Awakening Hainas, Innate Full Soul Power

"Cough, cough, cough—"

In the bottomless darkness, Ouyang Ling vaguely seemed to see a streak of azure radiance that reached from heaven to earth. Three distinct silhouettes flickered in and out of view.

"How is he?"

The voice was cold and aloof, like rosy clouds piercing through the night.

"He should be waking up soon."

The aged yet faintly respectful tone left Ouyang Ling with no time to mind the indistinct sight. Facing the darkness before him, he struggled, desperately trying to open his eyes.

It seemed someone kind had saved him...

The thought had barely formed when a powerful surge of energy gave him a push. An irresistible force seemed to propel him through the haze, and his tightly shut eyes met no further resistance.

"Whoosh—"

Acting on instinct, he abruptly sat up.

As he gasped for breath, Ouyang Ling took in his surroundings. A clean room, rather than a country road; a lean yet imposing old man, rather than a crazed fallen soul master with a twisted face.

Only after he had recovered did Ouyang Ling finally let out a sigh of relief.

At least he had survived.

But then his heart was suddenly gripped again.

Just one year ago, he only remembered being sucked into a rift and, by a strange twist of fate, arriving on Douluo Continent in the body of a five-year-old child, in a village near Heaven Dou City.

When he had been worrying over how to survive, the villagers had fortunately been kind-hearted. Every household with spare means had looked after him.

Until the day before his martial soul awakening,

Four fallen soul masters had broken into the village. Their cultivation was not high; they were merely Soul Elders. But to a village whose strongest residents were only Great Soul Masters, their arrival was a disaster. Every villager had scattered and shouted, hoping to escape calamity, and Ouyang Ling had been among them.

Now, he had encountered kind people and been saved,

But the others...

"Grandpa..."

Ouyang Ling steadied himself and forced himself to appear calmer, hoping to learn something from the old man.

"This old man does not know."

The old man's expression did not change in the slightest, without a trace of emotion.

He did not answer further questions. Instead, he rose to his feet and walked straight to one side. "This old man examined your bone age. You are exactly six years old."

With a sweep of his hand, light flashed from the soul tool at his waist.

Following his movements, Ouyang Ling looked over.

In the somewhat empty space on the floor appeared a formation made of six pitch-black stones, along with a shining blue crystal ball.

His heart skipped a beat.

It looked like the man was going to awaken his martial soul!

"You have never awakened a martial soul before, have you?"

The old man's voice pulled Ouyang Ling back from his thoughts.

Ouyang Ling shook his head. "I was supposed to awaken it today."

"Then step forward."

The old man gestured for Ouyang Ling to get out of bed. "You are not seriously injured. There is no need to delay your martial soul awakening."

"Alright."

He did not know the old man's identity, but Ouyang Ling could only go along with it for now. Suppressing the worry in his heart, he stepped into the formation.

"Buzz—"

A hazy golden glow streamed from the six stones, forming a pale golden barrier that enveloped Ouyang Ling completely.

The old man watched everything calmly, until the faint sound of ocean waves shattered his composure.

The light faded,

And his astonished gaze locked onto the phantom behind Ouyang Ling.

"A True Dragon Martial Soul!?"

Feeling the aura emitted by the martial soul, the old man spoke.

Yet disbelief colored his voice.

A village child he had saved on a whim had awakened such a top-tier martial soul!? Was his luck really this good?

Compared to the old man's astonishment, Ouyang Ling was also frozen in place.

As for what his martial soul was, he already knew perfectly well.

A bipedal Brachiosaurus with arms, clad in icy blue armor, its entire body covered in sharp ice crystals.

Wasn't this the Dragon Fighter King—Hainas!?

Wait,

Had he become a Dragon Fighter?!

Though his thoughts churned wildly, Ouyang Ling forced himself to stay calm. No matter what, this was definitely a top-tier martial soul!

Still, it was a pity it was not the final Ultimate Sea God Dragon.

Ouyang Ling cast aside his greedy thoughts, completely suppressing the delight rising to his lips as he looked toward the crystal ball.

Noticing his gaze, the old man did not waste words. He decisively held the crystal ball out before him. "Retract your martial soul, then place your hand on it. Let me see your innate soul power."

Ouyang Ling said nothing and did as instructed.

The instant he placed both hands on it, "Buzz—"

The entire crystal ball immediately burst with dazzling radiance, brilliant blue light spreading continuously from its center. In less than a breath, the crystal ball's glow seemed ready to fill half the room.

Several seconds later,

The crystal ball returned to normal.

"Innate Full Soul Power."

The old man's expression was complicated, carrying an indescribable strangeness.

He suddenly felt that perhaps all the luck of his remaining years had been spent on this one occasion.

"Stay in the room and do not wander about. Wait until I return."

Without even cleaning up the formation on the floor, the old man merely put away the crystal ball and hurried out the door.

His hasty departure left only one sentence behind in the room:

"There is food and a change of clothes on the table."

Just then, "Grrr~ grrr~"

A sound that should have been audible only to one person rang beside Ouyang Ling's ears.

Well then,

Since things had come to this, he might as well eat first.

"Elder Ci Xue, how many villagers survived?"

A beautiful figure of around fourteen or fifteen sat upright in a chair inside a residence. Her skin was fair as snow, her nose high and straight, her phoenix eyes slightly narrow, and her exquisite face held both dignity and youthful innocence. A long dress wrapped around her graceful body, while her golden hair draped smoothly over her shoulders.

But at this moment, anger tinged that breathtakingly beautiful face.

"All four fallen ones have been eliminated. However, apart from the boy saved by She Long, there were no other survivors in that village."

"That woman became Pope and has been doing nothing but purging dissidents! How exactly is she running Spirit Hall!? This is the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, where the Spirit Hall Temple is stationed, yet fallen ones still appeared here!"

The accusatory words made Ci Xue lower his gaze and focus on his own thoughts.

He would pretend he had heard nothing of the conflict between mother and daughter.

After the young girl's anger had eased somewhat, Ci Xue finally reminded her, "Young Master, it would be best to leave the matter of the fallen ones to the temple. After all, your time is limited. You should finish obtaining your soul rings as soon as possible and return to Xue Qinghe's side undercover."

The golden-haired girl understood the importance of the matter.

For this grand plan, she had spent six full years undercover. She was on the verge of replacing Xue Qinghe, so there could be no mistakes.

"Then that is settled."

Though her anger had not yet faded, the golden-haired girl could only let the matter rest after reporting it to Spirit Hall.

She then instructed Ci Xue, "A fallen soul master massacre of a village occurred near Heaven Dou City. Such a vile incident must be dealt with seriously. As for that surviving child, notify the Spirit Hall Temple. This was their negligence, and they must compensate him as quickly as possible."

"Elder She Long should have already awakened his martial soul. If he can become a soul master, help him enroll in a junior academy and compensate him with one thousand gold soul coins. If he cannot become a soul master, give him a place to live and a job. If he has any other relatives, help him look for them as well."

"Yes."

Ci Xue and the golden-haired girl were just about to put this minor matter behind them.

But at that moment, She Long's voice sounded out.

"Young Master."

"It seems Elder She Long has returned."

She Long—or rather, the old man who had just awakened Ouyang Ling's martial soul—pushed open the door after receiving the golden-haired girl's permission. The moment he spoke, he delivered one sentence to Ci Xue and the golden-haired girl:

"That child has a True Dragon Martial Soul and Innate Full Soul Power."