"Mm..." A soft groan escaped Li Changsheng's lips as he slowly opened his dew-damp eyes.
Pain.
A tearing pain surged through his entire body like a tide, then ebbed away, only to surge back again. Yet a warm stream kept flowing from his abdomen, traveling along his meridians and through his limbs until it reached his whole body.
The air carried the stench of blood. He sniffed and looked around in confusion.
Memories came flooding back. Li Changsheng recalled what had happened during the day and smiled. Bracing himself with one hand, he got to his feet.
"Huh?"
The moment he stood, Li Changsheng felt incredibly light. The pain from earlier had been suppressed by the warm current flowing from his abdomen, and his whole body felt warm and comfortable.
"God of Wisdom, is this because of the Mysterious Heaven Skill?"
Li Changsheng sensed that the Night-Startling Spear had returned to the space between his brows. After looking around, he asked aloud without thinking.
The boar's blood and flesh had seeped into the earth.
The stars shone down on the ground at night, making the sight eerie.
The nauseating stench clung to Li Changsheng. He took off his outer clothes and held them in his hand, planning to find somewhere to throw them away.
<Affirmative. The Mysterious Heaven Skill has a hidden attribute. When Soul Power is low or nonexistent, once the body reaches a certain level of exhaustion, it will activate the Mysterious Heaven Skill and make it circulate on its own. Judging by the current situation, your Soul Power has already reached Innate Full Soul Power. Of course, it is not yet stable, and you will need time to consolidate it.>
Li Changsheng understood. He showed little of the delight he felt.
Mm, he wasn't excited. Really, he wasn't...
Activating the God of Wisdom's fully automatic combat mode clearly came at a huge cost.
His stomach rumbled with hunger, and the soreness that had already faded from most of his body made Li Changsheng feel an unprecedented sense of exhilaration.
Yes, exhilaration.
He had lived for ten thousand years, always surrounded by fine clothes and good food, yet his soul had been empty. Now, this weariness that came from deep within his soul was like a sweet rain nourishing his parched heart.
"Phew, Innate Full Soul Power. The first stage of the Mysterious Heaven Skill, huh?"
Feeling the Mysterious Heaven Skill's inner energy circulate on its own through his body, Li Changsheng let out a long shout, pushed off with his hands, and leaped straight out of the deep pit.
This time,
he hadn't even used any technique. One leap had carried him three meters into the air.
His feet struck the ground. Feeling the inner energy resonate and ripple through his body, Li Changsheng narrowed his eyes slightly.
"No wonder Tang San could climb a hundred-meter slope with his bare hands. The Mysterious Heaven Skill's inner energy surges like waves and flows without end. As long as you control its flow, you can keep up high-intensity exercise all day."
"This inner energy is Soul Power, right?"
Affirmative.
Li Changsheng nodded. Instead of continuing to study the Mysterious Heaven Skill's mysteries, he headed toward the edge of the forest.
After carefully wiping the blood off his body and throwing away his bloodstained clothes in the forest, Li Changsheng returned to Spirit Soul City.
Spirit Soul City was even livelier at night. The streets teemed with people, and Soul Guidance Lamps blazed, lighting up the main thoroughfares.
Many Soul Masters were heading toward the same arena-like building, and plenty of ordinary people were going there too.
Soul Fighting Arenas had a long tradition. Many Soul Masters treated them as a way to earn money, and they were also good places to hone one's fighting skills.
Li Changsheng went against the flow of people and headed for the hotel where he was staying.
As he walked through the crowd, Li Changsheng slipped easily between the people packed shoulder to shoulder. No matter how tightly they jostled against one another, nobody could touch him.
This wasn't ordinary walking.
Li Changsheng had asked the God of Wisdom to demonstrate the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track footwork.
The God of Wisdom's control over Li Changsheng's body had no fixed time limit. It depended instead on Li Changsheng's own physical condition.
His steps were as swift as wind and thunder. When his feet touched the ground, only a faint afterimage remained. His figure moved evenly, so fast that just a few steps left behind several afterimages, like a ghost gliding through the crowd.
This was the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track at its peak, as performed by the God of Wisdom.
Li Changsheng watched closely, splitting off a wisp of his divine sense to observe.
"I haven't been to the Soul Fighting Arena to watch a match in ages. Hmm, my Martial Soul Awakening is in a little over ten days. I'll watch a Soul Fighting match before then. For the rest of the time, I'll use the blood energy absorbed by the Night-Startling Spear to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Skill."
By the time he reached the hotel entrance, Li Changsheng had already planned out the next ten-plus days...
By now, he had done everything he could. Thanks to turning misfortune into good fortune, his Soul Power cultivation had reached Innate Full Soul Power. Given that he hadn't even awakened his Martial Soul yet, there was nothing else he could do for now.
Of course, over the next few days, Li Changsheng planned to buy some spear manuals at a bookstore and study them!
The God of Wisdom's use of the Night-Startling Spear, and the sight of that enormous black dragon's blazing eyes as it looked down coldly on all living beings, kept replaying in his mind.
The God of Wisdom had achieved that just by spinning the Night-Startling Spear. Could he really not do the same?
Li Changsheng certainly didn't believe that. At the same time, he humbly asked the God of Wisdom for guidance.
He who excelled at something was fit to be a teacher! Even if the God of Wisdom was only a skill, Li Changsheng still asked it for instruction with humility.
Usually, he would find a secluded place, let the God of Wisdom control his body, and observe the other Tang Sect legacy skills.
Skills like the Mysterious Jade Hand and Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon reached perfection when performed by the God of Wisdom, allowing Li Changsheng to observe them from close range. After more than ten days, he had made rapid progress.
Of course, his greatest progress had been with the spear.
According to the God of Wisdom,
what it had used before was merely the most basic spear-spinning technique. But its own comprehension was already perfect. In other words, it could be called the progenitor of spear techniques. That was why even the most casual movement could reach the pinnacle and produce astonishing results, unleashing the Night-Startling Spear's sharp spear aura in tangible form.
So, over the next ten days, Li Changsheng bought more than ten spear manuals and crammed as much as he could. With the God of Wisdom's help, he even managed to perform a few simple, delicate manifestations of the Night-Startling Spear's aura.
The shapes formed by his spear aura were all weak, though, uneven and lacking spirit. Compared with the black dragon conjured by the God of Wisdom, there was a world of difference.
As for what kind of animal they resembled, Li Changsheng couldn't bring himself to say...
Still, Li Changsheng was content. He knew that his coordination with the Night-Startling Spear had improved. He was simply too weak. Otherwise, he could definitely unleash even greater power.
And so, more than ten days passed.
That day,
Li Changsheng slept through the day because he had cultivated all night.
Although meditating while circulating the Mysterious Heaven Skill was far more effective than sleeping, and he had done that for many days, Li Changsheng knew that cultivation had to be done in moderation, with a balance between tension and relaxation. No matter how eager he was to grow stronger, he wouldn't keep himself immersed in cultivation nonstop.
His goal was to grow stronger, but he enjoyed the process even more.
He slept through the day. When night fell, the cries of street vendors at the night market woke him.
"Phew, these past ten days have been so full. I feel like I've done more than I did in the entire ten thousand years before."
Li Changsheng was alert and full of energy. He was completely different from his dazed, groggy self when he woke up ten days earlier.
He seemed to have grown several centimeters over the past ten days. A purple gleam flickered now and then in his once-delicate eyes, captivating the soul. Paired with the Night-Startling Spear mark between his brows, it gave him an even more murderous aura.
He touched the space between his brows and summoned the Night-Startling Spear.
Its icy chill once again broke through the dimensional wall and came to rest in Li Changsheng's hand.
Compared with ten days ago, the Night-Startling Spear hadn't changed at all.
Li Changsheng had drained all the blood energy stored inside it.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill's first stage, which had originally been unstable, was now solidified to the extreme.
It could be called Innate Full Soul Power, filled to the very brim.
Stroking the Night-Startling Spear, Li Changsheng sighed with emotion.
In just ten days, he had achieved something unprecedented.
All that remained was to complete his Martial Soul Awakening and claim his sign-in rewards.
At the same time, Li Changsheng was looking forward to the places where he might sign in and check in next.
He wanted to attend a Junior Soul Master Academy. After all, it would be a hassle to obtain top-tier Soul Rings on his own.
But he was even more interested in the rewards for signing in and checking in.
So, he hoped he could do both, without one getting in the way of the other.
Tonight,
after stroking the Night-Startling Spear for a while, Li Changsheng put it away.
He straightened his clothes, used a few strands of hair to cover the Night-Startling Spear mark between his brows, and ate a little something.
After leaving the hotel, he headed toward Spirit Soul City's Soul Fighting Arena.
Over the past ten thousand years, a custom had emerged in God Soul Village and throughout the Douluo Continent beyond it.
Before Martial Soul Awakening, people would go watch a battle between Soul Masters!
It was said to bring good luck, help them awaken powerful Martial Souls, and make them progress by leaps and bounds, soaring into the heavens.
Li Changsheng didn't believe in this custom, of course. But he loved watching Soul Masters fight in the Soul Fighting Arena, especially team battles. He would have gone even without the custom.
Still, thinking it couldn't hurt to seek a little good luck, he planned to watch a few Soul Fighting matches tonight.
After he returned, he would cultivate until morning, then go straight to the Sea God Awakening Hall, pay the fee, register, and undergo Martial Soul Awakening.
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