This was a world of fantasy. There was no magic, no battle qi, and no martial arts—only wondrous Martial Souls.
When people turned six, they would awaken their Martial Souls in a Martial Soul Hall. Martial Souls could be animals, plants, or objects, and they could assist people in their daily lives. Some particularly outstanding Martial Souls, however, could be cultivated and used in battle. This was the most powerful and glorious profession on the Douluo Continent—the Soul Master!
At that moment, in Pope's Palace, Spirit City.
Hundreds of six-year-old children stood in orderly lines under the guidance of the deacons, waiting for the Soul Masters at the front to awaken their Martial Souls.
These children were orphans from within a two-hundred-mile radius of Spirit City. They lived in Mercy Orphanage, which was run by Spirit Hall, and when they turned six, they were all sent to Spirit City to awaken their Martial Souls in Pope's Palace.
On a high platform atop nineteen flights of steps, Pope Bibi Dong sat upon her throne. She wore a lavish purple-and-gold gown, its many layers outlining her long, breathtaking figure. A Nine-Curved Purple Gold Crown rested on her head, and in her hand she held a scepter set with a massive gemstone. Her face was so perfect she seemed almost otherworldly.
Her skin was fair as snow, her lips the pale pink of cherry blossoms. Her violet eyes should have seemed romantic and mysterious, but in them lay two unfathomably deep, frigid pools.
I wonder if any of this year's little brats will turn out to be a talent worth looking at, Bibi Dong thought, looking down at the hundreds of children below.
BOOM!
A deafening crash suddenly sounded from the sky outside.
Everyone in the hall paled in an instant. An attack? Who would dare?
Whoosh! Bibi Dong sprang to her feet on instinct, gripping her scepter as she shot outside.
Two figures followed close behind her.
Ghost Douluo Gui Mei.
Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan.
They were both elders of Spirit Hall, and each had reached the ninety-fifth rank of Soul Power. They were the two most active Titled Douluo in Spirit Hall.
The three of them rushed outside together, released their Martial Souls, and circulated their Soul Power, their faces wary. But when they looked up at the sky, the wariness on their faces froze. In its place came overwhelming disbelief.
"How... can this be?" Bibi Dong murmured, her brows drawn tight and her lips slightly parted.
The same scene was unfolding elsewhere.
Heaven Dou City, inside the Imperial Palace.
With Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, Prince Xue Xing, and Prince Xue Beng behind him, Emperor Xue Ye stared up at the sky. All four of them looked shaken to the core.
"Could this be... a miracle?" Emperor Xue Ye asked, his voice trembling.
At the same time, Ning Fengzhi was gazing up at the sky with Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect.
The Clear Sky Sect.
The great sects and clans... and Flender and Yu Xiaogang at Shrek Academy, outside Suotuo City, all looked up at the heavens, their faces strange.
The sky, which had been as clear as a freshly washed pane of glass, was now being rapidly devoured by ink-black clouds. Gale-force winds howled across the land, shaking trees and rattling doors and windows. A heavy, heart-chilling oppression settled over everything, as if the end of the world were at hand.
The sky remained like this for five or six breaths. Then it changed abruptly once more!
Hummm— A deep vibration rang across the continent. A seven-colored glow appeared at the center of the heavens and quickly spread. In moments, it drove away the clouds and covered the entire sky instead.
A colossal screen stretched across the heavens and unfurled.
Bibi Dong tightened her grip on her scepter, her brows drawing together even more. This was no power of the mortal world! Could it be... the work of some god?
At Shrek Academy, Tang San was cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill, his brow furrowed as well.
A strange sign in the heavens—was it an opportunity, or a danger?
At this moment, all the powers across the continent, no matter their allegiances or strength, had become little more than insignificant spectators beneath this "Sky Screen."
Shock, fear, greed, reverence... Countless emotions stirred and spread through every corner.
Amid this tumult of feelings, the Sky Screen suddenly went dark, plunging the entire continent into blackness along with it. Then, in the next instant, it blazed back to life. The dazzling light made everyone instinctively squeeze their eyes shut.
Once their vision adjusted, everyone's gaze was drawn to the wondrous images as if by a magnet. No one could look away!
[Inside a magnificent royal palace, a frail little boy knelt helplessly on the ground. An angry shout rang out from atop the steps. "Impudent wretch! You dare show disrespect to your king, and you dare slander your mother, claiming she wanted to have you killed. Your mother comes from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and she is your stepmother. If she truly wanted you dead, she would only have to tell me, and I would grant her anything. Why would she need to resort to such vile methods? Wretch! I have no unfilial son like you! Give the order: strip Xue Hen of his status as a prince and drive him out of the Balak Kingdom. Let him fend for himself!" The scene shifted. Soldiers loaded the little boy onto an ox cart and took him out of Balaque City, then out of the entire Balak Kingdom, to a small city called Nuoding City in Fasinuo Province. After bringing the boy to the city, the soldiers escorting him left. Alone and with nowhere to turn, he wandered the streets until he was fortunate enough to meet Su Yuntao, a deacon from the local Martial Soul Branch Hall. Su Yuntao took him to live at Mercy Orphanage, run by Spirit Hall in Nuoding City. At last, the boy had a home.]
Bibi Dong furrowed her brows.
She turned to the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo beside her and asked, "What do you think this is? Some kind of charm-based Soul... divine skill?"
"Your Holiness, I seem to recall that fifteen years ago, King Kundera of the Balak Kingdom did indeed order his youngest son demoted to commoner and driven out of the kingdom," Chrysanthemum Douluo said, bowing as the memory came to him.
"Fifteen years ago?" Bibi Dong repeated, startled. Then she looked up at the sky again.
Those images just now... had they shown something that had really happened fifteen years ago?!
Inside the Balaque Royal Palace.
King Kundera was holding his beloved concubine Ning Pianpian as he stared up at the sky, his mind completely blank.
"Wasn't that... something from years ago? How... could this thing be showing what happened in the past?" Kundera murmured.
Hearing the man beside her, Ning Pianpian suddenly felt a touch of panic.
She was a distant cousin of Ning Fengzhi, the head of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. With this connection and her own considerable beauty, she had firmly captured Kundera's heart and done as she pleased in the Balak Kingdom's harem. She had framed the queen and brought about her death, and she had wanted to kill every prince who wasn't her own, so that her biological son, the Sixth Prince Xue Tian, could inherit the throne without any doubt.
Now a scene had appeared in the sky that could show what had happened in the past. What if it revealed everything she had done? What would become of her?
Ning Pianpian was deeply worried.
Fortunately, the thing she feared did not happen. The scene changed again.
[Inside the Nuoding City Martial Soul Branch Hall. The boy named Xue Hen had turned six. Ma Xiunuo, the branch hall's director, personally awakened the Martial Souls of nine children, including him. The first eight boys awakened Martial Souls that were either gloves or wooden boards. One even awakened Blue Silver Grass. Every one of them had a Trash Martial Soul. Only Xue Hen awakened a pure-white swan. Wait! As soon as the pure-white Swan Martial Soul appeared, it changed. Its body began turning from white to blue-green, and it shone with dazzling emerald light. This was... An Emerald Swan Martial Soul?!]
Before you continue