Chapter 6: The Mysterious Black Pillar

  "Three months later, the White Horde's eight tribes will hold a martial arts competition. All soul warriors under the age of 18 must participate. Ah Gong, these bastards from the White Horde are trying to take Jiang Cheng's life!" As soon as they entered Ah Gong's wooden building, Tribe Leader Ge Xiong couldn't help but curse.

  "I didn't expect the reaction of the Bai Huang tribe to be so great." Ah Gong Lin sighed.

  "Grandfather, I've brought trouble to our tribe!" Jiang Cheng followed up with some self-blame, he hadn't expected that the Bai Hun tribe would actually increase the annual grain tax by 50%.

  Only Jiang Cheng, who had lived in Gusu for many years, understood what the additional five percent of annual grain tax meant to Gusu.

  The clan leader, Ge Xiong's large hand slapped heavily on Jiang Cheng's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, this has nothing to do with you. The White Tiger Clan has been eyeing our tribe's precious treasure for a long time, they just needed an excuse."

  "What's precious?" Jiang Cheng looked curious.

  Grandfather's face showed a hint of pride: "This, you will know later, but for now, the top priority is how to get through this difficult time."

  "Grandfather, time is pressing, the White Horde only gave us a month's time. I'll go prepare now and tomorrow bring the brave warriors of our tribe into the mountains to hunt beasts for food."

  "Go, be extremely careful and beware of casualties!" As he said this, Grandpa's expression suddenly paused: "What a pity, if it were Song Yue..." He stopped abruptly in the middle of his sentence, leaving Jiang Cheng bewildered.

  "A Cheng, study well with A Gong, the future of our tribe depends on you all." The tribal chief, Ge Xiong, said something without thinking and left in a hurry.

  "Sit cross-legged, concentrate all your thoughts, and recall the surge of heat that flowed through your body when you acquired your Battle Soul. You will be able to see your Battle Soul." The clan leader, Ge Xiong, left after giving Jiang Cheng instructions.

  "See what you can see and then tell me."

  A Cheng, I'm really looking forward to it and also want to know what the war soul of the second awakened War Soul Awakener of my Gesang tribe in these decades is?

  Moreover, the ancestral spirit and guardian spirit you summoned are even more powerful than that one, directly helping you to advance your cultivation to the second level of the Cheng En Realm. It seems that your war soul is definitely not bad."

  "Second place?" Jiang Cheng's eyes widened in surprise before he closed them again.

  Under the full concentration, the warm current that made him feel extremely comfortable when he first obtained the Battle Soul appeared instantly, as if it was gushing out from his heart, like a small stream, rushing towards his feet.

  Almost at the same time as closing his eyes, Jiang Cheng felt a sudden dimming of the light in front of him. The dark aura that had appeared earliest when he awakened his war soul suddenly emerged, causing Jiang Cheng's mind to churn and surge like clouds and fog.

  In the midst of turmoil, that inky aura gradually transformed into a pitch-black tower-shaped pillar that suddenly appeared in Jiang Cheng's mind, standing quietly and solemnly.

  "Black Pillar of Tower?"

  Jiang Cheng was taken aback by this scene.

  He has been in the Ge Shan Zu for five years, and the legends he has heard are countless. War souls can be beasts, plants, or even water, fire, earth, wood - anything that has a spirit in heaven and earth can become a war soul, but he has never heard of a war soul like 'Ta Zhu'.

  "My battle soul is..."

  The moment the four words 'my battle soul' escaped from Jiang Cheng's mouth, the black pillar in front of him suddenly spun, and a grayish-brown beast-like light burst out of the black pillar, merging with his shadow.

  "What? How is it......"

  As soon as he saw the beast-shaped light group clearly, Jiang Cheng's expression suddenly froze, and he couldn't help but exclaim.

  Jiang Cheng's shocked expression made Ah Gong, who was waiting anxiously beside him, feel a bit flustered, thinking that something had gone wrong.

  "Don't worry, calm down, I'll help you take a look!"

  Grandfather's withered right hand was suddenly covered with a layer of pale red light, and gently touched Jiang Cheng's forehead.

  At almost the same time, Grandpa's expression also changed suddenly, revealing a look of surprise.

  At the same time, Jiang Cheng's beastly shadow that had almost dissipated due to his shock also stabilized because of Ah Gong's intervention.

  In Jiang Cheng's mind, a beast-like silhouette with a slightly pointed mouth and short legs was slowly changing with Jiang Cheng's breathing.

  "Pigs, could it be a wild boar?"

  After recognizing him clearly, Jiang Cheng was also shocked and amazed. This shock soon turned into a bitter smile, but amidst the bitterness, there was a hint of eeriness.

  Jiang Cheng clearly saw that the boar's battle soul was shot out from the black tower pillar later, Jiang Cheng was a bit confused, his battle soul was actually the boar or that strange black tower pillar?

  However, Jiang Cheng soon determined what his war soul was.

  Although Jiang Cheng was unwilling to believe this result, the beast-shaped virtual shadow had a big red light spot on it again, proving that the beast-shaped virtual shadow was indeed Jiang Cheng's war soul, and that strange black tower column should not be.

  Because that eerie black pillar didn't have this big red glow

  That large red light sphere, known as the Battle Soul Pearl, is a most important characteristic of a Battle Soul and also determines its rank.

  Having stayed in the Geshan Department for five years, this common sense, Jiang Cheng still has it.

  Grandpa also seemed to have recovered from his surprise: "Wild boar? That's impossible!

  The war soul of a Revelation Warrior is usually very powerful, how could it be a low-grade yellow mountain boar?

  How can the awakened war soul of a low-grade mountain boar possibly stir up such a powerful, even transcendent ancestral totemic spirit that surpasses the Heavenly Rank?

  Moreover, in our clan's records, our ancestral spirit totem has never bestowed a battle spirit like the mountain boar.

  Weird, weird......”

  As soon as he finished speaking, Ah Gong's eyebrows were tightly knotted together.

  The rank of this battle soul, Jiang Cheng did know.

  The warrior's soul is divided into four levels: Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang. Each level is further divided into three sub-levels: Upper, Middle, and Lower.

  In general, the rank of a Battle Soul is determined by the number of Battle Soul Beads it possesses. One bead corresponds to a lower yellow rank, while two beads correspond to a middle yellow rank.

  Four Soul Beads are required for a Yellow Upper-Grade Soul, and so on. For every grade increase in the Soul's rank, the number of Soul Beads required doubles.

  The rank of war soul has a great impact on the soul warrior.

  The higher the rank of the Battle Soul, the more Battle Soul Beads there are, and the faster the Soul Warrior's cultivation speed.

  Just like the Gushe tribe's Du Jing, his battle soul is a mid-grade yellow-level Rock Beast with two battle soul beads, while the Bai Hun tribe's Bai Xiao has an upper-grade yellow-level Wind Leopard as his battle soul, with at least four battle soul beads.

  Bai Xiao's cultivation speed was more than twice that of Du Jing.

  This is also why Bai Xiao and Du Jing were both granted the War Soul at the same time, yet Bai Xiao has already reached the third level of the Acknowledged Realm, while Du Jing is still at the first level.

  Of course, the cultivation resources also have a great impact on the speed of cultivation. The cultivation resources of Bai Xiao, the son of the patriarch of the Second Pillar tribe, are definitely much better than those of Du Jing.

  Under normal circumstances, Jiang Cheng's Boar Warrior Soul should be the worst Warrior Soul.

  However, Jiang Cheng was not disappointed at all that he had only obtained a mid-grade yellow-stage Mountain Boar War Soul.

  Two months ago, Jiang Cheng had participated in a Harvest Festival and did not receive an ancestral spirit's blessing of a battle soul.

  In general, the first time there is no blessing of battle spirit, and the second time the opportunity for blessing of battle spirit is small to almost none.

  It is rare to know that the existence of being able to obtain a battle soul and become a Soul Warrior is extremely rare. In the nearby Beihun Eight Clans, the number of Soul Warriors is less than one in a hundred people on average.

  Jiang Chen was very satisfied, now that he had obtained the Combat Soul and become a Soul Warrior, obtaining a channel to become stronger, it was already a great fortune.

  The rest is up to Jiang Cheng himself to control.

  Jiang Cheng has always believed that diligence can make up for incompetence.

  However, what Jiang Cheng wanted to figure out the most at this time was that black tower pillar condensed from the black light in the first moment, what on earth it was. Jiang Cheng had never known that he had such a thing inside his body.

  What surprised Jiang Cheng even more was that at this moment, he suddenly remembered the black tower pillar, and that black tower pillar actually reappeared in Jiang Cheng's mind, making him jump again.

  "Grandfather, have you seen anything else?" Jiang Cheng asked, mustering up his courage.

  The old man in contemplation opened his eyes due to Jiang Cheng's question, gently stroking the top of Jiang Cheng's head and comforting him: "Child, it can be confirmed that your war soul is indeed a mountain boar, but don't be disheartened."

  "There are no useless Soul Warriors, let alone useless Battle Souls. And you, of all people, are an Awakened Heavenly War Soul."

  It was clear that Grandpa had misunderstood Jiang Cheng's meaning, but Grandpa's response made Jiang Cheng certain of one thing - the black tower pillar seemed to be visible only to him, and Grandpa couldn't see it.

  "Grandfather, you said that my battle spirit is very strange. What's going on?" Even though Jiang Cheng had a lot of knowledge about the Earth, he could only ask Grandfather for advice on this matter.

  Grandfather shook his head: "It's just a bit unreasonable."

  "In all of my memories, the awakened war souls are either extremely powerful and high-ranking or possess extraordinary abilities, just like..."

  At this point, Ah Gong stopped again, paused for a moment and said: "I have never seen such a situation as yours. Perhaps we haven't discovered it yet, or perhaps it has something to do with you..."

  "What's with you?" Jiang Cheng asked again, seeing Lao Gong stop once more.

  "It has something to do with your origins," said Grandfather, "but you can't quite recall it either, and there's no way to verify it."

  Jiang Cheng's face turned red with embarrassment as he lowered his head, mainly because his origins were too astonishing, so he had been evasive about it all along.

  Although Grandpa Ah Gong didn't know, Jiang Cheng was very clear about his own origins. He used to be just an ordinary student, and there were countless students like him, so it was really hard to find anything special about him.

  Jiang Cheng lowered his head, and A Gong thought he was worried about being a low-ranking mountain pig war spirit with extremely low combat power, so he comforted him: "A Cheng, you don't need to be disheartened.

  Moreover, you are an Awakened War Soul of the Heavenly Revelation, even if your War Soul is just a wild boar, it possesses potential that others cannot match.

  Grandfather paused for a moment and looked straight at Jiang Cheng, "Jiang Cheng, do you know the difference between the Heaven Awakening War Soul and the Ancestral Blessing War Soul?"

  "What's the difference?" Jiang Cheng shook his head, "Please enlighten me, Grandmaster!"

  That's endless possibility.

  The ancestral spirit's blessing of war soul can only cultivate step by step, slowly improving its cultivation and evolving the war soul according to the traditional methods passed down for thousands of years. However, the war soul that has awakened to the heavenly revelation can break this rule.

  It has infinite variables and endless potential. This is also one of the reasons why Bai Hun Department is so wary of you, this awakened Tianxi War Soul.

  Perhaps, after manually killing a fierce beast with a battle spirit and meeting various special conditions, your battle soul will have an extremely small chance of being upgraded and evolving, upgrading its rank.

  "Perhaps, with one epiphany, one breakthrough, your fighting spirit will evolve into a special ability."

  Jiang Cheng's eyes suddenly lit up, but Ah Gong's voice was suddenly heavy, and he said loudly: "But all of this depends on your will!"

  "Just as when you obtained the Battle Soul, it was because of your will to protect that allowed you to obtain a special Epiphany Awakening Battle Soul. Similarly, your will can also allow your Epiphany Awakening Battle Soul to be further enhanced, making it possible for you to become even stronger!"

  Jiang Cheng's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he felt that Grandfather seemed to be expressing something to him, but it was somewhat obscure.

  "Grandfather, you mean for me to go challenge the fierce beast and use that method to upgrade my current war soul's rank?"

  Sudden enlightenment can be encountered but cannot be sought. That's what Ah Gong said, Jiang Cheng wants to become stronger, there is only this one way.

  Old man Wen nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad."

  But it still depends on your own choice!

  However, this is also the only clear path that I can point out to you after decades of experience, but... extremely perilous!

  Because you only have three months' time!

  Bai Hun Department's Xiao Ling Gong has specifically invited you to participate in the three-month Bai Hun Eight Departments Martial Arts Conference, which will be the most critical and dangerous turning point in your life!

  "Three months!" Jiang Cheng muttered to himself, nodding his head heavily: "Grandfather, I know what to do now!"

  That cruel and ruthless Jiang Cheng of the White Tiger Hall is well-known in the martial arts world.

  Two years ago, there was one time when Jiang Cheng personally saw that in the magnificent scenery of Qinghe Territory of the Gusu Lan Clan, the threefold Soul Warrior Shi Dahu was beaten into a cripple and carried back.

  A year and a half ago, Shi Dahu, who had become a cripple and was unable to stand on his own, crawled into the Hun River under the cover of night.

  Jiang Cheng still remembers the scene of Shi Dahu being fished up...

  "Not bad, indeed worthy of being a Heaven's Awakening War Soul. However, based on my experience accumulated from traveling outside, when you Heaven's Awakening War Souls encounter ferocious beasts that are similar or identical to your own war souls, the possibility of obtaining upgrades or evolution will be slightly higher." Ah Gong added.

  "Does Grandfather mean for me to hunt down a ferocious beast similar to a mountain boar?" Jiang Cheng speculated.

  "After crossing this Ge Mountain where our clan resides, it's the territory of ferocious beasts in the Northern Hun Mountains, a place ordinary people can't even set foot in."

  There is a place called Zhu Wang Po, where ferocious beasts Bloodtooth Boars gather. You can go try it out.

  "Remember, it must be a ferocious beast killed by your own hands that can possibly subdue the war spirit."

  Pausing for a moment, Ah Gong's tone suddenly became ethereal: "Ah Cheng, this is all the help I can give you."

  When you're afraid, remember protection...

  When you're lost, remember to protect...

  When you're in pain, remember to protect...