Chapter 7: Child of Light

Before a wall inside the Sea God Pavilion, Elder Mu gestured lightly with his hand.

Golden light ignited, and everything in the surrounding area suddenly turned illusory. A rich, golden halo instantly enveloped Ye Xixuan’s body; he felt a sudden brightness before his eyes and a sensation of stepping into thin air beneath his feet.

The next moment, the golden light quietly vanished, and he found himself standing in a pitch-black room.

Dense, dark-attribute elemental energy saturated the space, clinging to his skin like viscous, ice-cold liquid. It felt as though he had arrived in a void, or had submerged into the depths of an endless abyss, a sensation so heavy it was suffocating.

As a soul master possessing an Ultimate Darkness attribute martial soul, Ye Xixuan felt increasingly at ease in this environment. He curled his right hand into a phantom grip, and black currents wound through his fair fingers, swirling incessantly. Even the soul power within his body began to circulate rapidly on its own.

His gaze, however, remained fixed on the depths of the dark space.

It was an instinctive intuition. In this darkness, apart from himself, there seemed to be another faint consciousness.

At that moment, Elder Mu’s voice resonated within Ye Xixuan’s spiritual sea.

"Have you ever heard of the Ice Empress?"

"The Ice Empress, Snow Empress, the first among the three great kings of the Far North?" Ye Xixuan possessed extraordinary talent in spiritual power, and he learned to communicate via his spiritual sea on his very first attempt.

Coming from a distinguished family of soul masters, he was not as ignorant as Huo Yuhao had been in his past-life memories. He had studied knowledge regarding martial souls and soul beasts since childhood, laying a solid foundation for his future cultivation.

Elder Mu smiled and said, "Correct. On the continent's list of the top ten fierce beasts, the Ice Empress ranks third, with a cultivation level approaching seven hundred thousand years. Every fierce beast that manages to make this list possesses an ancient and noble bloodline. The Ice Empress is even more unique compared to the others; she was born in response to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, conceived from the purest sliver of ice-spirit energy in the Far North. Such soul beasts are known as elemental soul beasts."

"When I was traveling across the continent in my youth, I encountered a similar light-elemental soul beast and obtained an extremely powerful soul bone. Unfortunately, I already had a full set of six soul bones at the time, so I had to let it slip through my fingers. I thought that having such an experience was already my luck; I never expected to discover a dark-elemental soul beast in the same location. Perhaps it is what they call the mutual generation of light and darkness."

"However, that dark-elemental soul beast was much weaker and had not yet developed its own consciousness. It was only later that I learned the most unique aspect of elemental soul beasts: before reaching a thousand years of cultivation, their consciousness remains in a state of chaos. Once they surpass a thousand years, their intelligence grows rapidly, and they can take on various forms. To call it a leap to the heavens would be no exaggeration."

"Elder Mu, is that dark-elemental soul beast here? Do you intend for it to be my first soul ring?" Ye Xixuan realized immediately.

Elder Mu sighed, "Normally, that dark-elemental soul beast should have long since broken through to the thousand-year level; it was I who used the power of the Golden Tree to seal it underground. Your arrival feels like the guidance of fate to me. Elemental soul beasts in a state of chaos will merge directly into the origin of your martial soul. You need only sit cross-legged and meditate. With the compatibility of your Ultimate Darkness martial soul and the boost to your physical constitution from that innate ability, absorption should be effortless. Begin now."

"Yes, Elder Mu." Ye Xixuan followed his instructions, though he felt secretly astonished.

The nature of this elemental soul beast was uncannily similar to the artificial soul spirits of later generations. By merging with the martial soul, it only served to make the martial soul more powerful.

Calming his mind, Ye Xixuan devoted himself entirely to cultivation. There was no need for deliberate guidance; the dark-attribute elements and his martial soul shared a natural affinity. Like a whale swallowing water, the energy merged into his body at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the room, the darkness rapidly receded, replaced by the brilliant golden light of the Golden Tree itself. A clear, radiant aura of light began to diffuse outward from it.

About an hour later, the dark aura had completely retracted into the demonic patterns on Ye Xixuan’s skin, while his fair complexion had become translucent and pure, resonating strangely with the light of the Golden Tree.

Light and darkness coexisted in a bizarre harmony, distinct and separate, yet both present in the same person.

A massive golden projection expanded above the Sea God Pavilion—it was the phantom of the Golden Tree. Inner Court students and teachers on Sea God Island looked up one after another, observing the anomaly in the sky.

"Cough, cough—" Elder Xuan sat on a rock in the open space before the Sea God Pavilion, happily gnawing on a chicken leg while scratching his foot with his other hand. Seeing this scene, he nearly choked.

"How was the energy of the Golden Tree triggered? That little fellow isn't that capable, is he?"

"Elder Xuan, what do you mean he isn't that capable?" Two other figures stood beside Elder Xuan. The one who spoke was a boy who appeared to be around Tang Ya’s age. He was tall and slender, and having developed well, he already carried a sense of youthful grace. His short, deep blue hair emitted a jewel-like luster, and his handsome face bore a slightly cynical, gentle smile.

The other person was an exquisite woman of about twenty. Her long black hair fell to her waist, her black eyes were bright and intelligent, and her delicate face was fair and flawless. Her calm and gentle temperament was unforgettable.

She withdrew her gaze from the Golden Tree and said softly, "Elder Xuan, did Elder Mu have something for me to do?"

"Let Elder Mu tell you later. Lexuan, wait here for a while, and keep this little brat Bei Bei in line. I’m going to see Elder Mu first." Elder Xuan replied hurriedly, his figure flickering as he vanished from the spot. From his words, one could discern the identities of the two: the Inner Court’s senior disciple, Zhang Lexuan, and Elder Mu’s great-grandson, Bei Bei.

In the underground world of the Golden Tree, a luxurious purple soul ring rose from beneath Ye Xixuan, pulsing slowly.

Yet, compared to Ye Xixuan’s martial soul and soul ring, it was his crystalline, light-infused constitution that truly shocked Elder Xuan and Elder Mu, who stood side by side.

"Child of Light?" A glow surged in Elder Mu’s cloudy eyes. That this legendary, pure constitution of light had appeared in a soul master who possessed an Ultimate Darkness martial soul was truly inconceivable.

"Body of Light, Soul of Darkness..."

"Elder Mu, what is going on here?" Elder Xuan asked, his mouth agape.

"How can the constitution of a darkness-attribute soul master be so compatible with the light element?"