Evan finally understood—Soul-Heaven Palace had existed for a long time, but only started recruiting from below in recent millennia.
So what am I now?" Evan asked curiously.
With this number, go to the Newcomer Palace. Someone there will be responsible for you. If you need anything, you can find me in the Tribal Hall—I’m usually there," Hank Huang said.
Evan nodded and, following Hank Huang’s instructions, went to the Newcomer Palace. There, according to his number and under the guidance of the person in charge, he was led to a room—each was an individual, private chamber.
“Interesting,” Evan remarked, glancing around. Internally, he was eager to start learning Soul-Power, so he went to find the administrator. He learned that every morning, the Newcomer Palace held lectures, and everyone could choose which senior to learn from.
Evan asked curiously, “What seniors are there?”
“There are many—some specialize in fire Soul-Power, some in water, and others in different attributes. You can check this list and pick whichever lecture you want,” the administrator replied, handing Evan a slate listing the attribute-specialist seniors.
Evan knew he had fire, ice, and lightning abilities. He glanced over the list and found no lightning specialist, but there was one for ice and several for fire.
So Evan memorized the fire and ice instructors, then left to await the next day.
Each person had a private room—just a bed inside. The Newcomer Palace contained thousands of such rooms. Every year, newcomers would leave after their tests: those who passed stayed in Soul-Heaven Palace and earned their first stripe, then could test for higher stripes up to seven.
Those who failed the tests were sent back down. For example, the innkeeper was one of them. Evan finally understood why the innkeeper had Soul-Power but wasn’t a palace member.
“Soul-Power? What exactly is it? Is it only for people with elemental affinities?” Evan wondered how Soul-Power was formed in the Soul-World.
He got up and awkwardly asked the administrator, “Excuse me, is there any way to learn how to get Soul-Power?”
“Soul-Power? It depends. If you have fire, then your fire Soul-Power will be stronger, so you’ll develop along that path. There’s no single concept for Soul-Power,” the administrator replied.
“How can I fly like others? That kind of Soul-Power?” Evan asked curiously. He knew that if someone had an attribute, they could naturally use it without learning Soul-Power.
“You mean Chaotic Soul-Force? Here’s a basic cultivation method—you can practice it. Once you have dense Chaotic Soul-Force, you can convert it to any attribute, like your specialty,” the administrator smiled.
Evan nodded, took the cultivation manual, and hurried back to his room to check it out.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t read the text—he could only look at the illustrations.
“That leaf only lets you understand spoken language, not written characters?” Evan muttered in frustration.
Faced with this problem, Evan could only rely on the diagrams. Luckily, they were clear—each section had an illustration.
The diagrams taught how to form Chaotic Soul-Force. Unable to read the text, Evan could only imitate the steps shown.
Gradually, Evan felt a warm current rise within him, reaching his head. The stronger it grew, the more power he felt throughout his soul-body.
“It works so fast?” Evan wondered. He didn’t realize that while his soul hadn’t cultivated before, his prior training made him progress much faster than ordinary Soul-World people—not just a little faster, but dramatically so.
Seeing results, Evan continued practicing—he ended up sitting for a full day and night. By the next morning, he felt his strength was close to his old Spirit-Wandering Realm in the Human World.
“Could it be related to my previous cultivation in the Human World?” Evan wondered.
But this was Evan’s secret—he would never tell anyone. If a newcomer with no Chaotic Soul-Force suddenly reached hundreds of years’ progress overnight, it would terrify everyone.
So Evan kept calm, suppressing his excitement, lest he expose the true strength of his Chaotic Soul-Force.
“Let’s attend some lectures—I’ve never systematically learned how to use soul-power to control fire and such.” Evan had always controlled Sacred Flame and Ice-Fire by communicating directly with them, not using Soul-Power techniques.
Hank Huang brought Evan there and had him queue up like everyone else. Ahead, a man with three stripes was examining candidates. Those who passed received a set of blue clothes.
"White means steward, black clothes are Soul-Heaven Palace members, and blue must be for newcomers," Evan guessed.
The examiner sat at a desk, while the team leaders stood nearby. When it was their turn, they would introduce their candidates—sometimes even have them demonstrate their abilities.
Some candidates were naturally gifted with fire or water, but their abilities were far inferior to Evan’s.
To avoid standing out too much, Evan planned to hold back a little—but not too much, just enough to get accepted.
After about half an hour, it was Evan’s turn. The examiner registered him as Hank Huang had explained, then asked Evan to demonstrate.
Evan waved his hand, and fire appeared beside him. Everyone saw it, so he was naturally accepted. The examiner updated the records and handed Evan his uniform.
Hank Huang smiled as Evan received his uniform. "That’s it. From now on, you represent the Hawkins Clan. Remember the tag on your uniform."
“11111111111—ten ones?” Evan exclaimed in surprise.
“You’re lucky—you just happen to be the 11111111111th person to enter,” Hank Huang laughed after checking Evan’s tag.
“There are that many people?” Evan couldn’t believe Soul-Heaven Palace had so many members.
“There should be, considering thousands join every year,” Hank Huang mused.