Evil Fire Phoenix!

"Next."

Flender's voice rang out, carrying a hint of weary indifference.

Ma Hongjun took a deep breath and stepped forward.

He was the last one.

Of the dozen or so children before him, not a single one had awakened a decent Martial Soul.

Hoes, sickles, kitchen knives, scissors, foxtail grass... all useless Martial Souls, and not one of them had any Soul Power.

Flender's disappointment was practically written on his face. Though his expression had not changed much, anyone could tell from his increasingly rapid speech and perfunctory attitude.

Ma Hongjun felt somewhat relieved instead.

The more unremarkable those before him were, the more impact he would have as the finale.

He walked up to Flender and stopped.

Flender glanced up at him, his gaze pausing slightly.

It was not that he recognized anything, but this child was indeed somewhat different from the others.

Though thin, he stood straight. His eyes were clear, yet did not evade his gaze. He lacked the usual timidity and cowardice common among country children.

More importantly, the child had an indescribable air about him.

Flender could not say what it was. He simply felt that... he did not look like someone who worked the fields.

"What's your name?" Flender asked, with a touch more patience than before.

"Ma Hongjun." The boy's voice was clear, and his words crisp.

Flender nodded without saying anything further.

He had seen far too many children who looked clever, only for them to awaken useless Martial Souls.

Appearances meant nothing. Martial Souls were what truly mattered.

"Place your hand on the Awakening Stone. Don't let your thoughts wander. Relax your body."

Ma Hongjun did as instructed, extending his right hand and placing his palm over the cool stone.

The Awakening Stone felt smooth and warm to the touch, like fine jade.

He could sense a faint power flowing within it, and a tingling numbness came from where it met his palm.

Flender stepped back, forming hand seals with both hands as Soul Power began surging through his body.

"Martial Soul—Awaken!"

His voice was not loud, yet it carried a peculiar rhythm, as though it resonated with some law of heaven and earth.

The awakening array beneath Ma Hongjun's feet suddenly lit up. Golden light burst from the formation patterns, flowing along predetermined paths before converging upon the Awakening Stone.

The Awakening Stone lit up.

It was not the dim, fleeting glimmer that had appeared during the awakenings of the previous children. Instead, a bright, blazing radiance erupted from within the stone, like a tiny sun pulsing in his palm.

Flender's brows shot up.

The intensity of this light was wrong.

In a normal Martial Soul awakening, the brighter the light, the higher the quality of the Martial Soul. The Awakening Stones of those useless Martial Souls before had glowed like fireflies, flickering weakly before going out.

But the Awakening Stone in this child's hand was dazzlingly bright.

And within that light, there seemed to be faint red streaks.

"This is..." Flender narrowed his eyes and stared intently at the light in Ma Hongjun's palm.

The next instant, something within Ma Hongjun awakened.

A surge of heat rose from deep within his lower abdomen, like magma breaking through underground rock. It rushed through his meridians and flooded every part of his body.

Hot.

So hot.

Ma Hongjun clenched his teeth as fine beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

He had read countless descriptions of this sensation online in his previous life, but only now did he understand how unbearable it truly was.

This was no ordinary heat. It was a scorching heat that seemed to seep out from the cracks in his bones, as if something were rampaging inside him, desperate to break free from its restraints.

"Don't resist it. Let it out!" Flender's voice sounded beside his ear.

Ma Hongjun relaxed his body and allowed the heat to burst from his palm.

Boom—

A ball of flame exploded in his hand.

The flames were dark crimson, as deep as congealed blood. They danced and roiled through the air, radiating scorching heat.

Their shape shifted constantly, and within them, the outline of a bird gradually took form.

A fiery red... bird?

Ma Hongjun stared at the flames in his palm, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

A turkey.

Just like in the original story—it had not awakened as a phoenix, but as a plump turkey.

A body made of dark crimson flames, a round belly, short wings, and that distinctive crest of feathers exploding from the top of its head.

No matter how he looked at it, it was a turkey.

But Ma Hongjun had no mind to care about its appearance. The instant the flames took shape, a powerful wicked impulse rose from the depths of his heart, like a sleeping beast opening its eyes.

His vision began to blur, and countless chaotic thoughts surfaced in his mind.

Those thoughts were filthy, primal, and full of desire.

He remembered the images he had seen in his previous life, remembered things he should not have understood at the age of six.

A certain part of his body began reacting beyond his control.

The Evil Fire backlash.

Ma Hongjun's pupils suddenly constricted.

He had known in his previous life that the Evil Fire Phoenix had this problem, but knowing about it and experiencing it firsthand were two entirely different things.

That wicked impulse clung to him like gangrene, spreading from the depths of his soul and corroding his reason, making him want to... want to...

Want a woman.

A six-year-old child wanting a woman.

It sounded utterly absurd, but that was exactly how Ma Hongjun felt at that moment.

The desire was unbelievably intense, as though something inside him were roaring, urging him to find a woman and vent it.

His hands began to tremble, and the flames in his palm danced with them, growing even more violent.

Damn it.

So this was the Evil Fire backlash?

Ma Hongjun bit through the tip of his tongue, using the pain to keep himself conscious.

In his previous life, he had seen an explanation online—the wickedness of the Evil Fire Phoenix was actually a mutated male instinct. Combined with its fire attribute, it had undergone a transformation, causing its host to experience uncontrollable physical urges.

Now, it seemed that explanation was almost certainly correct.

"This is..."

Flender's voice carried obvious shock.

He did not pay attention to Ma Hongjun's suffering. Instead, he stared fixedly at the faint birdlike silhouette within the flames, his expression shifting from surprise to disbelief.

"A turkey? No... this isn't an ordinary turkey!"

Dark crimson flames reflected in his pupils. As a Soul Saint-level expert, he could sense just how violent and sinister the power within those flames was.

This was no ordinary beast Martial Soul. It was a mutated Martial Soul.

And an exceptionally rare mutated Martial Soul with a wicked attribute.

An ancient record flashed through Flender's mind—

The Evil Fire Phoenix.

A mutated form of the Phoenix Martial Soul. Its flames carried wickedness, and its power far surpassed that of ordinary fire-type Martial Souls. But the price was that its host would suffer the Evil Fire backlash and need regular release, or risk losing control and falling into madness.

"The Evil Fire Phoenix... It's actually the Evil Fire Phoenix!"

Even Flender's voice trembled.

Not from fear, but excitement.

There were only a handful of mutated Martial Souls of this level on the entire continent.

He had found a treasure.