First Arrival on Douluo Continent

Douluo Continent, southwest of the Heaven Dou Empire, Fasinuo Province.

Holy Soul Village. If one only heard its name, it would certainly sound quite astonishing, but in reality, it was merely a small village south of the provincial city in Fasinuo Province, with just over three hundred households. It was called Holy Soul because, according to legend, a Soul Saint-level soul master had emerged from there a hundred years ago. This was also Holy Soul Village's eternal pride.

Outside Holy Soul Village lay vast stretches of farmland. The grain and vegetables produced here were all supplied to Nuoding City. Though Nuoding City could not be considered a major city within Fasinuo Province, it was close to the border with another empire and naturally served as one of the starting points for trade between merchants of the two great empires. Nuoding City had flourished because of this, and the commoners in the surrounding villages lived much better than those elsewhere as well.

Dawn had only just begun to break, and a faint strip of pale light had risen in the eastern sky. Yet atop a small hill beside Holy Soul Village, barely a hundred meters tall, there was already a small, thin figure.

He was a child of only five or six. Clearly, he often basked in the sun's warmth, for his skin was a healthy wheat color. His short black hair looked neat, and though his clothes were plain, they were clean.

For a child his age, climbing this hundred-meter hill was no easy task. Yet strangely, when he reached the highest point of the hilltop, his face was not red and he was not out of breath. He looked entirely at ease.

The boy sat down atop the hill, his eyes fixed intently on the gradually brightening pale glow in the east. He slowly inhaled through his nose, then gradually exhaled through his mouth. His inhalations were long and continuous, his exhalations faint and gentle, forming a marvelous cycle.

Just then, his eyes suddenly widened. Within the gradually brightening pale glow on the distant horizon, a faint trace of purple energy seemed to flash by. Without astonishing eyesight and sufficient concentration, it would have been impossible to notice its existence.

The appearance of the purple energy completely focused the boy's mind. He even stopped exhaling, only drawing in light, slow breaths while releasing a long breath of impure air from within his body. A stream of white air poured from his mouth like a silken ribbon before slowly dispersing.

Only after sitting quietly for a long while did the boy open his eyes again. Perhaps because they had been touched by that purple energy at the horizon, a faint layer of violet shimmered within his pupils. Though the color quietly faded after only a short time, while it remained, it was remarkably clear.

With a dejected sigh, the boy wore a helpless expression that absolutely should not have appeared on someone his age. Shaking his head, he muttered to himself, "Still no good. My Mysterious Heaven Skill still can't break through the bottleneck of the first level. It's been a full three months already. Why is that? Even the Purple Demon Eyes, which can only be cultivated in the early morning, have continued to improve. If the Mysterious Heaven Skill cannot break through this bottleneck, my Mystic Jade Hands cannot improve either. Back when I cultivated it, I don't remember encountering such a situation between the first and second levels. The Mysterious Heaven Skill has nine levels in total, so why is the very first level already this troublesome? Could it be because this world is different from my original one?"

He had been in this world for more than five years. This child was Tang San, who had wisely leapt from a cliff at the Tang Sect back then. When he awoke from unconsciousness, he discovered that aside from a feeling of warmth, he could do nothing. Yet the death he had expected never came. Soon afterward, he arrived in this world through a process of squeezing.

That had happened. He had not died, but he was no longer the Tang San he had once been.

After being born, Tang San had spent nearly a year learning this world's language. He still remembered that when he was born, though he had yet to open his eyes and see anything, he heard a deep male voice crying out as if his heart had been torn apart. After learning the language of this world, he tried to recall it with his extraordinary memory and could only remember that the man seemed to be shouting, "Sanmei, don't leave me behind." That man was his father, Tang Hao. His mother in this world had already died in childbirth at that time.

Whether it was fate or mere coincidence, Tang Hao had named him Tang San in memory of his deceased wife. Children his age in the village often mocked him for it, but Tang San was quite satisfied. After all, it was the name he had used for nearly thirty years in another world. Familiarity alone had long since made him fond of those two characters.

After arriving in this world, Tang San had gone from initial shock and fear to later excitement, and now calmness. He had completely accepted reality. In his eyes, Heaven had given him another chance. Perhaps his greatest wish from his previous life could be fulfilled in this one.

Tang San had arrived in this world naked, but he possessed the greatest wealth of all: his memories. As the most outstanding genius of the Tang Sect's outer branch, the methods for crafting all kinds of mechanical concealed weapons had been imprinted in his mind. After stealing the secret manuals of the Tang Sect's inner branch, his many years of yearning had finally been fulfilled. During his studies, he had also memorized the inner branch's supreme Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record by heart. Tang San hoped to recreate the glory of the Tang Sect in this world.

Recently, Tang San often dreamed of sitting beside a beautiful girl as they watched the sunset on the horizon. For the first time, Tang San experienced an emotion called "liking." He could never clearly remember the girl's appearance, only that she had hair reaching her hips, a breathtakingly beautiful face, fair pinkish-white skin, and the fragrance of jasmine drifting from her body. He was eager to know who the girl in his dreams truly was.

Crack. A branch snapped. "Who?" Though Tang San had traveled to another world, his instinctive vigilance remained. Tang Sect disciples possessed first-rate senses of smell, hearing, and sight. Tang San caught a faint floral fragrance, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat. Before him stood a girl with pale violet hair reaching her hips, delicate violet eyebrows, slightly parted crimson lips, and beauty capable of toppling kingdoms. Her dainty nose was raised, her slim waist narrow, and her thighs taut. She was a year younger than Tang San, and the faint scent of jasmine wafted from her body. She wore a Cang Yue-like bandage outfit made of vines, exposing her fair pinkish-white skin. A ring encircled each wrist—twenty-four stars on one side and twenty-four moons on the other. She was Lan Xue. Two red clouds rose unconsciously onto Tang San's face, and even his ears were stained a reddish gold. Wasn't she the girl from his dreams?

He lifted Lan Xue in a princess carry. Lan Xue was very, very light, and her moist skin was incredibly elastic. Tang San forcibly shook away his distracting thoughts. "We should head back." He glanced at the sky, and his thin body sprang into motion as he raced down the mountain. If anyone had seen him then, they would have stared in astonishment. Carrying a girl, every stride he took covered nearly a zhang. The uneven, pitted mountain ground did not hinder him in the slightest. He easily avoided it all, and as he sped along, he was far faster than an adult.

What was the essence of the Tang Sect? Concealed weapons, poisons, and lightness skill. The greatest difference between the Tang Sect's inner and outer branches lay in how concealed weapons were used. The outer branch mainly relied on mechanical devices, while the inner branch used true technique. Poisons were generally used only by the outer branch. The concealed weapons of direct inner branch disciples rarely used poison, because they simply had no need for it.