Martial Soul: Black Hole Whale, Innate Full Soul Power

[Douluo Continent · Fasinuo Province · Vast Sea City · Anlan Village]

The light of the array faded.

The deacon leaned forward and looked at the light in the awakening orb, then nodded. "Innate Soul Power, level four. Martial Soul, Flying Fish. Quite good."

"Good!"

"That's wonderful!"

The child's parents, quite pleased with his test results, cheered and hugged their child before leaving with a thousand words of thanks.

The Flying Fish Martial Soul would ensure that their child could come and go freely across the vast sea.

The talent of level-four Innate Soul Power was enough to support their child's advance to the Soul Ancestor realm. In Vast Sea City, which bordered the vast sea, he might even use his Flying Fish Martial Soul to find treasures in the boundless waters. Advancing to Soul King would not be a dream.

That was the possibility of founding a clan.

Yet compared with the parents' jubilation, the deacon was frighteningly calm.

He had seen too much of it here.

"Next, Mu Tian'en."

The deacon glanced at the list and called to the people at the back of the line.

At that moment, a child who was somewhat thinner and taller than the others slowly stepped out of the line. "Here."

After glancing at the ragged clothes on the child named Mu Tian'en, the deacon said nothing more and simply pointed to the awakening array.

The deacon had seen plenty of children dressed in rags like these. He had even discovered quite a few geniuses among them and sent them to Spirit Hall's headquarters.

"Good luck~"

Having himself risen from the ranks of ordinary people to become a deacon of Spirit Hall's main hall, he showed such children the most basic kindness.

Mu Tian'en quietly did as the deacon asked and stood in the center of the array.

Watching the awakening array light up, Mu Tian'en grew solemn.

Over the years, under the protection of Grandpa Village Chief, he had grown to the age of six by fishing and eating meals provided by families throughout the village.

But now that he was growing up, the elderly village chief could no longer provide all the food he needed.

Going hungry one meal and eating his fill the next was a common occurrence.

If the Martial Soul he awakened this time was not very good, he could only inherit his father's fishing net and follow Grandpa Village Chief out to sea to make a living.

But the weather at sea was unpredictable, and countless Sea Soul Beasts lurked there. Even Grandpa Village Chief, a fisherman of several decades, could not guarantee that Mu Tian'en would survive one voyage after another.

Besides, Mu Tian'en still had a blood-deep grudge to avenge.

The tsunami that had turned the entire village into a watery wasteland years ago had been nothing more than a Sea Soul Beast's plaything.

Others could not hear the whale song within the tsunami, but Mu Tian'en had heard it clear as day.

The sight of his parents holding him high and begging the Sea God to let him live played over and over before he awoke in the dead of night.

Quietly watching the array that had nearly completed a circuit around him, Mu Tian'en took a deep breath and suppressed the malice that had filled his heart at the memory of the past. He waited quietly for the deacon's Soul Power to accumulate within the array and complete its activation.

Several breaths later~

The light of Soul Power followed its prescribed path and completed the circuit.

As the array's glow flickered, a terrifying suction began devouring everything around it.

A storm arose in the room Anlan Village had specially prepared for the children's Martial Soul Awakening.

The array began to flicker.

"This is bad!"

The Spirit Hall deacon, who had just been showing only the most basic warmth, suddenly turned grave.

He did not know what had happened during this Martial Soul Awakening, but judging by the feedback from his Soul Power, everything he had injected into the array had been drained in an instant.

A streak of light flashed from his hand.

The deacon awakened his Martial Soul and, under the enhancement of his Soul Skill, reached the array where Mu Tian'en stood in a few quick steps.

He slapped down one hand.

Soul Power poured in.

The Martial Soul Awakening array, which had nearly collapsed because of Mu Tian'en's awakening, stabilized once more.

But before the deacon could wipe away his sweat, he felt the Soul Power of a level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster begin to pour out of him uncontrollably.

The array that had supposedly needed only a little Soul Power to ensure the awakening of dozens of children was now like a bottomless abyss, devouring the Soul Power the deacon had cultivated through hard work.

It cast an almost terrifying shadow without the slightest restraint.

"Woo-ying~"

In the next moment, as though sensing that nothing around him could satisfy his appetite and instinctively reining in his malice, a terrifying phantom slowly closed his mouth and wandered aimlessly through the village square.

The Spirit Hall deacon managed to pull back his hand and stared at the array in horror.

But a moment later, after he had recovered, he looked at Mu Tian'en with an almost fanatical gaze.

"Child, what is your Martial Soul called?"

Vast Sea City bordered the ocean, and many people there had Martial Souls related to the sea. Some had even awakened Martial Souls of whales, those giants of the deep.

But even the largest whale Martial Soul was not as terrifying as the one before him.

Even while it was still small, the heart-stopping suction it stirred up as it swam through the air was enough to announce to everyone that this Beast Martial Soul was top-tier.

"According to the rules, since this Beast Martial Soul is unknown, you have the right to name it."

Mu Tian'en looked at the Martial Soul swimming around him, which he could recall with a single thought, and at the twelve eyes on one side of the whale that were looking at him. He took a deep breath and spoke the name he knew for the whale before him.

"Black Hole Whale. Its name is Black Hole Whale."

After recording the various attributes of the Martial Soul, the deacon led Mu Tian'en to the crystal ball used to test Innate Soul Power.

"Next, we'll test your Soul Power."

Mu Tian'en glanced at the deacon, who no longer looked as exhausted as before, and raised his hand to place it on the crystal ball.

As light shone in all directions, a hint of fanaticism entered the deacon's gaze as he looked at Mu Tian'en.

Although he had already had his suspicions, now that they were confirmed, the deacon's heart still burned with excitement.

"Mu Tian'en, Innate Soul Power, level ten. Martial Soul, Black Hole Whale. Congratulations~"

Taking a deep breath, the deacon put on a serious expression and extended his hand, offering Mu Tian'en an invitation.

"Now, I, Yan Bohan, a deacon of Spirit Hall's main hall, formally invite you to join Spirit Hall."

"I'll send word of your information to headquarters immediately. With your talent, Spirit Hall will surely summon an elder to bring you back to headquarters to cultivate."

"Furthermore, whether you agree or not, you may go to the junior academy affiliated with Spirit Hall's Vast Sea City main hall to cultivate as a junior Soul Master. I will also personally sponsor you with one hundred Gold Soul Coins to ensure that your initial cultivation is not hindered."

"What do you say?"

The Soul Ancestor stared at Mu Tian'en, a hint of calculation in his eyes.

As the main hall deacon who had discovered Mu Tian'en, he already had a bond with the boy. If he were content to remain in this main hall, the merit of discovering Mu Tian'en would be enough to sustain him for a lifetime in Spirit Hall's ledger of merits and demerits.

But he wanted more.

Besides, judging by Mu Tian'en's clothes, he had concluded that the little fellow before him was in great need of his investment.

So it was necessary to gain the little fellow's favor before the elders and protectors from Spirit Hall's Worship Hall arrived.

And even if those elders did not come, he was certain that the little fellow's future was boundless.

An investment that was neither large nor small for a Spirit Hall Soul Ancestor deacon like him was well worth making in exchange for a genius's favor.

At that moment, Mu Tian'en looked at the old deacon, who was now showing him such warmth, and silently wiped his nose. His eyes reddened.

As his stomach rumbled, he nodded solemnly. "Thank you, Grandpa Deacon!"

"Hahaha, since you've called me Grandpa Deacon, Little Tian'en, go sit over there for a while. Once Grandpa Deacon has finished awakening everyone here, I'll take you to get something good to eat."

And so Mu Tian'en sat beside the line, looking with a trace of happiness at Grandpa Village Chief, whose figure had grown thin because of Mu Tian'en's large appetite.

The old village chief now knew that the future of Mu Tian'en, that unfortunate child, was incomparably bright. Seeing the smiling face with its reddened eyes, the old man, who was already accustomed to partings, also showed a hint of a smile.

"Tian'en, you truly have received the grace of heaven and earth!"

Even so, the old man did not hurry over to Mu Tian'en.

The Spirit Hall deacon's visit was the village's major annual event.

Although he had led the village's young and able-bodied men in shutting the muddleheaded parents inside their homes, the old village chief still needed to stay here and keep order. He could not walk away.

Mu Tian'en looked at the old man, who stood upright between heaven and earth despite his thin frame and the countless hardships he had suffered, and said little.

Having been sent to another world by a large truck, he had felt none of the supposed fear and anxiety. He had even quite enjoyed the love of his parents in this world.

After all, he had been an orphan in his previous life.

But after that whale song over the vast sea, everything had been taken from him.

At that thought, his Martial Soul, which had fully awakened through the awakening array, appeared at Mu Tian'en's call and swam around him.

Its almost frenzied devouring power swallowed up all the Innate Soul Power that had surged out of control with Mu Tian'en's emotions, and it blew a few bubbles at him.

Staring at the Martial Soul that had swum up in front of him, Mu Tian'en showed a trace of helplessness.

Mu Tian'en took a deep breath. Looking at the Martial Soul, which had twelve eyes on each side and could be called abnormal compared with ordinary creatures, he took another deep breath and silently calmed the waves in his heart.

At the same time, he quietly moved farther away from the awakening array.

After all, beneath the presence of that absolute predator, the level-twenty-nine Spirit Hall deacon looked quite unwell.

His Martial Soul had also felt the pressure and had gone rigid.

But precisely because of Mu Tian'en's actions, the Spirit Hall deacon, who had nearly run into trouble during the awakening ceremony, quickly hid his unpleasant expression and put on a smile.

The little fellow's Martial Soul was even stronger than he had imagined.

That meant the reward he received from headquarters would be even greater than he had imagined.