The Holy Soul Village Soul Saint Legend

When Zhou Qing and Tang San returned to Holy Soul Village, they found Old Jack standing at the village entrance. His usually clouded eyes held a few traces of clear anticipation.

"Grandpa Jack."

Zhou Qing stepped forward and asked curiously, "Are you waiting for someone?"

"Hello, Grandpa Jack." Tang San greeted him as well.

"It's Little Qing and Little San."

Old Jack initially smiled warmly, but when he noticed the water stains on them, he knew they had gone to play by the stream. Sternness instantly replaced his smile. "You mustn't play in the water. There's a huge turtle in the river that eats people, especially children."

"Well..."

Zhou Qing did not know how to make an excuse. He could hardly say that the huge turtle had already grown accustomed to his and Tang San's presence, could he?

Even if he said it, Old Jack certainly would not believe him.

Tang San, however, came up with an excuse. "Grandpa Jack, we only went to the stream to look around. We need water for the blacksmith shop at home. My father is rather lazy, and I'm still young and not very strong, so I was wondering whether we could dig a small channel to pass by the Blacksmith Shop in the future. That would make fetching water much easier."

In truth, it was not entirely an excuse.

With Zhou Qing, someone his own age, keeping him company, Tang San had developed the slightest, almost negligible grievance toward Tang Hao. He had even begun considering setting up on his own.

Hidden Weapons...

Soul Guiding Inscriptions...

Researching such things required a private space.

Tang San's Internal Energy cultivation was now nearly at the bottleneck of the Mysterious Heaven Skill's First Layer. Measured in terms of soul power, he was already infinitely close to level ten.

This was largely thanks to the Great White Carp that had become a Soul Beast, as well as the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's "spirit-gathering" effect.

As such.

Before awakening his martial soul, Tang San had no way to obtain a Soul Ring. If he wanted to further improve his strength, he naturally had to prepare in other areas, such as improving and researching Hidden Weapons.

To truly enter the Soul Master World of Douluo Continent in the future, Tang San felt that he had to be fully prepared. He even needed to prepare a set for Zhou Qing.

By now, he could already swing a forging hammer. Over the remaining nearly two years, he would build his own forging room together with Zhou Qing, research Hidden Weapons and Soul Guiding Inscriptions, and make ample preparations for their future entry into the Soul Master World.

"Sigh!"

Old Jack's brow relaxed, and he smiled. "You're such a filial child. It's just that your father... forget it, I won't say any more. I'll try to persuade him again later and see whether I can get him to find work in Nuoding City. Once you awaken your martial soul, if you have soul power and hope of becoming a Soul Master, you won't have to worry about food and drink. Being a Soul Master costs a great deal of money..."

Once he began talking about Soul Masters, Old Jack became endlessly talkative. He even brought up the Holy Soul Village Soul Saint.

This was the first time Tang San had heard the story.

Previously, he had only heard the villagers mention that a Soul Saint had once come from Holy Soul Village. Now, however, Old Jack went into much greater detail.

But Zhou Qing knew it by heart: the legend of Holy Soul Village's Soul Saint—

The Holy Soul Village Soul Saint had lived more than two hundred years ago. His martial soul was a strange little tree, with a black trunk and gemstone-like leaves. He possessed level six Innate Soul Power.

When he reached the realm of Soul Saint, he was already over eighty years old. He returned to Holy Soul Village once, causing the village to be renamed Holy Soul Village, before leaving again.

It was said that he had gone into seclusion to break through to the Soul Douluo realm.

Yet more than two hundred years had passed without any further news. Even Spirit Hall could not find out where he had gone.

This was actually fairly normal. Some Soul Masters ventured into remote mountains and forests in search of treasures to break through their realms, only to disappear without a trace.

The Holy Soul Village Soul Saint had likely met the same fate.

After hearing Old Jack's story again, Zhou Qing thought of the sapling growing on the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's back and suddenly grasped the key point: the Soul Saint's martial soul had been a strange little tree, with a black trunk and gemstone-like dazzling leaves.

That description was nearly identical to the unknown plant on the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's shell!

A black trunk.

That plant's trunk was indeed black!

Gemstone-like dazzling leaves.

That plant's leaves really were prettier than those of ordinary plants. They felt exceptionally smooth to the touch, and under sunlight, they faintly reflected light.

Perhaps the Spirit Rhyme Turtle's presence near Holy Soul Village was not an accident...

Zhou Qing immediately asked Old Jack, "Grandpa Jack, what was that Soul Saint's martial soul called?"

"I don't know. When I was little, I heard my grandfather say that even that Lord Soul Saint never figured out what species of tree his martial soul was. Perhaps during his adventures, he was also searching for a sapling like his martial soul, haha." Only after thinking back for quite a while did Old Jack shake his head. "Come to think of it, that Soul Saint's circumstances were similar to yours, Little San. He didn't originally live in Holy Soul Village either... but he was still from Holy Soul Village!"

"Ah..."

Old Jack let out another long sigh.

Old Jack actually understood the situation of Holy Soul Village's children. If their ancestors had not possessed any outstanding martial souls, the children's martial souls certainly would not be much better.

If Holy Soul Village were to produce a child who awakened Innate Soul Power in the future, Old Jack felt that Tang San was the most likely candidate.

The reason was simple: Tang San was an outsider.

As for the other children, they could only hope for something like a mutation during their martial soul awakening.

"So that's how it is."

It was impossible to determine where that Soul Saint from two hundred years ago had truly come from, but Zhou Qing felt that he had most likely died near Holy Soul Village.

After all, when he was about to break through to Soul Douluo, he had returned to Holy Soul Village and told the Village Chief at the time about it. That proved he himself had not been confident and had already prepared for death.

"By the way, Grandpa Jack, what are you doing at the village entrance?" Tang San brought the topic back to why Old Jack was waiting there.

"I'm waiting for the Lord Soul Master from Spirit Hall."

A smile reappeared on Old Jack's lips. "Today is the big day when the village's six-year-old children awaken their martial souls. Naturally, I came to welcome him."

Although he knew it was highly unlikely that a child with Innate Soul Power would appear, Old Jack was still filled with anticipation.

What if one did?

As long as a child awakened Innate Soul Power alongside their martial soul, they would have hope of becoming a Soul Master and could become an important figure in the future.

If that happened, important figures from Spirit Hall and the City Lord's Mansion would take notice of the village, and the benefits it received would grow greater and greater. The village would also continue to prosper.

Zhou Qing understood that this was the development model for small villages on Douluo Continent.

Indeed, if a village produced children with awakened Innate Soul Power every year, the local Spirit Hall Branches and City Lord's Mansions in the province and city would offer their own forms of support.

The city lord of the City Lord's Mansion would reduce the village's agricultural taxes. He might even send a batch of grain every year to ensure that the village would not be unable to survive because of natural disasters such as locust plagues, droughts, or floods.

Spirit Hall, meanwhile, would arrange for certain people to go to such villages: elderly people without wives, sons, or daughters, who disliked the bustle of cities and wished to devote themselves to nature; or retired personnel who had been injured and could no longer fight or continue working for Spirit Hall.

This would not only help the villages develop better, but also make the children of such villages view Spirit Hall more favorably.

As for whether there were other political motives...

Zhou Qing did not know.

But at least in this regard, neither the Heaven Dou Empire nor the Star Luo Empire could criticize Spirit Hall. They even had to accept this favor from Spirit Hall.

After all, those villages still belonged to the Two Great Empires.

Spirit Hall sought nothing in return for helping with this—it did so for free!