· Inheriting Billions at the Start (?)

If the Dragon Elephant Sect had truly treated Chen Ming badly, he would have long since considered how to leave the sect. Even if he had gained attention after awakening his Martial Soul, that would not have stopped him from switching jobs the moment he was well-fed and satisfied.

But the problem was that the Dragon Elephant Sect treated Chen Ming extremely, exceptionally well. Even his childhood in this life was far better than his childhood in his previous one. The entire sect stood united, fiercely protective of a child who had lost both parents, without slighting him in the least.

People were made of flesh and blood. Chen Ming remembered the Dragon Elephant Sect's kindness, so he would rather rack his brains figuring out how to stand against Shrek than choose to be an ungrateful wretch.

"Xiao Ming, don't worry. No matter when it is, the sect will stand by your side." Sect Master Chen Li rubbed Chen Ming's head and reassured him. Beside him, Great Elder Chen Ping also bent down, looking into Chen Ming's eyes with a kindly gaze.

Chen Ming was special, and not merely because he had lost both parents. In truth, while such cases were uncommon within the Dragon Elephant Sect, they were not unheard of. What Soul Master's path was ever smooth all the way through? No one could say how many had fallen along the way.

The Dragon Elephant Sect's Soul Masters possessed great resistance to blows and outstanding defense. Yet every year, people still died for all sorts of reasons. Their casualty rate was no lower than that of other ordinary sects.

As a major sect within the Sun Moon Empire, the Dragon Elephant Sect was closely tied to the Sun Moon Empire because of its opposition to Shrek. It had once possessed its own Dragon Elephant Soul Engineer Regiment, renowned for crushing low-level Soul Masters. But a century ago, due to an intense conflict with the Three Douluo Kingdoms, more than half of the Soul Engineer Regiment was lost, and the Dragon Elephant Sect's population plummeted.

In recent years, although they had not directly taken to the battlefield as a Soul Engineer Regiment, quite a few members of the sect had still joined the Sun Moon Empire's various Soul Engineer Regiments, and even the Guardian of the Nation's elite combat forces.

As Defense System Soul Masters, they always charged at the front in battle, using their bodies to smash apart the enemy's formations. But because they rushed too far ahead, even top-tier defense could not guarantee that they would emerge unscathed every time.

Therefore, internal stability was of the utmost importance to the Dragon Elephant Sect. Every person's family was someone the entire Dragon Elephant Sect would look after, because no one could say whether the next family needing care would be their own.

The reason Chen Ming had received extra attention from such a young age was mainly because he was too extraordinary. In fact, even before he awakened his Martial Soul, many had already decided that he was the child most likely in the past century to awaken the Vajra Dragon Elephant Martial Soul.

By outside standards, every member of the Dragon Elephant Sect was a giant blessed with Heavenly Godly Strength. But Chen Ming was the sort of child who could be considered a giant blessed with Heavenly Godly Strength even by the Dragon Elephant Sect's own standards.

By half a year old, he had grown a full set of teeth and had accidentally bitten his wet nurse hard enough to make her cry while nursing. At around one year old, when other people's children were still learning to crawl, he could already bounce and jump around on the ground. When other children were still drinking porridge, he could grab chunks of meat and devour them himself.

When children his age were still playing with toys, he could casually pick up one child in each hand and play with them as though they were his toys.

He could cry, make a fuss, eat, poop, fight, laugh...

As time passed, everyone became increasingly aware of just how vast the gap was between Chen Ming and children his age. His unusually large build and strength showed no sign of restraint; instead, they became more and more obvious.

Now, even if children his age stood on tiptoe, they could barely reach his shoulders. His weight alone was greater than that of two other children combined.

The Dragon Elephant Sect had its own way of judging roughly what level of Innate Soul Power its children who had yet to awaken their Martial Souls possessed: they estimated it through the simple and crude measure of body size.

That was not to say that a thin and small child could not awaken high-level Innate Soul Power. But a child who was already large and strong before awakening a Martial Soul would certainly not have low Innate Soul Power.

And Chen Ming was clearly the kind of child who had "I am exceptionally gifted" written across his forehead from the moment he was born, so naturally, great expectations were placed upon him.

When he was around four years old, rumors that Chen Ming might awaken the Vajra Dragon Elephant Martial Soul had already spread throughout the sect. By around this time last year, after word got out that five-year-old Chen Ming had broken two ribs of a six-year-old child who had just awakened his Martial Soul with his bare hands, nearly everyone had tacitly accepted it as fact.

Within the underground ancestral hall lay more than a hundred coffins. These had been left behind over the four thousand years since the Dragon Elephant Sect arrived on the Sun Moon Continent, belonging to successive powerhouses of Titled Douluo rank and above. After praying, Chen Li led Chen Ming and Great Elder Chen Ping to kowtow before each ancestor's coffin one by one. By the time they finished, nearly two hours had passed.

When Chen Ming finished kowtowing before the last coffin and stood up dizzily, Chen Li's large hand caught his shoulder and sent a gentle stream of soul power into him.

"All right, Xiao Ming. From now on, you are the Young Sect Master of our Dragon Elephant Sect. So long as you do not betray the sect, all of the sect's resources will be tilted toward you. You need not think about too much. As long as we remain, as long as even one elder in the sect is still able to protect you, then all you need to consider is cultivation."

After Chen Li finished speaking, Great Elder Chen Ping nodded and added, "That's right. The sect's future is yours, while we are responsible for protecting your future. Young Sect Master, say something."

"Grandpa Sect Master, Great Elder, how did I suddenly become the Young Sect Master? Wasn't there supposed to be some kind of ceremony?" Chen Ming rubbed his still-dizzy head and asked in disbelief.

"You brat, do you really think anyone would go around kowtowing before each of these hundred-plus coffins for no reason? Though we offer incense three times a year, the last time I kowtowed like this was when my succession was confirmed." Chen Li's expression twisted slightly. Clearly, he had recalled the scene of himself kowtowing one by one before all these coffins when he became Young Sect Master.

"There aren't many pointless formalities or unnecessary ceremonies in the sect—at least, there weren't at the beginning. But as time went on, matters that were not originally pointless formalities piled up and became pointless formalities."

"In the past, whoever inherited the position of Young Sect Master had to kowtow before every ancestor. It was originally just a short affair—bang, bang, bang, a few times—but now the kowtowing takes two hours. Still, there's no helping it. These are all ancestors, all meritorious figures. Even if kowtowing is troublesome, you still have to do it..." The Great Elder looked somewhat sourly at Sect Master Chen Li.

Not just anyone was qualified to perform those kowtows. Back then, he had not been qualified. Even now, he was only able to kowtow before every coffin thanks to Chen Ming.