Fusang Above Tanggu!

On the outskirts of Star Dou Forest, where Ye Chen had landed six years ago.

The sapling, once only half the height of a baby's arm, suddenly shot up considerably. Its original three leaves had multiplied into dozens, each covered in golden patterns.

A branch of roughly the same size sprouted from the surrounding soil, bearing a crystal-clear round fruit.

The fruit emitted a strange fragrance and holy radiance, like a miniature sun.

"It smells so good. Huh, what is this?"

A soul beast more than three meters long, standing eight chi at the shoulder, its entire body covered in brilliant golden fur, arrived there.

Its whole body seemed like translucent crystal, carrying an unusual texture. It resembled a lion, yet its four claws were like a dragon's, with a cluster of golden flames beneath each dragon claw. Its muzzle was also longer than that of lion-type soul beasts, and beneath its fur seemed to lie dense golden scales.

Most strangely, it had three eyes—and it could speak human language!

It seemed to be the creature that had chased the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast not long ago.

Drawn by the strange fragrance emitted by the fruit, it had followed the scent here.

Its three huge eyes, as though each contained a starry sky, stared at the fruit. After hesitating for a moment, it cautiously plucked the fruit and tossed it into its mouth.

Compared to its massive body, that fruit was utterly insignificant.

Yet in the near future, its fate would undergo earth-shaking changes because of that single fruit.

After Xuan Zi brought Ye Chen back to Shrek Academy, he immediately went to Sea God's Pavilion and recounted the entire incident to Mu En exactly as it had happened.

"How could this be?"

In the secret chamber, after hearing Xuan Zi's account, Mu En did not rebuke him. Instead, he fell into deep thought.

To his knowledge, nothing like this had ever occurred on the continent.

Forget a first soul ring with a lifespan of fifteen hundred years—even one thousand years had never been achieved by any soul master.

Moreover, according to Xuan Zi, Ye Chen's body had initially been on the verge of shattering. Yet an ultimate flame had erupted from within Ye Chen, wrapped around his entire body, and afterward he had emerged completely unharmed.

Why did that sound so much like the Phoenix Clan's rebirth through fire?

Could it be that his martial soul had mutated?

"Xiao Chen, have you felt anything unusual in your body? Or has your martial soul changed in any way from before?" Mu En asked.

After all, he was one of the strongest people on the continent. His experience and knowledge were far beyond Xuan Zi's, and with a single question, he had guessed most of the truth.

In fact, Ye Chen's martial soul was less of a mutation and more of a form of growth—evolution.

It had grown from the original sapling into its current form.

"The impurities in my body seem to have been completely cleansed away, and my martial soul has changed as well." After speaking, Ye Chen directly summoned the Fusang Divine Tree martial soul.

Everyone here was one of his own. There was no need to hide anything.

Ye Chen circulated his soul power, fully revealing the transformed Fusang Divine Tree martial soul before Xuan Zi and Mu En.

A dense aura of light filled the entire secret chamber.

Although it did not cause as much of a spectacle as the Martial Soul Awakening, the radiance emitted by the Golden Tree walls was still suppressed by several degrees.

"A phoenix!?"

"B-But why does it have three legs?"

When the entire Fusang Divine Tree appeared in the secret chamber, Mu En and Xuan Zi spoke in shock.

They were not transmigrators like Ye Chen. Since the Three-legged Golden Crow had never appeared in this world, they naturally mistook the miniature Three-legged Golden Crow for a phoenix.

"This is called the Three-legged Golden Crow, the legendary sun bird!"

Ye Chen looked at the two elders with a face full of black lines as he explained, utterly powerless to complain inwardly.

Even though the two elders still did not understand.

They did know of Golden Crows. There was even a girl in the academy with a Golden Crow martial soul.

However, the Golden Crow's appearance was entirely different from the Three-legged Golden Crow Ye Chen had described.

The Three-legged Golden Crow resembled a phoenix. The greatest difference was the third leg growing from its middle.

Everything else was merely minor distinctions.

In the myths and legends of Ye Chen's previous life, the Three-legged Golden Crow looked like this.

But the Golden Crow martial soul in this world was vastly different from a phoenix, merely taking the form of a crow-like bird.

So it was understandable that the two elders had mistaken it.

"Xiao Chen, your martial soul is less of a mutation and more like it has evolved. It appears to be a good thing."

After his shock faded, a gentle smile appeared on Mu En's face as he began explaining in a way Ye Chen could easily understand.

It was not as though they had never heard of martial souls capable of evolving.

For instance, the first generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters from ten thousand years ago had all experienced such changes in their martial souls.

Thus, those seven had created legends and glory that belonged to them!

Ye Chen said nothing. He had actually thought of this long ago, but simply had not voiced it.

At that moment, the Three-legged Golden Crow on the Fusang Divine Tree martial soul miraculously flew up. After circling for a while, it landed on a branch on the other side, as if it possessed life.

The two most important members of Sea God's Pavilion stared dumbfoundedly at the scene, feeling as though their entire worldview had been shattered.

They had heard of martial souls with growth potential, but what they were seeing now was truly unprecedented!

Such a phenomenon was probably rare even once in ten thousand years, wasn't it?

Without the soul master controlling it, the martial soul had flown on its own.

Anyone who saw that would probably have the same expression.

Ye Chen, however, understood it clearly.

This was merely an unconscious action of the martial soul. It had not become a true living being.

Mu En forcibly suppressed the doubts in his heart, intending to search through the ancient books in Sea God's Pavilion's library later to see whether such a situation had ever occurred in history.

But at the moment, he had another matter to ask about.

"Xiao Chen, what soul skill did you obtain?" Mu En asked curiously.

After Ye Chen obtained his first soul ring, even his martial soul had evolved. It was difficult to imagine what his First Soul Skill could possibly be.

Ye Chen himself was somewhat puzzled by it as well.

The name of his First Soul Skill was rather long, and it was not a soul skill obtained from the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast.

Nearly all of the Aurora Dragon-Tooth Beast's abilities were related to offense, while Ye Chen's First Soul Skill was a support skill.

By comparison, it felt more like an innate ability of the Fusang Divine Tree martial soul, merely using the soul ring as a vessel.

"My First Soul Skill is called—Fusang Above Tanggu. It seems to be a support-type soul skill." Ye Chen scratched his head, speaking with some embarrassment.

His martial soul still held many secrets waiting for him to uncover.

"Oh? A support-type soul skill? What exactly does it do?" Xuan Zi pressed.

Although he had witnessed Ye Chen's entire process of absorbing the soul ring, they had been in a hurry to return to the academy at the time, so he had not asked about it.

"Within the range covered by my First Soul Skill, it can provide a ten percent increase or decrease to all attributes. It can also provide a certain healing effect, and as my major realm rises, the enhancement effect will increase as well."

Ye Chen paused there and began observing the two elders' reactions.

Seeing the astonished expressions on their faces, Ye Chen continued before they could interrupt him. "But there is one condition: the target's strength cannot differ too greatly from mine. If I use it on a Title Douluo with my current Soul Power Level, the effect would be negligible and practically useless."

Once Ye Chen finished, the two elders finally calmed down somewhat.

What would they do if there were no restrictions?

Even so, Ye Chen's First Soul Skill was enough to be called a divine support skill!

There was a small mistake. I overlooked that plot point because it came much later, so I made a minor adjustment. My apologies to everyone.

I have read the original work, and there was no specific description of the Golden Crow martial soul's appearance, so please allow me to shamelessly take a little liberty here.