A wondrous ripple spread from within Su Chen's body, stirring the energy between heaven and earth into a tremendous surge. Above Holy Soul Village, nine-colored radiance shone for ten thousand lengths, streaming down through the clouds.
Not only the villagers of Holy Soul Village but the residents of the entire Northtown Province gazed up in wonder at the strange spectacle in the sky.
"Huh? Why is this child so unusual?" Su Yuntao's brows knitted tightly as he stared at Su Chen in astonishment. Since being assigned to help awaken the martial souls of children in the surrounding villages, he had never encountered anything like this. Could the child before him awaken a martial soul even more powerful than the Clear Sky Hammer?
Nothing in Su Yuntao's personal experience-or even in the Spirit Hall's textbooks-described a martial soul capable of producing such a magnificent phenomenon in heaven and earth.
What warm energy. It feels as though some kind of shackle inside my body has been broken! Su Chen thought.
Immediately afterward, golden light surged out of Su Chen's body. It coalesced into individual fish scales that slowly writhed. At last, it formed a phantom behind him.
The phantom had a bizarre appearance: antlers like a deer, a head like a camel, eyes like a rabbit, a neck like a snake, a belly like a clam, scales like a fish, claws like an eagle, paws like a tiger, and ears like an ox. Whiskers hung beside its mouth, and a reverse scale lay beneath its throat.
"A Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon? No, it isn't a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. This is a mutated martial soul! And why does it have five claws?" Su Yuntao's breathing quickened, his gaze going blank as he stared at the Golden Giant Dragon before him in utter shock.
Beside him, Tang San was also stunned by Su Chen's martial soul. Su Chen had actually awakened the divine dragon of Huaxia's legends-and the highest-ranking kind at that, a five-clawed golden dragon!
Dragons, too, had a distinct hierarchy. Setting aside those giant lizards that merely possessed dragon blood, the lowest-ranking true dragons had two claws, while the highest had five. Every additional claw marked a difference in status as vast as heaven and earth. The dragons enslaved by immortals in Huaxia's legends had only two or three claws. Even Great Luo Golden Immortals dared not casually make enemies of four-clawed golden dragons, let alone enslave them. Yet the martial soul Su Chen had awakened was the highest-ranking five-clawed golden dragon.
"Can I cultivate?" Su Chen asked with a smile.
"Of course you can. Your martial soul mutated from a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. In my experience, your martial soul should grant you soul power. Child, hurry and test your soul power!" With a wave of his hand, Su Yuntao retrieved the six black stones, then excitedly held a blue crystal ball out to Su Chen.
It's over!
Su Yuntao had actually failed to declare Su Chen's martial soul a trash martial soul. Any martial soul that Su Yuntao hadn't identified as trash was already halfway to being ruined!
Su Chen did as instructed and placed his palm against the crystal ball.
The moment Su Chen's hand touched it, the crystal ball burst into dazzling light once more. Its brilliance far surpassed what Tang San had produced earlier.
"Child, you have innate full soul power too!" Su Yuntao was overjoyed, staring at Su Chen with a burning gaze.
Crack.
Yet the instant Su Yuntao finished speaking, a fissure appeared in the blue crystal ball.
The crystal ball cracked?
Su Yuntao stared in disbelief at the crystal ball in his hand, then looked at Su Chen. Testing his soul power had actually cracked the crystal ball!
"Uncle, is his soul power still at level ten?" Tang San looked at Su Chen with envy and curiosity. He had cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Skill to attain innate full soul power at six years old. Su Chen lazed about doing nothing every day, yet his soul power was actually higher than Tang San's.
"Of course this isn't level-ten soul power!" Su Yuntao kept his eyes fixed on Su Chen, his gaze filled with shock.
"It isn't level ten? Didn't you just say that innate full soul power could only reach level ten at most?" Tang San, eager to learn, asked in puzzlement.
"For some people, innate full soul power is indeed level ten. But for certain martial souls of exceptionally high quality, innate full soul power can reach level twenty!" The image of the Spirit Hall's favored daughter of heaven surfaced in Su Yuntao's mind. As a member of the Spirit Hall, he had heard something of her accomplishments. Just like Su Chen, that gifted young woman who had awakened the six-winged angel had possessed a terrifying level twenty of soul power the moment her martial soul awakened.
Moreover, the low-quality crystal ball in Su Yuntao's hand could only withstand soul power up to level twenty.
"Uncle, do martial souls differ in quality too?" Tang San asked again.
"Of course. The higher the quality of a martial soul, the more soul power its awakening grants. Take you, for example. You awakened the clear sky hammer martial soul, so you were able to possess innate full soul power. As for these children, their martial souls are merely hoes and sickles, which didn't grant them even a trace of soul power." Hoping to recruit Tang San into the Spirit Hall, Su Yuntao patiently explained every question he asked.
Su Chen had already withdrawn his martial soul, but the surrounding nine-colored radiance did not disperse. Instead, it grew richer as time passed. The radiant light descended from the sky like a heavenly curtain. Finally, a golden pillar of light pierced the hall's roof, enveloping Su Chen's entire body.
Not only Su Yuntao and Tang San, but even Su Chen could not help frowning. After a moment's reflection, two weighty words surfaced in his mind: Divine Trial!
The corners of Su Chen's mouth rose slightly as he thought in astonishment, Seriously? A divine trial is descending when I've only just awakened my martial soul?
On the Douluo Continent, anyone who wished to become a god had to pass a god's trials before ultimately inheriting a divine seat. There was no level requirement for qualifying to undertake a divine trial. One could begin as a level-ninety-nine Limit Douluo, or even before becoming a Titled Douluo. But once someone accepted a divine trial, failure to complete its tasks within the allotted time meant death and the annihilation of their path.
There's no guide for a divine trial here, so why would one suddenly descend?
Despite Su Chen's confusion, the colors within the golden pillar of light began to change. At first, there was only yellow. Then eight more colors joined it: red, white, silver, green, purple, black, blue, and orange.
Nine colors? Su Chen's heart jolted.
While they stood stunned, an unprecedented majesty bore down on Su Yuntao, Tang San, and the others, forcing them involuntarily to kneel on one knee before Su Chen.
Within the nine-colored pillar of light, Su Chen experienced a very peculiar sensation. Then, as though something had been triggered, the nine-colored light pouring over him began drifting into the space between his brows.
Su Chen's eyes widened as he exclaimed inwardly, Holy shit, it really is a divine trial! And it's the highest kind-the nine divine trials!
Even if Su Chen could hardly believe any of this was real, the vast torrent of information flooding his mind left him no room for doubt. As he awakened his martial soul, a god had actually taken the initiative to bestow the nine divine trials upon him.
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