The awakening of a martial soul was a meticulous process. Unlike Yulin, who possessed abundant soul power, Song Shan was merely an ordinary soul master. Without the strength to awaken martial souls on his own, he had to rely on the Martial Soul Awakening Stone to gradually draw out the children's martial souls.
From five villages, a total of thirty-two six-year-old children had gathered here. Half an hour had passed, yet only half of them had completed the awakening process.
Most of the awakened martial souls were simple farming tools or common domestic fowl—useless martial souls with no attack power, no defense, and no auxiliary abilities. Worse still, not a single one among them possessed soul power.
Song Shan sighed, thinking to himself, I knew it. How could a real soul master possibly emerge from such a rural place? What a waste of my time.
He had, of course, been hoping for some kind of reward. If he could bring back even one promising talent for the Martial Soul Hall, he might receive some resources to help him break through to Rank 20. Then, he could finally become a Grand Soul Master.
At that moment, a sudden tiger's roar rang out.
A child had awakened a tiger martial soul! Although it wasn't a mutated Blood Tiger or the powerful Saber-Toothed Tiger, even an ordinary tiger was already an exceptional attack-type battle martial soul.
Martial souls with strong offensive capabilities typically came with innate soul power. For instance, Song Shan's own Hyena had an innate soul power of one, while Su Yuntao's Lone Wolf had an innate soul power of two.
A tiger was superior to both. Its innate soul power could likely reach three or even four levels.
Song Shan was delighted and quickly took out a crystal ball to test the child. This crystal ball was of much lower quality than the one Yulin had used—it could only measure soul power below level ten.
To his surprise, the child's crystal ball glowed nearly halfway, indicating an innate soul power of about four and a half levels.
"Haha! Not bad, kid. You've got outstanding talent. Tell me, would you be willing to come with me to the Martial Soul Sub-Hall?" Song Shan asked excitedly. If he could bring this child back, the sub-hall master would surely reward him, and breaking through to Rank 20 would no longer be an issue.
"Of course, I'm willing!" the child responded eagerly. To an ordinary villager, even joining the lowest-ranked Martial Soul Sub-Hall was a tremendous honor.
Satisfied, Song Shan nodded and had the boy step aside. He then sped up the awakening process, eager to finish his task and return. He didn't believe that a second miracle could occur in these small villages.
Soon, it was Ma Hongjun's turn.
Standing within the magic formation, a fiery red chicken gradually emerged.
Because Ma Hongjun had initially contradicted him, Song Shan's first impression of the boy wasn't good. He immediately mocked, "Hah, a chicken? A trash martial soul. It looks pretty, sure, but a trash martial soul is still a trash martial soul. Martial souls like these usually don't come with any soul power. Still, let's go through the motions and test it."
"Alright," Ma Hongjun responded obediently, not daring to offend the soul master further. He placed his hand on the crystal ball.
The next moment, the ball emitted a brilliance far surpassing the previous test. It was just a sliver away from its maximum brightness.
"How is this possible? Innate soul power… Level 9 peak?! Almost at full innate soul power!" Song Shan's expression was filled with disbelief.
He glanced at the boy who had awakened the tiger martial soul, then back at Ma Hongjun, momentarily torn.
The five villages were only allocated one recommendation slot. Yet now, two children with soul master potential had appeared.
After a brief hesitation, he made his decision—he would take the boy with the tiger martial soul. So what if that chubby kid had high innate soul power? A trash martial soul would never compare to the natural battle prowess of a tiger.
Song Shan clearly did not understand that martial soul quality and innate soul power strength were not always directly proportional. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dismissed Ma Hongjun's martial soul as just a chicken. But that was understandable—even Su Yuntao had made the same mistake when awakening Tang San's martial soul.
If someone had reported Tang San's awakening to the higher-ups of the Martial Soul Hall, his early cultivation wouldn't have gone so smoothly.
"Hah! He actually thinks that's just a chicken? What a blind fool," a voice scoffed from the shadows. Yulin couldn't help but complain. Ma Hongjun's martial soul gave him an oddly familiar feeling—one he had sensed in his past life.
It was a presence that stood alongside the legendary Pixie Clan at the pinnacle of existence—the Phoenix!
Though Ma Hongjun's phoenix power was highly diluted, even the weakest phoenix was still a top-tier martial soul.
Right now, his martial soul only appeared as a flaming chicken because, first, he lacked a soul ring, preventing him from unleashing the Phoenix Flame, and second, his soul power was too weak, and his bloodline too impure, to reveal his true phoenix form.
Yulin smirked. Since the Martial Soul Hall doesn't recognize his worth, I'll take this kid for myself. He'll make a fine bodyguard for my young master.
As time passed, the awakening ceremony finally concluded. After Ma Hongjun, no other children displayed any soul power, which was actually expected.
Song Shan left with the tiger martial soul boy. Ma Hongjun, feeling somewhat dejected, suddenly remembered something and ran toward Bei Xuan's house.
"Brother Xuan! Brother Xuan, are you home?"
He anxiously pounded on Bei Xuan's door. However, Bei Han had already gone out to sell vegetables, and no one was home. Just then, a voice came from behind him.
"Hongjun? What are you doing here? Isn't today your martial soul awakening day? Have you finished already?"
Ma Hongjun turned around to see Bei Xuan standing there.
"Yes, I've awakened it. But Brother Xuan, where did you go? How could you miss such an important day?"
Bei Xuan smiled faintly. Behind him, a pitch-black shadow flickered into existence.
"Don't worry. My martial soul has also awakened. Look, it's called Nightmare Phantom."
Then, Bei Xuan repeated the same explanation he had given Bei Han the day before.
"So, Brother Xuan, you've already gained the favor of a soul master? No wonder! I knew you wouldn't be reckless," Ma Hongjun said with relief. But then his expression darkened with guilt. "Brother Xuan, you deliberately didn't show up today so that I could have the village's only recommendation spot, didn't you? I'm sorry… I let you down."
Bei Xuan already knew the whole story—Yulin had told him everything before Ma Hongjun arrived.
No wonder the original story never mentioned the Martial Soul Hall discovering Ma Hongjun's exceptional martial soul. Turns out, it was just an incompetent awakening master.
"Don't worry about it, Hongjun. Your martial soul is far more extraordinary than that guy realized. Since the Martial Soul Hall doesn't want you, how about joining me instead? Let's go explore the world together." Bei Xuan extended his invitation.
Ma Hongjun's eyes lit up. "Really? Yes! I'll go home and pack. Let me know when we're leaving, Brother Xuan!"
With that, he dashed off excitedly.
From the shadows, Yulin appeared beside Bei Xuan. "This kid has talent, but his personality is weak. He lacks independence and simply follows whoever leads him."
"I know," Bei Xuan replied with a smirk. "But that just makes him easier to control, doesn't it?"
That was precisely why he had chosen to bring Ma Hongjun along.
In the original story, Ma Hongjun had always followed someone else—first Dai Mubai at the academy, then Tang San in the Tang Sect. He had rarely made his own decisions.
Recruiting someone like him was far easier than trying to win over someone like Tang San.