Douluo Dalu: 1st Cycle: Dancing Panda

Spirit Pagoda! They were at the Spirit Pagoda!

Usually one would visit the Spirit Pagoda when they need a new spirit soul to fuse with, yet now they are here. Why?

Both of them were filled with questions. The way Teacher Ye worded it, it couldn't be for a simple Spiritual Power test.

They had been testing Spiritual Power here ever since they both reached the Spirit Connection realm. Siduo reached it the very week they had the tests during their cram sessions, 3 years ago. Much like Karni, she was well on her way into the Spirit Connection realm. Karni has surpassed her by quite a bit though, he had a partly spiritual martial soul after all.

But if they weren't here for the Spiritual Power test then what could it be?

Karni and Siduo both looked at each other. They both got an idea.

"You think…" Karni whispered.

"That would be great… It would also make sense based on our current soul power." She whispered back.

In the modern soul master world there existed a great way of upgrading the age of Spirit Souls. This method was also incredibly expensive which was why Karni and Siduo weren't quite sure about their guess.

The Pagoda they entered was massive; it spanned a total of thirteen stories and was known as one of the Eighteen Pillars of Heaven that belonged to the organisation.

At the entrance, Karni and Siduo saw their side-profession teacher, Mo Qing.

"You guys are just in time, come, come, we have a special order for you two today." Mo Qing smiled mysteriously.

The more Karni and Siduo heard, the more they were sure about what today's event was going to be.

After confirming their identities at the reception they entered a great hall. On the walls was a giant mural.

Both of them were taken aback. Karni seemed to be reminded of something from the original stories, but it was only ever in a few chapters and it wasn't something he remembered well. On the other hand Siduo was completely in awe of the artwork.

"It speaks of the legend of the Spirit Ice Douluo, Huo Yuhao." Teacher Ye answered their silent questions.

"This one in particular shows the Spirit Ice Douluo on the border of the northern plains. He had the favour of the soul beasts who lived there and led them to victory against the Sun Moon Empire army stationed there."

Karni and Siduo were both in awe. Karni felt like he was there at that moment while watching the mural. It had a special effect on a person. He read what happened in the past, yet this truly gave off a magical feeling.

All of the 18 great spirit pagodas had murals like these, Karni was quite curious to see them. More or less everyone was in awe when they would see them. Well, everyone except for the Sun Moon Federation, as they were the losers of many stories shown on the murals.

As they were waiting for Mo Qing to finish their preparations, Karni saw a weird smudgy spot on the mural. His mind felt like it hurt a bit while looking at it and nudged Siduo.

"Sisi why is there a smudge on the mural, seems like a weird thing to not keep the mural clean." He was half squinting his eyes while saying that, his head felt truly uncomfortable while looking at it. The more he stared, the worse it got.

"Oh that? What do you mean a smudge, it's the d**** **** and it has a h*** ****... Hey are you okay?" Siduo looked worriedly at Karni.

Karni's head was truly hurting at the moment. As soon as Siduo started describing the smudge everything turned muffled, he couldn't understand a thing. It was happening again! But… because of something on the mural? Just what could it be?

He looked away from the smudge and his mind quickly gained clarity. Siduo on the other hand appeared to be in thought.

"It's the same thing as last time, no?" She whispered to him.

Karni just nodded. "It got especially strong once you started explaining. Isn't this general history?"

"It is. But it has similarities with what I once told you about myself." She didn't want to outright say it, for fear of someone else hearing their conversation.

"A mural depicting something from 10.000 years ago has something to do with you?" As he said it, Karni just got a headache again. This time not as strong. It felt like he was punished for connecting clues.

He was really thinking about developing his Fluffy Bamboo Panda instead. Maybe the headaches from the martial soul would stop. The ringing in the ears was the worst of all.

"Let's stop here." She glanced at Mo Qing.

Mo Qing didn't know what had just occurred and neither did Teacher Ye. The two sighed in relief. This had something to do with reincarnation. It would be hard to explain.

The two teachers approached about a minute later.

"Before we begin, we will have a quick Spiritual Power test." Mo Qing smiled and led the way.

… … …

"Val Karni: Spiritual Power: 257" The clerk spoke in surprise.

"Wu Siduo: Spiritual Power: 194" The clerk was surprised yet again.

"By god, both of these children are absolute geniuses. I must report this to the higher ups." The clerk thought to herself. Perhaps she might even get a raise.

In the three years they have grown by a lot. Siduo lacked behind Karni a bit, however that was expected, her Martial Souls weren't spiritual after all. The fact she was so close to reaching 200 points was more than prodigious.

Karni, Siduo and the teachers weren't too surprised. They had testing quite regularly so they were all aware of their spiritual power.

Mo Qing led the group to a different part of the Spirit Pagoda, while the clerk went to report the findings. She was bound to be disappointed. After all, Spirit Pagoda has been trying to recruit the two for quite some time without success. They were well aware of their progress.

They reached a room full of capsules that could fit a human inside it.

"This is the Spirit Ascension Platform." Mo Qing stated.

Both Karni's and Siduo's eyes shined. They guessed correctly.

"You already know that this is a place where you can upgrade your soul rings. Your goal for the next year will be to upgrade your current Spirit Souls to thousand year cultivation."

"You want us to have all the first three rings purple?" Asked Karni.

"That's correct. You aren't allowed to get another Spirit Soul. If you reach a bottleneck, you can only break it with your current Spirit Soul. I'm hoping you can be fast as there are only two of you and reach it in a year. If you're unlucky, it might take longer."

"As for any worries about being compatible and your body and mind being able to take it, well, let's just say there's a reason we have so many tests, and a reason for all the extra practice and resources you've been getting."

Both Karni and Siduo understood. One's soul power would increase even after they reach the bottleneck. It will however only become available after breaking through it. Meanwhile, they didn't even have time to worry about being physically incapable, as Mo Qing gave an answer before they even thought about it.

Their minds have long been capable of handling such a thing as a thousand-year Spirit Soul. In terms of their bodies, Siduo didn't have to worry, while Karni had become extremely flexible and durable in his own right. His limit was lower than Siduo's, but he could still take 3 thousand-year soul rings.

"Before you go in, let me give you some reminders. The world you will enter is a simulation. While you can't die inside it, all of the pain is real, so be careful not to kill your brain."

Karni and Siduo were a bit shocked. "So we can die!" Was what their eyes were saying.

"If you believe that you died. Then you might truly die. As long as you're aware of everything, there will only ever be temporary damage." Teacher Ye jumped into the conversation.

"This is why we only brought you here now. With your Spiritual Power, the two of you should be capable of understanding your situation and should be safe. And most of all, you've both been through rigorous combat practice."

"But, that doesn't mean that you can just quit as soon as possible." Teacher Ye continued.

"Your mission is to survive for two hours for your first time around."

The clerks around them started whispering. Can two children really survive for that long on their first time?

Siduo and Karni nodded seriously, this was a kind of test as well.

Mo Qing then finished saying. "To upgrade your Spirit Souls, you will have to defeat the soul beasts in the virtual world. Be careful."

The clerks led both of them to the capsules.

"When the capsule closes you will feel a small stinging sensation. Don't fight it." The clerks ordered. They were a bit worried about them making problems. They were 10 year old children. Who wouldn't be worried?

The capsule was closed and Karni closed his eyes. He could feel something scanning his whole body and then came the stinging sensation.

… … …

Karni opened his eyes. A forest, and a very rich forest at that. He was looking around enjoying the beautiful scene. "How ancient is this forest?" He wondered out loud.

This was a marvellous piece of technology. How many years of research must have taken it? Karni actually knew. It took thousands. The development of the Spirit Ascension Platform was directly connected to the extinction of soul beasts.

While he was musing to himself he was forcefully pulled to the ground.

"You idiot don't just stand up straight. There are soul beasts wandering all around the forest." A familiar voice entered his ear.

Siduo was scolding him with her eyes. "My bad, I was caught up in the scenery."

Siduo nodded. "It is terrifying how well they recreated the Star Dou Forest, even the vitality is rich."

"You speak as if you've been there before."

"Perhaps I was." Siduo answered, but before Karni could counter her she continued.

"Serious now, activate your martial soul."

… … …

"They're quite lucky, they basically spawned next to each other." Mo Qing and Teacher Ye mused.

The staff behind them was thinking the same thing. This was quite rare and not normal. They really were lucky.

Mo Qing wanted to see how they would fare individually, but next time will have to do.

They had screens on which they could see what was happening, but there wasn't any sound coming out of it.

… … …

Karni summoned his Bo Staff as both of his soul rings lit up one after another. Siduo looked straight into his glowing yellow eyes.

Karni's second soul ring ability, Vision Bestowal, was also a passive ability like Golden Insight. To be more accurate, Vision Bestowal was passive, as long as the person who was bestowed the ability was willing to accept it.

Siduo's eyes now also had a bright yellow layer. Karni and Siduo started to silently survey their surroundings. They were very careful and very slow. For all they knew, they could have a powerful soul beast just around the corner.

The Spirit Ascension Platforms had their own rankings. This was the elementary one. The highest level a Spirit Beast could be was of thousand year level, while most of them were 10.

Needless to say, they would be incredibly unlucky if they found a thousand-year old soul beast so soon.

After walking for a while, they encountered a few 10 year old soul beasts and after killing them, it didn't feel like much of an increase in their spirit soul cultivation level.

To feel substantial increase they needed to find a hundred year old soul beast.

Half an hour went by quite fast. Their journey so far has been quite peaceful; Karni even felt uncomfortable. In the stories, this would be the calm before the storm.

And sure enough after another 10 minutes, they encountered a soul beast that looked quite a bit stronger than the previous ones. It looked like a fox, and it had bright yellow colouring. Its tail appeared to be made of leaves.

"The Yellow Leaf Fox" Karni whispered and Siduo acknowledged. The names were usually easy to remember. As every soul beast named was usually a description of some sort.

These foxes were loners and they excelled in control and speed. This one also appeared to be well into the hundred year level based on its size. The fox was just as big as the two of them.

The two of them circled the fox in silence. They managed to stay quiet around this soul beast. Just as Karni was about to dash out along with Siduo, the Fox dashed directly towards him. Well, a golden illusion of it did.

"Shit, it noticed me." Karni quickly activated his second soul ring. Vision Bestowal. He looked into the Fox's eyes just as it turned around to start dashing and then dodged with ease.

As soon as he dodged, a speeding shadow came from his side as hundred claws were unleashed upon the fox. It noticed Karni, but it didn't notice Siduo, she was an agility system soul master after all.

She left many claw marks on the fox. Many of them were quite deep. A single move, and it was already looking bad for it. It quickly created a curtain of leaves.

Thanks to Karni's vision, both Karni and Siduo managed to follow the fox through the curtain. Siduo quickly caught up. She was faster than the fox normally, but an injured one? Please.

The Fox tried to swing its giant tail, but Siduo dodged it with ease thanks to Vision Bestowal, and aimed for the fox's back legs. Her second soul ring shone brightly as another hundred claws were released.

The fox stumbled and fell. Karni jumped off of Siduo while swinging his staff. The staff was already vibrating heavily and he struck the Yellow Leaf Fox's head.

The Fox released a loud howl just before he hit it. It died. Its brain essentially got a sonic shock. Its defence also wasn't very powerful. It prided itself on its speed and control after all.

Karni looked a bit at his Bo Staff. So this is what happens when he lets all of his Stacks hit an opponent. Perhaps other parts of the body wouldn't be as hurt, but the brain? The brain was one of the most sensitive organs out there.

Karni and Siduo high fived while Karni noticed that quite a big amount of energy entered his Spirit Soul. The years of cultivation in it must have increased by about 15.

Their happiness didn't last long. Not 10 seconds after killing the Yellow Leaf Fox, they heard a similar howl. This one was much stronger, and it didn't sound too far away.

They immediately dashed in the opposite direction. "Don't tell me. A mate?" Karni wondered out loud. This was the only explanation for this species of the fox.

This was very unfortunate. This type of fox mated only with those who were a considerable amount stronger than themselves. And they did so for life.

They only made it 200 metres when they started hearing furious running behind them. When they looked, they were both in shock.

The fox was the same size, however its tail was vastly different. It had two giant tails that looked like a single humongous leaf when joined together.

"A thousand-year Yellow Leaf Fox!" Shouted Siduo.

It was clearly faster than Siduo as well. Their previous advantage was completely turned against them.

Siduo stopped and did a 180 degree turn. She dashed directly toward the fox.

"Sisi! What are you doing!?"

"What other choice do we have!? It's faster than us!" She shouted back furiously.

Karni groaned and turned back looking into the foxes eyes.

He almost fell over. It hit him like a truck. His mind was hurting. He managed to inflict the fox with the vision, but he used up about 20 percent of his spiritual power immediately. His soul power also went down by at least 10 percent. Such an instant decrease didn't feel good no matter what.

Siduo didn't miss out on the chance Karni created for her. She focused on a single one of the fox's legs and activated her second soul ring, Hell Hundred Claws.

Sha managed to injure its leg quite a bit, but before she could react, she was greeted with one of the fox's tails and was blasted back towards Karni. Even if she saw the future, her reaction was slow at that moment.

Karni managed to react to Siduo being thrown and completely stopped her momentum with the side of his bo staff. At the same time, he managed to get a few Stacks on him.

However, the fox was quickly upon him. He barely managed to dodge one of the tails, and when he thought he dodged the first, he was greeted by the second.

He quickly split his staff into two drumsticks and barely managed to imbalance himself enough to intercept the second tail with one, while dodging below it and rebalancing with the second.

He managed to safely acquire more Stacks. On the other side, Siduo aimed for the same leg she did last time, the front right leg.

With the fox temporarily focused on Karni, she managed to land another hit.

The fox led out a furious howl. Siduo infuriated it much more than Karni. She managed to land a hit on her leg twice now. The leg was barely usable by now.

Despite being a thousand-year old soul beast, there was a limit to how much the cultivation would help in its defensive capabilities.

Siduo now started dodging with quite a bit of difficulty. Meanwhile Karni was quickly building up more Stacks. "Just a bit more Sisi!"

"I'm trying! Hurry the fuck up!"

Karni ran towards the fox and jumped on its back. He has built all of the 19 stacks that he was capable of right now without the drums. The same amount that previously killed the hundred year old fox.

He got onto its head and hit with all of his force. The fox immediately fell.

Karni jumped down. "Holy shit, it actually fell!"

"I think we should find a place to rest." Karni released a sigh.

"Kiki watch out!" Siduo dashed towards him.

His body made a sound, you wouldn't want to hear. Karni was knocked to the ground as he spit out blood.

"Kiki!" Siduo ran towards him. There were three giant claw marks on his back as he was bleeding. The fox hit him with his left leg, the one which wasn't damaged.

Foxes were incredibly cunning creatures. While it was stunned for a few seconds with Karni's attack, it decided to play dead completely instead. At most, it was still feeling a bit fuzzy in the head.

"I'm okay!" Karni cried out as he stood out with difficulty. The fox was already upon them.

He quickly reactivated his skills. The force of impact messed up his skills since they were greatly spiritually inclined.

They barely managed to dodge a swipe at them. Despite the surprise attack just now, the fox was clearly injured.

It howled again as it raised both of its tails and a leaf blizzard appeared around them. The two were separated.

The leaves were quite sharp, but they only caused shallow cuts much to Karni's relief. When he finished his thought he saw giant golden teeth biting down at him. He could see the true form just behind them.

Barely dodging with the help of his own movement and his staff, he already started applying his next Stacks on his bo staff. The leaves even allowed faster application.

However, he only reached 3 when another attack was upon him. Barely dodging this one, he continued applying his stacks.

The stronger the opponent, the less he could see into the future. If he wanted to see more, he'd need to use up more spiritual power, or alternatively, become better at using his soul skills.

The first one he was unwilling to do, and for the second, he hasn't had such mastery yet.

He now reached 6 Stacks when an incredibly low tail swipe reached him.

He used the Staff to launch himself above the swipe, but it managed to swipe his Bo Staff. He barely managed to keep the staff from going out of his hands.

Luckily, he added more stacks thanks to this incident. The force itself didn't help, but the way it almost threw his staff off? The staff was now already in a low singing hum. 10 Stacks were reached.

He suddenly saw all of the leaves leave his area as they focused directly on Siduo. He could see that the fox had its other front leg ruined as well. Siduo managed to put in some work.

However Siduo couldn't dodge this mass of leaves. She was blown away and the fox quickly followed up with a tail swipe. She was shot directly into the tree and fell onto the ground.

"Sisi!" Karni shouted, but he didn't have time for worry. The very same mass of leaves that blew her away now targeted him.

The future sight didn't matter. This attack was too wide to dodge, he was blown into the air and was also thrown away with a powerful tail swipe.

Hitting the tree, he spewed another mouthful of blood. When he looked toward the fox, it was already on him. Both of its injured front claws were shining menacingly as a bloody claw attack was sent at Karni.

At that point, a shadow appeared in front of him blocking the direct hit. With the blood, her already auburn hair seemed terrifying. She clearly took the claw in full force

"Sisi!" Karni forgot about the fox. His heart was beating heavily and this was all he could see right now. A bloodied Siduo and the sound of his own heart beat.

"You… Idiot." Siduo mustered all of her strength to push Karni and herself out of the way as another Tail Swipe hit in between them.

Karni's heart was beating even louder. "Shit. I can't choke now."

He picked out his staff with all of the hits he received; he was now already at 19 stacks. His own heartbeat was setting up a rhythm. Fast, but consistent.

"More!" Karni clanged his drumsticks together. There was not enough of an increase for Karni to consider it a Stack.

"Listen to the Heart." Karni told himself. He beat the drumsticks with the beating of his heart.

20. When it rang, the sound truly changed, as if a melody was released into the air.

In an almost subconscious manner, he dodged another attack by the fox. Hearing the noise he was releasing, and Siduo laying there, the fox was clearly seeing him as a threat.

Karni fell into the rhythm. If not for the fox, he would want to close his eyes. 21 Stacks. This time he dashed toward the fox, his own footsteps being in the same pace as his heartbeat.

Siduo was trying to stand up, she wanted to help as well.

Both of the claws reached Karni again. But he couldn't hear them. He could only see them, all of the sound was taken over by his heart. Yet, with the sound of his heart and the music of the staff, his mind was in an eerie calm. He dodged just between the claws, but one of his legs got scratched a bit.

The eyes of the fox were in full view.

A sound, as if hitting a gong was heard when Karni hit its head. It collapsed like before. This time the fox had a nosebleed.

"Aaaagh!" He heard a loud screech as Siduo came running towards the fox's head. Ramming both of her hands into its eyes, she wasn't leaving it up to chance.

Both Karni and Siduo could truly see the fox go limp this time around. As invisible energy entered both of them. This time they could feel quite a solid increase in the age of their spirit souls. The increase was at least by 50 years.

They both sat down on the ground, exhausted. Both were heavily injured, yet they still had about an hour left to survive.

"We should REALLY hid-"

Howling. Again? No. The howlings continued. There were many. It didn't sound like foxes either.

Karni and Siduo went pale. A group of wolves? Now?