Martial Soul Awakening

Looking across the entire Sun Moon Federation, Eastsea City was a major city worthy of its reputation. The Spirit Transfer Pagoda within Eastsea City was one of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda organization's eighteen branch pagodas. These eighteen large Spirit Transfer Pagodas were also known as the Eighteen Sky Pillars.

This Spirit Transfer Pagoda in Eastsea City had over a hundred floors and stood more than four hundred meters tall. Even in Eastsea City, where tall buildings stood in forests, it was still a landmark structure.

The base of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda was octagonal and covered an extremely vast area. Every ten floors upward, it contracted inward, all the way to the spire at the very top. A single branch pagoda already possessed such scale; one could well imagine how shocking and magnificent the Spirit Transfer Pagoda Headquarters, known as the Heaven Spirit Pagoda and located within Shrek City, must be.

Today, the Spirit Transfer Pagoda seemed somewhat empty, because this recent period was the annual Martial Soul Awakening Day. The Spirit Transfer Masters of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda would all go to Eastsea City and the surrounding towns to preside over the work of awakening martial souls.

Under normal circumstances, very few people would come to the Spirit Transfer Pagoda to complete their martial soul awakening. After all, the children of Soul Master Families had methods for awakening martial souls within their own families. As for commoner households, they had neither the financial resources nor the connections to invite the top Spirit Transfer Masters stationed at the Spirit Transfer Pagoda to awaken martial souls for their children alone.

If not for the sake of caution, and to confirm the condition of Yu Nanyuan's Spiritual Sea once more, Yu Zhen would not have specially brought Yu Nanyuan to the Donghai Spirit Transfer Pagoda.

On the platform at the top of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda's steps, a tall old man stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Judging from his face, the old man was a little younger than Yu Zhen. He wore a simple gray robe, and his long black hair was combed meticulously, falling loose behind him.

The old man merely stood there quietly, yet he had a presence as immovable as a mountain. His deep purple eyes were especially profound, seizing the mind.

Yu Nanyuan followed behind Yu Zhen and stepped out of the Soul Guidance Car, then greeted the old man very politely.

"Grandpa Ji."

The old man's identity and status were no lower than Yu Zhen's, and were perhaps even higher. He was the pagoda master of the Donghai Spirit Transfer Pagoda, Ji Hongyu. Ji Hongyu and Yu Zhen had come to know each other in their youth, and the two had a very close relationship. That was because they were both from Eastsea City, and after achieving success in cultivation, both had chosen to remain in Eastsea City.

Ji Hongyu smiled faintly, his gaze falling on Yu Nanyuan. Immediately, his brows furrowed slightly, and he let out a soft sound of surprise.

And the instant Yu Nanyuan's eyes met Ji Hongyu's, his thoughts actually fell into stagnation beyond his control. Only a moment later did clarity return.

"Lao Ji, is something wrong?" Seeing Ji Hongyu's expression, Yu Zhen's heart rose into his throat again. Although he possessed Soul Emperor-level cultivation, he himself was not adept at abilities on the mental level, so he could not be completely certain whether Yu Nanyuan's Spiritual Sea, which had developed cracks, had fully recovered.

Ji Hongyu's expression returned to normal, and he waved his hand with a light laugh.

"No, Lao Yu, you misunderstood. I can be certain that there is no longer any problem with Nanyuan's Spiritual Sea. Rather, one could say he has benefited from misfortune this time. He has not yet awakened his martial soul, yet his Spiritual Sea is more stable than that of some Soul Masters with Soul Elder cultivation. If my senses are not mistaken, Nanyuan's Spiritual Power is far stronger than that of his peers."

At this point, Ji Hongyu sighed softly with emotion. "The mysteries of the human body are truly endless, especially the mysteries of the Spiritual Sea, which we still have not been able to fully see through. But for Nanyuan to benefit from misfortune is also his own fortune."

Ji Hongyu and Yu Zhen were both relatively steady by nature, without that classic bickering the moment they met. Several decades had passed, and the two had never once fallen out. This was also how they usually interacted.

Hearing Ji Hongyu say this, Yu Zhen no longer had any doubts. He adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled calmly.

"Then I'll leave Nanyuan's martial soul awakening to you as well."

"Nanyuan, come with me." Ji Hongyu naturally would not refuse, and personally led Yu Nanyuan toward the depths of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda.

As for the abilities of Ji Hongyu's martial soul, Yu Nanyuan had heard about them from Yu Zhen long ago, so he did not feel too surprised. He silently followed behind Ji Hongyu, thinking to himself.

A Mental Attribute martial soul. And from the looks of it, Grandpa Ji's cultivation is quite a bit stronger than Grandpa's.

Upon entering the first floor of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda, the first thing that came into view was the resplendent interior decoration. The floor was completely paved with dark-gold stone, with dazzling natural patterns upon it, and huge stone pillars supported a dome dozens of meters high. Even more admirable were the magnificent and splendid murals on those stone pillars and the dome.

These murals were resplendent and brilliant, depicting scenery and people alike. They recorded landmark events that had occurred throughout the past history of Douluo Continent. The most eye-catching among them was the story of the First Generation Pagoda Master of Spirit Transfer Pagoda, Spirit Ice Douluo, leading human Soul Masters in resisting the tide of Soul Beasts.

Although this was not Yu Nanyuan's first time coming to the Donghai Spirit Transfer Pagoda, he still felt somewhat awed.

And in the hall on the first floor of the Spirit Transfer Pagoda, there were also some wondrous and magnificent patterns engraved, giving one a dazzling sensation. Although there were many awakening rooms inside the Spirit Transfer Pagoda, in truth, completing a martial soul awakening here produced the best results. With the assistance of these formations, the Soul Master awakening their martial soul could gain a deeper understanding of their own martial soul.

However, not everyone had such an opportunity, let alone having Ji Hongyu, the pagoda master of the Donghai Spirit Transfer Pagoda, personally preside over the martial soul awakening ceremony.

As the only grandson of Yu Zhen, the dean of Eastsea Academy, Yu Nanyuan had possessed the opportunity and platform to come into contact with such things since childhood. Without needing Ji Hongyu's reminder, he calmly stood at the center of the formation by himself.

Yu Zhen took a few steps back, his gaze falling on Yu Nanyuan.

Ji Hongyu reminded Yu Nanyuan, "Nanyuan, Grandpa Ji is going to begin now."

The moment Ji Hongyu's words fell, a dazzling golden light shone from between his brows, then transformed into a strange golden vertical pupil. At the same time, a faint purple halo rippled out from the surface of his body.

Behind him, the light projection of an enormous black-purple ape over ten meters tall appeared out of thin air, an eerie ape with three eyes.

The Three-Eyed Demon Ape, a top-tier Beast Martial Soul possessing both the Darkness Attribute and the Mental Attribute.

There was not any especially high threshold for awakening martial souls for children of the appropriate age, but with a powerful Mental Attribute Soul Master like Ji Hongyu presiding, there would certainly be a certain positive boost. At the very least, it could reduce the risks during martial soul awakening to the lowest level.

With Ji Hongyu's Soul Power pouring in, brilliant lines throughout the hall lit up one after another, starting from the ceiling and flowing downward along the walls. It was as if they had been granted life, extending all the way to Yu Nanyuan's feet. All the light ultimately gathered into a single point at the spot beneath his feet.

Before he could carefully sense this strange feeling, Yu Nanyuan's consciousness had already become hazy. His five senses were completely stripped away, as if he were standing within an Illusory Space, and also as if he were falling into an endless abyss.

Countless lights and shadows swept past before his eyes, yet he could not see anything at all.

Suddenly, a crisp sound similar to chains sliding entered this space, and he abruptly opened his eyes. Here, he was completely naked, with countless wondrous Silver Chains wrapped around his body.

It was also at this moment that Yu Nanyuan's consciousness returned to the real world, and the sound of chains sliding became increasingly clear.

His vision recovered, and he saw that above the palm of his raised right hand, incomparably dazzling silver light was flashing. A Silver Chain engraved with strange patterns filled the hall. The length of this chain seemed impossible to measure; many segments had actually burrowed into the void, and it was still constantly shuttling through it.

What made it different from ordinary chains was that at the front end of this Silver Chain was a wedge similar to a spear tip. The wedge, filled with an extremely sharp aura, pierced through the void and appeared again, slowly pulsing in the air.

"So this is my martial soul..." Yu Nanyuan's gaze focused slightly, while the expressions on Yu Zhen's and Ji Hongyu's faces had already completely frozen.