Lin Yi

Douluo Continent, Shrek City, Dawn Clothing Store.

At dusk, in a bedroom on the second floor, a desk lamp on the broad desk cast a warm yellow glow. A delicate little boy sat quietly beneath the light, reading a book.

"Sweetheart, tomorrow is your Martial Soul Awakening. You need to rest well today."

A stunningly beautiful woman in a light-colored long dress pushed open the door. Her gentle face was filled with affection as she looked at the little boy.

"I know, Mom."

The beautiful woman walked over to the desk. The little boy had already closed his book, slipped in a bookmark, and returned it to the shelf. He turned around and held out his arms to her coquettishly.

A trace of helplessness flashed through her eyes before giving way to affection. She teased, "You're already this big, and you still want Mommy to hold you?"

"Mom!"

"Alright, alright, I won't tease you. Come here, Mommy will hold you."

She reached out and picked up her precious child. The boy obediently wrapped his arms around her neck.

The woman took a few steps to the bed, laid the little boy down, pulled the blanket over him, and tucked in the corners. "Sweetheart, your Martial Soul Awakening is tomorrow. Are you nervous?"

"Of course not."

The little boy's voice was calm, though it trembled faintly. His face looked composed, but the flicker of panic in his eyes and his tiny hands secretly clenched beneath the blanket proved that no matter how mature he was, he was still only a child. After all, he was only six years old this year.

A mother knew her son best, and the beautiful woman noticed the boy's unease.

She bent down and hugged both the blanket and the little boy in her arms, stroking his head with one hand and patting his back with the other as she gently swayed.

"Our little Yi is so smart. You'll definitely succeed. No matter what happens, your father and I will always be by your side."

Feeling the warmth of his mother's embrace, the little boy's nervous heart gradually settled down.

As his mother gently patted him, the boy slowly closed his eyes and drifted peacefully to sleep.

The beautiful woman was named Ouyang Xi. She was the little boy's mother, as well as the owner of Dawn Clothing Store.

The little boy was named Lin Yi. It was said that he received this name because his mother, Ouyang Xi, had dreamed of a strange vision that blotted out the sky the day before giving birth. She believed her child would surely be extraordinary in the future, so she named him "Lin Biding."

Although he had long known his wife's personality, the boy's father nearly threw out his back when he heard that name. Abandoning his usual indulgence and patience toward his wife, he desperately stopped her. He had finally saved the child from his future fate, and the couple each compromised, naming the child "Lin Yi."

Little Lin Yi had indeed displayed his extraordinary nature from an early age. Not only had he learned to speak and read remarkably quickly, but while children his age could only cry and fuss, he was already capable of holding a book and reading it by himself for an entire day.

That alone would have been impressive enough, but Little Lin Yi's most outstanding quality was his comprehension. He could understand the knowledge in a book after reading it once, and even draw further inferences from it. His questions often gave his father a headache.

Combined with the excellent genes he had inherited from his parents, his shoulder-length black hair and delicate features earned him an excellent reputation among the neighbors. Whenever people mentioned the child from Dawn Clothing Store, there was no one who did not praise him.

The smile on Ouyang Xi's face never faded. She praised her son's intelligence to everyone she met, saying he was easy to care for and never caused trouble. She called him "sweetheart" all day long, making Lin Yi's father extremely jealous.

But only Little Lin Yi himself knew that his intelligence was not innate.

Little Lin Yi had a secret. It seemed that he was... not merely Lin Yi.

When he was two years old, a vast set of memories from the Otherworld appeared in his mind. According to those Otherworld Memories, his condition was called awakening Past Life Wisdom.

As a child, he did not understand it. Afraid that he would be treated as a monster, Little Lin Yi did not dare tell his parents. He could only subtly ask them how he could learn things he did not know. His father took the opportunity to stuff a huge stack of books into his arms. Although he did not find an answer, he developed the habit of reading.

It did not matter if he could not find one.

At least, for now, it seemed like a good thing.

But whether he was intelligent or exceptionally perceptive, there were some things in this world that could not be changed by such qualities alone.

Through reading, Little Lin Yi had learned many things about this world.

Unlike the Otherworld, where everyone was ordinary, this was a world of Martial Souls. Everyone was born with a Martial Soul, which could emerge through Martial Soul Awakening. However, only those with Soul Power could become the noblest and most powerful type of people in this world—Soul Masters.

However, there was a limit to how much Soul Power could be raised. That limit depended on one's Innate Soul Power, with level ten being the highest. If one possessed only level one Innate Soul Power, or even less than level one, reaching Soul Ancestor or even Soul Elder would already be the limit.

There was also knowledge about Soul Rings, Soul Beasts, Soul Bones, Soul Tools, and the like, though most of it was only basic information.

After awakening his Past Life Wisdom and learning these things, Little Lin Yi secretly made up his mind. Since this world possessed such extraordinary power, and since he had lived a second life, then he, Lin Yi, had to walk the path of a Soul Master.

But Martial Soul Awakening truly seemed to depend heavily on luck. Whether one possessed Soul Power was practically a matter of luck.

According to the records in the books, the descendants of Soul Masters were generally more likely to possess Soul Power.

But nothing was absolute. There was also a special circumstance during Martial Soul Awakening—Martial Soul Mutation.

Little Lin Yi had once read in a collection of anecdotes that Ma Hongjun, one of First Generation Shrek's Seven Devils of Shrek Academy ten thousand years ago, had become an Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul through Martial Soul Mutation. He possessed level nine Innate Soul Power and eventually became a god.

But that had been a beneficial mutation. There were also harmful ones!

Shrek Academy had also once had a Yu Xiaogang who studied theory. Because of a Martial Soul Mutation, his Innate Soul Power had been only half a level. If not for the opportunity bestowed by his disciple, he would not even have been able to break through to Soul Elder. That Yu Xiaogang had been the son of the sect master of the Blue Electric Tyrant Dragon Sect, one of the Three Great Sects, and a Titled Douluo!

Even the descendant of a Titled Douluo could end up like that, let alone him, the child of a mere tailor.

Though his parents were tailors capable of opening their own clothing store in Shrek City...

The books recorded that Shrek City belonged to Shrek Academy. Shrek Academy was the Number One Academy of the Continent, located in the southeastern region of the Heaven Dou Empire, at the core of what had once been the borderlands of the Three Kingdoms of Douluo. It was home to numerous powerful experts, yet remained neutral and held an extraordinary status.

With Shrek Academy's golden reputation, Shrek City had developed over several thousand years into the economic center of the continent. It was known as the greatest city under heaven, where land was worth its weight in gold. Being able to own a clothing store in this city meant Lin Yi's parents could absolutely be considered successful people.

Little Lin Yi knew that his parents were also Soul Masters, though their ranks were not high. If there was anything extraordinary about them, it was probably that his father was a profession derived from Soul Masters—a Soul Engineer.

But this still could not ease Little Lin Yi's inner tension. The status of Soul Masters on Douluo Continent was simply too lofty, and Martial Soul Awakening was the most important, perhaps even the only, path for most people to rise to the heavens in a single step.

The next day, it was finally time for his Martial Soul Awakening.

Inside the clothing store, Little Lin Yi was nervously letting his thoughts run wild when the bell above the door rang and the shop door was pushed open.

Little Lin Yi thought a customer had arrived. He slipped out of his mother's embrace, turned around, and looked up. A handsome man wearing a moon-white robe entered. His figure and appearance were both exceptional, but the faint sickly pallor on his face told others that he was not in good health.

However, Little Lin Yi broke into a delighted smile when he saw the man. He ran forward and threw himself into his arms.

"Dad!"

The man was Little Lin Yi's father, Lin Qingxuan.

Raising a hand to catch the little fellow who had thrown himself at him, Lin Qingxuan smiled as well and gently rubbed his son's head.

"Was Xiao Yi good at home with Mommy?"

"Brother Xuan, of course my sweetheart was good!"

Ouyang Xi sounded somewhat displeased.

Hearing his wife's words, Lin Qingxuan hurriedly begged forgiveness. "My mistake, my mistake. I said the wrong thing."

"Xiao Yi, I brought the Awakening Stone back from the City Lord's Mansion. Are you ready to awaken your Martial Soul?"

Knowing his wife's temperament, Lin Qingxuan quickly changed the subject.

The moment he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room immediately grew tense. The smiles vanished from all three faces, and each of them became solemn.

Little Lin Yi slowly let out a breath and nodded firmly.

"I'm ready, Dad!"