Even though many years had already passed since then, Tang Wulin was still struck by a sense of bitterness whenever he thought back to those dark days.
"I forged with all my effort every day for three whole years. Layers upon layers of calluses accumulated over my hands, and I popped one blister after another, only to work through the pain. I finally saved up enough money, but in exchange for my painstaking efforts, I received a defective soul spirit. On that day, I cried like the heartbroken little boy I was, and I refused to listen to any words of encouragement or optimism. All I could think of at the time was how unfair the heavens had been to me, and questioned why I was always afflicted by the worst-case scenarios.
"After I shed my tears and got over my pain, I still chose to fuse with it. Even though it was a defective soul spirit, I refused to give up. I wanted to become a powerful Soul Master, and even if I were destined to fail, I had to give it my all. Thus, I fused with my first soul spirit. It was very weak, and it gave me the weakest soul skill, but from that day forth, I finally became a true Soul Master.
"After that, I suddenly discovered that there was another type of power within my body. I had a dream that I had 18 seals within my body, behind each of which was a powerful burst of energy. When the first seal was broken, the energy contained within it integrated itself with my body, and it was such a painful experience that I wanted to die. However, I endured the ordeal in the end, and my body began to evolve. I attained far greater strength than my peers, as well as abilities that were unique to me.
"Only after a long time did I figure out that this was power stemming from a Golden Dragon King bloodline, and that the 18 seals within my body seemed to be sealing away the power of the Golden Dragon King. After the Dragon God was slain in the Divine Realm, he was divided into the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King, and I seemed to have inherited the power of the Golden Dragon King. I don't know why it's in my body, but it's always helped me become more powerful while also posing a constant threat to my life.
"Each successive Golden Dragon King seal contained more fearsome power than the previous one, and every seal that was broken was like a trial of life and death for me. Behind the enormous power that I attained was the terrifying possibility that I could be destroyed at any moment. I was constantly facing the threat of death, and even now, there are still many layers of seals that I haven't broken. The threat that these seals pose to me will only continue to grow, and perhaps it'll be too much for me to bear and I'll explode someday.
"All of us have given up so much to become who we are today, and we all have problems that we must face. So what if you're the saber soul of the Dragonslaying Saber? How does that make you different from a human? You still possess the body of a human, and you're still cultivating like a human. At the very least, you don't have a ticking time bomb within your body like I do. We are companions tied together by our connection to the Dragon God, not some kind of master and subordinate relationship.
"Hence, don't call me master from now on. I'm not your master; I'm simply another beneficiary to the Dragon God's power. Seeing as we've both been blessed by so much power, we should make good use of it and do what we want to do. As long as we're not turning our backs on this world and our own morals, does it really matter where our powers came from?" Tang Wulin was looking directly into Sima Jinchi's eyes as he delivered this speech, and all of his words were filled with the most genuine emotions.
Sima Jinchi's expression gradually changed as he listened to these words, and he also developed a better understanding of Tang Wulin.
It had to be said that Tang Wulin had experienced far more hardships than he had, but both of them had already made it to this point; what excuse did they have to not continue onward?
"I was too weak and became overwhelmed by this new information," Sima Jinchi sighed, "You're right, no matter where our powers stem from, we're humans as long as we continue to regard ourselves as humans; all we have to do is continue to pursue our goals. However, I can't not refer to you as my master. The Dragonslaying Saber is a law-enforcing saber, so it's of utmost importance that I uphold a sense of internal justice. If I refuse to respect even the power of the Dragon God that gave rise to me, then my powers will be severely debilitated, and I could even perish from my internal conflict."
Tang Wulin was quite stunned to hear this. "Is that true? You're not trying to fool me, are you, Brother Sima?"
Sima Jinchi chuckled, "Why are you so hung up over a verbal title, Master? In any case, I've already gotten over my irrational sense of despair. At the very least, I've become a Titled Douluo, and it's time to think of a good Douluo title for myself. I can't just emulate that shameless bastard and call myself Body Douluo! He's not even the master of the Body Sect yet; haven't you also cultivated the Body Sect's congenital secret method?"
Tang Wulin couldn't help but burst into laughter. "The position of the Body Sect Master is reserved for my senior disciple brother alone, and he's the only person who's cultivated the congenital secret method to its pinnacle, so he's worthy of the title of Body Douluo. What do you plan to call yourself, Brother Sima?"
Sima Jinchi thought about this for a moment before replying, "What do you think of Saber God Douluo?"
Tang Wulin's lips twitched upon hearing this. He had just denounced A'Ruheng for being shameless, but his Douluo title was even more shameless! How could he refer to himself as Saber God?
Sima Jinchi chuckled, "I know you think I'm being conceited, but during my breakthrough just now, I attained a slight sense of the power of the Saber God, and only then was I made aware of the fact that there was something that lay above my saber soul. That's an ability that will lay out a path for me to become a deity, and if I master it, I'll possess the power required to cross over to the godly domain. It's a pity that the Divine Realm no longer exists; otherwise, I could become the first person to ascend in 10,000 years, hahahaha!"
Tang Wulin was suddenly regretting spilling his guts to Sima Jinchi. Sima Jinchi was clearly far more resilient than he had expected, and even if he hadn't tried to comfort him, he would've most likely been able to recover from his depression quite quickly. It seemed that he simply wasn't the type of person who was capable of wallowing in pessimism for too long.
"Alright, you can be called Saber God Douluo, then," Tang Wulin sighed in a resigned manner.
Sima Jinchi immediately burst into hearty laughter. "I'm going to tell that stupid baldie right now! Saber God Douluo Sima Jinchi sounds much more badass than Body Douluo A'Ruheng, hahahaha!"
Tang Wulin was left feeling rather speechless. A thought then suddenly occurred to him, and he hurriedly said, "Wait, Brother Sima, before you go, can you tell me what your ninth soul skill is? I'm very curious about what kind of soul skill that golden soul ring gave you."
A slightly peculiar look appeared on Sima Jinchi's face upon hearing this. "This soul skill actually belongs to the Dragon God rather than myself, so I can't even use it. You have to be the one to use it, but I can sense that you're currently not powerful enough to do so. Only after you reach the Titled Douluo level will you be able to use my ninth soul skill, but even before that, our soul fusion skill will definitely have become more powerful. From now on, I'm your law-enforcing saber, and when we fuse, you should be able to draw upon a wisp of the Dragon God's power."
In all honesty, Tang Wulin was somewhat averse to this soul fusion skill he had with Sima Jinchi; perhaps this was because his soul fusion skill with Gu Yuena was so spectacular.
Thankfully, he didn't have to embrace Sima Jinchi to activate this soul fusion skill. Otherwise, he'd rather never use it again!
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