The First Breeze

My Martial Soul Is My Fiancée in Douluo Continent Author: Ya Yue'er

Synopsis:

With only three days left before Zheng Li's wedding, the system took him to the world of Douluo Continent. He thought he would never see his fiancée again... Who knew that when his Martial Soul awakened, he would be stunned...

First Chapter: The First Breeze

It was a spring night.

Gentle breezes brushed past a willow tree that had begun to sprout in the yard of a farmhouse. The willow stood opposite an open window—or rather, the window faced the willow.

The breeze drifted in through the window.

"Smack!" The young man on the single bed, sleeping with his blanket clutched like a pillow, suddenly slapped his own backside, as if something had bitten him.

It apparently hadn't hurt much, because the young man only blearily opened his eyes for a moment before closing them again.

After a busy day, he was exhausted.

But just then, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in the young man's mind:

"Ding! System binding in progress: 10, 9, 8... 0. Binding successful."

Zheng Li, barely conscious, furrowed his brow slightly. He didn't open his eyes, and after only a few seconds, his brow relaxed. As if muttering in his sleep, he said, "Am I dreaming? A system... How could something like that possibly exist..."

After mumbling, Zheng Li seemed to think of something. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile.

The system seemed at a loss for words and remained silent for a long while.

After a while, the system abruptly asked, "Host, shall I transport you?"

Zheng Li turned over in his sleep and didn't respond.

The system fell silent for a moment.

"Host, shall I transport you?" The system's voice grew much louder, but it remained mechanical and emotionless.

Zheng Li finally reacted, asking in a drowsy, confused voice, "Transport me?"

System: "..."

"Ding! Host permission received. Opening transmigration passage! Activating protection mechanism!"

As the voice fell silent, a black vortex quietly appeared above Zheng Li. A strong force immediately began to pull him in.

At the same time, a faint white light appeared on Zheng Li's skin, enveloping him.

Outside, the willow branches swayed as the breeze continued to blow. But inside, Zheng Li had vanished from the bed.

Day and night turned, and the sun shone brightly in the sky.

At the edge of a cliff, a warm wind blew straight into Zheng Li, making the only other garment he wore—his loose boxer shorts—flutter... Before his dazed eyes stretched a dense forest, seemingly endless, far below the cliff...

Mm, the scenery was beautiful and brimming with life, but...

"What the hell?! What is this place?" Zheng Li exclaimed, finally coming to his senses. He was so bewildered that he'd even forgotten how high the cliff stood above the forest floor. He had a severe fear of heights, after all.

"Could I... be dreaming?" Zheng Li wondered. To test it, he reached out and pinched his cheek...

Just to be sure. The view before him was far too realistic.

"Ow—" Pain shot through him. Zheng Li lowered his hand expressionlessly, his body stiffening as his mind went blank.

Then a terrifying beast's roar came from the forest below, jolting Zheng Li back to his senses. He instinctively looked toward the source of the sound...

Zheng Li: "..."

"I must be dreaming..."

A gigantic beast was reflected in his eyes! It was moving in the direction he faced.

Although only a little of its body showed above the treetops, he could tell it had four legs and sharp, pointed spines running down its back, from its neck to the tip of its thick, long tail. The parts of its skin he could see were black, marked with patterns like trails of flowing lava. The patterns were especially prominent on each spine, spiraling from the rocklike skin to the tip.

It was unquestionably enormous. And even though Zheng Li couldn't see its face, just looking at the spines on its back brought one word to mind: "monstrous"!

If he had to describe it, the beast looked somewhat like an ape, except for its spines and tail.

Seeing it filled him with fear—not only of the beast, but also of the place where he found himself.

Once he'd recovered enough to suppress his fear, Zheng Li's lips twitched.

He thought, There's no way a creature like that exists in the real world! I must be dreaming!

"Host, you aren't dreaming. Everything you see is real."

The sudden voice startled Zheng Li. "Who?!"

Before Zheng Li could look around, the system spoke again.

"Don't panic, Host. I'm the system."

Zheng Li froze. "The system? The host?"

He looked around. There was no one. Add in the unfamiliar surroundings and the pain he'd just felt, and with his fairly good capacity for accepting things, he naturally...

"Like hell I believe that!" he said, but in his heart, he already believed it nine-tenths of the way... The forest might have been explainable, but there was no explaining that monstrous beast.

"So I really did dream that I was bound to a system?" Zheng Li's lips twitched again and again.

Then the system must have been responsible for bringing him here. He should ask it.

He took a breath and was about to speak when he noticed what was under his feet.

"Holy crap!"

His heart raced as fear and helplessness washed over him. He instinctively tried to retreat, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. They went weak, and he fell onto the ground.

At once, Zheng Li stopped worrying about the cliff and scrambled backward, pushing against the ground with his hands and his unsteady legs.

Once he'd retreated a safe distance and caught his breath, Zheng Li demanded, "System, what the hell is wrong with you?! You sent me to some unknown place, fine, but did you really have to drop me on this cliff?"

"...Host, the system won't take the blame for this. The landing point is random according to the system's settings. In this situation, you can only blame your bad luck," the system replied in its emotionless mechanical voice.

Zheng Li: "..."

Although the system had no emotion in its voice, he still felt like it was mocking his luck...

But that wasn't the point.

Transmigration? The word made Zheng Li pause.

It made sense. He hadn't immediately thought of that because of his fear of heights, but now that he'd calmed down a little, he should have realized...

After considering how he might have ended up here, Zheng Li looked up at the sky with a mournful gaze and muttered, "Transmigration, huh? Well, that's pretty good. But! My wedding's in three days..."

"..." The system said nothing.

Zheng Li had only just reached the legal age for marriage, but his parents had already set him up on several blind dates. On the last one, he hit it off with his match. Their families were well matched, too, and after half a year together, they'd decided to get married.

As Zheng Li had said, there were only three days left until the wedding...

"Haah..." Zheng Li sighed. Some of his friends asked, "Aren't you getting married too young?" To be honest, he hadn't wanted to marry so early. He'd scoffed at his parents' way of thinking and only gone along with the blind dates. He hadn't expected to hit it off with his last match. In any case, everything had gone smoothly.

Well, he'd decided to get married. Even if he hadn't wanted to, he wasn't exactly against it.

And now? He'd actually transmigrated!!

What kind of nonsense was this!

Shaking his head, Zheng Li came back to himself and stopped dwelling on it. First, he needed to learn about this world from the system. Judging by the beast he'd just seen, this clearly wasn't an ordinary world.

"System?"

"I'm here."

"I want to..."

A rush of wind suddenly sounded behind Zheng Li. His instincts told him something was wrong! He was about to turn around when the system warned him a second later.

"Host, watch out! Move forward!"

The system's voice was still emotionless, but Zheng Li didn't hesitate. He quickly got up and took a step forward.

The next moment, a thick, dark green vine pierced the spot where Zheng Li had just been sitting! It was impossible to tell how deep it had gone. The massive force behind the vine also made the cliff tremble slightly. Cracks formed where it had struck the ground and spread in both directions!

After taking a few more steps forward, Zheng Li turned around. The dark green vine belonged to the best-developed plant among a patch of similar vegetation not far behind him.

Its first attack had missed. The plant immediately pulled its vine out of the ground and swung another vine at Zheng Li! But just then, the large area of ground around Zheng Li, cut off by the cracks, began to collapse!

The vine's speed made Zheng Li's pupils contract. He was just about to dodge when the cliff gave way beneath him, sending him plunging into the forest below!

He'd dodged the vine, but now Zheng Li really wanted to curse—not just the situation, but the system!

Couldn't it have sent him somewhere safe?

He was on the verge of tears!

The vine seemed to have eyes, too, and chased after Zheng Li. He was terrified! Would he be impaled by the vine before he even hit the ground?

Fortunately, the vine stopped abruptly after pursuing him for a short distance. It seemed to have reached its maximum length; otherwise, with its speed, it would definitely have caught him.

Seeing this, Zheng Li felt a little relieved—only a little.

"System, help!"

The cliff was extremely high above the forest below! If he fell from here, even if he didn't die, he'd lose half his life.

"Host, the system was going to... forget it."

"Activating protection mechanism."

"Activation successful. Reminder: The protection mechanism can only protect the host's soul!"

Zheng Li: "?!"

"What difference does that make from not protecting me at all?"

"If your body is destroyed but your soul survives, you can choose Reincarnation."

"..."

He really wanted to beat the system up!

"Host, don't lose hope. The forest is so dense; maybe some tree will recognize you and catch you."

"System!"

"I'm here!"

"You can uninstall yourself."

"Ding! Uninstall command received. Uninstalling..."

Zheng Li: "(⊙o⊙)"

"Wait, wait! I was joking, just joking!" Zheng Li hurriedly said after recovering from his shock.

Uninstall? Don't joke around. Forget the question of whether he'd live or die. This was another world! If the system really uninstalled itself, he'd probably be unable to take a single step. Besides, he still wanted to return to his own world.

"Ding! Uninstallation canceled."

Hearing the system's notification, Zheng Li breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been afraid it couldn't be stopped, and then things would've gotten ugly...

Now...

"Help!!"

Zheng Li called loudly for help. There probably wasn't anyone around, but there was still a chance.

Some might wonder: You're falling off a cliff. Even if someone is there, how could they save you?

Zheng Li hadn't thought that far. Even if he had, he would definitely have said: This is another world. Maybe humans can fly under their own power here.

After shouting for help a few times, Zheng Li had already given up hope...

All he could do now was hope that some big brother or big sister of a tree might recognize him, like the system had said. Or... maybe the system was right about Reincarnation?

Just then, a beam of emerald light rose from the distant forest and shot toward Zheng Li. It seemed far away, but the beam crossed the distance in just a few seconds.

As the emerald beam drew closer, Zheng Li felt a gentle force lift him up. The sensation of falling vanished in an instant.