A thin strand of black energy seeped out from Qin Wei's shadow.
It curled around his ankle.
Then another appeared.
And another.
The golden particles abruptly stopped moving.
The entire square fell silent.
Qin Wei could no longer hear the villagers murmuring around him. He couldn't even hear his own breathing.
All he could hear was the steady, dreadful rhythm beating somewhere behind his consciousness.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Something was awakening.
And it was not the ordinary martial soul he had imagined.
"Master Spirit Master..." Old Jack whispered nervously. "Is this normal?"
Su Yuntao didn't answer.
His gaze was fixed on the shadow behind Qin Wei.
It was growing.
Stretching across the ground like spilled ink, it rose slowly into the air, taking on a shape that seemed impossible for a mere shadow to possess.
First came a pair of long, curved appendages.
Then another pair.
Then another.
The silhouette expanded behind the boy, towering over him as the surrounding light dimmed.
Several children cried out and stumbled backward.
"What... what is that?" someone shouted.
Su Yuntao's face had gone pale.
He had awakened countless martial souls during his time in the Spirit Hall. Animals, plants, tools, and all manner of strange objects had appeared before him.
But never had he witnessed a martial soul manifest in this way.
The silhouette's many limbs spread outward.
A huge, rounded body gradually emerged from the darkness, its outline resembling a monstrous spider.
Eight long legs arched behind Qin Wei, each ending in a sharp, blade-like point. Two smaller appendages curled near its head, while an indistinct cluster of eyes seemed to glimmer within the darkness.
It was not fully formed.
It was only a silhouette.
Yet the pressure it released was enough to make the air feel heavy.
Qin Wei stood frozen.
Spider...
His mind raced through everything he knew about this world.
The Man-Faced Demon Spider.
The Human-Faced Demon Spider.
The Death Spider Emperor.
Countless possibilities flashed through his mind, each more terrifying than the last.
No. Wait.
Why would my martial soul be a spider?
He had never planned for this.
He had never expected it.
And yet, deep within his soul, something seemed to recognize the creature.
Not as a stranger.
But as something that had always belonged to him.
The silhouette lowered its head.
For one brief moment, Qin Wei felt as though an enormous pair of unseen eyes had opened behind him.
Then the shadow shuddered.
The eight legs spread wider, and a faint, dark-red glimmer appeared at the center of its body.
Su Yuntao stumbled backward.
"A... a beast-type martial soul?"
His voice trembled.
"No. That's not right..."
He swallowed hard.
"Why does it feel like it's looking at me?"
The spider silhouette remained motionless.
Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the pressure vanished.
The black energy rushed back into Qin Wei's body.
The golden light returned.
And the six black stones fell silent.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
Qin Wei stared at his right hand.
A tiny black mark had appeared in the center of his palm, resembling a spider with eight slender legs.
He curled his fingers into a fist.
So this is my martial soul...
He could feel it.
A connection deeper than instinct.
A presence that seemed to exist at the very edge of his awareness.
But he couldn't understand what it was.
Or why it felt so familiar.
"Qin Wei..." Su Yuntao muttered.
The young Spirit Master looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and apprehension.
"Show me your martial soul again."
Qin Wei hesitated.
He concentrated on the strange sensation inside his chest.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
The black mark on his palm faded until it was almost invisible.
"I... I don't know how," he admitted.
Su Yuntao stared at him for a long moment before taking a slow breath.
"Fine. We'll test your spirit power first."
He produced the blue crystal ball and held it out.
"Place your hand on it."
Qin Wei looked at the crystal.
For some reason, he suddenly felt reluctant to touch it.
Not because he was afraid of failing.
But because he had a strange feeling that the moment he did, something else would happen.
Something he couldn't take back.
It's just a spirit power test, he told himself.
What could possibly go wrong?
He placed his right hand on the crystal.
Nothing happened.
A second passed.
Then another.
Su Yuntao frowned.
"Concentrate. Let your spirit power flow into the crystal."
Qin Wei closed his eyes.
He searched for the familiar warmth he had felt during the awakening.
At first, there was nothing.
Then he felt it.
A tiny spark deep within his chest.
It pulsed once.
The crystal ball trembled.
A faint black thread appeared inside the blue sphere.
Su Yuntao's eyes narrowed.
The thread spread.
The crystal's blue light darkened, as if an ink drop had fallen into clear water.
And then—
BOOM!
A surge of blue light erupted from the crystal, illuminating the entire square.
Su Yuntao nearly dropped it.
The light was brilliant, unmistakable.
The same radiance he had witnessed moments earlier when Tang San tested his spirit power.
"Innate... full spirit power?"
He stared at Qin Wei in shock.
"Another one?!"
Old Jack's mouth fell open.
The villagers erupted into whispers.
"Two children with innate full spirit power?"
"From our village?"
"How is that possible?"
But Qin Wei barely heard them.
Because the instant the crystal lit up, a voice had whispered inside his mind.
A voice that sounded neither male nor female.
Neither young nor old.
At last...
Qin Wei's blood ran cold.
The vessel has awakened.
He abruptly withdrew his hand.
The crystal's light vanished.
Su Yuntao stared at the now-normal sphere, then at Qin Wei, as if trying to decide whether he had imagined the entire thing.
Qin Wei forced himself to breathe steadily.
Vessel?
What vessel?
He glanced at Tang San.
His brother was watching him with an expression of genuine surprise. Their eyes met, and for a moment, neither spoke.
Tang San had seen the spider silhouette.
He had felt the strange pressure.
And although he didn't know what had happened, he understood one thing.
Qin Wei's martial soul was not ordinary.
Not in the slightest.
Su Yuntao finally broke the silence.
"Qin Wei, you must come with me to the Spirit Hall. A martial soul like yours requires proper examination."
His tone was no longer impatient.
It was careful.
Almost cautious.
Old Jack immediately stepped forward.
"Master Spirit Master, does this mean Wei'er has a powerful martial soul?"
Su Yuntao hesitated.
"I can't say for certain. The manifestation was unlike anything I've seen before. And that spirit power..."
He looked at Qin Wei again.
"Innate full spirit power. That alone is extraordinary."
Qin Wei lowered his gaze, hiding the uncertainty in his eyes.
Extraordinary?
If only you knew.
He had entered this world believing that his knowledge would give him an advantage.
He knew Tang San's journey.
He knew the major events that lay ahead.
But he had never accounted for the possibility that his own existence might be connected to something beyond the original story.
Something that had just called him a vessel.
Something that had apparently been waiting for him.
And if the spider silhouette was any indication...
Whatever it was, it had finally begun to wake up.
Behind Qin Wei, where nobody could see, his shadow briefly stretched into the shape of eight long legs.
Then it disappeared.
As though it had never existed at all.