Physical Fitness

There were quite a few people in the village. Jiang Yue waited until dusk before finally managing to drag all the corpses into the pit with the sharpness of the Passionate Sword. He had no strength left at all now. As for burying them, that could wait until tomorrow.

After finishing his work, Jiang Yue's skin had turned grayish. His entire body looked as if it were covered in a layer of ash resembling skin, though it was not very thick and could be rubbed off easily.

Other than physical exhaustion, Jiang Yue felt nothing else. He did not even feel the slightest soreness.

It was as if there were a tiny sun inside his body, keeping him warm and comfortable. Only exhaustion remained in his body, without any pain.

Noticing the unusual condition of his body, Jiang Yue came before the old man and gave him a solemn bow.

The reason his body had become like this was entirely because, while digging the pit, the Soul Power in his body had circulated along the path of the old man's Soul Power, bringing him these benefits.

"You have quite a lot of impurities in your body. Go back and wash yourself clean first."

With a wave of the old man's hand, the two of them returned to the room from that morning. The moment they arrived, Jiang Yue immediately rushed into the bathroom to wash away the filth on his body.

As he scrubbed off the grime, Jiang Yue grew extremely curious about the old man's methods. This was remarkably similar to the Mysterious Underworld Sect's Mysterious Water Pill, both cleansing the tendons and marrow. Yet the old man had not relied on any heavenly treasures, accomplishing it solely through his own Soul Power.

Even Jiang Yue did not understand this method at all, but it was still within his expectations. If a powerful expert could not cleanse the tendons and marrow of a child who had just awakened a Martial Soul, that would be far too embarrassing.

While Jiang Yue was lost in thought, the old man's voice appeared beside his ear and began explaining some common knowledge of the Soul Master world.

"Soul Masters have developed for ten thousand years. Ten thousand years ago, Master Yu Xiaogang proposed that the optimal age for a first Soul Ring was four hundred and twenty-three years. In truth, that limit was only attainable by descendants of great clans ten thousand years ago."

"Even now, many ordinary people cannot reach four hundred and twenty-three years for their first Soul Ring. However, for the great clans of today, surpassing that limit remains easy."

"The difference lies in whether they are willing to risk their lives for one or two hundred years of Soul Ring age that can easily be made up for in the later stages of cultivation. Great clans value stability most of all. They will not do something so risky without tremendous rewards."

"Today, this old man used his Soul Power to help expel quite a few impurities from your body. Next, properly nurture your body with Soul Power. During this time, raise your physical fitness as much as possible. You are different from those descendants of great clans. You have no background and no resources to use. You need to seize every opportunity that can make you stronger."

"I understand. Thank you for your guidance."

After hearing the old man's voice transmission, Jiang Yue spoke to show that he understood.

A human expert capable of using spatial power and helping others expel bodily impurities with Soul Power had to be at least a Super Douluo.

Even now, Jiang Yue had not figured out why the old man was doing so much for him. They were neither relatives nor acquaintances. There was no reason for it.

But it did not matter. Jiang Yue had nothing now. At worst, the old man could take the life he had luckily managed to keep.

When people had nothing, they were not afraid of this or that. Therefore, no matter what the old man's intentions were, Jiang Yue was not afraid.

When Jiang Yue finished cleaning himself and came to the mirror, he realized that his appearance had changed somewhat. With the impurities expelled from his body, his skin had improved.

But improved skin was not the key point. The key was that Jiang Yue's originally black eyes had become heterochromatic. His left eye was silver, while his right eye was blue, making them extremely eye-catching.

"Is this a change brought about by Martial Soul awakening?"

Martial Souls affecting one's appearance was nothing unusual. Some Beast Martial Souls could even turn their owners into beast girls after awakening. Compared to that, Jiang Yue's pair of different-colored eyes was hardly worth mentioning.

When he left the bathroom, the old man was already sitting in a chair with a book in hand, waiting for Jiang Yue. Upon seeing him emerge, he immediately handed the book over.

"You can read, right?"

"A little."

"Good. That saves this old man some trouble. This book records most of the Mental Attribute soul beasts on the Douluo Continent. You must memorize what is in it."

"Mental Attribute soul beasts are known for being strange and difficult to deal with, yet there are no powerful Mental Attribute Soul Masters on the continent. You can only explore your own path by yourself."

"Your Martial Soul is a Mental Attribute sword. You must learn sword techniques. How about this? After you finish your business tomorrow, this old man will teach you a few simple sword techniques. I studied swords when I was young."

"Should I call you Master?"

Holding the illustrated guide to Mental Attribute soul beasts, Jiang Yue looked up at the old man seated in the chair.

The old man chuckled at Jiang Yue's words, roughly ruffling his hair before his expression turned serious.

"No need. Helping you was merely a whim of mine. There is no deep relationship between us. Besides, this old man's side is far too dangerous. A little fellow like you cannot stay near me."

"When we meet again, if you can learn my identity and still feel the same way, then you may call me Teacher. Before that, we are merely strangers who met by chance."

"I understand."

The next day, after burying every corpse in the village, Jiang Yue once again turned into a pitch-black mud man.

This time, he merely rinsed himself in the river a few times. Then the old man casually tapped a large tree beside him. In an instant, the entire tree and its leaves turned to powder, while two completely natural wooden swords appeared in the old man's hands.

Seeing the old man hand both swords to him, Jiang Yue immediately understood that the old man had long seen through the fact that he possessed Twin Martial Souls.

Just as he was about to say something, the old man waved his hand, signaling Jiang Yue not to speak further. Then he tapped Jiang Yue's right hand several times. Jiang Yue felt as if his right hand had become utterly unfamiliar, even more awkward than his left.

"Details determine success or failure. Anyone with some experience can see through it at a glance. If you do not want others to discover your secret, you must get used to using your left hand from now on. Remember, starting today, you are left-handed."

"Your situation is different. You must become proficient with both hands. Before you can skillfully use your left hand, I will not remove the restraint on your right hand."

Helplessly, Jiang Yue could only begin swinging his sword under the old man's guidance. The basic sword techniques consisted of fourteen moves: thrust, lift, swirl, slash, chop, point, snap, hang, sweep upward, wipe, sweep, parry, intercept, and flourish. Yet Jiang Yue already struggled simply to swing a sword with his left hand, much less perform the other movements.

The wooden sword in his hand felt completely different from the Passionate Sword. To Jiang Yue, the Passionate Sword felt more like an extension of his body. He could clearly sense the connection between himself and the Passionate Sword.

But the wooden sword in his hand gave him no such feeling. It was merely an ordinary weapon.

Jiang Yue had just intended to casually swing the wooden sword a few times to get used to it when he felt a force forcibly correcting his body.

He glanced at the old man and found him sitting on a tree stump with his eyes closed, resting quietly. Jiang Yue understood that this was the old man's instruction. He could be certain that the old man's identity was not simple. For Jiang Yue, who possessed nothing and knew nothing about the path of a Soul Master, such guidance was incomparably precious.

He cautiously swung the sword in earnest. That force appeared again, but this time it merely silently helped Jiang Yue adjust his movements, allowing him to wield the wooden sword with proper form.

Perhaps Jiang Yue's physical fitness was still too weak. Before he had swung the sword for long, soreness emerged in many parts of his body. Just as he instinctively mobilized his Soul Power to ease the sensation, the old man interrupted the circulation of Soul Power within him.

"Physical fitness is extremely important to Soul Masters, and even more so to you. Training tears your muscles apart, while rest allows them to repair themselves. That is the process of strengthening your body."

"Train properly when you train, and rest properly when you rest. Do not rush to repair your muscles while training, nor compress your resting time. If you do that, your body will remain in a constant state of tension. Not only will it fail to accelerate your cultivation, it will instead affect the efficiency with which you grow stronger."

"Moreover, during this process, you are defying your body's instincts by actively suppressing your Soul Power and refusing to use it as assistance. That itself is another kind of training for your control over Soul Power."

The body was the foundation of everything. Before absorbing Soul Rings older than ten thousand years, Soul Masters only needed to consider whether their bodies could endure them.

The reason Twin Martial Souls were so powerful was because they could absorb eighteen Soul Rings, and the second Martial Soul could even theoretically possess a configuration of entirely hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings.

Of course, a full set of hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings was merely a theoretical fantasy. An ordinary Soul Master's physical fitness could not withstand that many Soul Rings. If their body was too weak, they might not even be able to attach a full set of Soul Rings to their second Martial Soul.

But without question, for a Twin Martial Souls Soul Master, physical fitness had to be taken seriously in order to absorb more Soul Rings of better quality and higher age for the second Martial Soul.

To allow Jiang Yue to become thoroughly proficient with his left hand in a short time, there could be no exceptions. Whether practicing swordsmanship or going about daily life, he could only use his left hand.

Because his right hand had become even harder to control than his left, Jiang Yue was forced to use his unfamiliar left hand in daily life as well. Since it concerned his livelihood, in just over a month, Jiang Yue had become proficient in using his left hand.

In that short period, Jiang Yue had even learned to write a few simple characters with his left hand.

Though they were as ugly as doodles.

At the same time, during the month Jiang Yue spent living with the old man, he learned many things from him besides sword techniques.

Aside from the advanced Meditation Method, Jiang Yue's body was now vastly different from what it had been over a month ago. The old man had used Soul Power to help expel the filth from his body, while both the old man's and Jiang Yue's Soul Power continuously nurtured his meridians. He also practiced swordsmanship every day. How could his physical fitness not improve under such circumstances?

Only after Jiang Yue no longer had any issues using his left hand did the old man remove the restriction on his right hand. However, after his right hand recovered, perhaps because he had not used it for so long, Jiang Yue found it somewhat unfamiliar.

Holding a wooden sword in each hand, Jiang Yue adapted to them slightly before nodding at the old man.

The old man closed his eyes and placed a hand on Jiang Yue's shoulder. Strands of Soul Power entered Jiang Yue's body, examining his current physical fitness.

With the old man's help, the impurities Jiang Yue had accumulated over the years before awakening his Martial Soul had almost all been expelled. Combined with the nourishment of Soul Power, Jiang Yue's body was now far stronger than before.

"Mm, not bad. Your physical fitness is now sufficient for you to absorb a soul beast of over five hundred years as your first Soul Ring."

"Ah? Only five hundred years? Not even six hundred?"

"Hehe, before the age of six, you had no resources at all. You probably had never even seen things that nourished the body and meridians. For your physical fitness to improve this much in just over a month is already very good. What? Were you expecting an eight- or nine-hundred-year first Soul Ring? A thousand-year second Soul Ring?"

"Although this old man told you before to seize every opportunity to become stronger, that does not mean you should throw your life away like this. I have a highly gifted friend. Even with the backing of a major power, although his fourth Soul Ring reached the ten-thousand-year level, his second Soul Ring was still only a hundred-year yellow Soul Ring."

"A Soul Master's early cultivation is extremely important. The level one reaches before the age of twenty largely reveals the height that Soul Master can attain in their lifetime. To become a Titled Douluo, one must at the very least become a Soul King before the age of twenty."

"Do not deliberately stall at a bottleneck and refuse to absorb a Soul Ring just for a little more Soul Ring age. Such short-sighted behavior is putting the cart before the horse and will only affect your future."

The old man's words made Jiang Yue fall into deep thought. There was naturally difficulty in obtaining a thousand-year second Soul Ring, but it was not as if major powers could not produce such younger generations.

It was simply because major powers placed greater emphasis on the word "stability" and would not casually allow their descendants to undertake such risky things.

It was only a thousand-year Soul Ring. Once a Soul Master grew stronger, it was basically of little use. High-level Soul Masters opened with ten-thousand-year soul skills. The value of a ten-thousand-year fourth Soul Ring was far greater than that of a thousand-year second Soul Ring.

Looking across the era of the Unrivaled Tang Sect, aside from Huo Yuhao, the absurdly overpowered protagonist, only Wang Dong among the others possessed a thousand-year second Soul Ring.

Of course, exceptions had to be made for the Body Sect, whose circumstances were unclear, and the Holy Spirit Cult, which had clearly used evil methods to improve themselves.

"Enough of that. You possess Innate Full Soul Power. To continue cultivating, you must have a Soul Ring. Even if the Soul Power you cultivate will remain dormant in your body and only emerge after you absorb a Soul Ring, the cultivation speeds of a Soul Scholar and a Soul Master are still different."

"Your physical fitness cannot reach such an outrageous level in a short time. Remaining stuck at a bottleneck for too long will do you more harm than good."

"Have you decided on your future direction after all this time?"

"I decided long ago. Or rather, it has never changed from beginning to end. The Control System."

"..."

The old man rubbed his forehead. He was already speechless. After spending this time together, he could tell that Jiang Yue had his own ideas, but he was not the sort of child who refused to listen to reason. Why, then, was he so unwilling to heed advice when it came to the cultivation direction of the Passionate Sword?

The old man had clearly spoken to Jiang Yue many times about this during the past month, yet he had not expected Jiang Yue to remain so stubborn.

A sword Martial Soul should follow the path of an assault-type or agility-type Soul Master. Why choose the Control System? Was that not abandoning the broad road to heaven in favor of a narrow path?

Even with the old man's experience, he had never seen or heard of a sword Martial Soul following the Control System.

The old man felt that he had failed. He had once possessed a formidable reputation in the Soul Master world during his youth, yet he could not even convince a child.

With a helpless sigh, the old man ultimately decided not to interfere with Jiang Yue's choice.

Jiang Yue was different from others. He had room to make mistakes. Even if the Passionate Sword became neither fish nor fowl by following the Control System, he still had the other sword he had seen before as a safeguard.

Moreover, as long as he absorbed Soul Rings from Mental Attribute soul beasts according to the Passionate Sword's attributes, the Passionate Sword would not stray too far even if its development direction was unusual, and its power would not be greatly affected.

As for why Jiang Yue had chosen the Control System for the Passionate Sword, one reason was that he possessed Twin Martial Souls, so his first Martial Soul was less important than his second.

The other reason was Zang Xin, the Passionate Sword Douluo, who was originally meant to be born ten thousand years later. He possessed the Passionate Sword Martial Soul and reached Rank 99 as a Limit Douluo. He was also publicly recognized as the number one Control System Soul Master of the era of Legend of the Dragon King.

With a successful example before him, and with it being impossible for anyone else in this era to possess the Passionate Sword Martial Soul, Jiang Yue naturally wanted to follow that successful example, especially when there were so few Mental Attribute Soul Masters.

"Sigh, forget it. Young people these days have far more opinions of their own than those from my time. No matter how this old man tries to persuade you, it will probably be useless. Do as you wish."

"Thank you."