The Best Moonlight Is the Moonlight You Can't Have

As master of the Body Sect and keeper of its deepest secret, the Secret of the Body, Du Busi knew more about Body Martial Souls than anyone else in the world.

But a Martial Soul made of one's own cells... Du Busi had never even heard of such a thing! In the Body Sect's thousands of years of history, there was not a single record of a Cell Martial Soul!

The importance of cells went without saying.

After all, cells carried out every vital function in the human body. They provided its structure, performed its physiological work, and made growth, repair, renewal, and aging possible.

A Cell Martial Soul was undoubtedly among the finest Body Martial Souls, perhaps no less powerful than top-tier ones such as the heart, the brain, or the body itself!

And... Xu Tiance also possessed Twin Martial Souls!

Soul Masters with Body Martial Souls generally had low Innate Soul Power. Someone like Long Aotian, whose Innate Soul Power had reached level seven, was already as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. But Xu Tiance's Twin Martial Souls had raised his Innate Soul Power all the way to Innate Full Soul Power... As long as he completed the Second Awakening of his Body Martial Soul, a smooth road lay ahead of him!

Why had such a promising talent appeared in the Sun Moon Empire of all places?

Du Busi took a deep breath and forced down his shock, though his eyes burned all the brighter.

"Child, join the Body Sect and become my disciple! What's so good about the Sun Moon Empire and those Soul Tools? If you're willing to join the Body Sect and cut ties with the Sun Moon Empire, I guarantee you'll become a level 95 Super Douluo one day. You might even become a Level 99 Limit Douluo!"

Du Busi completely ignored Kong Deming, who sat beside Xu Tiance, and tried to poach his disciple right in front of him.

But Kong Deming did not take offense. If anything, he wanted to laugh.

Du Busi was actually urging the fourth son of the Sun Moon Empire's Prince Purple Brilliant to cut ties with the empire? Prince Purple Brilliant was the man Kong Deming had in mind as its next emperor, and Xu Tiance was his preferred Crown Prince!

He wanted the future Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire to break away from the Sun Moon Empire...

Xu Tiance asked himself honestly: if he had been born into an ordinary family in the Sun Moon Empire, with no good teacher and the threat of being targeted by Evil Soul Masters from the Holy Spirit Cult hanging over him, he would have cut ties with the empire before Du Busi even opened his mouth.

Du Busi might even have marveled at how quickly he had done it.

"Senior Du Busi, my surname is Xu."

Those few words made Du Busi's eyes narrow.

Wasn't the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family also surnamed Xu? Was this boy a member of the imperial family?

Du Busi let out a long breath, his voice tinged with resignation. "In that case, I won't ask you to cut ties with the Sun Moon Empire. Just join the Body Sect and become my disciple."

Du Busi felt as though ten thousand feathers were tickling his heart at once. Xu Tiance did not merely possess a top-tier Body Martial Soul; he possessed one that had never awakened in the Body Sect's thousands of years of history! His joining the sect would be of immense importance!

Du Busi refused to let this Body Martial Soul genius slip away.

"Senior Du Busi, I already have a teacher. He is the greatest Soul Engineer of our time, and he treats me very well. I have no plans to change teachers for now."

Xu Tiance remained unfailingly polite.

He knew perfectly well that, to Du Busi, he was just like Huo Yuhao in the original story: an unattainable moonlight. And the harder that moonlight was to reach, the more fiercely one longed for it.

Sure enough, Du Busi grew anxious the moment he heard Xu Tiance's reply. "The greatest Soul Engineer of our time? What the hell good is that? You have Twin Martial Souls! A top-tier Body Martial Soul! Do those Soul Engineers of the Sun Moon Empire know how to nurture a Soul Master with a Body Martial Soul? They haven't the faintest idea!"

"Only by coming to the Body Sect and becoming my disciple will you receive proper guidance instead of going astray and turning into some haphazard Soul Engineer!"

At those words, Kong Deming's expression abruptly chilled, and a faint but unmistakable pressure seemed to surge from him.

"First, even if Tiance does become a Soul Engineer, he will not have gone astray. If that is what he wants, I can certainly help him break through to become a Level 10 Soul Engineer. Second, Tiance will not be learning to make Soul Tools in the first place. I only require him to learn how to use them proficiently."

"And let me offer you a word of advice: the development of Soul Tools is the way the world is moving. Someone who cannot see where the future is headed has no business dismissing Soul Engineers as some haphazard nonsense."

Surprise flickered in Du Busi's eyes.

As far as he could sense, Kong Deming had not reached the cultivation level of a Super Douluo, so Du Busi had paid him little mind while speaking. But now that he felt the pressure Kong Deming released, he realized the man might be stronger than he had expected.

And... Xu Tiance's teacher did not intend to teach the boy to make Soul Tools and become a Soul Engineer?

If he was only learning to use Soul Tools proficiently, that would not squander his remarkable talent.

Kong Deming glanced at Du Busi, who had yet to respond, and gradually reined in his pressure. "Tiance is the reason I sought you out, Du Busi."

"I think we might be able to work together."

"Work together?" Du Busi frowned in confusion. "What do you have in mind?"

"It's simple."

Kong Deming paused, then continued. "As you said, no one in the Sun Moon Empire knows how to nurture a Soul Master with a Body Martial Soul. So you will teach Tiance how to develop his Body Martial Soul and how to add Soul Rings to his Primordial Cells Martial Soul. In return, I can help you find Soul Masters with Body Martial Souls within the Sun Moon Empire. Those who wish to may join the Body Sect."

"Of course, that would only be the most basic arrangement. If you want to work together more closely, we can do that too. But we would need to discuss the terms properly."

The idea had come to Kong Deming just now, when he watched Du Busi take Long Aotian as his disciple.

The Body Sect's method of recruiting disciples was remarkably straightforward. With the Sun Moon Empire's help, it could undoubtedly find and recruit Soul Masters with Body Martial Souls far more efficiently.

Du Busi would have a hard time turning down such an offer.