As was customary, every child who awakened a Martial Soul had to pay a hefty fee to the Soul Master in charge of the awakening, prettily named the Awakening Fee.
Bai Cai knew that in the era of Spirit Hall, commoners relied on Spirit Hall to awaken their Martial Souls. The Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, while sparing no effort to recruit Soul Masters, treated the common folk at the bottom like beasts of burden.
The plot of Douluo I was fairly simple, and Bai Cai still remembered a few details. Spirit Hall gave subsidies to low-rank Soul Masters. The auction houses of the Heaven Dou Empire had sold female slaves whose Martial Souls had mutated, and even receptionists and maids. The Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires fought each other, and most of those who died were commoners who had enlisted in the army and low-rank Soul Masters.
From the perspective of commoner Soul Masters, three of the first-generation Shrek Seven Devils had repaid kindness with enmity. Ma Hongjun came from a commoner family, Oscar came from a commoner family, and Tang San's father had concealed his identity, making Tang San the equivalent of a commoner.
Who treated commoners well? Spirit Hall.
Who helped them awaken their Martial Souls for free? Spirit Hall.
Who generously subsidized low-rank Soul Masters before they reached the Soul Ancestor rank? Spirit Hall.
The absurd part was that if Spirit Hall hadn't awakened Peach-Eyed Oscar's Martial Soul for free, Ning Rongrong wouldn't have spared him a glance, given that his family survived by selling tofu. Without Spirit Hall's subsidies, Little Fatty Ma Hongjun couldn't even have afforded the money for a prostitute.
And Tang San? How much could he have earned as a blacksmith? The Gold Soul Coins in subsidies from Spirit Hall all became Hidden Weapons and poisons to harm others. The Plate Crystal gold in his Dragon Whisker Needles cost hundreds of Gold Soul Coins. How many years would it take to save that much on a blacksmith's wages, working day and night without sleep?
Unfortunately, no matter how much Bai Cai hated Tang San's actions, there was no getting out of paying the Awakening Fee. The best Soul Master Academy was still the decrepit Shrek Academy.
In these turbulent times on the continent, if he wanted to control his own fate and protect his parents and village, he had to train at Shrek Academy and learn about Soul Masters.
With five levels of Innate Soul Power, unless Bai Cai trained hard day and night until he turned twelve, hoping to get into Shrek Academy would be pure delusion.
Huo Gua had been able to enter Shrek because he had a special admission slot from the Tang Sect, which exempted him from tuition and fees. Bai Cai's family was dirt poor, his parents were farmers—how could they afford Shrek Academy's exorbitant tuition?
If Bai Cai had six, seven, or even eight levels of Innate Soul Power, Shrek would surely have been willing to reduce his tuition and arrange for him to be a work-study student or some other special kind of student.
If his Innate Soul Power had been only four, three, or even lower, Bai Cai wouldn't have considered Shrek Academy at all. He would have joined a Soul Master Academy or sect in one of the empires, kept a low profile while growing stronger, and stayed as far away from Huo Gua as possible to ensure his survival.
Unfortunately, Heaven had given Bai Cai exactly five levels of Innate Soul Power—not a bit more, not a bit less. If he worked hard, he could reach Shrek Academy's admission threshold. If he let himself go, he could join the ranks of low-rank Soul Masters and still count as an elite monster or mini-boss.
The lights of Cainong Village twinkled in the night. When a child awakened a Martial Soul, even if they had no Innate Soul Power and couldn't become a Soul Master, their parents would still celebrate.
Far away, stars dotted the pitch-black night sky. The old folks said that when powerful Soul Masters died, they became stars that watched over Douluo Continent.
"Ralts, Ralts!"
Unofficially translated as "the Perception Beast," the Psychic-type girl Ralts perched on Bai Cai's left shoulder.
"Just as I thought. I can't hide it from you." Bai Cai touched Ralts's blue hair.
Even Grandmaster's useless Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, could understand his commands. As a Feelings Pokémon with extraordinary intelligence, of course Ralts could sense how he felt.
At that moment, fate stretched out two roads before him: one led to the ordinary, cozy glow of countless homes; the other led to the deep, distant stars.
In truth, there was only one road, wasn't there?
Bai Cai smiled, and Ralts clapped her hands in celebration of his choice.
"Then let's work hard together!"
"Ralts!"
"Hey, come eat!" The young woman holding a large white radish looked smug as she began showing off her precious son. "Look at that. So what if he has five levels of Innate Soul Power? He still has to listen to me, doesn't he?"
Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy belonged to Farnos City. Its dean was Anuoji, a level-46 Soul Ancestor whose Martial Soul was a Raging Bear and whose strength was immense.
Most of the students the academy admitted were commoners. The noble students of Farnos City generally didn't study there.
The Martial Souls of noble children were usually better than those of commoners, and their Innate Soul Power tended to be higher, too. The prestigious Five Elements Academies, high-rank Soul Master Academies backed by the royal family, academies run by powerful sects, or Shrek Academy—proper noble children studied at one of those.
The students admitted to Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy generally had no more than four levels of Innate Soul Power, and their Martial Souls tended to be weak.
In fact, boys and girls with more than four levels of Innate Soul Power and excellent Martial Soul quality already met the basic requirements for joining a Five Elements Academy or a Soul Master sect.
After all, throughout the Star Luo Empire, aside from the royal family, Duke White Tiger, a few hereditary nobles, and certain sects that could reliably produce them, commoner Soul Masters with more than five levels of Innate Soul Power were exceedingly rare.
Once someone had more than four levels of Innate Soul Power, even corrupt nobles, greedy as gluttonous beasts, were willing to pay a price to recruit them. Female Soul Masters were often more sought-after than males. Passing on a Martial Soul was no easy matter. The higher the Soul Power of the parents, the higher their descendants' Innate Soul Power tended to be, making them more likely to inherit a powerful family Martial Soul.
Of course, Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy was about to welcome a genius: a commoner with five levels of Innate Soul Power. Innate Soul Power couldn't completely determine a person's achievements. But the higher it was, the faster they advanced in cultivation, the higher their potential, and the greater their chances of becoming powerful.
A commoner genius with five levels of Innate Soul Power and a special Martial Soul was willing to attend Farnos Junior Soul Master Academy. Dean Anuoji couldn't stop grinning.
When he heard that the student's family was poor, Dean Anuoji stayed up all night to instruct the head of studies to waive all tuition and fees, give him a single dorm room, and create a warm, harmonious atmosphere at the academy.
If, after graduation, the talented student was recruited by the royal family or another sect, remembered Dean Anuoji's kindness, and was willing to invest a large number of Gold Soul Coins in building up and repaying his alma mater, that would be even better.
"So, you're Bai Cai, right? What a fine young man." The head of studies smiled from ear to ear, practically fawning over him. "My youngest daughter just so happens to be your age. How about..."
It was excessively pragmatic, almost absurd. Bai Cai had grown up in a village and hadn't experienced a society where strength was everything, so he found it hard to fend off the head of studies' sugar-coated cannonballs.
In fact, the recruitment pressure Jiang Nannan faced in the original Peerless Tang Sect was even worse than what Bai Cai faced from the head of studies.
On one hand, as a female Soul Master, Jiang Nannan's Innate Soul Power was conservatively estimated at seven levels or higher, possibly even eight or nine. On the other hand, Xu Sanshi's mutated Black Tortoise Martial Soul required a girl with exceptionally high Innate Soul Power and excellent Martial Soul quality as a sacrifice for it to awaken perfectly.
If she hadn't been driven by poverty, pressured by the Soul Master world, and burdened by her mother's serious illness, how could Jiang Nannan have been willing to sell her body and her charms?
If Spirit Hall still existed, then setting everything else aside, it would certainly have done everything it could to take care of Jiang Nannan, given her exceptional talent.
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