Chapter 2: Spirit Awakening Ceremony

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, the time for the Spirit Awakening is almost here. The King and Queen have sent me to summon you." A palace maid's voice rang out from outside the door.

Nan Feihuang dressed in a relatively formal robe and led three people out of the palace.

"Sorry for the trouble, let's go." Nan Feihuang smiled at the palace maid.

The palace maid said in fear and trepidation, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, you are too polite. This servant cannot accept it; this is what this servant should do."

Douluo Continent has the nature of a slave society; this palace maid, who possesses no soul power, actually has a status only slightly higher than a slave.

Under normal circumstances, even if Nan Feihuang were to beat her to death in a moment of displeasure, no one would say a word.

Yet, Nan Feihuang is not quite like the average noble; he is very polite to everyone, possessing not a shred of the majesty or arrogance of a noble.

It could be considered half a shortcoming and half a merit.

The Crown Prince's Tutor is both worried that he will lack the domineering aura of a king in the future, and gratified that he will surely be a benevolent monarch one day.

In reality, Nan Feihuang is not a good person at all; his politeness toward others carries five parts hypocrisy, merely to construct a persona.

He does not want to be too conspicuous, nor does he wish to let his father the King and mother the Queen be too disappointed in him.

That is why he makes himself look like a mix of strengths and weaknesses; in any case, he is still young, and in the eyes of many, his values have not yet truly formed, so even if they change later, it would be very normal.

The real Nan Feihuang will certainly give his heart to his own people, but toward outsiders, out of ten parts, his true kindness is at most three, another seven parts consist of three parts evil, and the final four parts are hypocrisy.

For example, right now.

"People may differ in status, but we are all born equal in personality. A mere expression of thanks—what is there for you to be unable to accept?" Nan Feihuang smiled. "Let's go, Father and Mother must be waiting anxiously."

Watching Nan Feihuang's back, the palace maid's eyes were filled with stars. "People are born equal; he is truly worthy of being the Crown Prince to be able to say such righteous words."

She was full of admiration for Nan Feihuang, but when she saw the three people following behind him, her expression sank.

This Crown Prince is good in every way, except his judgment of people is not great. These three playmates who grew up with him—one is brain-damaged, one is a mute, and the third has a name that seems cursed, as no one has ever been able to pronounce it correctly.

How could such three people be worthy of staying by the Crown Prince's side?

But the Crown Prince's decisions are not something a lowly palace maid like her can interfere with.

Arriving at the main hall of the Gu Lei Kingdom palace, as the Crown Prince of a nation, his Spirit Awakening naturally does not need to be presided over by the Spirit Hall.

Within the palace, there are specialized court Spirit Masters to hold the Awakening Ceremony.

In fact, Nan Feihuang's Awakening Ceremony is conducted separately; after all, he is the Crown Prince, and many things are best kept secret.

If Nan Feihuang were to awaken in public and his talent were too poor, it would inevitably invite criticism; if it were too strong, he would fear being coveted by enemy nations and bringing about a fatal disaster. It is said that the Second Prince and Third Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, one with outstanding ability and the other with excellent cultivation talent, were assassinated by unknown forces for this very reason.

Since then, various nations have become increasingly protective of their respective Crown Princes.

Concealment is best; in any case, as the future sovereign, if his talent is not good, he will simply take action less often, and whatever matters arise can be left to his subordinates to handle.

On the throne in the palace's main hall sat a man and a woman. The man had a handsome, square-jawed face full of majesty; he was Nan Feihuang's father, Nan Tianchen.

The woman beside him was the Queen, Lan Xue, with beautiful blue hair and an incomparably stunning appearance; she was Nan Feihuang's biological mother.

"Your child pays respects to Father and Mother!" Nan Feihuang stepped forward to salute.

Seeing her precious son, Lan Xue was very joyful. "My son is here. Quickly, come to Mother's side."

Nan Feihuang walked quickly to Lan Xue's side and was pulled onto her lap to sit; this Queen is a son-obsessed mother, and she dotes on her only child to the extreme.

Nan Tianchen nodded at Feihuang. He, of course, also dotes on this only son, but today is the Spirit Awakening Ceremony, and those coming to awaken are all the great nobles of the kingdom; as the King, he needs to maintain his majesty at all times.

"Since the Crown Prince has arrived, I hereby announce that the Gu Lei Kingdom Awakening Ceremony begins now!" Nan Tianchen decreed.

"Your subject obeys the decree." Several court Spirit Masters used the Awakening Stone to set up the Awakening Array.

These court Spirit Masters each possess the strength of a Soul King or higher, so they do not need to awaken the children's martial souls one by one like the Blind Douluo Su Yuntao.

Dozens of six-year-old noble children or descendants of military families walked into the array.

Driven by the Awakening Array, various dazzling martial souls appeared.

There were Red Tassel Spears, Mighty Oxen, Bullet Ants, Guan Sabers, and so on—all were decent martial souls, with innate soul power of at least three or four levels, and the outstanding ones could reach around six levels.

In this place, Douluo Continent, birth is truly very important, because martial souls are something that can be inherited; families that can become hereditary nobles generally possess medium-to-high-grade martial souls capable of cultivation.

Compared to those small villages where dozens of children cannot produce a single Spirit Master, most of those awakening here today possess soul power.

Feihuang held back Dian Wei and the others who had also wanted to go; he intended for them to awaken with him because he knew that the aptitude of these three could not be poor. To avoid being too conspicuous, it was better to be like himself and hide it slightly.

"Nan Feiling, martial soul Gu Lei Book, innate soul power, seven and a half levels!"

Just at this moment, a girl with quite outstanding aptitude appeared.

Her name was very similar to Nan Feihuang's; she was Feihuang's half-sister, about three months older than him.

After all, Nan Tianchen is a king and could not have only the Queen as his wife; there were still some other concubines.

In fact, the reason he married Lan Xue was due to some special circumstances; otherwise, given Lan Xue's personality, she would not have married a man who already had a family.

Because Lan Xue is currently the number one expert of the Gu Lei Kingdom, a Level 89 Spirit Douluo with the Mysterious Ice Divine Halberd martial soul, which is hailed as a rare top-tier Tool Spirit that can rival martial souls like the Clear Sky Hammer and the Seven Kill Sword.

Moreover, the aptitude she displayed was not at all inferior to the Haotian Twin Stars of that year.

Originally, with Lan Xue's aptitude, breaking through to Title Douluo would have been a matter of course, but unfortunately...

"Father, Mother, look, I inherited our family's book!" Nan Feiling ran excitedly to Nan Tianchen, her face full of a desire for praise.

After all, she was only a six-year-old child and did not yet understand the rules so well; of course, no one would blame her.

Nan Tianchen nodded with satisfaction. "Mm, Ling'er, since you possess such outstanding talent, you must cultivate diligently in the future and not let your talent go to waste, do you understand?"

"Mm, Ling'er understands," Nan Feiling said obediently.

She then ran to the side to flip through her book.

The Gu Lei Book is the heirloom martial soul of the Gu Lei Kingdom royal family.

It is said that the things recorded in everyone's Gu Lei Book are different; even between father and daughter, changes will occur. One must choose their own cultivation direction based on the data recorded in their own book, whether it be Attack, Control, or Support.

Nan Tianchen's Gu Lei Book is a martial soul that focuses on Attack with Control as a secondary, and he has now cultivated it to the Level 78 Spirit Saint stage.

(End of chapter)