That sound!
Cold! Mechanical! Yet like thunder from the ninth heaven, it instantly blasted apart all the despair and confusion in Ling Feng's mind!
A system?!
As a veteran webnovel writer, he was all too familiar with this thing! It was the standard-issue golden finger for transmigrators, the only hope of turning the tables in a desperate situation!
Wild joy erupted like a volcano, instantly sweeping away every negative emotion. His heart pounded harder than ever before, blood surging and roaring through his veins!
With almost no hesitation, without even time to consider this system's origins or workings, all his thoughts condensed within a thousandth of a second into one fiercely intense, utterly resolute cry-
"Check in! Check in right now!!"
[Ding! Check-in successful!] [Congratulations to the host for completing your first check-in at the special location 'Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony Site'!] [Ultimate beginner reward obtained: Innate Soul Power at a full level twenty!] [Ultimate beginner reward obtained: God-level Martial Soul-Clear Sky Hammer!]
BOOM-!!!
Two indescribably immense forces, one born from nothingness and the other awakening deep within his bloodline, surged unstoppably into Ling Feng's body like a primordial deluge bursting through a dam!
First, an incomparably pure, incomparably vast power poured violently into his dantian, instantly filling every dried-up meridian. His limbs and bones seemed like drought-stricken land meeting sweet rain, making greedy sucking sounds. Soul Power! This was Soul Power! And it was so powerful, so overwhelming, far beyond his imagination! Innate Full Soul Power? No! This feeling... it was even more than that!
Almost simultaneously, the wilted Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul in his right palm, which had been deemed trash, began trembling violently, as though it had encountered something utterly terrifying. The next moment, it actually faded away like an illusion!
In its place, a heavy, domineering force filled with a destructive presence surged wildly from his palm!
Black light blazed!
A pitch-black hammer of ancient, simple design appeared out of thin air, hovering above his palm.
Its head was not large, even somewhat small, but its weight, condensed to the utmost, seemed capable of crushing the surrounding space. Faint, mysterious dark-gold patterns flowed across the hammer, exuding a desolate, ancient, terrifying might powerful enough to shake heaven and earth!
The Clear Sky Hammer!
It really was the world's number one tool Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer!
Ling Feng held up the little hammer, yet it felt as though he were supporting a mountain towering ten thousand fathoms high! An endless sense of power fed back from the hammer into his body, blending seamlessly with the surging Innate Full Soul Power within him, cycling over and over!
His face, pale with despair a moment earlier, instantly flushed with color. His body involuntarily straightened, his black hair stirred without wind, and an invisible, heart-quaking presence exploded outward from him!
Though all this took long to describe, it happened in a flash.
From Ling Feng freezing, to the Blue Silver Grass vanishing from his palm, the Clear Sky Hammer appearing, and his Soul Power erupting, the entire process took less than a single breath!
Inside and outside the room, the whispers and regretful sighs abruptly ceased.
It was as though an invisible hand had suddenly seized everyone's throats!
Every expression froze.
The villagers stood openmouthed, their eyes as wide as bronze bells, their faces filled with disbelief and utter bewilderment.
The children instinctively stepped back, their little faces paling in fright at the heavy presence that had suddenly appeared.
The regret and wrinkles on Village Chief Old Jack's face were instantly replaced by utter shock. He stumbled forward, staring fixedly at Ling Feng's hand, his lips trembling without a single word emerging.
And Su Yuntao, who stood closest and felt it most strongly, looked as though a bolt of heavenly lightning had struck him squarely on the crown!
The indifference and impatience on his face shattered instantly, replaced by an expression bordering on horror. His green wolf eyes contracted violently, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints!
"Th-this... how is this possible?!"
He cried out involuntarily, his voice turning shrill and distorted from sheer shock!
He had seen it perfectly clearly! That Blue Silver Grass... had vanished! In its place was that hammer! That pitch-black hammer, whose presence made even him, a level twenty-six Soul Grandmaster, feel his heart quail beneath its oppressive weight!
What frightened him out of his wits even more was-
Almost the instant the hammer appeared, a vast torrent of pure Soul Power surged uncontrollably from Ling Feng's fingertips, which had been pressing toward the crystal ball and had nearly missed as the Blue Silver Grass vanished!
HUM-!!!
An instant before Ling Feng's fingertips touched it, the blue crystal ball used to measure Soul Power seemed to be struck by an invisible, tremendous force. First, it shuddered violently, then erupted with an unprecedentedly dazzling light!
It was not a faint white glow.
It was not a bright white light.
It was a white-gold radiance as blazing as the sun! So intense, so dazzling was that light that it instantly illuminated the entire dim wooden hut as brightly as day! It even stung everyone's eyes!
The crystal ball seemed to come alive, light swirling madly within it, almost ready to explode!
"In... Innate Full Soul Power?! No! This light... this intensity..." Even Su Yuntao's voice was trembling. As a Spirit Hall deacon, he had presided over countless awakening ceremonies and seen geniuses with level five or six Innate Soul Power, even exceptional geniuses with level eight or nine Innate Soul Power!
But he had never seen anything like this!
The intensity and purity of this light far exceeded what he understood as "Innate Full Soul Power"!
This child was not merely someone with Innate Full Soul Power! The quality of this Soul Power was frighteningly high!
And that Martial Soul...
Su Yuntao's gaze remained locked on the little hovering black hammer, his heart pounding. A name sealed deep within his memory, one only Spirit Hall's higher ranks needed to know by heart, a name symbolizing power and taboo, sprang unbidden to mind, bringing a bone-piercing chill and tremendous horror.
Could it... could it belong to that clan...
He sharply sucked in a cold breath, and the way he looked at Ling Feng changed completely. His previous indifference, impatience, and disappointment were swept clean away, replaced by utter shock, disbelief, and a trace of profound awe and... fear!
The boy before him, dressed in shabby, patched clothes, suddenly seemed incomparably mysterious, incomparably imposing, even somewhat frightening!
"Y-you..." Su Yuntao's voice was terribly dry. He pointed at the Clear Sky Hammer in Ling Feng's palm, his finger trembling slightly. "This Martial Soul of yours... where... where did it come from?!"
He practically shouted the question, because only that could suppress the towering waves raging in his heart.
Feeling the powerful force coursing ceaselessly through his body and the heavy, power-filled Clear Sky Hammer in his palm, Ling Feng's chest filled with unprecedented confidence and soaring ambition.
He slowly raised his head to meet Su Yuntao's shocked, horrified gaze.
His earlier fear, lowliness, and resentment had long since vanished.
His eyes were clear and calm, even holding a trace of the composure of someone with everything under control.
Hearing Su Yuntao's nearly unrestrained question, Ling Feng's thoughts raced.
The system, transmigration, the Clear Sky Hammer being awarded directly... none of this could ever be exposed.
A flash of inspiration struck him as he recalled the original novel's descriptions of the Clear Sky Sect: mysterious and powerful.
A vague excuse took shape in an instant.
He did not answer immediately, merely raising his right hand slightly as it supported the Clear Sky Hammer.
Bathed in the white-gold light of Soul Power, the pitch-black hammer looked even more profound and domineering, its dark-gold patterns flowing slowly as though alive.
Everyone's gaze was involuntarily drawn to that little hammer, and they held their breath.
Ling Feng looked at Su Yuntao, the corners of his mouth slowly curving into an inscrutable smile.