Holy Soul Village's Zhou Qing

South of Nuoding City, Fasinuo Province, Heaven Dou Empire.

Holy Soul Village.

"Four years."

Dressed in coarse linen clothes, Zhou Qing had gathered a large pile of mushrooms in the woods on a hillside near Holy Soul Village. As he rested and looked into the distance, he saw vast stretches of lush green farmland, with dozens, nearly a hundred houses scattered nearby.

"Two more years, and I'll be able to awaken my Martial Soul."

This continent was called Douluo Continent. Every child born here could awaken their own unique Martial Soul at the age of six.

Martial Souls.

They could be animals, plants, or all manner of artificial tools.

No one knew where Martial Souls truly came from, but they could help people live better lives.

However, some children would also develop Soul Power when they awakened their Martial Souls—Innate Soul Power. These Soul Masters could cultivate through meditation, raise their Soul Power, and become stronger Soul Masters.

The ranks of Soul Masters were: Soul Scholar, Soul Master, Soul Grandmaster, Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Saint, Soul Douluo, and the strongest of all, Titled Douluo.

Legend had it that Titled Douluo were extraordinarily powerful. Those Titled Douluo whose Soul Power had reached Level 95 or above possessed the terrifying might to churn rivers and overturn seas.

And Zhou Qing yearned to become a Soul Master!

Unlike the others, Zhou Qing was not native to this world. He was a Transmigrator from Earth. While buying groceries, he had been hit by a dump truck and transmigrated into this world.

Compared to other Transmigrators with all kinds of cheat abilities, Zhou Qing had been unfortunate. He had gained no cheat ability. His only advantage was perhaps that he still retained the memories of his previous life—the mindset formed by modern scientific understanding.

Which meant...

After he turned two, once he could control his body well enough to run without falling, Zhou Qing had begun exploring this real world.

Holy Soul Village's surroundings...

The nearby roads, woods, and farmland...

The various species of plants and animals...

And what appeared to be the most important, but was actually not all that important—the story timeline. Was Tang San in Holy Soul Village?

Fortunately.

Tang San, the protagonist of "Douluo I," was indeed in Holy Soul Village. He was the same age as Zhou Qing, and according to what Old Jack had said about when Tang Hao and Tang San had arrived, Zhou Qing was even a month older than the protagonist!

However.

Unlike the protagonist, Zhou Qing was a true orphan. He did not even have a father.

His father in this life had taken the village's grain to Falling Star City in the Star Luo Empire to sell during the autumn harvest season.

But misfortune had struck, and he had died at the hands of a Soul Master.

The reason: offending a Soul Master and a noble.

No matter what, Zhou Qing could not believe that the parents he had never met in this life would have offended a Soul Master!

Unless they had gone mad!

Besides, while the residents of Holy Soul Village had flaws such as liking petty advantages, nitpicking, and arguing for half a day over trivial matters, they still retained the simple honesty of farmers.

When someone from the village got into trouble, they would help out together.

For example:

If a villager was bullied by people from another village, the men of the village would temporarily set aside their work, pick up hoes and sickles, and seek justice for the person who had been bullied.

Large-scale armed clashes between villages...

According to Old Jack, there had been two such incidents when he was young. At the time, people from a relatively poor village had set their sights on Holy Soul Village's favorable location, so they often stirred up trouble for no reason. In the two clashes that erupted, the united villagers of Holy Soul Village had beaten more than ten people from the other side to death.

It was not until the matter alerted the City Lord of Nuoding City and the Nuoding Spirit Hall Branch Master, who jointly sent Soul Masters over, that it truly came to an end.

From then on, Holy Soul Village and that village had completely cut off all contact.

Put simply.

The residents of Holy Soul Village could be nasty enough to gossip about others behind their backs, but when someone was in trouble, they would also do everything within their power to help.

People were always complex and multifaceted!

Only when facing Soul Masters, constrained by the lofty status Soul Masters held on the continent, would the villagers lose their quality of "standing together" and disregard right and wrong.

Commoners, Soul Masters, nobles.

These were the continent's three main social classes.

Commoners had the lowest status. When Soul Masters or nobles killed commoners, they generally did not need to bear any responsibility.

Although laws did exist, in a world with extraordinary power...

A Soul Master killing a commoner...

How big a deal was that?

The commoner could only be the one at fault.

Therefore, commoners were mostly submissive and timid before Soul Masters. Still, not all Soul Masters possessed noble status...

So how had Zhou Qing grown up?

His parents' property had still been left to him. Old Jack managed it on his behalf and rented it out to other farmers in the village. They split the harvest equally, while Zhou Qing received ten Silver Soul Coins each season—that was, one hundred Copper Soul Coins.

Thus, he had also been raised on the kindness of the whole village.

But.

Not having seen his parents in this life did not mean he could peacefully live off the property they had left behind. He was a man of principles.

Transmigration and rebirth...

Had he taken over another body? Or had he been reincarnated?

Zhou Qing did not know, but one thing was very clear to him: once he had strength, he would definitely uncover the truth behind the matter of his "parents offending a Soul Master"!

If his parents truly had been at fault, he would accept it!

But if not...

That noble Soul Master in Falling Star City had better live safely and steadily until I uncover everything and find you...

At that thought.

Zhou Qing returned his gaze to the narrow path at his feet leading toward Holy Soul Village. Carrying the basket of mushrooms, he headed down the mountain.

Even if he wanted revenge, he still had to focus on reality for now.

Picking mushrooms was not to fill his stomach. It was merely to create an opportunity:

An opportunity to run into Tang San.

"Yo, San'er, you came to pick mushrooms too?"

Sure enough, Zhou Qing saw Tang San walking up from the foot of the mountain, carrying a basket half-filled with mushrooms.

"Yeah, Qing Ge. Didn't it rain recently? Mushrooms popped up in the woods, so I came to pick some." Tang San's tone was calm, but Zhou Qing knew that, because of the gossip in the village about Tang Hao, this already counted as warmth.

Whether it was to uncover the truth behind his parents' deaths in the future or for cultivation after awakening his Martial Soul, Zhou Qing believed that befriending Tang San was essential.

Why?

He had no cheat ability—at least, he had not discovered one yet!

Therefore, even if there was only the slightest possibility, he had to earn Tang San's trust—

At the very least, judging from the original story, anyone who treated Tang San well generally did not end up too badly, regardless of their aptitude. At minimum, they would not be put on his list of those who had chosen the Path to Death.

Ever since Zhou Qing had learned to walk and run at the age of two, and learned the local language of Douluo Continent—that was, since he had become sensible—he had been doing exactly that.

This hillside was where Tang San cultivated Tang Sect techniques such as the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Purple Demon Eye...

New author, new book. Please be understanding. Thank you.