Martial Soul Awakening

Family bonds should have been severed the moment he offered the Fallen Abyss as the price of his bargain with R'lyeh. Yet he never expected that, after descending upon the Douluo Continent, he would still come to possess such a precious emotion.

"Linyuan, you should be six years old now, right?" Duke Molong suddenly spoke up, breaking his long silence.

Before Xia Linyuan could answer, the Duchess glared at Duke Molong. "You don't even know how old your own child is? Are you going to think he's only six when he's grown up and has a wife and children, too?"

"Uh..." Duke Molong awkwardly rubbed his nose.

Xia Linyuan swallowed his food. "Yes, Father. I'm already six."

"In that case, get to bed early tonight. I'll perform your Martial Soul Awakening myself tomorrow."

Martial Soul Awakening?

A glint flashed in Xia Linyuan's golden eyes.

He was half-Abyssal, not a native of the Douluo Continent. He could use his Abyssal Power to disguise the fact that he had no Soul Power, but whether he had a Martial Soul was another matter.

Well, he could just disguise that with his Abyssal Power, too.

After dinner, Xia Linyuan returned to his courtyard. Carlos immediately swooped down from the roof and landed in the spot reserved especially for him beside his master, letting out a series of harsh cries.

Xia Linyuan knew Carlos wanted to go hunting again.

"Carlos, don't spend all your time hunting. Don't forget what I asked you to do."

With his permission, Carlos let out a resounding dragon's roar, then spread his wings and flew away.

Xia Linyuan watched Carlos's retreating figure shrink to a tiny black speck. His golden eyes narrowed slightly. "I'm looking forward to the future more and more. Tang San, you're looking forward to it too, aren't you?"

Meanwhile, in Duke Molong's room.

"Qing, are you still worried?" the Duchess asked anxiously. "In these six years, Linyuan hasn't shown any unusual signs apart from that companion Spirit Beast!"

"Ah." Duke Molong sighed. "My dear, I don't want to treat Linyuan differently either. But I brought him back from near that place, and you know that. So I..."

A trace of pity crossed the Duchess's gentle face. "I understand, Qing."

Duke Molong pulled the Duchess into his arms. "Don't worry, my dear. In these six years, Linyuan has shown no signs of abnormality apart from being born with an evil nature. You have to trust him. Nothing will happen to him."

The Duchess, who had been quietly weeping in Duke Molong's arms, nodded.

The next morning, Duke Molong summoned Xia Linyuan to the ancestral hall, where the memorial tablets of the ancestors of the Molong Duke Mansion were kept.

Before he even entered the courtyard, Xia Linyuan sensed dozens of faint auras.

These people might have been top-tier experts on the Douluo Continent, but they were no match for Xia Linyuan, who had come from the Abyss.

The Douluo World could withstand only a pitiful amount of power—not even one ten-millionth of R'lyeh's strength. No wonder R'lyeh had no interest in destroying the Douluo World.

R'lyeh, the creator of the Abyss, possessed immeasurable power. Even Xia Linyuan, a half-Abyssal being, had to divide his strength by a hundred thousand just to descend upon the Douluo Continent in the form of an avatar.

It was no exaggeration to say that even as he was now, Xia Linyuan could wipe out this entire group with a single finger.

Xia Linyuan knew what they were wary of, but he didn't care.

After all, he had descended near that place and been taken in by Duke Molong. It would have been strange if they weren't wary of him.

Normally, no matter how long ago a person had turned six, they had to wait for the Duke's Mansion's designated Awakening Day to have their Martial Soul awakened by trained personnel.

But Xia Linyuan was now an exception. Because he had descended near that place, he was being "treated specially."

When he entered the ancestral hall, everything inside had been put away. Only six black Awakening Stones sat on the clean, tidy floor.

Xia Linyuan studied the six Awakening Stones with interest.

He was quite curious about the mysteries they contained—how they could help people awaken their Martial Souls and draw out the Soul Power within their bodies.

"Linyuan, stand in the middle," Duke Molong said, pointing to the six Awakening Stones on the floor.

Xia Linyuan did as he was told.

"Close your eyes and focus on the changes in your body."

Duke Molong looked grave as he stared at Xia Linyuan's tightly shut eyes. He drew a deep breath, then channeled his Soul Power into the Awakening Stones.

A golden glow spilled from the stones, forming a pale gold barrier around Xia Linyuan.

One golden speck after another entered his body, gradually gathering above him.

He immediately felt a power entirely unlike the Abyssal Power within him trying to invade his body. But before it could get inside, the wisp of Abyssal Power that clung to his skin effortlessly destroyed it.

The corners of Xia Linyuan's mouth lifted slightly.

Let's see what you are.

With that thought, Xia Linyuan lowered every barrier in his body and let the power pour straight in.

Duke Molong, watching from the side, felt something was strange. He could sense the power of the Awakening ritual entering Xia Linyuan's body, yet it was like a stone dropped into the ocean—without the slightest ripple.

What... what was going on?

Meanwhile, within the small world inside Xia Linyuan, all was pitch-black except for a cluster of golden light at its center.

Suddenly, a pair of golden eyes, brilliant as the blazing sun, snapped open.

Amid the boundless Abyssal Rift,

an indescribable black presence gazed down.

In the name of Nyarlathotep!

In the name of the supreme being!

In the name of absolute reason!

I shall discern even the tiniest detail of thee!

A low chant rang out without warning in the darkness, as if it came from every direction, echoing through the endless void.

As the chant continued, hexagrams appeared throughout the darkness, each marked in the center with a strange, upright eye.

Hundreds!

Thousands!

Countless!

Every last one of them bore that eerie upright eye!

The eye patterns in the hexagrams seemed to come alive. One by one, their mesmerizing eyes gazed with interest at the golden light in the center.

Under the gaze of hundreds upon hundreds of mesmerizing eyes, the golden light gradually dimmed, revealing a pale gold rune concealed within.

"Found you, little thing."

A pale, slender hand suddenly reached out of the darkness and gently grasped the fist-sized rune. With a little pressure, it crushed the pale gold rune with ease.