Qin Ming of Douluo

Douluo Continent, Balak Kingdom, Canglang Village.

Early in the morning, figures of all sizes gathered before a house built from bluestone bricks at the entrance to the village.

Compared to the other houses in the village, which were made of wood with only a few stones, this stone house built entirely from bluestone bricks appeared especially solemn and imposing.

"A Spirit Master from Spirit Hall will be coming shortly to awaken your Martial Souls."

"You must behave yourselves and remember, do not offend Lord Soul Master!"

The speaker was a middle-aged man dressed in coarse linen. Compared to the other villagers, his build was excessively robust, and his skin, weathered by years beneath the blazing sun, looked especially dark in the morning light.

This man was the village chief of Canglang Village—Qin Chuan.

Before him stood the dozens of children from Canglang Village who would undergo their Martial Soul awakening this year. At this time every year, he would remind these children about to awaken their Martial Souls, lest any accident occur.

But after so many years, he felt somewhat numb to it all.

In a place like the Douluo Continent, ordinary people like them basically had only one path if they wanted to rise in life: becoming Spirit Masters.

Even Qin Chuan himself had only been elected village chief by the villagers of Canglang Village because he was an eighteenth-level One-Ring Soul Master.

Now nearly fifty, his greatest hope was to find himself a successor. Yet over the past few years, not a single child had possessed Innate Soul Power...

Qin Ming stood silently at the very back of the crowd, staring blankly at the scene before him.

Although I already roughly know what Martial Soul I'll awaken, I can't help being nervous now that the moment has truly arrived... Qin Ming mused inwardly.

That was right. Qin Ming was a transmigrator. He retained the memories of his previous life and did not awaken his past-life wisdom until he was three years old.

The moment he recovered the memories of his previous life, he immediately realized that he had transmigrated into the world of the Douluo Continent.

And today happened to be the day he would awaken his Martial Soul.

"Xiaoming, why are you standing so far back? You heard everything I just said, didn't you?"

Just as Qin Ming was lost in his own thoughts, a large hand patted his shoulder.

"Uncle Chuan!"

Qin Ming turned around and discovered that Qin Chuan had somehow come up behind him, smiling warmly at him.

Qin Ming's parents had both been Spirit Masters, but they were merely One-Ring Soul Masters with a single ten-year Soul Ring. They had made a living by forming a Soul Hunting Squad with several other Spirit Masters near the Soul Beast Forest raised by Spirit Hall.

However, during a soul hunt three years ago, they had encountered a Purple Gold Python nearing a thousand years of cultivation. None had survived.

Over the past three years, Qin Chuan had raised Qin Ming, providing him with food, shelter, and clothing. It could be said that Qin Chuan was the person closest to Qin Ming in the village.

"Well? Are you nervous?"

As Qin Chuan looked at Qin Ming before him, an inexplicable pang of sorrow rose in his heart. Ever since losing his parents at the age of three, the boy's temperament had changed drastically. He had become quiet and withdrawn, never playing with children his own age.

The others in the village were poor as well, but their families were whole. In Qin Chuan's eyes, Qin Ming had suffered the hardest fate of all.

Facing Qin Chuan's concerned gaze, Qin Ming felt somewhat helpless, but warmth welled up in his heart.

He knew what Qin Chuan was worried about. His drastic change in personality was partly due to his parents' deaths, but the main reason was that he had recovered the memories of his previous life.

With the soul of an adult from his previous life, he truly could not bring himself to play with four- or five-year-old children.

"I'm a little nervous, but being nervous won't help with a Martial Soul awakening," Qin Ming replied.

In this world of the Douluo Continent, the Martial Souls of the wealthy were inherited through bloodlines, while the poor could only change their fortunes through mutation.

Qin Ming was not particularly worried about failing to awaken a powerful Martial Soul.

After recovering his past-life memories, he soon recalled that there had been a supporting character in the original novel with the exact same name as him.

He was the senior from Shrek Academy who had introduced Tang San and his group to Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

The Soul Emperor with the Mutated Beast Martial Soul, Inferno Grey Wolf—Qin Ming.

Like most ordinary villages on the Douluo Continent, Canglang Village had been named for the fact that most of its villagers awakened Grey Wolf Martial Souls, and most of them bore the surname Qin.

As for the timeline, Qin Ming had also learned clearly from Qin Chuan that the current Pope of Spirit Hall was named Qian Xunji.

Putting all the clues together, he was certain that he was the supporting character named "Qin Ming" from the original novel.

And today, he too would awaken the Mutated Martial Soul—Inferno Grey Wolf—and possess considerable Innate Soul Power.

At that thought, Qin Ming's heart surged with excitement. It was now the year 2615 of the Douluo Calendar, and more than a decade remained before Tang San was even born.

On the Douluo Continent, time was capital!

Qin Ming felt that with a transmigrator's advantage of foresight, becoming a god in Douluo should not be much of a problem.

As Qin Ming and Qin Chuan chatted idly, half an hour passed without them noticing, and the sun had already climbed above the treetops.

Some of the children waiting for their awakening had begun to grow restless.

Fortunately, not long afterward, the sound of hoofbeats and carriage wheels rolling over the gravel road came from the road at the village entrance.

The children who had been hanging their heads instantly looked up. It was a rather imposing carriage, and the door bore a crest with an Angel design—the symbol of Spirit Hall.

All the children recognized this symbol, because an identical Martial Soul crest was also displayed above the gates of the village's Spirit Hall.

Before long, a young man dressed in plain black clothes stepped down from the carriage.

Seeing that the visitor was someone he knew, Qin Chuan immediately greeted him with a smile.

"Deacon Nuo Si, it's been a year! I'll have to trouble you with this year's Martial Soul awakening as well."

The man Qin Chuan called Nuo Si casually waved a hand. "Village Chief Qin Chuan, it is my duty. There is no need for further words. Bring the children into Spirit Hall, and I will awaken their Martial Souls."

With that, he walked straight into the bluestone building, clearly unwilling to exchange any more words with Qin Chuan.

After all, as a deacon of Spirit Hall specifically responsible for Martial Soul awakenings, he had to handle the awakenings for villages across this entire region. Including the journey, the round trip took half a month.

He truly had no energy for unnecessary conversation.

"Alright, children, this is the moment that will decide your fate. When your Martial Souls awaken, be sure to listen to Deacon Nuo Si. Don't be nervous!" Qin Chuan reminded them once more.

The parents nearby also looked eagerly at their own children, hoping they could awaken Innate Soul Power like Qin Chuan. Even one level would do; possessing Innate Soul Power meant they could cultivate.

Watching the scene before him, Qin Ming could not help recalling the college entrance exams from his previous life. Countless people crossing a single-log bridge—it was remarkably similar.

But Martial Soul awakenings on the Douluo Continent were even crueler. A Martial Soul was the fate one was born with; without a heaven-defying opportunity, it could not be changed. A person's rank in life was decided from the moment of birth.