The hundred-thousand-year Stigmata, Mountain-Moving Ape, granted gravity manipulation, but simply merging with the Stigmata wasn't enough to gain this power. Only by activating the soul information in the Stigmata's genes could one master this power, independent of the martial soul.

The close of the Tianquan Auction was like a boulder thrown into a deep pool, sending shockwaves across every inch of Douluo Continent.

News of the Stigmata spread rapidly through various channels. The leaders of sharp-witted factions instantly realized that the Stigmata seen at the auction was quietly shaking the power balance that had held for millennia.

The upper echelons of the soul master world were not blind.

Standing atop their power, they had an unmatched understanding of the increasingly rare soul beast roars and the shrinking borders of soul beast habitats.

Secret records in their studies charted the rapid decline of soul beast numbers—a near-vertical death parabola.

They knew, when the last soul beast fell, the soul ring system that underpinned soul master advancement would collapse, and the profession would become history.

But the crisis was a noose—the more one struggled, the tighter it became.

To ban soul ring hunting would cut off the entire class's path to advancement.

In this strength-oriented world, anyone proposing such a thing would be the enemy of all soul masters.

Moreover, soul beast extinction seemed far off—"let future generations deal with it" was the common mentality. Who would sacrifice present interests for a distant crisis?

The appearance of the Stigmata was like the dawn breaking the endless night.

Though its difficulty and yield were unknown, and only one finished piece existed, its faint light illuminated a new path.

For human soul masters, it meant no more burden of slaughtering soul beasts for advancement.

For the soul beast race, it was hope for survival—a technical revolution, and the start of breaking the man-beast opposition fate.

News of the Stigmata spread like wildfire across the intelligence networks of Douluo.

Within three days, the Star Luo Empire, Heavenly Soul Empire, Dou Ling Empire, Shrek Academy, Sun Moon Empire, and the Body Sect—all were abuzz with talk of this disruptive invention from Haiyuan City.

Countless eyes turned to this suddenly prominent city; spies and envoys, both covert and open, flocked to the new epicenter.

Lu Jingming, however, felt no pressure.

Haiyuan City was now vastly different. Jingliu had condensed her divine sense, stepping into the demi-god realm. With her swordsmanship, she could slay gods.

Mobius, wielding World Serpent, had caught up with Lu Jingming's help, also reaching demi-god status.

Though as a researcher, she wasn't as monstrous in combat as Jingliu, she was more than enough.

Herta was even more mysterious; even Lu Jingming couldn't gauge her true power, but he was sure she was no weaker than Jingliu.

Her real value was her wisdom and vast knowledge, not combat.

Changli was a ninety-eighth level Title Douluo with the Vermilion Bird martial soul, able to battle Ultimate Douluo.

The newest summon, Dan Heng, had twin martial souls and was also a ninety-eighth Title Douluo, able to fight Ultimate Douluo and even demi-gods.

Ji Yingying was a ninety-seventh Title Douluo, her strength not to be underestimated.

Keqing, Ningguang, and Zhang Lexuan were Soul Douluos, but for now, Haiyuan City didn't need them to fight.

Plus, the members of World Serpent—with the pseudo Herrscher of Ice core—had reached demi-god, with the Fifth Throne, Snow Empress, only a step from breaking level 100.

In terms of top-end strength, Haiyuan City was now the strongest in Douluo.

Granted, their mid- and low-level strength was lacking, but with allies like Common Alliance and fusion warrior technology, catching up was only a matter of time.

Lu Jingming fully understood the waves the Stigmata would cause.

In the original, when Huo Yuhao introduced soul spirit technology, Shrek Academy didn't dare keep it for themselves—they founded the Spirit Pagoda for joint management.

But the Stigmata was even more powerful and soul beast-friendly, since making a soul spirit still required the soul beast's soul, but the Stigmata did not.

On the floating, anti-gravity viewing platform atop the Daydream Hotel, Lu Jingming looked down at the bustling crowd, feeling the surge of real power, and unconsciously smiled.

He'd expected the Stigmata's appearance to bring him much real power but had been waiting for Haiyuan City to grow stronger.

Mobius, however, had taken the initiative, putting the Stigmata up for auction ahead of schedule.

Still, he tacitly approved. If he'd wanted, he could have stopped Xu Jiujiu from revealing the Stigmata's powers at the auction.

Lu Jingming slowly raised his left hand. As Real Authority was consumed, blood-red lines appeared on the back of his hand.

When the Stigmata fully materialized, the sky changed. Lightning rolled through the clouds, and a thick blue bolt struck Lu Jingming directly.

Yet the lightning did him no harm. Instead, it gathered in his hand, leaping joyfully, as if finding its true master.

At the same time, within his spiritual sea, a space filled with lightning was opened—that was the Stigmata space of the Thunder Stigmata.

The Stigmata awakening was instant. What was a lifelong challenge for others, Lu Jingming accomplished the moment he obtained the Stigmata.

At the same time, in the Stigmata space, a beautiful figure slowly formed.

She had her eyes closed, like a sleeping beauty, her long purple hair striking.

Lu Jingming glanced at the sleeping beauty in the Stigmata space and smiled slightly.

He didn't like having other consciousnesses within him, like the Skydream Iceworm or Electrolux, but if it was her, he didn't mind.

Lu Jingming made a grasping motion. Lightning gathered in his palm, chirping like a thousand birds, as the thunder element cheered for him. A trace of lightning flashed in his eyes.

This was not martial soul power, but authority—Thunder Authority, the power of gods.

Regarding the Stigmata, Lu Jingming had concealed many key details, such as the Stigmata space, whose role was not just to house the Stigmata will.

Its true wonder was that it could contain a god position, something Mobius discovered by accident.

In this world, god positions are crucial.

A god without a god position has less power and lifespan than one with a position.

Unless one reaches a higher level, they can't escape reliance on a god position—even a god king wouldn't give it up easily.

For example, Sea God Tang San, even with two god positions, never gave up either, because he needed their power.

Some, like God of Emotions Rong Nianbing, could give up their position with little loss, but that was rare.

Most gods would never give up their position lightly unless tired of the responsibilities.

In this universe, only the God Realm could contain god positions.

But on Douluo, the God Realm's positions were full, and thanks to Tang San, the God of Destruction couldn't expand it.

So, cultivating gods on Douluo required another way.

Lu Jingming had thought of using Honkai energy or relying on Jingliu and Herta, but Mobius had solved the problem as soon as she arrived.

The Stigmata space was a special existence, much like the God Realm, made of pure spiritual power, existing in a different dimension.

Therefore, it could contain a god position like the God Realm.

But a Stigmata space could only hold one god position—unlike the God Realm's many—making it a personal, portable god realm.

Having just gained the Thunder Stigmata and opened its space, Lu Jingming had not yet formed a god position but had acquired a shard of Thunder Authority.

This Thunder Authority fragment was not from his original power but was granted by the Stigmata will sleeping inside.

Since his original power came from Black Abyss White Flower, if he opened a Stigmata space, it should relate to death or life, not thunder.

With the Thunder Authority fragment, he could nurture a thunder god position using faith, soul power, or high energy like Honkai energy.

Moreover, the sleeping beauty in the Stigmata space had more than just thunder authority.

In the future, his god position would be more than just thunder.

Most importantly, a soul master could absorb more than one Stigmata, thus creating multiple Stigmata spaces and holding multiple god positions.

Thus, dual god positions would no longer be unique to Tang San. There might even be tri-god deities.

But all this was for the future.

Even awakening one Stigmata was extremely hard for most, let alone raising one's power to authority fragments and forming a proto-god position.

Only a cheat-like existence like Lu Jingming could take such shortcuts.

But with the proto-god position, it was fair to call him a thunder god inheritor.

He could use the Thunder Authority fragment to convert faith, soul power, and spiritual energy into divine power.

He was weak now, and conversion was inefficient, so there was no need to do so.

Still, the Stigmata's appearance had raised Douluo's cultivation ceiling, letting soul masters seek higher power without relying on the God Realm or ascending.

Currently, only a few knew this secret. Others only understood the Stigmata's surface effects.

As for Douluo's world rejecting powers above a certain level, Stigmata owners could simply close the Stigmata space's link to the world, hiding their strength and avoiding expulsion.

And if enough strong people stayed, the world itself would slowly grow, raising its upper limit over time.