A Lavish Gift and a Complete Awakening

"This Storage Soul Tool is called the Star-Moon Guardian. It has thirty cubic meters of space and a one-use protective effect. When danger strikes, it will activate automatically. No one below a Titled Douluo can break through it, and it lasts ten seconds. Inside are some daily necessities and five million Gold Soul Coins."

"This is a level-nine Defensive Soul Tool, my finest creation. Even if I explained what it does now, you wouldn't fully understand until you've studied Soul Tools. For now, you only need to know that it can save your life in a crisis. It can also calm your mind and speed up your cultivation."

With a wave of his hand, Huang Jinxu sent the three items floating toward Huo Yuhao.

Those three items would make even Titled Douluos envious, let alone the great powers with Super Douluos among their ranks.

Setting aside the level-nine Soul Tool and the Storage Soul Tool, those secret arts alone would spark a fight to the death if word of them spread.

Was Huang Jinxu giving Huo Yuhao these things solely to bind their fortunes together?

He had other motives, too.

The Heavenly Cycle Star Art, Illusory Moon Star Eyes, and Mysterious Jade Body all had problems of varying sizes.

There were risks in some of the paths Soul Power took, for instance, and the effects of certain acupoints remained unclear...

With his abilities and knowledge, this was as far as Huang Jinxu could take them. Some of the risky paths were ones even he did not dare test.

But Huo Yuhao could.

As a Child of Fortune protected by the Plane Will, he would be pushed forward by its power if something went wrong during his cultivation.

That would refine the techniques Huang Jinxu had developed—or drive them toward their next iteration.

In teaching Huo Yuhao those secret arts, Huang Jinxu was also having him clear the mines ahead.

This was called putting a Child of Fortune to good use.

"Teacher..."

Hearing his teacher's explanation and seeing the three items floating before him, Huo Yuhao could not find the words to express what he felt.

He truly had not expected his teacher to prepare such a lavish gift for taking him on as a disciple.

He did not know what many of those things were, but from his teacher's words, he could tell they were valuable.

What caught Huo Yuhao's attention most, though, was the five million Gold Soul Coins.

Five million!

He had never imagined that one day he would possess so many Gold Soul Coins.

Back at the Duke's Mansion, every allowance for his and his mother's food and clothing had been whittled away. His mother could only wash clothes for others to earn money for their daily needs.

In the bitter winter cold, an entire day spent washing other people's clothes earned her just a few Copper Soul Coins.

As those memories surfaced, Huo Yuhao's eyes reddened.

He missed his mother.

If his mother knew he now had enough to eat and warm clothes to wear, as well as a teacher who cared for him, she would surely be happy.

"Yuhao, I imagine you still have questions and are somewhat wary of me."

"After all, you don't think much of your own talent. You can't see why I'd value you so highly. But if that's what you think, you're wrong—very wrong."

"It's true that I took you as my disciple because I saw my younger self in you. But I also did it because of your talent—or rather, your Martial Soul."

"Your Spirit Eyes Martial Soul has great potential. There's a chance you could carry on my legacy, become a master of Soul Tools, and one day forge a level-ten Soul Tool—or even a legendary Divine Artifact."

Huang Jinxu began spinning his tale. He wanted to dispel Huo Yuhao's doubts and wariness, along with that faint sense of distance between them.

With someone as sensitive and insecure as Huo Yuhao, the approach of "slowly boiling a frog in warm water, letting time reveal one's heart" would not work.

An emotional assault as sudden as a robbery would work faster and leave an indelible mark on his heart.

Huang Jinxu had originally intended for Huo Yuhao to support himself. He would give the boy a hand and let him earn money selling grilled fish at the restaurant. But after seeing the depth of Huo Yuhao's insecurity, he abandoned that idea.

He intended to make use of this disciple more than anything. He was not trying to raise him into a moral saint.

He only needed Huo Yuhao to accept him as his teacher. There was no need to expend enormous effort shaping the boy's values.

Besides, even if Huang Jinxu did manage that, some shameless being would still tame Huo Yuhao in the future.

"Teacher, am I really a genius?"

Faced with his teacher's praise, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt as though none of it was real.

All his life, people had called him useless. No one had ever called him a genius.

"Yuhao, your talent is no worse than anyone else's, and your Martial Soul was never just your eyes."

"The eyes are only its most basic manifestation. To be precise, yours is a Body Martial Soul and a spiritually Mutated Martial Soul. Your brain is its vessel, and your Spirit Eyes are its outward form. The two are connected. But the person who awakened your Martial Soul never brought it to full awakening. On top of that, you've suffered hardship all these years, your circumstances have been harsh, and you've cultivated using only the most basic Meditation Method. That's why its true power has never emerged."

"I'll help your Martial Soul awaken fully and reveal all its splendor."

Huang Jinxu motioned for Huo Yuhao to come forward.

Expectation surged through Huo Yuhao. Trembling with excitement, he stepped up to Huang Jinxu.

Huang Jinxu then controlled his Soul Power, laying out a Martial Soul awakening formation in midair and drawing in Stellar Power to bring Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul to full awakening.

That step would originally have followed the Ice Silkworm's sacrifice. Now Huang Jinxu had intervened.

And since he had intervened, Huang Jinxu decided to go further.

He guided a portion of his own Martial Soul Origin, along with Stellar Power, to awaken Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul completely while also attempting to change it.

A person's Martial Soul was predetermined. Altering it was not the same as evolving it, nor was it easy; normally, it required rare treasures or a god's inheritance. Huo Yuhao's current situation, however, was an exception.

His Martial Soul had awakened in part but not completely. Huang Jinxu only needed to use Martial Soul Origin to guide the portion already awakened, infuse it with some Stellar Power, and then guide the portion still dormant. To some degree, that would change it after the fact.

Of course, doing this to someone else might carry a risk of failure. With Huo Yuhao, things were entirely different.

Even if it did not succeed, there would be no danger in the attempt.

With Huang Jinxu's help, Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul began to change.

Between heaven and earth, a mysterious ripple emerged from Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul and spread outward.

At the same time, Huang Jinxu sensed an exceedingly strange, elusive power encouraging his intervention and helping bring his vision to life.

Just as I thought!

Huang Jinxu was overjoyed. One of his theories had been confirmed.

Perhaps, in the future, he could use that power to forge a Second Martial Soul for himself.