Douluo Dalu: The Hundred Year Legend of Chen Xin's Second Uncle

After soaking in the medicinal bath that evening.

In Chen Yu's study, Chen Xun brought Chen Xiao-Jun over.

Chen Yu began, "Xiao'er, tomorrow is the day you awaken your martial soul. Are you nervous?"

"Nervous. After all, this only happens once in a lifetime. It's the most important moment for me. Whether I'm a dragon or a phoenix depends on it."

Chen Xun comforted him, "Don't be nervous. Everyone has gone through this. Besides, even if you inherit Xiu Xin's auxiliary martial soul, the Seven-Colored Bracelet, it's still a top-tier martial soul that can help you become an exceptional swordsman."

Although an auxiliary martial soul swordsman doesn't possess as many powerful offensive skills as an attack-type martial soul swordsman, the auxiliary martial soul enhances basic damage. Combined with the Chen family's secret techniques, it wouldn't be weak at all. There are precedents for this—like the Xuantian Gourd martial soul of the Xuantian Douluo, whose swordsmanship was not inferior to their Chen family ancestor's.

"Mm."

Chen Yu smiled and continued, "Xiao'er, how much do you know about the quality of martial souls?"

Chen Xiao-Jun responded, "Martial souls—everyone has them. They awaken at age six, linked by bloodlines, and are inherited from one of the parents.

Martial souls are categorized by power, potential, functionality, and rarity into four levels: elementary, intermediate, advanced, and top-tier.

Because martial souls vary endlessly and appear in a myriad of forms, there are countless types. According to rough statistics from A Preliminary Study of Martial Souls, Martial Soul Grade Definitions, and Hundred Questions About Soul Masters, over ten thousand types of martial souls have already been documented.

So, if we further subdivide, apart from elementary martial souls which aren't graded, intermediate, advanced, and top-tier martial souls that possess soul power can each be divided into three sub-grades: lower, middle, and upper. This results in nine grades of martial souls in total. To simplify understanding, these nine grades are ranked numerically, with Grade 1 being the lowest and Grade 9 being the highest. Our family's Seven Kill Sword is the highest-level martial soul, a top-tier upper-grade martial soul, or a Grade 9 martial soul."

"Well said, Xiao'er. But there are two special kinds of martial souls." Chen Yu smiled.

"Special? Which two? Waste martial souls? Divine-level martial souls?" As a transmigrator, Chen Xiao-Jun was quite familiar with these two terms.

Chen Yu chuckled and said, "Waste martial souls are simply the lowest of elementary martial souls. They're the weakest type of martial souls, mainly because they don't excel in any aspect and often lack soul power. Even if they do have soul power, they typically can't reach innate Rank 1. The most well-known waste martial soul on the continent is Blue Silver Grass, which frequently appears with no innate soul power.

What I'm referring to are two types of martial souls that surpass top-tier martial souls: Super Martial Souls and Divine-Level Martial Souls."

Chen Xiao-Jun immediately chimed in, "Divine-level martial souls, I know! It's said that the Spirit Hall's inherited Seraphim is a divine-level martial soul."

"Correct. Divine-level martial souls can break through innate full soul power, reaching Rank 11 to 20. In fact, our ancestors suspected that not only divine-level martial souls, but many others surpass innate full soul power. However, conventional soul-testing crystals can only detect up to Rank 10. Only Spirit Hall's secret soul-testing crystals can detect beyond that. There's a legend that innate Rank 20 can lead to becoming a god, though the information is unclear."

Chen Xiao-Jun grasped the implication and said, "Not sharing such knowledge with the public? So, information about surpassing full soul power is a precious resource?"

"'Information resource'? That's a good term," Chen Yu nodded approvingly.

"Are there any other characteristics of divine-level martial souls?" Coming from a previous life, Chen Xiao-Jun was naturally curious about exploring this topic.

Hearing this, Chen Yu's gaze deepened slightly. He said, "Breaking through innate full soul power is the first characteristic of divine-level martial souls. Their second characteristic is that they come with an innate domain, which is automatically acquired when they reach a certain level. The third characteristic is that they inherently carry or nearly possess an extreme attribute."

"Extreme attribute?" Chen Xiao-Jun perked up at the mention of this familiar term from his past life.

"Yes. The pinnacle of an attribute. The absolute king within the same attribute, it suppresses all other martial souls of the same type. Extreme martial souls are the elite among super martial souls. The extreme attributes include water, fire, light, darkness, metal, earth, wood, and more," Chen Yu explained.

Chen Yu paused before continuing, "Super martial souls are an evolved state of top-tier martial souls. They don't belong to the conventional martial soul classification. According to our ancestors' research, super martial souls are not inherited innately. They can only be achieved through gradual awakening or evolution.

Beast martial souls can evolve into flawless divine beast martial souls. For us, with tool martial souls, achieving an extreme martial soul is the only path for evolution. Our great rejuvenator ancestor, Chen Fei-Yi, possessed the extreme metal attribute and became a peerless Douluo."

Chen Xiao-Jun recalled the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan and their martial soul's evolution. "Can the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda evolve into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda?"

"The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda is known as the number one auxiliary martial soul in the world. Naturally, the Ning family hopes to evolve it into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda. However, we believe that even achieving the Eight Treasures Pagoda is very difficult for them. The Nine Treasures Pagoda is practically impossible.

Except for rare cases of awakening or evolution, inheritance is virtually impossible. In fact, recreating the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda is extraordinarily challenging and non-replicable."

"Recreating? Did their family once have it?" Chen Xiao-Jun asked curiously.

Chen Yu nodded and replied, "Yes. You should know that their pagoda martial soul typically has only seven levels, allowing for seven spirit rings.

It's not baseless imagination that there could be nine rings to become a Title Douluo—it actually existed before.

Historically, there were two Title Douluos with nine rings who bore the Nine Treasures title. Both achieved it by consuming the most supreme natural treasures.

Thus, the Ning family's enduring wish and obsession have been to pass down the Nine Treasures Pagoda or find a replicable method. Unfortunately, such heavenly treasures are granted only to those destined. To the Ning family, fate has been somewhat cruel—always out of reach." Chen Yu shook his head and sighed.

"Back to the point. Comparing the three traits of divine-level martial souls:

Surpassing innate full soul power can be compensated for through time and cultivation;

Domain skills can be comprehended later. Many top-tier families have secret techniques to increase the chances of gaining domains. Our Chen family has them as well. Many super martial souls come with innate domains, so anything is possible, haha;

Extreme attributes: If we evolve into a super martial soul before Rank 90, there's a higher chance of comprehending extreme attributes.

In conclusion, super martial souls can rival divine-level martial souls. History has seen many instances of this.

And do you remember what Grandpa said about Title Douluos breaking through?" Chen Yu asked with a smile.

Chen Xiao-Jun nodded and replied, "Yes. You mentioned understanding willpower, fusing the martial soul's entity in the lower soul nest and its essence in the upper soul nest to achieve martial soul sublimation and soul power liquefaction."

Chen Yu nodded in satisfaction. "Fusion of essence and form, leading to martial soul sublimation. Sublimation, as the name suggests, is a form of evolution.

All Title Douluos' martial souls eventually reach at least the top-tier seventh grade without exception. In other words, even martial souls that start as intermediate or advanced can evolve to top-tier.

Therefore, Grandpa wants to tell you that martial souls can undergo continuous awakening and evolution. Whether you awaken your father's Seven Kill Sword or your mother's Seven-Colored Begonia Bracelet, both have the potential to reach the peak and become super martial souls.

Anything is possible! So don't be nervous, and don't worry about your martial soul."

Chen Yu looked at Chen Xiao-Jun with encouraging eyes.

Chen Xiao-Jun felt a warmth in his heart and couldn't help but say emotionally, "Thank you, Grandpa!"

"By the way, Grandpa, how do you know all these secrets from other forces?"

"Haha, our Chen family has a long heritage, and we've had notable figures in our history. Some have served as elders in Spirit Hall, consecrators in the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan, and generals in both major empires. Otherwise, how could we call ourselves a family with roots everywhere?"

"Oh, Grandpa, how many types of divine-level martial souls are there?"

(End of Chapter)