A Life Set Up

The story can be roughly broken down into two segments.

The first segment: a phoenix rising from a mountain ravine.

Wang Chong's hometown was in a remote mountain hollow within the Sun Moon Empire, located in a village tucked away in a ravine within an even more secluded mountain gully.

To leave their village, one had to climb fifty miles of mountain roads; not only was there little farmland, but the population was also quite sparse.

Sometimes, a decade would pass without a single Soul Master emerging.

But Wang Chong was the only exception in the village in ten years.

That year, Wang Chong was six.

Because Wang Chong's father possessed no Soul Power himself and his Martial Soul was merely an ordinary kitchen knife, he held no expectations for his son. After all, according to village records and stories passed down through generations, the last Soul Master to appear in their family line had been... seven or eight hundred years ago.

That day, Wang Chong's father, having had too much to drink, thought to himself: even if the boy awakened a farm tool like a hoe or a rake, it would save the family a lifetime of tool costs. Driven by the alcohol, he carried six-year-old Wang Chong on his back in the middle of the night, stumbling through the darkness for dozens of miles of mountain road to reach the town for the awakening ceremony.

And guess what happened!

As the saying goes, within three generations, a family-prospering child is bound to appear! Over these seven or eight hundred years, Wang Chong's family had gone at least thirty generations without producing anyone of note.

When it was time for the awakening, Wang Chong's father had just stepped out to light his pipe when he was shoved back into the room by a crowd of onlookers.

The Soul Grand Master presiding over the ceremony looked at the bewildered middle-aged man with a smile and told him:

"Congratulations, you've hit the jackpot... no, wait, your son not only has Innate Soul Power, but his talent is quite good! Look here, Innate Soul Power of 6.5. Under normal circumstances, reaching the fifth or sixth ring is definitely no problem. If he's lucky, he might even become a seventh-ring Soul Saint."

"A seventh-ring Soul Saint—that's a big shot who could hold his own in the surrounding ten miles, no, the surrounding three or five towns, or even the nearby cities."

At that moment, Wang Chong's father, who had spent half his life hunched over, finally straightened his back.

Amidst the envious gazes of the passersby, he patted his chest, lamenting that his drunken impulse back then had truly been extraordinary; that one stumble had produced a child who would prosper the family.

And hidden among those onlookers was an interested party who quietly slipped out through the back door.

The second segment: misfortune arrives far faster than happiness.

Just as the town mayor—who only had two levels of Innate Soul Power and was destined to stop at the third ring for life—heard that a little genius with over six levels of Innate Soul Power had appeared in his town and was hurrying over with his fat belly, hoping to become the first "Angel Investor" in Wang Chong's life...

Wang Chong's information had already been reported by that interested party to a man in black who was only temporarily resting in town.

Using a cultivation level far superior to the mayor's, the man in black scared the mayor off and very "patiently" painted a grand vision for Wang Chong.

From then on, the trajectory of Wang Chong's life began to follow the path predetermined by the man in black.

Normal cultivation, obtaining soul rings, and then heading to the Bright Capital to apply for the Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, the premier academy of the Sun Moon Empire.

Until two years ago, when Wang Chong was twelve, he returned home during the holidays to visit his elders and relatives, only to learn from his aunts and uncles that his father had passed away during his previous semester.

That night, the man in black appeared in Wang Chong's home without warning, displayed the soul of Wang Chong's father to him, and threatened him:

"Child, you wouldn't want your old father and the entire village to die without a burial place, their souls unable to transcend, would you?"

"But rest assured, as long as you become one of us, your father will naturally have a day of freedom, and your fellow villagers will also live a prosperous life."

From then on, Wang Chong lived a miserable, muddled life, spending every day completing one task after another.

"This is simply outrageous! These Evil Soul Masters are completely lawless! To think they've actually reached their black hands into my Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy! It's simply... despicable!"

Xiao Hongchen, who had always considered himself to have good cultivation, hadn't been this angry in a long time.

Under Wang Chong's gaze, the furious Xiao Hongchen raised his fist and slammed it into the old brick wall nearby.

With just one strike, countless gravel and dust fell. Gritting his teeth, Xiao Hongchen questioned Wang Chong, hating his misfortune and lamenting his lack of resolve:

"In these two years, have you never thought about asking the academy for help? Our Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy is the premier academy in the Sun Moon Empire, and Mingde Hall holds a pivotal position even within our empire. You should have found someone capable to help you! Is your mouth only for eating?"

"How could I not have thought of it? It's just that thinking is useless," Wang Chong shook his head with a bitter smile and said mournfully: "Once, I saw with my own eyes a man in black, whom they called an Elder, walk into Mingde Hall in the middle of the night."

"Ah?!"

In an instant, the entire scene fell into dead silence. Whether it was Qian Yuhan, the Grey-Robed Man, or the previously kidnapped onlookers, all turned their shocked gazes toward Xiao Hongchen.

Xiao Hongchen: "Ah!!", Not good! Brothers, I've lost all face.

Xiao Hongchen covered his face with his hands, so embarrassed that his toes were curling inside his shoes. After a long while, he sighed, suppressing the bitterness and helplessness in his heart, and whispered:

"Since you saw that so-called Elder in black enter Mingde Hall, how dare you tell me anything! I am the grandson of the Mingde Hall Master, you know!? Aren't you afraid I'll turn you in?"

"I'm not!"

At this moment, Wang Chong roared as if he had nothing left to lose:

"Because from the year I enrolled, I have always admired you, Brother Xiao. You are a righteous person who occasionally helps us students from humble backgrounds. You are like a big brother to us students in the same year and the lower grades."

"So, I believe you will never betray me."

I believe in you! I believe in you! I believe in you!

In a trance, Wang Chong's simple and hypnotic "I believe in you" successfully flooded Xiao Hongchen's near-crashing brain, successfully bringing tears to his eyes:

"o(╥﹏╥)o"

Damn it, brother, since you've said it to this extent, what else is there to say! I, Xiao Hongchen, will definitely help with this.

"Oi, your tears are flowing, remember to wipe them!"

Seeing Xiao Hongchen's moved-to-tears appearance, Qian Yuhan raised an eyebrow slightly and reminded him in a low voice.

"Don't talk nonsense, I'm not crying. The wind blew sand into my eyes, that's all." Xiao Hongchen nodded, raising his hand to wipe away the tears of excitement from the corners of his eyes—tears named: being acknowledged and being affirmed.