Furthermore, one had to at least reach the Titled Douluo level before they could attain a second soul core. This meant that the euphoric night he had just experienced had allowed him to become a Titled Douluo!

Even Tang Wulin himself felt this to be rather absurd. Wasn't this way too easy?

Even with his current rapid rate of cultivation, he knew that it would take at least two more years for him to reach the Titled Douluo level while maintaining a stable foundation. However, he had made the breakthrough under such inexplicable circumstances, and his new second soul core was more than sufficient testament to just how stable his foundation was.

Not every Titled Douluo could attain a second soul core; it was already very remarkable for one to attain just the embryo of a second soul core. This meant that he would encounter no cultivation bottlenecks until he reached at least rank 95.

In contrast with the grueling cultivation journey of his youth, this rate of progression was downright ridiculous! Never did Tang Wulin think that something like this would happen.

He stood on the spot in a slightly slack-jawed manner, and it took him a while to confirm that he wasn't dreaming. At the same time, he gradually calmed down.

Gu Yuena had to be hiding a secret that she couldn't tell anyone. He had always thought that she was merely concerned that he wouldn't be able to protect her from whatever was posing a threat to her, but now, it was clear that this wasn't the case.

Both of them were very powerful already at this point, and they had the support of Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect. Even in the face of the Spirit Pagoda and Holy Spirit Cult, they could still put up meaningful resistance, so she could definitely return to his side if she wished to do so. At their current levels of power, if they were to unleash their Dragon God Transformation, they should be able to hold their own even against a Limit Douluo, provided that the Limit Douluo wasn't a quasigod.

So what exactly was she hiding? It wasn't going to be easy to get to the bottom of this.

However, Tang Wulin was even more determined to become more powerful now. Only by becoming more powerful could he help Gu Yuena face whatever it was that she had to face in the future.

The pain in his heart gradually faded, and his mind wandered back to what had happened the night before. That had been a truly wonderful night for him!

He understood why Dai Yun'er had brought him to her boudoir, and he couldn't muster up any resentment toward her. After all, her actions had inadvertently given his relationship with Gu Yuena a major boost. Otherwise, he didn't even know when he would get to see her again.

Now that daylight had arrived and he wasn't in the Tang Sect headquarters, Yali was most likely looking all over the place for him, so he had to get back to the headquarters first.

He fished out a set of clean clothes from his storage soul tool and emerged out of the garden, then immediately returned to the Tang Sect Headquarters.

As soon as he strode into the building, light flashed before his eyes, and Yali appeared before him with a nervous expression.

"Mother!"

A hint of surprise appeared in the Holy Spirit Douluo's eyes. "Where did you go? Why do I feel like your aura has just been elevated again?"

Tang Wulin had just reached the Titled Douluo rank, and his spiritual power hadn't completely adjusted to be able to conceal his cultivation rank yet.

An awkward look appeared on Tang Wulin's face as he replied, "Let's go somewhere more private, Mother."

Yali could see that what he wanted to say was related to a sensitive topic, so she didn't ask any questions and took him back to her room.

"You had me worried sick! Xie Xie went to find you this morning, but you weren't there; even with my spiritual power, I couldn't sense that you were missing, so I knew that something was wrong. Thank heavens you came back safe and sound! What happened?" Yali asked in an urgent manner.

Tang Wulin was silent for a moment before deciding to tell her the full truth; he really needed someone to analyze Gu Yuena's situation for him.

"Mother, I have something to tell you; it's about Gu Yue and Na'er." Yali had a vast wealth of knowledge and experience accumulated from living for over 100 years, and she was absolutely trustworthy, so Tang Wulin decided to confide in her.

"Did your disappearance have something to do with them?" A hint of surprise flashed through Yali's eyes.

Tang Wulin scratched his own head with an awkward expression. "My disappearance didn't have anything to do with them, but they came into the picture later on. Let me tell you everything from the beginning."

Thus, he told Yali about how he had picked up Na'er as a small child and taken her home, followed by the disappearance of her and his parents. After that, he caught the interest of Wu Zhangkong and managed to enter Shrek Academy. He glossed over his cultivation journey and focused on his relationship with Gu Yue and Na'er, making sure to provide extensive details about how the women had fused as one to become Gu Yuena.

The look of astonishment in Yali's eyes gradually became more and more pronounced as she listened to Tang Wulin's story, and she asked, "So you're saying that her body harbors two souls that can be independent or fuse together to become one? That's completely unheard of!"

Tang Wulin asked, "You haven't encountered anything like this, either?"

Yali shook her head in response. "Never, and I'm sure that there are no historical records detailing any precedents of such an occurrence. This should be a type of mutation, and it could even be the first of its kind ever. There are historical records of soul beasts cultivating to become humans. For example, it was said that Thousand Hand Douluo Tang San's wife was a 100,000-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit."

Tang Wulin's heart jolted upon hearing this. Wasn't Yali referring to his birth mother?

Yali continued, "However, even after a soul beast cultivates to become a human, they can't become two different people, and they certainly can't split their soul into two. Also, her bloodline is closely tied to yours, and she told you the story of the Dragon God; I don't recall seeing any records about the Dragon God in the library of our Shrek Academy, so this story could've been fabricated by her. However, what's undeniable is that your bloodline is related to hers, and that's why so many things have happened between you two.

"I didn't think that Na'er had such a mysterious past. Back when she was learning under Brother Ming, she had displayed incredible aptitude, and her rate of progression was quite similar to what you're experiencing now. At the time, both Brother Ming and I had thought that we had found a successor, and Brother Ming had even decided to pass down the position of the Sea God's Pavilion Master to her. Her martial soul is the Silver Dragon Spear; if Gu Yue's martial soul really is the Silver Dragon King rather than Elementalist, then they really could be two parts of the same being. That's very strange. Do you know anything about their family?"

Tang Wulin shook his head in response. "I never met any of their family. All I know is that Na'er was taken away by her family, and Gu Yue's family seems to be very rich. After we seperated, she's always been very mysterious, and she always seemed to be very sad whenever we met thereafter, particularly after the match-making convention; she's always saying things about how we can't be together."

A peculiar look appeared on Yali's face. "You really are a lot like Brother Ming during his younger days. Having said that, the girls nowadays have become a lot bolder than we were!"

Tang Wulin blushed slightly upon hearing this. "Mother..."

Yali couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Don't think too much about this; I'll give you a basic analysis of this situation. Firstly, Gu Yuena definitely harbors no ill will toward you, and she really does love you. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given you her body. On top of that, there has to be a deeper connection between you two; I've never heard of any cultivator who managed to make a breakthrough to become a Titled Douluo as a direct result of having physical relations with someone else. With that established, we can safely say that she won't try to hurt you, and as for what her secret is, we'll just have to wait and see.

"After we get back to the federation, we can use the power of the Tang Sect to investigate her family; perhaps that'll give us some additional leads. In the meantime, you don't need to be overly conflicted. She's already given you the most important thing she has and saved your life on multiple occasions, so what's there for you to think about? All you have to do now is to become more powerful so you can help her if she encounters some kind of crisis in the future. She has to face her problems someday, and when she does, the truth will be revealed. Also..."