In the northwest of the Heaven Dou Empire of the Douluo Continent,within the branch hall of the Spirit Hall in Lingfeng City, the annual Spirit Awakening was underway.
Several six-year-old children were incredibly nervous.
"Spirit, a disguise? What is that? No spirit power."
"Your spirit, a chess piece? Hmm, quite interesting, but unfortunately, no spirit power either."
"And your spirit is a lemon! It actually has 2.5 level spirit power! Child, you can pursue the path of a food-type support spirit master!"
As the pronouncement fell, the only little girl who had awakened spirit power jumped for joy, singing and dancing. The other two, their faces ashen, hung their heads, silently leaving the awakening room like walking corpses.
Presiding over the awakening was a handsome man dressed in white.
His name was Su Yuntao, the lowest-ranking patrol steward in the Spirit Hall. He was also the weakest.
Originally, he was only responsible for awakening affairs around Notting City.
But for some unknown reason, his superiors had ordered him to come to this remote place.
However,the thought of receiving a generous travel allowance dissipated most of Su Yuntao's resentment.
He unfolded the roster in his hand and announced loudly, "Next, Dongfang Jing."
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowded line of children below parted slightly, and a figure walked out steadily.
Whispers arose around him, especially noticeable in the quiet room, with a few people even pointing and whispering about him.
Su Yuntao was puzzled by this scene,but he only wanted to finish work as soon as possible and didn't investigate further. He coughed lightly twice, his gaze sweeping over the children, instantly silencing them.
Only then did he take a closer look at the boy before him. He wore a white shirt and black trousers, neat and tidy.
His figure was still thin for a child, yet he exuded an air of uprightness.
His back was ramrod straight, and most striking were his short, clean, silver-white hair and his eyes, as black as jade, with a deep, mysterious purple hue flowing within them.
Su Yuntao nodded almost imperceptibly. His mere presence alone was extraordinary.
His face, however, remained expressionless and cold.
"Child, close your eyes and feel it carefully." As Su Yuntao spoke, he completed the Martial Soul Possession, channeling his soul power into six black stones on the ground, instantly causing a brilliant golden light.
Dongfang Jing nodded, watching the golden halo envelop him, and slowly closed his eyes.
His face was calm, but his heart churned with tension and excitement.
'Finally, this day has come.'
He had imagined this moment countless times.
Warm energy flowed into his limbs, as comfortable as soaking in a hot spring.
But the next moment, the world spun!
A strong sense of weightlessness suddenly gripped him, his internal organs being violently ripped apart.
His stomach churned, as if he had fallen into a bottomless abyss.
Before he could adjust, another strange sensation exploded within him.
It wasn't pain, but rather something shattering and peeling away inch by inch.
A sharp, piercing noise suddenly rang in his ears, as if billions of mirrors were shattering simultaneously.
Noise flooded his mind, making him dizzy and almost suffocating.
Outside, Su Yuntao's forehead was beaded with sweat.
Seeing that Dongfang Jing hadn't completed his awakening yet, and that his brows were furrowing deeper as if he were struggling to suppress something,a glimmer of anticipation rose in his heart.
'Could it be?'
Usually, the longer the martial soul awakening takes, the higher the quality of the martial soul; it's definitely not a useless martial soul like the scythe and hoe.
Of course, it's also possible that the martial soul has mutated.
'I just don't know if it's a benign mutation or...'
With a thought, he increased his soul power output again.
At this moment, Dongfang Jing was engulfed by shattering and chaos, the noise almost tearing his mind apart.
Just as he reached a certain critical point!
Utter silence.
The feeling of weightlessness vanished abruptly.
All sound disappeared, leaving only absolute silence.
Dongfang Jing regained his senses, and the previously pitch-black space had disappeared.
He "saw" it.
Above, below, left, right, in all directions, as far as his eyes could see, there were mirrors.
Huge, smooth, cold, boundless mirrors, seamlessly pieced together, stretched to the end of his vision, forming a vast and suffocating cage of mirrors.
In each mirror, his current appearance was clearly reflected.
In the silver-haired boy's purple eyes, there was a rare trace of astonishment and bewilderment.
Countless "himselfs," in countless cold mirrors, looked back at him in the center with the same bewildered eyes.
There was no sound, no warmth.
Only absolute silence and billions of cold reflections.
An unprecedented, bone-chilling sense of cold loneliness washed over him, almost engulfing him.
"The Hall of a Thousand Mirrors?"
A strange term inexplicably surfaced in his mind.
He felt, in a daze, that he had been completely stripped away, isolated from the world.
Just as he was about to be crushed by the billions of reflections and the deathly silence, a powerful pulling force suddenly struck.
The mirror world before him trembled violently, distorted, and shattered with a crash!
The next second, a blinding white light pulled him back to reality.
He heard Su Yuntao's urgent question: "Child, what martial soul have you awakened?"
Dongfang Jing subconsciously opened his palm.
Several cracked fragments of mirror floated silently in his palm, their light dim.
Su Yuntao glanced at them, and his initial expectation vanished instantly.
He sighed in disappointment, his tone tinged with helplessness: "A fragment of a mirror? It's a malignant mutation... Alas."
Perhaps the contrast was too great, leaving him somewhat disheartened, and he couldn't help but say a few more words: "Your martial soul should have originally been a complete mirror, but unfortunately it mutated, and it was a malignant mutation, so the mirror became a shattered one. Alas, it's truly a pity. Mirror martial souls aren't common. If you could cultivate them, pursuing the support path would be excellent."
At the end, he seemed to realize the weight of his words and felt a pang of guilt, so he gently comforted him: "Child, martial soul mutations aren't uncommon. I once heard a rumor that a direct disciple of one of the three upper sects experienced a malignant mutation when awakening his martial soul, turning his top-tier martial soul into a laughable, useless one. So, don't be too sad."
As Su Yuntao spoke, he was completely unaware. He was also completely oblivious.
Behind him, overlapping with the wall, a blurry, illusory figure flashed by.
Su Yuntao didn't see the illusory figure. He took out a crystal ball and said, "Let's test your soul power. If you have it, you can at least cultivate. After all, the shattered mirror might be used as a ranged weapon? Hahahaha!"
Dongfang Jing remained silent, using his mind to retract his martial soul.
His five fingers clenched quietly, his knuckles turning white.
He hadn't listened to Su Yuntao's incessant chatter.
What useless martial soul? How could that be?
Only he knew what he had just experienced.
The weightlessness, the shattering, and the cold loneliness brought by the billions of reflections in the Hall of Ten Thousand Mirrors were still imprinted deep within his body.
He slowly placed his hand on the crystal ball.
In an instant, it shone brightly, dazzlingly!
Su Yuntao suddenly opened his mouth wide, his pupils contracted violently, and he cried out in shock, "This...this could it be innate full soul power?!"
(End of this chapter)