Chapter 19: Black Iron Awakening

Chapter 19: Black Iron Awakening

Frowning, Qian Daolu sized up Wang Si, then stealthily glanced at his granddaughter, lost in thought. He felt that the relationship between his granddaughter and this brat wasn't as... eerie as the Douluo had made it out to be.

"Xue'er, don't you find this brat a bit annoying?" Qian Daolu stroked his chin and asked his granddaughter.

"No!" replied Qian Renxue, feeling annoyed that her grandfather had shown up without warning. She subconsciously contradicted him, but then realized what he had asked. Though she didn't want to correct herself, she figured that if she could annoy him enough to leave, she could continue her task.

Qian Daolu realized his granddaughter was just venting her frustration, and while he didn't take her words to heart, he was still irritated. Thus, he increased his spiritual power output. If it weren't for the frequent notifications from Wang Si's game system, chiming '[Sun Power +1]', he would have started cursing.

Qian Daolu was surprised that Wang Si could endure it, as he had been hoping the boy would embarrass himself so that his granddaughter could vent her anger. It seemed that opportunity wouldn't present itself.

Qian Renxue, meanwhile, enjoyed the sense of security she felt with her grandfather by her side, even as she frowned at Wang Si. "Grandfather, his body has absorbed a lot of your sun power," she remarked.

Hearing his granddaughter's reminder, Qian Daolu nodded appreciatively, marveling at her keen perception of sun power. Given the circumstances, he couldn't very well pretend in front of her. "Xue'er, there aren't many things that are universally accepted in the soul teacher world. But the reasons for soul spirit mutations or failures can be summed up in one: insufficient innate energy.

You can think of a soul spirit as a child. With ample nourishment, the child will grow up healthy. But if there isn't enough energy, the soul spirit will face two possibilities: it will either absorb other powers or 'die'.

Soul spirits are fragile and easily influenced by other powers. Once they absorb foreign power, they mutate. Mutations can be beneficial or detrimental; there are many examples of both.

But the 'death' of a soul spirit doesn't mean it disappears. It merely lies dormant in a different form within the body and can still be passed down through bloodlines to the next generation.

I once read in an ancient text that if a soul teacher's soul spirit fails to awaken successfully, it can be stimulated within a year by infusing other energies. If the energy is absorbed, the 'dead' soul spirit can be revived."

Hearing her grandfather's words, Qian Renxue glanced at him, then at Wang Si, whose body now emanated an even denser sun power. She felt that her grandfather was trying to pull the wool over her eyes, but the scene before her did resemble a soul spirit 'resurrection'.

"Grandfather, did that ancient text mention what a 'resurrected' soul spirit would be like?" Qian Renxue asked.

Qian Daolu was stumped. The ancient text was just a fabrication he had invented to maintain an image of omniscience and power in front of his granddaughter. As for how a soul spirit would 'resurrect', he had no idea. However, he had sensed a peculiar fluctuation in Wang Si's body—a fluctuation unique to soul spirits. So, what was going on with Wang Si?

[Warning: Soul Spirit is about to enter Black Iron-rank Awakening. Please interrupt the cultivation of Hundred Refining Bones.]

[Warning: Soul Spirit is about to enter Black Iron-rank Awakening. Please interrupt the cultivation of Hundred Refining Bones.]

[............]

Under the immense pressure of Qian Daolu's spiritual power, the cultivation of Hundred Refining Bones progressed at a frightening pace. When it reached its peak, his soul spirit would awaken for the first time.

Qian Daolu had originally thought that his first soul spirit awakening would occur when he became a Soul Emperor, but he never expected it to happen so soon. It was so sudden that he was caught off guard. Moreover, there was still a significant amount of Qian Daolu's spiritual power within his body.

Helpless, he decided to forge ahead regardless. The system had already warned him twice, and he didn't know what would happen if he continued without breaking through. Surely his soul spirit wouldn't just explode? If it did, considering his soul spirit was his skeleton...

Compressing the spiritual power that belonged to Qian Daolu into his dantian, a location without any bones, he felt reassured to break through.

"Xue'er, go out for a while. If this guy's soul spirit awakening takes too long..."

Just as Qian Daolu was about to say, "If it takes too long, stop anyone else from coming in," he was astonished to see a faint shadow slowly appearing behind Wang Si, who was sitting cross-legged.

It was a skeletal shadow, with soul power flowing within it. Having studied that unique cultivation method, Qian Daolu immediately recognized the trajectory of the soul power flowing through the shadow as the same.

The soul power first focused on the arms and shoulders, and as the power in this area increased, the arms of the skeletal shadow began to solidify.

After the arms, it moved to the spine, then the legs, and finally, the brain.

When the skeleton's shadow of the limbs and skull solidified, a grand cycle was formed.

The speed of the soul power flowing within the skeletal shadow increased, and as it completed the grand cycle, several small cycles aimed at strengthening the local skeleton also began.

From this point on, Qian Renxue could no longer understand the flow of soul power, but Qian Daolu watched with utmost seriousness. It took three hours for the skeletal shadow to fully solidify.

Seeing the shadow solidify, Qian Daolu heaved a sigh of relief.

"Looks like it's..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he sensed the soul power that belonged to him but had been suppressed by Wang Si in his dantian.

His soul power began to materialize, and a ball of light appeared in the abdomen of the cross-legged skeletal shadow.

Just like a little sun.

Soon, the ball of light released countless silken threads that sank into the already solidified skeleton.

These threads continued to crisscross within the skeletal shadow, following the unique trajectory of the cultivation technique.

It took three hours for the shadow to solidify, and another two hours to completely absorb the soul power of these extraordinary Douluos, or more accurately, the sun power within their soul power.

But it wasn't over yet.

Boom!

The sun power that had been absorbed into the body seemed to have a temperature that was too high, and it ignited violently.

Not only was the shadow burning, but Wang Si, who was sitting cross-legged, was also engulfed in flames.

Qian Renxue, who had started dozing off, was startled by the sudden burst of firelight.

Watching Wang Si sitting there, blazing like a fiery figure, Qian Renxue scurried behind Qian Daolu.

"Grandfather, what's happening to him now? Why is he burning by himself?" Qian Renxue asked, curious and concerned.

Qian Daolu ruffled Qian Renxue's hair affectionately and replied solemnly, "He's tempering his soul spirit with my sun power. It's nothing to be alarmed about."

"Soul spirit?" Qian Renxue echoed, her eyes involuntarily drifting towards the burning skeletal frame behind Wang Si.

She shuddered involuntarily. "Grandfather, is his soul spirit... a skeleton?"

According to the records in the Soul Spirit Hall, some fallen souls had skeletons as their soul spirits, and they were extremely terrifying.

Qian Daolu shook his head. "His soul spirit is not a skeleton. It's his own skeleton. It seems that his 'dead' soul spirit has transformed into nourishment, enriching his skeleton and turning it into his soul spirit."

As he spoke, Qian Daolu shot a pointed glance at his granddaughter.

"Look at the dense sunfire on his body. If he were a fallen soul, could he withstand it?"

Hearing her grandfather's explanation, Qian Renxue nodded in realization. That made sense.

The fallen souls were known to fear the sun power of their Angel family.

Wait, does that mean this guy has mastered their family's sun power?

Qian Renxue looked at her grandfather with a mixture of disbelief and curiosity. Sensing her gaze, Qian Daolu nodded imperceptibly.

If this young man had indeed mastered the sun power, deciding how to deal with him would become a tricky matter.

......

Wang Si emerged from his breakthrough state at around 3 a.m.

When he woke up, only Qian Daolu was left in the cultivation room, waiting for him...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end