Long Aotian and Vina were only a little over two years older than Su Yu.
Neither of them was nine yet.
Their cultivation, however, was far from lacking.
Vina was at rank 19.
Long Aotian went a little beyond the norm, with a soul power level as high as rank 24.
Yes.
Bei Bei was roughly the same age as the two of them.
Yet his soul power level was no higher than theirs at all.
Not only that, Bei Bei's performance was downright crap.
Vina had twin martial souls, Snow Lotus and Brain. Although she had joined the Body Sect, she had not chosen Brain as her primary martial soul for cultivation. Instead, she cultivated Snow Lotus as her primary martial soul.
And her Snow Lotus martial soul followed the healing and support path.
A support-type Soul Master, yet her soul power level was the same as Bei Bei's.
Long Aotian needed no further explanation. At the same age, his soul power was a full five ranks above Bei Bei's.
They had come to this estate because Su Yu was attempting to absorb a soul ring beyond his normal limit. Since the two of them also needed to improve their physiques, Du Busi had brought them together to make providing resources easier.
Vina had twin martial souls. Although she was not yet absorbing soul rings beyond her normal limit-or rather, had no need to do so for her first five soul rings-she had to prepare early for the physical demands of the extra set of soul rings that came with twin martial souls.
Moreover, the path her teacher, Iceheart Douluo, had planned for her was to use the soul shock from five ten thousand year soul rings to stimulate her Brain martial soul after she reached five rings. Combined with the Body Sect's secret method, this would directly trigger her Brain martial soul's second awakening.
That would save her a great deal of trouble.
As for Long Aotian, he had already embarked on the path of absorbing soul rings beyond his normal limit.
His second ring was a thousand-year one.
That was somewhat inferior to Su Yu's thousand-year first ring, but he still belonged among the ranks of peerless geniuses.
As for his soul power level, Su Yu had already anticipated it.
This was a fierce fellow who had cultivated to Soul Saint before the age of twenty through his own efforts, without popping pills!
Starting at six, he had at most fourteen years.
Even with innate full soul power, he still needed to advance sixty ranks.
That amounted to an average of more than four ranks per year.
Was that even right?
That was an average, a figure that had to hold all the way to Soul Saint.
At the Soul King and Soul Emperor stages, advancing four ranks in a year was truly enough to make someone burn incense in gratitude.
If he wanted to slow down a little at the Soul King and Soul Emperor stages, to three ranks a year, then to maintain that average pace, his cultivation in the first two years had to proceed at an inhuman speed.
From the looks of it, it really was inhuman.
In just over two years, he had already reached rank 24.
Even at rank 24, he had not yet reached the point at which Body Sect disciples normally encountered the secret method of second awakening. But Long Aotian cultivated so quickly that he might approach rank 30 this very year.
Rank 40 was only another year or two away. He would definitely attempt a ten thousand year fourth ring, so he needed to start learning about second awakening as well.
"Aotian cultivates under the Golden Body Elder, and Vina cultivates under the Iceheart Elder. Golden Body and Iceheart are the other two Super Douluos in our Body Sect besides me."
Su Yu listened to Du Busi's introduction as he exchanged information with the two of them.
"Su Yu is six this year, two years younger than you, but he's already a rank 16 Soul Master."
Rank 16!
The first soul ring Su Yu had absorbed was 2,600 years old, and the soul power it granted him amounted to a full four ranks. Aside from the soul ring's contribution, another two ranks had come from his own cultivation.
After his martial soul awakening, he had spent three months building up his foundation in the sect. During those three months, he had honed and tempered his body while also meditating and cultivating.
The mysterious substance, combined with nourishing meals supplemented with whale rubber, had produced remarkable results. In just three short months, he had advanced two ranks.
Long Aotian's expression grew solemn as well.
He had never expected his cultivation record to be broken.
A desperate martial soul had actually reached rank 16 in just three short months!
"Enough talk. Come with me first."
Du Busi gave the three of them no chance to spend time together.
He still had serious business to attend to.
He led the three into a secret chamber.
Heaven and earth essence was abundant inside the chamber. Clearly, a Spirit-Gathering Array had been inscribed there as well.
"What I'm going to teach you next is precisely our Body Sect's secret method of second awakening."
The moment Du Busi spoke, Su Yu, Long Aotian, and Vina all perked up and listened attentively.
Just two days earlier, Su Yu had still been puzzled by the existence of this secret method.
After all, if such a secret method really existed, it should not have been lost to the Body Sect merely because it had been passed on to Huo Yuhao.
Every Soul Master with a body martial soul needed a second awakening, after all. If this secret method existed, why did most disciples not know it?
"This secret method is something I cultivate, not you."
With that single sentence, Du Busi resolved all of Mu Yu's previous doubts.
"You cultivate it, Sect Master?" Su Yu asked in surprise.
Long Aotian and Vina also voiced their confusion.
Du Busi nodded solemnly.
"That's right. This secret method is for me to cultivate. Once I've mastered it, I serve as support to help you undergo your second awakening," Du Busi said. "How could second awakening be so easy? Shrek and all the major powers have researched it extensively since our Body Sect rose to prominence, but has a single one succeeded?"
Du Busi gave a cold laugh.
"The earliest Body Soul Masters completed their second awakenings by risking almost certain death, hovering between life and death. Only after going through it nine times did they finally succeed by the narrowest of margins."
"Would they dare let their own disciples do that?"
"Of course, after generations of exploration, our Body Sect's predecessors did manage to devise a secret method."
"Because second awakening itself is far too profound for disciples who haven't undergone it, the key to the secret method is for a sect master or elder who has already succeeded in their second awakening to cultivate it and assist the disciples, lowering the threshold for second awakening."
After saying so much, he finally reached the heart of the matter.
"What we call second awakening is breaking through the limits of the human body and drawing out the power of the spiritual realm deep within the martial soul. This allows the martial soul to evolve from simply corresponding to the physical body in its early stages into something combined with the spirit. During this process, the martial soul naturally helps us fuse our spiritual power with our bodies, forming the special light manifestation of second awakening."
"The color of that light manifestation changes with the degree of fusion. That is what we call the grade of second awakening."
"Do you understand?"
At this point in his explanation, Du Busi paused. Rather than continuing, he asked whether the three had digested what he had already said.
Long Aotian and Vina thought carefully for a long while before nodding hesitantly.
Su Yu, on the other hand, nodded immediately.
He truly understood.
"The more important the part of the human body that the martial soul corresponds to, the easier it is for spiritual power and the physical body to fuse."
"As for the secret method of second awakening developed by our sect's predecessors, it involves merging the light manifestation of someone who has already succeeded in their second awakening into the body of a disciple who hasn't, guiding them to complete their own second awakening."
"The principle is simple, but two points are crucial. The first is grade. The guide's second awakening must be Gold Level. This is already the limit of what we've discovered, and it provides the most reliable direction for guidance."
"The second is coverage of body parts. For example, my martial soul encompasses every part of the body, so I can guide all our disciples."
Before you continue