Martial Soul Awakening

After finishing the bow, Xue Tianxing straightened his back and stood quietly in the hall, waiting.

Xue Zhe stood up from his throne, hands behind his back. The ice-blue robe he wore swayed slightly with his movement as he slowly walked towards Xue Tianxing.

"Tianxing, today is the day you awaken your Martial Soul. Are you nervous?"

Xue Tianxing nodded slightly.

How could I not be nervous?

Xue Tianxing clearly understood that he couldn't compare to Tang San. Tang San had the Mysterious Heaven Skill, his father was the youngest Titled Douluo on the continent, and his Martial Soul was the top-tier Clear Sky Hammer. Even his mother's Martial Soul was the noble Blue Silver Emperor. That was a truly advantageous start.

But this wasn't because Xue Tianxing disliked his family. It was simply because Xue Tianxing knew that the world of the Douluo Continent was like this – effort was important, of course, but one's lineage and the strength of their Martial Soul were the key determinants of fate.

So, Xue Tianxing could only clench his fists, hoping his luck would be a little better.

"There's no need to be nervous."

Xue Zhe raised his hand and ruffled Xue Tianxing's hair, saying to him:

"This is a step everyone must take, just a normal stage in life."

Yu Ningxin also chimed in gently from the side:

"Relax, Tianxing."

As she finished speaking, Xue Zhe raised his hand and flicked his sleeve. Six jet-black round stones suddenly flew out from his wide, ice-blue robe.

The stones drew six arcs through the air. Xue Zhe condensed a strand of blue Soul Power at his fingertip and gently pushed it forward. The Soul Power then seeped into the stones like threads.

"Buzz—"

The stones suddenly emitted a faint glow and then flew to Xue Tianxing's side, spinning rapidly around him.

As the rotation speed increased, golden light gradually spread across the surface of the stones, with rings of light expanding outwards, eventually enveloping Xue Tianxing entirely.

The moment he was wrapped in the warm golden light, Xue Tianxing's tense shoulders quietly relaxed.

His tightly clenched fists slowly unfurled, and the anxiety in his heart dissipated like tea leaves steeping in warm water, replaced by a rare sense of calm. Even his breathing slowed.

Just then, an extreme chill surged out from Xue Tianxing's body without any warning.

"Hiss—"

Xue Tianxing shivered involuntarily, feeling as if his entire body was submerged in ice water. Even the surrounding air seemed to freeze into frost, and a thin layer of ice silently covered the floor tiles in the hall.

Immediately after, a clear, crisp cry suddenly exploded, piercing the silence of the great hall and making everyone's ears tingle.

Everyone looked towards the sound and saw an ice-blue figure slowly solidifying behind Xue Tianxing. The phantom was covered in ice-blue feathers, each feather's edge shimmering with fine ice crystals. Within the halo of light that dripped from its wingtips, there was a sacred majesty.

"This... this is..."

Xue Zhe's eyes widened abruptly. He instinctively took half a step back, his voice trembling.

He had lived for most of his life and seen countless Martial Souls, but he had never encountered a being with such presence.

Yu Ningxin also frowned, her gaze fixed on the ice-blue figure, and murmured softly:

"Could it be... a Phoenix?"

Before she could finish speaking, the phantom suddenly spread its wings. The ice-blue wings occupied nearly half the space in the hall. Where the wingtips swept past, the chill in the air intensified.

It stood steadily behind Xue Tianxing, and another phoenix cry shattered the hall. The sound carried an undeniable pressure, causing Xue Zhe and the others to instinctively bend their waists, a sudden urge to submit rising in their hearts.

The phoenix cry jolted Xue Zhe back to his senses. Feeling the heavy pressure emanating from the Martial Soul level, the shock on his face gradually turned into ecstatic joy. How could he not understand?

His son's Martial Soul had mutated!

And it was the rarest kind of beneficial mutation, leaping directly from an ice bird to an ice phoenix!

Xue Zhe suppressed the excitement in his chest and quickly waved at Xue Tianxing:

"Tianxing! Quickly, come and test your Innate Soul Power!"

The urgency in his voice was impossible to hide, and even his fingertips trembled slightly with excitement.

Hearing this, Xue Tianxing's body condensed with faint blue cold air as he retracted the Ice Phoenix Martial Soul into his body.

Just as Xue Tianxing raised his hand to walk towards the Soul Power testing area, everyone present suddenly felt the air around them stagnate. The moment the Ice Phoenix vanished, a burst of blazing golden light erupted behind Xue Tianxing. The light was dazzling, even dyeing the dust motes in the air with a warm golden hue.

Immediately after, a majestic, sacred aura surged from Xue Tianxing.

Before everyone could recover from this aura, they saw a figure slowly emerge behind Xue Tianxing. This figure had three pairs of wings spread out behind it, each feather shimmering with a lustrous light – it was a Six-winged Angel!

"This... this is..."

Xue Zhe clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Xue Tianqi and Xue Tianning's mouths hung open. They looked at each other for a long moment before finding their voices:

"Twin... Twin Martial Souls? Tianxing actually has Twin Martial Souls?"

The shock on the siblings' faces was almost overflowing, and their gazes towards Xue Tianxing were a mixture of surprise and confusion.

Xue Tianxing himself stood frozen, his eyes fixed on the Six-winged Angel, then he suddenly turned to look at his mother beside him.

Yu Ningxin's face was pale, her lips tightly pursed, and her fingertips unconsciously twisted her sleeves. Her flustered appearance suddenly made Xue Tianxing's heart light up. His mother's surname was Yu, and when he thought of the surname of the Angel's successor in "The Unrivaled Tang Sect," an idea instantly struck him.

Only then did Xue Tianxing understand why his mother had never easily displayed her Martial Soul over the years. It was because she was a collateral descendant of the Martial Soul Hall's Angel Martial Soul. His mother's Martial Soul might be an Angel, just not a Six-winged Angel!

"Tianxing!"

Yu Ningxin snapped back to reality, her voice trembling almost imperceptibly. She quickly stepped forward, grabbing Xue Tianxing's wrist and saying urgently, "Quickly put this Martial Soul away! Listen, from now on, unless it's a life-or-death situation, you absolutely cannot let it show even a little. Do you understand?"

Xue Zhe also recovered from his shock, the excitement on his face fading, replaced by a heavy seriousness.

He patted Xue Tianxing's shoulder, his tone solemn.

"Your mother is right. This Martial Soul has too great an impact. You absolutely cannot use it lightly unless it's a last resort."

Xue Tianxing nodded. His Soul Power moved again, the golden light gradually receding as the phantom image of the Six-winged Angel quietly vanished.

Xue Tianxing naturally understood his parents' concerns. The Martial Soul Hall's ambitions in recent years were as obvious as day to everyone. If anyone found out he had awakened the Six-winged Angel Martial Soul, who knew how much trouble it would stir up.

He mused that his mother must have gone through a lot of trouble to be with his father back then, hiding so many things.

Seeing that Xue Tianxing had put away his Martial Soul, Xue Zhe turned his gaze to Xue Tianqi and Xue Tianning, his eyes sharpening, and then said to them, "You two listen too. What happened today stays buried. To the outside world, just say Tianxing awakened the Ice Phoenix Martial Soul. Not a single word can be different, understand?"

"Understood! Father, don't worry!"

Xue Tianqi and Xue Tianning nodded repeatedly, too preoccupied to be astonished now. They only knew this matter had to be kept a strict secret.