Above Kunlun

A cold wind blew, sweeping across the snow-capped peaks.

At this moment, a figure appeared on the desolate summit of Kunlun Mountain. The figure seemed almost one with the snowy landscape.

He wore a thin white robe, his hair tied up with a Taoist Hairpin, and he walked barefoot through the ice and snow. The cold wind brushed against his cheeks, yet it could not stir his long, ink-black hair.

Surrounded by frost and wind, the man walked to the peak, and the heavens and earth seemed to lose their luster in his presence; he was truly an immortal descended to the mortal realm.

His handsome, ethereal face and a unique temperament that defied description combined to create a charm that could captivate all living beings with a mere smile.

A gentle, jade-like aura radiated from the "immortal," making anyone who saw him feel an immediate sense of affinity. He looked down at the snow beneath his feet and frowned slightly, causing the atmosphere on the mountain to tighten instantly.

"Has the Ancient Teleportation Array on this Kunlun Mountain been buried by the heavy snow?"

A divine light flashed in his eyes, piercing through layers of snow to gaze at the ancient array below.

"It should still be functional."

"If I continue to stay in this Age of Dharma Decline, my physical body will never achieve an immortal state and will eventually decay. Existing solely as a primordial spirit is not what I desire. Besides, in this age, even my Great Freedom Heavenly Demon Primordial Spirit will eventually wither; it would only delay the inevitable by a millennium or two. I have no choice but to try."

"Three hundred years ago, the world still held spiritual energy. While spiritual items and Immortal Herbs were scarce, they existed. But now, one cannot find a trace of spiritual energy even in the so-called Blessed Lands. Even the Celestial Master Mansion, which led the hunt against me so relentlessly back then, has not a single person capable of entering the Tao. This world is becoming increasingly desperate."

"It is said that this peak of Kunlun leads directly to the Immortal Realm. If I can be nourished by the spiritual energy of the Immortal Realm, I can forge an immortal body and find the path to eternal life."

Shang An closed his eyes and used the Taiyi Divine Calculation to deduce the success rate of the teleportation array—eighty percent. He calculated it several more times, and the result remained the same.

"Eighty percent chance. It is worth a try!"

Shang An pulled a small snake from his robes. The snake was pure white, its scales emitting a faint glow. It did not appear sinister; rather, it looked quite holy.

Shang An gently stroked the white snake's scales:

"Xiao Bai, I am the last cultivator of the End of Dharma Era, and you are the last demon. Today, as I activate this Ancient Teleportation Array, I shall dissolve our Spirit Pact and return your freedom. You may go now."

Xiao Bai closed its eyes, enjoying Shang An's touch. Upon hearing this, it shook its snake head like a human, then dove back into Shang An's sleeve.

"Very well. Today, you and I shall go to witness the splendor of the Immortal Realm together."

Shang An said no more and sat cross-legged on the peak. Time passed quickly; the moon rose and set, and a sliver of sunlight appeared in the east. Shang An, who had been sitting for a long time, stood up.

"The time has come."

Shang An's internal energy surged, and he cast a series of incantations into the array beneath the ground, finally channeling all his energy into it.

Suddenly, the snow-covered ground cracked, and the earth shook as if a natural disaster had descended.

Shang An hurriedly channeled his energy to float in the air. Standing there, with the cracking snow and tumbling rocks beneath him, he possessed even more of an immortal aura than before.

Who would have known that this was the practitioner of the Evil Path who had made all sects tremble with fear three hundred years ago?

A quarter of an hour later, the earth beneath Shang An gradually returned to calm. A golden light pierced the sky from below, enveloping him before carrying him away from this world without a sound.

Immediately after, the array, having lacked spiritual nourishment for so long, exhausted its final brilliance and vanished into nothingness.

No one knew that the world's last great cultivator and last demon had departed via the final Ancient Teleportation Array.

In the void, Shang An felt as if he were suspended in nothingness, yet he sensed his physical body and primordial spirit being constantly squeezed and compressed.

He did not open his eyes—or rather, he dared not. It felt as if opening them would lead to some great terror; his intuition had always been accurate.

He did not know how long he drifted. It seemed he had reached the edge of a world, and the sense of nothingness began to fade.

At that moment, a terrifying "gale" blew, and Shang An felt like a fish struck by a massive wave, knocked off his original course.

Then, he lost consciousness.

Martial Soul Hall Orphanage, A child who looked like a porcelain doll sat on a bed, holding a book titled Complete Guide to Soul Beast Classification. This child was Shang An.

Back then, when he activated the ancient array on the peak of Kunlun Mountain and entered the spatial tunnel, he encountered an accident. Space-time was unstable, and when he woke up again, he was already in the Martial Soul Hall Orphanage.

According to the director, he was an infant found by a Martial Soul Hall Deacon while out on a mission. He had been unconscious when found, and if not for his faint breathing, they would have mistaken him for a corpse.

After being rescued and treated, he was sent to the Martial Soul Hall Orphanage because his parents could not be found, and thus Shang An began his life as an orphan in another world.

Six years passed in a blink. His body, compressed by space-time, had reached a bone age of six. He stood just over a meter tall, his face still retaining a faint baby fat. He was carved from jade, and it seemed the Space-Time Turbulence had truly turned him into a child, though fortunately, his body remained his own.

Shang An was not accustomed to using someone else's body; otherwise, he would not have spent his previous life pursuing the immortal body and an indestructible physical form.

He still radiated a jade-like temperament that made people fond of him and unable to resist wanting to be close. After all, he based his cultivation on the Great Freedom True Scripture, following the path of the Great Freedom Heavenly Demon. As for the Heavenly Demon, those who know, know.

At first, Shang An did not realize which world this was, until he learned the local language and heard the terms "Spirit Master" and "Spirit Ring," at which point he realized.

This was the same as the novel Douluo Continent he had read in his previous life. Indeed, although Shang An was an old monster who had lived for over four hundred years, he knew how to keep up with the times.

Moreover, with the help of his primordial spirit, his memory and computational abilities were not inferior to the most advanced computers from before his transmigration, making it easy for him to learn all kinds of knowledge.

Unfortunately, everything had to start from scratch after his transmigration, and he could not yet enjoy the convenience of his primordial spirit.

In his previous life, besides studying natural sciences, he had also read a wide range of novels, and the many imaginative ideas within them had provided him with much help in perfecting his Great Freedom True Scripture.

Douluo Continent was a relatively early fantasy novel, and at the time, he had found the concept of Martial Souls quite miraculous.

Tool Martial Souls were much like the life-bound treasures of the ancient Qi practitioners on Earth, while Beast Martial Souls were somewhat similar to the demon-body-refining cultivators of the former Mongol Empire.

Based on Shang An's current understanding and deductions, this should be the sixth year of the Pope's reign, which is the point in time just before the main plot begins.

At the same time, today is also the day he is set to awaken his Martial Soul.

"Xiao An, Xiao An, come over and gather quickly. Today I am taking you all to awaken your Martial Souls."

A gentle female voice came from outside the door; it was the director of the Martial Soul Hall Orphanage, a little old lady over seventy years old.

"Alright, Granny Qin, I'm coming right away."

Shang An closed the book in his hands, stood up, and walked toward the door. The room was an eight-person dormitory, but the other children couldn't stand the boredom and were all playing in the orphanage's small park.

Shang An naturally wouldn't play house with a bunch of little brats, so he often stayed in his room to read, leaving him alone in the dormitory.

Shang An emerged from the room and caught up with Teacher Qin. Along with him, there were seven other children awakening their Martial Souls today—four boys and three girls. In the original story, these would be the type of background Martial Soul Hall personnel who aren't even worth mentioning as extras, so it's best not to dwell on them.

On this annual day of Martial Soul awakening, the plaza in front of the Holy Temple in the eastern district of Martial Soul City was packed with people.

Most were parents accompanying their children, though there were also those from orphanages like Shang An.

There were over ten orphanages in Martial Soul City, with four located in the eastern district alone; the orphanage where Shang An lived was one of them.

These orphanages were all established with funding from Martial Soul Hall, primarily to take in orphans who had lost their parents or had been abandoned.

Of course, once these orphans awakened their Innate Soul Power, they would join Martial Soul Hall, which was one of the sources for Martial Soul Hall's personnel.

These adopted orphans were naturally more loyal to Martial Soul Hall from the start. To them, Martial Soul Hall was their home, and they would naturally be more supportive of its rule.