Sudden Mutation, Heavenly Phenomenon

At both ends of the temple hall stood several chairs, occupied by several Cardinals from the West District Spirit Temple, along with a black-robed figure.

These people were observers of the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony.

Several instructors responsible for maintaining order and recording Martial Soul Awakening information stood nearby as well.

Of everyone in the hall, the black-robed figure was the strangest.

His entire body was wrapped in a long black robe, his features concealed beneath its hood, impossible for anyone to see clearly.

A layer of ethereal radiance seemed to shimmer around him.

He was the Hall Elder of the Pope Palace—Ghost Douluo Gui Mei.

He had appeared here under Pope Bibi Dong's orders.

There was only one goal for this trip: Ye Qifeng.

Once Ye Qifeng awakened his Martial Soul, he was to be brought to the Pope Palace to meet the Pope.

Siviss, the Platinum Bishop of the West District Spirit Temple, was immensely surprised by the arrival of Gui Mei, the titled Hall Elder of the Pope Palace. At the same time, he felt enormous pressure.

That was because Gui Mei was in charge of punishments within Spirit Hall.

When Gui Mei had first suddenly appeared at the West District Spirit Temple, everyone in the temple had been on edge, afraid that someone had committed some terrible offense and dragged them into it, drawing Gui Mei's attention.

Only after learning that was not the case did everyone finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Siviss truly could not imagine that Elder Gui had come here merely to observe the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony.

He was rather baffled.

Seeing that the next batch of children had already entered,

Siviss quickly collected himself and once again presided over the Awakening Ceremony.

He poured Soul Power into the array and activated it.

Then, under the arrangements of a gentle-looking female instructor who appeared to be around thirty, the children entered the array one after another.

Following the process, they awakened their Martial Souls, tested their Innate Soul Power, recorded their information, and received Spirit Master Certificates.

Since the ceremony was personally presided over by Siviss, a Spirit Douluo-level Platinum Bishop,

the efficiency of the Martial Soul awakenings was extremely high, nearly one child per minute.

Ye Qifeng stood among the line, watching curiously.

Since this was Spirit City, its residents were all Spirit Masters. Children born in Spirit City generally possessed rather decent Martial Souls.

There were quite a few Advanced Martial Souls with Innate Soul Power at level five or six. There were even several close to Top-tier Martial Souls with Innate Soul Power at level seven, which was already quite good.

But when it came to the Orphanage, things were rather underwhelming.

Ye Qifeng stood near the back. Of the ten children ahead of him, eight had Wasted Martial Souls without Spirit Master potential. The only two remaining had merely ordinary Martial Souls, with Innate Soul Power around level two or three.

"Alas, the quality of this year's Martial Soul awakenings at the Orphanage is a little low." Siviss could not help sighing inwardly.

Thinking of those three gifted children from two or three years ago, Siviss inevitably revealed a trace of disappointment on his aged face. He shook his head and continued presiding over the ceremony.

At last, it was Ye Qifeng's turn.

Following the female instructor's gentle guidance, he stood at the center of the Six-Pointed Star Array.

Gui Mei, Ghost Douluo, who was seated nearby, abruptly opened his eyes beneath the shadow of his black hood and turned his gaze toward him.

Once Ye Qifeng was standing in place, Siviss directly urged his Soul Power into the array.

The Six-Pointed Star Array instantly blazed with brilliant light.

Standing within the array, Ye Qifeng was enveloped in the blooming radiance. A comfortable sensation immediately flooded his body. He could feel an invisible force about to be drawn forth, yet it seemed to be lacking something.

A minute quickly passed. Ye Qifeng looked at his hands, but no Martial Soul appeared.

"Hmm?" Siviss frowned slightly and increased his Soul Power output.

Two minutes passed, yet Ye Qifeng's hands remained empty. His own Martial Soul was still nowhere to be seen.

"Could it be..." At that moment, Siviss seemed to realize something.

This familiar feeling... was exactly the same as when he had awakened the Martial Souls of those three gifted children two or three years ago.

Siviss immediately rejoiced, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face. He understood that this was the sign of a Top-tier Martial Soul about to emerge.

Having presided over Martial Soul Awakening Ceremonies for many years, he had long discovered certain patterns.

The higher the grade of a Martial Soul and the higher the level of Innate Soul Power, the more Soul Power generally needed to be injected during the awakening.

Now, based on the amount of Soul Power he input while presiding over a ceremony, Siviss could roughly predict the grade of the Martial Soul and the level of Innate Soul Power in advance.

Siviss had a particular hobby: he liked awakening Martial Souls for children. Unearthing geniuses among them was like opening mystery boxes, bringing him surprise and excitement.

He enjoyed it immensely.

Otherwise, he could simply assign a Soul Saint-level Cardinal to preside over the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony instead of doing it himself.

Very likely, another peerless genius was about to be born by his own hand.

At this moment, Siviss was somewhat nervous, but also excited and expectant. He increased the amount of Soul Power he injected once again.

Yet another minute passed, and Ye Qifeng's hands were still completely empty.

He cast a questioning look toward Siviss, the Platinum Bishop at his side.

Siviss was somewhat stunned as well. Then he continued increasing his Soul Power output, his Soul Power Level rising from Soul Grandmaster, to Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, and then Soul Emperor...

It continued climbing without stopping.

Siviss's expression finally changed.

At this point, he could clearly sense that the Awakening Array before him was like a bottomless pit, continuously drawing Soul Power from within his body.

He had never seen such a phenomenon before. It was far too strange.

He did not understand it.

But he did not stop. Instead, he continued supplying Soul Power.

The next moment, his Soul Power increased to the Soul Saint level.

At that moment, sensing the abnormal fluctuations in Siviss's Soul Power, Gui Mei was the first to spring to his feet. Then the several Temple Cardinals rose abruptly as well.

All of them stared in astonishment at Siviss and Ye Qifeng, who stood in the center wrapped in multicolored light.

By then, Ye Qifeng had already closed his eyes. He could feel that something within his body seemed about to emerge.

Suddenly, a pitch-black human figure emerged from behind Ye Qifeng.

The figure was like a black shadow, identical to Ye Qifeng in both form and appearance. It was extremely special—a somewhat blurry silhouette that gave off an illusory feeling.

A faint layer of black light surfaced over the shadow's body, swaying like Black Fire.

It possessed neither the scorching heat of fire nor the icy chill of darkness. Instead, it gave off a gentle, comfortable warmth, as soothing as a spring breeze.

The next moment,

the instant the figure appeared, the temple hall suddenly darkened. The originally clear sky also turned gloomy.

At the same time, a sudden anomaly appeared above the West District Spirit Temple. An enormous Black Light Vortex emerged, slowly spinning and twisting. Black light spilled from the vortex, darkness blanketing the heavens and covering the entire sky as though night had fallen.

The sudden change left everyone inside the temple staring wide-eyed in shock.

Having had more than half his Soul Power drained away, Platinum Bishop Siviss finally stopped supplying Soul Power once the Martial Soul had awakened.

"A heavenly phenomenon!"

Seeing this, Siviss's body trembled involuntarily with shock, and he stammered the words out.

The temple personnel began voicing their opinions. None of them had ever seen such a bizarre scene.

"A heavenly phenomenon has appeared. He must have awakened an extraordinary Martial Soul!"

"What kind of Martial Soul is this? It's so terrifying?!"

"This is unbelievable!"

"A heavenly phenomenon—a God-level Martial Soul!"

Gui Mei murmured inwardly. He remembered now—this was a God-level Martial Soul like the Young Master's.

Not good. At that moment, Gui Mei suddenly shuddered inwardly.

He could no longer worry about anything else. In a flash, he appeared beside Ye Qifeng and quickly said,

"Quick, use your mind to retract your Martial Soul."

The disturbance was simply too great.

It could easily attract the attention of spies from other factions within Spirit City.

Such talent had to be concealed and protected. He could not allow outside forces to notice or learn of it.