Awakening Failure

In the room, Su Mo sat in meditation, cultivating.

The Devouring Martial Soul floated in the air, gathering the surrounding spiritual energy around him.

Endless spiritual energy transformed into runes and merged into Su Mo's flesh and blood.

Su Mo was cultivating the third layer of the Myriad Manifestations Divine Art.

After perfecting the Second Layer of the Myriad Manifestations Divine Art, Su Mo's physical strength had already surpassed Six Tiger Strength, though it was still somewhat weaker than Seven Tiger Strength.

Now that he was cultivating the third layer, his physical strength began soaring rapidly once more.

A vast amount of spiritual energy entered Su Mo's body, all of it transforming into Form Runes and merging into his flesh and blood.

Su Mo's body was like a sponge, joyfully absorbing the spiritual energy runes.

Time flew like a white colt glimpsed through a crack, and ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

During those ten days, Su Mo spent only a small amount of time condensing true qi. After his cultivation reached the Peak Seventh Level of Qi Refining, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to cultivating his body.

The rate at which his physical strength improved was even faster than the rate at which his cultivation increased.

In ten days, he had already cultivated the third layer of the Myriad Manifestations Divine Art to the middle stage.

Su Mo felt explosive power coursing through his body. A single punch was enough to blast apart the air.

Eight Tiger Strength!

His pure physical strength was already comparable to that of a Qi Cultivation Level Eight martial artist.

In truth, the third layer of the Myriad Manifestations Divine Art was more than ten times harder to cultivate than the First Layer had been.

However, the speed at which Su Mo's Martial Soul absorbed spiritual energy had likewise increased more than tenfold.

Huff!

Su Mo stopped cultivating, rose to his feet, and walked out of the room.

"Xi'er, what are you daydreaming about?"

At that moment, Xi'er was sitting on a stone stool in the courtyard, propping up her cheeks with both hands. Her cherry lips curled slightly upward, making her utterly adorable.

"Brother Su Mo, you're out of seclusion!"

When she saw Su Mo emerge, Xi'er immediately cried out in delight.

"Mm."

"Xi'er, have you reached the peak of Body Tempering?"

Su Mo asked.

At his words, Xi'er's lips curved into a beautiful arc, and the smile on her little face was like a white orchid in bloom.

"I did not disappoint Brother Su Mo's expectations. Xi'er has completed the Ninth Level of Body Tempering."

Xi'er slightly raised her snow-white neck and said happily.

"Good. Once today's challenge tournament is over, I'll help you awaken your Martial Soul."

Su Mo was also delighted for Xi'er. Smiling, he said, "From now on, my Xi'er will be a true martial artist too!"

"Hehe!"

Xi'er giggled.

"Let's go, Xi'er. Today is the day of the Lineage Assembly challenge tournament."

Su Mo took Xi'er's hand and headed toward the Lineage's martial arts arena.

A simple viewing platform had been erected in the martial arts arena.

On the platform, Lineage Patriarch Su Hong and the various elders had all arrived.

Below the platform, ten sandalwood chairs were arranged in neat order. More than a hundred young members of the Su family had already gathered around them.

Su Mo and Xi'er's arrival inevitably drew quite a few gazes.

After his battle with Wei Liang, Su Mo had become something of a prominent figure in the Su family.

Of course, there were also people who dismissed him with disdain.

For example, Su Tianhao and Su Hai. Both held themselves in high regard and did not take a mere Su Mo seriously at all.

"Hmph!"

Su Yu glanced at Su Mo from afar and snorted coldly, jealousy filling his heart.

He had taken Liu Yushan from Su Mo, yet Su Mo had found a beauty several times prettier than Liu Yushan. It made him burn with envy.

Ignoring everyone's stares, Su Mo walked into the martial arts arena.

After waiting for a moment, Lineage Patriarch Su Hong swept his gaze around and rose to speak.

"All right, more or less everyone is here. The challenge tournament will now begin."

"Now, I will announce the names of the ten seeded disciples."

"Su Tianhao!"

"Su Hai!"

"Su Yu!"

"Su Mei!"

"Su Mo!"

"Su Peng!"

"..."

Su Hong announced ten names.

"You ten are the ten seeded contestants for this event. You may now take the seats at the front."

"Anyone else who believes they possess sufficient strength may challenge any one of them. Each person has two chances."

"All right, the challenge tournament begins now!"

The ten seeded disciples each took a seat. Su Mo, being one of the seeded disciples, sat down as well.

In truth, Su Mo knew that this so-called challenge tournament was merely going through the motions.

These ten seeded disciples were basically the ten strongest among the Su family's younger generation.

Su Tianhao and Su Hai were both at the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation. The woman named Su Mei was the Second Elder's daughter and possessed Qi Cultivation Level Eight.

Of the others, even the weakest had Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation.

Next, people began challenging the seeded disciples one after another.

Almost everyone chose to challenge those disciples at the Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation.

After half an hour of fighting, the challenge tournament came to an end.

Aside from one Sixth Tier of Qi Cultivation disciple who successfully challenged a seeded disciple and took their place, everyone else failed their challenges.

Su Mo and several others were never challenged from beginning to end because they were too strong.

Soon, the challenge tournament ended, and Su Mo prepared to leave.

"Su Mo."

At that moment, Su Yu walked over to Su Mo.

"Is something the matter?" Su Mo asked.

"Hehe! I wonder if you've heard? Wei Rufeng of the Wei family has publicly declared that if you take part in this martial competition, he will break all four of your limbs and cripple your cultivation, avenging his younger brother and Wei Liang."

Su Yu spoke with a smile, his eyes full of gloating delight.

"Wei Rufeng? He's back too!"

Su Mo raised his brows.

This Wei Rufeng was Wei Lin's elder brother, the eldest son of Wei Wankong, the Wei family Patriarch, and also the Wei family's number one genius.

A year ago, he had left Linyang City and joined the Blazing Sun Sect, one of the Four Great Sects of Tian Yue Kingdom.

"If he wants to avenge his younger brother, I'm afraid he doesn't have the strength for it!"

Su Mo paid it no mind. Shaking his head, he left together with Xi'er.

"Hmph! How utterly arrogant. He defeated Wei Liang, and his confidence has actually swelled to this extent?"

Su Yu sneered.

After leaving the martial arts arena, Su Mo held Xi'er's hand and headed toward the Lineage ancestral hall.

"Xi'er, I'll help you awaken your Martial Soul now."

Su Mo said to the young girl beside him.

"Mm!"

Xi'er nodded, her expression somewhat uneasy.

"Brother Su Mo, what kind of Martial Soul do you think I'll awaken?"

Xi'er asked.

"Hehe! I don't have the ability to foresee the future!"

Su Mo smiled, then added, "But my Xi'er is so beautiful, like a noble Phoenix. The Martial Soul you awaken certainly won't be bad."

"Brother Su Mo, you're teasing me again!"

Hearing Su Mo's words, Xi'er's face immediately flushed red.

Before long, Su Mo and Xi'er arrived at the Lineage ancestral hall.

Within the Su family ancestral hall stood a small altar called the Soul Awakening Altar, which was used to awaken Martial Souls.

However, activating the Soul Awakening Altar once required a great deal of true qi or spiritual energy, making it rather troublesome.

Therefore, the Su family disciples generally underwent Martial Soul awakening together after several of them had completed Body Tempering.

"Xi'er, get on the altar."

After entering the ancestral hall, Su Mo spoke to Xi'er.

Xi'er took a deep breath, lightly lifted her lotus steps, and slowly walked onto the altar. Then she sat down cross-legged.

Afterward, Su Mo walked to the back of the altar.

There was a groove there, the core of the Soul Awakening Altar's formation.

In the past, when Su family members awakened their Martial Souls, several elders would activate the formation using true qi, or they would use a large quantity of Demonic Cores from Spirit Martial Realm demonic beasts.

Su Mo did not possess such powerful true qi, nor did he have a large quantity of Spirit Martial Realm Demonic Cores, but he had spirit stones.

With a flip of his hand, Su Mo took out a spirit stone from his Storage Ring and placed it into the groove.

Buzz!

As Su Mo placed the spirit stone inside, the formation immediately began operating.

The next instant, a great deal of white light erupted from the altar.

Then, the white light transformed into strange runes that drilled into Xi'er's body.

Within Xi'er's body, it seemed as though a phantom shadow was twisting and writhing.

Time slowly passed.

Before long, Su Mo saw cracks appear across the spirit stone in the groove. The spirit stone would soon collapse.

This was a sign that the spiritual energy within it was about to be exhausted.

Su Mo hurriedly took out several more spirit stones and placed another one into the groove.

More and more runes appeared atop the altar, almost completely wrapping Xi'er's body.

Yet Xi'er's Martial Soul still had not awakened.

Soon, the spiritual energy in the second spirit stone was exhausted as well, and Su Mo placed in a third.

After that.

The fourth.

The tenth.

The twentieth.

The thirtieth.

The fortieth.

Su Mo's expression changed, his eyes filling with deep confusion.

The spirit stones consumed by now had far exceeded the spiritual energy required to awaken a Martial Soul.

Forty spirit stones, if converted into gold, amounted to the Su family's annual income.

If awakening a Martial Soul required such an enormous amount of spiritual energy, even a large family like the Su family could not afford it.

Su Mo furrowed his brows tightly. After pondering briefly, he gritted his teeth and continued adding spirit stones.

Fifty!

Eighty!

One hundred!

One hundred and five!

After a long while, all the more than one hundred spirit stones on Su Mo's person had been exhausted.

Yet Xi'er, seated on the altar, still had not awakened her Martial Soul.

As the spirit stones ran out, the Soul Awakening Altar's formation stopped operating. Its light withdrew, and it returned to calm.

Su Mo's face darkened. He had used more than a hundred spirit stones, yet Xi'er's Martial Soul had still failed to awaken!

What exactly was going on?

Could it be that Xi'er had no Martial Soul?

In this world, some people were born without Martial Souls. They could never become martial artists.

Su Mo was utterly perplexed. However, he dismissed that thought, because he had already sensed a fairly strong Martial Soul fluctuation from Xi'er.

But why had it failed to awaken?

Su Mo could not figure it out.

"Brother Su Mo, this... why can't I awaken my Martial Soul?"

Xi'er looked at Su Mo, her beautiful eyes likewise filled with confusion.

"I don't know what is going on either!"

Su Mo shook his head, then said to Xi'er, "Xi'er, don't worry. We'll go ask Father in a moment. Father is widely experienced and should know the reason."

Afterward, Su Mo led Xi'er out of the ancestral hall and headed toward his father Su Hong's residence.