Sky Phoenix Douluo

After returning to his room at the orphanage, Xiling made sure no one was around. With a thought, the Void Core appeared in his hand.

A purple-gold Soul Ring emerged behind him. That was right—he could condense Soul Rings himself.

Unlike other Soul Rings, this one had formed from the Void Core combined with this world's cultivation laws. It could also be called a Life-bound Soul Ring.

Though he did not know why this was possible, he could gradually master the Void Core's power through this method.

Furthermore, the Life-bound Soul Ring had granted him two Soul Skills: Spatial Folding and Spatial Positioning.

Spatial Folding allowed him to fold a small section of the surrounding real space inward, achieving a state akin to intangibility.

The number of folds and the range of the folding depended on his own Soul Power.

Unless an opponent possessed time-based powers or could shatter the folded space with absolute force, they would be utterly unable to touch his true body.

Its life-preserving capabilities were completely maxed out. Of course, that was only one of its uses.

Spatial Positioning locked onto a target using spatial coordinates. Once locked on, his attacks could instantly reach the target, ignoring distance and obstructions.

It could also serve as a teleportation anchor.

Aside from the Soul Ring's Soul Skills, he also possessed two basic abilities: the Subspace Spear and Spatial Displacement.

There was no need to say much about Spatial Displacement. It was the most basic application of spatial power.

The Subspace Spear, meanwhile, was currently his least costly and most effective offensive method.

The original Subspace Spear came with the ability to shift between illusion and reality. In other words, it remained intangible before coming into contact with a physical object, only becoming solid upon striking its target and instantly dealing actual damage.

But this was Douluo Continent. There was no Imaginary Space energy here, so it had lost that effect. Still, its ability to freely change shape remained.

In addition, he had an Innate Domain with a radius of one hundred meters. Within the Domain, he was the master of space.

Any enemy abilities related to space would be suppressed and rendered unusable, while his own perception and control of space would be enhanced by one hundred percent.

This Domain ignored Soul Power Level. Even a Rank 99 Limit Douluo within its range would be suppressed.

What else could Xiling say? He could only sigh inwardly. This is way too overpowered!

"And then there's Benares." Xiling closed his eyes and tried to sense Benares's location.

Within his perception, Benares was sleeping in an unknown space. So long as he wished it, he could summon it at any time.

As the Herrscher of the Void's accompanying Honkai Beast, Benares was now his accompanying guardian beast and obeyed only his commands.

Finally, and most importantly, there was his ultimate trump card: fully releasing the Void Core and transforming into a Herrscher.

While transformed into a Herrscher, his Soul Power would be completely replaced by Honkai Energy. In exchange for immense combat power, he would lose a portion of his humanity.

How much humanity he lost depended on how long he remained transformed. In other words, the longer his Herrscher transformation lasted, the more humanity he would lose.

If one day his humanity was completely worn away, he would become someone without emotion, without joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.

Would he still be human then? At any rate, he could not accept that.

Of course, with Benares around, there were very few beings on Douluo Continent who could threaten him.

Recalling his martial soul into his body, Xiling sprawled across the bed like a starfish. He was considering whether he should head to Aolai City now and steal Na'er, the Silver Dragon King's other half, before anyone else could.

He had already considered this before. If the martial soul he awakened had been inadequate, then no matter what, he would have tried to see whether he could find someone powerful to rely on.

But after thinking it through carefully, he decided against it. To attract the Silver Dragon King, he would need either the Golden Dragon King's bloodline or strength equal to—or greater than—hers.

Did he have that? He did. But sacrificing his humanity for that foolish dragon was not worth it.

As for his opinion of Tang Wulin, he neither disliked nor liked him. He felt neutral.

Whether they would become enemies or friends could wait until the future.

After sorting through all his information and trump cards, Xiling realized that there was not a single existence on Douluo Continent capable of truly threatening him...

It seemed he had nearly become invincible the moment he awakened.

Meanwhile, the outside world had already erupted into chaos over the strange phenomenon in Eastsea City.

Some claimed it was a sign of the world's end.

Others said that some terrifying Soul Beast had awakened. Otherwise, how could they explain that dragon's roar and the phantom of a giant dragon?

A less popular explanation was that it had been a heavenly phenomenon caused by the awakening of an exceptionally powerful martial soul.

The reason given was that today had been the day of martial soul awakening, and the phenomenon had appeared at exactly that time.

However, this claim was quickly drowned beneath countless chaotic rumors.

Shrek, the Spirit Pagoda, the Federation, and other sects and factions all dispatched powerful experts to Eastsea City to investigate.

In the blink of an eye, three days passed. Because of his Innate Full Soul Power, Xiling was assigned to study at a junior Soul Master Academy.

During that time, he also familiarized himself with using his Soul Skills and the basic abilities granted by the Void Core.

After class that day, Xiling was preparing to pack up and return to his dormitory as usual when his instructor called out to him.

"Xiling, wait a moment. An important person has come to the academy and wants to see you."

"An important person wants to see me?" Xiling tilted his head, somewhat puzzled.

But after a second thought, he immediately understood. Someone had probably noticed his talent and wanted to invite him to join their faction.

After all, an orphan awakening with Innate Full Soul Power was not unheard of, but such wild talent was still exceedingly rare.

He followed the instructor to an office door and gently knocked on it.

"Come in."

Only after receiving permission from inside did the instructor step aside and signal for Xiling to enter by himself.

A woman sat inside. She had a tall, slender figure, fair skin, and beautiful features, with long fiery-red hair cascading down her back.

She was Leng Yaozhu, the Spirit Pagoda's vice tower master, vice speaker of the Spirit Pagoda Council, Sky Phoenix Douluo, a Rank 99 assault-type Limit Douluo and a Four-Word Battle Armor Master.

She had originally come to investigate the strange phenomenon in Eastsea City, but after several days of investigation, she had found nothing.

Later, while reviewing records, she learned of Xiling's information and decided to come see him.

Although Innate Full Soul Power was not as rare in this era as it had once been, it was still highly valued.

Especially a wild genius like this—no matter which faction encountered one, none would let him go easily.

Leng Yaozhu raised her eyes toward the boy standing at the door. Her gaze was cool and detached. Though she merely sat there, she gave off an inexplicable sense of pressure—the aura of someone long accustomed to holding authority.

Xiling's heart tightened slightly, and he formed a guess about the person before him. He gave Leng Yaozhu a small bow. "Junior Xiling greets you, Senior. May I ask who you are?"

There was none of a child's panic or timidity. His movements were proper, his manner humble without being submissive. His composure, far beyond his age, caused a flicker of barely perceptible surprise to pass through Leng Yaozhu's eyes.

She had seen many gifted young prodigies and outstanding disciples of sects. Under the pressure of her aura as a Rank 99 Limit Douluo, even those with excellent temperaments could not help showing some nervousness and unease.

Yet this boy from an orphanage had steadily withstood her aura. His eyes were clear and calm, without the slightest trace of evasion or fear. Such temperament was truly rare.

"No need for such formality." Leng Yaozhu withdrew her assessing gaze, and her pleasant voice sounded. "My name is Leng Yaozhu. I am the vice tower master of the Spirit Pagoda."

Xiling understood inwardly. As expected, it was exactly as he had guessed. But why would Leng Yaozhu be in Eastsea City at this time?

Though puzzled, he kept the innocent smile characteristic of a child on his face and softly said, "So it's Vice Tower Master Leng. I've long admired your name. May I ask why you sought me out today, Senior?"

Although Xiling was smiling, Leng Yaozhu could not shake a certain impression.

It seemed the child before her did not care about her status at all. Her brow lifted ever so slightly, and her interest in Xiling deepened further.

She got straight to the point. "May I see your martial soul?"