Mu Yun had long since been waiting outside the Heavenly Star Hall.
Seeing Huo Yuhao emerge, he stepped forward and gestured invitingly. "Young Brother Huo, please follow me."
Unlike the route they had taken on their way in, this time they followed a secluded path.
Soul tools embedded in the walls on either side of the path provided illumination, casting a soft glow.
"This leads directly to His Majesty's Hall of Mental Cultivation."
Mu Yun led Huo Yuhao through one winding corridor after another.
After rounding the final corner, Huo Yuhao's view suddenly opened up, and an elegantly designed building appeared before him.
Mu Yun stepped back. "Young Brother Huo, this is as far as I can take you."
Huo Yuhao cupped his fists in thanks. "Sorry for the trouble of guiding me, Captain Mu."
Then Huo Yuhao straightened his clothes and stepped into the Hall of Mental Cultivation, following a red-robed attendant at the entrance.
The hall's interior was far more simply furnished than he had imagined. Rather than solemn grandeur, it displayed the refined taste of a scholar throughout.
The first thing that caught his eye was a bookshelf covering an entire wall, with all manner of books neatly arranged upon it.
Wisps of smoke rose from an ancient-looking beast-shaped incense burner nearby. A crisp fragrance curled toward him, soothing the mind.
"You're Huo Yuhao?"
A middle-aged man in casual clothes turned at the sound of their arrival. "Quite a handsome young fellow. You don't have that rough look of the White Tiger Family."
Huo Yuhao's expression remained unchanged, utterly untroubled by the man's words.
He said, "Huo Yuhao, disciple of the Body Sect, pays his respects to Your Majesty."
"Dispense with the formalities." The voice of Xue Heng, the Heaven Dou emperor, was unexpectedly gentle.
Then he turned to the red-robed attendant standing to one side. "Serve tea."
The red-robed attendant silently brought the tea, then bowed and withdrew.
At that moment, besides Huo Yuhao and Xue Heng, Du Busi and Vina, who had returned to the palace at some unknown point, were also inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
"No need to be reserved. Sit wherever you like."
Xue Heng patted the seat beside him. "I called you here today mainly to meet you and ask what you have in mind for your future cultivation."
"That way, I can allocate some resources to you from the Imperial Treasury."
Do not employ those you doubt; do not doubt those you employ.
Since Huo Yuhao had joined the Body Sect, Xue Heng would place his trust in him.
Vina stood beside Xue Heng, looking gently at Huo Yuhao. "Junior Brother, you must think carefully before answering."
"After all, this concerns the path of your entire life."
Du Busi sat beside them, drinking tea without a word.
After ten thousand years of development in the Soul Master World, the issue of adding soul rings to twin martial souls had long since ceased to be a secret.
No matter which martial soul Huo Yuhao chose to cultivate first, he was confident the Body Sect could propel him to the top of the continent.
Still, deep down, Du Busi did have a preference.
He hoped Huo Yuhao would cultivate his Ice Dragon Martial Soul first.
Twin martial souls would only arise when the two martial souls were of equal quality.
Du Busi did not know the origins of the Azure Sky Profound Ice Dragon martial soul, so he believed Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes martial soul was very likely to undergo an entirely new evolution in the future, becoming a martial soul on par with the former.
With the Body Sect's secret Second Awakening technique to supplement it then, he believed the Spirit Eyes would unleash power far surpassing the Ice Dragon Martial Soul.
They might even... become the foundation upon which Huo Yuhao attained godhood.
It did not matter that the Spirit Eyes already had two soul rings.
Spiritual Detection Sharing was a skill that could remain useful all the way to Limit Douluo, and would not affect Huo Yuhao's combat strength later on.
Even the seemingly useless Soul Shock might undergo entirely new changes as the Spirit Eyes martial soul evolved.
After hearing Xue Heng and Vina's words, Huo Yuhao fell silent.
He looked toward Du Busi and found that the latter was not paying attention to him.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Du Busi said, "This is your own choice. Whichever you choose, the Body Sect will help you reach the top of the continent."
Only then did Huo Yuhao break into a grin.
He, too, was more inclined to cultivate the Ice Dragon Martial Soul first.
According to his thinking, once the Spirit Eyes' talisman seal transformation was complete, they would break free of the restrictions of soul power entirely.
The Spirit Eyes would then become the core vessel for his spiritual power, allowing him to cultivate through the methods of a talisman master, no longer constrained by soul rings.
But this would leave Huo Yuhao facing an enormous problem later on.
His physical body might very well collapse from being unable to withstand the immense spiritual pressure.
Thus, cultivating the Azure Sky Profound Ice Dragon martial soul first to stimulate and strengthen his physique was imperative.
And most importantly, Huo Yuhao believed the Spirit Eyes were a power originating from himself.
The Spirit Eyes were his innate martial soul, connected to Huo Yuhao's soul origin, a manifestation of his most fundamental power.
The Martial Ancestor would never accept someone who clung to old ways into the Martial Realm.
So Huo Yuhao thought.
The Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art was powerful-extremely powerful.
If he wanted to use the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art as his qualification for joining the Martial Realm in the future, the Douluo Continent's foundations simply could not support its transformation.
Only the Spirit Eyes, that power originating from Huo Yuhao himself.
Using everything I saw and learned on the Tianxuan Continent, I'll try to fuse martial souls with the ways of talisman masters and carve out my own path.
Huo Yuhao harbored an ambition.
After strengthening his physical foundations through the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, he would use the Talisman Master system to refine his Spirit Eyes martial soul into a Spiritual Ancestral Talisman, or a Soul Ancestral Talisman, connected to his physical body.
The prerequisite for achieving this goal was a formidable physique capable of bearing immense spiritual power.
In other words, he would strengthen his physical foundations through the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art and ultimately achieve a soaring evolution of his spiritual origin.
Huo Yuhao called this flesh nourishing the spirit, divine soul nirvana.
If breaking through the plane's restrictions was likened to opening a lock, then Huo Yuhao believed physical strength was the key.
His spiritual power, meanwhile, was the grooves cut into that key, determining whether it could successfully open the lock.
At this thought, Huo Yuhao rose and bowed to the three of them with his fists cupped. "Your Majesty, Teacher, Senior Sister, I intend to cultivate the Ice Dragon Martial Soul first."
Surprise appeared on Xue Heng's and Vina's faces.
The smile on Du Busi's face, however, only deepened.
"Oh?"
Xue Heng set down his teacup. "Tell me your reasons."
Neither servile nor overbearing, Huo Yuhao said, "Because I believe the Spirit Eyes martial soul will undergo an entirely new evolution in the future."
"We all know that twin martial souls only arise when the quality of the two martial souls does not differ greatly."
As Huo Yuhao explained at an unhurried pace, the smile on Du Busi's face grew wider and wider.
Good lad. A worthy disciple of mine indeed. His thinking is exactly the same as mine.
At the end, Huo Yuhao raised his eyes toward Du Busi. "More importantly, I belong to the Body Sect."
"If I make the Azure Sky Profound Ice Dragon the foundation of my standing in the future, what will others say about the Body Sect?"
At those words, Du Busi burst into hearty laughter.
The more he looked at Huo Yuhao now, the more pleased he was with him. He wished he could make him the Body Sect's Young Sect Master right then and there.