In the northeast of the Star Luo Empire, deep in the endless mountains on the edge of the Xingyao Principality, a thick fog lingered year-round, never fully lifting.
There was a forbidden land here that was nearly impossible to find on a map. The locals called it Dragon Valley. On its outskirts sat a remote little mountain village with barely a hundred households: Ancient Dragon Village. A sinister rumor about the village had spread across the surrounding hundred li: any Soul Master from outside who entered its borders would feel the Soul Power in their body drain away at terrifying speed, as if it had fallen into a bottomless pit.
Not only that, but after awakening their Martial Souls, the vast majority of Ancient Dragon Village's residents had no Innate Soul Power. Even the rare few who managed to awaken with one or two levels of Soul Power were destined to get nowhere. As the years passed, outsiders came to regard this place as cursed, a place that could produce nothing but commoners without a future, generation after generation.
On a little hill about a hundred meters tall behind the village, a small figure was already lying down. The child looked about five or six years old, with healthy wheat-colored skin and neat, clean-cut yellow hair.
He lay sprawled with his arms and legs stretched out, his body forming the character "太" against the rock, a blade of foxtail grass between his teeth. The midday sun poured down without restraint, beating into every pore. Its warmth seeped through his skin, making his bones feel soft with bliss.
His name was Gu Tian, a transmigrator who had arrived in this world with memories of his past life.
"So it's been six whole years since I came to this world." Gu Tian spat out the stalk of grass and looked at his tender little hands. A maturity far beyond his years flickered in his eyes. He remembered clearly that in his previous life, an accident had led his soul to be reborn in this world of Soul Masters.
Whether by coincidence or fate, his name in Douluo Continent was still Gu Tian, just as it had been in his previous life.
"What, lamenting your boring origins again?" A sultry female voice suddenly came from inside his mind.
Faced with the unexpected voice, Gu Tian wasn't startled. Instead, he answered helplessly, "Sister Lin Xi, I'm not like you. I'm just an ordinary person. My Martial Soul Awakening is tomorrow. If I really have no Innate Soul Power, just like everyone else in the village, I might not even make it out of these mountains in my entire life."
"Useless. If the blood flowing through your veins still left you a mortal, it wouldn't just be an insult to you—it would be an insult to me." The female voice gave a soft snort, her tone full of arrogance.
Gu Tian smiled bitterly. Ever since he could remember, the soul who called herself the Dragon God, Ao Linxi, had lived in his Sea of Consciousness. Over the past six years, he had gained a constitution far beyond that of his peers entirely thanks to the cultivation method she had taught him, the Nine-Turn Dragon Breath.
Although he had never seen what she looked like, and she had never once delivered on the grand promises she made, Gu Tian had long since come to regard her as a friend.
"Xiao Tian! Come home for lunch, quick! Don't stay up on the mountain!"
A gentle call floated up from below, interrupting Gu Tian's thoughts. He got to his feet, brushed the dirt off his backside, and raced home along the rugged mountain path as if it were flat ground.
As soon as he stepped inside, the light fragrance of thin rice porridge wafted into his nose.
"Mom, I'm back." Gu Tian washed his face and sat down at the table.
Gu Tian's mother, Lin Ping, was a gentle, ordinary farmer. She didn't even have a Martial Soul, making her one of the most common sorts of people in the village. As she ladled porridge into Gu Tian's bowl, she nagged with some concern, "Why do you run up the back mountain every day, child? It's so high. What if you fall? You're not allowed to go there anymore."
"I know. I won't do it again." Gu Tian hurriedly agreed, afraid of upsetting his mother.
Lin Ping was already used to this sort of thing, but she still couldn't help nagging him a little.
"By the way, Tian'er, your Martial Soul Awakening is tomorrow. Mom doesn't expect you to become a Soul Master or anything. As long as you stay healthy and stay here at home, I'll be perfectly content."
His father, Gu Hai, sitting across from him, set down his bowl, his expression complicated.
Gu Hai was an eight-level Soul Master. His level was laughably low, but he still had a certain standing in Ancient Dragon Village. His Martial Soul was Dragon Claw. When he channeled his Soul Power, a thick layer of callus would faintly cover his right hand, and his fingers would grow sharp as claws. That was how he had become the village's only carpenter.
"You can't put it that way." Gu Hai looked at Gu Tian. A glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes, only to be quickly veiled by worry. "I only have eight levels of Soul Power, and my Martial Soul is just a Dragon Claw that can barely strengthen my physical power. If Tian'er can do better than me and awaken a slightly stronger Martial Soul, maybe he'll get to see something of the world beyond the village someday."
"Dad, you'd better not get your hopes up." Gu Tian helplessly spread his hands. His father had high hopes for him, but he really didn't dare promise anything.
Martial Souls in Douluo Continent were generally passed down through families, from parent to child. Usually, a child inherited the higher-quality Martial Soul of their parents, unless it underwent a mutation. But among Mutated Martial Souls, cases where the mutation made them stronger were exceedingly rare. And both of Gu Tian's parents had ordinary Martial Souls, nothing remarkable.
That so-called Dragon God in his mind had also been making empty promises all along. Over the past six years, aside from teaching him the secret cultivation method Nine-Turn Dragon Breath, she had hardly helped him at all.
"Whatever Martial Soul our son awakens, he'll still be our son, won't he? If he inherits your Dragon Claw Martial Soul, he can work as a carpenter alongside you. Then he'll be able to support himself, marry a wife, and give me a big, chubby grandson. He could live a peaceful life like that. Wouldn't that be nice?" As an ordinary rural woman, Lin Ping had no expectations for Gu Tian. She had never entertained unrealistic dreams like hoping her son would become a dragon.
How did that saying go? Couldn't a golden phoenix fly out of a straw nest?
Gu Tian took a sip of porridge and asked, pretending to be curious, "Dad, is our village really that strange? Why have almost all the people here been ordinary for generations?"
Gu Hai sighed and lowered his voice. "This place really is strange. Our village once had an incredibly talented genius. You've probably heard his name: Gu Rong. We haven't had any news of him in a long time, though. I don't know how he's doing now."
Gu Tian's hand paused slightly. Gu Rong? Wasn't he Bone Douluo of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? He had come from Ancient Dragon Village?
"Back then, Gu Rong's parents didn't want the village's curse to ruin him, so they pulled strings and sent him out of the village. They say it cost them dearly. After they came back, their health steadily declined, and they died not long afterward. They had no choice but to entrust him to a sect outside the village." A trace of fear colored Gu Hai's expression. "So the villagers say that if you want to escape this curse, you have to sell your soul."
"How sinister can it be? Just eat your food." Lin Ping picked up some vegetables from the table and put them in Gu Hai's bowl, trying to shut his ominous mouth.
After lunch, Gu Tian returned to his little room and sat cross-legged on the wooden bed. As he recalled what his parents had said at the table, he couldn't help clenching his fists. If he really spent his whole life living quietly and uneventfully, as his mother wished, he would never be content. Since he had been given another life and reborn in Douluo Continent, he would carve out a world of his own.
The Martial Soul Awakening ceremony was tomorrow, and there was no telling how it would go. But the thought only made the fire in his heart burn brighter. If Gu Rong could get out, then Gu Tian could too.
That night, moonlight spilled through the window lattice.
Gu Tian was meditating with his eyes closed when the voice in his mind grew clear again. This time, Ao Linxi sounded less teasing and more serious than ever before.
"All right, little one. Since the village chief is bringing people from Spirit Hall tomorrow to help you awaken your Martial Souls, I'll break through that barrier the mortals see tonight. Are you ready to welcome my true power?"
Ready? Power?
Gu Tian asked in shock deep inside. That abrupt, cryptic remark made him end his meditation at once. Wasn't she supposed to tell him what to do first, how much it would hurt, and whether he might die? This solemn question, as if the hero of some novel were about to inherit Heaven's Mandate, seemed bizarre when thrown at a six-year-old boy who had never even left the village.
He nearly blurted out, "Sister Lin Xi, are you... are you messing with me again today?"
But Gu Tian held back, clenched his fists, and took a deep breath. "I'm ready. Let's begin."