"You've already earned yourself a death sentence!"
At the convention center, Su Mo was complaining to a friend about Tang San's double standards when he suddenly heard someone shout behind him. He instinctively turned to look.
A guy cosplaying Tang San flung out a lasso woven from vines.
"Take this! Blue Silver Entanglement!"
Before Su Mo, now caught around the neck, could understand what was happening, he felt a vicious tug and stumbled to the ground in the direction of the pull.
Looking up, he saw the other man raise a massive hammer in his left hand and bring it crashing down.
"When Clear Sky marches, not a blade of grass survives! Eighty, eighty, eighty..."
Whoosh!
Su Mo jolted awake from his dream, cold sweat soaking his blue-and-white shirt.
He sat half upright in bed, still shaken, his breathing slightly ragged.
Only once his terror had eased a little did his naturally handsome features emerge: brows like distant mountains, eyes like black jade, a straight, elegant nose, and sharply defined lips. He resembled a white poplar growing freely into the wind.
As he gazed around the familiar, shabby wooden house, Su Mo gradually came back to himself.
"Another nightmare..."
What had happened in the dream was real, but it belonged to his previous life.
He really had been hammered to death. After dying, he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent and become a baby less than a month old, opening his eyes to find himself out in the wilderness. Fortunately, Old Jack had passed by and adopted him.
This Old Jack was none other than the village chief of Holy Soul Village.
There was also a father and son from elsewhere living in the village. The father was a slovenly, drunken blacksmith, and the boy was none other than Tang San, who was the same age as Su Mo.
In this life, his name had not originally been Su Mo.
Old Jack had named him Jerry, and he had only changed it back to his original name when he was three.
He had also voluntarily moved into a dilapidated wooden house at the eastern end of the village to fend for himself.
Although Old Jack treated him like his own grandson, the village chief naturally had a family of his own. They were not particularly fond of Su Mo, and he was not used to living under someone else's roof, so he had simply chosen to live alone.
Still, he continued to rely on Old Jack's help.
"Six years... this day is finally here!"
Su Mo got out of bed and washed up, unable to hide the anticipation on his face.
He was six now, and today was the day he would awaken his martial soul.
Only by awakening a martial soul and soul power would he have the means to take revenge on Tang San.
The idol paid for the fan's behavior. Since he could not go back, he would naturally settle the debt of his previous life's death with Tang San.
Little Scumbag, your blessings are coming!
Knock, knock, knock!
Su Mo had just finished washing when he heard a knock at the door.
An elderly voice followed. "Little Jerry, Grandpa's here to pick you up."
"Coming, Grandpa!"
After correcting him several times to no avail, Su Mo had stopped bothering and simply treated it as a nickname.
He strolled to the doorway on his little legs and opened the door.
Two people stood outside, one old and one young.
The elder was Grandpa Jack. Though he was over sixty, he remained bright and vigorous, his appearance neatly maintained and a kindly smile always on his face.
The boy beside him, with his wheat-colored skin, was naturally Tang San, the original story's protagonist.
He had short black hair and ordinary features, and wore old clothes washed pale and covered in patches. His eyes, however, were bright.
"Little Jerry, don't be nervous when you meet the Lord Soul Master later. Just follow his instructions. It's all right even if you don't awaken anything. Grandpa has prepared ten mu of good farmland for you..."
Along the way, Old Jack kept reassuring him.
He knew Little Jerry had always looked forward to his martial soul awakening, but becoming a Soul Master was hardly that easy. The village might go years without producing a single child with soul power.
Warmth stirred in Su Mo's heart. He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, Grandpa. I'll definitely become a Soul Master."
Regardless of whether his martial soul was good or bad, as long as he had soul power-even just half a level-he could defy heaven and change his fate with immortal herbs.
As for having no soul power?
He was a transmigrator, after all. Surely his luck could not be that bad.
"All right, all right..." Seeing his confidence, Old Jack could only let the matter drop.
He had found Little Jerry outside the village. Perhaps the boy really did have some talent.
"Little San, your dad's a blacksmith. You're not going to awaken a hammer too, are you?" Meanwhile, Su Mo had slung an arm around Tang San's shoulders.
Naturally, he would not make an enemy of Little Scumbag before he had enough strength.
"Well... probably."
Tang San did not particularly care what martial soul he awakened. He cared more about whether becoming a Soul Master would let him break through the bottleneck in his Mysterious Heaven Skill.
"A hammer's great. You can forge iron and beat people with it, and it really hurts when you hit someone." Su Mo knew that all too well.
If he got the chance, he would let Little Scumbag experience it too.
Soon, the three arrived at the Spirit Hall Branch in the center of the village.
It was really just a somewhat larger wooden house.
Inside, besides seven other six-year-old children waiting to awaken their martial souls, there was a young man who looked to be in his twenties.
He had sword-like brows, star-bright eyes, and handsome features. He wore a fitted white outfit and a black cloak, with a fist-sized character for "soul" embroidered on his chest-the uniform of personnel directly affiliated with Spirit Hall.
Su Mo blinked his lively black eyes. This had to be the legendary Blind Douluo, Su Yuntao.
"Greetings, honored Battle Soul Master. Sorry for the trouble again."
Old Jack greeted him respectfully. Su Yuntao nodded with a hint of arrogance. "I don't have much time. Let's begin now."
"Of course."
Old Jack nodded, gave the children a few instructions, then walked out.
Inside, Su Yuntao called the nine children into a line. Tang San stood at the far left.
Su Mo hurried to the far right. He could hardly wait to awaken his martial soul.
"My name is Su Yuntao, a level twenty-six Soul Grandmaster, and I'll be your guide. I will now conduct your martial soul awakening."
"Remember, no matter what happens, don't be afraid."
With that, Su Yuntao took out six jet-black Awakening Stones and a blue crystal ball for testing soul power, then arranged the Awakening Stones in the shape of a six-pointed star.
He then motioned for the first child on the left to stand in the middle.
Su Mo: "..."
Why had he switched directions this time?
Wasn't Tang San supposed to be the grand finale?
Could the butterfly effect change even this?
"Lone Wolf, possess!" Su Yuntao barked.
In an instant, a wisp of green light emerged from between his brows. His black hair turned gray in the blink of an eye, hair sprouted wildly all over his body, and his physique swelled, bulging with muscle.
His eyes turned a deep green, and sharp claws grew from all ten fingers. It could have given a Western werewolf transformation a run for its money.
So this is the single-dog martial soul? Su Mo marveled inwardly.
"Aaaah-!"
Several of the other children nearly wet themselves in terror and instinctively ran away.
Tang San, standing within the six-pointed star, remained fairly calm, earning a couple of surprised looks from Su Yuntao.
Then Su Yuntao's hands fluttered, sending six streams of pale green light into the Awakening Stones.
In an instant, golden light burst from the six Awakening Stones, forming a pale golden curtain that enveloped Tang San.
"Hold out your right hand!"
At the sight of such intense golden light, Su Yuntao's deep green eyes immediately lit up, and he instructed Tang San to proceed to the next step.
Tang San did as instructed, but held his left hand behind his back, tightly clenched.
The other children failed to notice, but Su Mo caught it perfectly. Presumably, what had awakened in that left hand was the Clear Sky Hammer.
Shifting his gaze to Tang San's right hand and the blue radiance pouring from it, Su Mo suddenly heard a long-ago tune playing in his head-
Mom is the best in all the world~
A child without a mom is like a blade of grass~