Douluo Continent: The Book of Witness and Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 2 The Eyeglasses of Insight and the Book of Testimony

During the agonizing breakfast time and the agonizing waiting time, the usually quiet ancestral hall of the Long family was unusually crowded with people.

Unfortunately, no matter how early these figures arrived, they still had to wait. According to past practice, the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony would begin when the sun was high in the sky, around nine o'clock in the morning.

Having come here with his parents, Long You forcibly suppressed the complex tension in his heart and glanced around to get a grasp of this year's Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony.

The Long family truly lives up to its reputation as a large family with a history of over ten thousand years. Even though the group currently consists of only school-aged children living in the main residence, there are already thirteen of them. If you include Long You, that makes fourteen.

Furthermore, it's still quite early, and some eligible members of the Long clan residing outside Xingluo City will need some time before they arrive at their family's main residence. By then, the number of eligible children participating in this Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony may exceed twenty.

When the timer displayed 9:30 a.m., Long Ye, the patriarch of the Long family in Xingluo City, finally appeared leisurely in front of the ancestral hall.

"Twenty-three eligible members of the Long family, you are all the hope and future of the Long family. As the current head of the Long family, I sincerely hope that everyone who has come here today will achieve their wishes."

Now, enough with the chit-chat. Those of you who need to awaken your martial spirit today, follow me into the ancestral hall.

The Star Luo Empire is located in the southern part of the original Douluo Continent (before it collided and merged with the Sun and Moon Continents), and its architectural style bears some resemblance to the private gardens of the Jiangnan water towns in Longyou's previous life.

As the main residence of a family that has been passed down for ten thousand years in the Star Luo Empire, the architectural style of the Long Family Mansion is no exception. Although understated, walking through it, one can feel the unique exquisiteness of a Jiangnan garden, where every step reveals a new scene.

However, all the exquisite craftsmanship and ingenuity had nothing to do with the ancestral hall in front of Long You. Standing in the Long family ancestral hall, which was entirely covered with obsidian bricks, one could only feel solemnity and reverence.

"call--"

Letting out a soft breath, Long You stood obediently in the waiting line. In her previous life, Douluo Continent was a wildly popular novel, spawning countless fan works and numerous descriptions of the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony. Therefore, Long You, having reached this point, was surprisingly calm.

"Longlu, a book recording martial spirits, level four innate spirit power."

"Long Hui, the Book of Martial Soul Painting, innate soul power level five."

"Longfu, the Book of Martial Soul Replication, Level Six of Innate Soul Power."

“Longping, Martial Soul Judge's Pen, Innate Soul Power Level 5.”

Time passed slowly, and the clan leader Long Ye, who was presiding over the ceremony, would occasionally announce the types of martial souls that had been awakened and their innate soul power levels.

Finally, after the awakening ceremony was performed sixteen times, the name Long You was uttered from the mouth of the clan leader, Long Ye.

Following the example of his peers, Long You stood in the ritual array composed of six magical rune stones and subconsciously closed his eyes.

A hazy golden light shone through the eyelids onto the retina, and a warm feeling enveloped Longyou.

"This feeling is a bit like when I first woke up after time travel, when I should still be soaking in the amniotic fluid in my mother's womb."

The Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony brought back this feeling. Could it be that the Martial Souls awakened by the inhabitants of the Douluo World are actually giving birth to a new kind of auxiliary life?

Fully immersing himself in this warm feeling, Long You soon felt as if a magical power was growing within his body.

When this magical power grew to a certain stage, two soft sounds, "click" and "whoosh," seemed to exist only in the depths of Longyou's soul.

Long You felt as if a shackle had been removed from his body, and at the same time, something seemed to awaken in his mind at this moment.

Subconsciously opening his eyes, Long You immediately noticed a plain white book floating quietly in the palm of his right hand. However, he quickly realized something was wrong; the colors in his vision were off.

The hazy, warm golden light that once enveloped him was no longer there. In this shrine, which had no light-transmitting holes and was only illuminated by a few candle-shaped soul-guiding lamps, the light should have been dim. However, Long You's vision was completely unaffected by the dim light.

With a slight wrinkle, Long You, who had been nearsighted in his previous life and had to wear glasses for long periods of time, noticed the "familiar" weight that had suddenly increased on the bridge of his nose.

"Glasses? These glasses gave me night vision? No, the important thing now is that I don't have a single martial soul, so does that mean I have twin martial souls?"

In a fraction of a second, various thoughts flashed through Long You's mind as he realized his own difference. However, before Long You could sort out a reasonable explanation, that voice, seemingly resounding from the depths of his soul, appeared again.

This time, it was a rather melodious song: "I see, I record, I witness. The Insight Glasses and the Book of Witness, two souls in one body."

"So that's how it is. This is my martial spirit. A martial spirit that is connected to my soul is truly a magical experience. As long as I think about it, my martial spirit will respond."

Having gained a relatively detailed understanding of his own martial soul, Long You stopped pondering with his head down and instead raised his head, gazing at Long Ye, the head of the Long family, with the innocent eyes of a child.

"What an amazing martial soul, Xiao You. In my experience, this is not a twin martial soul, but a twin martial soul in one body. In essence, it is still a single martial soul."

"Now is not the time. Put it away first, and let your uncle see how many levels of soul power you have."

"Okay, Uncle."

Having already mastered the method of controlling his martial spirit from his previous experiences, Long You withdrew his martial spirit back into his body with a slight thought.

As his vision returned to darkness, and although he was somewhat unaccustomed to it, Long You still accurately grasped the soul power testing device that his uncle handed him.

A gentle white beam of light appeared and climbed upwards until it stopped in the grid area representing level nine soul power.

"Not bad, innate soul power level nine. Xiao You, your talent is much stronger than your father's, only slightly inferior to those peerless geniuses with full innate soul power."

Your parents and I will come to my courtyard at noon today. Your uncle will personally teach you the methods of meditation. Xiao You, you must work hard in the future; who knows, our Long family might even produce a Title Douluo someday!

The talent that Long You displayed clearly pleased Long Ye, the head of the Long family. So, even though it was still during the tense period of the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony, the head of the Long family still took a little extra time to extend a lunch invitation.

Of course, as the head of a clan, being able to keep one's emotions in check is basically an innate skill. The fact that Long You could make Long Ye show such a joyful emotion that could be described as losing his composure was not only due to his talent, but also because the two of them were very close.

As mentioned before, Long You's father was away from home for long periods because he served in the military. And Long You's mother, Ms. Zeng Xianjun, was not actually a full-time housewife.

This level 55 Soul King, possessing the Lone Bamboo Martial Soul, has a remarkable skill in vegetarian cooking and runs a private vegetarian restaurant in Star Luo City. He can go home every day, but like the office workers in Long You's previous life, the only time he can truly care for his family is in the evenings.

Therefore, it's not entirely untrue to say that Long You, the young master of the Long family, is a left-behind child.

In this situation, Long Ye, as a leisurely family patriarch, Long You's uncle, and whose own children were mostly away from home due to their adulthood, naturally took on the responsibility of looking after Long You.

To be honest, Long You was more familiar with his uncle Long Ye than with his father, Long Lei. However, considering Long Ye's age, Long You and Long Ye were more like grandfather and grandson than uncle and nephew.