Spirit Awakening, Mirror Contract!

Spirit City, orphanage.

The morning sun rose, and the warm sunlight spilled over the doorway of the orphanage. Inside the orphanage, more than ten children who had reached the age of six stood in two rows, waiting for the arrival of the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall.

They all wore the gray uniforms of the orphanage, and their tender faces were full of tension and expectation.

Most of these children were orphans of Spirit Hall soul masters, or children rescued by Spirit Hall from fallen soul masters or wolf bandits. They were uniformly sent to the orphanage and raised with funds from Spirit Hall.

Age six was the turning point for this group of children.

If they could awaken a decent martial soul during the Martial Soul Awakening ceremony and awaken innate soul power that allowed them to cultivate, Spirit Hall would take them away and train them uniformly. If they failed to awaken a good martial soul or decent innate soul power, Spirit Hall would still support them until they were twelve. Using six years to learn a craft, they would not leave the orphanage until they could live independently.

And today was the day of their Martial Soul Awakening.

At the very back of the line stood a little boy with a head of silver hair, his pupils also tinged with a silvery white, making it obvious at a glance how he differed from the other children.

He was also the only child in the queue who did not show any tension; he appeared very calm, not at all like a six-year-old child.

His name was Ling Jing, and he was a transmigrator from Blue Star, having arrived in this world precisely six years ago.

As for the reason for his transmigration... it was still the beloved and widely-seen Grand Fortune segment, where he was run over directly into a lump by a truck acting as a speed bump.

When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived in this world. His parents were soul masters of Spirit Hall, and their cultivation was not high, possessing only the strength of a Three-Ring Soul Elder. They both died during a mission to hunt down wolf bandits, and at only one year old, he became an orphan and was sent to this orphanage.

For six years, Ling Jing had long since grown accustomed to life in this world—in that original world, he had no attachments whatsoever and was entirely on his own.

Therefore, to him, which world he was in made no difference.

Only... the timeline he had transmigrated into seemed a bit premature.

The current Spirit Hall was still governed by Qian Xunji, Bibi Dong had not yet been sealed in the secret chamber, and she had only just been conferred as the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall by Qian Xunji half a year ago.

However... the Douluo Continent world should be one of those rare worlds where even if the timeline is advanced, it is of little use.

Initial talent determines everything.

If the initial talent is bad, even relying on acquired effort and the advantage of hindsight to become a decent soul master and gain a foothold in this world, one basically stops right there.

Of course, if one could awaken a powerful martial soul, that would be a different story.

Thus, today was the important day that would decide everything...

Ling Jing took a deep breath, his mood obviously not as calm as he appeared.

"The Holy Maiden is here!"

Accompanied by a commotion outside the door, the gates of the orphanage were pushed open on cue. A graceful figure walked prominently at the very front of the crowd, dressed in the moon-white silver-embroidered long dress exclusive to the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, her figure slender and charming. Although her body still retained the greenness of youth, what she exuded even more was a sacred and noble temperament.

The Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong.

Following behind Bibi Dong were two Red-robed Bishops and multiple attendants from Spirit Hall, but among these people, only one person walked closest to Bibi Dong, lagging behind her by just a single stride.

Although this person's appearance was thoroughly mediocre and his physique was equally mediocre, his face revealed a hint of confident radiance, and the gaze he inadvertently cast at Bibi Dong carried a trace of unusual brilliance.

A... suitor who admired Bibi Dong?

No, not quite.

From the expressions of the Red-robed Bishops and the Spirit Hall attendants behind, it could be seen that they seemed rather dissatisfied with this person, acting as if they refrained from acting only out of respect for Bibi Dong, and the eyes of the two Red-robed Bishops even revealed undisguised contempt.

Viewed this way, this person's identity was practically self-evident.

Not long after Bibi Dong became the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, she met "Grandmaster" Yu Xiaogang, and the two immediately started a romance, until it completely enraged Qian Xunji and caused the latter to transform into the renowned chamber Douluo.

He just didn't know whether, in this current period, Yu Xiaogang and Bibi Dong were together.

Bibi Dong did not notice the look Yu Xiaogang was giving her; at this moment, her attention was entirely focused on the group of children before her, and a trace of reminiscent emotion flashed in her eyes.

Ten and a half years ago, she was the one who walked out from this very orphanage.

Her village was invaded by fallen soul masters, and her entire family died at the hands of the fallen soul masters. Fortunately, she was rescued by Spirit Hall soul masters and brought to this orphanage. At the awakening ceremony when she was six years old, she awakened twin martial souls and was taken in on the spot as a disciple by the Pope, Qian Xunji.

And more than a decade later, she had replaced her teacher and appeared here, doing the exact same thing her teacher had done back then.

This was also her first time doing such a thing—obviously, Qian Xunji valued Bibi Dong immensely, and even after conferring her as the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, he spared no effort in building momentum for her.

If nothing unexpected happened, by the day Bibi Dong achieved the rank of Titled Douluo, she would have the support of millions of citizens, and then smoothly succeed to Qian Xunji's papal throne, while Qian Xunji would head to the Worship Hall to spend his twilight years.

Everyone would be happy.

But now, the unexpected had already appeared.

Even after seeing Yu Xiaogang with his own eyes, Ling Jing still could not understand why Bibi Dong would fall in love with the utterly ordinary Yu Xiaogang.

A level-29 trash soul grandmaster forever unable to break through to level thirty, possessing only the appearance of an ordinary person, lacking talent, lacking strength, lacking looks, and even in terms of family background, Yu Xiaogang was merely an abandoned son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

If the genders were reversed, this would completely be a plot of a wealthy heir falling in love with a good-for-nothing me.

What was even more absurd was that Yu Xiaogang could not only win Bibi Dong's favor, but after separating from Bibi Dong, he could even make his own cousin Liu Erlong fall in love with him too.

A wealthy heir falling in love with a good-for-nothing me still had a male supporting role segment!

How absurd!

"Holy Maiden, the awakening ceremony can begin."

A Red-robed Bishop behind Bibi Dong stepped forward and slightly bowed, lowering his voice to speak softly, not even sparing a glance at Yu Xiaogang beside them.

This action instantly caused Yu Xiaogang to instinctively clench his fists, but given the current occasion, he couldn't say much and could only take a step back, silently logging the matter away in his heart.

Bibi Dong's lips curved into a faint smile, and she nodded slightly.

She also took a few steps back, retreating to Yu Xiaogang's side, with a hint of anticipation in her voice: "I hope there are a few children with outstanding talent."

Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang pressed his lips together and did not reply.

As if noticing Yu Xiaogang's mood, Bibi Dong glanced at Yu Xiaogang, a trace of apology flashing across her face: "Sorry Xiao Gang, I didn't mean anything else."

"It's fine, you're doing it for the sake of Spirit Hall too." Yu Xiaogang forced a smile onto his face, while reaching out to try to hold Bibi Dong's hand.

But the next second, Bibi Dong's body shuddered slightly, and she shifted a little distance to the other side.

"Xiao Gang, I... I'm not ready yet."

Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Before Yu Xiaogang could open his mouth to say anything, however, the Red-robed Bishop's voice abruptly arrived:

"First, step forward."

Among the children standing in two rows at the orphanage, a somewhat frail child nervously walked out, his body even shaking slightly.

"Don't be nervous, relax."

The Red-robed Bishop gave a simple word of comfort, and then released his martial soul—a tiger-type Ferocious Beast martial soul, with seven best-configured soul rings rising abruptly beneath his feet.

Along with the injection of his soul power, the array for the Martial Soul Awakening ceremony was abruptly activated, and a few golden speckles of light slowly rose from the array, slowly sinking into the boy's body as if guided by something.

Soon, a small hammer appeared in the boy's hand.

A mediocre hammer martial soul, huh...

The Red-robed Bishop's expression remained unchanged, and he still patiently instructed the boy to take back his martial soul and carry out the awakening of Innate Soul Power.

A moment later, his voice abruptly sounded: "Tool martial soul hammer, Innate Soul Power, level two!"

"Next!"

"Tool martial soul sickle, Innate Soul Power, level three!"

"Ferocious Beast martial soul Ironclad Earth Dragon, Innate Soul Power level five!"

The Martial Soul Awakening ceremony led by the Red-robed Bishop progressed extremely quickly, and these children walked toward the Red-robed Bishop one by one, and returned to their original positions one by one.

What made Ling Jing somewhat exasperated was that among all the children who awakened their martial souls, the ones with the lowest Innate Soul Power all had level one.

Level-one Innate Soul Power, although basically hopeless for cultivation either, was at least higher than the Innate Half-Level Soul Power of Yu Xiaogang standing beside Her Ladyship the Holy Maiden.

Yu Xiaogang seemed to have realized this as well, so his expression also became somewhat unsightly.

Usually, the children of those ordinary villagers rarely awakened Innate Soul Power, and in the end, those who awakened twin martial souls and mutated martial souls like Bibi Dong and Ma Hongjun were in the minority.

But this batch of orphanage children seemed to be the descendants of Spirit Hall soul masters for the vast majority, which created the awkward scene where everyone had higher Innate Soul Power than Yu Xiaogang.

Come to think of it...

Could he be the only one whose Innate Soul Power wasn't even as good as Yu Xiaogang's?

Everyone's Innate Soul Power was higher than Yu Xiaogang's, yet he had been standing underneath laughing for a long time, only to end up not awakening Innate Soul Power?

If that really turned out to be the case, the situation seemed like it would be even more exasperating...

But it shouldn't be.

His parents had both been soul masters of Spirit Hall; although it was unclear what their two martial souls were, barring accidents, he would awaken a martial soul related to one of his parents, and his Innate Soul Power wouldn't be all that miserable.

"Next."

"Tool martial soul pickaxe, no Innate Soul Power!"

"The last one, come up."

The Red-robed Bishop took a deep breath, and a smile was also squeezed onto his somewhat aged face.

The situation of the Martial Soul Awakening this time had already exceeded initial expectations. Although there wasn't a single genius with supreme talent, supreme geniuses were rare to begin with, and managing to awaken a few more with around level-five Innate Soul Power was already a very good situation.

Whether it was Spirit Hall or the entire soul master world, low-level soul masters occupied the absolute majority in the end.

As for that silver-haired child at the end, the Red-robed Bishop didn't expect to pull a grand prize either.

Ling Jing stood at the very center of the awakening array, and couldn't help taking a deep breath.

The time to decide fate had arrived!

Soon, golden speckles of light rose from the awakening array and rapidly poured into Ling Jing's body.

Ling Jing only felt a very gentle energy appear within his body, and closely following that, a slight tugging sensation came along, as if something was about to surge out from his body.

The next instant, a somewhat illusory shadow abruptly emerged behind Ling Jing.

This is... the phantom of a Ferocious Beast martial soul?

Only this outline of a Ferocious Beast martial soul actually couldn't be distinguished as to which category of Ferocious Beast martial soul it belonged to at all.

Even the knowledgeable Red-robed Bishop failed to recognize what this martial soul actually was for a moment.

Right at this moment, a cold prompt tone abruptly rang in Ling Jing's mind.

[Martial Soul Awakening detected, Mirror Contract System activated.]

Mirror Contract System?

Was this... the golden finger that arrived six years late?

Ling Jing had prayed and called out for his own system golden finger countless times, but had never received any response. He had already prepared himself to make his way on his own without a golden finger, and yet the system showed up the moment he awakened his spirit?

If you were going to wait until the Martial Soul Awakening to show up, did you have to make me pray for so long?

Ling Jing gained a rough understanding of how this system worked—the Mirror Contract System was not at all intelligent, lacking any ability for dialogue or communication, and simply laid out very concise functions directly in his mind.

As the name implied, the Mirror Contract System allowed him to contract other soul masters, with one soul master contract available for every ten ranks of soul power he gained. The contract took effect immediately; when established, he could copy that soul master's spirit and acquire their full strength at his current stage, while also permanently gaining fifty percent of the characteristics of their spirit.

For example, the self-healing ability and flourishing vitality of the Blue Silver Emperor, or the strength of the Clear Sky Hammer.

The contracted soul master would share a spiritual connection, emotional resonance, sensory sharing, mental sympathetic vibration, soul power feedback, synchronized pain, and even a life bond with him.

Naturally, these effects would be gradually unlocked as his own strength increased.

So... who should his very first contract be with?

That question hardly needed asking.

Ling Jing's gaze instantly landed on Bibi Dong—without a doubt, she was the most suitable candidate, and no one was more fitting than her.

Twin martial souls, innate full soul power, and two top-tier martial souls; from any angle, Bibi Dong was the optimal choice!

Just as Ling Jing was pondering, the Red-robed Bishop's slightly shrill voice abruptly rang out:

"Unknown Ferocious Beast spirit... Innate full soul power!"