Life-and-Death Contract

In his previous life, Tang Shan had been not only an avid rock climber, but also a die-hard Douluo Continent fan.

He had followed the animated series in particular, watching nearly every episode as soon as it came out. He knew the plot backward and forward and could name the characters as readily as the treasures in his own collection.

But Tang Shan had never imagined that one day he would be reborn in this world, much less become Tang San, who had once made such waves on the screen.

"Sigh!!!"

At the thought, Tang San, leaning against the doorframe, let out a long sigh, his voice filled with endless helplessness.

Getting the protagonist's script should have been a blessing from the heavens, but Tang San couldn't feel happy about it at all.

The Tang San in the original story had brought the Tang Sect's cultivation methods and Hundred Solutions to Hidden Weapon with him when he was reborn. Mysterious Heaven Skill, Mysterious Jade Hand, Purple Demon Eye, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon... all sorts of supreme techniques had been at his fingertips. He had so many cheats that others could only eat his dust.

But what about him? He had nothing. Even the system that had helped him seize this body had vanished completely after using up its last trace of power, without leaving so much as a speck behind.

On top of that, the damn system had left three Life-and-Death Contracts inside him. He had to fulfill them, or both jade and stone would burn together.

At present, Tang San could only see the contents of the first contract:

[Contract 1: Become Yu Xiaogang's disciple.]

Whenever Tang San thought about it, he felt a wave of genuine disgust. When he had watched Douluo in his previous life, Yu Xiaogang had been the character he hated most.

Yu Xiaogang had stolen the unpublished research of the predecessors of Spirit Hall and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, dressed it up crudely, and claimed it as his own. He had even shamelessly crowned himself "Grandmaster."

His line, "There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters," had nearly made Tang San drop the series on the spot. Wasn't Yu Xiaogang calling himself useless?

Later in the original story, Tang San had also come to his senses and stopped cultivating according to Yu Xiaogang's theories altogether. Yet in the end, Yu Xiaogang still had the gall to say, "I didn't disgrace my clan. I raised a god." It was utterly sickening!

Being forced to take this shameless, useless man as his master was ten thousand times more disgusting than eating rat droppings.

But if he didn't fulfill the contract, he would die.

There was no way he would stoop to bootlicking, but for the sake of his own life, Tang San silently told himself, Life is a play, so when the time comes, it'll all depend on my acting!

A bitter smile appeared on Tang San's face. "Damn system, trash system. You won't even let me live in peace after I've been reborn."

Just as Tang San sat on the threshold, sighing and groaning, the snoring in the inner room stopped, and heavy footsteps sounded.

Tang Hao emerged from the inner room, his tall frame swaying, a strong reek of alcohol hitting Tang San in the face.

Tang Hao's hair was disheveled, his face filthy, his stubble thick, and his eyes bloodshot. Listless from head to toe, he looked every bit a down-and-out drunkard.

Who could have imagined that this utterly unkempt man was a Titled Douluo?

Looking at Tang Hao like this, Tang San felt a jumble of emotions.

In his previous life, when he watched Douluo, he had been full of admiration for Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo.

Tang Hao was an unparalleled powerhouse who had carried a boombox and taken on Spirit Hall alone, armed with a single hammer. How grandly he had swallowed mountains and rivers, how boundless his heroic spirit!

But now that Tang San had seen him in person, all he felt was helplessness.

It wasn't as though Tang San hadn't tried.

Over the past year and more, Tang San had tried every way he could think of to "wake up" this super enforcer.

Tang San had tried reasoning with Tang Hao when he was sober, tried drawing closer to him in ways only a child could, and even tried the pitiful act of deliberately falling down, hoping to see whether this father still felt a shred of concern for him.

But every time, Tang Hao had merely given Tang San a bleary, drunken glance before going back to drinking or staring blankly, as though the three-year-old child before him had nothing to do with him.

Worse still, after discovering that Tang San could think independently and do things for himself, Tang Hao had stopped even cooking.

At first, Tang San had been a toddler not yet two years old, unable even to reach the stove.

Several times, Tang San had been so hungry his vision went dark. He could only crawl to Old Jack's door in the village and barely stay alive on the little food Old Jack kindly gave him.

Even looking back on it, Tang San felt it had been a nightmare. He had nearly starved to death in the smithy several times.

The illustrious protagonist had nearly starved to death in his own home. Who would believe it if he told them?

Although Tang San was now three, his body was terribly frail. His arms were as thin as sticks of firewood, and his face was sallow. He looked severely malnourished.

The other children his age in the village were much sturdier than Tang San, while he had to catch his breath after walking just a few steps.

Whenever he thought of this, Tang San felt that if Tang Hao had been in his previous world, he could easily have been convicted of child abuse and given the maximum sentence.

"Sigh." Tang San sighed inwardly again.

As things stood, it seemed Tang Hao's heart had long been buried with Ah Yin when she died, leaving behind nothing but a walking corpse.

In this world where strength reigned supreme, perhaps only when Tang San awakened Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power could he barely drag Tang Hao a little way out of that quagmire.

Gradually, Tang San gave up all hope of relying on Tang Hao. Rather than pin his hopes on a drunkard, he would be better off relying on himself.

Now, Tang San had placed all his hopes on the Martial Soul Awakening three years from now. It would be the first turning point in his fate.

Tang San had watched Douluo several times in his previous life and knew the plot inside out.

To successfully become Yu Xiaogang's disciple, he had to make Yu Xiaogang take an interest in him.

Tang San knew Yu Xiaogang's temperament better than anyone.

Although Yu Xiaogang styled himself a "Grandmaster" and proclaimed that "there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters," his standards for accepting disciples slapped his own face hard. They were extremely pragmatic.

In the original story, Yu Xiaogang had taken Tang San as his disciple simply because he had taken a fancy to Tang San's Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power. He saw him as material with which to test his Martial Soul Theory, a tool to wash away the label of uselessness that had been hurled at him.

So, to make Yu Xiaogang take him as a disciple of his own accord, he needed enough talent.

Tang San felt that, barring any surprises, he should still have Twin Martial Souls: the Clear Sky Hammer in his left hand and Blue Silver Grass in his right. He was fairly confident of that, since it was determined by bloodline.

But as for Innate Full Soul Power, Tang San truly had no confidence.

The Tang San in the original story had practiced Mysterious Heaven Skill from childhood, accumulating internal force day after day. Only then had he reached the level of Innate Full Soul Power when his Martial Souls awakened.

But what about him now? Never mind Mysterious Heaven Skill—he didn't even know the most basic breathing techniques. What was more, his body was terribly frail and malnourished, deficient in both Qi and blood. No matter how he looked at it, he didn't seem like someone who could possess Innate Full Soul Power.

Without top-tier talent, there was no chance Yu Xiaogang would take him as a disciple.

Though every fiber of Tang San's being resisted becoming Yu Xiaogang's disciple, what else could he do? Tang San didn't want to die!

"Forget it. There's no point thinking so much," Tang San said, shaking his head. "I'll focus on getting through the days in front of me first."

There were still three years until his Martial Soul Awakening. During those three years, Tang San had to find a way to nurse his body back to health.

At the same time, Tang San also had to start laying the foundations for his future cultivation. Although he had no cultivation method to practice, he knew that his body was the foundation of everything.