A Snowball Fight Together

In the blink of an eye.

Winter arrived.

Because the furnace in the neighboring Forge Workshop had been lit, its heat flowed through the pipes into Zhou Qing's room. As long as the windows were shut, the room stayed fairly warm.

"San, has your dad still not gotten himself together and gone to work?"

As Zhou Qing looked over the Soul Tool Core Formation Tang San had copied from that Soul Guidance Crystal, he asked about Tang Hao's situation.

"No."

Tang San sighed. "It's only because I was too softhearted. All the money I earned from the villagers got taken by him after I put it back home, without him even asking... The only thing I'm thankful for now is that the money in my Storage Soul Tool is with you."

Hearing the frustration in Tang San's voice, Zhou Qing secretly found it rather amusing.

In the past, Tang San had always called Tang Hao "Dad," but now he referred to him as "him." Their relationship had clearly grown distant.

Why do I suddenly feel like some sinister villain?

For no apparent reason, that thought popped into Zhou Qing's mind. He decided to bring up something else instead. "A few days ago, Uncle Liu and the others from the village went to Nuoding City to sell grain. I asked them to buy me some more books, and one of them introduced Titled Douluo. It mainly covered their Martial Souls, the ages at which they became Titled Douluo, and their deeds. It was like one of those illustrated storybooks people passed around, but it didn't mention their Soul Skills at all."

Tang San thought that was perfectly normal. Having already gained some understanding of Martial Souls and Soul Skills, he regarded Soul Skills as abilities similar to Mysterious Jade Hand and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. While the Soul Skills of this world probably could not be learned merely because their effects were described in detail, they could certainly be countered.

Therefore, the specifics of certain Soul Skills definitely could not be made public.

"Among them, the youngest Titled Douluo on the continent became one at forty-four. His title was Clear Sky," Zhou Qing continued.

"Clear Sky? That's a pretty arrogant name," Tang San remarked.

"That Titled Douluo's name was Tang Hao."

Zhou Qing had not wanted to mention this now, but considering that Tang San could open the Storage Soul Tool pouch, he would discover the booklet sooner or later. It was better to act his age—when he found something interesting, he would share it with a good friend.

"Hm?"

Tang San raised his right eyebrow, set down the Soul Guidance Crystal in his hand, and took the booklet Zhou Qing offered him. It described the deeds of the Clear Sky Douluo.

However, it contained no portrait of Tang Hao, nor even an illustration of his Martial Soul. It merely stated that the Clear Sky Douluo's Martial Soul was the Clear Sky Hammer passed down through the Clear Sky Sect, with a hammerhead as large as a water vat.

"Probably just someone with the same name."

Tang San had suspected that his father might be some Soul Master living incognito, but no matter how he looked at it, Tang Hao's slovenly, dispirited appearance could not be connected to the Clear Sky Douluo described here.

What kind of existence was a Titled Douluo?

Though he had yet to awaken his Martial Soul, Tang San had read all sorts of books here and understood enough: they were powerful Soul Masters with the strength to move mountains and overturn seas.

Although this world's cultivation methods, judging from those crude Meditation Methods, seemed somewhat rudimentary and unsystematic in Tang San's eyes, anyone capable of becoming a Titled Douluo had to possess unwavering will.

Just like him. He had lost everything from his previous life—his body and cultivation—then been reincarnated with his memories, starting all over from nothing, yet he had never complained.

The Titled Douluo of this world must surely have wills as steadfast as his own.

Tang Hao...

There was no way he could be the continent's youngest Clear Sky Douluo.

Even if he was, would the mighty Clear Sky Douluo truly become so utterly broken after suffering a setback? He was even worse than the lonely villagers who had lost their wives and daughters.

After grieving, they still had to accept reality, return to the fields, and pull themselves together.

But what about Tang Hao?

Other than buying alcohol and that one visit to the Forge Workshop, he had never left that blacksmith's house!

At this point, although Tang San was willing to retain the possibility that Tang Hao was the Clear Sky Douluo from the rumors, he had begun to look down on him somewhat.

After all, his mentality was different from that in the original story. Moreover, he had to prepare for entering the Soul Master World in the future, so he had no time to provide Tang Hao with psychological comfort.

Besides, with his current identity as a five-year-old child, Tang Hao would not tell him the cause and course of everything anyway. It would be better to wait until he became stronger and investigate on his own. If Tang Hao had truly suffered some injustice, he could help him seek justice then.

The realm of a Titled Douluo... With the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Tang San believed that as long as he cultivated step by step, he could reach it. If Martial Souls and Soul Rings could accelerate his cultivation, that would be even better.

After learning what Tang San thought, Zhou Qing did not say anything more. He merely put on a dejected expression. "I thought you'd immediately run home and ask whether your dad was the legendary Clear Sky Douluo. What a shame~"

Tang San rolled his eyes, closed the booklet, and picked up the Soul Guidance Crystal again. As he examined the patterns on it, he complained, "I'm not a three-year-old."

"Yes, yes, you're five."

Zhou Qing chuckled, leaned back in his chair, and stretched lazily. Watching the snow drift outside the window, he suddenly became interested and said to Tang San, "How about we have a snowball fight?"

"Boring."

"Come on. If you keep carving all day, your brain will get rusty." Zhou Qing pulled Tang San up, found the other children in the village, and called them over for a snowball fight.

After Tang San had gotten a "proper" job, the children of Holy Soul Village had become willing to interact with him as well. It was just that Tang San usually could not quite play along with them.

But Zhou Qing was different. Perhaps because his body was that of a child and his brain had not fully developed, there was occasionally a lively, mischievous side to his personality. He could get along well with the other children in the village.

Tang San, who had been forced into this snowball fight, took a snowball to the face. He had no choice but to brush the snow off his face, scoop up a pile of snow, and pack it into a snowball as large as a head. Then, with a cold smile, he hurled it at Zhou Qing.

"Holy crap! What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?!"

At that moment, Zhou Qing seemed to see red light glowing in Tang San's eyes, while he himself had been placed on Tang San's list of those walking the Path to Death.

Smack!

The head-sized snowball struck Zhou Qing on the head and buried him in the snow.

"Damn it! You're playing dirty, huh?"

Zhou Qing climbed out of the snow and quickly rolled up a snowball about the size of a human head, then hurled it at Tang San.

But Tang San jumped to the left, leaving behind a faint afterimage as he dodged the attack.

"Damn! Who uses cheats when playing a game?"

Zhou Qing was indignant. This brat had actually used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to dodge. What a bastard!

Tang San chuckled. "No one said I couldn't use it."

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.

Tang San had naturally taught this footwork to Zhou Qing as well, but Zhou Qing had not practiced it. He planned to wait until after his martial soul awakened before deciding.

Zhou Qing had his own plans regarding martial soul cultivation.

Judging from Spirit Hall's basic meditation technique, every Soul Master had a cultivation method best suited to them—or rather, a method suited to the growth of their martial soul itself.

The reason the Mysterious Heaven Skill could be cultivated was because it was a Daoist Cultivation Technique: upright, balanced, and peaceful. Moreover, in Zhou Qing's view, the completeness of the Meridians it involved far surpassed that of most Soul Masters.

Therefore, aside from possessors of certain special martial souls, all Soul Masters should be able to cultivate this technique from childhood. And if a Soul Master achieved extraordinary accomplishments in the future, they might even be able to integrate the Mysterious Heaven Skill into their martial soul's growth and cultivation methods.

Zhou Qing wanted to create a movement technique in the future that matched his own martial soul.

Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track was paired with the Mysterious Heaven Skill. With continual practice, it would probably alter the structure of one's leg bones to a certain extent, allowing them to execute the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track footwork more effectively.

Tang San's obsession with Tang Sect techniques was understandable, but Zhou Qing was different. He did not want his body to be subtly reshaped from childhood by Tang Sect skills.

He would wait until his martial soul awakened before making any judgments.

According to the theory of parental inheritance, his martial soul would most likely be Blue Silver Grass. But he was a Transmigrator, after all. Perhaps his martial soul had escaped the laws of parental inheritance?

In the Douluo 2 Era, a Soul Master's martial soul could be a cigar. Yet in this Douluo I Era, even nobles could only smoke from pipes, not cigars.

From this, it could be seen that the forms of martial souls themselves could likely change alongside the development of their respective eras and humanity's changing perceptions.

Therefore.

Zhou Qing held great expectations for the martial soul he would awaken in the future. Aside from the Mysterious Heaven Skill, which allowed him to cultivate Soul Power, and the Purple Demon Eye, which allowed one to come into contact with Spiritual Power in advance, he would only thoroughly study the Meridians and acupoints required for the cultivation process of the other Tang Sect skills. He would not practice them immediately.

Once his martial soul awakened, if a skill complemented the cultivation method of his martial soul, then he would choose to cultivate it. If it did not, and was only compatible with the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Zhou Qing would give it up and instead modify the Soul Skills he obtained from future Soul Rings, along with his martial soul itself, to create the Self-Created Soul Skills best suited to him.

As for the reason?

With the detailed knowledge of human Meridians and acupoints Tang San had given him, coupled with gradually learning the functions of every Meridian and every discovered acupoint, his biology knowledge from his previous life that he had not yet forgotten, and a modern person's imagination—if he still could not create his own Soul Skills after embarking on the path of a Soul Master, then he might as well spend his whole life peacefully in Holy Soul Village.

However.

That was only because Zhou Qing understood that he did not need to worry about his personal safety in the short term. If there were immense external pressure and an imminent crisis, then even if Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and Mysterious Jade Hand caused subtle changes in his bones, making them incline toward using those two types of skills, he would still practice them without hesitation.

"Smack!"

Another snowball struck Zhou Qing on the head, interrupting his thoughts.

"Bastard!"

"Since that's the case, my little ones!" Zhou Qing called the other children of Holy Soul Village over. They grabbed snow from the ground, packed it into snowballs, and threw them all at Tang San at once.

"You're ganging up on me! That's unfair!" Tang San shouted, but his feet moved swiftly as he dodged the snowballs. A bright smile appeared on his face as well.

Exercise always made people feel happier.

Even as a Transmigrator, Tang San was still affected by the hormones secreted when his body moved, which lifted his spirits.

This world was not unscientific...