At that moment, a soul-stirring light radiated from Xu Mochen. His originally pitch-black eyes had turned purplish black, and faintly visible across his exposed skin were fine purple scales, alternating between light and shadow.
A deep dragon's roar echoed from within him. The aura of annihilation and creation burst from Xu Mochen like a surging tide, and his proud, supreme presence drew everyone's attention. Though the people below the stage had no idea what kind of Martial Soul this was, they began quietly speculating and whispering among themselves.
"From the looks of this Martial Soul, its rank must be high. I wonder whether it's a blessing or a curse for the Crown Prince."
"Why does this Martial Soul look so much like the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, one of the three hereditary Martial Souls of the Sun Moon Empire's royal family?"
"Perhaps it's a mutated version of the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. I wonder how its rank compares."
"I once saw the late emperor's Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul. His Soul Power may not compare to the Crown Prince's, but in terms of appearance and aura alone, this one might even surpass the late emperor's."
"No way. The late emperor's Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul was already outrageously powerful. If the Crown Prince's Martial Soul is an even higher rank, how are the rest of us supposed to live?"
Unlike most of the people around them, who were all talking at once, Prince Yanyang and Prince Yinyue were the only ones to glimpse the truth. "This aura, this appearance... could it be the legendary..." Prince Yinyue, Kong Dehan, was visibly shaken. Deep down, he could hardly believe it, but the evidence was right before his eyes.
Prince Yanyang, Xu Yuanding, standing near the front below the stage, stared at Xu Mochen in stunned silence. He murmured, "This is our ancestor's Martial Soul! The original form of the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon! It seems the royal family of the Sun Moon Empire is destined to flourish!"
Xu Mochen himself seemed much calmer. Judging by its aura, his Martial Soul was probably dragon-type, and a particularly powerful one at that. It resembled the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, one of the royal family's hereditary Martial Souls, but was even more noble, with a purer dragon bloodline!
For some reason, Xu Mochen felt as if his Martial Soul were bound by countless sturdy chains. Stranger still, he couldn't accurately sense his own Soul Power Level. Even so, he could clearly feel the terrifying aura contained within his Martial Soul. He slowly exhaled, held his head high, and surveyed the crowd before him like a king surveying all beneath heaven. In that moment, he felt an urge to unleash a terrifying dragon's roar, as if to announce his arrival to the world.
Though still astonished, Kong Dehan quickly regained his composure. He cleared his throat, picked up a Soul Power testing crystal ball from a nearby table, and continued presiding over the ceremony in a loud voice. "Your Highness, please place your hand on the crystal ball so we can see your Martial Soul's Innate Soul Power." Xu Mochen didn't hesitate. He strode forward with commanding confidence and, under everyone's watchful eyes, placed his hand above the crystal ball. As silver light blazed inside it, everyone stared intently at the testing crystal, watching for the slightest change.
But then something happened that shocked everyone. The crystal ball's light didn't gradually intensify and settle as it normally did during a Soul Power test. Instead, it flared brightly, abruptly dimmed, then brightened again... The repeated fluctuations made it impossible to determine his Soul Power.
What was going on? The people below the stage were completely baffled, and Kong Dehan furrowed his brow. Could the Soul Power testing crystal ball be broken? He tried several more crystal balls, but every test produced the same result.
How strange! It was truly baffling. With no other choice, Kong Dehan ventured, "Your Highness's Martial Soul is rather unusual. The Soul Power testing crystal ball can't display your Soul Power. Would you permit me to test it myself?" Xu Mochen considered this for a moment, then gave a slight nod. With Xu Mochen's consent, Kong Dehan placed a hand on his wrist and sent Soul Power into him. But then something even more incomprehensible happened.
The Soul Power Kong Dehan sent into Xu Mochen's body seemed to encounter something terrifying. In an instant, the domineering Soul Power within Xu Mochen forced it back out. Feeling the resistance coming from Xu Mochen's body, Kong Dehan feared that pushing too hard might hurt him, so he could only withdraw his hand.
Xu Mochen, meanwhile, felt something entirely different. His Martial Soul seemed to be asserting its sovereignty against the incoming Soul Power, displaying an overwhelming sense of superiority and rejecting any energy poured into him. It was as if it were enraged by the intrusion of foreign Soul Power!
"Alas, it really is that kind of Martial Soul." Kong Dehan sighed. Xu Mochen, still confused, asked quietly, "Grand-Uncle, do you know what my Martial Soul is?"
Kong Dehan thought for a moment but didn't answer Xu Mochen right away. Instead, he turned to the dignitaries below and called out, "The Crown Prince's Martial Soul is rather mysterious. This old man will need to investigate it further with Prince Xu Yuanding."
Then Kong Dehan gave Xu Mochen a meaningful look. Understanding at once, Xu Mochen immediately announced, "Today's Martial Soul Awakening ceremony ends here. Second Prince, Grand-Uncle, and I have matters to discuss. Gentlemen, please take your leave."
Given Xu Mochen's status, no one dared object. They could only take their leave, each wearing a different expression.
Xu Yuanding walked quietly over to Kong Dehan and asked, "Cousin, could Chen'er's Martial Soul really be that...?"
"Other than that being, I'm afraid I can't think of anything else." Kong Dehan could only smile wryly. He had to admit, the young Crown Prince had given him one shock after another today.
Xu Mochen had no idea what his two elders were hinting at, but it was clear this wasn't the place to talk. He therefore invited them both to move to his study.
Xu Mochen's study wasn't lavishly decorated. On the contrary, its style leaned toward quiet elegance. Apart from several oil lamps, glass-shaded candlesticks, calligraphy and paintings, bookcases, tables and chairs, writing implements, and a few potted plants, there was nothing else.
Once the three of them had sat down, Kong Dehan finally spoke, his expression grave. "Your Highness, do you know the origins of the Sun Moon Empire's royal lineage?"
Hearing this, Xu Mochen straightened up at once and replied respectfully, "Please enlighten me, Grand-Uncle." This was knowledge that had never been mentioned in the novel, nor had it ever appeared in the memories of his original self. Though Xu Mochen knew little about it, Kong Dehan and Xu Yuanding's expressions and tone made it clear that what came next was extremely important to him.
"The ancestors of the Sun Moon Empire's royal family didn't come from the Sun Moon Continent. They came from a place called the Divine Realm. More precisely, our ancestor was a divine beast!" Kong Dehan's very first words stunned Xu Mochen. The Divine Realm! It seemed to be an extraordinarily powerful place in the novel, home to countless powerful gods, with the gods led by the Five Great God Kings and the divine beasts led by the Dragon God. He had never expected the Sun Moon Empire's ancestor to have come from the Divine Realm!
Seeing the astonishment on Xu Mochen's face, Kong Dehan patiently continued, "The Divine Realm is made up of divine beasts and gods. However, the gods, led by the Five Great God Kings, and the divine beasts, led by the Dragon God, have never gotten along. The divine beasts have always wanted to break free of the gods' control and establish their own Divine Realm, while the gods refuse to agree. Their relationship has therefore always been on a knife's edge."
"Our Sun Moon Empire's ancestor was one of the Dragon God's three great commanders. He commanded the Chaos Dragon Guard, one of the three branches of the dragon clan's Imperial Guard. In terms of strength, he was in no way inferior to the Dragon God's nine sons—the Nine Great Dragon Kings! Our ancestor followed the Dragon God into battle across the four corners of the world, defended his territory, and safeguarded the order and peace of the divine beasts." As he spoke, a trace of pride unconsciously showed in the eyes of both Kong Dehan and Xu Yuanding. One of the Dragon God's three great commanders, a hero among the divine beasts—the thought alone was enough to set one's blood racing!
But then Kong Dehan's gaze turned complicated, and he sighed. "Unfortunately, our ancestor disagreed with the vast majority of the dragon clan on many matters. In his view, though gods were often weaker than divine beasts of the same rank, they had unique advantages in many areas. For instance, the gods were more intelligent than most divine beasts, knew how to invent and create new skills and things, and had bodies better suited to comprehending the Heavenly Dao."
"Our ancestor therefore hoped that the divine beasts would learn from the gods' strengths. He urged them to learn to take human form and comprehend the Heavenly Dao as gods did, and to study, develop, and create like them. But because of the divine beasts' deep-rooted prejudice and pride, most of them stubbornly clung to their old ways and fiercely opposed his proposal. The Dragon God was one of its most vehement opponents."
"They believed the most important thing for divine beasts was to reproduce and have more offspring, not waste their energy on devising clever tricks and contraptions like the gods. Besides, divine beasts were already inferior to gods in intelligence. If they followed the same path, they would only end up under the gods' thumb and squander their own gifts."
"For a time, our ancestor found himself in an awkward and passive position. The divine beasts not only rejected his views, but some even began accusing him of colluding with the gods. Because his beliefs differed from the Dragon God's, and because some divine beasts spread slanderous accusations against him, our ancestor lost his position, was driven out and exiled by the divine beasts, and had his name erased from the dragon clan's genealogy."
Heartbroken and utterly disillusioned, our ancestor could only wander the Lower Realm. Eventually, he settled on a continent in its primitive age. In human form, he fell in love with two women from the Sun Moon Continent. They were the female leaders of the continent's two most powerful tribes at the time, the Yanyang Tribe and the Yinyue Tribe, and each possessed a supreme Martial Soul: one Yanyang, the other Yinyue. Our ancestor had children with them, and they lived happily together for many years."
At this point, Kong Dehan's expression grew even more dejected. "But their happiness didn't last. The gods learned that the Dragon God had exiled our ancestor. To obtain useful information about the divine beasts from him and use it against them, they sent a large number of gods to search for him. Though the divine beasts had struck our ancestor from their records, he remained grateful for the Dragon God's kindness in recognizing his talents. Even after the Dragon God exiled him, he still refused to betray him."
"When he sensed the gods drawing near, he secretly left the continent one night so as not to endanger his two beloveds. He led the gods away from them, and after that, no one ever heard from him again. The descendants of our ancestor and the two tribal chieftains worked together, conquering lands far and wide until they eventually established a great empire on this continent. They combined the names of the two women's tribes and named both the empire and the continent after them: Sun Moon. Thus, the Sun Moon Empire and the Sun Moon Continent came to be. The Xu family of the Yanyang Tribe and the Kong family of the Yinyue Tribe became the two great royal families of the Sun Moon Empire."
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