Chapter 2: Spirit Awakening, Hong Ming's Advent
In a flash, three years passed, and it was again time for Spirit awakening.
A year ago, Xie Yue, Hu Liena, and Yan had already awakened their Spirits and entered Spirit Hall's Junior Academy.
Just as promised, Xie Yue and Yan both had nine levels of spirit power, while Hu Liena had nine and a half levels of spirit power, and was even taken as a disciple by the newly appointed Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong.
(PS: Their spirit power was close during the Spirit Master Tournament, and eight levels is a bit low, not fitting such a grand title.)
After awakening, the three of them came to celebrate with Bai Yu and wished him a powerful Spirit awakening next year.
In fact, Bai Yu already knew what kind of Spirit he would awaken—it was the Hong Ming Knife in his mind.
Bai Yu felt that he was able to awaken his past life memories at two years old instead of three, not because he was stimulated by the killing, but because the Hong Ming Knife was stimulated and awakened early in his body.
According to legends from his previous life, the Hong Ming Knife was formed spontaneously from the leftover materials that flowed out when Human Emperor Xuanyuan refined the Xuanyuan Sword, naturally coalescing into a knife shape.
Human Emperor Xuanyuan saw that this knife inherently possessed a murderous aura and feared it would become an evil blade later, thus wanting to destroy it.
Unexpectedly, the knife escaped into the void on its own and has never appeared in the world since.
Bai Yu also didn't know if the knife in his mind was the legendary Hong Ming Knife.
However, the law diagrams brought by this knife had made his past few years quite fulfilling.
The law diagrams were not some magic treasure or divine artifact; they only allowed Bai Yu to perceive the fundamental composition of all things and see the laws of the world when observing them.
The fundamental composition was useless now; even if he perceived it, he couldn't decompose or synthesize it.
Moreover, in Douluo Continent, it's uncertain whether even a God King can touch the fundamentals, so he probably won't use it in this lifetime.
The laws, however, were somewhat useful; after long-term observation, specific postures and movements could attract specific elemental powers of heaven and earth.
But merely attracting was useless; he couldn't make it his own, let alone absorb it, which gave Bai Yu the idea of creating a cultivation method.
In Spirit City, the only laws a child could observe without restriction were those of the sun and moon in the sky.
Bai Yu spent over two years observing the patterns and experimenting with which movements could attract the power emitted by the sun.
He also experimented with which movements could attract the power emitted by the moon, combining them to maximize their effectiveness.
And he gave them grand names: 'Power of the Sun' and 'Power of the Moon'.
After having the attracting movements, he began to research how to absorb them into his body. Without any cultivation foundation, Bai Yu could only first find a physician to learn about human meridians.
However, he found that Douluo Continent did not have physicians similar to those in traditional Chinese medicine.
Or rather, they were very few, and their research was very shallow, after all, minor illnesses didn't need treatment, and serious illnesses were handled by healing-type Spirit Masters.
Having no other choice, Bai Yu could only first earn money, then inquire and purchase from other Spirit Masters their Spirit Power Operation Route within the body, and the operation routes for releasing different Spirit Abilities, and then draw them himself.
Fortunately, being in Spirit City, having many Spirit Masters was also beneficial.
Additionally, with proof from the Spirit City orphanage, he could access some low-level information at the Spirit Hall Junior Spirit Master Academy, as the orphanage was considered a subordinate unit of Spirit Hall.
It was also fortunate that in his previous life, when he was idle at home, he learned many recipes. He wrote them down and had the dean help him sell them to hotels, which earned him a good amount of gold coins.
Thus, by piecing things together, it took him over a year to map out twenty-two meridians.
Among them, two meridians were used by all Spirit Masters when operating their spirit power. The remaining twenty were roughly divided by different systems, so their Spirit Power Operation Route was not the same, but combined, they made up these twenty.
There were also some not included, but they were rare, mostly due to injuries, disabilities, or having practiced special Spirit Abilities.
Bai Yu divided these twenty-two meridians into the Ren and Du meridians, the twelve regular meridians, and the eight extraordinary meridians. He didn't know if they were accurate, but he called them that anyway.
Now, Bai Yu was just waiting for his Spirit to awaken, then he would use his spirit power to try and absorb the attracted Power of the Moon and Power of the Sun into his body.
After all, Bai Yu had no cultivation method, and with only meridian theory, he couldn't cultivate internal energy. He could only wait for his Spirit to awaken and acquire spirit power to try. Surely, the mighty Hong Ming Knife wouldn't even lack spirit power, would it?
Approaching noon, the white-robed deacon from Spirit Hall, responsible for Spirit awakening, finally arrived.
"Hello, children, my name is Liu Feng, my Spirit is Black Python, and I am a Level 29 Spirit Grandmaster. Today, I am here to awaken your Spirits."
A young man around twenty, dressed in a white deacon's robe, stood tall and straight.
The dean bowed slightly: "Thank you, esteemed Deacon, for coming to awaken the children's Spirits."
Liu Feng waved his hand: "Alright, have the children line up."
Saying that, he arranged six black stones into a hexagon on the ground, then took out a crystal ball: "Black Python, possess."
"Ah!"
Exclamations came from around, but there wasn't much fear. Those who had been there for over a year had seen similar scenes.
"Alright, children, don't mess around. Line up and stand in the middle of the stones."
After all, it was an orphanage of Spirit Hall. Perhaps someone with high innate spirit power would emerge, who would later become his superior, so his patience was quite good.
"Spirit: Hoe, no spirit power."
"Spirit: Bamboo Stick, two levels of spirit power, not bad."
"Spirit: Blue Silver Grass, no spirit power."
Spirit: ...
"Next one!" Bai Yu saw that it was his turn, walked forward, and stood in the middle of the black stones.
As Liu Feng's spirit power surged, he could feel the Hong Ming Knife, which had been in his mind, finally about to emerge.
Besides that, he felt another power in his body wanting to come out, but it was temporarily suppressed by the Hong Ming Knife's anomaly: "twin spirits?"
"Extend your right hand," following Liu Feng's guidance, Bai Yu ignored the other power and extended his right hand.
A purplish-gold, straight long knife, appearing like both gold and jade, emerged on his right hand. From the hilt to the guard, dragons and phoenixes intertwined, and the blade was adorned with ornate patterns.
As the Hong Ming Knife appeared, a purplish-gold beam of light shot into the sky, and in an instant, clouds churned and lightning flashed.
"This... what kind of Spirit is this?"
Liu Feng stared at the Hong Ming Knife, dumbfounded. In his many years as a Spirit Master, he had never even heard of such a scene during a Spirit awakening, let alone witnessed one.
"Quick, test the spirit power! Such a high-profile Spirit must have high spirit power!" Liu Feng quickly handed over the crystal ball.
As Bai Yu's hand rested on the crystal ball, it immediately burst forth with intense light.
"Haha, innate full spirit power! Good, little friend, what is your Spirit called?"
Liu Feng was incredibly excited. With such a grand Spirit and innate full spirit power, today was destined for Liu Feng to get rich and be promoted!
"Hong Ming Knife," so it really is full spirit power? I knew it, those above ten levels are indeed related to gods, Bai Yu thought to himself.
Qian Renxue's twenty levels of spirit power, ten of which were given by the Angel God statue. The two who surpassed ten levels after Douluo Continent I were both divine Grant.
"My Hong Ming Knife, in Douluo Continent, how could it not be considered a super divine artifact? Can't it be more mature and give me ten more levels?" Bai Yu looked at the knife in his hand, grumbling inwardly.
In the Supreme Pontiff Palace, a figure dressed in a golden ceremonial robe sat on the Supreme Pontiff's throne, the splendid robe shimmering with precious light.
She held a golden scepter inlaid with gems, her noble demeanor compelling reverence.
"Go and see what happened outside." A cold voice rang out.
"Yes," the two Elders of the Supreme Pontiff Palace, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo, bowed in salute, then turned and exited.
"At the orphanage, a Spirit awakening? Such a commotion, has another divine Spirit appeared? Heh heh, I hope you can be used by me, and not stand in my way."
"Otherwise, I will kill you, just like that bastard, both deserve to die, all divine Spirits deserve to die!" Bibi Dong's face twisted, and her eyes revealed intense malice.