Grey did as he was instructed by the old man, and soon, he felt a tug in his soul just as he was told.

"How surprising," Grey said in slight surprise.

To think he would actually possess a martial soul!

He then tried to yank the tug out.

As he did, a green light erupted in front of him.

"Oh great Perfect One," an ancient voice echoed into Grey’s mind.

"Yo," Grey replied. "Are you my martial soul?"

"I didn’t know they could talk."

"Ahem. I am the consciousness of the World Tree," the voice replied awkwardly.

"You do have a martial soul, or a willpower manifestation as it is known in the Ascendancy Domain."

"I have made it more perfect as a gift to you, Perfect One."

"Why a gift? Is this not the first time we are meeting?" Grey raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," the World Tree replied. "But you are the Perfect One. The power to rule the world is in your grasp."

"How can I mistreat you?"

"The core, once it belongs to you, I hope you will bring it back to the domain."

"I want to have a word with my owner. He threw me out like I am his side hoe."

"..." Grey was speechless when he heard this.

"You must have some useful abilities, right? How do I refine you into my artifact?"

"R-refine me? Perfect One, if you refine me, my consciousness will die."

"Oh. Then, how?" Grey asked.

"Once you have gained Ascendancy Valor, I will automatically bind myself with you, and that moment will not be long."

"Okay." Grey nodded. "Then, am I allowed to enter your land under your roots?"

"Do as you wish, Perfect One. Everything you see and know is derived from your core. The world was created by you, and so were the boundless expressions above."

"The core is not mine," Grey replied.

"Nor do I plan on relying on the core."

Grey understood.

This so-called core, he did not want it.

It was not his own power.

He would forge his own path, and the core would become useless by then.

"Now I will send you back, Perfect One."

"I have finished patching up your martial soul. Hahaha."

Grey’s vision shifted, and the next moment, a purple dragon appeared before him.

[Martial Soul: Primordial Nexus Dragon]

"It has the name Nexus?" Grey was baffled.

Well, the martial soul was the manifestation of oneself.

That made a lot of sense.

Soon, the information related to it appeared in his head.

It boosted his Nexus-related abilities, like his domain and his power.

Not just that, it also increased his enlightenment by a lot. It improved his evolutionary foundation restoration speed too. It used to take him three days for the foundation to return to one hundred percent due to endless potential, but now it only took one day!

"Now, what remains is incorporating this into my path and creating a primordial spirit," Grey mused thoughtfully.

Once it became a primordial spirit, it would become a part of him, allowing him to freely use it.

"This martial soul. I have never seen anything like this before," the Spirit Ancestor came forward and said.

"I have seen some people forming robots as their martial soul. But a dragon is a first," the Spirit Ancestor said.

"It means I am a dragon among men."

"What...?"

"Nothing." Grey coughed embarrassedly at his own thought. He almost forgot that this guy was not Lin Fang and was from at least the early 2000s due to the cartoon themes in here. That meant he probably did not know about the cliché term "dragon among men."

"If possible, can I have the others awaken their martial souls as well?" Grey asked.

With him were Alan Benson, Julie, Alissa, Xia Qingyue, and Aerin.

He wanted them to have a try as well.

"Sure," the Spirit Ancestor said. "I do not mind."

"You are a friend. As fellow Earth transmigrators, we need to help each other out."

Soon, the Spirit Ancestor’s son brought in the others.

"What is this place, Big Brother?" Julie came forward and asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"We are going to awaken our martial souls!" Grey exclaimed.

’Like the ones in those martial arts novels?’ Julie asked telepathically.

’Yep,’ Grey replied. ’By the way, this eighth ranker elder is an Earth transmigrator. But do not say anything about you being from there. Alright?’

Julie glanced at the Spirit Ancestor, who was glancing back at her strangely, and nodded.

’Got it.’

Soon, they took turns.

Xia Qingyue awakened a jade serpent. Julie and Alissa awakened dragons like him since they were both True Dragons. Alan did not participate in it as he was already past the concept of a martial soul.

Aerin was also allowed to get one. She ended up getting what appeared to be an elf with wings. It was an elf angel!

The Spirit Ancestor did raise an eyebrow, but he did not say anything.

At the same time, his mind was churning.

’What is Saint Grey’s relation with Alan Benson? Our leader has been requesting an audience with him for a long while, but he never showed his face.’

’Saint Grey also follows a foreign path that has never been seen before in the endless reality.’

In the end, he decided to directly ask Grey.

"Oh. He is my disciple."

"Your disciple?" The Spirit Ancestor had a frown which eased just as quickly.

Indeed, he did remember hearing something about it.

Turns out, Alan was Saint Grey’s disciple.

"This master of yours, how powerful is he, Saint Grey?" the Spirit Ancestor inquired.

"Not sure. But my master can beat up everyone with no issue. Even you," Grey replied with a blink.

"Oh, is that so."

"Yep." Grey nodded.

Soon, Alissa came to his side.

"Grey." She called out.

"Yeah?" grey inquired.

"D-Did you see my dragon?" Alissa asked with a flustered look on her face.

"I did?" Grey looked at her confusedly. "It looks similar to mine, doesn’t it?"

"Is that all?" Alissa’s expression froze up like a river.