Martial Soul Awakening

"Probably the Evil-Breaking Spear or the Photon Sprite. Those were your parents' Martial Souls." Leng Qingning thought of An Lan's parents, and a trace of nostalgia flickered in her eyes.

An Lan nodded thoughtfully.

Over the years, Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao had never avoided telling him about his parents' past.

He knew that his parents had both died in battle in the Blood God Mountain Range.

Ten years ago, the Abyss erupted into its greatest upheaval in a thousand years. The Blood God Legion couldn't hold the line alone, so it appealed to the Federal Council for help.

The Federation naturally couldn't stand by and watch the Abyss break through the Blood God Mountain Range's defenses. At the time, the Federation's eight legions, along with the War God Temple, Spirit Pagoda, Shrek Academy, and Tang Sect—all four great powers—urgently dispatched large numbers of powerful fighters to reinforce them. They fought the Abyss for a full six months before finally putting down the upheaval.

After the battle, a group of powerful fighters, including An Lan's father, An Ze, his mother, Shi Lan, Leng Qingning, and Le Lingzhao, were temporarily assigned to the Blood God Legion to maintain order. That assignment lasted four years.

During those four years, An Ze and Shi Lan fell in love, and six years ago, they had him.

But not long after he was born, the Abyss, which had been quiet for four years, came roaring back. Both his parents fell, forever remaining in the Blood God Mountain Range.

After the battle, the wounded Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao retired from the Blood God Legion and adopted their two friends' orphan—their precious An Lan.

That was what An Lan had learned from Leng Qingning and Le Lingzhao. As for the confidentiality rules, the two of them had both claimed they didn't know anything about them, had never signed anything, and didn't care.

"The Photon Sprite..."

An Lan ignored his father's Evil-Breaking Spear and focused entirely on his mother's Martial Soul.

Just from the name, he could tell it was definitely a top-tier Martial Soul.

Le Lingzhao picked up the thread and added, "Your mother was quite the sensation back then. When she broke through to Soul Saint, her Martial Soul completed its transformation, evolving from the Moonlight Fairy into the Photon Sprite. The first time Her Holiness Holy Spirit saw her, she was so astonished by her beauty that she offered to take her as a disciple on the spot."

"Really?" An Lan was astonished. He hadn't expected his mother to have a connection to Holy Spirit Douluo.

Le Lingzhao nodded and continued, "But she turned her down."

Remembering the past, Le Lingzhao couldn't help sighing.

Ya Li, the greatest beauty on the continent and Holy Spirit Douluo, had been a truly towering figure to them when they were young.

Although Holy Spirit Douluo was only Level 98, no one would doubt her judgment.

Shi Lan had unquestionably possessed the makings of a Limit Douluo. She was far stronger than Le Lingzhao had been before meeting An Lan.

"Enough. Get ready for your Martial Soul Awakening." Leng Qingning's voice rang out at the right moment. She pointed toward the awakening platform. "The dead are gone, but your legend begins here."

An Lan stood in the middle of the awakening platform, straight as a pine tree. "Let's begin."

Leng Qingning nodded and raised her jade-white hand to activate the awakening array. But just then, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Le Lingzhao blinked her bright eyes and said with righteous indignation, "I came all the way back from Heaven Dou City specifically to help Little An Lan awaken his Martial Soul. Surely you won't fight me over even this?"

"Fine. It's yours." Leng Qingning looked at her rather childish friend, shook her head helplessly, and silently stepped aside.

Back during the Blood God Legion campaign, every friend who had gone with them had fallen. In the end, only the two of them had returned.

They had raised their precious disciple together, too. When the Phoenix Family had been helpless to treat Leng Qingning's injuries, she had even prevailed upon Angel Douluo to use the Angel Family's divine artifact to help, though it hadn't done much good.

In any case, what could she do? She could only spoil her dear bestie herself.

Le Lingzhao skipped over to the spot where Leng Qingning had just stood and nervously rubbed her hands together. "Little An Lan, your master is about to begin."

"Go ahead." An Lan lifted his eyes to her.

A sacred golden Soul Power swirled around Le Lingzhao, making her seem holy and otherworldly. Yet her manner held a hint of awkwardness utterly at odds with her status as a powerful fighter. He gently reassured her, "Second Master, you're a Super Douluo. It's only a Martial Soul Awakening. It'll be fine."

Watching An Lan, so calm and apparently not at all worried about awakening a Trash Martial Soul, Le Lingzhao felt inexplicably annoyed.

The Evil-Breaking Spear and Photon Sprite were both top-tier Martial Souls. According to the laws of Martial Soul inheritance, the chances of An Lan awakening a useless soul were extremely low.

Did she not know all that? Who was she nervous for, then? What an ungrateful little brat.

What bothered her even more was the way An Lan had said "Super Douluo." Somehow, it had sounded grating.

She was indeed only a Super Douluo, but she knew that the "Super Douluo" An Lan meant wasn't the same as the Super Douluo she was.

She didn't want to brag to An Lan—Your teacher is a Level 98 Super Douluo and a Four-Word Battle Armor Master, on the same level as Heavenly Phoenix Douluo; your First Master is a Level 99 demigod and a Four-Word Battle Armor Master, just a little stronger than me.

That would be too deliberate. It wouldn't get her the emotional payoff she wanted.

In short, she was so annoyed she could have happily taken a swing at the next fool who crossed her.

"All right, I'm starting."

Le Lingzhao suppressed the little grumbles in her heart and didn't dare delay the real business.

With a wave of her jade-white hand, a golden mass of Soul Power burst open with a thunderous boom. Sacred Soul Power swept through the entire awakening chamber in an instant.

The awakening array on the platform activated as well. Countless runes lit up one by one, golden radiance flowing between them in a display of profound mystery.

Martial Soul Awakening was basically harmless. Not only was Le Lingzhao personally presiding over it, but even if an ordinary Soul Grandmaster had hosted the ceremony, it wouldn't have been dangerous in the slightest.

The most famous example on the continent was the legendary "Blind Douluo," Su Yuntao.

Once the array started, the host only had to wait quietly. Even so, Le Lingzhao kept her eyes fixed anxiously on An Lan at the center of the awakening platform.

Leng Qingning beside her was no different. Her pink fists were clenched, and her gaze never once left the boy.

Like Le Lingzhao, Leng Qingning had watched An Lan grow from a babbling infant into a six-year-old boy. Her affection for him had long since surpassed that of an ordinary master and disciple, approaching that of family.

Before his Martial Soul Awakening, An Lan was just an ordinary child. But once he awakened, his body would rapidly mature as it was nourished by Soul Power, much like "Ladybug" Ma Hongjun, who had matured by the age of eleven or twelve.

On ordinary days, when they didn't feel like meditating or cultivating and wanted to sleep, they could still hold little An Lan in their arms as a pillow.

But the next time they could be so close to him would have to wait until he was grown.

That was precisely why two Four-Word Battle Armor Masters standing at the pinnacle of the continent were so invested in an otherwise ordinary Martial Soul Awakening ceremony.

On the awakening platform, An Lan felt a warm current surge through his entire body. The most primal power within him, like a giant dragon asleep for countless ages, suddenly awakened!

In the blink of an eye, a crimson pillar of light burst from his body and shot straight into the sky.

Wrapped in a fearsome killing intent, the pillar instantly pierced through the spire at the top of the Spirit Pagoda and stabbed into the highest clouds, dyeing half the city's sky red.

Every gaze in Shangling City was drawn to the astonishing pillar of light.

Outside the Spirit Pagoda, countless children waiting in line for their awakenings were overwhelmed by the killing intent within the pillar. Their legs gave way, and they collapsed straight onto the ground.