Ning Chen's Choice

Thus, Ning Chen could only choose between the sect, the Heaven Dou royal family, and Spirit Hall.

The Upper Three Sects went without saying. The Clear Sky Sect had sealed itself away and never emerged, making it utterly impossible to join.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was almost entirely wiped out by Spirit Hall in the later years, so it was directly ruled out as well.

There was even less need to mention the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Even if Ning Chen returned, it would only be for revenge.

That left Ning Chen with only two options: the Heaven Dou royal family and Spirit Hall.

Sixteen years later, the Spirit Hall Empire would be founded. Eighteen years later, Tang San would become a god and ignite the War of the Three Gods.

As the loser of the War of the Three Gods, Spirit Hall did not seem like a good choice.

However, Ning Chen knew that sixteen years later, the Heaven Dou Empire would practically become Tang San's personal domain.

Ning Chen had long since resolved to kill Ning Rongrong. Given the friendship among the Seven Monsters at that time and the existence of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, it would be unimaginably difficult for him to gain a foothold in Heaven Dou.

Therefore, the Heaven Dou royal family was absolutely not a good choice for him.

Spirit Hall, on the other hand, might meet a bleak end eighteen years later, but for the next sixteen years, it would stand at the height of its glory, with no one on the continent daring to challenge its edge.

Moreover, with Ning Chen's false identity, even if he joined Spirit Hall, he could easily leave it later.

Most importantly, Spirit Hall's intelligence network was unrivaled across the continent and could provide him with far too much help.

Although Spirit Hall could not offer him much assistance in cultivating his Body Martial Soul, it had spent thousands of years awakening Martial Souls for commoners and even nobles, year after year.

It not only knew the general distribution of Soul Masters across the continent, but also knew the whereabouts of some Body Martial Soul Soul Masters.

Of course, in Spirit Hall's eyes, current Body Martial Soul Soul Masters were merely freaks with Soul Power but no Martial Souls, a group of useless people not worth recruiting at all.

Yet those so-called useless people were absolute treasures in Ning Chen's eyes.

Body Martial Souls had never been weak. If he could develop a method for a second awakening, the golden age of Body Martial Souls could arrive ten thousand years early!

Ning Chen intended to establish the Body Sect ahead of time on the continent!

Of course, it was still too early to found the Body Sect. His strength was insufficient, but he could begin preparing in advance by gathering information on people suspected of possessing Body Martial Souls.

As night gradually fell, Ning Chen washed up and went straight to sleep.

Early the next morning, Ning Chen arrived at Spirit Hall in Heaven Dou City.

Other than the Martial Soul Grand Hall in Spirit City, all Spirit Halls in the continent's other cities were branch halls.

However, these branch halls were also ranked. The lowest grade was called a Martial Soul Sub-Hall, established in remote and underdeveloped cities.

Above that were Martial Soul Branch Halls, followed by Martial Soul Main Halls, and finally Martial Soul Temples.

There were only two Martial Soul Temples, located respectively in the imperial capitals of the Two Great Empires. Their actual controllers were Platinum Bishops of high standing within Spirit Hall.

Their strength was all above Soul Douluo level.

The place Ning Chen had come to was precisely the Martial Soul Temple established in Heaven Dou City.

The moment he entered, he could immediately sense how different this Martial Soul Temple was from other Martial Soul Main Halls and branch halls. Not only was it enormous, but its interior was also lavish and imposing.

The entire hall was astonishingly spacious. Its ceiling rose more than ten zhang high, while crystal chandeliers inlaid with gold and jade cast down soft light, illuminating every corner of the hall as brightly as day.

The floor was paved with polished marble, smooth as a mirror, clearly reflecting the lights above.

A row of counters stood along each side of the hall, where Spirit Hall stewards in uniform handled procedures for Soul Masters who had come to register.

Ning Chen swept his gaze over them and discovered that even the weakest Soul Power fluctuations among these stewards were at the Soul Grandmaster level. The steward who had led him inside was, astonishingly, a Soul Ancestor-level expert.

In an ordinary Martial Soul Branch Hall, strength like that would be enough to serve as the branch hall's bishop.

As expected of a Martial Soul Temple, Ning Chen thought.

He was led to an empty counter, where a female steward who looked to be in her early thirties was in charge of registration.

"Name." The female steward spread out a registration form and asked as she picked up her pen.

"Cao Benqi." Ning Chen gave the false name he had prepared beforehand.

"Age?"

"Twelve."

"Martial Soul?"

"Starlight Bracer."

"Starlight Bracer? I've never heard of it. Is it an inherited family Martial Soul, or a newly mutated Martial Soul?"

"A new Martial Soul." Ning Chen was brief and direct.

"Mm, all right. Test your Soul Power first."

The female steward found a crystal ball somewhat larger than the ones ordinarily used for Martial Soul awakenings and handed it to Ning Chen.

After taking it, Ning Chen summoned the Starlight Bracer and secretly used Illusory Stars without anyone noticing.

Behind him, two bright yellow Soul Rings and a purple Millennium Soul Ring gradually emerged.

Under the deliberate control of the Nine Yang Divine Skill, his Soul Power output finally settled at level thirty-two.

"Th-thirty-two levels of Soul Power!"

The female steward's voice involuntarily rose several degrees, drawing sidelong glances from several nearby stewards and Soul Masters.

Realizing she had lost her composure, she gave a light cough and lowered her voice, but the astonishment in her eyes did not diminish in the slightest.

It was not as though she had never seen geniuses.

On the contrary, as a steward of the Heaven Dou City Martial Soul Temple, she had registered countless young Soul Masters, including many core disciples from major sects and noble families.

She had even seen quite a few genius direct disciples from the internationally renowned Upper Three Sects.

But a twelve-year-old Soul Elder was something she had truly never encountered in all her years at the Heaven Dou City Martial Soul Temple.

"Cao Benqi, correct?" The female steward confirmed his name again, her tone far more solemn than before.

"Yes."

Ning Chen nodded. This display of strength was the result of careful consideration.

A twelve-year-old Soul Elder was exceedingly rare, but still within an acceptable range.

It marked him as an absolute top-tier genius, but not such an incomprehensible monster that people could not accept it.

"Would you be willing to undergo a bone-age test?"

Suppressing the excitement in her heart, the female steward asked.

A twelve-year-old Soul Elder was too rare, and she feared that Ning Chen had lied about his age.

"Of course."

Naturally, Ning Chen did not refuse. With the Human-Skin Mask, changing the condition of his bones was effortless.

Where the female steward could not detect it, the state of Ning Chen's bones had already quietly changed.

Under the female steward's guidance, Ning Chen extended his right hand.

The female steward grasped Ning Chen's wrist and sent Soul Power through it for a circuit. "He really is twelve!"

After exclaiming in amazement and withdrawing her hand, the female steward, Ning Chen also ended the Human-Skin Mask's alteration of his bones.

The female steward seemed to think of something. She immediately stood and said to Ning Chen, "Please wait a moment."

Then she left at once, hurrying toward the interior of the Martial Soul Temple.

Ning Chen could roughly guess that there was an eighty percent chance the female steward had gone to report his situation to the Martial Soul Temple's higher-ups, which suited Ning Chen perfectly.

The female steward found the high-ranking steward on duty on the second floor and hurriedly reported Ning Chen's information.

The high-ranking steward did not dare to delay.

Top geniuses were scarce resources anywhere, and Spirit Hall was no exception.

He immediately took the female steward to an even higher floor.