice-blue.
Unaffected by water or fire, immune to ice and fire!
Before you continue