Innate Soul Power: 0

Watching Tang San laugh with unrestrained joy in the snow, Tang Hao, hidden in the distance, began to question his life.

Ah Yin's death had indeed dealt him a devastating blow.

But the main reason he had "raised Tang San freely" was that Tang San had been far too mature for his age...

And now, seeing Tang San having so much fun with children his own age, Tang Hao suddenly felt that he might have been overthinking things. Tang San was truly just a somewhat excessively precocious child, not some divine or ghostly being like the tales he had once heard.

After all, what adult could possibly get along so well with children?

As for his cultivation method—

That must have been because Tang San was the child of Ah Yin and him. Without needing a Martial Soul Awakening, he had been born with the Blue Silver Emperor's inherited cultivation method!

But Tang San's footwork and hand techniques still left Tang Hao uneasy.

I'll wait until next year, when Tang San awakens his Martial Soul, before making any plans. If his awakened Martial Soul isn't the Clear Sky Hammer, then as Old Jack said, my life will remain like this. But if he awakens the Clear Sky Hammer, then with Tang San's precociousness from such a young age and my guidance, he'll surely become the youngest Titled Douluo of the new generation on the continent. Then father and son can join forces and take revenge on Spirit Hall!

Tang Hao's gaze turned sharp as he headed toward his Blacksmith Shop, ready to sleep for an entire day...

Meanwhile, Tang San was still running gleefully through the snow. While dodging the snowballs thrown by Zhou Qing and the others, he used Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon to seize some of them and hurl them back at Zhou Qing. He laughed so happily that he completely failed to notice his father watching him from the shadows earlier.

"Brother Qing, catch this!"

"No!"

Zhou Qing's face changed drastically. He shut his eyes and flailed his fists wildly, but Tang San's snowball still struck him on the head, knocking him to the ground.

"Why are you only hitting me?"

"Because you can take a beating better."

Tang San gave Zhou Qing an irrefutable reason.

Who told him to practice the Mysterious Heaven Skill?

Though he did not have much Internal Energy, he had some after all. It circulated through his body in a full cycle and instinctively protected him, so naturally, he could take a beating better than the other children of Holy Soul Village.

Zhou Qing, on the verge of tears, only wanted to say, "I'm starting to hate snowball fights."

"I'm different."

Tang San tossed snowballs into the air, performing a circus-like juggling act as he continuously hurled them toward Zhou Qing like a snowball-launching machine. He even used Hidden Weapon techniques, making the snowballs trace elegant arcs through the air as they accurately struck Zhou Qing's forehead.

Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!

Before long, Zhou Qing's head was buried beneath shattered snowballs.

Only then did Tang San clap his hands and say with a grin, "I'm starting to like this game."

Zhou Qing, his head buried in the snow: "..."

Damn it!

How had he never realized before that Tang San was actually this devious?

Wasn't it just because he had no plans to practice Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track? Was that enough reason to bully him for his "short legs"?

Just you wait. Once I awaken my Martial Soul and officially begin the path of a Soul Master, I'll create a movement technique that surpasses Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and make your Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track bow its head in defeat...

But happy days were always short.

In the blink of an eye, another year hurried by.

During that year, aside from studying, cultivating, caring for the Spirit Rhyme Turtle, and regularly cleaning their Secret Base deep in the mountains, Zhou Qing and Tang San also spent many joyful days with the children of Holy Soul Village.

In Spring, they gathered flower honey; in Summer, they caught cicadas; in Autumn, they picked wild fruits; in Winter, they caught sparrows among the snow.

Carefree!

Free and easy!

Over the past year, Tang San felt that he had finally begun to truly live. He had made up for the joyful childhood he had never experienced in his previous life, and his entire disposition had grown brighter and sunnier.

When the Spring of the new year arrived, six-year-old Zhou Qing and Tang San had long since found Old Jack and waited with him at the village entrance.

Before this, Old Jack had gone to find Tang Hao and told him about the Martial Soul Awakening, but Tang Hao, as usual, had not given Old Jack a pleasant look.

He had thought that after the villagers stopped going to Tang Hao to repair their farming tools, Tang Hao would be ashamed and strive to improve himself. Yet he had shamelessly begun living off his child, forcibly taking away the money Tang San earned to buy alcohol.

When the villagers refused to sell to him, he went to other villages. He had truly—

Completely become useless!

Fortunately, Tang San had truly become sensible.

"Honored Battle Soul Master, you've arrived!"

Outside Holy Soul Village, Su Yuntao arrived as scheduled, and Old Jack immediately stepped forward to greet him.

"Mm."

As in previous years, Su Yuntao carried a faint pride between his brows, but there was also a trace of exhaustion in his eyes. Without exchanging pleasantries, he said directly, "Hurry up. I'm short on time, and I still have several villages to visit."

"Please follow me."

Old Jack hurriedly led the way.

Zhou Qing and Tang San followed.

Looking at the two children, both around one and a half meters tall, Su Yuntao asked, "Are they children of the right age as well?"

"Yes, Honored Battle Soul Master," Old Jack replied respectfully.

Su Yuntao was somewhat speechless. He could not understand why children who were only six years old had already grown to one and a half meters tall.

But he quickly put the question aside, and a little more excitement appeared in his eyes.

Perhaps these two children might awaken Innate Soul Power along with their Martial Souls!

With that in mind, Su Yuntao could not help looking forward to it.

After arriving at the open space where Holy Soul Village's Spirit Hall stood, Su Yuntao led the remaining seven children, along with Zhou Qing and Tang San, into Spirit Hall.

"Line up from shortest to tallest. One at a time."

Su Yuntao had the children form a line. His tone was gentler now, even carrying a trace of excitement, because there was a strong chance that two children with Innate Soul Power would appear this time.

If things turned out as he expected and he reported it to the Hall Master of the Spirit Hall Branch, he would receive a generous reward. Then he could buy Sisi the latest style of clothes...

Ahem!

Su Yuntao arranged the Martial Soul Awakening Stones and called the first child forward.

Tang San, however, looked at the Martial Soul Awakening Stones and said to Zhou Qing, "I previously engraved that kind of Soul Guiding Inscription onto Refined Iron. After injecting Soul Power into it, golden specks of light did appear. They would drift into the body on their own, bringing a feeling as though something was about to burst out from within. But perhaps Refined Iron isn't very compatible with that Soul Guiding Inscription, so it produced very few golden specks. Or maybe I hadn't reached the right age yet, so it didn't succeed."

Zhou Qing nodded slightly.

Different Soul Guiding Inscriptions could achieve different effects on different metals... That was also the result Tang San had tested. And the Soul Conductor Core Inscription within the Martial Soul Awakening Stones was absolutely unsuitable for engraving onto Refined Iron.

As for Martial Souls only being able to awaken at six years old...

Zhou Qing did not quite think so. Perhaps Spirit Hall and the major sects had simply concluded through experience that awakening a Martial Soul at six produced the best results...

"Martial Soul: Sickle."

Su Yuntao had already helped the first child awaken his Martial Soul. Seeing that it was a sickle, disappointment flashed through his eyes, but he still handed over the Crystal Ball used to test Soul Power.

But the Crystal Ball detected no Soul Power fluctuations from the child.

"Innate Soul Power: 0. Sorry, you cannot become a Soul Master. Next."