Douluo Continent, the southern reaches of the Heaven Dou Empire. God Soul Village.
God Soul Village—just hearing its name would have once made people sit up and take notice. Even now, it was no small thing.
Ten thousand years ago, this had been a tiny village of just over three hundred households. Now it had a population of more than ten thousand. Its name hadn't always been God Soul Village, either. It had once been Holy Soul Village. The Village History clearly recorded that, ten thousand years ago, a deity had emerged from the village!
That god's name was Tang San! Legend had it that he inherited the authority of the Sea God.
They said that a place produced outstanding people when it was blessed with exceptional land, and God Soul Village was the perfect example.
For many years, countless Soul Masters had wanted to cultivate in God Soul Village. Rumor had it that cultivation there went faster. As a result, the vast forests beyond the village had been completely cleared and moved aside, replaced by houses where people could live and cultivate. It had the air of a secluded paradise.
But even though the village now covered a greater area than many towns, it was still called a village, with the village at its heart. Outsiders were outsiders, and only a portion of the population were villagers at the core.
At dawn, as the sky was just beginning to brighten, a smear of gray-blue appeared on the distant horizon.
Dew wet the Blue Silver Grass growing among the flowers and plants at the town's stalls. On a thousand-meter-high hill just outside God Soul Village, a tall, imposing figure stood.
He wasn't very tall, and looked to be five or six years old, yet he wore a white robe that didn't suit his age.
His fair face was as smooth as warm jade, tinged with the faintest rose. His hair was a little long, left loose to flutter in the breeze. His slightly narrow eyes held an unusual, ancient gleam.
But there was something strange about the scene: the thousand-meter hill was smooth, its surface no longer bearing the bumps and ridges a mountain should have.
There was a reason for that. Legend said this was where the great ancestor Tang San had cultivated as a child, and that anyone who touched it would receive his protection. Many Soul Masters had come from far and wide to see it. Over time, the hill had been rubbed smooth, though the passing years had also made it much taller.
The boy had somehow climbed straight to the top. Judging by his appearance, he clearly wasn't a Soul Master yet.
He gazed at the blinding sunlight slowly rising in the distance and sighed. With a world-weary air, he stroked his smooth chin. A faint film of light seemed to cover his clear, bright eyes, and strange things flickered across it.
"I, Li Changsheng, once sat right here with Tang San, bragging, eating wild rabbit, and teasing him. I even beat him with a sliding tackle! I was a man who feared no god. And now? Damn it! Damn it all! He's been a god for ten thousand years! Ten thousand years, and I haven't even awakened a Martial Soul!"
Li Changsheng seethed with anger. He flung out his white sleeve and let out a childish roar.
But as soon as he finished, he slumped to the ground with a thump, his face more miserable than if he were crying.
He wanted to grab a blade of grass and chew on it, but the whole mountain was barren. The grass that had grown there had long since been packaged up by generations of village chiefs and sold as precious goods for money.
Li Changsheng pried a tiny fragment of stone from a crack with his finger. It was about the size of his thumb. He held it in his hand and said, "This little stone is worth a hundred Gold Soul Coins. I'm the one who made that happen, hmph. If it weren't for my idea, you lot in God Soul Village would still be farming. All it took was one thought from me, Li Changsheng, and I had you scrape this whole mountain away!"
After muttering to himself, he gazed at the distant sun and waited for it to rise. His expression gradually softened, as though he were returning to his natural state.
In truth, he was waiting for an opportunity.
An opportunity that could change the first half of his life.
You could never imagine what he had been through over the past ten thousand years!
His name was Li Changsheng!
Just like his name, he had lived for ten thousand years.
Ten thousand years ago, before Tang San had awakened his Martial Soul, Li Changsheng had transmigrated here, too. He and Tang San had gotten along pretty well.
He hadn't spent six years lazing around. Instead, he'd awakened a system the moment he transmigrated. It was just that he'd spent the next ten thousand years lazing around!
The reason was that his system was bizarre.
The moment it appeared, it had asked him to choose the kind of system he wanted.
Systems had different types?
Of course!
Choose a system!
A Check-In System!
An Invincible System!
There were so many varieties that it was enough to make anyone sigh over how thoroughly Douluo Continent had been played to death.
As a modern person, he knew exactly what was most precious.
Lifespan!
No matter how rich you were, once you died, you had nothing! No matter how strong you were, dead was dead.
This was the strangest part!
He'd only thought about it at the time, but among the countless options, there really had been a Longevity System!
Its core features had matched Li Changsheng's expectations perfectly:
Take one step and gain a thousand years of life!
Take two steps and gain two thousand years of life!
Step on this rock and there's a chance of rupturing a blood vessel. Please take another route.
Walk a hundred steps and gain eternal youth!
You could extend your life just by walking!
It could stack! It could trigger! It could actively remove dangers for people!
Amazing! Li Changsheng had been so excited that he'd wanted to run around Holy Soul Village naked, if only he hadn't just been born and had a body too frail to manage it.
Later, when he was three months old, he learned to walk. Then his long life began!
By the time he was six, when it was time to awaken his Martial Soul, his lifespan had reached a hundred million years!
But he was six, too, when he awakened his Martial Soul.
He'd gone with Tang San and witnessed Tang San's Innate Full Soul Power and Trash Martial Soul. He'd grown more and more eager to find out what his own Martial Soul would be. After all, he could live forever. If he also got a powerful Martial Soul, becoming a god should be a piece of cake.
But when it was his turn, no Martial Soul appeared. Instead, the Longevity System displayed a notification:
"The Soul Master world is too dangerous. The host's Martial Soul has been removed, and his Innate Full Soul Power has been stripped away."
I...
Li Changsheng had been completely dumbfounded. But there was nothing he could do except adapt. He lived in Holy Soul Village, inherited the family business, and sold vegetables!
And so the days passed, one by one. When he turned eighteen, he used the eternal-youth feature.
He was alive.
Tang San became a Soul Grandmaster.
He was alive.
Tang San became a Soul Saint.
He was alive.
Tang San became a Titled Douluo.
He was alive.
Tang San became a god.
He kept living, while everyone around him died.
Was that the first half of Li Changsheng's life? Of course not!
About a hundred years after Tang San became a god, Li Changsheng had spent every day complaining about how hard his life as a transmigrator was. He must have complained for about a hundred years before his Longevity System suddenly displayed a notification:
In ten thousand years, the host will receive one chance to randomly draw a system.
Ten thousand years!
Li Changsheng had been a little speechless at the time. What would Douluo Continent be like ten thousand years from then? Would there be a second Douluo Continent? Could he take a look? Would he be able to awaken his Martial Soul after changing systems ten thousand years later?
He didn't know the answers. So he could only wait, counting the days as they passed.
And now, at long last, the day had arrived!
The Longevity System had restored him to the appearance of a six-year-old, preparing him for Martial Soul Awakening!
Some might wonder if anyone was surprised that he'd lived so long without a Martial Soul.
As it turned out, no one was!
It seemed to be the Longevity System's doing; it had changed everyone's perception. In the Li Family, he was the venerable ancestor! A respected patriarch, an antique who'd lived since Old Jack's generation!
The glaring sunlight beat down on him, and the heat grew more and more intense.
Li Changsheng, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, slowly opened his eyes. Excitement shone across his young face.
At the same time, a thunderous voice rang out in his mind.
"Ding-dong! The host's Longevity System has expired. Remaining lifespan: one trillion billion years. The lifespan has been converted into draw points. A system is now being drawn for the host."
Draw!
Those two words meant the result could be anything. It might give Li Changsheng some bizarre system, but he wasn't afraid. He'd had enough of living! Living too long was truly unbearable!
He would become a legend ten thousand years from now! Not the person who had lived the longest, but the most powerful! He would make his light shine across the Douluo Continent of today!
"Ding! Congratulations, host, your luck is overflowing. You've drawn the Myriad Worlds Sign-in System."
"Ding! The Douluo Continent's story has diverged, and the times have changed. The sign-in location has been corrected for the host... Correction complete... Congratulations on your first sign-in. You've received the system's auxiliary skill: Longevity; and an item: the divine weapon, Night-Startling Divine Spear!"
"Note: Auxiliary skills will be displayed in the system catalog. Please check it yourself. Items will be sent to the system's storage in physical form. The Night-Startling Divine Spear is being seized... Seizure successful... Delivery in progress... Estimated arrival: 6:00 p.m. Please check your storage."
"Next sign-in location: God Soul Village, Sea God Awakening Hall!"
"Limited-time quest activated: Before Martial Soul Awakening, learn the Mysterious Heaven Skill engraved beneath the bed in Tang San's former home and achieve Innate Full Soul Power. Your reward will be issued at Martial Soul Awakening. A special reward will be issued when you obtain the Mysterious Heaven Skill..."
"Myriad Worlds Sign-in System!"
Li Changsheng, who had been sitting on the ground, sprang up with a bang and leaped high into the air. His childish face could barely contain his excitement; he was nothing like someone who had lived for ten thousand years.
"Truly, dawn's black hair turns to snow by dusk; in the end, all triumphs and failures come to nothing! From this day on, for ten thousand years, I, Li Changsheng, will reign supreme!"
Standing on the barren mountain, gazing at the rolling morning mist surging toward him in the distance, he swept out his long sleeve. Though his voice was still childish, his domineering presence was unmistakable!
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