"Now that your Martial Soul has awakened, step aside quickly."
Watching the uncle and nephew fooling around, Yan Jun's face didn't look too pleased. Still, he didn't want to be too harsh, so he cleared his throat and reminded them.
At his age, close to retirement, he wasn't interested in managing anything anymore. All he wanted was to stay out of trouble and avoid any mess splashing onto him.
"Yes, Senior, we'll move right away."
Chen Ming's second uncle respectfully cupped his fists toward Yan Jun, then grabbed Chen Ming by the shoulders and hauled him to the side.
In Biluo City, the rule was clear: no matter what Martial Soul you awakened—whether it was useless or a powerful one—you had to stay at the site until the awakening ceremony was fully completed before heading home. This rule had been around for hundreds of years, and even though the Chen family might have things to deal with, they couldn't break it. All they could do was wait.
Once Chen Ming was pulled to the side, the crowd instinctively stepped back a bit. In a place like Biluo City, where poisonous creatures roamed everywhere, any sane person knew to keep a safe distance. Curiosity might kill a cat, but in Biluo City, it killed people too. Here, if you were too curious, you either learned to suppress it or didn't live long enough to learn.
Hadn't they just seen a Rank 40 Soul Sect nearly get poisoned earlier? If a Soul Sect could get hit that hard, what chance did they have? Even if an antidote could save you, why suffer in the first place?
So, everyone kept watching—but from a safe distance.
Chen Ming's second uncle coughed twice, made a clawing gesture with his hand at chest level, and then pressed downward.
"Calm your mind, focus. Feel your heartbeat and that sensation flowing through your body with every breath and beat, like your blood—that's your soul power. Then, picture yourself relaxing, sinking into a soft bed. Sense the extra weight on your chest and gently push it back into your body."
Families of Soul Masters often taught their kids how to sense soul power in more detail than the Martial Soul Hall did, but this method still had a mystical vibe to it. "The extra weight on your chest" was pretty abstract for most children, and overthinking it could make it harder to pull back their soul power.
Luckily, Chen Ming wasn't just any kid—he had the mindset of an adult from his past life. After thinking it over for a moment, he got into the right state of mind.
The process of retracting his Martial Soul and soul power went smoothly. But during the process, Chen Ming felt something... unusual.
It was a force—something abstract, impossible to describe in simple words, yet somehow omnipresent, something anyone could touch at any time.
It felt familiar but couldn't be pinned down with any concrete description.
If he had to describe it... it felt like some kind of spiritual or conceptual energy?
Did every Soul Master on Douluo Continent feel this way when activating and retracting their Martial Soul? Or was he different because he was a transmigrator, with some unique trait in his soul? Or... could it be that he had some hidden golden finger (a cheat or superpower) he hadn't discovered yet?
These thoughts ran through Chen Ming's mind as he reached out and touched his left arm, exposed outside his torn clothes. Though his skin felt tougher and his muscles were swollen, it didn't seem much different from before his Martial Soul awakened. There was no sign of the hard shell that had appeared earlier.
During his Martial Soul possession, his body had bulked up dramatically, and his arms had been covered in a layer of armored shell. Because of this, his clothes were now tattered, especially around the arms.
Soul Master families usually considered the risk of kids "hulking out" and tearing their clothes during Martial Soul awakening, so Chen Ming's clothes were made of a stretchable fabric. But even that hadn't helped much—his Martial Soul's toxins had a corrosive effect that damaged the fabric, leaving him in this messy state.
Chen Ming didn't care, though. He looked ragged, sure, but it wasn't like he was naked. If looking a bit rough meant he had a stronger Martial Soul, every single person on Douluo Continent would probably choose to run around naked during the awakening ceremony if they could.
The ceremony continued, but no other kids caught much attention.
Among all the children awakened this year, Chen Ming had the highest innate soul power—Level 5. Out of the 15 kids, only one didn't awaken any soul power, and most others hovered around Levels 2 or 3. The second-highest was a kid with Level 4 soul power, whose Martial Soul was just an ordinary venomous snake—nothing special.
Once the ceremony ended, Chen Ming's second uncle immediately scooped him up and, using his soul power, dashed madly toward the Chen family's home, ignoring the curious looks around them.
When they were still a few hundred meters away from home, a powerful soul force surged out from the Chen family's direction. An old man, looking strong and fierce, came charging over.
"Are we under attack? I want to see who dares stir up trouble in front of my Chen family!"
A chilling aura enveloped the old man's body, and behind him, a faint image of an emerald-green poisonous scorpion flickered. His four soul rings—two yellow, two purple, and one black—glowed in the optimal configuration. His sharp gaze swept the seemingly calm street like a hawk, his voice as cold as a deep winter wind.
"Dad, there's no enemy. It's something else. Let's just head home first."
Seeing his father's aggressive stance, Chen Ming's second uncle realized immediately that the old man had mistaken their fast return for being chased by enemies.
Looking at the ground corroded by the old man's leaked soul power, he didn't need to guess how furious the old man was. If he didn't explain quickly, he'd probably end up hanging from the rafters getting spanked.
"Tsk, I haven't stirred up trouble and gotten chased in the city for ages..." the middle-aged man muttered under his breath.
"You brat, there'd better be something serious going on..."
Hearing there was no enemy, the old man's overwhelming aura faltered for a moment. Feeling Chen Ming's eyes on him, he looked a bit embarrassed, snorted coldly, and flicked his sleeves before turning around.
He knew his second son could be a bit wild, but he usually didn't mess up too badly. If he said there was something important, then there probably was. Still, making a scene like this in front of his only grandson—it was a bit awkward.
Fortunately, since Chen Ming's second uncle had rushed back at full speed, the other factions hadn't had time to report back yet, and there weren't many spies hanging around the Chen family's gate. The usual vendors and pedestrians had already been scared off by their overwhelming aura, so not many people witnessed the whole scene.
(End of Chapter)