After the two briefly parted, Ji Siyuan began refining the Millennium Pine-Fir Ganoderma.
Huo Yuhao was learning from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm what had happened.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wept in the Sea of Consciousness. "How could such a power exist? Why could it sever my origin?"
It cried to Huo Yutong, "There's something wrong with Ji Siyuan. Something very wrong. There's an extraordinarily powerful force inside him that severed my origin completely. I'd originally saved it for Bingbing."
"Brother Sky Dream, can you tell me what happened? Siyuan just told me we could cultivate through dual cultivation."
Hearing Huo Yutong's form of address, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cried even harder. It repeated what had just happened.
Huo Yutong was speechless. "Brother Sky Dream, it's fine. It's good to let Siyuan take the lead. I can accept it."
Having lost its masculine Spiritual Origin, it considered whether it should go find the Ice Empress. That plan could be abandoned.
But when it saw the look Huo Yutong gave Ji Siyuan, it couldn't bear to do it. "To make sure you're worthy of this kid, I'll stake everything on this!"
That powerful force kept their Martial Soul Fusion Skill from reaching one hundred percent compatibility.
Unless the Divine Realm here sent down the Divine Power of three God Kings, no one could achieve a perfect fusion with Ji Siyuan's Second Martial Soul.
But this force also gave them the ability to cultivate rapidly.
Ji Siyuan had also learned the whole story from Tang San. He couldn't help feeling a little schadenfreude. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had really brought this on itself.
He opened his eyes. "My Soul Power's at level 17."
"That fast?"
Huo Yuhao was astonished. After all, Ji Siyuan had only reached level 16 a couple of days ago.
With a spiritual treasure, it was understandable.
Now the two of them stared at each other, neither saying a word.
Huo Yuhao didn't know how to bring it up, and neither did Ji Siyuan.
Though dual cultivation was faster, they were a boy and a girl, and both knew exactly what it meant.
Ji Siyuan thought it over. He shouldn't make Huo Yuhao be the one to bring this up.
Nine Lotus Seeds floated around him. "Want to cultivate together? I felt just now that our cultivation speed is much faster that way."
Did he even need to think about it?
Huo Yuhao had been waiting for him to say that.
He climbed onto Ji Siyuan's bed and sat cross-legged. They pressed their palms together and began cultivating.
With the Lotus Seeds and Martial Soul Fusion boosting them, their cultivation speed was more than twice what it had been before.
For Huo Yuhao, the increase was even harder to quantify.
He had never experienced cultivation at such a speed.
"Siyuan, why don't we give it a name? We can't keep calling it Martial Soul Fusion."
"Yuanyao?"
"No, no, that won't do." Hao wasn't his real name, so how could they use it?
Ji Siyuan said, "Maybe we should forget it. Any name we come up with feels kind of awkward."
"But I want to commemorate it."
After thinking for a while, they decided to call it the Power of Yu-Yuan.
Most of the time, they'd still just call it dual cultivation.
The name was just a little too awkward for Ji Siyuan.
Now that they had such a powerful cultivation boost, they also wanted to try their Martial Soul Fusion Skill in the true sense of the term. But they decided against doing it in the dorm.
They would find an open space outside the next day and release it there.
With a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Huo Yuhao felt more confident, too.
Aside from the two of them, the person most affected was Xu Sanshi, who was planning to arrange a Soul Fight.
He was about to suffer for it.
After parting from Ma Xiaotao, Xu Sanshi immediately went to find Bei Bei and discuss the matter with him.
"You want to challenge Siyuan and Yuhao? I'm telling you, absolutely not!" Bei Bei sternly rejected Xu Sanshi's idea.
Bei Bei said, "A fifth-year taking on a first-year? Xu Sanshi, you've got some nerve even suggesting that."
Xu Sanshi gave up trying to argue. "Bei Bei, if you think it won't work, then go tell Senior Ma Xiaotao that. I'm just carrying out orders."
"Senior Xiaotao? Why?"
"How should I know? Maybe she wants to see if those two junior students are handsome." After Bei Bei poked him, Xu Sanshi snapped back to his senses. "Senior Xiaotao said Ji Siyuan is talented and she wants to see what he can do. You know Inner Court students aren't supposed to pick fights with Outer Court students."
Ji Siyuan and Huo Yuhao, who had nearly been knocked to death: ???
Under Ma Xiaotao's intimidating authority, Bei Bei could only give in. "Fine. But I'm not promising I'll get it done."
"Great. Tell her we split the profits fifty-fifty."
"Twenty-thirty-fifty!"
"What's twenty-thirty-fifty?"
Bei Bei said, "Senior Xiaotao's here for junior Siyuan, so he gets half. Yuhao has to get up there and take a beating, so he gets three shares. You can just earn a little for your trouble."
"Hey, Bei Bei, that's not very brotherly of you. There are two sides involved. How'd it turn into an eighty-twenty split? No way. Forty-sixty!"
Bei Bei said, "Thirty-seventy. Take it or leave it."
Xu Sanshi said, "Fine, thirty-seventy. Just don't take your share out of mine!"
As seasoned bookmakers, the two immediately began working out the details.
Ma Xiaotao only wanted to see Ji Siyuan's flames, anyway.
All that remained was to wait for Bei Bei to arrange things.
After dinner in the cafeteria, Ji Siyuan and Huo Yuhao found a suitable open space.
Huo Yuhao said, "The lake water is so warm. This is the perfect time to cultivate."
Ji Siyuan said, "Don't forget, we came here to try out our Martial Soul Fusion Skill."
When it came to diligence and hard work, he was no less driven than Huo Yuhao. But every week or whenever he made a breakthrough, he gave himself time to relax, so the strings wouldn't snap. Overall, he worked less hard than Huo Yuhao.
"How do we do it?"
Neither of them knew, but each had a spirit in their mind.
Tang San and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm spoke in unison from their respective Sea of Consciousnesses. "Hold each other!"
Following their instructions, they embraced.
Their Soul Power was instantly drained.
Blazing Fire appeared around Ji Siyuan, and a red lotus formed amid the surging flames.
A massive eye appeared over Huo Yuhao's body, then slowly took shape on the lotus petals.
The whole lotus burst into flames, and an eye appeared on every petal.
The lotus blossomed, scattering countless petals.
They weren't petals torn from the Red Lotus, but petals formed from the flames. Each one bore the image of an eye.
The flames burned, the eyes blazed bright, and they pointed toward the lake.
Tens of thousands of petals, each bearing the mark of an eye, pointed toward the enormous Sea God Lake.
Red flames burned in the pupils, and a beam of fiery light shot out.
One petal with an eye was like this; so were ten, a hundred, and tens of thousands.
The beams struck the lake's surface, releasing an enormous amount of heat in an instant. The water in that small area evaporated, creating a huge difference in water level, like a basin on a plateau.
Then the two collapsed on the open ground and stayed there until Wang Dong'er happened upon them.
"Why are two grown men sleeping while hugging each other? Did they sleep here yesterday, too?"
She tried to pull them apart, but couldn't. "I refuse to believe this."
After several attempts, she decided to go find Wang Yan.
With no other choice, Wang Yan took them to his office to rest.
It became a little campus legend—and a running joke.
The two woke up with Wang Yan keeping watch over them.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on with you two?"
Ji Siyuan said, "Teacher Wang, we have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill! That's why we ended up like this, but it seems we can't demonstrate it right now."
A Martial Soul Fusion Skill needed time to recover before it could be used again.
After hearing their explanation, Wang Yan chose to believe them. Rare things like this could happen, and more importantly, he hoped they were telling the truth.
"So what did you name your Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"
Ji Siyuan thought for a moment. "Red Lotus Myriad Eyes, Scorching Flame Sky Light."