Hearing Su Yuntao’s words, Lu Yuan, who was about to reach out, paused slightly.
At the very moment of his martial soul awakening, Lu Yuan already knew that his martial soul was absolutely a god-level one—this was information transmitted to him by the martial soul itself.
To put it bluntly, even innate twentieth-level spirit power would be an insult to Kula.
At this moment, Lu Yuan’s mind was racing rapidly, considering whether he could control the output of his spirit power during the upcoming spirit power test, so as not to expose his talent.
After all, the kind of situation where Tang San, with his innate full spirit power, wasn’t taken seriously by the Spirit Hall was unlikely to happen to him.
Because an innate full spirit power spirit master meant that, at the very least, they would become a Titled Douluo in the future.
After all, even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the Upper Three Sects, only had a single Titled Douluo.
Currently, the known younger-generation spirit masters with innate full spirit power were only Qian Renxue, Feng Xiaotian, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Oscar.
Qian Renxue went without saying—she was one of the Spirit Hall’s own.
As for Feng Xiaotian, he had his own family as a backing.
Though they had no Titled Douluo, at least he had the Four Elements Academy to vouch for him.
Moreover, his martial soul awakening had been conducted within his own family, so even if the Spirit Hall found out, it wouldn’t matter much.
As for Oscar, he had been awakened with the help of Flender, so the Spirit Hall didn’t know about him either.
And finally, Tang San and Xiao Wu.
All one could say was—what a fine move by the Asura God!!
“Innate full spirit power is already attractive enough.
If I truly exposed innate twentieth-level spirit power, it might put me in grave danger from then on.
The only outcome would be joining the Spirit Hall, or some other power.”
“The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is a good choice, but I can’t rule out the possibility of Bibi Dong from the Spirit Hall acting desperately.
After all, innate full spirit power wouldn’t be worth Bibi Dong carrying out a soul-hunting operation against me, but innate twentieth-level spirit power certainly would be.”
That left Lu Yuan with only two options.
The first was to join the Spirit Hall.
However, if Qian Xunji were still in charge, Lu Yuan would absolutely choose to join the Spirit Hall.
After all, that gentleman, even knowing that Bibi Dong harbored hatred for him, was still willing to hunt a hundred-thousand-year spirit ring for her to help her increase her strength.
To put it bluntly, compared to Fools and Double-Faced Turtles, he was only slightly better than them—at least he actually got to taste the meat.
If Lu Yuan had awakened this martial soul during Qian Xunji’s tenure, then with his talent, the Spirit Hall would surely have nurtured him vigorously.
Perhaps Qian Daoliu or Qian Xunji would even have considered letting him spend time with Qian Renxue, to produce an heir for the Spirit Hall or something of the sort.
And that old man Qian Daoliu—in this Douluo Continent world, he could be considered a breath of fresh air.
For the sake of an agreement, he had let go of Tang Hao and the Clear Sky Sect, who had severely wounded his son.
It was unlikely he would harbor ill intentions toward Lu Yuan.
“But reality is not so favorable.
Currently, the one in control of the Spirit Hall is Bibi Dong, and that madwoman is not a good person.
Her sole purpose in increasing her strength is to destroy the entire Douluo Continent.”
“Following Bibi Dong wouldn’t just mean having no future—it would also mean living in constant fear, never knowing when she might use you as nourishment for her advancement.”
In the original work, the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo served Bibi Dong with utmost dedication, yet they never earned her special regard.
From beginning to end, Bibi Dong treated them merely as tools.
Otherwise, after Ghost Douluo’s death, Chrysanthemum Douluo—still a Titled Douluo, after all—was marginalized.
One truly felt sorry for them.
Lu Yuan had no desire to turn himself into a simp to warm and comfort Bibi Dong’s wounded heart.
Just Bibi Dong?
In this Douluo Continent, we might lack brains and common sense, but we certainly don’t lack beautiful women.
There are plenty of fish in the sea—why cling to a single spider!
And compared to joining some power, Lu Yuan actually preferred to walk his own path.
What he needed more than anything, in the early stages when he lacked the strength to protect himself, was to find an academy to learn the basics and leech off their educational resources.
After all, Lu Yuan was practically illiterate right now.
In this regard, Lu Yuan was actually somewhat similar to Dugu Bo—both of them were used to freedom and disliked being restrained by others.
So the only choice left for Lu Yuan was to hide his abilities.
Withdrawing his thoughts, Lu Yuan retracted his martial soul.
Looking at the spirit power crystal that Su Yuntao handed to him, he placed his right palm on the crystal ball while chanting incessantly in his mind.
“Kula, oh Kula, please do me this one last favor—make sure I can conceal the excess spirit power!”
Under everyone’s gaze, Lu Yuan concentrated his mental energy to control the amount of spirit power flowing into his hand.
In order to avoid drawing attention, he planned to keep his spirit power at around level seven or eight.
This innate spirit power level was, honestly, somewhat mediocre.
At best, with luck, he might reach the Spirit Douluo rank—not enough to attract the Spirit Hall’s serious attention.
Perhaps his “Kula” martial soul truly had a will of its own, because Lu Yuan found that he could indeed control how much innate spirit power was channeled into the crystal ball.
However, given Lu Yuan’s current level of control over spirit power, it couldn’t be too precise.
But generally speaking, it wouldn’t exceed level-eight spirit power.
One second.
Two seconds.
The previously dim crystal ball suddenly flickered.
Then, a bright light ignited within the crystal ball.
This light was far dimmer than the one when Tang San had tested his spirit power.
Nevertheless, even so, Su Yuntao’s eyes widened at this moment, and a hint of pleasant surprise finally appeared on his previously numb face.
There really was spirit power!
He suddenly looked at Lu Yuan, his voice rising several notes: “Heavens!
Innate level-eight spirit power!”
Su Yuntao looked at the crystal ball in his hand, then at the boy who possessed the “Kula” martial soul, muttering to himself: “Shenghun Village and Dihun Village are really something else.
Just next door in Shenghun Village, we had a full-spirit-power Blue Silver Grass, and now here in Dihun Village, we have a humanoid martial soul called ‘Kula.'”
Withdrawing his gaze, Su Yuntao looked at Lu Yuan, his expression different from the regret he’d shown when Tang San awakened the “waste martial soul” Blue Silver Grass.
Now, in Su Yuntao’s eyes, Lu Yuan could be considered a genius, and his gaze became extremely eager: “Little fellow, what’s your name?”
“Lu Yuan.”
“Lu Yuan…
good.” Su Yuntao nodded.
“Though your martial soul is quite peculiar, this is innate level-eight spirit power.
Barring any accidents, you’ll definitely become a top-tier powerhouse of the continent in the future.”
“Lu Yuan, is it?
Are you willing to join the Spirit Hall?”
After thinking it over for a moment, Lu Yuan shook his head and politely declined: “I’m sorry, Master Su Yuntao.
The Spirit Hall is wonderful, and I’m very grateful to the Spirit Hall for helping me awaken my martial soul.
But I’m still young right now, and I don’t want to go somewhere too far from home…”
Lu Yuan didn’t speak too definitively, leaving Su Yuntao plenty of room to save face.
After all, even if the deal fell through, the goodwill remained!
Hearing Lu Yuan refuse his recruitment, Su Yuntao couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed.
His hopes for a promotion and a raise were once again dashed.
Helpless, he shook his head, casting aside his regrets and sighs.
He took out paper and a brush, wrote down Lu Yuan’s martial soul certificate, and handed it to him while forcing a smile onto his face.
“Very well, little Lu Yuan.
This is your martial soul certificate.
With this, you can enroll in a primary spirit master academy.”
Lu Yuan clenched his fists, feeling the vigorous surge of spirit power within his body.
A faint, barely perceptible smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Thank you, Master.” Lu Yuan bowed respectfully.
Sunlight streamed through the wooden hut’s glass windows, illuminating the boy’s innocent yet handsome face.
…
Pushing open the large door, Lu Yuan immediately saw the old village chief, who had been waiting outside the hut for a long time.
Their eyes met.
Without hesitation, Lu Yuan trotted over to the old chief and proudly announced with a grin: “Hehe, Grandpa Niu, I successfully awakened my martial soul!
And it’s innate level-eight spirit power!”
At this moment, Lu Yuan truly acted like a child.
He gesticulated animatedly to the old chief, his expression exactly like that of a student showing off after getting a perfect score on an exam.
“What?
Innate level eight!” After hearing Lu Yuan’s account, the old chief was so shocked that his mouth fell open, and he couldn’t snap out of it for a long time.
Su Yuntao also walked over at this moment.
He glanced at Lu Yuan, then said to the old chief with some envy: “Though this child’s martial soul is an unknown one, his talent is excellent.
If nurtured well, perhaps your Dihun Village could change its name to Shenghun Village in the future.”
“Old Niu, it looks like you’ve finally realized your dream of having a spirit master come out of your village after all these years.”
“You two take your time catching up—I still have to hurry to the next village to help with their martial soul awakenings.”
Hearing this, Lu Yuan and the old chief quickly bowed and bid Su Yuntao farewell.
“Thank you for your trouble, Master Su.”
Before leaving, Su Yuntao cast one last look at Lu Yuan.
His expression was like that of a man staring at a five-million-jackpot lottery ticket—one he could only look at but never cash in.
“Sigh!”
Without saying another word, as if he had made some kind of resolve, Su Yuntao turned and walked away without looking back.