Past Life

"Hehe, brothers, we're here!"

The voice came from the doorway. Compared to the other two, it sounded rougher, with an accent that seemed unique to the north.

"Wait a second, this is my previous life. Huh? Why am I seeing this?"

Lin Mo was a little confused, and he gradually recalled the names of the four people before him.

"You're Liu Feng and Lin Mo, right? I'm Han Yueyu, and this is Zhao Yi."

"Hello."

Unlike Han Yueyu, who looked like a tough guy, Zhao Yi was a rather scholarly young man wearing square-framed glasses.

Watching the familiar scene before him, Lin Mo couldn't help feeling a trace of nostalgia and a few pangs of sorrow.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen them in ages. I wonder how they're doing now. I seem to have forgotten a little about how I came to this world. I think it was a car accident."

He shook his head.

"I remember you're a local, right, Little Mo?"

Han Yueyu asked.

Actually, they had already known each other for a while-not that long, really. Half a month earlier, they had used the dormitory information to add one another as friends, created a dorm group chat, and gotten along quite well there.

"Yes, that's right."

Lin Mo answered instinctively, yet an inexplicable sense of strangeness came over him.

"Are there any good places to eat near our school? The four of us have finally met, so let's pick somewhere and have a proper meal tonight. Since you're a local, I figured you'd know a few places."

Lin Mo shook his head somewhat woodenly, then said,

"Although I'm a local, I really don't know any good places near the school. I rarely ate out before."

"In that case, let's go to the place I had in mind. Honestly, I found a restaurant online with pretty good reviews."

Zhao Yi raised his hand as he spoke.

"Nice, Zhao. You've really done your homework."

"Of course."

"Then let's get unpacked. It's almost five already. Let's hurry up, then head out together for a feast."

"Sure."

As everyone started unpacking, Lin Mo instinctively turned to sort out his own things, only to discover there was nothing beside him. There was no suitcase-not even a floor. Beneath his feet lay a curtain of light.

Puzzled, he turned his head. The figures that had been before him vanished instantly, leaving behind the same curtain of light he had seen during his earlier breakthrough.

"What's going on? Huh? What am I doing?"

Feeling dizzy, Lin Mo held his head and carefully tried to recall what had just happened. Yet the scenes that had been so vivid only two seconds earlier now seemed to have shattered into countless fragments. He kept feeling as though he almost remembered them, yet had never experienced them at all.

"Ah, child, hurry back. Return to your original world."

The familiar voice rang out again, just as before, but the outcome remained the same. Just as he was about to turn around, the curtain of light surrounding him dispersed on its own, replaced by the familiar door and the surface of the sea beneath his feet.

"Little Mo, you're back. How are you feeling? Any discomfort?"

"Elder Yi?"

"There doesn't seem to be any change, and nothing abnormal has happened to your Sea of Consciousness either. It seems she was right."

"I haven't sensed anything abnormal on my end either."

After examining Lin Mo's entire Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and the Ice Empress gave their answers, then came over to him.

Electrolux gave him a rough account of everything that had just happened within his Sea of Consciousness.

"So you mean a girl who seemed rather bad-tempered said her true body would become my Second Martial Soul, and that girl was extremely powerful?"

"Yes, exactly."

At this point, Tian Meng grew very excited.

"Um..." Halfway through speaking, he couldn't help shuddering, seemingly recalling the terrifying pressure she had exuded earlier. Then he continued cautiously.

"She said that even at his peak, Elder Yi was merely a First-Level God, so how dared he act so insolently toward her?"

"Merely a First-Level God?"

Lin Mo looked at Electrolux in surprise, but Electrolux said nothing.

Honestly, although he truly respected Electrolux, according to the official setting, Electrolux's strength had been nowhere near that of a First-Level God, though he was indeed considerably stronger than a Second-Level God. Yet that phantom had just said Elder Yi had truly been a First-Level God at his peak.

No, no, that isn't the point. The point is that girl! And according to Tian Meng, she's also a deity, probably even a Divine King.

Divine King level? A girl? Bad-tempered?

Hiss... that doesn't add up!

There are only five Divine Kings: Kindness, Evil, Asura, Life, and Destruction. Only two are women, Kindness and Life, but both have very good tempers.

He was beginning to wonder whether the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was telling the truth. After all, he had read the original novel.

"Hey, hey, hey! What's with that look? You don't believe me? Elder Yi and Bingbing can both back me up."

Hearing this, Lin Mo turned toward Electrolux and the Ice Empress. Both answered with a nod.

That only surprised him even more.

Did I transmigrate into a fake Douluo world?

"Well..."

"How about it? Do you have any clues?"

"Sorry, teacher."

Lin Mo was truly baffled now.

"It's all right, Little Mo. I don't think that senior bears you any ill will, so that should put your mind at ease."

The Ice Empress said.

"The little scorpion is right. She didn't seem to harbor any ill will. The reason she appeared was that we had agreed to search your entire Sea of Consciousness if we lost contact with you. That was what stirred her. Speaking of which, that girl seems to have been beneath your Sea of Consciousness all along. Yes, deep within it."

Hearing Electrolux's words, Lin Mo lowered his head to look at the sea.

Like an ordinary sea, he could clearly see beneath the surface on which he stood, but the deeper it went, the darker it became.

"Since even you say so, teacher, I feel much more reassured. But going by that explanation, I still don't know when I'll be able to awaken my Second Martial Soul."

"Hehe, Little Mo, according to Elder Yi, she's a Divine King. The origin Martial Soul she grants you must be Divine King level too. Your future is limitless! If Little Yao doesn't win a deity's favor in the future, you'd better take her up there with you."

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm grinned mischievously.

"If I really become a First-Level God or higher in the future, I'll have a slot to bring a family member along. Of course I'll choose Little Yao. She's the most important person to me."

Hearing this, the two of them thought not of celebrating, but of something else.

"Ah, if Little Yao could hear that, she'd probably be jumping for joy."

"I can't deny that."

The two communicated telepathically.

"?"

Seeing them exchange knowing looks, Lin Mo was immediately puzzled. Electrolux, however, seemed to understand something, and merely curved his lips into a faint smile.

"All right, back to business. Little Mo, your Dantian seems to have changed. Can you feel it?"

At Electrolux's question, he finally checked the condition of his entire body and indeed discovered an abnormality in his Dantian.

At some point, an Eight Trigrams Diagram formed from gathered Yin-Yang Qi had appeared in his Dantian. It rotated at an extremely slow pace.

"Huh? Could it really be just as I thought?"

Before this, Lin Mo had already considered what his third Soul Ring might be. After all, his first and second Soul Skills came from the yin and yang Soul Rings, corresponding to white and black. He had wondered whether his third Soul Ring would be Yin-Yang.

"Then I'll head out first. Everyone seems really worried about me."

"Yes, that's right. We should go back too."

With that, Lin Mo opened his eyes and found himself lying in a hospital bed once again.

It was exactly the same as when he had obtained his second ring. The only difference was that this time Huo Yuyao wasn't lying beside him; instead, she had been standing at his bedside.

She looked a little dazed, probably because the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and the Ice Empress had returned to tell her what had just happened.

Seeing him wake up, the others all came forward to ask how he was feeling.

Looking at these people, nearly all his own age, gazing at him with concern, he smiled gently and explained his physical condition to them.

"Ah, that's good. This happens every time you break through. Nobody knows whether you might-"

Before Xiao Hongchen could finish, Meng Hongchen slapped him.

"Can't you say something auspicious?"

"Ow, Meng!"

"Ah, I was worried to death! And just now, outside, we..."

Then Xiao Xiao recounted everything that had happened outside.

"Something that incredible happened? Even Elder Kong, the dean, and Senior Ye were restrained?"

"Ah, it's rather embarrassing to admit, but that's exactly what happened. A strange force not only slowed our bodies to an outrageous degree, but almost completely halted the circulation of our Soul Power. Only our voices could still travel normally."

Ye Yulin spoke rather gloomily. Making a fool of himself before these juniors, the future prodigies, was truly embarrassing.

But then he remembered that Elder Kong had suffered the same effect, and suddenly felt much better.

"If you're all right, why not show us your third Soul Skill? We're also very curious about exactly what your third Soul Ring is."

Jing Hongchen hurriedly changed the subject. Of course, he really was curious about Lin Mo's third Soul Ring and Soul Skill.

"Sure."

After most of the medical equipment had been quickly removed, Lin Mo summoned the Mystic Sword.

Unlike before, however, the Yin-Yang Qi at the center of the Mystic Sword now converged above its hilt. The entire sword was sharper than before, pale gases flowed along its edge, and its color had become more translucent.

"His Martial Soul actually changed."

"Could this be a Second Awakening of his Martial Soul?"

"A Second Awakening? Isn't that something only those Body Martial Souls in the Body Sect can achieve?"

After sensing the power emanating from the longsword in his hand, Lin Mo addressed everyone.

"Well, to be precise, my Martial Soul has indeed evolved once. It's now called the Yin-Yang Mystic Sword. But this isn't its complete evolution. My Martial Soul told me it can evolve up to two more times."

"Two more times?"

Everyone was shocked by that number.

After all, on the continent, aside from Body Martial Souls, no other Martial Souls could undergo a Second Awakening on their own. Yet Lin Mo was now saying that after awakening once, his could evolve twice more.

"In other words, it still isn't in its complete form?"

"You could understand it that way, but it has indeed fully evolved into its true form. The next two evolutions will be like adding flowers to brocade."

"I see. What an extraordinary Martial Soul."

They all wore curious, inquisitive expressions. As researchers, even though most of them studied Soul Tools, their desire to investigate remained ever-present.

After finishing his explanation, he summoned his three Soul Rings again.

Light shone beneath his feet as a white ring, a black ring, and a ring with a black-and-white gradient appeared one after another.

Everyone had seen the first two Soul Rings before. What drew their attention most was the third.

The third Soul Ring looked exactly as though the colors of the first and second rings had both been applied to it.

But it seemed to be a moving Soul Ring. Its left half was black and its right half white, and the two colors constantly rotated within it as though chasing each other.

Suddenly, his third Soul Ring lit up.

"My third Soul Skill is called Yin-Yang Return to Unity."

[Yin-Yang Return to Unity]:

Combines the First Soul Skill and the second Soul Skill. While active, this Soul Skill increases all the user's attributes by 30%, while providing an additional 100% damage bonus against supreme yang and supreme yin Martial Souls.

At the same time, when the first and second Soul Skills are not in use, the user can instantly summon two clones. The clones' special effects against supreme yin and supreme yang can be adjusted by the Soul Master.

Both clones receive four attribute bonuses simultaneously. Likewise, their combat strength and other values inherit 70% of the original body's attributes.

When the First Soul Skill or the second Soul Skill is activated while the third Soul Skill is active, the clones created also increase from their original 50% to 70%.

Next came the two most crucial points.

When using his third Soul Skill, he could merge two clones at will, creating a single clone that inherited 100% of his attributes.

The second was that, after awakening his third Soul Ring, he could swap positions with his clones regardless of which skill he used.

He demonstrated his Soul Skills and their effects one by one, leaving everyone astonished.

"Wait a second. You can merge two clones to create one with exactly the same strength as you? Then if you activate all three Soul Skills, you'll have four clones, which can merge into two clones as strong as you?"

"That's right."

"Isn't that a bit outrageous? In a three-on-three match, activating all three skills would effectively turn it into five against three."

"No, it actually has a drawback too. As I just said, no matter which clone it is, I have to give it a special attribute: either supreme yang or supreme yin. If I give it the supreme yang attribute, then a supreme yin Soul Master stronger than me will also deal greater damage to that clone."