Soul Emperor Awakening

After the topic was announced, everyone sat down to meditate and recover. Time was tight. Two Hours seemed like a lot, but to a Cultivator, it was gone in the blink of an eye. Restoring Spiritual Power, in particular, was a monumental task, and this amount of time was just a drop in the bucket.

It was safe to say that most of them had given it their all in the previous round, so their Spiritual Power was severely depleted. ’If you weren’t going to give it your all, why even bother participating?’

"Aside from that, the time limit for the competition itself is one Hour. You will have one Hour to inscribe your Pattern, and there is no limit to the number of attempts. You can choose to try continuously, or you can rest longer and inscribe your Pattern at the very last moment."

This meant they had a total of three Hours to rest, which would be a great help for their Spiritual Power recovery. But that being said, inscribing a Pattern took a considerable amount of time. If they failed on their one attempt late in the period, not only would they get zero points, but they would also completely exhaust their Spiritual Power.

Of course, every Pattern Master knew how to gauge their own limits and wouldn’t blindly attempt something beyond their capabilities.

Therefore, when the competition began, most people chose not to start inscribing immediately. Instead, they sat down cross-legged and meditated to quickly recover their Spiritual Power. ’After all, no matter how good the Pattern is, you can’t create it without Spiritual Power!’

Everyone sat down to meditate and recover, without a single exception. Even those with ample Spiritual Power had to wait until the two-Hour rest period was over before the competition officially began.

Two Hours passed in the blink of an eye. Even then, most people continued to meditate and restore their Spiritual Power. It wasn’t until nearly half an Hour into the competition that contestants finally began to rise, one after another, to inscribe their most powerful Patterns.

Only half an Hour remained. Some inscriptions were quite time-consuming, so it was necessary to start early. Just then, Sun Zhe stood up, took a deep breath, and spoke to the meditating Lin Xuan. "My apologies, but this match is my win. I didn’t want to go all out, because frankly, a competition of this Level doesn’t require my full strength!" His tone was as self-assured as ever. He hadn’t lost any of his confidence from falling short in the two previous rounds; he was still just as arrogant.

The moment he finished speaking, his body began to emit faint fluctuations of Elemental Power, and the very space around him seemed to twist slightly. As the crowd witnessed this, they stared in stunned silence.

"Th-That’s Spatial Energy!" Luo Xiao’s eyes went wide. He sensed it and realized it was the rare Spatial Attribute.

Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth were the five primary elements. Beyond them, other forms of Energy existed, such as the Wind Attribute and the Spatial Attribute. The variety of Attributes was vast, but in the end, they were all evolved from the five primary elements.

These forms of Energy were quite special. Unless one delved deep into their own potential, they might never even realize they possessed such an ability.

For either a Cultivator or a Pattern Master, possessing Spatial Energy was a formidable asset. A Pattern Master with Spatial Energy, for example, could inscribe a Spatial Pattern far more easily than an ordinary one.

This was just like Lin Xuan. After gaining control over the Phoenix Essence Blood in his body, his sensitivity to the Fire Attribute had increased dramatically, which in turn significantly boosted his success rate when inscribing Fire Attribute Patterns.

Now, Sun Zhe was clearly attempting to inscribe a Spatial Pattern—and that was a Fourth Grade Pattern!

If he succeeded with the Spatial Pattern, he would absolutely steal the show and earn an extremely high score. This was an ability usually reserved for a Fourth Grade Pattern Master. For a Third Grade Pattern Master to execute it, wouldn’t there be a massive bonus? Considering how narrow the gap between them was, he could easily stage a comeback.

In fact, the moment he successfully completed a Fourth Grade Pattern, he would be considered a Fourth Grade Pattern Master. His ability might not be stable, but a success was a success.

"Disciples of the Divine Rune Sect are truly on another level! A mere Third Grade Pattern Master is challenging a Fourth Grade Pattern. Combined with his Spatial Energy Physique, his chance of success is much higher!"

"That’s right! If he succeeds, the rest of them might as well give up. First place will be his for the taking!"

"I knew the Divine Rune Sect’s disciples were no slouches! Their skills are absolutely top-notch! I guess even Lin Yunlong can’t compare this time, right? No matter how strong he is, he can’t possibly have reached the Fourth Grade Pattern Master Level too, can he?"

...

The prospect of a Fourth Grade Pattern sent a shockwave through the crowd. It wasn’t that Fourth Grade Pattern Masters didn’t exist, but one so young was incredibly rare. Sun Zhe looked to be no older than twenty, yet he was about to reach the rank of a Fourth Grade Pattern Master. How could such an achievement not be shocking?

Faced with this display that completely overshadowed the competition, Liu Menghua and Shang Zhihao were inwardly shocked. However, they didn’t choose to give up. They would still give it their all and unleash their strongest abilities.

’They had no chance at first place anymore, but second and third were still up for grabs. All they truly wanted was to enter the Bone Dragon Ruins; the other rewards were secondary.’

Lin Xuan opened his eyes from his meditation. Seeing the flowing Spatial Energy, his expression remained calm, not shaken in the slightest.

"A Spatial Pattern, is it? Your strength truly doesn’t disappoint." Lin Xuan rose from his meditative posture, his eyes still filled with a fighting spirit. "I have to admit, if you succeed, then I will have lost."

Sun Zhe, who was in the middle of his preparations, paused and frowned upon hearing this. He sneered, "I will undoubtedly succeed this time. I’ve inscribed a Spatial Pattern successfully before. Hoping for me to fail is impossible!"

He thought Lin Xuan was banking on him to fail. But he had already succeeded several times before. He simply hadn’t announced that he’d reached the Fourth Grade Pattern Master Level because his success wasn’t entirely consistent. Higher Grade Patterns required terrifying amounts of both Spiritual Power and Control Power; lacking either one spelled disaster.

If one had immense Spiritual Power but lacked the equally immense Control Power, failure was just moments away. An inability to control the Energy would lead to a complete collapse, which was why the requirements were so demanding.

It wasn’t like regular Cultivation, where one could advance as long as their Cultivation Realm was high enough, even if their Physique was lacking. In a fight, most people weren’t willing to clash head-on anyway; they could just attack with overwhelming Elemental Power from a distance.

This time, Sun Zhe wanted to prove to everyone that he had reached the Level of a Fourth Grade Pattern Master.

Lin Xuan shook his head, paying no mind to Sun Zhe’s words. ’What I meant was that without using Soul Possession, I would definitely lose. My current Control Power is nowhere near the standard of a Fourth Grade Pattern Master. My Spiritual Power might just be sufficient, but my Control Power is sorely lacking.’

’Even with the master’s powerful memories, I still need long-term practice to improve my Control Power. Those memories just give me a shortcut to understanding the basics; they don’t make me instantly proficient.’

’That’s why I said I would lose—but I meant I would lose *now*, not in the future. I’m younger than Sun Zhe. With a few more years of Cultivation, I could crush him relying purely on my own strength!’

’Then let me put an end to this competition...’

Lin Xuan took a deep breath and activated the Soul Pearl within him. In an instant, the essence of the Sixth Grade Pattern Master fused with his body. His entire aura transformed in a flash. The presence of a Pattern Grandmaster surged forth, and as he stood there, he seemed to merge completely with the space around him.

This was the Realm of a Sixth Grade Pattern Master—a level known to the world as a Pattern Grandmaster!

’This feeling... It’s like what I’ve only ever felt from the Guild President...’ Luo Xiao sensed that something about Lin Xuan had changed, yet he looked exactly the same. He just had this feeling that Lin Xuan’s figure had become impossibly immense, like a towering mountain he could never hope to ascend!

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