Burial and Rebirth

"Dad!"

Su Zhen roared, his cry loud and anguished, echoing through the shattered ruins.

Su Zhen wept for a long time—an hour, two hours, perhaps a lifetime.

"Ah, you poor child..."

Watching Su Zhen's grief-stricken face, Qian Daoliu couldn't help sighing.

Perhaps Su Zhen had cried himself out. He stopped and sat quietly on his knees in the crater. Qian Daoliu simply watched him in silence, doing and saying nothing.

Who knew how much time had passed? Su Zhen, who had been sitting like a statue, finally moved. He wrapped the wooden hairpin in the scrap of cloth embroidered with a lotus and carefully tucked it into his inner shirt pocket.

Su Zhen climbed out of the crater. Without bothering to brush off the dust covering him, he ran toward home.

As he ran, Su Zhen looked around. He hoped to see even one intact house. As long as a house stood whole, it meant someone might still be alive. But the Goddess of Luck had not smiled on Su Zhen. There wasn't a single undamaged house in the entire village.

At last, Su Zhen reached home, but the warm, welcoming place he remembered had become a heap of ruins.

"Mom, big brother, where are you?"

"I awakened my Martial Soul. It's so powerful—I can protect you now. Come out!"

"I'm going to join the Spirit Hall. I'll be able to earn lots of money and support you. You haven't even had a chance to enjoy it yet!"

"Dad's already gone. Are you going to leave me too?"

Su Zhen desperately searched through the ruins, calling out as he dug. He wished with all his heart that his mother and brother were merely trapped underneath.

Su Zhen's hands stopped. He had found his mother and brother. They were embracing each other, though only their skeletons remained.

Su Zhen didn't wail hysterically or shed a tear. He simply gazed calmly at the two skeletons locked in each other's arms.

One second, two seconds, a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour...

Su Zhen just stood there quietly, making no unnecessary movements.

He stood from dusk until deep into the night, from evening until the early hours of the morning. At last, Su Zhen moved.

"Dad, Mom, big brother, everyone, wait for me. I'll come find you. Before then, I'll send you a few pets to play with."

His voice was as calm as still water, betraying neither grief nor anger.

He turned around and took one step, then his vision went black and he fell backward.

Qian Daoliu appeared behind Su Zhen and caught him. Looking at the unconscious boy, he shook his head.

"Just how terrifying is his Martial Soul, to make a god secretly set things in motion?"

He still couldn't forget that faint wisp of divine power on Tang Hao.

Night quietly gave way, and at last, dawn arrived.

The first ray of sunlight at daybreak fell across Su Zhen's face. His eyelids stirred slowly. The warm sunlight entered his heart and lifted his heavy lids.

"You're awake. Come over and eat something."

Su Zhen turned his head. Qian Daoliu was meditating on a rock nearby. A blanket lay before him, with some dried food and wild fruit on top. Qian Daoliu had exchanged Gold Soul Coins for them in a nearby village.

Su Zhen sat up, walked over to Qian Daoliu, and sat down. He picked up some dried food and began eating.

"Don't you have anything you want to ask?"

"Senior, who was it?"

"Tang Hao. For now, that's all you can know. The rest is too far beyond you."

"Tang Hao."

Su Zhen showed little reaction, though he bit down harder on the dried food.

He knew who Tang Hao was—or rather, he had known about Tang Hao in his previous life. In his previous life, he had come from a place called Blue Star. He had died suddenly after working overtime through the night. Over there, this world was nothing more than an unremarkable novel. He had read it and knew all the major events that were going to happen. He knew every character in this world whose name was well known. After enduring such immense pain, he had awakened his memories of his previous life.

"Why?"

Qian Daoliu didn't get angry at Su Zhen's bluntness. Anyone who had just lost their family would be in a daze.

"I was hunting him down. He slaughtered the village to slow me down. In a way, I'm your enemy too. If I hadn't been after him, your family wouldn't have died."

Qian Daoliu concealed much from him. He didn't want Su Zhen to bear too much.

"This wasn't your fault, Senior. I have no reason to blame you. I'm already beyond grateful that you saved my life."

Su Zhen finished his food, stood, and bowed deeply to Qian Daoliu. Qian Daoliu accepted the bow without refusing.

"Come. I'll take you to the Spirit Hall. One day, you'll gain the power to avenge them there."

"Could I ask you to wait here for two days? I want to take care of the funeral arrangements."

"Of course."

Su Zhen began gathering the villagers' remains. He jumped into the crater and collected all the scattered bones. They included not only his father's remains, but also the village chief's, the children's, and Shi Heng's. He couldn't tell which belonged to his father, so he gathered them all and carried them to the center of the village. After clearing the crater, he went home and gathered his mother and brother. He dug a pit behind the house and buried their remains there, then set up a wooden tablet bearing the inscription: "Tomb of my mother, Li Xiulian, and my elder brother, Su Ming. Erected by their unfilial son, Su Zhen. Douluo Calendar, April 23, 2631." He had written it in simplified characters from Blue Star.

When he was done, Su Zhen began collecting the villagers' remains from the end of the village. Those lying out in the open were easy to find. For those buried beneath the ruins, he asked Qian Daoliu to help move the stones and beams.

Su Zhen worked from day until night, then from night until day. When he grew tired, he sat down for a quarter of an hour before getting back to work. When he got hungry, he ate some dried food. He worked for two days before finally finishing the collection of the villagers' remains.

He dug a large pit in the center of the village. He didn't ask Qian Daoliu for help with this. He buried his father's remains together with those of all the villagers. Then he set up a wooden tablet in front of the grave: "Tomb of my father, Su Changkong, and all the residents of Hound Village. Erected by Su Zhen. Douluo Calendar, April 25, 2631."

"I've never seen the writing on your gravestones before. What is it?"

"Senior, I just made it up. Think of it as something private, just for me."

Qian Daoliu seemed thoughtful but said nothing more.

"It's time to leave. I'll take you to the Spirit Hall Junior Soul Master Academy. There, you'll learn the most comprehensive Soul Master knowledge on the continent."

"Senior, I... I don't want to go to the Soul Master Academy."

"Oh? Why don't you want to go? At your age, a junior Soul Master Academy is the best choice. Why are you opposed to it? Or do you think a junior Soul Master Academy can't teach you anything?"

Qian Daoliu studied Su Zhen. He was puzzled by the actions of this six-year-old child.

"Senior, I want to ask you to take me as your disciple."

"Take you as my disciple? Hahahahahahaha!"

Su Zhen's words made Qian Daoliu burst into laughter.

"Do you know who I am? Do you know my standing in the Spirit Hall, or even in the entire Soul Master World? Do you know how long it's been since I last took a disciple? You know nothing. What makes you think you can become my disciple? What do you have that's worth taking you on? Do you think you're worthy?"

"I don't know who you are, Senior. I don't know your status or your strength. I only know that you saved me and helped me find the villagers' remains. You're a good person."

"Hahahahaha! I'm a good person? Someone actually called me a good person. Do you know how many people have died by my hand? More than ten times the number here! Tang Chen, Tang Zhen, could you ever have imagined that someone like us would be called a good person one day?"

Qian Daoliu laughed maniacally, as though he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Senior, is my Martial Soul good enough for me to be your disciple?"

"Martial Soul Possession!"

As Su Zhen spoke, he summoned his Thunder Prison Qilin Martial Soul.

ROAR!

A mighty beast's roar rang out from within Su Zhen.

Su Zhen's body suddenly grew taller. Purple-gold scales covered his exposed skin, and ten sharp claws sprang out. A purple-gold mane grew across his face, while a single horn thrust from his head, lightning coiling around it. His pupils became purple-gold vertical slits, and an air of nobility and majesty surrounded him. Behind Su Zhen appeared the phantom of a mighty purple-gold Qilin.

"Senior, this is my Thunder Prison Qilin Martial Soul, a top-tier divine beast Martial Soul."

Qian Daoliu examined Su Zhen in his possessed form and the phantom of the Qilin behind him.

"A powerful Martial Soul. Excellent. It's even stirred my Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul."

Qian Daoliu was very pleased with Su Zhen's Martial Soul. He had suspected all along that it was no ordinary one, but he hadn't expected it to reach the level of a top-tier Martial Soul. It was even among the very best of its kind, with a chance of touching the threshold of a divine-level Martial Soul.

"Your Martial Soul qualifies. But what about you?"

"I can take you as my disciple, but I have one condition."