As soon as Chen Ming entered the room, he immediately sensed a wave of spiritual energy sweeping toward him. The probing force was powerful and unrestrained. The moment he felt it, Chen Ming instinctively took a step back.
It was this seemingly inconspicuous movement that caused one of the tall, thin elderly men in the room to click his tongue.
"Oh? Young man… You can sense my spiritual probe?" The elderly man, who looked gentle and amiable, stood up with curiosity, taking a few steps forward. He looked at Chen Ming as if he had discovered a rare creature, scrutinizing him from head to toe.
"I am Meng Shenji. I hold the cultivation of a Spirit Douluo and serve as an elder at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. My martial soul is the Black Phantom, strictly speaking, it belongs to the spiritual type," he introduced himself, perhaps worried that he might frighten Chen Ming.
"If you could sense my spiritual energy… Is your martial soul also of the spiritual type?"
It wasn't strange for Meng Shenji to think this way. In this era, spiritual power was a mysterious and under-researched field. Most spirit masters had very little understanding of it. Only high-level spirit masters or those with spirit-type martial souls had any real grasp of it.
Some spirit masters, even those who had reached the rank of Titled Douluo, still made very limited use of their spiritual power. They were practically blind to it—even if a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast in human form stood in front of them, they wouldn't recognize it.
Meng Shenji, although not a Titled Douluo, was still a veteran Spirit Douluo. Thanks to his spiritual-type martial soul, Black Phantom, he could harness his spiritual energy for things like probing and detection.
The other two elders—Bai Baoshan and Zhi Lin—were also veteran high-level Spirit Douluos. However, their understanding of spiritual power was superficial at best. They couldn't use it for advanced techniques like spiritual probing.
Generally speaking, only Spirit Douluos and above could comprehend what a spiritual probe even was. A few Spirit Sages might vaguely sense something was watching them. Spirit masters below that level typically couldn't even tell anything was happening.
Spiritual-type martial souls were extraordinarily rare—so rare that they could be considered almost non-existent. They made up only about one in ten thousand of all martial souls. Even in the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, the highest institution in the empire, there was only one truly pure spiritual-type spirit master: Meng Shenji. As for other martial souls with spiritual attributes, there were fewer than ten, and most of them were teachers.
Given all this, it was no wonder Meng Shenji was visibly excited.
"Ah… Elder Meng, my martial soul isn't spiritual," Chen Ming said with a polite tone. "It's a beast-type soul—Emerald Scorpion King. I was just born with a bit more sensitivity in terms of spiritual perception."
"…Not a spiritual martial soul?" Meng Shenji looked a little disappointed but quickly recovered and switched topics with practiced ease.
"Emerald Scorpion King, huh? That's a King-class martial soul. Definitely top-tier quality. Perhaps your heightened spiritual sensitivity is what allowed your martial soul to evolve into a King. That kind of innate gift isn't common."
"King-class martial soul" was a special classification. These martial souls were superior to their ordinary counterparts but were genetically unstable. Essentially, they were benign mutations. The appearance of such a martial soul indicated the owner's talent far exceeded that of normal spirit masters with similar martial souls.
Take, for example, royal-class spirit beasts. Their offspring would certainly have stronger potential than typical beasts of the same species. But that didn't mean the offspring would necessarily be royalty themselves—they were simply "blooded," with higher potential to become king- or emperor-class in the future.
Of course, ordinary spirit beasts could also become kings or even emperors through long cultivation or fortuitous encounters. The catch was that they needed to avoid being suppressed by stronger royalty above them.
"Maybe," Chen Ming replied nonchalantly. Of course he knew the origin of his martial soul and how it evolved, but it wasn't something he would share in a first meeting.
"Let me introduce you to the others," Meng Shenji said, gesturing. "This is Bai Baoshan, like me, he's one of the elders. He specializes in defense."
"Hello, young man," the short and stout old man said with a warm smile, waving kindly. He didn't carry himself with any arrogance or superiority.
"And this is Zhi Lin, another elder—he's a control-type Spirit Douluo."
"Greetings, young man…" the alcohol-scented elder said, stroking his disheveled beard and giving a gentle smile. Meanwhile, his mind raced as he tried to recall the student records he had reviewed earlier that day.
"Greetings, esteemed elders. My name is Chen Ming. I come from the Chen family of Biluocheng, a hereditary noble family under the Heaven Dou Empire. I am eleven years old, my martial soul is the Emerald Scorpion King. I currently hold rank twenty-three, with one yellow ring and one purple ring. I look forward to your guidance."
Noting how the three elders referred to him simply as "child" and had to ask about his martial soul, Chen Ming guessed that they weren't yet familiar with his student file. So, he simply laid out all his basic information, hoping to save everyone from any awkwardness.
At first, as they listened to Chen Ming's background and family status, the elders remained calm, merely nodding politely. But when he mentioned his soul power and soul rings, a sudden breeze swept past him—the three elders had silently appeared at his side, staring at him in disbelief.
"Teacher Qin… is this…" Meng Shenji looked over at Qin Ming, his gaze full of question.
"Yes, Elders," Qin Ming confirmed. "All the information about Chen Ming is accurate. His martial soul, soul power, and soul rings match the records exactly."
Upon hearing this, the faces of the three elders lit up with irrepressible smiles. Bai Baoshan even reached out and gave Chen Ming a hearty pat on the back to express his excitement.
All three elders—Bai Baoshan, Zhi Lin, and Meng Shenji—had long accepted that they'd reached their cultivation limits. For years, they'd poured themselves into teaching, desperate to find truly outstanding talent. Whether student or teacher, they gave everything they had to help. They were widely considered the most devoted group of elders in the academy's long history.
Now, hearing that a true prodigy had appeared—one with soul power and rings that far exceeded his age—the three of them couldn't hide their joy.
"Young man, come with us to the courtyard," Meng Shenji said, grabbing Chen Ming's hand with excitement. "Let us old geezers take a look at your true ability."
Moving quickly, the group exited through the back door and made their way to a courtyard behind the house.
As spirit masters, their pace was swift. After descending a small slope and walking for just two or three minutes, they arrived at a special training ground paved with a strange, unfamiliar stone.
Although the sky was dark, the heavens of the Douluo World were unpolluted. The moon and stars above were bright enough to illuminate the training ground clearly.
Zhi Lin leaned in close to Qin Ming and whispered something into his ear. Qin Ming nodded in understanding, then took a few steps back and summoned his martial soul.
Five soul rings—two yellow and three purple—rose around him in a majestic glow. Flames burst forth from his body, illuminating the training area even more brightly.
"Xiao Ming, summon your martial soul and attack me. Show us your abilities and techniques."
"Don't worry. I'll go easy on you."
(End of Chapter)