Splash~
The sound of children playing mingled with the flowing water of the little river.
Lu Fei stood naked in the river, the water reaching above his navel. Lu Yu was naked too. Lu Fei shouted at Lu Yu, plunged both hands into the water, and scooped up a double handful to splash at him.
Lu Yu merely raised a hand to block it rather than dodging. Besides, although the current was not swift, running around in water above his navel was still very risky for his little body, which was not even a meter tall.
"Oh, so you've gotten bold now. You even dare to splash your brother..." Lu Yu wiped the water from his face, finally able to see what was in front of him.
With that, he plunged both hands into the water and splashed forward with all his might, sending wave after wave crashing toward Lu Fei. Lu Fei refused to back down and splashed Lu Yu the same way. The brothers' laughter intertwined with the sound of splashing water and echoed through the woods.
"Xiao Fei, go home first. I'll head up the mountain and see if I can catch a few rabbits. We'll have a proper celebration tonight," Lu Yu said as he put on his newly bought clothes.
"Brother, I want to go with you too!" Lu Fei pouted and looked at Lu Yu with a pitiful expression.
Lu Yu straightened his clothes, stepped forward, and rubbed Lu Fei's head. It was much better now. Though he had only washed it with water and had no shampoo to help, it was still better than getting a handful of grease.
"Go back and clean the house first. Before, we were too hungry and weak to clean it. Now that we've eaten our fill and have the strength, if we still don't clean it up, Mom and Dad will be angry when their spirits in heaven see it too.
"I'll go get some game. When I come back, we'll go pay our respects to Mom and Dad together and tell them the good news that we've become Soul Masters."
"Mm, all right..." Only after listening to Lu Yu's persuasion did Lu Fei reluctantly nod. He put on his clothes and walked toward the village, looking back at Lu Yu from time to time.
Only when Lu Fei's figure disappeared around a bend in the woods did Lu Yu let out a long breath. Let Lu Fei come along? Lu Yu still had important business to attend to. He needed to send Lu Fei away, find a deserted place, and quickly see what his Second Martial Soul was.
Lu Yu was also very curious about what a Second Martial Soul with level-one Innate Soul Power would be. He hoped it was a somewhat powerful Martial Soul.
Lu Yu glanced down at the golden-furred monkey by his feet. He had no idea what kind of Martial Soul could team up with this External Beast Martial Soul.
After looking around, Lu Yu turned and headed away from the village. More than ten minutes later, he finally arrived at a small hill.
Dense woods lay behind him, while the path he had taken here was clearly visible ahead. Even if someone came, Lu Yu would spot them at once, making this a more secluded place.
Lu Yu sat down on a large rock. The golden-furred monkey had not made a sound the whole way, simply following Lu Yu in silence. Now, it copied Lu Yu, jumping onto the rock and sitting down.
The golden-furred monkey sat beside Lu Yu, its little head leaning against him, its tail wagging excitedly as it curiously examined this strange world. Looking this way and that, it was the very picture of a curious baby!
Letting out a breath of stale air, Lu Yu opened his left hand and looked at his empty palm.
"What could my other Martial Soul be?"
As he spoke, Lu Yu thought of summoning his Second Martial Soul. Golden light flashed, and a long golden cudgel appeared in his hand.
The instant his palm touched the cold metal, Lu Yu felt how heavy it was and let go.
Bam-
A tremendous crash rang out, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Lu Yu coughed a few times and waved away the dust in front of him. The golden-furred monkey had also been badly startled by the crash and was squeaking wildly.
When the dust settled, Lu Yu could not help drawing a sharp breath.
Before him was a long cudgel, golden from end to end, with no ornamentation on its shaft.
That was nothing remarkable. What shocked Lu Yu was the golden cudgel's weight.
When it fell, the golden cudgel had sunk straight into the ground.
Staring at the golden cudgel on the ground, Lu Yu learned through his Martial Soul's feedback that it weighed a full hundred jin.
This left Lu Yu thoroughly puzzled. The golden cudgel's initial weight was a hundred jin, so his Innate Soul Power should not have been only level one.
"That's not right. Didn't Gangzi say the quality of a Martial Soul determined the level of Innate Soul Power? With this weight, level-one Soul Power doesn't make sense, does it?"
"The Clear Sky Hammer's initial weight was 150 jin. Mine's a hundred jin, so the weights are pretty close. There's no way it could be only level one..."
Lu Yu could not make sense of it, no matter how hard he thought. He was even beginning to wonder if Gangzi had made that theory up.
As Lu Yu pondered, his thoughts began to wander. He stopped thinking about Gangzi's theory and instead thought of the figure most representative of cudgel-wielding warriors.
The Great Sage Equal to Heaven-Sun Wukong!
"If only my cudgel could grow bigger and smaller like Brother Monkey's Wish-Fulfilling Golden Cudgel."
"Tch, how could that be possible..."
But the more Lu Yu thought about it, the more excited he became. His eyes shone as he looked at the golden cudgel on the ground.
"Why not... give it a try? What if, just what if..."
"Cough, cough..."
Lu Yu coughed twice and cleared his throat.
Staring fixedly at the golden cudgel on the ground, he suddenly shouted:
"Grow bigger~!"
Just as Lu Yu was about to call himself a dumbass, he felt something inside his body diminish slightly. Then, the golden cudgel on the ground grew a size larger at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Lu Yu's pupils contracted, and his mouth fell open wide enough to fit an apple.
"Holy shit, it... it really got bigger."
Lu Yu's chest rose and fell rapidly, his breathing coming in quick gasps.
His Adam's apple bobbed.
Lu Yu spoke again, carefully this time.
"Grow longer~"
As soon as the words left his mouth,
the golden cudgel on the ground grew a section longer, again at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This time, Lu Yu finally lost his composure and sprang to his feet on the rock.
"Fuck, Gangzi, my Martial Soul can grow bigger or smaller, longer or shorter. How could a Martial Soul of this quality have level-one Soul Power? Gangzi, I fucking..."
Crisp birdsong rang through the woods for ten minutes.
Lu Yu suppressed the resentment in his heart.
Then he stared excitedly at the golden cudgel on the ground again.
"Bigger~ bigger~ bigger~ bigger~ bigger..."
Each time Lu Yu shouted, the golden cudgel on the ground grew a size larger. Suddenly, in the midst of his excitement, his vision went black, his body went limp, and he fainted on the rock.
The golden cudgel on the ground vanished with him, leaving only a shallow circular mark.
The golden-furred monkey watched Lu Yu suddenly faint, then turned and saw that the golden cudgel had disappeared. It scratched its ears and cheeks anxiously, not knowing what had happened.
An unknown amount of time passed. The western sky had long since been painted red with sunset clouds.
Lu Yu's eyelids fluttered, and he groggily opened his eyes.
"What happened to me? My head's spinning."
Lu Yu rubbed his throbbing temples and looked around in confusion. Suddenly, he remembered what had happened.
"Did I use up too much Soul Power?"
"Damn, I got too excited and forgot about that. With only level-one Soul Power, I don't have enough to play with."
Lu Yu wanted to cry but had no tears. He had such an awesome Martial Soul, yet his Innate Soul Power was only level one. Just thinking about it was tragic.
The golden-furred monkey, which had been lying down and dozing, twitched its ears, seeming to hear Lu Yu's voice.
It opened its eyes and saw that Lu Yu had finally woken up. Looking excited, it tugged frantically at his trouser leg.