Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao who returned from Sekiro

Chapter 5 Martial Soul Awakening

"Listen carefully, you children, what I'm about to say is..."

At the front of the quiet room, a middle-aged man lit three incense sticks and respectfully bowed before taking out a two-foot square sandalwood box from a cabinet. After opening the box, Huo Yuhao was dumbfounded, because the man then took out a slightly smaller gilded dragon-carved box from it. He then did the same thing, taking out a diamond and pearl box, a glass and agate box, and a silver box with a gable top, just like unraveling nesting dolls. Finally, he took out six small, matte black round stones from the box.

"Hmm, so awakening a martial soul requires such a precious treasure to proceed smoothly?"

Although Huo Yuhao didn't know the exact value of the six matte black round stones, just by looking at the layers of treasure boxes, he knew that these items must be very valuable, perhaps even priceless. Like some famous swords, the scabbard covering the blade might be expensive, even luxurious enough to be decorated with crocodile skin and gold and jade, but the most valuable part should be the legendary blade itself.

Fortunately, I didn't rashly leave the White Tiger Duke's Mansion with my mother before my martial soul awakened; otherwise, awakening my martial soul would have been much more difficult.

Such a precious treasure is likely the private hoard of imperial nobles and powerful sects. Even with money, it would be difficult to obtain. For ordinary people to awaken their martial soul with such a treasure, the price they would likely have to pay is unimaginable.

Soon, the children ahead of Huo Yuhao began to awaken their martial souls one after another. Most of them were weapon martial souls, but they were mostly just tools and farm implements, such as sickles, plows, washboards, and hacksaw blades. In addition, some people awakened martial souls such as Blue Silver Grass and sheep. However, apart from the sheep martial soul with half a level of innate soul power, everyone else did not have innate soul power.

The boy with the Sheep Martial Soul clearly couldn't suppress his smile. Having innate soul power meant he had the opportunity to cultivate. In the future, when he worked for the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, he could do the job of guarding the house and the courtyard, instead of the menial work his parents did. Not only would he receive a higher monthly salary and eat better, but he would also have a higher social status when he went out.

"Weapon spirit, beast spirit, hmm, that's pretty much what Mom said."

As Huo Yuhao watched the people in front of him awaken their martial souls one after another, he couldn't help but feel a little expectant.

"If I could awaken a weapon spirit, I would prefer it to be a katana like the Kusanagi, that would be ideal."

"Your name is Dai Yuhao, right? Come here and stand in the middle of these six round stones."

Just as he was deep in thought, the middle-aged man's voice rang out.

Huo Yuhao looked around and realized that he was the only child in the house who had not yet awakened. The man's address of his name made Huo Yuhao subconsciously want to refuse, but he did not make a sound. The other children had already left, so Huo Yuhao did not say anything more and stepped into the circle formed by the six small stones.

Six faint rays of light flowed into the Awakening Stone on the ground, and a layer of golden radiance emerged from the stone, forming a pale golden shield that enveloped Huo Yuhao.

Golden specks of light entered his body and gradually gathered upwards.

Inside the secret chamber of the Awakening Room, a middle-aged woman was observing the movements in the quiet room through a one-sided translucent gem embedded in the wall. When she saw that Huo Yuhao showed no signs of being possessed by the White Tiger Martial Soul, she visibly relaxed.

She secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's good that she didn't inherit the White Tiger Martial Soul. A lowly servant is a lowly servant. Even if she shared in the master's favor, the remaining bastard child still can't inherit the White Tiger Martial Soul."

The next moment, the golden light spots surged upwards rapidly.

Huo Yuhao's eyes unconsciously flashed with a bright blue light, and a slight mental fluctuation flowed out. Then, Huo Yuhao's gaze changed from calm to indifference in an instant, a kind of indifference to life, or rather, indifference that comes from being used to seeing life wither away and being powerless to change it.

A cold gaze slowly swept over everyone in the room. The middle-aged man in charge of awakening martial souls trembled involuntarily the moment he met Huo Yuhao's cold eyes. He was completely stunned by those eyes. Huo Yuhao's gaze did not linger on him. Instead, it swept over the walls of the quiet room and paused briefly on a gem embedded in the wall before the cold gaze slowly dissipated, and his eyes returned to a calm and indifferent state.

"Let me test your innate soul power."

The middle-aged man looked at Huo Yuhao somewhat incoherently, while Huo Yuhao looked completely bewildered: "Sir, what is my martial soul? I don't feel any martial soul possessing me, and I don't have any weapon martial soul in my hand."

"It should be the eyes, the main body's martial soul. You can find out the rest yourself later."

The man had clearly lost patience with explaining things to Huo Yuhao. The change in Huo Yuhao's expression had really startled him, and feeling somewhat embarrassed, he didn't want to continue arguing with Huo Yuhao.

It's a bit of a shame that it has an eye-shaped martial soul; it would be so much better if it were a longsword martial soul.

Huo Yuhao's mind was filled with thoughts.

Just now, my emotions seemed to be amplified by the power drawn by those six black stones, and my emotions fluctuated a bit. However, judging from the middle-aged man's reaction, he seemed to be frightened. This should be the effect of that eye-shaped martial soul, right?

Huo Yuhao pondered his Eyes Martial Soul in his heart, analyzing the help this Martial Soul could bring him.

Disrupting the opponent's mind before striking, finding their weakness before they can react, and killing them instantly—if the Eye Martial Soul's effect is truly this powerful, its value in one-on-one combat is probably no less than the Blood Smoke Technique released during a chaotic battle.

Even if one hasn't acquired a Soul Skill yet, can one achieve such a huge improvement simply by awakening a Martial Soul?

Just as Huo Yuhao was about to study his martial soul more thoroughly, the man's voice rang out again: "Place your hand on this crystal ball, and I'll test your soul power level."

The crystal ball glowed faintly, and it appeared to have only one level of innate soul power.

"At least you have level one innate soul power, which is enough for cultivation. Let's go."

The man waved his hand expressionlessly, indicating that the other party could leave. Only after Huo Yuhao had completely walked out of the room did the man's face turn obsequious: "Madam, that boy's martial soul is not a white tiger, and his innate soul power level is only level one. You..."

The man's voice went unanswered. In the secret room behind the wall, a middle-aged woman was still trembling with fear.

Just now, she felt as if she had been thrown into a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. The emotions contained in the eyes of the child she called the son of a lowly servant made her dizzy just by looking at him. His bloodthirsty gaze was even more terrifying than that of the master who had fought countless battles.

It wasn't until the man's voice rang out that she was gradually pulled out of that terrifying scene.

(End of this chapter)