The color returned to Shi Yan's face in an instant. His tightly furrowed brows did not relax, but the muscles at the corners of his mouth were no longer tense.
The aura of Soul Power in the dantian, which was initially violent and disorderly, gradually subsided, condensed, and rotated—ultimately transforming into a stable pale golden light that even ordinary team members could see with the naked eye.
"It's done." Dugu Bo said, his voice carrying a rare hint of approval.
As soon as he finished speaking, a deep, resonant bell-like sound erupted from Shi Yan's dantian.
It was an echo from the depths of space, ancient and distant, as if countless layers of space had been opened and closed in that instant. The sound of the bell reverberated, and the mountain walls behind the mountain shook three times, startling the birds perched in the forest into flight.
Shi Yan opened his eyes.
A pale golden halo flashed briefly in the depths of his pupils. He looked down at his hands, his fingertips trembling slightly—the feeling was hard to describe, as if there had always been an invisible bottleneck in his dantian, causing his Soul Power to be blocked at a certain point.
Now that bottleneck has disappeared. Soul Power flows freely through the meridians without any hindrance.
He remembered the scene when his Martial Soul Awakening at the age of six. The level eight he measured at that time was not bad among ordinary people, but it was still a step behind when compared to true geniuses.
Now, he could clearly feel that the speed and smoothness of his Soul Power circulation had reached the same level as those geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power.
"My Martial Soul..." Shi Yan's voice trembled slightly, filled with disbelief, "Has evolved?"
He raised his hand and made a grasping motion, trying to activate his Martial Soul as usual. But this time, what came from his palm was not ordinary sound wave vibration, but layer upon layer of spatial ripples.
He could feel the thickness and distance of each layer of space, like countless layers of transparent walls stacked together, through which his bell could penetrate freely.
Feng Xiaotian stared at the spatial ripples spreading across his palm, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly spoke, "The bell tolls silently, piercing through space. This is the true form of your Martial Soul. From today onward, it is called the Void Resonance Bell."
Shi Yan raised his head and met Feng Xiaotian's gaze. In that gaze were relief, certainty, and a complex emotion that Shi Yan couldn't quite understand.
Dugu Bo narrowed his emerald eyes slightly. "This boy Shi Yan's previous bell- Shi Yan Bell Martial Soul was merely a facade; his spatial attribute was always locked beneath his Innate Soul Power deficiency. The Soul Core filled that gap, allowing his true Martial Soul to emerge. Name it 'Void Resonance Bell,' a good name."
"What about the level?" Feng Xiaotian asked.
Shi Yan closed his eyes and sensed for a moment. When he opened them again, his face was full of disbelief. "Level 37. Jumped from level 34 to level 37."
Three promotions in a row! A suppressed gasp rippled through the training ground.
Shi Yan's success was like a fire, completely igniting the fighting spirit of everyone present. The original doubts and curiosity were burned away, replaced by burning gazes and eager expressions.
Bai Yu sat down second, Su Mei'er third, then Jiang Lin, Lu Hanxiao, Zhong Yue, Lu Qing, Ji Ning, and Cheng Luo —one after another, no one hesitated anymore.
A soft, earthy-yellow light shone from Bai Yu's body, and the phantom of a majestic mountain appeared behind him, with an ancient wind Wind Chime hanging on the mountain peak. The Mountain God Bloodline Second Awakening, and the accuracy of the Martial Soul Wind Chime increased threefold, jumping to level thirty-seven.
Su Mei'er's situation is the most unique. Her Wind-Winged Spirit Fox Martial Soul grows a tail every time it obtains a Soul Ring, and each tail controls a different element.
She now possesses the tails of four elements: wind, thunder, fire, and water. Among them, fire and ice have been tempered to the Ultimate Attribute level by the Primordial Martial Awakening Pill.
The four elements intertwined and collided in her dantian, the wind fueling the fire, the water stirring up lightning, none of the four forces willing to yield. Her body temperature began to fluctuate violently, and suddenly a gale arose around her, then electric arcs leaped, then waves of heat rose, and then frost condensed.
Feng Lingtian's expression changed drastically, and he took a step forward.
A hand pressed down on his shoulder. It was Dugu Bo.
"Don't move." The Old Poison's emerald eyes were fixed on Su Mei'er's dantian, his voice low. "She's trying to find her balance. If you interfere now, all four elements will backfire, and even a god couldn't save her."
Feng Lingtian clenched his fists and abruptly stopped in his tracks.
Su Mei'er did not forcibly suppress any element, but instead used the wind as a guide to wrap the three forces of thunder, fire, and water layer by layer into the eye of the wind.
Deep within the dantian, the four elements gradually ceased their conflict and began to revolve around the same core—like four stars of different colors, captured by the same gravitational force, running on their respective orbits.
A beam of light, interwoven with four colors, shot into the sky from her body. The Soul Core revealed an astonishing appearance—its core was a rapidly rotating eye of wind, surrounded by three halos of purple, red, and blue light, corresponding to lightning, fire, and water, respectively. The red firelight and blue waterlight intertwined, faintly forming a miniature Tai Chi diagram—a delicate balance achieved by the Ultimate Fire and Ultimate Ice under the constraint of the eye of wind.
As the beam of light dissipated, Su Mei'er opened her eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air.
"Level 38." She looked down at her palm, a slow smile curving her lips. "All four elements can be manipulated simultaneously."
Upon hearing this, even Dugu Bo showed a serious expression. Simultaneous control of multiple elements meant that her tactical combinations on the battlefield would increase exponentially.
Breakthroughs followed one after another. Jiang Lin's Spirit Eyes's predictive range expanded from thirty steps to forty-two steps, and a faint silver halo appeared deep within his pupils.
After Lu Hanxiao condensed his Soul Core, the cold aura around him solidified more than twice as much. With a flap of his wings, the cold wind condensed into two sharp blade-like beams of energy at the tips of his wings. Zhong Yue's defensive shield, enhanced by the Soul Core, increased in thickness and toughness by at least 40%. He tried to withstand a wing slash from Lu Hanxiao, but the shield remained completely unmoved.
Lu Qing and Ji Ning completed their condensation almost simultaneously. Lu Qing's Wind Scythe Martial Soul, enhanced by the Soul Core, shone with explosive power. With a casual wave of his hand, three cyan wind blades shot out, leaving three deep, parallel marks on the stone wall ten steps away, the cuts as smooth as a mirror.
Ji Ning's Hummingbird Martial Soul was known for its speed, and after the Soul Core was condensed, his short-distance sprint speed increased by at least 30%.
Cheng Luo was the most composed of everyone. He was already the highest level in the team, and his level 37 foundation gave him more composure when condensing his Soul Core than others.
An hour later, he opened his eyes, stood up with a steady breath, and his Soul Power Level was firmly at level thirty-nine.
Su Ran and Ye Qingyu completed their soul core formation in their support positions. The moment Su Ran's Wind Grain Martial Soul's Soul Core took shape, the healing effect of the rice increased by nearly 50%. When she crushed a single Wind Grain Seed, the released Soul Power fluctuations were more than twice as intense as before. Ye Qingyu's Wind Zither Martial Soul's sonic healing efficiency increased by 40%. When her fingertips plucked the strings, even the surrounding wind seemed to resonate in harmony.
While assisting his teammates, Feng Lingtian completed his own condensation. In his dantian, the Soul Core showed a faint bluish-gray hue—it shared the same origin as Feng Qingxuan's Peregrine Falcon Soul Power, and was also mixed with the unique Fire Attribute condensed from long-term fire control during pill refining.
He closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, discovering that his judgment of the flame's temperature had reached a level of accuracy he had never dared to imagine before.
By the time the last person finished condensing, it was already late at night.
The lights on the training field shone with an orange glow onto the faces of every sweaty but excited young man and woman. Feng Xiaotian personally tallied the changes in each person's level.
" Shi Yan, level 37. Bai Yu, level 37. Su Mei'er, level 38. Jiang Lin, level 38. Lu Hanxiao, level 36."
Feng Lingtian, Level 38. Su Ran, Level 36. Ye Qingyu, Level 36. Zhong Yue, Level 38. Lu Qing, Level 38. Ji Ning, Level 36. Cheng Luo, Level 39.
Feng Xiaotian withdrew his gaze, swept it over the twelve people, and finally a rare smile appeared on his lips.
"You twelve people range in level from level 36 to level 39, with an average level of 37."
He didn't include himself. Feng Xiaotian, level 58, stood under the lamp, looking at his teammates who had just completed their transformation, a hint of barely perceptible pride in his eyes.
Cheng Luo asked, "Captain, don't you need to condense your Soul Core?"
Feng Xiaotian shook his head. "I'm suppressing my level. If I focus on condensing now, my level will inevitably break through, which will actually affect the competition. You guys go ahead, and I'll catch up after the competition."
The training ground fell silent for a moment, then erupted in deafening cheers.
Zhong Yue punched Shi Yan on the shoulder. "Good lad, you were the first to step forward, and you're the one who got promoted three ranks in a row!"
Shi Yan grinned, but his eyes were a little red. He looked down at his hands—just a few hours ago, these hands couldn't even clench into fists because of the words " Trash Martial Soul ".
There is a Soul Core slowly rotating in his dantian, and with a flip of his palm, he can create ripples in space.
He raised his head and looked at Feng Xiaotian: "Captain, eleven months from now, I want everyone to hear the sound of the Void Resonance Bell."
Feng Xiaotian didn't say anything, but simply reached out and patted his shoulder.
Dugu Bo stood in the shadows at a distance, watching the cheering teenagers, and a genuine smile appeared on his face, a rare occurrence for him.
Just then, his smile suddenly froze.
He turned his head sharply, his emerald eyes fixed on a certain direction behind the mountain—there, he sensed an extremely faint fluctuation of Soul Power.
The fluctuation lasted for less than a breath before disappearing without a trace, but Dugu Bo was absolutely certain that the level of that aura was no lower than his own. In fact, it might even be higher.
Dugu Bo squinted and stared at the dark forest for a long time. There was nothing there, only the rustling of the night wind through the treetops.
He didn't disturb anyone. The children were still cheering, Feng Xiaotian was being hugged by Zhong Yue, and Shi Yan was grinning foolishly with his hands clasped in his palms. No one noticed the Old Poison's suddenly tense back.
Dugu Bo slowly withdrew his gaze, a nonchalant smile returning to his lips, but the wariness in his eyes remained. He turned and stepped into the shadows, silently stealthily heading towards the back of the mountain.
The cheers from the back hill continued, carrying far and wide through the January chill.
In the night sky, unseen by anyone, a silver-gray Peregrine Falcon spread its wings, glided silently through the moonlight, and disappeared above the clouds.
If someone were to get a closer look, they would see a remarkably human-like smile flash deep within the Peregrine Falcon's pupils.
That smile held a mixture of relief, anticipation, and a barely perceptible hint of pride.