Martial Soul Mechanics

Elsewhere

While Chen Jianshu was fusing with his Soul Spirit, an exceedingly ordinary-looking black-haired boy walked out of the Spirit Pagoda in a small village, his face dark.

"Damn the Spirit Pagoda! They said thirty thousand Federation Coins could buy a Soul Spirit, but it turned out I could only draw a defective one! They truly follow the Path to Death!"

The boy looked darkly at the defective ten-year Soul Spirit in his hand. It was a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.

The boy's name was Tang Yin. Originally named Tang San, he had adopted the alias Tang Yin to avoid being recognized.

It had all begun around ten thousand years ago, when the first Spirit Pagoda master collected the faith of all living beings across the continent, including Soul Beasts and Sea Soul Beasts.

That had caused his Sea God Godhood to fall from the Demigod King level to the First-Level Main God level.

He had spent ten thousand years raising it with great difficulty, only for ten thousand years of effort to be destroyed in a single day. How could he not be angry? This was ruining his very foundation! It was practically a blow to his lifeblood. They truly followed the Path to Death!

Then the other party, with the ambition of a wolf, had actually tried to unify all of Douluo Star, going even further than the Spirit Hall had back in the day. Naturally, he had disagreed. The other party had even cooperated with the innately evil Soul Beast Clan. He was a complete fool.

More infuriating still, the other party had ruined his ten-thousand-year plan. Not only had he failed to secure either the Child of Fortune or the Auspicious Beast of Fortune, he had lost his own daughter in the bargain.

By the time he realized what was happening, it was already too late. His daughter was even pregnant.

In an instant, rage swept away his reason. He struck without hesitation and killed the Spirit Pagoda master, then found his daughter's soul and molded a new body for her. Afterward, he forcibly threw the Child of Fortune, Huo Yuhao, into the Qiankun Asking Love Valley to brainwash him.

The Destruction God King later punished him, stripping him of control over the Divine Realm Center for ten years. Fortunately, his justification had been convincing: he said that the human had cooperated with Soul Beasts in an attempt to bring back the Dragon God. That was how he managed to fool them.

During the Divine Realm War, because his Sea God Godhood had fallen, he had failed to defeat Xiao Zi, the Destruction God King—a mage who had been stripped of his Super Divine Artifact yet fought him in close combat.

After being wounded, he was locked away in the Land of Divine Banishment. What followed was just like the original story: he broke the seal, encountered a spacetime turbulence, the Life and Destruction God Kings sacrificed themselves, and the Golden Dragon King came to kill him.

Injured, and with his Sea God Godhood reduced to the early First-Level Main God level, Tang San failed to defeat the Golden Dragon King and was gravely wounded.

Later, Ji Dong and Lie Yan rushed over to help, and only then did they use the Three Realms Judgment Sword to kill the Golden Dragon King.

Before dying, however, the Golden Dragon King punched a crack into the Divine Realm Center, while Tang San sealed his Annihilation Divine Core inside Tang Wulin and sent him to the Douluo Continent. By the time Tang San tried to repair the Divine Realm Center, it was already too late.

The Divine Realm Center shattered, the Divine Realm fell apart, and everyone was swept into a black hole and died.

Tang San, however, had long since prepared a contingency. As a God King, he returned to the Douluo Continent through reincarnation.

Looking at this Douluo Continent, so utterly strange yet familiar, he swore to reclaim everything that belonged to him!

At the age of three, he immediately began practicing the Tang Sect Secret Arts, then took up blacksmithing to earn money for a Soul Spirit.

He wanted to find the Tang Sect, but he could not locate it. He also wanted to go to Shrek City to find Shrek Academy, but he had no money.

Fortunately, the Spirit Pagoda would help him awaken his Martial Soul for free, just like the Spirit Hall had back then.

Back then, he had awakened his Martial Soul with the Spirit Hall's help and collected its Soul Master stipend, all while saying the Spirit Hall followed the Path to Death. That really did not add up.

Now he could follow the same example: have the Spirit Pagoda help awaken his Martial Soul, take the subsidy issued to genius Soul Masters with Innate Full Soul Power, and then refuse to join the Spirit Pagoda.

He then took the money to buy a Soul Spirit, only to discover to his dismay that thirty thousand was only enough to draw a defective Soul Spirit. He was furious enough to die.

With no other choice, however, he could only compromise. He was also very confident that even using a defective Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo as his Soul Spirit, he could still become a god again and ascend to the realm he had once reached.

He immediately returned to the thatched hut where he lived and absorbed the defective Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo as his first Soul Spirit.

After absorbing it, he began planning his future. For now, he had to find a way to locate his parents.

His father, Tang Hao, was sleeping in the Plane Master's space. Without the strength of a true god, he could not open the plane space and find his father.

That left him no choice but to find a way to the Golden Ancient Tree at Shrek Academy and look for his mother, who was sleeping there.

He also had to find the Tang Sect. Once he showed them his Martial Soul and explained his identity, wouldn't he get whatever resources he wanted?

The Martial Souls Tang San had awakened this time were still Blue Silver Grass and the Clear Sky Hammer. Just as before, he hid the Clear Sky Hammer and showed only Blue Silver Grass as his Martial Soul.

As for finding his son Tang Wulin and Xiao Wu's reincarnation? He did not dare approach the former. As the original, Tang San naturally knew what sort of person he was.

Who could say whether the wisp of Asura God's divine consciousness he had left inside his son might develop ideas of its own and try to possess him?

Since his reincarnation, he had lost contact with that wisp of divine sense. In other words, it possessed God King-level divine sense capable of possessing his son.

Incidentally, because his Sea God Godhood had fallen, the divine power inside Tang Wulin had changed from the Sea God's Divine Sense to the Asura God's divine sense.

Tang San himself also carried a wisp of the Sea God's Divine Sense that could unleash the strength of a Second-Level God once. It was a contingency he had left himself, but before the Asura God's divine sense inside the other party, it did not even count as a speed bump.

As for finding Xiao Wu? She had probably lost her memories by now, and the Douluo Continent was so vast. How was he supposed to find her?

So the most urgent task was to find the Tang Sect and obtain its training and protection, then use its strength to find the Clear Sky Sect and Xiao Wu.

Finally, once his ten-thousand-year plan was complete and the Asura God's divine sense inside Tang Wulin had killed the Abyssal Sage King, their family would reunite.

He immediately began testing his Soul Skill. He stood up, ready to see what the Soul Skill granted by this so-called Soul Spirit could do.

After reaching an open area, he summoned his Martial Soul, Blue Silver Grass, with a single white Soul Ring circling his body. As the ring flashed, the Blue Silver Grass in his hand instantly surged and transformed into a pole.

"First Soul Skill, Blue Silver Pole Vault!"

Tang San used the pole woven from Blue Silver Grass to vault onto a roof. Looking at the pole in his hand, his eyes turned bloodshot and he panted like a bull.

"What kind of trash Soul Skill is this?! The Spirit Pagoda really is an innately evil force, daring to cheat me with defective goods! They truly follow the Path to Death! Once I become a god, I will surely destroy the Spirit Pagoda!"

Tang San's furious roar echoed through the air. Passersby who saw him raving on the roof hurried away.

"Hurry, that's a lunatic. Don't let him infect you."

"Mommy, what kind of animal is that?"

"That's a crazy baby, sweetheart. Let's hurry away from here."

The passersby kept away from Tang San as he raved on the roof, avoiding him as though he were a plague god.

Elsewhere, after Chen Jianshu finished fusing with the Mirror Shadow Beast Soul Spirit, his level rose to eleven. Because the Soul Spirit distributed the absorbed energy evenly, he had only risen one level.

"First Soul Skill, Noble Phantasm Projection! Silver Dragon Spear: False!"

He stood and raised a hand, opening it. The next second, specks of silver light gathered before his palm, slowly forming a silver-white dragon spear.

Chen Jianshu gripped the Silver Dragon Spear. It had taken a full ten seconds to project it. Could he only say that it was worthy of being something of Divine Artifact quality in this world...?

Fortunately, after consuming one-fifth of his Soul Power, he finally had a weapon for battle. Although it had only thirty percent of the true Silver Dragon Spear's power, it had no bloodline requirement and also possessed its second form as a staff.

As for things like Excalibur and Enuma Elish, he could forget even thinking about them. Projecting a Silver Dragon Spear with only thirty percent of its power had already cost him so much, let alone those overpowered weapons.

Being able to project Gan Jiang and Mo Ye would be good enough. What more could he want?

"Right, there's another Noble Phantasm."

He thought of another Noble Phantasm and immediately pressed his free left hand to his chest.

"First Soul Skill, Noble Phantasm Projection, Creation Core: False."

As he activated the Soul Skill, the Soul Power around him drained rapidly. At the same time, his originally jet-black short hair slowly turned silver-white, and elemental power flowed around him.

Wind, fire, ice, earth, light, darkness, and space—all seven elements were within his grasp.

"Phew... Projecting those two Noble Phantasms used up more than half my Soul Power!"

Feeling how much he had expended, he was quite troubled. He looked at himself, able to control the elements. It was strong, certainly, but it definitely could not compare to the original.

A counterfeit was a counterfeit in the end. After testing his Soul Skills, he dismissed them. His silver-white hair turned jet-black again, and the Silver Dragon Spear slowly dissipated.

What a pity. He still could not store these Noble Phantasms. Otherwise, the next time he used them, he could simply deploy Unlimited Blade Works.

After briefly recovering, he left the quiet room. Once he had registered with the Spirit Pagoda and paid ten million, he was out of money again.

"It's all right, young man. Since you've joined our Spirit Pagoda, you naturally qualify for the corresponding benefits. Our borrow-now, pay-later policy has long been established. You only need to repay it gradually, and Spirit Pagoda members aren't charged any interest."

Seeing Chen Jianshu sighing, the staff member smiled and reassured him. The Spirit Pagoda naturally had corresponding benefits for its own geniuses.

For example, they could choose high-quality Soul Beasts, receive discounts when buying Soul Spirits, and pay no interest under the borrow-now, pay-later plan.

The Spirit Pagoda also provided cultivation subsidies to the genius Soul Masters who joined its ranks.

For example, Chen Jianshu, with Innate Full Soul Power, could receive a monthly subsidy of one hundred thousand Federation Coins. Innate level nine received fifty thousand Federation Coins, level eight thirty thousand, level seven twenty thousand, and level six ten thousand.

Those with innate level three received three thousand Federation Coins a month. Other commoners who wanted to join the Spirit Pagoda could apply for employment in other fields.

These included scientific research, pharmaceuticals, or civil service examinations. The Spirit Pagoda was also involved in employment.

The first Spirit Pagoda master had left behind many enterprises, such as dessert shops, beverage shops, barbecue restaurants, and restaurants, providing employment opportunities for commoners.

Of course, anyone hoping to eat for free and wait for death could forget it. The Spirit Pagoda did not keep idlers.

After registering, Chen Jianshu went to the small housing unit the Spirit Pagoda used to accommodate geniuses like him who came from small towns and villages.

It was about thirty square meters, with a bathroom, a small kitchen, and so on. It was quite spacious for one person.

He had also been transferred to Eastsea Junior Soul Master Academy and could report there tomorrow.

Chen Jianshu had no intention of sitting idle. Instead, he studied the shop's mechanics. At present, just like in Currency War, six items appeared before his eyes whenever he opened the shop.

He currently had only ten gold coins. The six items were...

[Electro Slime]

Quality: white.

Synergies: Soul Beast, lightning.

[Life Slime]

Quality: white.

Synergies: Soul Beast, life, healing.

[Pyro Slime]

Quality: white.

Synergies: Soul Beast, fire.

[Dark Slime]

Quality: white.

Synergies: Soul Beast, darkness.

Noble Phantasms: iron sword, boots.

The corner of Chen Jianshu's eye twitched. Did I fucking wander into Genshin Impact by mistake? Why are all the character cards slimes?

Also, the Electro Slime and Pyro Slime are normal enough, but what the hell is this Life Slime?! Where have I ended up? Is this still the Douluo Continent?

The sight of these things made the corner of his eye twitch incessantly. Still, he sighed and bought all six, spending six currency and leaving four. He would not spend those for now, in case he needed them later.

After all, there were not many enemies in the early stages who would require him to go to great lengths. These slimes were mainly for filling out synergies.

He immediately began studying his Martial Soul. First, he deployed his domain, and a battlefield of about one hundred square meters appeared.

For now, he could field only three teammates. Counting himself, that left room for only two more.

With a thought, a silver-white figure appeared in the preparation area. The girl stood beside him, about the same age as him, with long silver-white hair and beautiful silver-white eyes. Holding the Silver Dragon Spear, she stood ready for battle.

"Big brother, we meet again."

The girl looked at him and greeted him with a smile. He froze. She can even greet me? She's that intelligent?

"Mm."

He nodded slightly in response, then had another thought. A black-haired, purple-eyed figure appeared beside the silver-haired girl.

The figure's gaze was cold, as though she was indifferent to everything. Na'er greeted her as soon as she saw her.

"Hello, Sister Gu Yue!"

The black-haired girl glanced at her and then looked away, not sparing Chen Jianshu so much as a glance.

Clearly, without the Golden Dragon King Bloodline, he was not even worthy of her notice. As expected, Na'er was cuter. Gu Yue was not cute at all...

Chen Jianshu shook his head and placed the girl who had ignored him in the preparation area, then stepped off the battlefield himself.

His viewpoint immediately changed to a god's-eye view, looking down over the entire field as though he could direct the battle at any time.

"Player view? Interesting. I can enter the field and beat people up myself, or have the characters do it? This is pretty fun."

After figuring out how it worked, he also tested the background mechanics. Na'er was a foreground character, while Gu Yue could be used in either the foreground or background. Gu Yuena could also take the field in either.

Chen Jianshu himself could only enter the foreground or the player's seat, not the background.

P.S.: First update for July 3, four thousand Chinese characters.