Douluo Calendar 2636, southwestern Heaven Dou Empire, Holy Soul Village, Fasinuo Province.
The wooden door creaked open. Old Jack, his back hunched and his hands clenched until his knuckles turned white, hurried to meet Su Yuntao, who had just stepped outside. His voice trembled as he asked, "Grandmaster! Was there a child in the village this year who could become a Soul Master?"
Su Yuntao glanced at him and let out a heavy sigh, his brow furrowing into a knot. "No. Old Jack, I'm just as disappointed as you are, but there's no forcing these things."
As the village chief of Holy Soul Village, Old Jack's greatest wish was for another Soul Master to come from the village.
But after all these years, every Martial Soul Awakening had ended the same way: the Spirit Hall's deacon came and went without so much as a glimpse of Innate Soul Power.
Soul Masters were rare in the countryside to begin with, and none of the villages Su Yuntao had handled over the past few years had been an exception.
But today, Su Yuntao looked far more dejected than in years past, his eyes even a little red.
Old Jack saw that something was wrong and pressed him. "Grandmaster, what's the matter?"
Su Yuntao had a bellyful of resentment pent up, so he let it all out. "Don't ask. It's that other deacon from the branch. That bastard lucked out! He actually awakened a child with Innate Full Soul Power, and a powerful Mutated Martial Soul at that. The child was even willing to join Spirit Hall! Why couldn't I have that kind of luck? If I'd been the one to find them, Sisi would've..."
He clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. After a resentful sigh, he said, "I'm leaving."
Watching Su Yuntao's back disappear at the village entrance, Old Jack sighed too. "If only our village could produce a child with Innate Full Soul Power..."
Neither of them noticed that someone in an earthen house at the west end of the village had heard every word.
Inside, a man who looked to be in his fifties lay on a bed.
He had once been so broad and sturdy he could have burst through his robe, but now he was wrapped in ragged clothes, with liquor stains smeared across his exposed bronze skin.
His hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and his unkempt beard covered half his face. The stink of alcohol clung to him, and he looked so drunk he could barely open his eyes.
But when the words "Innate Full Soul Power" and "willing to join Spirit Hall" drifted into his ears, his eyes snapped open. They were bloodshot, and he panted like an ox.
The air in his chest exploded outward. The entire earthen house began to tremble and hum, and dust sifted down from the rafters.
His teeth ground together with a harsh crackle. Then, from deep in his throat, he forced out three words, each one wrapped in boundless hatred: "Sp...irit...Hall!"
Just then, it was as if he sensed something. The terrifying aura around him vanished in an instant, and the room returned to stillness, as though nothing had happened.
Three days later, at the entrance to Mantis Village, a hundred li away.
A six-year-old boy with a small bundle on his back waved to the villagers seeing him off, then climbed into a luxurious carriage.
His name was Lian Xiaotian, and he was a transmigrator.
In his previous life, he had been a disciple of the Nine Deaths Lineage, a heterodox sect. He might not have been burdened with grave sins, but he had been ruthless and merciless, constantly ostracized and scorned by the righteous path.
Later, he had fought a disciple of the Tathagata Palm and died alongside him, only to transmigrate to Douluo Continent as the posthumous son of Mantis Village's late village chief.
To make matters worse, his mother had been weakened by giving birth to him. Still mourning her dead husband, she had passed away three years ago.
In his previous life, Lian Xiaotian had also been an orphan. His master had taken him in as a child and made him a heterodox martial artist.
Now that he had lived a second life and looked back on the past, he was already sick of practicing heterodox cultivation techniques. He had decided to give them up, but he had never encountered any high-level righteous techniques and was at a loss. Then, an opportunity had arrived.
He had awakened a light-aligned Mantis Martial Soul, and it came with Innate Full Soul Power!
After hearing the Spirit Hall deacon speak of the legendary Angel Clan, Lian Xiaotian had made his decision on the spot: go to Spirit City, find righteous cultivation techniques, and walk a different path!
The lord of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch had come in person to take him to Spirit City.
But on the third day, as the carriage passed through a stretch of Wild Mountain Region, a person in a black robe suddenly appeared in the road ahead.
"Whoa!"
The driver yanked hard on the reins. The horse whinnied and reared up, and the carriage lurched violently.
The driver cursed at the figure ahead. "You trying to get yourself killed? Are you blind?"
The black-robed figure was completely concealed beneath his robe, with only a chin covered in scraggly stubble showing. He curled his lips into a cold sneer and cursed inwardly: People from Spirit Hall were all cut from the same cloth, thinking they could decide anyone's life or death!
Hearing the commotion, the lord of the branch lifted the curtain and jumped down, keeping his temper in check. "Sir, I'm the lord of the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch. I have urgent business in Spirit City. The carriage is full. If you want a ride, wait for the next one. Sorry for the trouble, but please step aside."
"A ride?" The black-robed man scoffed, his voice cold and hard. "I'm here to rob you!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he suddenly thrust out a hand. A surge of blood-red energy whooshed out and enveloped the entire carriage.
Lian Xiaotian heard a deafening crash. The carriage seemed to have been struck by a giant hammer, and splinters flew everywhere. It shattered on the spot!
The horse, the driver, and the branch lord were crushed into a pulp by the blood-red energy before they could even scream.
Lian Xiaotian was hurled away by the shockwave and crashed down in front of the black-robed man.
Lian Xiaotian endured the pain and looked up, his heart churning with shock: This black-robed man was definitely a Titled Douluo, the pinnacle of Soul Masters—the very kind the branch lord had told him about!
The next second, the black-robed man lifted his hand again. Lian Xiaotian suddenly felt as if a mountain had come crashing down on him. He could barely breathe, and an invisible hand seemed to clamp around his throat, leaving him unable to make a sound.
The Soul Power inside him ran wild beyond his control, and golden light began to shine from his body.
Suddenly, a layer of blue-gold carapace grew over Lian Xiaotian's upper body, and a plate of armor covered his face. Two long, slender feelers sprouted from the top of his head.
His arms turned into the sickle-shaped forelegs of a mantis, their golden edges gleaming with a cold light.
His legs disappeared, and from the abdomen down, his body became that of a mantis, supported by four thick, long legs.
At the sight, the black-robed man's gaze grew even more vicious. "Light-aligned, too? You really are asking for death!"
"I am called Haotian, and I have no need to hide my name!" The black-robed man stared at Lian Xiaotian, his voice thick with loathing. "Boy, blame your Innate Full Soul Power, your light-aligned Martial Soul, and the fact that you insist on joining Spirit Hall!"
"Since you're young, I won't kill you." He changed tack, but there was not a trace of mercy in his tone. "I'll only cripple your Martial Soul today. Remember this 'mercy' of mine, find a little village, and scrape by. And keep your mouth shut!"
Before the words had even faded, a streak of blood-red light shot from Clear Sky Douluo's fingertip toward Lian Xiaotian's dantian. Then he vanished without a trace.
"Pfft—!"
Lian Xiaotian felt as if a red-hot iron had pierced his dantian. A brutal force surged backward through his meridians, and wherever it passed, they cracked and tore apart!
Pain!
Agonizing, bone-deep pain!
Ten times worse than the pain of qi deviation in his previous life!
Lian Xiaotian's body curled up in an instant, like a shrimp thrown into boiling water.
The force knocked his internal organs out of place. It was as if countless little knives were slashing through his belly. A mouthful of blood mixed with shredded organ tissue sprayed from the corner of his mouth, staining the ground before him red.
Worse still, the carapace, sickle-like forelegs, and feelers that had come with Martial Soul Possession began to crack. These were the signs that his Martial Soul was shattering.
A Martial Soul was tied to a Soul Master's bloodline and soul. If it shattered, the body and soul would be damaged along with it; even the best outcome would leave him crippled.
And he was still in the state of Martial Soul Possession. If his Martial Soul shattered now, the consequences would be even worse. This was the Wild Mountain Region, so Lian Xiaotian was sure to die.
It was clear that this Clear Sky Douluo only wanted to save face, showing off his so-called "mercy."
Lian Xiaotian's eyes flooded with blood, and Grudge coiled around his heart like a poisonous vine. "A mighty Titled Douluo stoops to such a vicious deed against a child, yet he's nothing but a sneaky, cowardly rat hiding his face—and he dares to call himself Heaven?!"
He coughed up blood, but a mad thought rose in his heart. "Good! Good! Good! Even if I have to set foot on that road to a living death again, I'll slaughter this 'Heaven' to the last!"