"Could that be the legendary Divine Trial?"
In the blacksmith's shop in Holy Soul Village, a sharp gleam shone in the dispirited Tang Hao's eyes. He stopped beside the window and looked toward the village's Spirit Hall, muttering, "Could there be a god's presence in Holy Soul Village? I've lived here in seclusion for six years. How have I never sensed his presence?"
In his previous life, Su Chen had loved the Douluo Continent and deeply envied how people in that plane could awaken Martial Souls. He also knew a little about some of the Douluo Continent's more advanced lore.
The highest level a Soul Master on the Douluo Continent could cultivate to was ninety-nine. Once they reached level ninety-nine, advancing any further required undertaking what was known as a Divine Trial.
Divine Trials also came in many ranks, and not everyone's trial could grant their wish of breaking through the level-one-hundred barrier. From lowest to highest, they consisted of one to nine trials, with the difficulty soaring as the number of trials increased. The indicator was how many colors of light one could summon. One color signified the lowest, a single divine trial, while nine colors signified the highest, the Nine Divine Trials. Only Soul Masters fortunate enough to receive the Nine Divine Trials had any hope of breaking through to level one hundred and becoming a glorious god.
Participation in Divine Trials was entirely voluntary. One could undertake them before becoming a Titled Douluo or afterward. However, throughout history, apart from the native inhabitants of Sea God Island, no Soul Master had ever undertaken a Divine Trial immediately upon awakening their Martial Soul. Divine Trials had time limits; if one failed to complete them within the allotted time, their body would instantly turn to dust and their soul would scatter into oblivion.
Su Chen's situation clearly defied common knowledge. The Divine Trial that had suddenly descended had never sought his consent. It was entirely that god's one-sided decision.
Complaining would accomplish nothing. Su Chen sat down where he was and began sorting through the hazy information in his mind. There was an enormous amount of it, but only one portion was clear enough to make out. Nine-colored light filled his mind, carrying an energy that felt like wisdom being poured into the crown of his head, continuously nourishing his soul and every bone in his body. Under its constant nourishment, he felt as though he had returned to his mother's embrace, an indescribable sensation of utter comfort. Su Chen could feel subtle changes taking place in his bodily functions beneath the nine-colored light, but as he was now, he could not discern exactly what they were.
Hoo...
Su Chen slowly exhaled a breath of foul air so revolting that it made Tang San and the errand boy Su Yuntao feel sick enough to vomit. Both backed several steps away from him, retreating all the way to the hall's wall.
"Uncle, what's happening to him?" Tang San was utterly puzzled by everything happening to Su Chen. He had awakened two Martial Souls without producing any such phenomenon. Su Chen had awakened only one, so why was his experience so different?
With his memories of the Tang Sect from his previous life, Tang San knew that the foul air Su Chen had just exhaled consisted of impurities from his body. The worse the stench, the greater the improvement to his bodily functions. Tang San could not help envying him. It was as though Su Chen had swallowed an immortal elixir.
"It's because he has a mutated Martial Soul." Feeling his dignity slipping, Su Yuntao casually offered an excuse to brush off Tang San's question.
"Can a mutated Martial Soul cause phenomena like this too?" Tang San asked curiously.
"Yes. Mutated Martial Souls are extremely unusual. You might not find even one among ten thousand people. Some people's Martial Souls become weaker after mutating, while others become stronger. It isn't impossible for certain special mutated Martial Souls to produce unusual phenomena upon awakening." As Su Yuntao kept talking, even he began to believe that this was the truth.
"Oh. But Uncle, what's that thing between his eyebrows?" Tang San pointed at the center of Su Chen's forehead.
Nine-colored light seeped out from between Su Chen's eyebrows and began to writhe as though it were alive. Finally, it formed a coiled-dragon sigil there. The sigil shone in nine colors and seemed filled with a sacred, inviolable majesty.
Coupled with the magnificent spectacle from moments earlier, whose majesty rivaled nature itself, it gave Tang San the sense of a god's presence. A god. Yes, a god. Could there be gods in this world too?
Tang San pondered this curiously.
Once the nine-colored coiled-dragon sigil had formed between his eyebrows, the nine-colored light receded, becoming completely transparent as it seeped into Su Chen's forehead and finally vanished.
"Th-that is just one of the phenomena caused by a mutated Martial Soul. Any powerful mutated Martial Soul will leave this sigil between the eyebrows! You could call it proof of identity!" Su Yuntao spouted nonsense off the cuff. He was Su Yuntao; he absolutely could not appear so ignorant before a group of children. He added, "If this sigil doesn't appear between the eyebrows, that definitely means the Martial Soul's mutation isn't powerful enough!"
Su Yuntao was talking utter nonsense. Had someone from Sea God Island or any of the three supreme Titled Douluos been present, they would certainly have recognized the sigil. It was no ordinary sigil, but one known as a Divine Heart, a sign that its bearer had hope of attaining a god's position. The Sea God's was called the Heart of the Sea, the Asura God's the Heart of Asura, and the Rakshasa God's the Heart of Rakshasa. As for the Divine Heart Su Chen had received, it was the Heart of the Dragon, belonging to the supreme god who had once united the Divine Realm-the Dragon God.
Without realizing it, Su Chen opened his mouth and exhaled dozens of breaths of foul air in succession before his breath returned to its normal color. His bodily functions had been improved to an exceptional state.
Within his sea of consciousness, there was no star-shaped mark like the one Dai Mubai had received when undertaking the Sea God's trials. Instead, there was a coiled-dragon mark. It radiated nine-colored light, giving Su Chen a sense of majestic nobility. Although this was the depth of his own consciousness, that coiled, nine-colored divine dragon carried the air of a sovereign ruling over all living beings.
Su Chen slowly opened his eyes. His already black eyes now looked even deeper, and delight shone in them. The Dragon God’s Nine Trials. I actually received the Dragon God’s Nine Trials.
Receiving the Dragon God’s Nine Trials meant that Su Chen had to complete nine tests before he could pass them and obtain the divine position of the Dragon God, a Special-Level God.
Su Chen also knew something about the gods. The Divine Realm had five great gods: the Goddess of Life, the God of Destruction, the Asura God, the God of Evil, and the God of Kindness. They were all God King-level gods, whereas the Sea God was a First-Level God. God Kings held the highest divine positions in the current Divine Realm. However, long, long ago, the Divine Realm had possessed a special god who could command First-Level Gods and stand shoulder to shoulder with God Kings. Even the Five Great God Kings had needed to unite their hearts and strength just to fight him. He was the Dragon God. The Divine Trial Su Chen had received was the Dragon God’s Nine Trials, which could grant him that special god’s divine position.
The Dragon God’s Nine Trials descended from heaven on the very day I awakened my Martial Soul. Hehe, across the entire Douluo Continent, no one else can match that! Su Chen secretly gloated.
The difficulty of divine trials rose with the number of tests. The Nine Divine Trials were already comparable to hell-level difficulty. Yet Su Chen was not worried in the slightest that he would fail, because the content of his first Dragon God trial was actually to join Spirit Hall and become a student at its exclusive Soul Master Academy!
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