"Civilization!"
Understanding dawned on Jiang Hai. The advent of the automobile meant humanity had formally freed transportation from human labor. The distance people could travel had taken a leap forward, marking an evolution of civilization. The Flame of Civilization was intimately linked to civilization, and whenever Jiang Hai influenced civilization, it would provide feedback.
Strictly speaking, this was the first feedback the Flame of Civilization had given Jiang Hai since its evolution. Its most direct effect was his breakthrough: his soul power leaped from rank forty-nine to rank fifty. In other words, Jiang Hai had advanced from Soul Ancestor to Quasi-Soul King. He had only just turned fourteen. A fourteen-year-old Quasi-Soul King would have been considered astonishing in any era.
Moreover, the benefits of the Flame of Civilization's feedback were by no means limited to that. Transparent flames instantly engulfed his entire body. Jiang Hai felt as though the burning flames had tempered the impurities out of his blood and vitality and his soul power. His blood and vitality surged like a dragon through every limb and bone, while his soul power gained a sense of clarity and fluidity. He felt as though he had ascended to immortality, clear and light, as if a single leap would send him flying.
A sacred aura steadily rose from Jiang Hai's body. A faint radiance flowed through his eyes, and the firelight of civilization reflected in his dark pupils.
At that moment, Xuan Ziwen and the others fell briefly into a daze, as if the young man before them had become the center of human civilization. They soon recovered, unsure whether to laugh or cry at their own thoughts, but they could not help envying Jiang Hai's condition. Soul engineers called this the sage state, a rare state attainable only when the satisfaction