The Spirit Hall's People Arrive

Who knew how much time had passed? In the charred ruins, Qian Yun was jolted awake by the sound of sobbing.

The air around them was foul, carrying the stench of things burnt to a crisp into his nose. It meant that everything that had happened last night had not been a dream.

"Where am I?" Qian Yun sat up. Everywhere he looked, he saw charred ruins. The walls around them and even the nearby trees had all been burned black, twisted into grotesque, clawing shapes.

"You're awake, Qian Yun." Hu Liena's low, hoarse voice sounded beside him.

Qian Yun turned to look at her. Hu Liena was no longer the pretty, carefree girl she had been. Her pale face was smeared with black soot, with streaks where she had wiped it away with her fingers. Beneath her singed, tangled hair were red-rimmed eyes, still brimming with tears.

The hand Qian Yun was using to prop himself up clenched without his noticing. He paid no mind to the pain of dirt and tiny wood splinters digging deep beneath his fingernails.

"Are you all right?" Qian Yun asked, steadying Hu Liena by her thin shoulder. He used the only part of his sleeve that was still relatively clean to wipe away her tears.

Over her shoulder, he caught sight of two white sheets covering something in the distance.

The pristine white cloth stood out starkly against the charred earth, and the sight pierced his heart. The people beneath those sheets had to be the village chief and A-Qiang.

Judging by Hu Liena's state when he woke up, Qian Yun could more or less guess what had happened.

But empty words could no longer comfort the poor girl before him. In a single day, Hu Liena had lost everything.

At his touch, Hu Liena finally broke down again. She flung her arms around him and sobbed without restraint against his shoulder.

"Ah..." Qian Yun understood how she felt. To him, who had only arrived recently, last night's disaster meant losing two friends he barely knew. But to Hu Liena, who had lived here for as long as she could remember, A-Qiang and the village chief were family.

This small courtyard held the laughter and countless warm memories they had shared. Yet last night's sudden disaster had mercilessly taken everything from her. How could a little girl so young possibly accept that?

Only after the sorrow had passed did Qian Yun notice a few people in uniforms standing some distance away. He had thought they were villagers who had come to help with the disaster, but now they didn't seem to be.

As they were speaking, three of them walked over. Their clean, tidy uniforms looked completely out of place amid the wreckage. Each wore a conspicuous insignia on his chest. Qian Yun couldn't identify it yet, but it was probably the emblem of some organization.

"Please accept our condolences," one of them said as he drew near.

The three men made a classic trio of young, middle-aged, and old. The one who had spoken was the middle-aged man. His voice was warm and resonant, and he was neatly dressed, with every strand of hair combed into place. He looked like a rather refined man.

"What can we do for you?" Qian Yun asked, looking up at them warily.

The middle-aged man was taken aback for a moment, then smiled awkwardly. "Ah, little friend, don't misunderstand. We mean you no harm."

For some reason, Qian Yun even heard a pleading note in his voice. Still, he said nothing, continuing to scrutinize them.

"Uh... haha." The middle-aged man gave a bitter laugh.

"Don't be like that, Qian Yun." Hu Liena had cried for a while, and now that she had let out some of the emotions she'd been holding in, she seemed to be doing a little better.

She turned to look at the middle-aged man and explained to Qian Yun, "His name is Duomeng. He's the one who rescued us last night."

"Duomeng... You saved us? What happened?" Qian Yun looked at the man before him, trying to recall the events of the previous night. He remembered that he and Hu Liena had nearly died in the fire. He had even thought he was about to die.

But afterward, he vaguely remembered someone shouting something.

"I did put out the fire last night, but I can't say for sure whether I saved you." Duomeng smiled. The next moment, he bent down, hope in his eyes. "Still, little friend, could you hold out your hand for us to look at? Please don't misunderstand. We only want to confirm something."

"What exactly do you mean by 'something'?" Though the man was being very polite and didn't seem to mean any harm, Qian Yun still had no intention of blindly doing what he asked.

Duomeng didn't seem to be good with words. Faced with Qian Yun's unyielding attitude, he got stuck halfway through the explanation he had prepared.

"Haha, I never thought I'd see Uncle Duomeng get stumped!" The young blond man beside Duomeng burst out laughing.

"Yibu, be quiet!" Duomeng felt a little embarrassed, and Qian Yun's attitude was giving him a headache.

Still, he had to be patient and gradually put the two children at ease. The three of them could sense that the little boy before them had fluctuations of Soul Power. He was very likely a Spirit Master!

But Beast King Village hadn't reached the age for its awakening ceremony yet! The three of them had discussed it earlier and concluded that the boy had most likely awakened his Martial Soul on his own—a truly rare occurrence. This was a big deal. If they handed him over to Spirit Hall, they would surely receive a generous reward.

"Uh, you mean... All right, young man, you've got me." Duomeng pressed a large hand to his forehead. "To be honest, there was no way you two little ones could have survived last night's fire on your own. When we found you, you were in terrible shape, but your lives weren't in danger. And... strangely enough, even your clothes were untouched by the flames. In our preliminary examination afterward, we found that both of you had considerable fluctuations of Soul Power within you."

"So," he continued, his eyes turning solemn, "I want to see whether you really are Spirit Masters."

The moment the words "Spirit Master" left his mouth, Qian Yun was stunned. Even Hu Liena, immersed in her grief, stared at him in disbelief.

How could I be a Spirit Master? Qian Yun thought with a frown. He remembered that a Spirit Master had to awaken through an awakening ceremony—or wait until adulthood to awaken their Martial Soul on their own.

But neither of them had undergone an awakening ceremony, and neither was an adult. How could they be Spirit Masters?

"All right." After thinking for a moment, Qian Yun finally stood and held out his hand. As Duomeng had said, in a crisis like last night's, they could not have survived without the power of their Martial Souls.

Duomeng finally let out a breath of relief. He produced a pink crystal ball from somewhere. "Put your hand on it. If your Martial Soul hasn't awakened, it won't react at all. If you're a Spirit Master, it'll display your Martial Soul."

Qian Yun tentatively placed his hand on it. The next moment, the pink crystal ball erupted in blinding white light, which almost engulfed them all.

"Uh..." Qian Yun suddenly felt as if something were being drawn out of his body. Then he felt that power gather above his head, slowly coalescing into something.

An invisible force spread outward from Qian Yun at its center. Everything around him—the frowning Hu Liena, the dumbfounded Duomeng and the other two, even the little sparks bursting from the charred wood in the distance—was reflected in his mind like an image in a mirror. He could see it all without opening his eyes.

The next moment, the brilliant light suddenly vanished. The crystal ball in Duomeng's hand trembled faintly, then crumbled cleanly into powder, leaving only Duomeng's trembling hand.

"This..." Duomeng's eyes widened, and his heart pounded wildly. If he hadn't trained himself to maintain his composure, he would have collapsed to the ground on the spot.

Before him, Qian Yun stood with his eyes closed, his hair stirring gently despite the lack of wind. A Crown that looked as if it were formed from countless gathered stars rested upon his forehead.

Its appearance was like a massive boulder, pressing down on everything around it and stifling all movement.

As everyone watched, Qian Yun opened his eyes. Strangely, his eyes, which had been black, had turned brilliant gold. Along with his already handsome features, they made him look exceptionally elegant.

Duomeng, who was facing him, even felt as if he had to look up at him. That was the feeling a low-grade Martial Soul got when facing a high-grade one!

The last time he had felt this way was many years ago, when he had caught a distant glimpse of the Pope. The pressure Qian Yun gave him now was even stronger. He had a feeling that the boy's Martial Soul might be of an even higher grade than the Pope's Twin Martial Souls!

"Too... amazing. This is incredible." Duomeng stared wide-eyed, shaking his head as he murmured in disbelief.

Fortunately, Qian Yun's Martial Soul didn't remain visible for long. After a few breaths, he put it away as if he had instinctively known how.

Coming back to his senses, Qian Yun saw everyone staring at him as though they had seen a ghost. He couldn't help asking in puzzlement, "What's wrong?"

"Qian Yun, your eyes... Why did they turn gold?" Hu Liena pointed at his eyes.

"My eyes? Could my Martial Soul be my eyes?" Qian Yun asked, a little confused as he felt his face.

"Boy, we can now be sure that you and the young girl beside you both awakened your Martial Souls on your own. That means your Martial Souls must be of an exceptionally high grade!" The old man beside Duomeng, who had not said a word until then, finally spoke and concluded that the two of them were special cases.

"Elder Li, are you saying they really both awakened their Martial Souls on their own?" Duomeng cried out when he heard the conclusion.

Elder Li nodded. "Yes. I can't think of any more reasonable explanation. According to the records in Spirit Hall's Library, Martial Souls of exceptionally high quality aren't awakened only at a particular age. When their hosts face danger, they can awaken on their own as well. Of course, cases like that are one in a million."

Hearing this, Qian Yun nodded thoughtfully.