The midday sun blazed like raging flames. Shen Hanyu looked at the line of more than a dozen people in front of him, a strange emotion surging in his heart.
After coming to the Douluo Continent, his thoughts and mindset had changed quite a bit, but facing such a scene still stirred an inexplicable feeling within him.
This emotion was hard to pinpoint; its source or exact sensation was unclear, but it seemed to have always been there, leaving him inexplicably irritated and restless.
The Snow Emperor gently took Shen Hanyu's hand, then released a strand of cold air. The surrounding temperature instantly dropped, and Shen Hanyu felt his mind clear in an instant.
The many boys and girls around them looked curiously at their surroundings. Though the environment hadn't changed at all, the feeling was completely different.
The Snow Emperor glanced at the hidden emotion in the depths of Shen Hanyu's eyes and said softly,
"I don't know what you're thinking, but I can sense you're recalling some unpleasant past events again. Those things still affect you even now, and I don't know how to comfort you, but you just need to know that we..."
Shen Hanyu lowered his gaze, then let out a light chuckle, interrupting the Snow Emperor's words.
"It's not that serious. I just felt a bit emotional for a moment. Every time you all have to coax me, I'm not that fragile..."
The Snow Emperor gave a soft hum and said no more.
Shen Hanyu let out a barely audible sigh, then quickly returned to normal. He took out six awakening stones from his soul guide device and arranged them on the ground in a formation, then brought out a round awakening crystal. After infusing it with soul power, it floated directly into the air.
These were the items he had used when awakening his martial soul at six years old. Later, finding them useless, he had tossed them into his storage soul guide device. Unexpectedly, they came in handy again now.
With a flash of blue light in Shen Hanyu's eyes, under his deliberate disguise, only six normally proportioned soul rings rose around him, and the Cold Sky Spear floated beside him.
"Enter the formation, close your eyes, and carefully sense the soul power and martial soul within your body..."
Shen Hanyu tried to make his voice sound as gentle as possible. The leading girl lowered her head somewhat timidly as she walked into the formation, then obediently closed her eyes and focused as Shen Hanyu instructed.
As a faint blue soul power emerged over the girl's body, a layer of pale blue fish scales slowly covered her exposed skin. At the same time, her lower body transformed into a virtual fish tail, and her dry, cracked skin instantly improved significantly.
After testing her soul power, Shen Hanyu raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised as he said:
"Swordfish martial soul, seventh-ranked soul power."
The girl stared in shock at her hands and body, while the people behind her craned their necks to look, their eyes filled with a mix of fear and intense curiosity.
Shen Hanyu said softly:
"Fourteen years old with seventh-ranked soul power. Work hard for a few more years, and you can become a soul master."
The girl mustered the courage to raise her head and glance at Shen Hanyu, whispered her thanks, then stood there somewhat at a loss...
After the girl left, the next boy timidly stepped forward. Shen Hanyu followed the process, awakening and testing soul power for each one in turn. His tone showed no obvious emotional leakage, even appearing no different from usual...
The Snow Emperor watched Shen Hanyu's actions quietly from the side, a trace of puzzlement appearing in her eyes, but she did not interrupt...
...
Only after the last boy completed the ceremony and returned to the back did Shen Hanyu let out a slight breath of relief.
Most of these boys and girls were over twelve years old, yet almost all were under eighteen. Some had a few ranks of soul power, while others had none at all. By the end of the awakenings, the highest soul power level was still that of the first girl.
But the old man beside them, along with the group of middle-aged men and the women watching from afar at the forest's edge, all showed smiles. For ordinary people, possessing even a few ranks of soul power was already far better than most...
The old man hesitated for a moment, about to say something, when Shen Hanyu's voice interrupted him.
"I have no use for your currency. No need to give me anything, I was just lending a hand..."
The old man opened his somewhat dry mouth but ultimately said nothing...
Shen Hanyu took the Snow Emperor's hand, glanced back at the residents here, and prepared to turn and leave...
But after just two steps, a petite figure suddenly dashed out from the forest. Her pale face flushed red from running, stumbling forward almost step by step until she reached the beach. Almost everyone's attention was drawn to her.
"W-wait... wait!"
A hoarse and faint voice rang out, followed immediately by violent coughing.
The old man's expression changed. He and several middle-aged men hurriedly stepped forward to support her. From the forest behind, a woman also rushed out quickly, her face full of panic.
Shen Hanyu frowned, turned back, and saw a little girl with long gray hair now collapsed in the old man's arms, breathing heavily. Yet her gaze remained fixed on him and the Snow Emperor.
The old man patted the little girl's back to help her breathe, then looked at the panicked woman and scolded:
"How could you not watch little Nian? Don't you know how weak her body is? You..."
The woman was so anxious she nearly burst into tears as she said:
"I only stepped out for a moment to get some food. Little Nian ran out on her own. Who knew, with her body in that condition, she could still run all the way from inside the island to the beach here..."
"Such dense deathly aura..."
The Snow Emperor ignored the others' reactions, staring fixedly at the little girl, her tone carrying some confusion and surprise.
Shen Hanyu couldn't help feeling puzzled as well. According to his spiritual power perception, the deathly aura on this young little girl was even denser than that on some corpses. One could say she exuded thick death energy from the inside out, with no trace of life energy's vitality to be felt. In other words, the life energy in her body seemed to be constantly squeezed and absorbed, her lifespan continuously shortening as a result.
Shen Hanyu and the Snow Emperor exchanged a glance, then slowly walked over to the group.
Several middle-aged men tactfully stepped aside to make room. The Snow Emperor slowly crouched down, extended a finger, and touched the center of the girl's forehead. Icy blue soul power surged. The next moment, the Snow Emperor turned her head and said softly:
"You should take a look yourself..."
Shen Hanyu likewise extended a finger to touch the center of the girl's forehead. A trace of surprise flashed through his eyes as well.
After channeling some gentle soul power to stabilize her condition, Shen Hanyu and the Snow Emperor stepped aside. The Snow Emperor spoke first:
"That girl is practically like a dead person..."
Shen Hanyu rubbed his brow and said:
"There's almost no life energy reaction in her body. Instead, the deathly aura is incredibly dense. Even... I can't sense the existence of a martial soul at all. This situation—it's the first time I've encountered it..."
The Snow Emperor glanced at the old man and the other residents in the distance who were curiously watching them, then said softly:
"In the far north, there are special death calamity soul beasts born from mutations. Their condition seems somewhat similar to this..."
Various thoughts flashed through Shen Hanyu's mind, one after another, only to be ruled out. Finally, even he himself felt somewhat astonished as he said:
"Do you think... there's a possibility that her martial soul is death itself..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are 30 early chapters available on Patreon
[email protected]/facficmax10--------(@→a)