Awakening Ceremony

The next day.

Holy City of the Snake People Clan.

Snake people from the eight great tribes who needed to awaken their Companion Snake Souls had gathered in orderly fashion at Sacrifice Plaza.

The plaza was extremely spacious, with spectator stands on three sides and a viewing platform one zhang high on the fourth, capable of holding tens of thousands.

The ground of Sacrifice Plaza was paved with hard bluestone. At its center stood a Black Altar, and in the middle of the altar was a giant snake stele three zhang tall.

It was the Snake Spirit Tablet unique to the Snake People Clan, meticulously crafted by the clan's powerful ancestors.

Like a magic stone tablet, the Snake Spirit Tablet could test one's Dou Qi strength. It could also activate the Companion Soul within a tester's body, causing the phantom image of their Companion Snake Soul to appear...

"Yan Lin, my parents said that after we awaken our Companion Souls, there'll be a period where our cultivation speeds up. I might break through to the eighth stage of Dou Qi this year, and maybe next year I'll have a chance to catch up to you. Hehe."

Cauliflower Snake, somewhat plump and sturdy, had perhaps grown tired of waiting. He took the initiative to chat with Yan Lin, who stood ahead of him.

Yan Lin, standing at the head of the line, grinned. But before he could open his mouth to trade barbs with his good brother, the perpetual runner-up in their group jumped out first and sneered, "What's so impressive about mere ninth-stage Dou Qi?"

Interrupted out of nowhere, both Yan Lin and Cauliflower Snake looked displeased. Clearly, they found the speaker extremely irritating.

Cauliflower Snake turned toward the snake person leading the line to Yan Lin's left and snapped, "Sha Bi, we were talking. Why do you always love butting in? Besides, aren't you only at the eighth stage of Dou Qi yourself? What right do you have to say that?"

The one who had interrupted was a snake person from the Mobaas Tribe, just like Yan Lin and Cauliflower Snake. They had trained together since childhood.

However, Sha Bi had been outclassed by Yan Lin in every way. His fellow tribesmen called him the "perpetual runner-up," so he had always disliked Yan Lin and opposed him at every turn.

Still, he was clever enough to know that he was no match for Yan Lin. He only traded words and never dared go too far.

Because of that, he had earned another title: "Keyboard King."

Yan Lin and Cauliflower Snake could not be bothered with him, but Sha Bi was simply asking for it. He always loved interrupting them and jumping out to provoke them whenever they spoke.

By now, Yan Lin was used to it and remained calm. Yet his words were extremely cutting, instantly shattering Sha Bi's composure.

"Cauliflower Snake, a dog barks at you, and you actually want to argue with it?"

"Yan Lin, what did you say?!"

"Oh, right. How could I forget? You can't lower yourself to a dog's level."

Seeing Sha Bi lose his composure, Cauliflower Snake immediately laughed and chimed in. Sha Bi's face darkened with rage, and his clenched fists crackled.

Still, he had not completely lost his reason. If he caused a scene at such a grand ceremony, he would be the only one to suffer.

Sha Bi's snake pupils flickered as he glared at Yan Lin, his eyes blazing with anger. "Yan Lin, keep acting arrogant. You won't be able to keep it up for much longer."

"Last night, I already broke through to the ninth stage of Dou Qi. Soon, I'll surpass you. I'll show everyone else that I'm the most talented rising star of the Mobaas Tribe!"

Before Yan Lin could speak, his good brother Cauliflower Snake sneered coldly. "You've got the nerve to say that? You're already thirteen, while Yan Lin is only eleven. How can you compare yourself to him?"

Age was indeed a sore point. Sha Bi, still young and thin-skinned, flushed slightly. But he quickly became angry from embarrassment, and a cold smile curled across his lips. "So what?! Don't forget that the potential of us snake people depends on our Companion Souls."

"Not long after I was born, my father poured tremendous effort into infusing me with a Fourth Order Companion Snake Spirit. Once I awaken, I'll at least become a Dou Ling powerhouse in the future. I might even break through to become a Dou Wang and the next generation's leader."

"And what about you and Yan Lin? You were born at the bottom, and the Companion Souls infused into you since childhood were merely First Order Snake Spirits. You already lost to me at the starting line. In the future, I'll only leave you farther and farther behind!"

After saying that, Sha Bi raised his nostrils toward the sky, as confident as a proud peacock that would never lower its head.

He, like every other snake person, knew that shortly after birth, snake people would use a special secret technique to infuse the soul of a snake-type magical beast into their bodies.

As they grew older, the snake-type magical beast serving as their Companion Soul would gradually fuse with them until the two became inseparable.

After fusing with the snake-type soul, they could summon the true form of the snake-type magical beast. At that time, their strength would soar dramatically. This was also the Snake People Clan's ultimate trump card.

However, snake people around the age of ten—those at the Dou Qi stage—had to first undergo a Companion Soul Awakening Ceremony. This would activate the Companion Snake Soul within their bodies and determine the potential of their Snake Souls, thereby deciding whether they were worthy of focused training.

The path to strength for the Snake People Clan relied not only on personal cultivation, but also on Companion Souls.

The stronger the Companion Snake Soul infused into a snake person, the greater their potential.

The one infused into Queen Medusa was the Sixth Order Magical Beast, the Purple Nether Flame Snake. This gave her a starting point far beyond that of ordinary snake people from the moment she was born, and her potential began at the Dou Emperor level.

Moreover, snake-type magical beasts like the Purple Nether Flame Snake carried a trace of ancient exotic beast bloodline. Given sufficient opportunity, Queen Medusa could return to her ancestral origins and become a Seven-Colored Sky-Swallowing Python.

Such a powerful bloodline possessed the potential to become a Dou Saint. Its potential spoke for itself.

Of course, not every snake person could be like Queen Medusa and have a Sixth Order Companion Snake Soul infused into them at birth.

Queen Medusa had only achieved this through her own powerful bloodline and secret techniques used to nourish her from the embryonic stage.

Ordinary snake people were too young, lacked powerful bloodlines, and had parents without sufficient means, among other factors. As a result, they could not have high-order Snake Souls infused into them immediately after birth.

Even those capable of receiving high-order Companion Snake Souls had to be specially nourished with immense resources from the embryonic stage. Yet because their bloodlines could not compare to Queen Medusa's, the Snake Souls infused into them would never exceed the sixth order.

Take Sha Bi, for example. His father, Sha Hai, had already been a Dou Ling powerhouse more than a decade ago. When his mother was pregnant with him, his father began pouring vast resources and effort into nourishing Sha Bi. Only then was he able to infuse him with a Fourth Order Companion Snake Soul after his birth.

The purpose was to let his child win at the starting line.

This was not an isolated case.

The descendants born to powerful snake people were all treated this way.

The strong had the means to give their descendants a better future, while the weak could only let nature take its course.

Whether on Blue Star or in other worlds, relying on one's father was always in fashion—and it never went out of style!

It was like how you hated rich second-generation heirs, when what you truly hated was that you were not one yourself.

It was a cruel fact, but that was the world at its most real.

As the saying went, the world was a circle.

The Snake People Empire was merely a microcosm of that circle.

The Snake People Clan's resources were limited, so they could only pour their important resources into those with the strongest bloodlines and greatest potential.

That was why there was only one Queen Medusa in the entire Snake People Clan!

As for the other snake people, they naturally did not receive Queen Medusa's treatment. They could only rely on their parents.

If their parents were powerful and willing to invest in their descendants, then those descendants would also become powerful.

The Snake People Clan's powerhouses did not prohibit this practice. They followed the law of survival of the fittest and had always believed that only the strong were qualified to lead the Snake People Clan.

Wanting to sit around and wait for the strong to distribute resources was nothing but a fantasy.

And if one had no parents to rely on, then they could only rely on themselves.

If one's own talent was strong enough, one could still become powerful, still gain the favor of the clan's powerhouses, and receive preferential resources.

If one was lucky enough to awaken a powerful mutated Snake Soul, then the treatment would naturally be even better.

Of course, the odds of that were very low, but it had happened in the history of the Snake People Clan.

Some snake people were born ordinary and had only very low-grade Companion Snake Souls infused into them through secret techniques as children. Yet they awakened powerful mutated Snake Souls, turned their lives around, and became top powerhouses within the clan.

This was also why the Snake People Clan went to such lengths to hold the Awakening Ceremony.

Naturally, the first awakening of a Companion Snake Soul did more than test potential. It could also bring a period of explosive growth in strength.

The stronger the Companion Snake Soul, the more terrifying that explosive growth would be.

This was an advantage unique to snake people.

After the Awakening Ceremony was complete, the Snake People Clan's powerhouses would decide whether someone deserved focused training based on their personal talent and the potential of their awakened Snake Soul.

This was an old tradition of the Snake People Clan that had endured for many years, and it was the true purpose behind holding the Awakening Ceremony.