Hidden Sect?! A Martial Soul's Second Evolution?!

The night was deep, and moonlight spilled across the ground like quicksilver.

In Cao Kun's courtyard behind Shrek Academy.

The air held the faint scent of sandalwood and the mist rising from fresh tea. The earth-shaking battle and its aura of destruction seemed shut out by this little courtyard, leaving only a soothing peace.

In the sitting room, Cao Kun, Zhao Wuji, and Flender sat facing one another.

Dugu Yan lifted the pot with a graceful hand and poured steaming Spirit Tea for the three of them. Emerald tea swirled in white jade cups, releasing a refreshing fragrance.

Her movements were gentle and her bearing elegant. She kept her green eyes lowered and said nothing, but whenever her gaze passed over Cao Kun in the seat of honor, it held undisguised reverence and devotion.

Once the three cups were full, she gave a graceful bow and quietly withdrew, leaving the room to the three men.

The sitting room was small, its furnishings simple yet tasteful.

A few plain rosewood chairs stood beside a low table. Several landscape paintings hung on the walls, and a bronze incense burner in the corner sent up thin curls of smoke.

There were no ornaments of gold or jade, yet the room had a charm born of simplicity.

Zhao Wuji and Flender sat in the guest seats.

Both still looked disheveled, their clothes dusty. Several bloody scrapes from flying stones marked Zhao Wuji's bare torso, and Flender's glasses sat crooked on his nose.

Neither seemed to notice. Their four eyes were fixed on the calm young man in white seated across from them.

Curiosity, shock, confusion, excitement... Emotions churned in their chests, almost too much to contain.

What they had just witnessed—Cao Kun defeating Tang Hao in a handful of moves and stopping Ring Detonation with one finger—was a feat beyond anything they could comprehend.

Countless questions boiled up inside them.

"Ahem..."

At last, Flender cleared his throat and pushed his crooked glasses up his nose, breaking the silence.

His voice was dry, and he could not quite hide the uncertainty in it. "Cao Kun... Uh, well... Thank you for stepping in just now. You saved Old Zhao, me, and the academy."

Zhao Wuji came back to himself and nodded quickly, his wide eyes filled with complicated emotion. "Kun, we owe you everything tonight."

He hesitated, then finally asked what troubled him most, unable to keep the urgency from his voice. "What... what level are you at now? And why... why didn't we see you release any Soul Rings?"

That was the greatest mystery to them both.

For Soul Masters, releasing Soul Rings in battle was almost as natural as breathing. The rings were symbols of their power and standing.

Yet throughout Cao Kun's fight with Tang Hao, not a single Soul Ring had appeared beneath his feet. The only sign of anything at all had been the barely perceptible light on his finger at the end!

It defied everything the Soul Master World knew!

And then there was his Martial Soul...

They vaguely remembered that the Martial Soul Cao Kun had awakened was a rather ancient-looking bell.

It had seemed unusual, but it should never have been powerful enough to withstand the Clear Sky Hammer, much less crush it!

Cao Kun lifted his cup, gently blew the floating leaves aside, and took a sip. Steam veiled his face, making him seem all the more inscrutable.

He set down the cup and looked at them. His gaze was as still as an ancient well, and though his voice was quiet, they heard every word:

"A Titled Douluo!"

The words struck Zhao Wuji and Flender like a thunderclap!

"A... a Titled Douluo?!"

They cried out almost in unison, leaning forward without thinking. Their eyes went wide, disbelief written across their faces!

Was he really a Titled Douluo?

An eighteen-year-old Titled Douluo?!

What kind of joke was that?!

The youngest Titled Douluo in the continent's history was Tang Hao, the man Cao Kun had just beaten half to death. Even he had been in his forties when he reached that level!

Eighteen?

It was absurd!

Zhao Wuji had been hailed as a genius for reaching Soul Emperor at thirty-seven or thirty-eight!

Flender had not broken through to Soul Emperor until his forties!

"Comparisons really are the death of you..." Flender muttered, his voice heavy with shock and a loss he could not put into words.

He had always thought that, despite his penny-pinching and habit of taking advantage where he could, he had trained diligently as a Soul Master. At level seventy-eight, he was a Soul Saint and counted as a formidable expert on the continent.

But beside an eighteen-year-old Titled Douluo... he was a firefly next to the moon!

Zhao Wuji looked dazed. He remembered finding a scrawny six-year-old boy with unusually determined eyes in the Star Dou Great Forest twelve years ago.

Back then, he had simply thought the boy had good potential.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that, only twelve years later, that boy would grow into someone he had to look up to—someone who had even saved his life!

"Unbelievable... But if that isn't true, how else could you have defeated Tang Hao so easily...?"

Zhao Wuji shook his head with a rueful smile, accepting the only explanation that made sense, however incredible it seemed.

Yet his questions had only multiplied.

"But... even a Titled Douluo has to release Soul Rings when using Soul Skills in battle, doesn't he? And your Martial Soul..." Flender could not help pressing him.

Cao Kun seemed to have expected the question. His expression did not change, and he spoke slowly, as though recalling a distant past. "It's a long story, and it involves certain secrets. But you two are my teachers, not outsiders, so I'll tell you."

He paused, then put on a show of reluctance. "I didn't reach this point through talent alone. Twelve years ago, not long after my Martial Soul awakened, a traveling elder from a Hidden Sect noticed me and took me as a disciple. The sect's ancestor favored me and granted me an inheritance. With supreme secret arts and resources, the sect helped my Martial Soul undergo a second evolution, allowing my strength to soar."

"A Hidden Sect?"

"An ancestor's inheritance?"

"A second evolution of your Martial Soul?"

Zhao Wuji and Flender were stunned again. The terms were unfamiliar, yet full of mysterious promise.

"That's right."

Cao Kun nodded and explained, "My bell Martial Soul was originally a mutated tool Martial Soul of decent quality."

"But with the sect's secret arts, it absorbed Innate Chaos Energy and fused with many Heavenly Treasures. At last, it evolved into a true God-Level Martial Soul."

"I named it... the Chaos Bell."

"A God-Level Martial Soul?!"

Both men drew in sharp breaths!

A God-Level Martial Soul existed only in legend!

It was a level above even the finest Martial Souls!

No wonder it could suppress the Clear Sky Hammer so easily!

No wonder he could wield such power without showing a Soul Ring!

It all seemed to make sense!

Zhao Wuji suddenly remembered something and slapped his thigh. "No wonder!"

"No wonder that 'Spirit Spring' you had me drink before, and those strange 'Pills' you gave me, made my Soul Power flow faster and my body feel lighter every time!"

"I couldn't have reached level eighty-eight so quickly without them!"

"Were those treasures from your sect?"