Chapter 2: A world of steel and fire
Xiu Ye and Yu Fei's battle came into a ceasefire when the teacher finally told them that they don't have all day, as there are still more children to be awakened, so, the two promised to each other with their eyes that this battle of theirs would continue later on.
As she watches her ward follow the teacher into the circular building, a trace of unexpected nervousness and hope appeared within Yu Fei's eyes as she clasped her hands together for a prayer.
'Oh Gods of the lost Divine Realm, please, grant your blessings upon Xiu Ye. May his path be full of trials and hardships so he may grow up to be a better person...'
"Achoo! Ugh, did I catch a cold?" Xiu Ye muttered in irritation as he wiped his snot off.
Every single elementary academy would have this circular building. It was called the Awakening Chamber, and it was specifically used to aid six year old children in the awakening of their martial soul. Before the day of the awakening ceremony, the academy would invite a Soul Master from the Spirit Pagoda to conduct the awakening ceremony.
There wasn't just a single awakening area within the Awakening Chamber, rather there were seven floors and within each one was an Awakening Chamber. Xiu Ye was brought to the Awakening Chamber on the third floor.
As soon as he entered the Awakening Chamber, Xiu Ye was dazzled. All of the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling had wonderful inscriptions carved into them to create an elegant, decorative design.
Within the Awakening Chamber was a middle aged man wearing a simple orange robe, that featured the embroidered form of a soul beast.
Xiu Ye heard a lot of stories from the priests and nuns in the orphanage, and within those stories, Soul Masters would always appear. These Soul Masters from the Spirit Pagoda were powerful and mysterious existences. They were an exceptionally special group of Soul Masters and held an extremely majestic status on the Douluo Continent. However, this was the first time he had ever seen one.
"Yo, what up man?" Xiu Ye nonchalantly greeted with a simple smile, not really giving a damn on the status of the person in front of him.
The Soul Master blinked his eyes in surprised at the nonchalant attitude of the child in front of him. Instead of feeling insulted, however, he found it amusing. With a gentle smile on his face he said. "Come here child. Stand in the middle."
Xiu Ye simply nodded and followed the Soul Master's instructions. He walked over and stand in the middle.
The Soul Master nodded in appreciation of the boy's competence to follow instructions quietly.
Right at that moment, a gentle white light shone from the Soul Master's hands and attracted his attention.
That white light, could it be the fabled soul power that only Soul Masters possess?
While under his astonished gaze, the Soul Master raised his right arm slightly. The white light vibrated before flying off towards the sky and blossoming into fireworks that illuminated the Awakening Chamber with its splendor.
Starting from the ceiling, the inscription lines filled with light as it moved towards the walls. It was as if it possessed a strong and revitalizing energy, as well as a life of its own. The lines kept lighting up until they converged below Xiu Ye's feet.
A comfortably numbing energy crept up his legs before entering his body from his heart. Xiu Ye's body couldn't help but tremble as he struggled to hold on. It felt as if his body was being electrocuted.
As Xiu Ye closes his eyes, a set of unknown and strange images played within his mind, like watching a cinema in his past life.
Images of an illusionary fire that does not emit any heat spreads out to form a boundary and wall. The bright light fills his vision of an open, barren desert with monolithic black gears gyrating in the distance. It is a kingdom of rubble littered with thousands, perhaps a countless number, of swords anchored in the ground like grave markers in a wasteland, yet are well preserved. It is a world likened to a steel mill, filled with weapons, flames, and giant gears.
'A desolated world with a unknown amount of blades, what kind of world is this?' Xiu Ye wondered as he watched as the world of weapons details became clearer, but so does a budding headache.
Any person who would saw such a sight of a desolated and lifeless world, would either be of two types of people; one, who's mind is weak and easily shaken would be immediately petrified in place with fear and dread filling them, or, the second type; one, who's mental fortitude and will is beyond of normal, would merely show shock and surprised expressions of such a world existing. Of course there would be a third type, the psychopaths or mentally unstable, that would marvel at such world and orgasm at the spot.
For Xiu Ye's case, however, he was unexpectedly neither of all three types. He merely felt pity, sympathy, nostalgia and longing for such a world. But why? He has never seen not been to this world, so why does he feel he does?
He wanted to watch further for more information at such world but pain started prickling his head like a hangover. A moment later, the headache increased till it felt like a truck hitting his head numerous times; causing him to stop his viewing, though not before getting an image of a bright sun and a strange katana.
The once desolated world brightened as a big and orange-yellow colored sun appeared on the horizon, the clouds unexpectedly dispersed and the machine gears appeared to start moving rapidly!
As the sun's light rays hit the surface of the world, shining down on the numerous weapons, the peerless weapons started shining brightly as the stars of the night sky. They were weapons of old, weapons of heroes from different time, space and reality. They would shine as brightly as they would from their stories.
A sword that was once embedded in a stone which chooses a once and future king. A crimson red spear that always thirst for blood and always strikes at its victims' hearts. A sword-axe that should only be a normal stone slab but was used by one of the most powerful demigods. A dagger that nullifies all magical related.
But they couldn't be compared to one blade whose brilliance is beyond them.
It was a lone katana blade without a hilt embedded atop a hill of powerful swords; all shining brightly, more than almost all blades in this world, as all this swords' origins and power equal to those of great demons and gods, yet, this lone sword blade stood on the hill of legendary swords as it burned and shine like the sun itself, saying that this sword stood above them all.
It was a sword that can purge resentment, cut through bonds, fate, causality, and destiny, and slice through the idea of karma itself.
It was a sword, that no mere mortal can hold, for they would perish after a single powerful swing of it.
That was the last Xiu Ye saw, before he opened his eyes and let out a ear piercing scream.
"Ahhhhhh–!"
Moments prior, from the view of the Soul Master, Xiu Ye's body was already being enveloped in the light, and in turn, was releasing its own light. Within this ancient traditional ceremony, his martial soul had been awakened.
The Soul Master waited for the reveal of the boy's martial soul, when something unexpected happened that made his eyes widened.
Xiu Ye's face, specifically the left side of it, had a cyan colored lines running down from his upper forehead, to his left eye, then to the lower left side of his jaw. Add two horizontal cyan lines by the boy's neck middle area, which probably connected around behind the boy's neck. The Soul Master could swear that under the boy's shirt; he saw more cyan lines running down like what circuit lines would in some soul machines.
"What is going on...?" The Soul Master muttered in confusion as he studied the changes on the boy's body, then had his jaw dropped as he now felt what the cyan lines were flowing throughout Xiu Ye's body.
"Soul Power!? B-But this much? From what I could feel, this boy's soul power would be at the same level as mine; rank 29! Am I imagining this? No wait, his soul power's concentrated amount level equals to that of mine while his real soul power rank is... 10? Phew, for a second there I thought... Hold up." The Soul Master's mind froze for a moment before restarting as the realization hit him.
"Innate Full Soul Power..." During the Spirit Awakening Ceremony, those who have already reached Rank 10 or even higher in Soul Power are known as having Innate Full Soul Power. In the ancient era and the modern era, it is used as a gauge of how talented a Soul Master is for combat cultivation. Although it doesn't really mean much, as given the history of the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, even still, for a child to have an innate soul power is very surprising. More so, as those with Innate Full Soul Power usually are twin martial souls!
"This is the first time, that I have awakened a child's martial soul with a full innate soul power. Not only that, but it's quality equals to that of a Soul Grandmaster, how terrifying is this child's talent? Especially if he awakens two martial souls!" The Soul Master muttered in shock, his face completely godsmack then slowly turned into excitement.
"Compared to that strange boy with the blue silver grass, this boy is much more interesting! If I tell the higher ups about this, I'm going to get promoted! I'll probably be moved to a Seven-layered Spirit Pagoda, or even, a Thirteen-layered Spirit Pagoda! Oh this is going to be–" As the Soul Master uncharacteristically hop around in excitement and joy, even doing a small dance, before he recoiled back in shock as he heard Xiu Ye let out a loud scream of pain. An ordinary child usually wouldn't feel too much during their Awakening, but an extremely low number of them would experience intense pain due to their weak bodies being unable to bear the energy.
The Soul Master's body disappeared in a flash and appeared in front of Xiu Ye. In case the situation truly did take a turn for the worse, he would immediately stop the ceremony and ensure Xiu Ye's safety.
Under the Soul Master's astonished gaze, a faint energy undulated as it was emitted from Xiu Ye's body. This energy originated from his lower abdomen, the most common place for soul power to appear from. What was most peculiar about it, is that it releases an intense heat akin to a hot fire while the cyan lines on Xiu Ye's body glowed.
As the Soul Master watched Xiu Ye, the latter suddenly opened his eyes and started raising his right hand. On his right hollow palm, orange-yellow flames burst to life at the size of seven inches in height and three inches in width. Unexpectedly causing the temperature in the room to increase exponentially, to the point that some parts of the room started to melt.
Even the Soul Master sweated under the intense heat. However, his eyes stayed on Xiu Ye's palm as he tried to guess on the identity of the martial soul.
"So only one huh... A tool soul type martial soul with a high tier fire affinity so intense that it could affect those of a higher soul ring cultivation? There's thousands of fire martial souls out there in the three continents but not a single one has this kind of description. Unless its, no, it couldn't possibly be... No. That's just mere myth, something that couldn't be true. It's been more than ten thousand years since anything... since the founder..." The Soul Master started muttering, expressions of disbelief, fear and dread on his face, before he quickly shook it off for he couldn't believe the martial soul of Xiu Ye to be 'that'.
As the Soul Master ponder through the categories of fire type martial souls that he could remember, a sudden change in Xiu Ye's palm where the flame emitted occured.
The flame on his hand wavered and flickered, as if it were about to be extinguished, but it was proven to be incorrect as a long purple hilt of a unknown sword, with a golden end and golden diamond designs on either sides of the hilt, along with a golden flame designed hand guard, appeared in Xiu Ye's right palm with intense orange red flames dancing around it.
The Soul Master and Xiu Ye watched as the hilt of an unknown sword slowly pulled out into the air by an unknown force, revealing to the only two viewers in the room the sword.
It was a long one-edged sword completely covered in flames with a slight curve at the near end, its blade edge was a pristine sharp white with the back part colored black. Shockingly the heat from the blade had further increased the temperature around the room to abnormal levels!
Parts of the room melted into liquid, soul inscriptions around the room combusted and fried, the Soul Master sweated bullets as he felt the heat, thankfully he covered his body in time with Soul Power or his clothes would have burst into flames.
'Such powerful flames...' Surprisingly, Xiu Ye remained normal by such heat. Heck, his clothes didn't even caught on fire, like what the Soul Master's would have if he didn't covered his body in soul power.
He merely felt warmth and comfort from the flaming sword on his hand. As if he were covered in a layer of a protective blanket.
As he took a closer look of his martial soul, he narrowed his eyes as a suspicion rose in his mind.
'Wait a second, why does this sword look so familiar...?'
The two occupants of the room then had their jaws dropped in shock for two different reasons.
The Soul Master was shocked, because at the display of the powerful flaming sword emitting such intense heat.
While Xiu Ye was of total disbelief; for this sword in front of him was something he had once saw in his past life.
A sword that spews the flames of the first star of the universe. It was a sword that can annihilate everything in its path without obstruction.
Flowing Blade-Like Flame, Ryūjin Jakka.
...
"...What was that?" A little girl mumbled as she hugged her knees in confusion. She looked to be around five or six years with a head of short silver hair and crystal pair of amethyst eyes. She wore shabby clothes in addition to a dirt stained face, clearly resembling a little beggar.
Unknown to her, a seven-colored ring momentarily lit up between her eyes before disappearing.
...
Within the deepest parts of the Douluo Planet, two pairs of eyes widened as they felt a small fluctuation of a small plane appearing for a moment before disappearing right after. It didn't just end there, they also felt the second energy of the world around them fluctuate and undulate.
Magic.
"What was that?" A middle-aged man asked: dressed in plain clothes, tall, a head of short hair like steel needles, his eyes radiating power and as determined as an ancient evil god. His whole body bulged with muscle, and in his right hand was an incomparably enormous black giant hammer, with a head the size of a barrel, on which a golden pattern could be glimpsed, as well as a strange white pattern.
"I-I don't know." A pale, beautiful woman with long silver-blue hair shook her head. Her features are lovely, with cool blue eyes, perfect skin, and rosy lips. She wore a flowing white and blue sundress, decorated with vines and flowers.
The man's eyes narrowed as he contemplates on what this means.
The only two gods in this world, and strongest ones at that, had felt a surge of abundant unknown energies appearing in the Douluo Planet.
Normally this wouldn't get their attention, especially since there's a few hidden small worlds, artificial small planes, and even a fucking different world trying to conquer this one.
But that world they momentarily felt, it wasn't anything they ever felt before.
It was a world, brimming with limitless powerful weapons and armors; most at the least level of being a mortal weapons but the most powerful ones are at the level of a ultra divine weapon! Not only that, but they knew for certain that they had felt a small sun in that world.
It wasn't like those martial souls that said is the very sun itself, but in truth are actually artificial and could only amount to the power of a star, and the one they had felt was a real powerful sun, albeit a young one from what they felt momentarily.
A world with divine weapons, magic and a real sun, how could they just let it be? This world could be a threat, due to certain parties that would use such powerful plane of existence.
"Problem is, the location of that world was blocked from our divine senses..." The man mumbled in frustration.
The woman sighs, this case would normally be a account of bad but they knew of a certain individual that could easily bypass their senses and mess with them. As not even the Abyss Sacred Monarch would be able to.
"That unruly bastard, just what is he doing this time?"
...
In an unknown location...
"Sorry about that everyone but, I can't let you become a nuisance for him just yet..." A male roughish voice resounded the entire throne room.
The room was a 100 meters in height and 250 in width. The floor, ceiling and the walls were white in color with many large windows on both sides of the room. Numerous pillars stood tall supporting the ceiling, all built in two sides of a red carpet heading towards the single throne of the room, while many flags adorned the sides of the pillars with flaming lotus insignias.
The throne, it was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, for it was made with two hundred thousand blades of the divine level. It looked like a certain throne of iron but white with gold streamlining in color.
Sitting on that said throne, was a black cloaked wearing hooded man that only displayed his lower face. He was sitting casually on the throne, crossing his right leg on his other, his right elbow on the throne's armrest and his chin on his right hand fist.
He looked completely out of place, with what he was wearing, but anyone who knew this place would immediately point at this person as the owner.
The man's lips upturned into a smirk.
"The pieces has finally been set... Tang San, Huo Yuhao, I hope you two better make it quick." The man lifted his left hand and a burst of white flames appeared, lighting the entire room in its white ethereal bright light, while the smirk on the man's lips widened further.