"Old Qian, Old Zhou."
Seeing Elder Zhou and Elder Qian return, Jin Peng raised his eyebrows and hurried over. "You're back too? How did the cooperation talks go?"
Elder Zhou was just about to speak when Long Aotian caught his eye first.
"Aotian, you really succeeded?!"
Elder Qian also stepped forward, looking Long Aotian over twice, his voice filled with delighted surprise. "Level sixty-five... you really got both the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and the Soul Bone?"
"Yes!"
Long Aotian grinned.
Elder Zhou couldn't resist stepping forward and clapping Long Aotian on the shoulder, hard enough to make him sway. "Not bad, kid!"
Jin Peng spoke again. "How did things go in Wulan City?"
Without another word, Elder Zhou took the list from inside his robes and handed it over.
"We got the list and collected the first batch of resources. One hundred and sixty-seven people who awakened Body Martial Souls within the Heaven Dou Empire over the past twenty years or so! Take a look!"
Jin Peng took the list and quickly scanned it, his eyes growing brighter as he read.
"Good, excellent!"
"Thank you both for your efforts on that trip. Come on, let's talk inside."
The group entered the meeting hall and took their seats.
The other elders soon arrived as well.
Jin Peng placed the list on the table, his voice carrying a note of exhilaration. "Every person on this list must be brought back!"
"First thing tomorrow morning, all elders and experts above Soul Saint rank will split up and set out."
Jin Peng paused.
"As for Spirit Hall, we'll discuss that once the sect master comes out of seclusion."
Everyone nodded, an irrepressible joy filling the meeting hall.
What had always limited the Body Sect's development was actually its numbers. Its high-ranking forces included eleven Titled Douluo, yet its total membership had only just exceeded a hundred.
But starting with this list, everything would change completely!
Early the next morning.
Apart from Jin Peng, the other nine elders and a group of core Soul Saints and Soul Douluo sped toward various parts of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Elder Zhao headed straight for Blazing Fire Academy, becoming a streak of crimson light.
Blazing Fire Academy.
One of Heaven Dou's Five Elements Academies, it stood alongside Skywater, Godwind, Thunderclap, and Elephant Armor, accepting only Soul Masters with fire-attribute Martial Souls.
The academy stood in a large city within the Heaven Dou Empire.
"Is this the place?"
Elder Zhao stopped high in the air and looked down at the fiery-red academy below.
The next instant, Elder Zhao directly released his Martial Soul-the Foot Martial Soul.
A silver foot phantom solidified behind him, crimson light spreading from beneath his feet as nine Soul Rings rose from them in succession.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black!
The entire Blazing Fire Academy was enveloped in those powerful Soul Power fluctuations.
"A... a Titled Douluo!!"
In Blazing Fire Academy's square, the students doing their morning exercises all looked up at the sky.
Soon, the dean of Blazing Fire Academy and several senior teachers rushed out of the teaching building and stood in the square, looking up.
The dean's brows knitted tightly, his expression grave.
There were only a handful of Titled Douluo on the continent. Why would one suddenly appear at their Blazing Fire Academy?
"I am Barefoot Douluo of the Body Sect."
Elder Zhao looked down from above. His voice was neither loud nor soft, yet it reached every corner of Blazing Fire Academy with perfect clarity.
"I have come to bring a disciple of our Body Sect back to the sect. Where is Huo Wu?"
His voice echoed outward. The students in the square exchanged looks, and some began murmuring.
Among the crowd, a red-haired girl raised her head, her gaze falling on the figure in the air, surprise and panic in her eyes.
She was Huo Wu, seventeen years old, with the Fire Shadow Martial Soul, a level forty-one Soul Ancestor.
News that five Titled Douluo from the Body Sect had nearly razed the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had gradually spread across the continent, and Huo Wu had heard something of it too.
But she had never imagined she would have anything to do with this sect.
"Little sister!"
A figure hurried out from the direction of the teaching building. His resolute features bore some resemblance to Huo Wu's. He was her older brother, Huo Wushuang.
The captain of Blazing Fire Academy's team, a level forty-two Soul Ancestor.
Huo Wushuang rushed to his sister in a few strides and shielded her behind him, looking up warily at Elder Zhao in the air.
The dean of Blazing Fire Academy also hurried over.
Nearly fifty, with a dignified face, he was Huo Wushuang and Huo Wu's father, Huo Lie, the dean of Blazing Fire Academy.
Huo Lie walked over to his two children, first glancing at Elder Zhao, who was surrounded by nine Soul Rings in the air, then looking down at his daughter. "Do you know this senior?" he asked in a low voice.
"No."
Huo Wu hastily shook her head.
Huo Wushuang frowned deeply and took half a step forward, cupping his hands in salute toward the sky. "Senior, my sister has never joined any sect, nor has she ever had any contact with the Body Sect."
"Have you perhaps mistaken her for someone else, senior?"
Elder Zhao slowly descended from the air, looking gently at Huo Wu before glancing at Huo Wushuang and Dean Huo Lie, who stood in front of her.
"There is no mistake."
"Your sister's Fire Shadow Martial Soul is precisely a Body Martial Soul."
Elder Zhao looked at Huo Wu. "Your Martial Soul is rooted in your own body. Your flames aren't summoned. They are born from your flesh and blood."
"My Martial Soul is a Body Martial Soul?"
Huo Wu froze.
Huo Wushuang still stood in front of his sister. "Even if my sister's Martial Soul is a Body Martial Soul, she has never left Blazing Fire Academy."
"Taking someone away on the strength of a single word is far too overbearing, senior!"
"Your Eminence Barefoot."
Dean Huo Lie also stepped forward and cupped his hands in salute. "Huo Wu is my daughter. If the Body Sect truly wishes to recruit her, you should at least let her choose for herself."
Elder Zhao glanced at Huo Lie.
"This is how our Body Sect has always acted. Whenever we find someone outside the sect who has awakened a Body Martial Soul, we must bring them back. This is our ancestral rule!"
"The cultivation path of a Body Martial Soul is entirely different from that of an ordinary Soul Master. The world does not understand the way of the body and will only squander such talent. I have come to offer your daughter a better path."
Elder Zhao looked at Huo Wu. "You may make your own choice."
"Our Body Sect has inherited secret methods and the cultivation resources best suited to you. We can also let you undergo a Martial Soul Second Awakening to improve your talent."
"A Martial Soul Second Awakening?"
Hearing this, Huo Wu looked puzzled.
"Yes."
Elder Zhao nodded. "Moreover, our Body Sect is fiercely protective of its own. Once you join, no one will be able to bully you from that day on!"
"You only get one chance. If you don't seize it, you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
Huo Wu stood behind her father and brother, her fingers clutching the hem of her clothes.
After a moment of silence, she asked, "If I go to the Body Sect, can I still compete in the Continental Elite Tournament?"
"Yes."
Elder Zhao glanced at her.
"Senior, then I'll join the Body Sect." Huo Wu hesitated no longer.
Hearing this, Huo Lie and Huo Wushuang were reluctant to part with her, but both respected her choice.
Meanwhile.
Elder Zhou walked down the streets of a small town and stopped outside the home of a moderately well-off family.
Elder Zhou knocked on the door. A middle-aged man opened it and paused at the sight of him. "May I ask who you're looking for?"
Elder Zhou spoke directly. "Your family has a child named Zhang Tie, correct? His Martial Soul is a fist?"
"Who are you?"
The middle-aged man's expression changed slightly.
Elder Zhou smiled, but his tone carried unquestionable authority. "Demon Fist Douluo of the Body Sect. I've come to bring the child back to the sect."
Similar scenes unfolded one after another throughout the Heaven Dou Empire.
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