Innate Soul Power Rank Nine

The blacksmith shop in Saint Soul Village was small. Flames licked at the charcoal inside the ash-gray furnace, and waves of heat rolled out one after another.

Chen Xuan gripped a hammer, turning his wrist as he struck the red-hot iron bar again and again.

With the body of a six-year-old, it would have been a lie to say the work was not tiring.

But he had been doing it for two years.

Two years ago, he had opened his eyes to find himself lying in this shabby workshop, blackened roof beams overhead and the sound of his father Chen Tiezhu snoring beside him.

He had transmigrated.

To Douluo Continent.

He had become the son of a blacksmith in Saint Soul Village.

There was no cheat, no system notification, nothing at all.

Chen Xuan took three days to accept reality, then began learning blacksmithing on the fourth.

His father, Chen Tiezhu, had been overjoyed. He told everyone he met that his boy had promise, that he could swing a hammer at six.

But Chen Xuan knew that blacksmithing was only a way to stop himself from sitting idle and letting his thoughts run wild.

An adult soul stuffed into the shell of a six-year-old child would truly go mad without something to do.

"Xuan! Stop hammering!"

Chen Tiezhu's booming voice came from outside.

Chen Xuan set down the hammer and wiped the soot from his face with his sleeve.

Chen Tiezhu ran in, his face flushed red, still clutching half a flatbread he had not finished eating.

"People from Spirit Hall are here! Today's the awakening!"

Even his voice trembled.

Chen Xuan glanced at him without speaking, then hung the hammer back on the wall.

He knew this day would come sooner or later.

At six years old, it was time for spirit awakening.

Every family in Saint Soul Village with a six-year-old child was counting on this day to change their fortunes.

If they awakened a good spirit, it would mean changing their fate.

Chen Tiezhu did not stop talking the entire way.

"Deacon Su Yuntao came in person. I heard he's an important man."

"Old Zhang's boy next door is going too. His grandma burned three sticks of incense last night."

"Xuan, don't be nervous. No matter what you awaken, Dad will..."

"Dad." Chen Xuan interrupted him. "You haven't finished your flatbread."

Chen Tiezhu lowered his head to look at the flatbread in his hand, then stuffed it into his mouth and finished it in two bites.

The Spirit Hall branch was set up in the old ancestral hall at the eastern end of the village.

By the time Chen Xuan arrived, it was already packed.

Children stood in the front, adults in the back, chattering noisily like it was market day.

A middle-aged man in a white robe stood on the platform ahead. He had a square face, two thin mustaches, and an impatient expression.

Su Yuntao.

A deacon of Spirit Hall, specifically sent to small villages like this to conduct awakening ceremonies.

After doing this for most of his life, he considered it heaven's blessing if one out of ten villages produced even a halfway decent spirit.

He swept his gaze over the snot-nosed children below and was already considering which town to stop in on his way back.

"Alright, one at a time. Don't crowd."

The first to go up was a chubby boy, who awakened a hoe.

Su Yuntao barely gave it a second glance.

The second was a kitchen knife.

The third was a scale weight.

Su Yuntao yawned.

Saint Soul Village, as usual.

"Next."

A thin boy stepped forward.

He had short blue hair, a calm face, and deep, steady eyes.

Chen Xuan recognized him—Tang San.

Su Yuntao gestured for Tang San to extend his hand, palm up. He grasped Tang San's wrist and sent a gentle stream of soul power into his body.

Tang San felt something within him awaken as a current of heat surged down his arm toward his palm.

The next second, a small pale-blue blade of grass floated out of his palm, its slender leaves swaying faintly.

Blue Silver Grass.

Su Yuntao curled his lip. Another useless spirit. He was just about to wave him away.

"Wait." Tang San spoke up. "Deacon, you haven't tested my soul power yet."

Su Yuntao gave him an impatient look. "What's there to test with Blue Silver Grass? Don't waste time."

"You should still test it." Tang San insisted.

Su Yuntao clicked his tongue and casually pushed the crystal ball toward him. "Put your hand on it."

Tang San pressed his hand against the crystal ball.

Su Yuntao carelessly injected a thread of soul power into it.

The next second.

The markings at the base of the crystal ball began to climb.

Rank one... rank three... rank five... rank eight...

Rank ten.

Innate full soul power.

Su Yuntao's drowsiness vanished in an instant.

He stared at Tang San, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

"Innate full soul power! What's your name?"

"Tang San."

Su Yuntao rubbed his hands together and circled Tang San twice, muttering under his breath.

Blue Silver Grass was useless, but innate full soul power—this was talent seen only once in a century.

"A fine seedling, a fine seedling..."

The parents below erupted into commotion.

"That Tang San kid got lucky."

"What does innate full soul power mean?"

"It means he was born stronger than everyone else."

Chen Tiezhu stood amid the crowd with his neck stretched out as far as it could go.

He did not understand what full soul power meant. He only wanted to know what spirit his son would awaken.

"Next!"

Su Yuntao was in a good mood now, and even his voice was louder.

Chen Xuan stepped out from the crowd.

He was a six-year-old child, not very tall, but he stood straight.

He walked before Su Yuntao. Unlike the other nervous children, he simply stood there calmly.

Su Yuntao gave him another look, thinking the child seemed quite composed.

"Hold out your hand."

Chen Xuan raised his right hand, palm upward.

Su Yuntao grasped his wrist and injected soul power.

Chen Xuan closed his eyes.

Something in his body awoke.

He could feel it.

It was not boiling blood, nor an explosion of power.

It was something light yet heavy, moving from his lower abdomen toward his palm.

He opened his right hand.

Five stones floated out.

They were dull gray, without luster or markings, no different from pebbles picked up at random from a riverbank.

They hovered quietly above his palm.

That was all.

The ancestral hall fell silent for a moment.

Su Yuntao froze.

He stepped forward and leaned in for a closer look.

He reached out and sensed around the five stones.

There were no soul power fluctuations.

No elemental attribute.

No additional effect whatsoever.

He tried again.

There was still nothing.

Su Yuntao took a step back, his expression complicated.

From anticipation, to confusion, to confirmation, to disappointment—it took less than ten seconds.

He shook his head, his voice returning to its routine indifference. "Five ordinary stones. No offensive use, no supportive use. An inanimate-type spirit."

As those words fell, the surroundings became so quiet that one could hear a candlewick snapping as it burned.

Then whispers broke out.

"Stones? That can count as a spirit?"

"What a shame... That child seemed pretty composed just now."

Chen Tiezhu's smile froze on his face, and he did not move for a long while.

Chen Xuan withdrew his hand, and the five stones turned into light and returned to his body.

Su Yuntao could not be bothered to look at him again. He was about to close his record book when Tang San spoke up once more.

"Deacon, you haven't tested his soul power yet."

Su Yuntao paused, only then remembering that the procedure was not complete. He casually pushed the crystal ball toward Chen Xuan.

"Put your hand on it."

Chen Xuan pressed his hand against the crystal ball.

Su Yuntao injected soul power as a matter of routine.

The next second.

A blue-white pillar of light burst from the crystal ball.

The entire ancestral hall was lit a ghastly white.

Su Yuntao took half a step back.

The parents in the back instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes.

The light was too intense.

It was more than a level stronger than Tang San's earlier result.

Su Yuntao stared fixedly at the markings at the base of the crystal ball.

Rank five, rank six, rank seven, rank eight—

Rank nine.

Innate soul power rank nine.

Su Yuntao's Adam's apple bobbed.

Innate full soul power was rare enough. Two children with high soul power from one village?

No, this boy was rank nine. Though not full soul power, that number... would be among the best in all of Notting City.

"Y-you... what's your name?" Su Yuntao's voice had changed pitch.

"Chen Xuan."

Su Yuntao rubbed his hands together and paced back and forth, already thinking about how to report this to his superiors.

One with innate full soul power, and one with innate soul power rank nine.

This rundown village was about to make major news.

The crowd below exploded into an even greater uproar.

Chen Tiezhu's legs went weak. Someone beside him patted his shoulder, but he did not react at all. He only stared blankly at his son.

"Tiezhu! Your boy's made it!"

"Innate rank nine, brother!"

Chen Tiezhu opened his mouth, but not a single word came out.

But soon, the discussion shifted in another direction.

"Innate rank nine paired with stones?"

"Is heaven... playing a joke on him?"

"That's even worse than Blue Silver Grass. At least Blue Silver Grass can bind people. What can stones do? Hit people?"

Chen Tiezhu's smile froze again. This time, he could not smile at all.

Chen Xuan listened to the surrounding discussion without much expression.

Two years had passed. More than anyone, he understood the rules of this world.

Martial souls determined one's upper limit; soul power was merely the foundation.

So what if he had innate rank nine? With five stones in hand, he did not even know how to add his first soul ring.

Su Yuntao's attitude turned cold again, and his gaze returned to Tang San. That was his real gain for the day.

The crowd gradually dispersed.

Chen Tiezhu walked over and reached out, wanting to pat his son on the shoulder, but his hand stopped halfway before drawing back. He was a rough man, and after thinking for a long time, he could only squeeze out one sentence. "Let's go home. Dad will stew some meat for you."

Chen Xuan nodded and followed his father outside.

As they passed the ancestral hall entrance, someone called out to him.

"Chen Xuan."

Tang San stood beneath the steps with his hands behind his back, looking at him.

The two exchanged a glance.

Tang San walked over and patted Chen Xuan on the shoulder.

"Don't lose heart. Martial souls are only the starting point. People say my Blue Silver Grass is useless too."

Chen Xuan looked at that earnest face.

He did not say thank you, nor did he say that he was fine.

He merely smiled.

"You're right."

Tang San nodded, turned, and left.

Chen Xuan stood where he was, watching Tang San's retreating figure.

Your Blue Silver Grass is useless?

That was truly the joke of the century.

Chen Xuan raised his right hand before his eyes and spread open his palm.

Five gray stones lay obediently there, uniformly ugly.

But just now—at that very instant.

The moment the stones floated out, Chen Xuan had seen it.

No one else had noticed. Even Su Yuntao had not sensed it.

But he had seen it.

Five lights of different colors had flashed within the stones.

They vanished the instant they appeared, so fast they seemed like an illusion.

Gold, wood, water, fire, earth.

Five colors.

Chen Xuan closed his hand and recalled the stones into his body.

He was not discouraged.

He even felt a little like laughing.

On Douluo Continent, Tang San had memories of his past life and his hidden weapon techniques.

And he, Chen Xuan—

He lowered his gaze. A translucent point of light flickered at the edge of his vision.

That thing had appeared the moment he awakened.

It hung quietly at the edge of his sight without saying a word.

There was only one small line of text:

[Daily Lottery System activating... Time until first draw: 23 hours 59 minutes.]

Chen Xuan looked up in the direction Tang San had gone, the corner of his mouth curling slightly.