Peerless Tang Sect: God Emperor Haotian

In the evening, after eating the mushroom soup that Jiang Nannan brought, Ye Sen was filled with anticipation and trepidation, and he finally managed to fall asleep late into the night.

The following day, Ye Sen arrived at the crucial day that would determine the future of his life.

As dawn broke, after greeting his grandmother who was tidying up herbs, Ye Sen went out alone and easily found his way to Jiang Nannan's house before heading to the village chief's house.

The simple courtyard is clean and tidy in every way, and has a unique kind of beauty.

Ye Sen pushed open the door and entered. After hearing the noise, a woman quickly came out of the house.

The newcomer had long blonde hair and her features were six or seven parts similar to Jiang Nannan's; she was extremely beautiful.

Her face was very pale, but it wasn't the delicate white; rather, it was a bloodless, unhealthy pallor.

Ye Sen was naturally very clear about what problems the other party had.

Jiang Nannan's father died in an accident when she was young, leaving her and her mother to depend on each other for survival. Naturally, their bond was deeper than that of most mothers and daughters. This led Jiang Nannan to seek treatment haphazardly when she fell ill, causing her many years of suffering.

With him around now, he naturally doesn't want to see or allow such a thing to happen again.

"Soul Master!"

Ye Sen's gaze narrowed slightly.

He knew very well that if he wanted to change all of this, he had to become a Soul Master, and an excellent and powerful one at that.

Upon seeing Ye Sen, Jiang's mother immediately smiled and asked, "Little Sen, are you here to see Nan Nan?"

Ye Sen snapped out of his reverie and nodded as he replied, "Yes, Aunt Shen, Grandpa Village Chief said he'd take us to awaken our Martial Souls today. He must have told you about this yesterday, right?"

Jiang's mother nodded and instructed, "I did say that. Go ahead, but listen to Grandpa Village Chief on the way, and don't wander off when you get to the city, understand?"

"Um."

Ye Sen nodded again.

At the same time, a small, petite figure trotted out of the house.

With golden pigtails, a white dress and cloth shoes, and a cute, innocent face, it was Jiang Nannan.

Upon seeing Ye Sen, Jiang Nannan immediately said with a grin, "Brother Ye Sen, I'm ready, let's go!"

With their mother's words of advice and farewell, the two left the courtyard and went straight to the village chief's house at the village entrance. There, they saw two other children of similar age, who were also going to awaken their martial spirits.

Once everyone had arrived, the village chief drove the oxcart, taking Ye Sen and the other three to Xuanming City, the closest city to Nanxi Village.

Xuanming City is one of the most famous cities in the southwest of the Heavenly Soul Empire, because it is home to a secluded soul master sect, the Xuanming Sect.

The Xuanming Sect not only possesses formidable martial prowess, but its medicine-making abilities are also renowned in the Soul Master world. The Xuanming City's current scale of development is inextricably linked to the Xuanming Sect.

The oxcart moved along the official road at a leisurely pace.

There were four children in total. Except for Ye Sen, who remained remarkably quiet, Jiang Nannan and the other two chattered incessantly, bombarding the village chief with questions. This was because, in the entire Nanxi Village, with its four or five hundred residents, only the village chief was a genuine Soul Master. However, although he was over sixty years old, he only possessed one Soul Ring, and it was a low-quality, white, ten-year Soul Ring.

Although Ye Sen has never met many Soul Masters since birth, his knowledge and experience are on completely different levels. Naturally, he has nothing to ask the village chief, an ordinary one-ring Soul Master.

The oxcart was moving slowly, and it took about half an hour for the group to arrive outside Xuanming City.

The oxcart was not allowed to enter the city, but fortunately there was a post station outside the city. After leaving the oxcart at the post station, the old village chief led Ye Sen and the others into Xuanming City.

The present era is different from the time ten thousand years ago when the Spirit Hall still existed. Regardless of wealth or poverty, no one on this continent needs to worry about awakening their spirit. As long as you want, you have the opportunity to awaken your spirit.

In this day and age, in some places, the channels for awakening martial spirits are even controlled by a small number of local people, becoming one of their means of exploiting and oppressing the common people. Even if the chances are slim, countless families still gamble everything they have on this one opportunity.

However, this phenomenon does not exist in Xuanming City, and there are several reasons for this.

Firstly, Xuanming Sect, the strongest soul master sect in Xuanming City, is a reclusive sect that keeps a very low profile. Moreover, because it is skilled in medicine making, the sect is extremely wealthy and therefore does not deliberately control the channels for commoners to awaken their martial souls.

Secondly, we must mention a soul master academy called "Mingshui Soul Master Academy".

For a century, this Soul Master Academy has offered free martial soul awakening to any six-year-old child during the annual enrollment season. If the child has enough talent, they can even enroll for free immediately.

In order to attract more students, the other soul master academies in Xuanming City followed suit.

In this way, for the past hundred years or so, ordinary families near Xuanming City have no longer had to worry about awakening their martial souls.

After entering the city, it took about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before Ye Sen and his companions arrived at the gate of an academy, led by the old village chief.

The academy was surrounded by high walls on all sides, and several tall, dark gray buildings could be vaguely seen inside. On one side of the arched gate, which was at least three zhang high, hung the academy's plaque, with the six large gilded characters "Mingshui Soul Master Academy" standing out prominently.

Although it was still early, and some shops along the street hadn't even opened yet, a line several hundred meters long had already formed in front of the gate of the Mingshui Soul Master Academy. The starting point wasn't inside the academy, but rather a small, one-story building to the side of the gate, with a sign next to it bearing the five clear and eye-catching characters "Martial Soul Awakening Room".

The old village chief was clearly not a first-timer; after registering with practiced ease, he immediately led Ye Sen and the others to the end of the line. They waited for an hour before his name was called.

"Walk!"

The old village chief said something, and then immediately led Ye Sen and the other three into the only room in the small building.

The room was simply furnished. Apart from a few stones on the ground, there was only a table and two stools. On the table, besides a teapot and water cup, there was only paper and pen for taking notes.

Judging from their positions, the middle-aged man and woman, both dressed in work clothes, were responsible for presiding over the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony and recording it.

After Ye Sen and his group of five entered, the two immediately stopped chatting, their gazes sweeping over the group, lingering briefly on Jiang Nannan and Ye Sen, before finally asking, "There are four children who are going to awaken their martial souls, right? Who wants to go first?"

The old village chief glanced at the group, but before he could speak, a figure stepped forward.

"Grandpa Village Chief, I'll go first."

The speaker was a chubby boy named Xu Xiaozhuang. His father was the most experienced hunter in the village. Although he wasn't a Soul Master, he had once hunted down a tiger single-handedly, almost reaching the ceiling of ordinary people's abilities.

His appearance also embodies the saying "a person's name reflects their character".

Although he was the same age as Ye Sen, he looked much stronger. Although they were the same height, he was half a body length wider than Ye Sen.

Xu Xiaozhuang walked into the center of the magic circle made of several stones. With a flash of light, the ritual quickly came to a conclusion.

The man presiding over the ceremony glanced at it briefly before quickly looking away and announcing, "Martial Soul: Bean Sprout, Plant-type Martial Soul."

When the staff announced it, Ye Sen, who had been quite calm, almost couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The contrast between the slender bean sprout and Xu Xiaozhuang's chubby figure was so stark that it was hard to associate the two together. This also demonstrated the wonder of martial spirit awakening.

"bean--"

"Bean sprouts?"

Xu Xiaozhuang's chubby face immediately fell, and he said with a mournful expression, "I inherited my mother's martial spirit, what's the use of that? It would have been better to inherit my father's martial spirit. Although a club isn't very useful either, at least it can be used as a weapon in a critical moment."

Seeing his reaction, the female staff member chuckled lightly, then urged, "Come over and test your innate soul power. Your friends are waiting."

"oh!"

Xu Xiaozhuang responded dejectedly.

The test results came back quickly: half a level of innate soul power.

After receiving the final result, Xu Xiaozhuang became increasingly frustrated.

When he returned, Ye Sen couldn't bear to see him so dejected, so he immediately comforted him, saying, "Xiao Zhuang, something is better than nothing. Even half a level can be used for cultivation. As long as you can cultivate, there is hope. I think you have the potential to become a jade prodigy."