Commanding Heavenly Thunder, Dharma Image Prototype

The Thousand-Year Soul Ring directly pushed Mu Yuan's Soul Power to level twenty-two.

"How is the Second Soul Skill?" Du Busi asked.

Mu Yuan carefully sensed it and gave his answer.

"Second Soul Skill, Heavenly Thunder Power!"

Having fused with the Soul Ring of this mutated Deep Sea Demon Octopus, Mu Yuan successfully inherited its ability to command Heavenly Thunder.

Soul Rings rose beneath Mu Yuan's feet—one yellow and one purple. The purple Soul Ring shone with a dazzling radiance.

A formidable power erupted from within Mu Yuan. A phantom appeared behind him, its features indistinct, possessing only an upper body. Its arms were exceptionally solid, with Heavenly Thunder coursing through them. Thick Thunder Power roamed wildly like enormous pythons, accompanied by incessant rumbling.

He raised his right hand, and the phantom behind him raised its right hand as well. Fierce Heavenly Thunder flickered and surged across his palm.

"Heavenly Thunder Power increases my physical strength by one hundred percent and speeds up injury recovery by two hundred percent. At the same time, it summons a Heavenly Thunder Phantom and commands Heavenly Thunder."

This Heavenly Thunder Power also had enhancement effects. From Mu Yuan's assessment, it could stack perfectly with his First Soul Skill.

If the Diamond Demon Body of the First Soul Skill used Vajra Power and Demonic Qi to powerfully enhance the flesh, causing physical strength to erupt for a short time, then Heavenly Thunder Power stimulated the vitality of the body's cells, using abundant life force to strengthen his foundation.

The two complemented each other and stacked perfectly.

However, Heavenly Thunder Power could not yet be directly converted within Mu Yuan's body.

First, he could not yet precisely control this Heavenly Thunder Power. Second, his body could not withstand Heavenly Thunder's destructive force.

Unlike ordinary Thunder Power, Heavenly Thunder Power contained nothing but endless violence. Utterly firm and supremely yang, it could easily destroy the human body's structure upon contact.

As for the Soul Skill's effect of activating bodily vitality, it did not come from Heavenly Thunder stimulating his cells. It was an inherent effect of the Soul Skill, originating from the Deep Sea Demon Octopus's terrifying life force.

Watching the Heavenly Thunder Phantom manifest behind Mu Yuan, looking like the Thunder God descending into the world, Du Busi could not help but praise him. "With only two Soul Rings, you already possess some of the marvels of a Secondary Awakening."

As the Body Sect Master, he naturally knew that Mu Yuan had not undergone a Secondary Awakening. This was still far from truly counting as one.

A Secondary Awakening was not a gradual process, but an eruption.

It shattered the limits of the human body, truly transcended the constraints of flesh, and evolved the Martial Soul to an extraordinary level.

Likewise, for Soul Masters with Body Martial Souls, Martial Soul Second Awakening was an enhancement secret technique akin to a Martial Soul Avatar.

What Mu Yuan possessed now was merely his normal state.

It was simply that the marvels he displayed resembled the forms many Body Martial Souls took after their Secondary Awakening.

"Perhaps you really can forge that so-called Dharma Image Phantom of yours before your Secondary Awakening," Du Busi said with feeling.

If he possessed the marvels of a Secondary Awakening before actually undergoing one, would the Secondary Awakening be wasted?

It would not.

The deeper one's foundation, the stronger one would become after erupting.

Du Busi felt deeply moved.

At that moment, he was actually tempted to take a disciple.

Mu Yuan's performance was simply too outstanding.

However, considering that Mu Yuan had already been in the sect for so long, that his Martial Soul was merely his arms, and that the path he followed truly did not match Du Busi's, Du Busi ultimately dismissed the thought.

Whether one formally took a master or not was, in truth, merely a matter of title.

Du Busi would not neglect Mu Yuan just because he did not take him as a disciple.

That much was clear from this time he had brought Mu Yuan out to hunt Soul Beasts.

He had directly given Mu Yuan the Scarlet Spirit Bone.

The Deep Sea Demon Octopus possessed the potential to condense a Soul Bone, so he tortured it day and night, tormenting its emotions until it nearly collapsed in order to increase the chance of producing one.

He did everything that needed to be done.

Long Aotian had been accepted as his disciple the moment he entered the sect because of his high Innate Soul Power and because his Skin Martial Soul covered his entire body, making it compatible with Du Busi's own Body Martial Soul. Only after obtaining Soul Rings did they learn that their paths differed, and Long Aotian had not followed the path of Poison Arts.

As for Wei Na, Du Busi had taken her as a disciple when she entered the sect because of her background, as a gesture of goodwill toward the Heaven Soul Royal Family.

Du Busi truly felt that the Body Sect's lack of a fixed residence was a major flaw. He intended to establish a true Mountain Gate so that the families of those with Body Martial Souls could more easily find the sect.

"Let's go. It's time to return to Heaven Dou City."

Mu Yuan nodded without a word, activated the Soul Tool Boat, and headed toward the mainland.

What pleased Mu Yuan was that Du Busi apparently found his earlier persuasion reasonable and tried operating the Soul Tool Engine himself during the final stretch of the journey.

Watching Du Busi grow addicted to piloting the boat, Mu Yuan reminded him, "Sect Master, you've gone off course. We've sailed an extra two hours already."

"This Sect Master knows what he's doing."

Seeing this, Mu Yuan stopped trying to persuade him.

This was a good thing.

Some things became addictive once one experienced them.

In the original work, the Body Sect's Soul Masters did not equip themselves with Soul Tools in battle, but that did not mean they never used them at all. For instance, when they infiltrated Mingde Hall, that tunnel had clearly been dug with Soul Tools.

It could only be said that even without Mu Yuan, under normal development, the Body Sect would gradually accept the concept of using Soul Tools in daily life.

Mu Yuan guessed Wei Na would be the one to accomplish that.

Eastsea City.

Du Busi seemed to still be caught up in the excitement of piloting the boat.

When they passed the village massacred by Evil Soul Masters, the two stopped.

Ahead of them, having sensed the fluctuations of their Soul Power, three streaks of light were rapidly flying over.

Of those three streaks, two were crimson, while one was platinum-white.

When the three streaks landed, Du Busi's gaze darkened.

"Yan Shaozhe, you have quite the nerve. You even dare block this old man's path."

Hearing that, Mu Yuan guessed the identities of the three people before him.

The elderly man in the lead was Yan Shaozhe, which meant the young man and woman beside him were—

The one with fiery red hair, violent flames surrounding her body, and even a faint trace of black was Ma Xiaotao.

The one with a faint king-character marking on his forehead and the vague aura of a tiger's roar was likely Dai Yueheng.

Considering the village's recent tragedy, it was not difficult to guess that Yan Shaozhe had brought these two Inner Court Disciples to carry out an Inspection Team mission.

Having figured that out, Mu Yuan sneered inwardly.

The Evil Soul Masters had slaughtered this village ages ago, yet the Inspection Team had only just arrived.

With efficiency like that, no wonder the Holy Spirit Cult had become rampant throughout the Sun Moon Empire while Shrek Academy did not even know that organization existed.

Yan Shaozhe's expression was grave.

He scrutinized Du Busi and Mu Yuan.

"Du Busi, this village was massacred by Evil Soul Masters, yet traces of your Poison Arts remain at the scene. What relationship do you have with that Evil Soul Master?"

Yan Shaozhe immediately pinned a massive accusation on him.

Even Mu Yuan broke into a cold sweat for the man upon hearing it.

Where did he get such confidence?

The next moment, Mu Yuan found out.

Intercepted midway and faced with such a huge accusation right from the start, Du Busi immediately made his move.

Nine Soul Rings emerged from his body.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, red, red, red!

Three blood-red Soul Rings hung in the air, causing Yan Shaozhe's body to hunch slightly.

At that moment, a cold snort came from afar. Mu Yuan found the voice somewhat familiar.

"Old Monster Du, don't be so presumptuous!"