Chapter 149: and translation of chapter title

After his martial soul awakens, Atoliss can go to the Spirit Hall Academy to study.

Xuek smiled and replied, "No need to worry about that; we already have the academy we want to go to."

Qian Renxue looked at the busy black-haired youth not far away and asked, "May I know which academy you are referring to?"

Xuek did not hide it and said openly, "The Noding Academy in Noding City, a primary academy in a small town—I suppose you've never even heard of it."

In the Spirit Hall Academy, resources are indeed a bit more, and cultivation would be faster, but the Noding Academy has Xiao Wu, this hundred-thousand-year soul ring; Xuek still kind of wants it. Is there a way to get regret value easier than through sacrifice? No! Getting close to Xiao Wu means getting both the soul ring and money! Qian Renxue raised her eyebrows, then nodded and said, "Is that so? That's fine."

"Just like that? I thought you would at least try to persuade us. Aren't you curious why we aren't going to the Spirit Hall Academy but instead to that small town?"

Xuek's expression showed some surprise, as if she hadn't expected this at all. After all, the Spirit Hall has always been the type that cherishes talents; wouldn't Qian Renxue at least try to stop the loss of talent?

"It doesn't matter; I won't force anyone to join the Spirit Hall. You can't make a melon sweet by twisting it—everything depends on their own will."

Seeing Xuek's expression, Qian Renxue felt somewhat amused. She didn't have that strong a craving for talent; she herself was the most talented soul master, and having her in the Spirit Hall was enough.

Xuek snorted in dissatisfaction. You didn't even try to keep me—don't regret it later, you hateful woman! I'll slap your face!

She was about to say something more when she heard a voice like a duck's from beside her: "Your Highness, and Bishop Xuek, don't be fooled by that brat Atoliss!"

Qian Renxue and Xuek turned their heads in surprise and saw a seven- or eight-year-old boy of ordinary appearance, bent at the waist, looking at them anxiously.

The boy's face had freckles, but fortunately his clothes were still fairly neat.

"Aoke, do you even know what you're saying?"

Xuek frowned and scolded him. Though Xuek was only eight herself, her mature demeanor made Qian Renxue chuckle inwardly—it was like an older sister scolding a disobedient younger brother.

Xuek's outward demeanor was still rather aloof; she was quite imposing in the Spirit Hall Main Hall. These transmigrators were mostly proud, and Aoke was intimidated by her into shrinking his neck, looking somewhat fearful, yet he gritted his teeth and said unwillingly:

"I am a devout believer of the Angel God; honesty is one of the seven great virtues. Your Highness, I have not lied!"

"Atoliss is a wicked bully who oppresses men and women! Don't be fooled by his current obedient, well-behaved appearance—actually his belly is full of bad water. He is utterly unworthy of the Spirit Hall's cultivation; I even heard him say he wanted to leave the Spirit Hall!"

Xuek's expression grew ever colder. Aoke knew his time was running short, and he hurriedly said to Qian Renxue:

"Your Highness, you must never trust Atoliss—he is completely using the Spirit Hall, a white-eyed wolf with no gratitude at all! I am superior to him; I can take his place and always follow you! Bishop Xuek, I can also become your younger brother! I want to support you in your old age."

"Shut up! Aoke!"

Xuek shouted sternly, "You are really letting me down! Everyone has seen Atoliss's outstanding performance. As his companion, you have often received his kindness, yet now you dare to slander him like this!"

"Bishop Xuek, I have not—"

"I don't want to hear your excuses anymore! I only ask you one thing: right now is the time to prepare for the martial soul awakening ceremony, Atoliss and the others are hard at work helping out, but what are you doing here? Have you finished your work? You are the orphan who has constantly received favors and been taken in by the Spirit Hall!"

Aoke clenched his fists, unable to speak.

"Slacking off, playing tricks, and even slandering your companions—is this how the Spirit Hall teaches you?"

Xuek continued speaking, Aoke's head lowering more and more, until finally Qian Renxue laughed, shook her head to stop him, and said, "All right, Xuek, don't be angry—this is just a petty squabble between kids."

Qian Renxue winked at Aoke, signaling him to leave quickly; the remark about Xuek supporting her in her old age truly amused Qian Renxue.

Xuek was clearly still not appeased, but she refrained from continuing out of respect for Qian Renxue's face, glaring at Aoke with eyes full of suppressed anger.

Aoke also withdrew sensibly; today he was too irrational, but his jealousy toward Atoliss was truly unbearable—why does Atoliss receive such great favor, with the Your Highness and Bishop Xuek treating him differently?

Even the usually busy Your Highness specially came to watch Atoliss's martial soul awakening ceremony.

He's clearly just an ordinary person who hasn't even awakened his martial soul! Aoke, on the other hand, is a genius with fourth‑level innate soul power! Since being taken in by the Spirit Hall and coming to help with chores, the great city of Gengxin has hardly seen any civilian soul masters with soul power; he is the outstanding youth of that city! Watching Aoke's retreating figure, Qian Renxue laughed and shook her head: children born as orphans indeed have heavier thoughts, but they only know how to play small tricks, born to calculate, appearing extremely clever yet actually utterly foolish.

When encountering someone better than oneself, jealousy naturally blazes—this is normal, not a big deal. It's just that he acted rashly; merely because Qian Renxue stood here, his joy clouded his mind, and without even checking the value of Atoliss to Bishop Xuek, he immediately came forward to accuse him.

How could a child who isn't even a soul master have a worth comparable to Bishop Xuek's wishes? Such a child is at most a stepping stone the protagonist bumps into in chapter one—lacking talent, with an ordinary disposition, having no useful investment value.

Qian Renxue was sighing over this, but Xuek seemed still somewhat dissatisfied; she took a deep breath, waved, and said, "Atoliss, come here! I have something to ask you!"

Hearing Xuek's call, Atoliss nodded and shouted loudly to the busy children: "Everyone, put in some effort; once we finish cleaning up, the ceremony will begin! The martial soul awakening ceremony is the most important annual rite of the Gengxin Main Hall—we must properly display the Spirit Hall's demeanor."

The children working heard this and replied loudly; some thoughtful kids even stepped forward to pat Atoliss's shoulder in encouragement.

They all knew that Atoliss too was one of those awakening their martial soul today—whether he could turn things around depended on today.

Atoliss gave a shy smile to the crowd, then jogged over to Xuek.

"Sister, and Your Highness, good morning!"

With Atoliss's arrival, Xuek's earlier displeasure from Aoke lessened considerably, and Qian Renxue also nodded at him.

"Good morning, Atoliss."

Xuek slowly relaxed her furrowed brows, but still spoke sternly:

"When working, address by title!"

Atoliss looked solemn: "Yes, Bishop!"

"Pfft—cough cough"

Qian Renxue couldn't hold it in, coughed once, and continued as her background.

Xuek grabbed Qian Renxue's arm, not allowing her to leave on her own, turned and looked seriously at Atoliss, asking, "Atoliss, honestly tell me, have you recently had any conflict with Aoke?"

A hint of amusement appeared on Qian Renxue's face; Xuek is fine in every way, just her personality is a bit too rigid and nitpicky.

In her view this was merely a simple incident sparked by jealousy, yet Xuek insisted on calling Atoliss over to get to the bottom of it—does she really treat him like a son? But Qian Renxue couldn't be bothered to say anything; after all, she isn't close to Atoliss, so let Xuek manage as she likes.

Upon hearing this, Atoliss glanced toward the direction Aoke had previously left, scratched his head, and said embarrassedly, "Aoke is badmouthing me again, huh? That's not surprising—because of the Your Highness, he's come to cause me trouble several times." "Qian, er… Qian Ling'er?"

Xuek instinctively glanced at the innocent‑looking blonde girl beside her, then thought, "How does this involve her again?"

Atoliss fell silent for a moment, then said: "Aoke has admired the radiant Angel Legion since childhood; plus, his martial soul is a winged mountain sparrow. After his martial soul awakening, he's become unstoppable. Moreover, since Your Highness is of the Qian clan, he wants to join your forces to enter the Angel Legion. However, because of my sister, I can chat with you a few more times. A few months ago he saw you give me pointers, and that's why Aoke has borne a grudge against him."

"Just for that?" Xuek muttered in disbelief, twitching the corner of her mouth and glancing at Qian Renxue, then she told Atoliss, "All right, I understand. Go back quickly to prepare for the martial soul awakening; you don't need to worry about Aoke's side—after the awakening we'll be leaving anyway."

Atoliss nodded and quickly returned to the ranks, resuming his direction of the crowd clearing debris.

I hadn't expected Qian Renxue to have given Atoliss pointers either; hearing her so‑called 'adopted son' say that, Xuek also realized Qian Renxue's partiality toward her. She turned to look at the tall figure beside her—superb figure, super long legs, super beautiful face, even a busty figure that could be placed as a huge cup on the table.

"After Atoliss finishes his martial soul awakening, I'll take you out for a meal—just the two of us."

Qian Renxue pondered for a moment, "As the young master of the Spirit Hall, I really shouldn't accept the bishop's bribery, but a courteous meal between friends is fine—take me for barbecue."

"Barbecue? Seafood barbecue!"

Although Xuek's salary is often poked by Qian Renxue's elbow, it's not to the point that she can't even afford this little bit of money.

Qian Renxue nodded and pulled a piece of jerky from her storage bracelet.

「In that case, I'll also return the favor with a bit. 」

It's proper for friends to exchange gifts, but Snow Ke stared at her speechlessly, 「Is this something you can eat at the holy awakening ceremony? I'm a bishop! No organization, no discipline! You're eating in front of a bishop! I'm the one who checks discipline! 」

「I am the young master of the Spirit Hall, possessing supreme authority. 」 Qian Renxue said.

Snow Ke nodded repeatedly, 「Yes, yes, you are one, you are myriad, or the supreme jerky bodhisattva. 」

Atoliss and their work proceeded quite quickly; aside from cleaning, there really wasn't much else that needed arranging.

Once everything was ready, an elderly man with white hair and a kind face led a group of children into the Spirit Hall's main hall.

He wore a white robe, with a fist-sized 'soul' character at the center of his chest, the standard attire for personnel directly under the Spirit Hall.

On his left chest was an emblem engraved with a long sword; the emblem bore three crossed long swords, the number three indicating the title of Grand Master Soul Master, and the long sword signifying that this old man was a Battle Soul Master.

The children's attire, however, was a motley assortment.

A large portion of the children wore loose, cheap formal wear or work uniforms, looking like they had just clocked out as office workers, likely hand-me-downs from their families; the better-off ones, like the old man, wore clean white robes.

The fifty-meter-high dome created an atmosphere; as the children entered the Spirit Hall's main hall, they were immediately infected by its grand aura. The dome's interior was covered in murals, each small square depicting various martial soul forms against a shimmering gold background, giving a feeling of splendid opulence yet retaining an ancient simplicity.

The Spirit Hall was surrounded by huge crystal windows; sunlight refracted through the transparent glass onto the murals, the gleaming gold light making the sight even more dazzling.

As the last child entered, the old man bowed slightly to Qian Renxue and Snow Ke, then led them to the awakening platform, with Atoliss bringing up the rear; the ceremony soon began.

「Martial soul Blue Silver Grass, no soul power. 」

「Martial soul sickle, a pity there's no soul power. 」

「Next. 」

「Next. 」

The old man's voice continued, mercilessly judging their futures; thereafter another dozen or so children awakened their martial souls, all of which were tool-type souls like Blue Silver Grass or sickles, not a single beast martial soul appearing, and as for soul power, the old man mostly judged it as 'none'.

It was the eighteenth child's turn, the last one before Atoliss.

Having continuously used soul power, the old man seemed a bit fatigued, being no longer young, yet he still prepared to help the remaining two children complete their awakening.

The awakening ceremony of the Gengxin Main Hall differed from that in the village; today the whole day was devoted to martial soul awakenings, with awakenings coming in batches according to registration time, and after this batch another would follow, the work being on a shift system.

Golden specks of light converged; this time, finally, it was no longer a crude martial soul, its form much more refined—a dark hammer appeared in the boy's palm, hovering silently.

The old man's eyes lit up, 「Not a bad martial soul, well suited to this blacksmith's town—just don't know if it has innate soul power. 」 As he spoke, he handed the blue crystal ball to the boy per procedure.

The blue crystal ball in his hand suddenly glowed softly, emitting specks of dim blue light.

The old man gently asked, 「Not bad, innate soul power rank two—you can become a soul master, child, are you willing to join the Spirit Hall? 」

The boy happily gazed at his martial soul; his parents would surely be pleased, and he would become a big figure in the Spirit Hall! He nodded vigorously, 「I'm willing! 」

The old man lightly patted his head and laughed, 「Good child. 」

He then looked expectantly at the last child, the one both the prince and the bishop had taken note of.

At last it was Atoliss's turn; without the old man saying anything, he stepped forward, nervously standing on the awakening platform, silently praying for a miracle.

Suddenly, Atoliss felt himself in a warm environment, his whole body warm, his right hand a flash of heat, and he instinctively reached out his right hand.

At this moment, since he had his eyes closed, he did not see the old man's shocked gaze; the points of light bursting from his hand actually exceeded the total of all the previous children combined—undeniably, this was definitely a powerful martial soul, and the old man looked at Atoliss with some excitement.

For these Spirit Hall clerks responsible for awakening ordinary people's martial souls, if they could awaken a child with extraordinary potential and bring him into the Spirit Hall, they would gain considerable favor in evaluations, greatly aiding their promotion; moreover, Atoliss is now a member of the Spirit Hall.

Atoliss opened his eyes; the first thing he saw was his martial soul on his right hand, and at first glance he was stunned.

「Damn, is this really the Oath-Victory Sword? 」 Qian Renxue narrowed her eyes, 「Martial soul resonance. 」

Her angel martial soul was actually stirring—was this a real sword or a projection? How could such a thing become a martial soul? No wonder A Ke had always valued him, even calling him Atoliss; naming this sword after him was quite fitting.

I also don't know whether this martial soul thing is as formidable as a sword-shaped one.

What a dazzling martial soul this is; I believe anyone who sees it will exclaim likewise: the guard forged of gold, the hilt inlaid with gems, the blade icy and sharp, cutting iron like mud, its light shining as brilliantly as the sun.

「A golden sword? But it doesn't quite match the angelic holy sword described in the books—could this be a variant martial soul of the angelic holy sword? 」 the old man said, somewhat dazed, 「This boy couldn't be a legitimate member of the Spirit Hall, after all, the true possessor of angelic blood, the prince, also came to watch his martial soul awakening. 」

Snow Ke watched this scene, slowly curling the corner of her mouth; the first piece of the puzzle for her future victory over Qian Renxue was already in hand! 4800 (end of chapter)