The Protagonist Who Died Once Right After Transmigrating

"A Bug Martial Soul? Sigh, another useless Martial Soul!"

Douluo Continent, Red Mountain Academy's Awakening Room. As the Spirit Transfer Master finished speaking, the little boy in front of him pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Perhaps realizing that his words had been inappropriate, the Spirit Transfer Master quickly added,

"Child, don't be sad. You have Soul Power as well."

"I-I have Soul Power?" The little boy before him looked at him in surprise.

The Spirit Transfer Master nodded. "I gave you a simple test just now. You have Rank One Innate Soul Power. It may not be very good, but at least you have Soul Power. As long as you work hard, you can become a Soul Master!"

The little boy froze. "B-but my Martial Soul is a Bug..."

The Spirit Transfer Master smiled. "Have you heard the stories of the Tang Sect? The founding ancestor's primary Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass! Twenty thousand years ago, he relied on what ordinary people considered a completely useless Martial Soul to dominate the continent and defeat the evil Spirit Hall."

"But wasn't the Tang Sect's founding ancestor's Martial Soul the Blue Silver Emperor?" the little boy asked seriously.

"Uh..." The Spirit Transfer Master was somewhat embarrassed. This little fellow clearly wasn't so easy to fool. "The Blue Silver Emperor also evolved from Blue Silver Grass. If you want to become a Soul Master, then work hard."

The little boy bit his lip. "Thank you, Lord Spirit Transfer Master."

Only after leaving Red Mountain Academy did the little boy, Nan Fusheng, turn back to look. The street outside the academy was already packed, filled with parents bringing their children to undergo the awakening.

Luckily, I came early.

"Dad, what do you think my Martial Soul will be?" A little boy who had just turned six asked his father excitedly.

Hearing the voice, Nan Fusheng looked over and saw a little boy with short black hair. He was slightly taller than children his age, but what drew the most attention were his eyes. They were large and bright, black and white clearly defined, while his long eyelashes surpassed even those of many girls. Though his clothes were ordinary, his outstanding appearance still made him easy to notice.

"Tang Wulin."

Seeing the protagonist of this world, Nan Fusheng's lips curled slightly. Then he slowly turned around and stopped listening to the discussions behind him.

Nan Fusheng's home was in Aolai City's commoner district. Returning home, he muttered, "I'm back," then slowly shook his head. He still really wasn't used to this.

"So this is my Martial Soul?"

As Nan Fusheng raised his right hand, a Bug appeared in his palm. The Bug itself was semi-transparent. He looked at his Martial Soul.

"Sigh, why did I have to transmigrate into the era of Legend of the Dragon King? Still, at least in this era, I don't need to worry about being watched by Third Brother from the God Realm. With my cheat, becoming a god is at least guaranteed!"

That's right, Nan Fusheng was a transmigrator. At the time, he had been watching the Douluo Continent drama at home while reading Lord of the Mysteries. By coincidence, the show had just reached Third Brother's line: "You have already chosen the path of death."

Then he transmigrated. Unfortunately, he had transmigrated into a broken family. The man had abandoned his wife and child, while the woman was a shrew. His existence seemed like an accident.

It seemed that aside from a brief period after his birth, when the family had been happy, the young couple had fallen in love and had a child, only to slowly begin insulting each other over trivial daily conflicts until they finally became strangers.

And when he was around three months old, he died once. His father had run away from home, while his mother went out to fool around as if there were no child in the house at all.

On the first day, unbearable hunger made him start crying.

On the second day, no one paid him any attention, and he stopped crying.

On the third day, he starved to death, and his cheat first appeared.

"Am I going to die? Starve to death, of all things? Hehe."

The darkness before his eyes was tinged with the deep red brought by light. Thoughts surged endlessly through Nan Fusheng's mind, impossible to calm.

Just then, he suddenly felt as though the air around him had stopped flowing, turning thick and strange.

Immediately afterward, whispers rang in his ears—sometimes fine and dense, sometimes sharp, sometimes illusory, sometimes alluring, sometimes frantic, sometimes insane.

Though he could not understand what the whispers were saying, Nan Fusheng could not stop himself from listening, from trying to distinguish them.

His head hurt again, so intensely that it felt as though an iron spike had been driven into it.

Nan Fusheng felt as if his head were about to explode, his thoughts dyed with a hallucinatory haze.

He knew something was wrong and desperately tried to open his eyes, but he could not accomplish even such a simple action.

His entire body grew tighter and tighter, as though it could snap at any moment. He could no longer endure it. Just as the string in his mind was about to break, the overlapping, chaotic whispers receded. The surroundings became extremely quiet, and the atmosphere felt ethereal.

Not just the atmosphere—Nan Fusheng felt that his body was ethereal as well.

He tried opening his eyes again. This time, it was incredibly easy.

A spreading gray fog entered his vision—hazy, indistinct, boundless.

"What is this?" Nan Fusheng looked around in astonishment, then lowered his head and discovered that he was floating at the edge of an endless gray fog.

"Sefirah Castle." The term suddenly appeared in Nan Fusheng's mind. He also discovered that he seemed to be in a spirit body state.

Corresponding pathways: Fool, Error, Gate.

Corresponding Old Ones: Lord of the Mysteries, King of Space-Time, Beacon of Destiny, Avatar of Sefirah Castle, Dominator of the Spirit World. Another piece of information surfaced in his mind, and then the gray fog kicked him out.

When he woke up, he discovered that he had not died. A trace of power remained in his mind, and relying on that power, he barely survived the beginner stage.

Afterward, through research, he gradually figured out that this was likely Sefirah Castle from Lord of the Mysteries.

Life truly was unpredictable. He could only swallow his misery. Watching a drama and reading a novel could both make him transmigrate. If he had known, he would have read "Shrouding the Heavens," "Battle Through the Heavens," or "Perfect World." Wouldn't that have let him soar in one go?

No, the real culprit was still Third Brother. Even though I know it isn't your fault, the last thing I heard was, "You have already chosen the path of death."

Mm, Third Brother, you have already chosen the path of death.

After letting his thoughts run wild for a while, Nan Fusheng slowly walked into the kitchen, ate a simple meal, checked the time, and decided to go out and cultivate.

Mm, Marauder cultivation. That's right, Nan Fusheng was already a Marauder.

The human power system in Lord of the Mysteries was the Sequence Potion System. Every pathway had ten progressively advancing levels: "Sequence 9, Sequence 8, Sequence 7, Sequence 6, Sequence 5, Sequence 4, Sequence 3, Sequence 2, Sequence 1, and Sequence 0." After Sequence 2, there were even more complicated classifications of rank.

Nan Fusheng was a Sequence 9: Marauder.

It was difficult to distinguish a Marauder from ordinary thieves and pickpockets. Perhaps their methods were more sophisticated, but their purpose in stealing wealth was not enjoyment or survival. It was more like fulfilling a mission.

A certain enhancement to physical fitness. An excellent user of daggers and short swords. That was Nan Fusheng's Sequence 9 ability, as well as his understanding of this Sequence.

Extraordinary abilities:

Steal: He could easily steal items from a target's pocket without being noticed.

Agile Hand: Improved the steadiness and flexibility of his wrists and fingers.

Potions needed to be digested, and the method of digestion was to act in ways that matched the Sequence's name. As a Marauder, if Nan Fusheng wanted to digest the Potion, he could only play the role of a Marauder. This was also Nan Fusheng's source of income.

However, every time, he knew when to stop. He only stole enough for one meal or one day's living expenses. He would not target poor families or wealthy families either. The poor were already miserable, and they might not even have money on them. Wealthy families, on the other hand, might include Soul Masters, so neither were his targets.

Most of Nan Fusheng's targets were street punks without Soul Power. With a Marauder's methods, he could succeed before those punks even noticed. Even then, he only took enough for one meal at a time.

This was one of Nan Fusheng's rules as a Marauder: "A Marauder must not be excessively greedy." In Lord of the Mysteries, Potion digestion could be understood as a Potion being a profession, while acting meant doing what corresponded to that profession and forming one's own understanding of it.

That meant a person had to clearly understand what their "profession" was. Whether it was a "lawyer," "writer," or "beast tamer," they had to explore and summarize the fundamental principles of that profession, then let their body, mind, and actions adapt to and follow those principles, playing the role of a qualified working member of society.

When one's image finally matched the public's understanding of those professions, the Potion could be digested.

But just as in the novel, one point had to be remembered: we were merely acting as these professions. Deep in our souls, we were still independent and autonomous selves.

After finishing a day of cultivation, Nan Fusheng went to bed.