Martial Soul Awakening

He stopped in the center of the great hall.

Di Hong bowed to Di Yuan.

"Father King."

Then he bowed to the dignified and noble beauty. She was his mother, Shen Ning, a Level 75 Soul Saint.

After completing the salute, he straightened and stood there, quietly waiting.

Di Yuan slowly rose to his feet and clasped his hands behind his back. He was also dressed in a fiery-red robe, but unlike Di Hong's, his robe was embroidered with a Vermilion Bird rather than flames.

"Hong'er, today is the day of your Martial Soul Awakening. Are you nervous?"

Di Hong nodded slightly. It was impossible for him not to be nervous. He was nothing like Tang San, who had the Mysterious Heaven Skill, a father who was the youngest and one of the strongest Titled Douluo, and an exceptional Martial Soul. Even his mother's Martial Soul was the Blue Silver Emperor.

It wasn't that he looked down on his family. It was simply that this was the way the world worked.

"You don't need to be nervous. This is a stage of life that everyone must face."

"Relax."

After saying this, Di Yuan raised a hand. Six pitch-black, round stones flew out of his wide sleeve.

The moment the round stones flew out, he raised his hand and released a streak of fiery-red Soul Power into them. The stones flew to Di Hong's side and rapidly circled him, while golden radiance spread out and enveloped him.

Once he was enveloped in the golden radiance, Di Hong's nervousness immediately eased. At that moment, he no longer felt nervous at all. Not only was he calm, but his heart was also unusually tranquil.

Just then, his entire body was enveloped in blazing flames. He became like a man of fire, and a cry echoed throughout the great hall.

A scarlet figure appeared behind Di Hong.

The solid phantom resembled a Phoenix. Its entire body was covered in fiery-red feathers, and it radiated a sacred aura.

The instant it appeared, Di Yuan and the others unexpectedly felt an urge to submit.

"What is this?"

Di Yuan stared at the Martial Soul Di Hong had awakened in shock.

"A Phoenix?"

It felt like a Phoenix, but not quite. What he could be certain of was that his son's Martial Soul had undergone a mutation—and a beneficial one at that. This was a good thing.

After Di Hong withdrew his Martial Soul, the flames that had covered his body vanished, and his clothes remained completely undamaged.

"What kind of Martial Soul is this?" Di Yuan asked impatiently. He could be certain that this was absolutely not a Phoenix Martial Soul, because he had sensed an aura even more sacred than that of a Phoenix.

"Vermilion Bird," Di Hong replied.

At that moment, he was incomparably excited. His Martial Soul had actually mutated into a Vermilion Bird Martial Soul. Could this be a benefit granted to him as a transmigrator?

He knew the Vermilion Bird all too well. It was one of the Four Symbols and one of the Four Spirits of the Heavens. However, his Vermilion Bird was definitely nowhere near as powerful as the one in mythology. Having even one ten-thousandth of its power would probably be impressive enough. After all, in the mythology of his previous life, the Vermilion Bird was on the level of one of the creation gods.

The Phoenix was truly outclassed by the Vermilion Bird.

But even a tiny fraction of that power would be enough in this world.

When he had surfed the internet in his previous life, everyone had said that the Douluo world was the floor tiles of the fantasy genre.

"Vermilion Bird."

Di Yuan murmured the name. He had never heard of such a Martial Soul, and it seemed that no one on the continent had ever awakened a Vermilion Bird Martial Soul.

"Quick, test your Innate Soul Power." Di Yuan took out a Blue Crystal Ball.

However, the embarrassing part was that when Di Hong placed his hand on the crystal, it first flashed with dazzling radiance, then cracked apart.

"What happened?" Di Yuan looked at the crystal in his hand in confusion. Di Hong and the others also looked puzzled. This was the first time they had seen someone break a crystal ball while testing Innate Soul Power.

The few of them looked at one another.

They had all arrived at the same conclusion.

"His Innate Soul Power exceeded Level 10."

This was the only possibility. It was the sole explanation they could think of. Otherwise, how could they explain the crystal ball cracking? They couldn't exactly say there was something wrong with the crystal ball, could they?

For this Martial Soul Awakening, Di Yuan had deliberately brought out a brand-new crystal ball. There was no way it could have broken on its own.

Di Yuan hurriedly examined Di Hong's Soul Power. If he truly had surpassed Innate Full Soul Power, then the Di Family would really soar—and soar all the way to the heavens.

After examining him, he discovered that Di Hong's Innate Soul Power had actually reached Level 20.

What did Level 20 mean? He started out as a Soul Grandmaster. While others were still working hard to obtain their first Spirit Ring, he had already begun advancing toward becoming a Soul Elder.

"Innate Level 20 Spirit Power!"

Di Yuan almost fell over. Fortunately, Di Yang caught him. The elder brother's eyes were filled with astonishment as he looked at his younger brother.

He knew about Innate Full Soul Power, but he had truly never heard of Innate Level 20 Spirit Power.

"There's such a thing as Innate Level 20 Spirit Power?" Di Ming asked, somewhat dazed.

It wasn't just him. Even Di Hong himself was still bewildered. His family apparently had no Godhood inheritance, nor had anyone in it ever become a god. So how could he possess Innate Level 20 Spirit Power? This Vermilion Bird Martial Soul was far too powerful.

As far as he knew, the only person with Innate Level 20 Spirit Power seemed to be Qian Renxue. He knew nothing about Qian Daoliu and the others, though they might also have possessed Innate Level 20 Spirit Power. But she had the Angel God inheritance. She had someone powerful backing her.

After thinking about it, he truly couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped. In any case, this wasn't a bad thing for him.

Innate Level 20—that was the ultimate cheat. Tang San had only possessed Innate Full Soul Power.

Of course, he definitely couldn't compare himself to Tang San. Even if Tang San had possessed only half a level of Innate Soul Power, he still would have become a god in the end. No matter what, he was the protagonist.

Protagonists couldn't be judged by common sense.

He had never expected the heavens to favor him so greatly, directly handing him an unbeatable trump card: the Vermilion Bird Martial Soul and Innate Level 20 Spirit Power.

His Martial Soul could also be considered a God-tier Martial Soul, and he even possessed an Innate Domain.

His domain was called the Li Fire Domain.

Suppressing his excitement, Di Yuan said, "No one is allowed to spread this matter."

Then he said to Di Hong, "The royal family will announce to the outside world that you possess Innate Full Soul Power."

Di Hong nodded. Many people would naturally be watching his Martial Soul Awakening. Spreading the result would also benefit the royal family. After all, the royal family was currently suffering from a lack of capable successors, with no one among the younger generation possessing great talent.

Some nobles had already begun making secret moves, looking for an opportunity to replace the royal family.

Announcing that Di Hong possessed Innate Full Soul Power could boost morale, reassure the nobles, ministers, and generals loyal to the royal family, and put the royal family's own members at ease.

As for why they didn't announce Innate Level 20 Spirit Power, the reason was simple. Wouldn't announcing it be tantamount to courting death? Announcing Innate Full Soul Power could stabilize people's hearts, but announcing Innate Level 20 Spirit Power might very well have the opposite effect.

Although they were a Kingdom, they were truly insignificant compared with those top powers, such as the Spirit Hall.

The Spirit Hall stood on equal footing with the Two Great Empires.

Di Hong understood very well what Innate Level 20 Spirit Power represented.

The Spirit Hall would either recruit him or eliminate him. There was no third choice, unless the Empire was willing to launch an all-out war against the Spirit Hall for his sake. But that was impossible.