As soon as Xiao Yan stepped into this room, he felt a strange sensation.
The Xuan Tian Gong circulating inside his body was somehow affected; its flow was a little faster than usual.
The room was very spacious, covering over three hundred square meters, with a huge floor-to-ceiling window providing ample lighting.
Xiao Yan looked around the room and quickly found the reason why his cultivation method was fluctuating.
Embedded around the four walls were more than a dozen black stones about the size of a fist.
These black stones looked to be made of the same material as those used by Su Yuntao back then to awaken people's Martial Souls.
On the floor, there was a huge emblem shaped like a token — a long sword pointing straight down, aimed exactly at the room's entrance.
Xiao Yan realized this emblem was the same as the one hanging outside the Martial Soul Hall.
Great Soul Master Mashu Nuo noticed Xiao Yan lowering his gaze to the floor pattern and said kindly with a smile, "Our Martial Soul Hall here is the lowest level of Martial Soul Halls, also called a Martial Soul Branch Hall. Even the smallest cities on the continent have Martial Soul Halls of our scale."
Xiao Yan couldn't help but think that since there were Martial Soul Halls in villages and cities alike, their power was truly astonishing. They might as well call the Douluo Continent the Martial Soul Hall Continent.
Mashu Nuo continued, "Above the Branch Hall is the Martial Soul Sub-Hall, and above that is the Martial Soul Main Hall. Only large cities have the Main Halls. The capitals of the two great empires have the fourth-level Martial Soul Sacred Halls."
"The fifth level is the Pope Hall, the most revered place in our Martial Soul Hall system. Above the Pope Hall is only the legendary Douluo Worship Hall."
"Only soul masters who have reached the Title Douluo level can enter there. It's the ultimate destination for all Title Douluo soul masters registered in the Martial Soul Hall and a place all soul masters dream of."
After Mashu Nuo's explanation, Xiao Yan had a rough understanding of the Martial Soul Hall's hierarchy.
On this continent, the Martial Soul Hall was definitely the largest soul master organization, possessing multiple Title Douluos.
Besides this, as he understood more about the world and combined it with his previous thoughts, Xiao Yan suddenly had a possibility in mind — the Martial Soul Hall might have a grudge against him.
When his Martial Soul had its second awakening, he realized that half of his bloodline was from a plant spirit — the bloodline of the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Beast.
Soul Beasts were the prey soul masters hunted to advance.
A soul beast capable of shapeshifting had to be very powerful and was considered a treasure among soul beasts, a deadly temptation for soul masters.
The Martial Soul Hall spread across the continent; as the strongest soul master organization, discovering the Blue Silver Emperor shapeshifting soul beast would be easy.
Putting all guesses together, the truth was probably:
Tang Hao and his brother both loved the Blue Silver Emperor shapeshifting soul beast, but the soul beast chose Tang Hao's brother.
Tang Hao initially tried to win her back, but sadly found the soul beast was already pregnant. Filled with resentment, he deliberately leaked the information to the Martial Soul Hall.
Using their power, he wanted to destroy the two of them.
But things went wrong — the Blue Silver Emperor died, the brother survived, and the plot was exposed.
He could only sneak his brother's child away and hide in a remote village to survive.
There may have been deviations in the process, but Xiao Yan was sure of two points:
One, his birth mother in this world most likely died at the hands of her husband, becoming a soul ring and his source of power.
Two, his background was extraordinary. Even if not from the Martial Soul Hall, it was at least from a large sect with a lineage comparable to the Martial Soul Hall. Only such a powerful bloodline could survive the "human-demon union" without the sect being destroyed.
Of course, if Tang Hao was truly insane enough to lead the entire sect to destruction, that would be another matter.
"Child, we will begin the test now." Mashu Nuo reminded him.
Xiao Yan snapped out of his thoughts and nodded slightly. "Okay. What should I do?"
"Summon your Martial Soul and release your soul ring."
Xiao Yan walked to the spot indicated by Mashu Nuo, raised his right hand, focused his mind, and with Xuan Tian Gong's inner strength flowing, the heat from the Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul slowly surged from his palm.
Blue-gold light flickered, and in an instant, a small cluster of Blue Silver Emperor appeared in his palm.
The crystal-clear grass leaves were much thicker than ordinary Blue Silver Grass, resembling sapphires, extremely beautiful, with golden vein patterns that gave a very special aesthetic.
A blue misty glow radiated from Xiao Yan's body, and the blue light passed over the normally black ten-thousand-year soul ring, which instead slowly rose glowing yellow from his foot.
The soul ring was formed from the memories of a Tang Sect disciple, trained halfway in the hidden weapon style. Xiao Yan disliked that it shone, exposing his location.
After the second awakening and promotion of the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul into the Blue Silver Emperor, he acquired a skill called "Blue Silver Domain."
He originally wanted to use this skill to mask the traces of his soul ring, but now he could only change its color.
"This, this is the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul?" Mashu Nuo had a gentle smile but suddenly looked shocked when he saw the Martial Soul emerging from Xiao Yan's palm. "It's the first time I've seen such a beautiful Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul!"
Mashu Nuo rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't mistaken.
Then his attention shifted to the yellow soul ring on Xiao Yan: "A century soul ring, so it's a century soul ring. No wonder even a 'useless' Blue Silver Grass has undergone such a big change. Child, I don't even know your name."
"My name is Xiao Yan."
Mashu Nuo sighed, calming his excitement. "I can be sure you have a good mentor at Notting Soul Master Academy. It's not easy for a mentor there to help you kill a hundred-year soul beast."
"It's a pity the potential of Blue Silver Grass is too poor, otherwise, you might have achieved something remarkable."
Xiao Yan just smiled lightly.
His Martial Soul was not just an ordinary Blue Silver Grass but an extremely rare Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul.
With a sigh, Mashu Nuo picked up a yellow crystal ball from the desk and walked to Xiao Yan.
"Pour your soul power into this, let me see what level you've reached. Theoretically, you should be at level ten..."
Xiao Yan glanced at the crystal ball, raised his hand, and placed it on the ball. His inner strength surged like a tide, flooding into the crystal ball.
"I wonder how far my inner strength can go..."
With this thought, Xiao Yan gave his all without holding back.
(End of Chapter)