Ning Yunxiu's Lap Pillow

Jiang Yu pretended to be startled by their reactions, then asked:

"I have two martial souls. Is something wrong?"

Ning Yunxiu and Wu Lie exchanged a glance. Each saw the same overwhelming shock in the other's eyes.

Twin Martial Souls appeared more often in this era than they had ten thousand years ago, but that did not make them any less valuable.

On the contrary, with cultivation methods now more refined, soul masters with Twin Martial Souls found it easier to reach the higher ranks.

And once they did, their advantage became clear.

After all, an ordinary soul master could have at most nine Spirit Rings. One with Twin Martial Souls could have eighteen.

As Ning Yunxiu might put it, a genius with Innate Full Soul Power was a future Titled Douluo in the making. But a genius with Twin Martial Souls could reach the Super Douluo realm in very little time after becoming a Titled Douluo, even without actively cultivating, simply by adding high-quality Spirit Rings to their second martial soul!

And if that soul master had enough drive, they might even touch the realm of Ultimate Douluo someday.

Ning Yunxiu was beside herself with delight, while Wu Lie, who had picked Jiang Yu up, had begun to question everything he knew.

You're telling me the little beggar I picked up not only has Innate Full Soul Power, but also Twin Martial Souls, the kind you might not see once in decades?

You couldn't get away with writing that in a novel!

While Wu Lie grappled with that revelation, Ning Yunxiu suppressed her joy and crouched until her eyes were level with Jiang Yu's.

"Little Yu, tell me what your two martial souls are."

Wu Lie hurried over to listen.

Jiang Yu looked at the two expectant faces before him, one young and one old, then released both his martial souls.

"This is the Light Dragon Dagger, and this is the Shadow Dragon Dagger. They're my two martial souls."

Ning Yunxiu and Wu Lie froze. Their gazes passed over the two long daggers, one translucent yellow and the other invisible, before Ning Yunxiu asked in surprise:

"Little Yu, you're saying these daggers are two separate martial souls? You can attach Spirit Rings to both of them?"

Jiang Yu nodded. "I can feel that both of them can take Spirit Rings."

Something seemed to occur to Ning Yunxiu, and her surprise deepened.

"Little Yu, Uncle Wu said you killed those three people with two daggers. Does that mean you can use your Twin Martial Souls at the same time?"

Jiang Yu nodded. Being able to use both martial souls simultaneously without any restrictions was indeed an innate advantage of his two martial souls, which shared the same origin.

A thoughtful look crossed Ning Yunxiu's face.

In this era, some soul masters could use Twin Martial Souls simultaneously through advanced techniques. But that was possible only if the two souls did not interfere with each other in their attributes or methods of use.

It also demanded extraordinary mental strength and control over one's martial souls.

She had failed to recognize the daggers as Jiang Yu's Twin Martial Souls because, with her mental strength, she could clearly sense that their auras of origin were identical apart from their differing attributes.

To put it plainly, they resembled the Ice-Fire Twin-Headed Jiao, a well-known mutated soul beast. It had two heads controlling different elemental powers, but only one life.

In the soul master world, this phenomenon had a technical name: Attribute Separation.

It occurred only in soul masters with tool martial souls. In an extremely small number of cases, the martial soul's origin mutated upon awakening, causing two attributes that should have appeared in one martial soul to separate.

To accommodate the divided attributes, the martial soul would split off part of its own power of origin. The result appeared to be two similar martial souls with different attributes, though in truth they were still a single martial soul.

As far as Ning Yunxiu knew, something like this had once occurred among the descendants of Xie Yue, the Blood Moon Douluo of Spirit Hall. After their bloodline had weakened until they possessed only one Moon Blade martial soul, some of them had experienced Attribute Separation.

"Twin Martial Souls with a shared origin... This really is my first time seeing them in person..."

After murmuring to herself, Ning Yunxiu lost all interest in dealing with the work piled up at the Nine Treasure Pavilion. She called to Wu Lie and prepared to take Jiang Yu straight back to the sect's grounds.

On the way back, Ning Yunxiu asked Jiang Yu more questions about his martial souls and settled one matter.

She would not let him obtain his first Spirit Ring for the next three months.

It was not because she wanted to slow his cultivation. She was thinking of his future.

After six years scraping by at the very bottom of society, Jiang Yu's physical foundation was terrible. Even after being tempered by the power of origin from both martial souls, his body was only a little stronger than that of an ordinary six-year-old.

So Ning Yunxiu made her decision on the spot: Jiang Yu would undergo three months of intensive conditioning.

That meant strengthening his body, nourishing and clearing his meridians, and removing impurities from within him.

Ning Yunxiu intended to raise his physical strength enough to absorb an eight-hundred-year Spirit Ring as his first ring by the end of those three months.

The cost would undoubtedly be enormous. Ning Yunxiu, however, said it was only a little money. If it made Jiang Yu feel the warmth of a home, she would consider it worthwhile even at ten times the price!

Ning Yunxiu was a perfect example of what it meant to have money to burn.

The carriage, fitted with soul-tool soundproofing and shock absorbers, was comfortable. Jiang Yu had barely rested for days, and after pushing his mind so hard today, he drifted off without realizing it.

In his half-conscious state, Jiang Yu somehow rested his head on something warm and soft that carried a faint, pleasant scent. Dreaming that he was back in his bedroom on his wide bed, he instinctively nuzzled against it.

On the other side of the carriage, Wu Lie, the Red Dragon Douluo, blinked in shock. Jiang Yu had laid his head on the Sect Master's thigh—and had even nuzzled it.

You've got guts, kid!

What shocked Wu Lie even more was that the Sect Master let Jiang Yu get away with it.

She even shifted to make him more comfortable.

Wu Lie's thoughts raced. Since losing her husband, Ning Yunxiu had spent years focused on restoring the sect and raising her only daughter, Ning Tian. She had always treated men outside the sect as though they did not exist.

Apart from old-timers like them, the men in the world who could get within a meter of her could be counted on one hand.

More importantly, others might not understand Ning Yunxiu, but Wu Lie had watched her grow up. He knew better than anyone how distant and detached she was beneath her gentle exterior.

Yet that same Ning Yunxiu had allowed a six-year-old child she had known for barely half a day to rest his head on her thigh.

Could it be... she likes them young?

The more he thought about it, the more alarming it seemed, and his expression grew strange.

Ning Yunxiu was far too perceptive to miss Wu Lie's loaded stare.

She did not grow angry at his misunderstanding. She only said softly:

"Uncle Wu, don't you think this child looks a lot like Yao'er?"