Awakening at the Mass Grave

More than three hundred li west of Holy Soul Village lay an unnamed little village, even more rundown than Holy Soul Village itself. The village was too small and too poor to deserve even a proper name. Behind it stretched a mass grave overgrown with weeds and dotted with countless barren mounds. It was not only a place to bury the dead, but also a "paradise" where the village children bullied the weak.

The bleak wind of late autumn howled, sweeping up dead leaves and funeral paper from the ground, carrying the scent of earth and decay. The fading glow of the setting sun barely pierced the thin clouds, painting this desolate place a miserable orange-red.

Thud!

A small, thin figure was slammed heavily onto the cold ground, kicking up a little dust.

"You piece of trash, you dared to steal Old Zhang's steamed buns? Looks like you're tired of living!"

Several half-grown children, dressed in old but fairly neat coarse cloth, surrounded a youth curled up on the ground. The leader was called Zhang Hu. He was around eleven or twelve, sturdy in build, and the king of the village children. At that moment, he was neither lightly nor heavily grinding his foot over the boy's fingers, his face full of malicious satisfaction.

The youth on the ground wore tattered clothes layered with patches, his entire body covered in mud. The exposed skin of his arms and calves was covered in old and fresh wounds. He looked only six or seven years old, and long-term malnutrition had left him especially frail. He bit down hard on his lower lip, already seeping blood, yet refused to let out even a single cry of pain.

However, completely unlike that body which had suffered endless abuse, were his eyes.

Deep within eyes that should have been filled with numbness, despair, or tears, an incredibly complicated fire now burned—there was the shock of having just awakened, the chaos brought by merging memories, but more than anything else, there was fury and defiance erupting from the deepest depths of his soul!

He was Ling Yun.

Or rather, this body belonged to an orphan named Ling Yun. But only moments ago, a soul from another world had, in confusion and helplessness, taken over this body that might have only just stopped breathing.

Chaotic fragments of memory surged madly into his mind like floodwaters bursting through a dam: parents who had died early and were little more than vague impressions; the villagers' cold stares and expulsions; the endless ridicule and beatings from children his own age; the humiliation of scavenging leftovers; and... the lowly desire buried deep in his heart for tomorrow's Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony, a desire he had never dared place any hope in.

This was a world where the strong devoured the weak! A world called Douluo Continent!

And "Ling Yun" was a reflection of the very bottom rung of this cruel world.

"Damn it, your bones are pretty hard, huh? Beat him! Let's see how long he can hold out!" Seeing that Ling Yun not only refused to beg for mercy, but actually glared at him with eyes that made his heart race, Zhang Hu immediately felt humiliated and shouted at his companions in anger.

Fists and feet rained down on his back, his legs, his head... The intense pain assaulted Ling Yun's fragile nerves, but it also rapidly increased the compatibility between his newly arrived soul and this body, making his consciousness clearer.

He stared fixedly at those childish faces, filled with malice and pleasure. A violent emotion unlike anything he had ever felt churned and crashed within his chest! In his previous life, he had lived in a society governed by law. When had he ever experienced such naked bullying, such abuse meant to kill?

Humble kindness would not earn mercy. It would only invite even crueler trampling!

Strength... I need strength!! A silent roar echoed wildly through the depths of his soul.

As though answering that yearning from his soul, two dormant points of light, so faint they were nearly impossible to notice, suddenly gave an extremely slight pulse deep within his dantian.

One was dark gold, as though it could devour everything and evolve chaos.

The other was a jade-green radiance filled with endless vitality, gentle and holy.

As the points of light pulsed, two faint yet undeniably real warm currents quietly flowed from his dantian, circulating slowly along some profound path. Wherever they passed, they slightly dispelled the biting chill and piercing pain.

The feeling vanished in an instant, yet it made Ling Yun's entire body tremble!

This was not an illusion! This body... had a secret!

The Fire of Hope suddenly ignited, and his desire to live and thoughts of revenge grew wildly like weeds!

Just as Zhang Hu's foot was about to kick his ribs again—

Roar—!

A suppressed, beastlike growl burst from Ling Yun's throat. He did not know where the strength came from, but he suddenly raised his head. His flame-filled eyes locked onto Zhang Hu's ankle, and then, like a dying wolf, he opened his mouth and bit down with all his strength!

"Aah—!!!"

A pig-slaughtering scream instantly tore through the silence of the mass grave! Zhang Hu yanked his foot back and hopped around in agony. A row of bloody teeth marks, deep enough to reveal bone, had appeared on his ankle!

The other children were stunned by the sudden mad counterattack and froze where they stood.

Ling Yun seized the chance to roll over and climb up with all his strength. Ignoring the pain that felt as though his entire body had fallen apart, he staggered to his feet. He bent down and picked up a sharp-edged stone from the ground, gripping it tightly in his hand. The jagged edges cut into his palm, but the pain only made him clearer-headed.

Like a young beast driven into a corner and ready to perish together with its enemies, he hunched slightly and swept his bloodshot yet terrifyingly cold eyes over Zhang Hu and his accomplices one by one.

"Come on!" His voice was hoarse, but it carried a chilling coldness and resolve. "Let's see who dies first today! If I can't kill you all, then I'm not Ling Yun!"

The madness, viciousness, and determination to die together in his gaze completely cowed this group of children who only knew how to bully the weak and fear the strong. They looked at the blood still pouring from Zhang Hu's ankle, then at the sharp stone in Ling Yun's hand and his desperate stance, and felt a chill rise in their hearts.

"Crazy... He's gone crazy!" one child said, his voice trembling.

"Brother Hu... are you okay? We... we should go!" another child timidly urged.

Zhang Hu was in pain and afraid, but he pointed at Ling Yun with a show of bravado. "Y-you little bastard! Just you wait! Tomorrow... tomorrow at the awakening ceremony, let's see what kind of trash martial soul a loser like you can awaken! Then I'll show you how I deal with you!"

After throwing out a few threats with no real intimidation behind them, the group fled the mass grave in disgrace, supporting each other amid Zhang Hu's wails as though evil ghosts were chasing them from behind.

Only after their figures had completely vanished into the twilight did Ling Yun suddenly relax. Bracing his hands on his knees, he gasped for breath, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. Not from fear, but because this body was simply too weak. That burst of strength had nearly drained every bit of his energy.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands, still trembling slightly, covered in calluses and scars. He felt the two faint but real warm currents within his body.

"Chaos Dragon God... Nine-Heart Begonia Emperor..." he murmured the two names, as though they had been branded into the depths of his soul from birth. A realization rose in his heart, and the corner of his mouth involuntarily curled into a cold, complicated arc filled with boundless hope.

This was the foundation that would allow him to establish himself in this world! It was the shocking potential that the original owner of this body might have failed to awaken even until death!

He raised his head and looked toward the general direction of Holy Soul Village. According to the original owner's memories, that village seemed to have produced a "genius" this year with "Innate Full Soul Power," named Tang San. His martial soul was... Blue Silver Grass?

"Douluo Continent... Tang San... Spirit Hall... Shrek..." Familiar yet unfamiliar terms flashed through his mind one after another.

"Interesting." Ling Yun spoke softly. The confusion and chaos in his eyes completely faded, replaced by a sharp gleam called "purpose."

"From today onward, I am Ling Yun. I will collect every debt owed to this body, principal and interest included! And all the hypocrisy and so-called 'fate' that disgust me, I will shatter with my own hands!"

"Tomorrow, let this world hear my name loud and clear!"

Dragging his utterly exhausted yet upright body behind him, he walked step by step toward the abandoned shack that barely offered shelter from the wind and rain.

The mass grave returned to dead silence, with only the wind still howling. Yet the imposing aura of a hidden dragon emerging from the abyss had quietly risen from this land that buried despair.

Ling Yun's story had just turned its first page.