Su Yuntao froze for a moment, then broke into a smile. "Sure, we have a professional matchmaking corner. Once you turn eighteen, we'll provide you with the full package, start to finish."
"I'm willing to join Spirit Hall," Su Yan said with a bow.
"Welcome aboard!" Su Yuntao was delighted and handed Su Yan the booklet for recording Martial Soul information.
A hopeful light shone in Grandpa Jack's cloudy eyes. His deeply wrinkled face wore a smile he hadn't shown in years.
"Our village has finally produced another Soul Master!" Grandpa Jack beamed like a chrysanthemum, unable to stop grinning.
"Then we'll rest for a day and set off from here tomorrow morning," Su Yuntao said. He turned to the village chief. "Village Chief Jack, even children without Soul Power can join Spirit Hall. Spirit Hall gives them half the allowance that Soul Masters receive. Sorry for the trouble, but could you talk it over with their families today? Anyone who wants to go should meet here first thing tomorrow morning."
"Of course, War Soul Master." Grandpa Jack led Su Yan home.
Six years ago, Grandpa Jack had found Su Yan wailing in a field and brought him home to raise.
The two of them walked side by side, their silhouettes just like those of a grandfather and grandson. Before long, they reached the house.
"Xiaoyan." Grandpa Jack opened a wooden cabinet and drew a small wooden box from the very back of the bottom shelf. "It's time I told you about some things."
"Grandpa, what's this?" Su Yan looked at the little box, feeling a strange warmth from inside it.
Grandpa Jack carefully opened the box. Inside, a split eggshell was wrapped in cotton cloth.
The shell was orange-yellow all over, its pattern neat and regular. Only four Red Five-Pointed Stars were printed on the outside.
"Xiaoyan, this is what you were wrapped in when you were a baby." Grandpa Jack handed the box to Su Yan and continued, "When I found you in the field, this eggshell was all you had."
"This... eggshell?" Su Yan could hardly believe it.
"Your parents left you here in it and went away. No one's come to the village looking for you all these years," Grandpa Jack said with a sigh. "This is the only clue your parents left behind."
Su Yan was startled.
He probably hadn't been placed inside it.
Maybe he had come out of it.
He remembered the sticky sensation and the confinement when he had first crossed over six years ago.
It had been so much like the world inside an egg.
A person had actually come out of an egg.
Then what had laid this egg?
It couldn't have been an old hen... could it?
"Now that you've joined Spirit Hall, maybe you'll be able to find your parents," Grandpa Jack said. "Xiaoyan, your grandpa's getting old, too. Fallen leaves must return to their roots."
"Grandpa..." Su Yan's eyes grew moist.
For six years, this old man had raised him.
The family love he had once lost, this old man had given back to him in full.
Su Yan turned away, afraid Grandpa Jack would see the tears he could no longer hold back.
He didn't know how to explain that he might have been born from an egg, so for now, he could only put his shell away.
The instant he reached out and touched the eggshell, a flash of orange light burst forth and enveloped him.
"Xiaoyan!" Grandpa Jack cried out. Before his hand could reach Su Yan, the light vanished.
"Xiaoyan, what happened?" Grandpa Jack asked anxiously.
Su Yan furrowed his brow and shook his head. But when he looked at the little box, his eyes widened.
The eggshell had disappeared.
"Huh?" Su Yan turned the box over and shook it out, but couldn't find even the slightest trace of the shell. It was as if it had never been there.
At that moment, just like a certain monkey with the surname Sun, he had lost the memento of his birth.
"As long as you're all right, that's what matters." Grandpa Jack let out a sigh of relief. His aged heart had gotten a rare taste of youth, but his body couldn't take it. He sat down on a stool, panting heavily.
Su Yan understood. He closed the empty box and put it back where it belonged. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something seemed to have appeared on the back of his hand.
Looking closer, he saw that the four Red Five-Pointed Stars from the eggshell had appeared on his hand.
He touched them. There was no sensation at all, not even a raised spot. They looked completely natural.
Like a custom-made birthmark.
Su Yan hadn't experienced crossing over before, but he'd heard enough stories to recognize that something unusual was going on.
The best-case scenario was that this was a sign of some kind of cheat arriving, but the conditions for activating it hadn't been met yet. He was still missing the key.
The next-worst possibility was that it was the emblem of some mysterious family. That family would have to be incredibly powerful; a family able to produce people from eggs probably wasn't made up of ordinary humans.
The worst possibility was that it was a way for his enemies to track him. Maybe there was some old grudge between their ancestors, and the younger generation had been left to settle it. If they ever crossed paths, a bloody storm would follow.
Could it be a system?
Su Yan wondered, but no mysterious window appeared before him, and no mysterious voice spoke in his mind. Everything remained unknown.
He suddenly raised his hand and asked, "Grandpa, look at the back of my hand."
"Xiaoyan, what is it?" Grandpa Jack looked over and smiled. "Those stars on your hand are drawn very nicely."
He thought Su Yan had been playing a prank.
Su Yan smiled, too. "It took me a long time to draw them."
"All right, stay home. I'm going out for a while." After resting for a bit, Grandpa Jack went out with his cane.
Left alone at home, Su Yan found some bandages and wrapped them around his hand, covering all four stars.
Everyone could see these stars. Until he figured out what they were, he couldn't let anyone else see them.
Next, he packed a few pieces of coarse-cloth clothing into a small bundle and tossed it aside. That was everything he owned.
At daybreak the next morning, Su Yan jogged one last lap around the little wooden house.
He had kept up the morning exercise habit he'd developed in his old world.
When he had first crossed over, Su Yan had resisted. His motto had been that if he could lie down, he wouldn't sit, and if he could sit, he wouldn't stand. All he'd wanted was to take it easy.
But once a habit took hold, his whole body felt uncomfortable if he didn't exercise, and afterward, his mind felt clear and refreshed.
It wasn't just physical. The habit had become a mental shackle, and in the end, he had been forced to become disciplined.
"That'll do for today." He stretched, changed clothes, ate breakfast, and went with Grandpa Jack to the front of Spirit Hall.
Su Yuntao had already arranged for the more than ten children from the day before to ride in a carriage. When he saw Su Yan and Grandpa Jack approach, he raised a hand in greeting.
"War Soul Master, I'm entrusting Xiaoyan to you," Grandpa Jack said with a bow.
"Of course. Don't worry." Su Yuntao turned to Su Yan. "Hop on."
"Grandpa, I'm leaving."
The group was ready to depart when, in the distance, a little girl hurried over with a small bundle on her back.
"Wait for me!" the girl called. "I'm going to Spirit Hall, too!"
Su Yuntao recognized her as the little girl who had awakened Blue Silver Grass the day before. When Village Chief Jack nodded, he arranged for her to ride in the carriage as well.
"Village Chief Jack, I'll arrange for someone to bring the allowance over. When it arrives, sorry for the trouble, but could you give it to the girl's family?"
"Ah, just give it to her," Village Chief Jack said quietly. "Her parents went up the mountain to gather firewood half a year ago and were carried off by a Soul Beast."
"I'm sorry..." Su Yuntao patted Village Chief Jack on the shoulder. "I'll report this to Spirit Hall and request a patrol team to come investigate."
"Thank you, War Soul Master." Village Chief Jack bowed in gratitude.
"There's no need to thank me, Village Chief. If you want to thank anyone, thank Spirit Hall. I come from a poor background myself. I was just lucky enough to become a Soul Master." Su Yuntao smiled and watched the morning sun rise. "Well, we're off."
Before you continue