Martial Soul Awakening

Morning mist hung like gauze as the chilly breeze swept across the bluestone plaza. The ancient hall, built from twelve pure white marble pillars, stood silently upon this land just as it had when it was first established thousands of years ago. Ancient murals silently recounted the history of Ten Thousand Years Ago.

"Clang—"

The roar of the ancient bronze bell shook dew from the eaves. Its toll resounded through every corner of the Dragon Elephant Sect like a dragon's roar. At that moment, whether disciples or servants, everyone within the sect raised their heads and looked toward the sect plaza.

Before the ancient hall, a group of slightly plump children stood in line nervously, looking up at the hall that seemed somewhat different from usual.

The Golden Crocodile in the mural fought the White Tiger with its claws. A majestic lion raised its head and roared, Azure Luan spread its wings and soared, Twin Dragons coiled around a long staff, and a longbow fired an arrow into the sky.

Chen Ming stopped before the Golden Trident that pierced the heavens. The Sea God's face had deliberately been chiseled into a blurred hollow, while the wings of the Faceless Angel had been painted anew, flowing with a dark crimson, bloodlike gleam beneath the morning light.

The Angel's sword pointed toward the Sea God's blurred face. Under the sunlight, it seemed as though it might fall at any moment and cleave it apart. Yet no one could guess what expression lay upon that woman's face.

Beside her stood another blurred woman wielding an enormous scythe. Behind them, an army formed from countless giant elephants and colossal dragons advanced like a tidal wave.

Fighting against the Dragon Elephant were Martial Souls that still held special significance even in this era: the Seven Kill Sword, White Tiger, Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Clear Sky Hammer, Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, and more.

Although it stood within the Sun Moon Empire, the materials and craftsmanship of this ancient hall had clearly been modeled after Spirit Hall from Ten Thousand Years Ago. Its entire style was steeped in the flavor of Douluo Continent. The murals, meticulously carved by craftsmen, depicted that battle from ten thousand years ago.

Yet unlike the carvings on Douluo Continent that portrayed the righteous Sea God defeating the evil Angel God and Rakshasa God, these murals made it obvious at a glance that Spirit Hall had been the protagonist. The Sea God, regarded by the people of Douluo Continent as the embodiment of light and justice, was the villain in these murals.

No matter how hard the sculptors tried to portray Spirit Hall's side as valiant and fearless, in this era, even a three-year-old child by the roadside knew that the war Ten Thousand Years Ago had ended with the righteous Sea God defeating the evil Angel and Rakshasa.

Six-year-old Chen Ming stood at the front of the line, once again falling silent as he looked at these murals, which most people of this era considered utterly rebellious.

Beside him, children his age looked up at Chen Ming, their eyes filled with envy.

Though they were all six-year-old children here to awaken their Martial Souls, even if the others stood on tiptoe, they could at most reach above his shoulders.

He said nothing and did nothing, merely standing there in silence. Yet nearly everyone's gaze, whether from the children around him or the elders in the distance, fell upon him.

Those blazing stares even forced him out of his silent thoughts, and he offered an awkward yet polite smile.

Though he had already mentally prepared himself over the previous days while watching the sect awaken Martial Souls for commoners, Chen Ming still felt a faint heaviness in his heart when almost everyone looked at him with expectation.

After an ancient yet uncomplicated ritual honoring the Angel God and the ancestors who had died in that battle, the Sect Master of the Dragon Elephant Sect formally ascended the lofty Altar. The Dragon Elephant Sect's Martial Soul awakening ceremony officially began.

"Xiao Ming, step forward."

The Sect Master of the Dragon Elephant Sect, a Level 94 Titled Douluo who could be considered a top-tier powerhouse whether in the Sun Moon Empire or on Douluo Continent, looked at Chen Ming with the warmth and expectation of an elder in his voice.

With the cultivation of a Titled Douluo, although the Sect Master was already an old man nearing a hundred years of age, he still looked only forty or fifty. Nearly three meters tall, he stood like an iron tower, his massive body as immovable as a mountain.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Chen Ming slowly climbed the steps, treading over bluestone slabs carved with legendary Martial Souls of Douluo Continent, until he arrived before the old man. The Sect Master of the Dragon Elephant Sect led Chen Ming into a formation made of black stone and summoned his Martial Soul.

A phantom of a colossal elephant with four tusks and white Dragon Scales appeared behind the old man. It was the manifestation of the Dragon Elephant Martial Soul, one of the inherited Martial Souls of the Dragon Elephant Sect.

As the awakening formation, said to have been passed down from the era of Spirit Hall Ten Thousand Years Ago, activated, golden motes surged from the formation. They were absorbed into Chen Ming's unusually large body for his age, merging into every inch of his flesh and blood and awakening the hidden bloodline within.

Chen Ming closed his eyes and felt something within his body awakening. Every inch of flesh seemed to cheer with excitement, until he could not help but roar.

"Roar—"

With a roar that was not quite that of a dragon, a phantom flickered behind Chen Ming as his body rapidly swelled.

The skin on his forehead split apart, and two small golden dragon horns emerged. His body expanded several times over, while the muscles on his already exceptionally sturdy frame bulged further. Against the backdrop of his pale golden Soul Power, they seemed to form a layer of golden armor. The nails on both hands hardened and transformed, turning all ten fingers into sharp claws like ten daggers.

An aura similar to that emitted by the Dragon Elephant Martial Soul of the Dragon Elephant Sect's Sect Master, yet of a far higher quality, unconsciously spread from Chen Ming. Every Dragon Elephant Sect Soul Master present felt their Martial Soul being suppressed, and many involuntarily summoned their own Martial Souls.

The Diamond Mammoth and White Armored Earth Dragon, Martial Souls that had once belonged to Spirit Hall's Dragon Elephant Legion Ten Thousand Years Ago, appeared one after another. The Dragon Elephant Martial Soul born from their union responded as well. In an instant, the entire hall was filled with yellow, purple, and black Soul Rings. Even the children who had yet to awaken their Martial Souls instinctively felt that intangible pressure.

It was the instinctive suppression of lower-ranking Martial Souls by an absolute superior.

A six-tusked Dragon Elephant Phantom emerged. Its enormous body was covered in a layer of azure-gold scales, its four limbs as thick as four pillars holding up the sky. Its originally heavy feet had transformed into dragon claws, covered in thick golden scales that resembled metal bracers from afar.

Feeling an aura similar to his own yet far superior, Chen Li, the Sect Master of the Dragon Elephant Sect, stared blankly for a moment. Then he burst into hearty laughter, tears streaming freely from the corners of his eyes as he crouched before Chen Ming without the slightest regard for his dignity.

After reaching out to test the Soul Power within Chen Ming's Body, Chen Li immediately lifted Chen Ming high into the air and announced to everyone present in a deep voice infused with Soul Power.

"It's the Vajra Dragon Elephant Martial Soul! The Vajra Dragon Elephant Martial Soul that appears in our Dragon Elephant Sect only once every thousand years! The genuine article, possessing absolute strength and absolute defense—a supreme power that combines the ultimate spear and the ultimate shield! Today, it has finally returned to the Dragon Elephant Sect!"

"We shall follow the will of our ancestors and make the Dragon Elephant Sect great once more! Once more, we shall crusade against that evil Shrek Academy!"