Du Busi's Progress

The underground passage of the Body Sect was nearly excavated beneath Mingde Hall.

Next came the complicated matter of positioning, requiring precise calculations of the correspondence between underground and aboveground locations.

Finally, they would need intelligence from the Su Family to confirm the location of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Embryo, making it easier to find it.

Everything was progressing smoothly.

Du Busi was filled with excitement as well.

His cultivation was proceeding just as smoothly.

Over the past half year, he cultivated every day and rediscovered the drive he had possessed when he could still make progress.

He had been stuck at Rank 98 for a long time. Unable to see any hope of a breakthrough, he had even lost his motivation to cultivate.

In recent years, as this generation of Body Sect disciples experienced an explosive rise, he had gradually shifted his focus toward training disciples and developing the sect.

That was precisely why Du Busi had taken Su Fan so seriously.

He was now at the stage where he cared most about cultivating disciples. Having encountered a disciple with a Body Martial Soul and extraordinary talent, of course he would spare no effort in nurturing him.

As for whether Su Fan would betray the Body Sect, or whether the sect was raising an ungrateful wretch, neither fell within Du Busi's considerations.

If the sect's wholehearted nurturing still could not reform him, then they could only use their fists to help him come to his senses.

In his next life, he could just be a good disciple.

This kind of solution required no thought, so there was no need to think about it.

After half a lifetime without further progress, Du Busi's heart had long since grown still.

He had never expected that the sect accepting a disciple would allow him to find an opportunity for a breakthrough.

Although Su Fan was spreading the Aperture Path across the Preaching Continent and, so far, had placed no restrictions on the Aperture Path, even seeming intent on becoming the teacher of all Soul Masters, Du Busi could still obtain the Aperture Path without accepting Su Fan as his disciple. But in that case, his understanding of Apertures would not have become as profound as it was now.

Spreading the path across the continent merely meant not restricting others from learning about Apertures and disseminating the basic Aperture Path.

After joining the Body Sect, Su Fan had truly disclosed certain core techniques to Du Busi, such as the inner space contained within Apertures, the relationship between Apertures and Soul Apertures, and much other advanced knowledge from his own cultivation.

His strength was not limited to Apertures.

It lay even more in his use of Apertures.

Only by knowing these things could one be said to have truly grasped the essence of the Aperture Path.

It was because Du Busi had received these secret teachings from Su Fan that he could condense Apertures so smoothly.

Su Fan had never encountered bottlenecks such as Aperture rejection, but he possessed the most correct cultivation experience.

Du Busi knew how to overcome this, what could be achieved, and how to achieve it.

He also had a fully formed Heavenly Circuit Aperture to use as a reference.

Soul Power roiled throughout Du Busi's body, and the excitement in his eyes seemed almost tangible.

Streams of dark green Soul Power now carried a trace of crimson.

This was—

"Bloodline Power!"

Du Busi murmured softly.

With the aid of Apertures, he had further enhanced his physical constitution. His vitality had actually grown so abundant that it had materialized.

The Soul Master world generally cultivated Soul Power. A small number of Soul Masters cultivated spiritual power, which could materialize upon reaching a certain level and affect reality with the mind.

There were also Soul Masters with exceptionally powerful physiques. Once their vitality became sufficiently abundant, it could materialize and condense into an entirely new power: Bloodline Power.

The Body Sect had ancestors who had condensed Bloodline Power.

Those capable of condensing Bloodline Power had generally broken through to become Limit Douluo.

Du Busi cultivated poison arts and tempered his body with poison. Although this had forged his body to an extraordinary degree, it had also inflicted a certain pollution and suppression upon his vitality.

Now that he cultivated the Aperture Path, even though he had not yet condensed a Heavenly Circuit Aperture, he had used the power of Apertures to purify his vitality and make it more refined.

Not only had his Bloodline Path been cleared as a result, but his poison arts had also grown stronger after this sorting process. Stored within his Apertures and gradually separated from his body, they were then driven by his vitality, producing a different kind of advancement.

Feeling the changes within himself, Du Busi was overwhelmed with emotion.

"This is only 108 Apertures. I can scarcely imagine how many undiscovered miracles lie within Su Fan's Heavenly Circuit Aperture."

The Aperture Path was a newly emerging path.

Su Fan was merely its founder.

This path was not even something he had copied from the future.

Therefore, even he did not know all the potential held by Apertures.

Du Busi was expanding the Aperture Path horizontally, excavating its potential for sorting through the Soul Master's system of power.

"The circulation of 108 Apertures cannot cover all the meridians in my body, yet it is already enough to strengthen my Soul Core."

Points of light lit up across Du Busi's body, all dark green in color.

Within those dark green points of light, Soul Power was driven into motion.

As Soul Power flowed through his meridians, a phantom vortex manifested from his Dantian.

It was possible to see that the 108 Apertures had actually formed a certain resonance with his Soul Core.

If this Soul Core had originally been the size of a fist, then after resonating with the 108 Apertures, it had expanded several times over, reaching the size of a human head!

And that was merely the most obvious change.

In Du Busi's perception, his Soul Power seemed to have undergone a qualitative enhancement. The surrounding heaven and earth became incomparably clear, while the circulation, eruption, and recovery of his Soul Power were several times greater than before.

Has my control over heaven and earth already reached the Limit level?

This thought arose in Du Busi's mind.

Even he found it utterly absurd.

But he quickly confirmed it.

He stretched out his hand and exerted force against empty space, only to receive a sensation as though he were touching something solid.

When he tore at it forcefully, the space ahead immediately trembled violently.

As he mobilized his Soul Power, space was finally ripped apart.

A crack was torn open directly before Du Busi.

This was an ability of Limit Douluo.

"My Soul Power is still lacking, but in terms of affinity with heaven and earth, my 'aptitude' has already reached the Limit level."

Limit Douluo were powerful not merely because of increased foundational Soul Power, but because they underwent a transformation in the essence of life itself. Their two Soul Cores granted them not only greater explosive power, but also an instinctive talent for space. Du Busi now possessed only one Soul Core, yet under the enhancement of Apertures, he had achieved an effect equivalent to having two Soul Cores!

"The Apertures have shared the role of the second Soul Core. Rather than strengthening my spatial perception in a parallel arrangement, they have formed a hierarchy that gives me meticulous control over space."

After carefully sensing his condition, Du Busi gained a clearer understanding of his current realm.

Two Soul Cores contended with each other. Together with space itself and the Soul Master's perception, the four points formed a three-dimensional space, allowing Limit Douluo to instinctively sense and manipulate space.

Du Busi now had one Soul Core commanding a group of Apertures beneath it. As the foundation, the Apertures took root throughout his body and represented his physical self. Thus, the Soul Core, physical self, external world, and perception formed an alternative three-dimensional structure.

Too few Apertures would be useless.

Only upon reaching a certain scale could they represent the physical self.

As he carefully comprehended his current state, another thought sprang into Du Busi's mind.

"Apertures can enhance my already formed Soul Core, so could they enhance the embryonic form of a Soul Core when I condense my second one?"