Martial Soul Awakening

Martial Souls were something everyone in this world awakened at the age of six, but Innate Soul Power did not appear in everyone. It depended on whether one's parents were Soul Masters, whether one's family had a powerful Martial Soul lineage, and one's physical condition. It could be said that whether someone could become a Soul Master had a great deal to do with their bloodline. Even if commoners awakened Soul Power, they would generally reach the limit of their cultivation at the Soul Ancestor rank. Soul Masters with exceptional talent were few among the few. This world was, after all, a society that valued powerful bloodlines. There was almost no path for commoners to rise; many people's fates were decided at birth.

Time flew by, and the day had come for Huo Yuhao to awaken her Martial Soul. Huo Yuhao arrived at the Spirit Hall in the city. Today was the day the children from the slums would awaken their Martial Souls, and many of them had come here for the ceremony. Huo Yuhao stood among them. She saw tension and anticipation on the children's faces. To them, this was the only way to escape their status as slum dwellers, become Soul Masters, and live a life they had never dared imagine before.

A man wearing the uniform of a Spirit Hall deacon entered the hall. Looking at everyone before him, he said, "I'm Niels, a twenty-eighth-level Soul Grandmaster. Today I'll guide you through awakening your Martial Souls. All right, line up first. I'll possess my Martial Soul in a moment, so don't panic."

Everyone lined up and waited. Huo Yuhao stood at the very end, watching Niels's next move.

"Martial Soul: Wind Dog, Possession. The first one, come over." As Niels spoke, white fur sprouted on his hands. He then pulled a crystal ball from his clothes. Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up as she watched it from behind. It was no different from the crystal balls used to test Soul Power ten thousand years later, but the crystal ball itself also counted as a Soul Tool. It looked brand-new, unlike the Storage Soul Tools used by the Soul Masters outside, which looked like unearthed relics. This made Huo Yuhao wonder whether Soul Tool technology had survived on the continent. But she quickly stopped thinking about it. Awakening her Martial Soul was the most important thing now.

"Martial Soul: Wooden Stick. No Soul Power. Next."

"Martial Soul: Hound. First-level Soul Power. Next..."

The line kept getting shorter. Some children were happy, while others were upset. Only two or three of the children had Soul Power, and none of them had more than three levels. These few children looked pleased, while the others left with grim expressions.

At last, it was Huo Yuhao's turn. She stood in the Awakening Array, and the awakening ceremony began. Huo Yuhao felt warm Soul Power flow through her body and slowly gather around her eyes. She felt the Chaos Energy in her Sea of Consciousness melting away. When Soul Power appeared in her body again, Huo Yuhao felt as she had when she was the God of Emotion. She sensed the emotions of those around her: disappointment, helplessness, happiness... She also sensed other things: people's sorrow and helplessness in the face of birth, aging, sickness, and death; joy at new life; greed for money and power; longing for strength; flowers blooming and falling, things coming into being and dying. The emotions of everything in Star Luo City flooded into Huo Yuhao's mind: decay, optimism, greed, evil, kindness... She also sensed a lamenting wail far beyond all of these.

"Are you all right?" Niels hurriedly asked. The ceremony had only just begun, yet the little girl before him had shed bloody tears while awakening her Martial Soul. Niels was alarmed; he had never seen anything like this.

Huo Yuhao quickly wiped away the blood. "I'm fine. Please continue."

"All right, then. Where's your Martial Soul?" Niels looked at Huo Yuhao's hands. No object had appeared, nor had she shown any animal traits from possession.

"My Martial Soul is my eyes," Huo Yuhao quickly replied. At the same time, golden light shimmered in her eyes, which were as brilliant as a sea of stars.

"An eye-type Martial Soul? How unusual. All right, put your hand on the crystal ball and test your Innate Soul Power."

Huo Yuhao placed her hand on it and immediately felt a suction force coming from her palm. She used her spiritual power to control the flow of Soul Power from her body.

"Innate Soul Power, level four. That's already very good. Here, this is your Soul Master certificate."

"Thank you." Huo Yuhao took the certificate and hurried out of the Spirit Hall, running toward a deserted forest outside the city. In a secluded grove beyond the city, Huo Yuhao checked that nobody was around before activating her Martial Soul. As always, it was the Spirit Eyes Martial Soul. She had feared that Innate Full Soul Power would attract the Spirit Hall's attention, so she had used her spiritual power to make it appear to be only level four.

Huo Yuhao entered her Sea of Consciousness. After the Martial Soul Awakening, it no longer looked as if it were filled with Chaos Energy. The vast Sea of Consciousness was just as it had been before, with the Gold of Life hanging high above like a green sun. After examining it carefully, Huo Yuhao discovered that the Gold of Life had now shattered and completely merged into the Sea of Consciousness; she could no longer take it out. She sensed that the Chaos Energy that had once filled her Sea of Consciousness had not disappeared, but had instead merged into her bones. It could be said that every bone in Huo Yuhao's body was now forged from Chaos Energy. After sensing that everything was fine, Huo Yuhao left her Sea of Consciousness.

After exiting her Spirit Eyes Martial Soul, Huo Yuhao switched to her Second Martial Soul. Her original Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion Martial Soul had disappeared, replaced by her hair growing longer and her figure growing taller. Huo Yuhao took out a mirror and looked at the changes in her body. She murmured softly, "Snow Empress?"

On a towering iceberg in the Far North, a beautiful figure awoke from Meditation. Her long, white hair fell behind her, and a puzzled expression appeared on her beautiful face. "That feeling... Is it my Origin Power? But I haven't lost any power. Even if some had been lost, why would I sense it in the south instead of the Far North?"

As Snow Empress was pondering this, Ice Bear King Xiaobai, who was beside her, also opened his eyes. Seeing her thoughtful expression, he asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Are you thinking about Grandpa again?"

Hearing Xiaobai's question, Snow Empress felt helpless. Ever since Xiaobai had woken from cultivation half a year ago, he had been saying things about Grandpa and the Divine Realm, claiming that he, Snow Empress, Ice Empress, and Xiaobai had all become Grandpa's Soul Spirits and gone to the Divine Realm together. He kept saying that so-and-so had gone with them too, and that the Divine Realm was awful and looked down on them all, and only Grandpa and the others were willing to play with them... In short, he had said a whole lot. Snow Empress didn't believe him. Leaving the Divine Realm aside, she, Snow Empress, was born of heaven and earth, and Xiaobai was adopted; he had no grandfather. Snow Empress had taken Xiaobai's words for the delirious nonsense of someone who had suffered a cultivation mishap. She had even carefully examined Xiaobai's condition and, finding nothing wrong, hadn't paid it any mind.

Seeing Xiaobai talking nonsense again, Snow Empress hurriedly checked with her spiritual power that there was nothing abnormal in his cultivation and no signs that his mind had been attacked. She sighed and said, "You're fine too, so why do you keep talking nonsense? Have you been worn out from cultivating so much lately? Why don't you go play with Bing'er?"

Seeing that Snow Empress once again thought he was talking nonsense, Xiaobai could only agree to go out. In reality, he would find somewhere with nobody around and stay there. It wasn't that he hadn't asked Ice Empress; the result had only been that she also treated him as if he were talking nonsense and warned him not to say things like her being together with that fellow Tian Meng again, or she would beat him. Snow Empress wouldn't be able to stop her, either. That fellow Titan Snow Demon King had also mocked him, saying that he had been scared silly by the next Heavenly Tribulation. Because of that, he had even fought Titan Snow Demon King, though it had ended in a draw.