Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 199 Calling by Name, Locking the Master's Seal

Immediately afterwards, a faint hum arose from within the spirit ring, no longer as clear and calm as before, but carrying a slight distortion and hesitation, as if some ancient "will" was breaking free from suppression, attempting to restart:

“Afterimage, Tranquil Structure, Echoing Intentions…”

"The Right to Reflect: Only Partial Viewing is Allowed"

Should we revisit this scene?

Chu Ning did not respond.

However, in the next instant, the mirror in the center of the spirit ring lit up on its own, with silver-gray spirit energy swirling around it, and the reflection slowly unfolded.

A fragmented remnant of soul essence, like water ruffled by the wind, slowly coalesced and reconstructed before his eyes.

That was a memory that was sealed away.

—A dimly lit ancient tower.

The broken stele collapsed, the inscriptions on the ground crumbled, and a young man in tattered robes knelt in the center of the soul array, his body convulsing, his soul threads broken, and his soul lock forcibly pulled out of his sea of ​​consciousness, being eroded by the "soul imprint peeling".

The young man's face resembled Chu Ning's by seven or eight points, but he was much thinner, with grayish eyes and an expression that conveyed a cold and fierce determination—despite being on the verge of death, he remained unyielding.

The dressing table whispered like a spell:

"The Remnant Reflector - The Fourteenth Generation Reflection Soul - Ning Gou"

His Soul Lock had reached the point where four runes were fully formed, but the fifth rune forcibly tore out, only to shatter abruptly the moment it appeared.

He tilted his head back and roared angrily:

“You gave me his name, but you will not allow me to become him!”

Outside the mirror, a cold female voice slowly echoed, its tone extremely ancient, seemingly originating from the divine judgment voice of the Primordial Soul Clan:

“You are not a member of the Ning clan.”

"Those who use false names will eventually collapse."

"We do not accept counterfeit seals."

As soon as he finished speaking, a golden seal descended from the sky and imprinted itself on his soul lock.

In that instant, the fifth rune exploded completely, like a star map collapsing.

Soullock Structure - Collapse.

Ning Gou's body trembled violently. As his soul threads broke, he actually looked up from the shattered state at the void outside the mirror where Chu Ning was.

That glance was as cold as if it had come from hell.

—Not the gaze of a phantom.

Instead, he saw Chu Ning before he died.

Their gazes met directly under the mirror-like light.

As the afterimage dissipated, the entire "Soul Lock Reflection Ring" fell into deathly silence.

The mirror stand went out, and the soul's light sank.

Inscriptions suddenly appeared beneath Chu Ning's feet, but the dark golden platform did not rise directly.

Instead, at the entrance to the Soul Hall, countless fine soul light inscriptions wriggled and intertwined like living things, forming a dark and deep inscription corridor that could only accommodate one person at a time.

An invisible pressure emanated from the depths of the corridor, carrying a heavy, soul-searching feeling. On the door, an ancient seal script faintly appeared:

"A Path to Seclusion, A Barrier to the Heart"

"The false name, the suspicious, the fearful, their souls will be scattered here."

Chu Ning took a deep breath, suppressing the churning blood and qi within her body and the chill brought on by witnessing Ning Gou's tragedy.

He knew that this was an obstacle he had to overcome before gaining recognition and seeing the afterimage of Hunyuan.

Without further hesitation, he stepped into the darkness formed by the inscriptions of soul light.

The moment you step inside, the surrounding scenery instantly distorts.

The inscriptions were no longer cold symbols; they transformed into tangible illusions of inner demons, amplifying his deepest fears, doubts, and anxieties a hundredfold.

He seemed to see again the moment when Ning Gou's soul lock collapsed and the fifth rune shattered, the golden seal descending upon him with supreme pressure.

The chilling touch of death felt incredibly real. He even saw the Soul Chains in his palms cracking and crumbling inch by inch.

Cold sweat instantly soaked through his clothes, and his soul core trembled violently with fear.

Countless voices shrieked in his ears:

"Who are you? You are not Ning Gou! You are not a living soul of this world! You are a counterfeit! A defective imitation!"

The "sutured source vein" reflected in the mirror was magnified and distorted infinitely, mocking his existence. Self-doubt, like a poisonous fog, eroded his will, making it difficult for him to move forward.

The fourteenth generation Ning Gou's icy gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, striking straight into his soul:
"What makes you think you can succeed? You're nothing but a pawn, 'cast' into existence! You'll end up following in my footsteps!"

The shadow of the failures of the previous sixteen generations dragged him down like heavy shackles.

The name "Chu Ning" seemed to have become incredibly hot to handle.

The sorcerer's cold voice reappeared:

"Since you know this body is not your true destiny, do you still dare to call yourself 'Chu Ning'?"

Every time he uttered this name, the Soul Lock would feel a sharp pain, as if reminding him of the price of having an illegitimate name.

Illusions abound, and inner demons run rampant.

Chu Ning felt as if his soul was a lone boat in a storm, about to be torn apart at any moment.

He stopped several times, panting heavily, his body trembling slightly from the immense mental pressure, and his vision blurred intermittently.

"No, I absolutely cannot fall here!" He bit his tongue hard, the sharp pain bringing a sliver of clarity.

Within the sea of ​​souls, the fifth rune mark belonging to "Chu Ning," which had awakened at the level of the life master, radiated a resolute light, despite its faintness.

He recalled the boy's own words:

"I just want to live as myself."

He recalled his declaration when he ascended to the ranks:

“My name is Chu Ning. This name was not bestowed upon me. I took it back myself.”

"I am Chu Ning!"

He let out a low roar amidst the illusory storm, a roar that was not loud, but carried the determination to break free of his shackles.

The fifth line on the palm suddenly lit up, like a torch lit in the darkness, actively meeting the magnified fear, doubt and wavering.

The five Soul Lock patterns resonated, unleashing an undeniable power of self-affirmation originating from the "True Name".

"boom!"

The illusion rippled violently like water tossed with a stone, before shattering into pieces.

Those magnified inner demons, distorted images, and jarring noises, under the light of the fifth rune, melted away like ice and snow, quickly dissipating and vanishing.

The Inscription Corridor returned to tranquility, its eerie light no longer aggressive, but rather like a purified passage, exuding a gentle and ancient aura.

At the end of the corridor, the outline of the closed stone door was clearly visible.

Chu Ning was soaked in sweat, his face still pale, but his eyes were clearer and more determined than ever before.

He walked with weary yet incredibly steady steps toward the door.

With each step he took, the inscriptions beneath his feet glowed with a gentle light, as if paving the way for him.

When he finally stood before the stone gate and placed his hand on the cold door, the gate silently opened inward. A soul aura, sealed for millennia yet still powerful, rushed out.

Before me stood a vast, dark, and ancient soul palace, filled with the dust of time.

In the center of the hall, a huge soul stele inscribed with the two characters "Hun Yuan" stands quietly, emitting an eternal, unchanging light.

The phantom did not immediately appear beneath the stele.

Chu Ning could sense that an extremely ancient, extremely weary, yet scrutinizing and expectant thought, like a sleeping dragon, was slowly awakening from the depths of the Soul Stele.

He did not rush in, but stood at the palace gate, straightened his clothes, and solemnly bowed deeply towards the direction of the Soul Stele. His voice echoed clearly in the empty hall:
"Disciple Chu Ning greets Master Hunyuan."

silence.

It was as if time itself had frozen.

After a long while, the space in front of the Soul Stele distorted slightly, and an ancient soul figure, draped in a gray-silver ancient robe, with an indistinct face and a faint half-remnant of a boundary lock behind him, slowly appeared as if it had condensed from the river of time.

The lingering shadow of Master Hunyuan.

He did not immediately respond to Chu Ning's greeting. His blurry eyes, which seemed to contain the birth and death of stars, quietly fell on Chu Ning, as if carefully examining the aura he had just brought out from the Inscription Corridor.

That unwavering resolve amidst exhaustion, that clarity after dispelling inner demons, and the fifth soul rune that steadily circulates in his palm, representing his "true name."

Finally, that deep voice, seemingly carrying the weight of countless years, slowly rose and echoed throughout the hall:
"Your name is 'Chu Ning'?"

"Using this name, I prove my true self, break through mental barriers, and have reached this point?"

"What do you want?"

Chu Ning raised his head, his gaze meeting that ancient gaze with composure. His voice was calm yet powerful, each word crystal clear:
"I do not seek power or authority, nor do I crave power."

"But the boundary locks are swaying, and cracks are appearing at the Heavenly Gate. If the guardianship fails, the collapse of all realms is imminent."

"This disciple does not ask about birth or lineage, nor about past lives; I only ask about my heart—"

"If this heart still holds the thought of protection, this disciple is willing to carry on the legacy of Hunyuan, to retrace the path of locking the source, even if it means eternal damnation, I will have no regrets!"

The light of the soul within the hall seemed to flicker with his words.

The illusory image of Hunyuan remained silent for an even longer period. Its blurry face seemed to have extremely subtle fluctuations, as if it were weighing, recalling, or confirming something.

"This lock," the illusory figure's voice grew even deeper, carrying a weighty understanding of destiny, "if you accept it, your soul will be forever eroded, and your true name may be shrouded in dust and sealed away. Are you willing to bear it?"

"The fourteenth, thirteenth, and even the first generation of 'Ningming' all failed to reach their end."

"Would you be willing to be the 'seventeenth'?"

Chu Ning's gaze did not waver in the slightest; on the contrary, it became even more resolute because of the price the other party had pointed out.

He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but carrying a resolute determination, a sense of do-or-die resolve, a desire to pass on the torch:

"The first sixteen were all pioneers who explored new paths; their aspirations are admirable and their deeds are worthy of remembrance."

"Disciple Chu Ning, having inherited this name, also bears this responsibility. Though the road ahead may be fraught with difficulties, I—am willing to be the kindling that ignites a prairie fire!"

When Chu Ning uttered the words "I am willing to be the spark that ignites a prairie fire," the Soul Stele suddenly trembled.

The two characters "Hun Yuan" on the monument cracked inch by inch, and sixteen broken soul shadows roared out from the cracks, binding Chu Ning like chains.

The voice of the illusory figure was tinged with pain:
"These sixteen chains represent the weight of the road ahead. Are you still willing to bear them?"

Chu Ning allowed the remnant soul to penetrate his body, the fifth rune shining brightly like the rising sun:

"Even if you are consumed by fire, your ashes will become fertile fields. Come!"

The chains shattered instantly, turning into a stream of ghostly gold and fire that surged into his palm.

When the half-seal solidified, the crack at the bottom of the stele opened like a vertical pupil, which vanished in an instant.

Beneath the monument, the half-broken, illusory boundary lock trembled and hummed violently.

A half-seal, flowing with a ghostly golden light, that existed between reality and illusion, like a fragment peeled from the core of the boundary lock, slowly emerged from the phantom and hovered above Chu Ning's head.

The illusory figure of Hunyuan slowly raised its blurry left palm and gently touched the half-seal, its voice carrying a solemn and desolate tone, as if entrusting a heavy responsibility:
"The Lord of the Seal cannot bestow the full seal lightly. This half seal is the credential of the 'Soul Tester' and also the 'Key to the Boundary'."

"Holding this seal, one can ascend the steps of the Life Master, reach the pinnacle of the Soul Heaven, and if one can then pass the test of the 'Boundary Boundary Seal'..."

"Only then can one take control of the Source Lock and stabilize the world."

As soon as he finished speaking, the golden soul imprint fell into the deep sea like a star, carrying an irresistible ancient will, and slowly sank into the depths of Chu Ning's sea of ​​consciousness.

“——Buzz!”

The sea of ​​souls trembled violently, then returned to an unprecedented calm and vastness.

The fifth rune of the Soul Lock suddenly shone with unprecedented brilliance! At its core, the originally blurry Undead Core solidified completely, transforming into a mysterious dark gold mark that slowly circulated and perfectly merged with the other four runes, forming a stable and powerful whole.

Soul Master's Mark.

It is not a symbol of power.

It is the proof of the trial, the key to the "Peak of the Realm", and the beginning of the heavy mission of the Hunyuan lineage.

The final gaze of the Primordial Soul Shadow seemed to pierce through Chu Ning's soul consciousness, landing on the newly formed mark, leaving behind its final whisper:

"At the summit of the boundary, there are three locks sealing the boundary."

"If you are truly the one who will succeed."

"Then use this seal to open the door!"

Having said that, the Primordial Soul Shadow, as if having completed its final mission, transformed into specks of soul light like fireflies and silently dissipated before the massive Soul Stele, leaving behind only eternal silence and a heavy responsibility.

The lingering echoes of the dissipated Hunyuan soul shadow still reverberated in the empty Soul Palace. Before those specks of firefly-like light could fully merge into the ancient silence, a monstrous wave had already surged deep within Chu Ning's sea of ​​consciousness.

The dark golden "Soul Master Mark" quietly took root deep within the core of the fifth Soul Rune, lurking like some ancient living thing.

Each pulse brings two completely opposite extreme sensations.

On one hand, there is a vast resonance, like the beginning of time.

With each pulse of the mark, Chu Ning felt as if he had grasped a corner of the "boundary stake" that supported the operation of the source lock, sensing the source of power behind the entire sealing system;
On the other hand, there is excruciating pain that gnaws at your bones and burns your soul.

Like a red-hot ancient brand, forcibly nailed into the origin of the soul lock, each flow of soul power is like an iron hammer striking the soul and poisonous flames burning the heart.

It was as if his soul was being slowly but irreversibly burned away by that mark.

At that moment, Chu Ning finally understood:

"The mark of the soul master is not something that ordinary people can inherit. It can only be kept burning by using the soul as fuel and the will as a lamp."

It is not only a mark of the Hunyuan lineage, but also a "Soul and Life Altar".

To ignite this mark, one must immerse one's soul, inch by inch, into the flames.

"Uh……"

Chu Ning groaned, his body hunching slightly, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He could clearly sense that the mark was continuously devouring his soul power.

It's not just about using it as energy; it's more like gradually "rewriting" his soul structure into something that deviates from the original human nature.

It's not just about burning.

It's still erosion.

—The fusion of the fifth mark with the Soul Master's mark is not a perfect match, but rather a barely anchored resonance.

This unequal resonance could very well trigger a “soul lock mutation” or even a “soul sea collapse” at some point in the future.

He slowly straightened up, enduring the excruciating pain that felt like his soul was being burned apart, and his gaze fell on his palm.

(End of this chapter)