A'man, the Village's Most Pitiful Child

"Nether Race General, Lustful. Respectfully seeing off the Grand Marshal." In the dim bedroom, Hua Manshan leaned against the headboard beneath the lamp's glow. He glanced at the barrage comments, typing five characters per second as he imitated them on his laptop keyboard, leaving behind his own mark.

He casually picked up the coffee on the bedside table and took a light sip.

He closed the bookmarks and opened another window. The Immortal Cultivation Life Simulator came into view.

It was a little game that a Baby-faced Busty Streamer played. He played it whenever he had nothing better to do.

"One last round, then I'm going to sleep after allocating the points."

"Today, I'm playing the Commoner Survivalist Path."

"Looks plus seven. Ordinary but a little handsome, approachable, not likely to be targeted." Everyone knew that being too handsome made people jealous and got you beaten up, while being too ugly made people dislike you and got you beaten up too. So ordinary was the only choice.

"Luck plus ten. Opportunities are the most important thing in an immortal cultivation world. I'll find treasures wherever I go. As long as I keep a low profile, I'll definitely rise to the top."

"Only three points left. What should I do?" Hua Manshan fell silent for a moment. With only twenty points to allocate, his potential was severely limited.

"Family background plus one. As long as I don't starve to death, it's fine. My luck is through the roof anyway. It's a common fantasy cultivation trope: born into a prestigious family as a rich, beautiful girl, then she gives herself away the moment she meets the male lead. As long as I meet her, I can live off her openly and money will come rolling in." Hua Manshan Slightly Nodded, extremely satisfied.

"The last two points: physique plus one, intelligence plus one. Let's go!" His fingertip struck hard.

"Ding. Your physique is too weak. You died in the womb."

"Fuck!" Hua Manshan angrily threw himself backward. The power cord by the bed was pulled taut, and the coffee cup on the cabinet suddenly fell. Amid flashing sparks, there was a bang, flames burst everywhere, and in the final moment before his consciousness sank into darkness, a trace of relief flashed through his eyes.

"Good thing the hard drive blew up."

The 300 gigabytes of lovely ladies inside ascended to heaven with him.

This wasn't a loss!

South of Nuoding City, Sacred Soul Village.

The rising sun hung low, spilling warm yellow light across the horizon. A faint mist blanketed the ground, obscuring the not particularly tall houses around it.

Inside a small Wooden house, seven children stood in a row, nervously facing a young man.

"Hiss..." A low groan suddenly rang out. One of the little boys turned pale and clutched his head as he groaned.

"What happened?" Su Yuntao turned around, frowning slightly.

"Big Brother, A'man's Headache Syndrome is acting up again. He'll be fine in a little while," the Egg-shaped Face girl standing beside the boy answered crisply.

As soon as she spoke, the other children nodded in unison, their eyes filled with pity as they looked at the boy.

A'man, whose full name was Lin Manshan, came from a family that had borne the surname Lin for eighteen generations. They made their living chopping firewood and producing charcoal, and all of them had awakened zero-Soul Power Woodcutting Knife Martial Souls. If nothing unexpected happened, A'man would awaken a zero-Soul Power Woodcutting Knife Martial Soul as well and have no chance of becoming a Spirit Master.

His father, Lin Qingshan, had encountered a Spirit Beast while cutting firewood and died. By the time he was found, all that remained were bones and clothes. His mother, Yang Cuihua, had died with her husband. Since their bodies could not even be pieced together, they could only be cremated and buried as ashes. It was truly tragic.

His Grandfather and Grandmother had died even earlier.

He was the most pitiful child in the village. He had been frail and sickly since childhood and also suffered from Dementia. After both his parents died, he had been adopted by Village Chief Old Jack. Two years ago, he had tripped while walking and hit his head. Though he had become somewhat smarter afterward, he had also, by unfortunate coincidence, developed Headache Syndrome.

Still, he was fair-skinned and spoke pleasantly, so he got along well with everyone.

Tap, tap, tap. Footsteps outside the door grew clearer. A shadow stretched inward as an old man entered with a child behind him.

The children instinctively looked over. When they saw the boy behind the old man, disgust immediately appeared in their eyes.

Compared to A'man, Tang San was rather unpleasant. Not only was he dark-skinned, but he also wore a cold expression all day and ignored them.

Lin Manshan's headache had eased somewhat by then. He raised his head to look at Tang San, gave him a friendly smile, then looked away.

Tang San, known as Tang Buddha, had a motto: "You already have a path to death." Lin Manshan did not dare provoke him.

After two years of observation, Lin Manshan had become certain beyond doubt that Tang San was not only mentally extreme, but also suffered from Persecutory Delusion Syndrome.

Two years ago, when he had fallen and split his head open, the memories of his past and present lives had flooded into his brain all at once, surging wildly.

He had also understood his situation. He had probably been reborn and transmigrated.

Unfortunately, he had not received any cheat like a system, aside from occasionally having absurdly good luck and finding a Copper Soul Coin outside.

Without a cheat, and with eighteen generations of zero-Soul Power Woodcutting Knife Martial Souls in his family, what could he do? If he had Soul Power, things would have been fine. With the national essence and keyboard culture inherited from over twenty years of being single in his previous life, he could easily come up with several clever ways to solve problems.

But without Soul Power, he was not even qualified to become a Spirit Master. How was he supposed to play this?

When he thought about possibly becoming a weakling in the future, then remembered that Tang San next door constantly had "You already have a path to death" hanging from his mouth, he inexplicably panicked. The key was that, as an orphan taken in by Village Chief Old Jack, he had to see Tang San often. Following the principle of neither befriending nor offending him, and to avoid saying something wrong and getting shot dead by Tang San with an arrow while walking through the fields, he had kept an extremely low profile these past two years.

There was another reason he was so nervous. In all of Sacred Soul Village, only Old Jack still regularly supported Tang San. When Tang San was younger, other families had also supported him out of pity, seeing that he had a drunkard father at home. But after Tang San turned four, he rejected them one by one. Yet the issue was that Tang San rejected everyone except Old Jack's aid.

As someone who had been beaten down by the realities of human relationships in his previous life, Lin Manshan quickly understood why.

The main issue lay in status.

The other families in the village were villagers, while Old Jack was the Village Chief.

Wasn't it only natural for the Village Chief to protect the villagers, solve their problems, and support poor villagers? It was like some people in his previous life's comment sections saying that teachers should make every child get good grades and go to university. If a child got hurt at school, then it was a school Management problem. Complain. Complain about everything. They had paid tuition, after all, and were merely defending their legitimate rights.

Tang San was an expert at treating everything as a matter of course.

Besides, the village children had not disliked Tang San at first. They were all children of farmers from a remote village, not descendants of city families. They were also just kids, so where would they get so many thoughts? At the beginning, everyone had happily taken the initiative to greet Tang San. But Tang San, perhaps because he had social difficulties or because he could not lower his pride after living two lives, always acted aloof and dismissive.

Over time, everyone drifted away from him.

Perhaps out of spite, some children would occasionally mock Tang San's name.

Lin Manshan had once heard Tang San's response one afternoon, and it remained deeply etched in his memory. "No matter where you go, there will always be people who despise the poor and favor the rich."

Tang San had muttered it while shaking his head, wearing the expression of an adult who could not be bothered to argue with children.

"???" It was clearly you, Tang San, who ignored them, wasn't it?

Lin Manshan had been passing by the corner of a wall at the time and immediately shrank back upon hearing it.

What a joke. If Tang San discovered him, he might decide that Lin Manshan had uncovered his identity as a transmigrator and find an opportunity to kill him.

He had encountered many incidents like that.

In the end, he reached one conclusion: he could not afford to provoke Tang San, but he could hide from him. He only hoped that after Tang San awakened his Martial Soul this time, he would hurry up and get lost.

In this world, weakness was the original sin. Lin Manshan glanced at Tang San, who had moved to the very end of the line, and could not help feeling helpless. At the same time, anticipation rose within him. I hope my identity as a transmigrator will make this Martial Soul Awakening different.

There were so many beautiful girls on the Douluo Continent, and he craved them too. No, he meant, what man alive did not want to accomplish something great?

Love would merely be an incidental gain. Lin Manshan muttered to himself, then looked up at the young man standing at the front of the line. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the legendary Blind Douluo, Master Su Yuntao. Master, I'm counting on you.

As he thought, Old Jack had already walked up to the young man and respectfully bowed. "Honorable Deacon, I'll have to trouble you."

"I don't have much time. Let's begin now." Su Yuntao showed a faintly Proud expression and Slightly Nodded in return.

"Yes, yes. You've worked hard, sir." Turning around with his cane, Old Jack wore a kind expression. "Children, this is Lord Su Yuntao, a Spirit Hall Deacon from Nuoding City. Next, he will guide you in awakening your own Martial Souls and opening the path of Spirit Masters. You must all behave and cooperate with Lord Su Yuntao's work. Grandfather hopes that one of you can become a Spirit Master."

"Enough, enough."

Though Su Yuntao secretly enjoyed the praise, he was also somewhat impatient. He quickly waved his hand and said helplessly, "Old Jack, you said the same things last year. Becoming a Spirit Master is not that easy. I've already visited six villages in the past two days. Not a single child had Soul Power, much less a Martial Soul worth cultivating."

"Yes. Only descendants of major families and great sects can easily become Spirit Masters. For ordinary people like us, it is simply too difficult." A trace of dimness appeared in Old Jack's eyes. He sighed and shook his head as he walked out of the house with his cane.

"Alright, children. Line up. One at a time." Su Yuntao's tone was much gentler as he looked at the children before him. Once, he too had been one of them. With the help of an older Spirit Hall Deacon, he had awakened his own Martial Soul.

Now, he had inherited his predecessor's work and become a Martial Soul Hall Inspection Deacon.

"Remember, no matter what happens later, don't be afraid." As he spoke, Su Yuntao opened a package on the nearby table and took out two items: six pitch-black round stones and a gleaming blue crystal ball.

He arranged the six black stones into a hexagon on the ground, then gently waved toward the far-right child in the line.

"Child, come over. Stand inside. Don't be afraid. Close your eyes and carefully feel it." As he spoke, a streak of green light suddenly shone from Su Yuntao's eyes. Amid the children's shocked gazes, he gave a low shout.

"Lone Wolf, possess!"

Following Su Yuntao's shout, his body rapidly changed. His frame quickly swelled, his eyes turned an eerie green, the black hair on his head became gray and rapidly grew longer. Sharp claws extended from all ten fingers, while two rings of light instantly lit up beneath his feet.

One white and one yellow, they were extremely strange.

So this was a Beast Martial Soul? It really looked like the werewolves from movies in his previous life. Lin Manshan stared in amazement.

Spirit Hall Deacons came every year, but the awakening ceremony was always held indoors, and outsiders were not allowed in. He had never seen it before.

"Ah!" The little boy standing inside the hexagon was so frightened by the series of changes that he screamed and turned to run, only to be grabbed by Su Yuntao.

"Don't move. I told you not to be afraid. This is my Martial Soul, Lone Wolf. If you are fortunate enough to awaken a Martial Soul with Soul Power later, then you can also become a Spirit Master like me and possess similar abilities."