"Innate full soul power? A Body Martial Soul?"
Spirit Pagoda Master An Ya stared at the test results, then turned to Huo Yuhao in astonishment.
The annual Awakening Day was meant for families who could not afford a martial soul awakening; the parents in such families were, almost without exception, ordinary people.
Naturally, the odds of finding a genius among them dropped sharply—let alone a genius with innate full soul power and a top-grade Body Martial Soul.
That was right. A top-grade martial soul.
The girl was a top graduate of an advanced Soul Master academy who had earned a post as a Spirit Pagoda Master in the Spirit Pagoda. Once she learned that Huo Yuhao's martial soul was a Body Martial Soul, she began to form a theory about its true nature.
By Soul Master theory, innate soul power was closely bound to the quality of the martial soul. This child had innate full soul power, so his could not be any ordinary Body Martial Soul.
And Body Martial Souls were classified according to the human organ involved: the more vital the organ, the higher the quality of the martial soul.
Eyes alone could hardly be called vital by any measure—but add the brain that was connected to them, and everything changed. That would make it the very finest of Body Martial Souls, and a spiritual-attribute Body Martial Soul at that!
What mattered most in this era?
Spiritual power!
Spiritual power was intimately tied to Soul Spirits. Without a sufficient spiritual power realm, one could not absorb a Soul Spirit.
Many Soul Masters were stuck at a bottleneck, unable to break through, precisely because their spiritual power fell short and could not accommodate a new Soul Spirit. Spiritual-attribute Soul Masters held a natural advantage in this regard.
Give a spiritual-attribute Soul Master with innate full soul power proper training, and becoming a Titled Douluo would be no hardship at all!
At that thought, An Ya's eyes lit up as she looked at Huo Yuhao.
A genius! And a commoner-born genius with no faction and no backing!
As everyone knew, a genius like this meant results!
An Ya crouched down and smiled. "Little Huo Yuhao, would you like to join the Spirit Pagoda? If you do, your talent is enough to earn you a suitable Soul Spirit for free—that would save your mom and dad a great deal of money."
"I don't have parents."
Huo Yuhao's brow twitched, and he repeated the words without any change of expression.
"And I remember that if one's martial soul is good enough and one cultivates quickly, the first Soul Spirit can be obtained from the Spirit Pagoda for free."
Uh-oh. She hadn't talked him into anything, and it seemed she had stepped on a landmine besides.
Watching Huo Yuhao's expression, An Ya felt her results and her bonus slipping away, and her supervisor's roar drawing near.
You can't even coax a child—what use are you!
"Excuse me, where do you buy Soul Spirits?"
An Ya answered on reflex. "Hundred-Year Soul Spirits are sold on the second floor... No, wait. Big Sister will take you to have your spiritual power and physical condition tested first. Only once we confirm those can we find the Soul Spirit that suits you best. Don't worry, there's no charge!"
With that, An Ya crisply produced her Communicator and dialed two numbers in a row. One was to a colleague, asking him to come and take over her shift early; the other was to her supervisor, reporting the news about Huo Yuhao up the chain.
Only after all that did An Ya look up and smile at Huo Yuhao. "Come on, I'll take you to the testing room."
A flicker passed through Huo Yuhao's eyes. He did not call her out on the stalling, and nodded obediently.
Her movements had not escaped him—but he had intended to join the Spirit Pagoda outright from the start, so of course he would not refuse.
…
"Physical condition on par with a Great Spirit Master? Spiritual power of three hundred? Mid Spirit Connection Realm?"
An Ya stared at the instrument, dumbfounded, unsure whether her eyes were failing her or the instrument was broken.
The physical condition she could understand. The spiritual power was the problem.
Spiritual power realms, from lowest to highest, numbered six in all: the Spirit Origin Realm, the Spirit Connection Realm, the Spirit Sea Realm, the Spirit Abyss Realm, the Spirit Domain Realm, and the Divine Origin Realm.
Below one hundred spiritual power was the Spirit Origin Realm, able to absorb only Soul Spirits under a hundred years. One hundred to five hundred was the Spirit Connection Realm—and only upon reaching it could one absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit!
With spiritual power of three hundred, if his physical condition were not holding him back, he could contract a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit right now!
Even with a spiritual-attribute martial soul, spiritual power should not be this high right after awakening... should it?
"Can I go look at the Soul Spirits now?"
Huo Yuhao looked at the stunned An Ya and asked, while shifting his gaze toward the doorway.
Because of his transmigration and re-cultivation, his spiritual power had always been extraordinary, and with the Tianmeng Iceworm's Origin empowerment on top of that, this figure was not even high.
In fact, the measured number was already the result of him holding back.
An Ya came back to herself. Assuming he truly wanted a Soul Spirit, she was about to speak when she saw a middle-aged man walk in through the doorway.
At the sight of him, a flash of surprise crossed An Ya's eyes, and she hastily bowed with great respect. "Greetings, Pagoda Master."
"Mm. Well done." Hua Yichen nodded to her, then looked at Huo Yuhao with a kindly smile. "I am Hua Yichen, Pagoda Master of the Spirit Pagoda's East Sea City branch."
"Child, would you be willing to join our Spirit Pagoda? The Spirit Pagoda is the foremost power on the Douluo Continent. Only by joining us can you bring your talent to full flower and become a Titled Douluo!"
He had received the report and come to take a look on a whim, never expecting such a tremendous surprise.
Innate full soul power, a spiritual-attribute martial soul, physical condition comparable to a Great Spirit Master, innate spiritual power already at the Spirit Connection Realm—talent like this would draw the highest level of attention even at the Spirit Pagoda headquarters, to say nothing of East Sea City!
Especially that spiritual power figure. No one of his age could possibly surpass the child standing before him!
Hua Yichen went on, "If you are willing to join, I dare guarantee that you will receive the finest training and treatment. Not only Soul Spirits—even Soul Bones and Battle Armor could be yours."
Carried away by excitement, Hua Yichen made a weighty promise, heedless of whether a child could even understand such concepts.
Huo Yuhao was silent for a while, then smiled.
"I've always been curious about Soul Spirits—I want to know how they are formed. Since you are the Pagoda Master, Uncle, could you teach me about that? If you can, I am willing to join the Spirit Pagoda."
Since the branch Pagoda Master himself had come, there was no need to feign reluctance. A man of his standing could provide an ideal environment for his early cultivation.
Hua Yichen was stunned.
Not because it was too hard, but because it was too easy.
No complications, no twists—the heavens had simply handed him a top-tier genius of the continent for free.
What, study Soul Spirits? Ha! Was he, the Pagoda Master of a Spirit Pagoda branch, unable to supply Soul Spirits for Huo Yuhao to study? How was that any different from getting him for nothing? Besides, with Huo Yuhao's talent, what Soul Spirit would he not be able to have in the future?
And in any case, researching Soul Spirits was the Spirit Pagoda's own core work. Nothing remarkable about it.
As expected: precocious as he seemed, he was still a child, unaware of what his talent could bring him.
Still, Hua Yichen had no wish to cheat a gifted child, so he answered at once. "Agreed! Any Soul Spirit East Sea City possesses, you may study. And from now on I will guide your cultivation and be your... temporary teacher."
He very much wanted to take Huo Yuhao as a disciple.
But the Douluo Continent set great store by lineage, and East Sea City was too small. With his talent, Huo Yuhao was destined to go and develop at headquarters; if one of those great figures took an interest in him, a master-disciple tie made now would only cause trouble then.
Better not to take him in, and let Huo Yuhao go to headquarters unencumbered, leaving both sides on good terms.
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao's thoughts raced. His long years of experience let him see through Hua Yichen's thinking with ease.
A smooth operator—it would make dealing with him much easier in the future.
At that, Huo Yuhao smiled faintly and gave a slight bow. "Greetings, Teacher."
In the Way there is no first or last; whoever has attained it is the teacher.
When it came to understanding the present era, Hua Yichen far surpassed him. Even the Soul Spirit system he himself had created had changed in some respects over ten thousand years of evolution, and Hua Yichen could bring him up to speed on the relevant knowledge as fast as anyone could.
So Huo Yuhao's bow was utterly sincere.
"Good, good, good!"
Hua Yichen said the word three times, stepped forward to take Huo Yuhao by the wrist, and turned to the dazed An Ya. "You won't be doing Soul Spirit service work anymore. I'll arrange a new post for you."
An Ya snapped back to attention, her eyes shining, and accepted with delight. "Yes, sir!"
That settled, Hua Yichen smiled at Huo Yuhao. "You have innate full soul power, so you can absorb a Soul Spirit directly. I'll take you to see the Soul Spirits right now!"
Chapter 4