Awakening Martial Souls: Early-Rising Porridge vs. Nine Dragon Pulling Carriage!

"What is it?"

Tang Hao could not even be bothered to raise his eyelids. His voice was cold and hoarse.

"Tomorrow is the day of the martial soul awakening."

Old Jack sighed and turned his gaze toward little Tang San, who was silently sorting scrap iron nearby. A trace of pity showed in his clouded old eyes.

"The children in our village all have to attend.

Xiao San is six this year. It is time for him to go and see."

"Got it."

Tang Hao still did not rise. He merely waved his hand impatiently.

"Do not delay me from cooking."

"You..."

Old Jack was so angry that his beard stood on end.

"Xiao San is such a sensible child. If he awakens a good martial soul and becomes a soul master someday, that would be a great honor for the family!

How can you not care at all?"

"A soul master?"

Tang Hao sneered, his laughter full of self-mockery and disdain.

"What use is a soul master?

In the end, he is still nothing but a cripple."

Old Jack was left speechless. He could only glare at Tang Hao in frustration before turning to take little Tang San's hand, his tone gentle as he instructed him.

"Xiao San, Grandpa will come pick you up tomorrow.

Remember, you must get up early and gather in front of the village's Spirit Hall.

If you are late, that Soul Grandmaster will not be pleased."

"Okay, Grandpa Jack."

The young Tang San nodded obediently. His slightly mature eyes glimmered with longing and curiosity for the unknown.

On the screen, this seemingly warm scene now carried an indescribable air of poverty in the eyes of audiences across the continent.

That place called the "Spirit Hall" was actually just a somewhat larger wooden hut.

That so-called "Soul Grandmaster" was merely a deacon at the bottom ranks of Spirit Hall, doing odd jobs after barely reaching Rank Twenty.

And this was the place where Tang San, the "Sea God" of the Original World who would later become renowned throughout the world, began his dream.

[Real World Audience Seats]

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. This was Tang San's starting point?"

Feng Xiaotian could not help shaking his head, his tone carrying a hint of sighing emotion.

"This was far too... plain.

Back when I awakened my martial soul, my whole family came along, and there was even a high-ranking soul master specifically guiding me."

"Is that not true?"

Huo Wu also watched the scene with a complicated expression.

"Though I know one's background does not determine everything, this gap... is simply too great."

As for Tang San himself, when he looked at that humble, insignificant version of himself on the screen,

filled with hopes for the future yet forced to tread carefully, he felt his face burn with pain.

The feeling of having his scars ripped open in public, of having his past embarrassment laid bare before the world, made him wish he were dead from shame and fury.

Especially when he thought of the scene that would be shown next—

the moment Su Yuntao judged his Blue Silver Grass to be a "useless martial soul," he wished he could burrow into a crack in the ground.

"Enough... Stop showing it..."

Tang San cried out helplessly in his heart.

[Current World · Clear Sky Sect · Viewing Platform]

Ah Yin's exquisite face had gone pale as paper. She tightly clutched Tang Hao's sleeve beside her, her knuckles turning faintly white from the force.

As she looked at the sallow, skinny Tang San on the left side of the Heavenly Screen, whose eyes carried a weathered look no child his age should have possessed,

Ah Yin felt as though an invisible hand had seized her heart, squeezing it so hard that she could barely breathe.

"Brother Hao... This is too terrifying..."

Ah Yin's voice trembled slightly, tears gathering in her beautiful eyes.

"If... if I had not given birth to Shan'er back then, if I really had made a Sacrifice...

Would our child truly have suffered so much?"

She did not dare imagine it.

That child who had grown up among piles of coal slag, without a mother's love and with a father who was a hopeless drunk—was he truly her, Ah Yin's, bloodline?

That kind of life was not merely miserable for a six-year-old child. It was downright cruel!

Tang Hao of the Current World also wore a livid expression. As he looked at that despondent "self" on the Heavenly Screen, his eyes held both rage and lingering fear.

If not for the miracle brought by Shan'er's birth, he might truly have become like that, ruining himself and his child alike.

[Scene Shift · Original World]

The Heavenly Screen did not stop because of Ah Yin's fear. Instead, it displayed every detail of that morning even more carefully.

Dawn had only just broken, and Holy Spirit Village was still shrouded in mist.

Inside the rundown Blacksmith Shop, that small figure had already climbed out of bed.

He did not linger in bed or act spoiled like other children his age, nor did a steaming breakfast await him.

Instead, he skillfully dragged over a battered little stool and stood on it—because he was too short to reach the stove.

[So that his alcoholic father would have a hot meal when he woke up, six-year-old Tang San had long grown accustomed to caring for the household.]

The narrator's voice was calm, yet every word pierced the heart.

On the screen, Tang San laboriously picked up an iron ladle larger than his face, scraped the last of the broken rice from the rice jar, carefully poured it into the pot, and added plenty of water.

His practiced movements were heartbreaking to watch.

He lit the fire, cooked the porridge, and skimmed off the foam.

After finishing all that, he placed the prepared porridge on the table and covered it with a chipped bowl to keep it warm.

Once he was done, he glanced at Tang Hao, who was still snoring thunderously in the inner room. A trace of hope flashed through his eyes, as though he wished his father would at least get up and see him off.

But in the end, all that answered him was the pungent smell of alcohol.

Tang San sighed softly, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and turned to leave the house.

Old Jack had already been waiting at the village entrance for some time.

"Xiao San, let us go."

Old Jack looked at this sensible child who broke his heart, then patted his head.

"Okay, Grandpa Jack."

Tang San answered obediently. He turned back for one last look at the Blacksmith Shop, which seemed especially cold and deserted at that moment, then followed Old Jack down the road toward the Spirit Hall in the center of the village.

That tiny back looked especially frail and lonely amid the morning mist.

[In stark contrast was the martial soul awakening day of Tang Shan in the Current World!]

Just as Tang San of the Original World drank thin porridge and nervously walked toward the shabby wooden hut at the village entrance,

the Heavenly Screen on the right suddenly lit up, and grand ceremonial music instantly drowned out the desolate wind on the left!

[Current World Tang Shan: Martial Soul Awakening—Nine Dragon Pulling Carriage, Divine Hall Opens!]

[Current World · Clear Sky Sect · God Son Palace]

The scene instantly shifted to the right. There were no dilapidated thatched huts there, nor any muddy country paths.

Instead, the gates of a magnificent palace built above the clouds slowly opened.

Six-year-old Tang Shan stepped out, dressed in specially tailored training clothes embroidered with dark-gold Clear Sky Hammer patterns.

Though young, he already possessed the faint beginnings of the bearing cultivated by long years spent in a position of high status.

"Roar—!!!"

The instant Tang Shan stepped out of the palace gates, a deafening roar rang through the heavens. The terrifying sound waves made even the audience before the Heavenly Screen feel their hearts tremble.