Considering her behaviour, he had not expected to be confronted with anything too out of the ordinary, yet the exact details left him dumbfounded. How could this woman who could easily put up a fight against a Pillar descendant look down on herself so much? She very evidently was a remarkable individual! Naturally, he chose to ignore her most outstanding Proficiency, as that one would just cause him to question his decision to take her in.

  From her Dantian size alone, it was already clear that she stood head and shoulders above the vast majority of Named Family members. Her Special Attributes were respectable as well, neither hindering her nor being too amazing. Yet her Talents were the ones which had caused his eyes to widen.

  Her own family’s Talent was to be expected, and there was nothing strange about it. However, he had not anticipated seeing three noteworthy Soul-related Talents of at least Legendary-grade! It was extraordinarily rare for someone to be born with multiple fantastic Talents related to one’s Family Talent, so her sporting three of them was already enough to raise his evaluation of her.

  ‘Soul Devourer’ was extremely simple and straightforward to understand, yet also terrifying–after all, it did not seem to have any specific limitations. Whilst it would be impossible to absorb a far more powerful soul than one’s own, especially if it resisted, it would indubitably be of great help to Navya.

  As for ‘Soulquake’, it appeared to be the least outstanding of the bunch, yet it was merely hiding its excellence in plain sight. The higher one’s cultivation stage became, the more difficult it would become to attack one’s opponent’s soul and strike at their core. Yet, this Talent enabled Navya to do exactly that! Although it might not always allow her to go straight for the kill, even a slight impact rattling the enemy’s soul would help her significantly in combat.

  Lastly, ‘Split Soul’ was her one and only life-saving Talent. It sounded overly powerful at first, but if her killer managed to eliminate her five times within 24 hours, then she would meet her maker. This would be nearly impossible for many, though, as nowhere within the Talent’s description did it state that there were any distance limitations to her revival. He didn’t doubt that at least one of her Split Souls was currently safely stored away in the Aatma Family, to serve as a last resort.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The two Talents above were completely self-explanatory and made from the same template as most others of their kind. Named Family members rarely had ‘Cultivation Luminary’, as this one was more widely found amongst Pillar descendants, further proving that this easily overlooked Spirit girl was not so simple. Her marvellous artistic capabilities, on the other hand, were merely a side note in his eyes.

  Speaking of the tendency of people paying her less heed than they should, he would write his name backwards if the culprit behind this phenomenon was anything other than this Talent. Yet again, its description made it seem outrageously simple, but considering it was Legendary-grade, its effects were certainly nothing to scoff at.

  Ever since they had met, Navya had not activated her ‘Presence Reduction’, yet Xie Mei and Han Junqiao hadn’t registered her existence. So even in its dormant state, the mental influence which it held over others was considerable. By all accounts, Xie Mei’s Origin Lotus’ Petal should have prevented her from being affected by Presence Reduction–as it could be seen as a form of mental contamination. But evidently, despite a whole grade separating the two, she wasn’t immune to it whatsoever.

  ‘In other words, she has the makings of a great scout. Or maybe of someone haunting and ruining vast stretches of enemy territory while remaining unseen. A silent, mysterious destroyer, of sorts.’

  Any and all Physique Talents were exceedingly rare, even amongst Named Family members. He had spent years to find a suitable target to get his Sacred Phoenix Physique from, and except for the Supreme Empyrean Physique which he had been born with, it was the only other one he had.

  Therefore, Navya having a Transcendent-grade Physique Talent was enough to raise his opinion on her future prospects by a few levels–especially when the exact effects of her ‘Vital Drought Physique’ were taken into account. Prior to reading its description, her suspicious Standard Attributes had confused him a little, as each of them was around one and a half million points higher than they should have been.

  Whilst those relatively tame numbers meant that this Talent’s absorption wasn’t too outrageous, it was nonetheless astonishing to see another Heaven’s Chosen with the ability to grow in such a manner. He himself of course didn’t count, as the amount of Standard Attributes which his Existence’s Foremost Calamity provided him with were simply ridiculous. But Vigdis also had a Talent similar to Navya’s.

  Both of them would be capable of surpassing the first round’s limitations by a fair chunk solely relying on this fact. And with him in the mix, the heights that they might eventually reach brought a slight but excited grin to his lips.

  ‘Still, it’s absurd that there are now two of them. I’m not sure if I should be grateful to whoever it is who arranged for them to come my way... or to be worried about what might necessitate boosting me this much during the first round.’

  At this point, if he wasn’t entirely convinced that some entity was helping him from the shadows, he should just graciously exit the stage–forever. But irrespective of whether or not this was a good thing, he couldn’t do anything about it other than to accept the seeming goodwill.

  That aside, in stark contrast to his ludicrously fortunate encounters, a strong sense of crisis sprouted in his heart. No matter what, he needed to exhaust all options of strengthening himself during this initial period of the Heavenly Succession. Else, as his instincts told him... he would meet his end.

  There was a good reason as to why he had saved this one for the end, as its name alone had already made it the most eye-catching of them all. Although its actual effects were not as straightforwardly powerful as some of Navya’s other Talents, allowing for the command of an entire race was still very impressive.

  But this wasn’t why it stuck out like a sore thumb. Rather, the revelation that the Spirit race had attempted to bring their Empress back is what almost made him break out into a cold sweat. Considering that the Aatma Family had permitted Navya to participate in the Heavenly Succession, this meant that they didn’t particularly aim to hide this information–or rather, that everyone truly in power was already aware of it.

  But who was the Spirit Empress? During the Heavenly Emperor’s rise to fame, many other experts vied for supremacy, with some of them at times managing to fight him to a draw. Whilst he eventually overcame them all, it was nonetheless undeniable that every one of them had the potential to become the leader of a Supreme Pillar–at the very least. There were even rumours stating that some of them had fled beyond the bounds of the worlds which the Heavenly Court now controlled.

  The Spirit Empress was not one of these. Instead, she was one of the few who had gradually come to respect Huang Xian over the course of many conflicts. During one particular battle, they fought side by side against dozens of their peers, yet only the future Heavenly Emperor and Heavenly Empress survived. If things had played out differently, the Spirit race would have a far higher standing in the present.

  Theodore wasn’t worried by the fact that this old lady had somehow managed to claw her way out of her grave–potentially even living a second life as a Heaven’s Chosen currently participating in the Heavenly Succession. Because if it all ended here, then a singular being like her wouldn’t be able to stir up too many waves. However, he had reason to suspect that she was merely one of countless! Who even knew how many peers Huang Xian had slain during his early days? And how many of them could compare to the carefully raised monstrous geniuses of today?

  ‘... it might appear unfair at first glance to have us ‘kids’ contend against the greatest of the past. But looking at it another way... would anyone truly qualify to ascend to the throne if they couldn’t repeat what the Heavenly Emperor did–or even surpass him?’

  Returning to a state of calm, his slight, momentary fright morphed into excitement. What kinds of Talents would these legendary forebears be able to provide him with? The mere thought almost threatened to make him giddy with anticipation, so he took a few more deep and measured breaths.

  ‘Their status as potential prey aside, all of this is also good news to me. The more of my fellow contestants attract attention, the less likely it will be for anyone to single me out specifically. Although hiding too deeply would be counterproductive, obfuscating my true capabilities with a few layers of deception is certainly a must.’

  Matters for the future would eventually have to be shelved until it was time to revisit them again, so he shook his head and cleared his mind of any distracting thoughts. For now, all he could do was to proceed as planned. Once it was finally time for him to incorporate countless gathered Energy Veins into his body, that would mark the true beginning of his path to victory!

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