Second Trial!

Dai Tu walked to the edge of the training ground, watching his fellow disciples sweat profusely as they crazily tempered their bodies. A trace of complexity flashed through his eyes.

Some of them, like him, were orphans taken in by the sect. Some came from poor backgrounds and had joined the sect dreaming of making something of themselves. Some had even grown up in the sect, treating this place as their only home.

Like him, they all carried their own pasts, their own wounds, their own... obsessions.

But like him, they were also striving to grow stronger, supporting one another, and treating each other as... family.

"Senior brothers and sisters, excuse me." Dai Tu spoke quietly, but bolstered by Soul Power, his voice carried clearly across the entire training ground.

Everyone in the field stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Dai Tu.

Their feelings toward this personal disciple newly accepted by the sect master—the "junior brother" with Twin Martial Souls, a Gold-Grade Awakening, and the sect master's doting favor—were complicated.

There was curiosity, envy, reverence, and... a faint, barely perceptible jealousy.

After all, the resources and attention Dai Tu received far surpassed those given to any of them.

"Junior brother, what is it?" asked a broad, muscular senior brother in his twenties whose martial soul was Iron Bone. His tone was fairly polite.

Dai Tu nodded and walked into the center of the field. Looking around at everyone, he said seriously, "My Soul Power has recently broken through, and I obtained a new healing soul skill. Its effects are quite good. I'd like to ask my senior brothers and sisters to help test it. While I'm at it... I can help everyone condition their bodies and treat any hidden injuries."

A healing soul skill?

Condition their bodies?

Treat hidden injuries?

Everyone froze.

"Junior brother, are you saying... you can treat hidden injuries?" The Iron Bone senior brother's eyes widened, his voice trembling with excitement.

Hidden injuries were the nightmare of every Body Martial Soul master. Their cultivation methods were too overbearing and put too much strain on their bodies. Their meridians, bones, and internal organs would all suffer varying degrees of damage.

Such damage was usually not apparent, but once it accumulated to a certain extent, or they encountered a breakthrough bottleneck, it would erupt. At best, their cultivation would stagnate; at worst, they would suffer cultivation deviation, become crippled, or even... die.

The sect's healing-type soul masters could only treat recent wounds and were almost powerless against hidden injuries. Even those expensive pills could only alleviate the symptoms, not cure them.

But now, their junior brother said he could treat them?

"We can give it a try." Dai Tu did not overpromise, but the calm, confident light in his eyes set everyone's hearts ablaze.

"Then... we'll trouble you, junior brother!" The Iron Bone senior brother was the first to step forward. Without hesitation, he removed his shirt, revealing a muscular body covered in old and fresh scars.

Dai Tu walked up to him, extended his left hand, and pressed it against his chest.

An emerald radiance lit up from Dai Tu's palm.

The Tree of Life Martial Soul appeared, and three soul rings—two purple and one black—rose in succession, emanating vast life energy.

Dai Tu poured Soul Power into his second soul ring and activated Life Eulogy!

Gentle yet immense life force surged into the Iron Bone senior brother's body like floodwaters bursting through a dam. He could feel the meridians that had grown rigid from years of cultivation begin to soften and clear under the nourishment of that life force.

The hidden injuries deep in his bones, which had always ached faintly, rapidly healed and mended. Even the crack that had once run through his ribs after a severe injury years ago was visibly closing and disappearing.

"Th-this..." The Iron Bone senior brother's eyes widened. Feeling the long-lost lightness of having a thousand-pound burden lifted from his body, he was too excited to speak.

The Iron Bone senior brother, however, already looked like a new man. He moved his arms and legs, circulated his Soul Power, and an incredulous ecstasy appeared on his face.

"It's healed! It's really healed! The hidden injury in my ribs is completely gone! Even my Soul Power circulation is thirty percent faster! Junior brother, you... you're practically a divine physician!"

The training ground instantly erupted.

Everyone crowded around, scrambling to have Dai Tu treat them.

"Junior brother, take a look at me! My left leg was broken years ago and set badly. I've never been able to put any strength into it!"

"Junior brother, there's a blockage in the meridians of my right hand. My Soul Power always gets stuck there. It's been like that for years!"

"Junior brother, I..."

Dai Tu did not refuse anyone. He treated them one after another, injecting pure life force into each person's body, repairing their hidden injuries, clearing their meridians, and nourishing their flesh and blood.

His Soul Power was draining rapidly, but the Mark of Life between his brows continuously supplied energy, sustaining the cost of treatment.

Moreover, he could feel that with every person he treated, his understanding of the Tree of Life Martial Soul deepened, and his comprehension of the laws of life grew. His affinity with the Mark of Life also rose slowly but steadily.

Three days.

Dai Tu remained on the training ground, treating people without sleep or rest for three days.

Over those three days, he treated more than two hundred sect disciples. Among them were Soul Elders, Soul Ancestors, Soul Kings, and even two Soul Emperor-level elders.

When the last disciple left with gratitude and reverence, Dai Tu was so exhausted that he could barely stand. Only with Long Aotian supporting him did he manage to return to his room.

Yet his heart was fulfilled.

Because he could feel that more than half the requirements for the second life trial, Shepherd of the World, had already been completed. Furthermore, his prestige within the sect had reached an unprecedented height.

Those fellow disciples who had once regarded him with jealousy and suspicion now looked at him with nothing but pure gratitude and respect.

Several elders even privately approached Du Busi, saying that Dai Tu was "a blessing to the sect" and "a treasure Heaven had bestowed upon the Body Sect," urging Du Busi to protect this disciple at all costs.

Du Busi naturally grinned from ear to ear and thumped his chest in promise. Whoever dared touch a single hair on Dai Tu's head, he would wipe out their entire family.

And all of this was only the beginning.

After resting for a day and recovering more than half his Soul Power, Dai Tu entered seclusion once more, preparing to begin... the second destruction trial, Heart Tempering.

He sat cross-legged in the quiet chamber, his consciousness sinking into the cold, dark-purple Mark of Destruction between his brows.

Then, he "saw" it.

A blood-red, boundless world filled with despair and the aura of death.

Konoha.

The burning village. Corpses scattered everywhere. Familiar villagers falling one after another into pools of blood, their eyes still open in death.

Zhu Ye's savage grin, the soldiers' bloodstained spears, the sword tip protruding from Arin's chest, and her final silent words: "Run."

Everything was replaying.

Dai Tu stood in the pool of blood, watching it all. The corner of his heart that had long been frozen was torn open once more, releasing blazing hatred powerful enough to burn away reason.

"Hate. Rage. Destroy..." A seductive voice, seemingly rising from the depths of hell, whispered in his ear. "Destroy all of this. Destroy everyone who has hurt you. Destroy this... filthy world."

Dai Tu clenched his fists, his nails digging deeply into his palms until they drew blood.

Deep within his left eye, the scorching power of the Mangekyō Sharingan began to surge violently, wanting to burst free, tear this illusion apart completely, and slaughter those phantoms all over again.

But at that moment, the Eye of Destiny between his brows, which had remained tightly closed, suddenly... opened.

It did not open fully. Only a narrow slit appeared.

Yet through that slit, he "saw" something beyond the blood-red illusion.