Reborn as Xiao Hongchen

"The same unfamiliar ceiling again." Xiao Hongchen mumbled as he opened his eyes.

"You're awake, brother." A delighted girl's voice rang out beside him. "You've been unconscious for a whole week. Grandpa and I were so worried."

Xiao Hongchen abruptly sat up and looked around.

The room was decorated in pale colors and furnished in a European style. The table was piled high with blueprints he couldn't make heads or tails of, along with several metal components that had been ruined during engraving.

"Do you still remember your name? You haven't lost your memory, have you, brother?" Seeing Xiao Hongchen look around in confusion, the girl beside the bed asked anxiously.

She had long, silvery-white hair, the ends shimmering in a gradient of silver and icy blue. A sky-blue bow decorated with white dots was pinned to the left side of her hair, lending her a touch of cuteness. Worry filled her azure eyes, set against her fair, delicate skin. This beautiful girl was actually my little sister?!

He'd just left his workstation and was riding his little electric scooter back to the dorm to enjoy a relaxing evening when a heavy truck had sent him flying. After that, he'd only remembered being trapped inside a mass of silvery-white sludge, unable to move. When he opened his eyes, he'd become the person he was now.

Before he could fully sort out what was going on, thirteen years of Xiao Hongchen's memories flooded into his mind.

At five, his fingers had trembled when he first touched an engraving knife. At six, he'd awakened a divine beast Martial Soul, the Three-Legged Golden Toad, with innate full Soul Power. His grandfather had patted his head and said, "That's my grandson." He'd acted unimpressed, but afterward he'd spent ages grinning at himself in the mirror. At seven, he'd stayed up all night, thrilled after crafting his first Soul Tool by himself.

He'd been so proud, too proud to ever back down to anyone. So stubborn that once he'd set his sights on an opponent, he'd fight to the bitter end. He could have become the brightest star of his generation.

But he'd pushed himself too hard.

After Huo Yuhao defeated him, that once arrogant genius had twisted all his resentment into a single obsession: I'll win it back. It wasn't that he couldn't accept losing. He simply couldn't lose. His pride wouldn't let him bow his head, wait, or admit that he'd become a stepping stone for Huo Yuhao.

The cruelest part was that he'd staked his future on getting a fair fight against Huo Yuhao, only for fate to deny him even the chance to face him. Under the Martial Soul Fusion Skill—Dragon's Roar of Fate—of Wang Qiu'er and that cheater, he'd been utterly defeated. Protecting his younger sister had left all four limbs shattered and his internal organs badly damaged.

Xiao Hongchen felt a dull ache in his heart.

Was he grieving for that proud boy, the one who made you ache for him?

"...Old Xiao."

He called out in his heart. It wasn't a judgment of a character from the original story; it was like calling out to a friend he'd known for a long time.

Since fate had given me this chance to live your life, I'll carry on with your Martial Soul, your talent, and the road you hadn't finished walking. The victories you wanted but never won, I'll win for you. The things you wanted to prove but never got the chance to, I'll prove for you.

I'll take your pride with me. I won't let your regrets happen again.

At last, Xiao Hongchen's mind settled. He closed his eyes and sensed his body.

His Soul Power flowed smoothly, and his meridians were unobstructed. Level forty-six, just as he remembered.

Let's try releasing my Martial Soul first.

Two yellow and two purple Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet. Golden light gathered behind him, and the phantom of a Three-Legged Golden Toad slowly appeared. A golden energy leg poked out from behind it.

"..."

Xiao Hongchen looked down, the corner of his mouth twitching.

At least it was an energy limb, not a real one. Otherwise, every time he released his Martial Soul, he'd ruin one trouser leg. They might as well rename him from "the Sun Moon Empire's once-in-a-millennium genius" to "the Sun Moon Empire's genius who flashes his butt every time he fights."

Just as he was about to withdraw his Martial Soul, a violent burst of spiritual power erupted from deep within his brain.

Xiao Hongchen froze.

Then the world unfolded before his eyes.

The curve of the curtains billowing in the breeze, the faint hum of electricity inside the wall lamp, the number of times the Soul Tool fan rotated each second—all the information poured into his mind at once. Before his consciousness could even react, his brain had processed every detail.

This was the Brain Martial Soul. His senses had grown sharper, and his thoughts now raced faster than his conscious mind.

There was no dizziness, no loss of control. It was as though his brain had been built to process this much information, and he'd simply been looking at the world through a blindfold all this time.

Now the blindfold was off.

Xiao Hongchen's lips twitched.

It seemed that some change brought about by his transmigration had awakened a Second Martial Soul: a spiritual-type Body Martial Soul, the Brain.

The Brain Martial Soul should be on par with Huo Yuhao's, or perhaps an even higher-grade Body Martial Soul. You could tell from Vina, the Heaven Dou Empire princess who possessed the same Martial Soul and had achieved a Silver Second Awakening.

Just then, a deeper instinct urged him to turn his attention inward.

There was a silvery-white world.

The Sea of Consciousness. He hadn't expected awakening the Brain Martial Soul to come with the benefit of opening a Sea of Consciousness!

A silvery-white liquid spread beneath his feet, still as a mirror. When he breathed, ripples stirred on its surface. When he thought, the ripples took direction.

At the deepest point of the Sea of Consciousness, a mass of gray light hovered.

It floated at the edge of that silvery-white world, breathing.

With every contraction, it drew in wisps of silvery-white air. With every expansion, a nearly tangible sense of death spread outward.

Xiao Hongchen's pupils contracted slightly.

Not out of fear. He recognized the gray light.

Electrolux! The Holy Necromancer. The Undead Scourge that had swept across the Holy Demon Continent.

He was here. Inside Xiao Hongchen's mind.

Xiao Hongchen stood in his Sea of Consciousness, gazing across the distance at the dead gray light.

After a long silence, he smiled.

"...I see."

He didn't approach the gray light, nor did he try to wake it. It wasn't time.

"Please take care of me."

His consciousness returned to reality.

Xiao Hongchen withdrew his Twin Martial Souls and felt the new power deep in his brain. Releasing his Second Martial Soul left no outward trace. The radiance of the Three-Legged Golden Toad was bright enough to conceal any abnormality on a spiritual level.

Safe. Good.

"Dream, what exactly made me pass out for a whole week? I only remember a black crack suddenly appearing in the sky above Ming Capital, and then nothing." Xiao Hongchen spoke of the original owner's last memory.

The silver-haired girl beside the bed knitted her brows slightly as she recalled what had happened.

"The crack suddenly widened and spread across the entire sky. Then a silvery-white beam of light descended and engulfed you. After that, a stream of black air drilled into your head along the beam... Brother, are you really all right now? Did those two forces affect you in any way?"

He didn't know what had torn open the space-time rift. He didn't know why the silver beam had chosen him, either. All he knew was that the light had wrapped around his soul and sent it crashing from Blue Star into the Douluo Continent, where it had finally landed in this body.

And Electrolux had probably been swept over from the Holy Demon Continent through the rift above Ming Capital. As his remnant soul drifted, the beam of light had drawn him in, and he'd ended up inhabiting Xiao Hongchen's Sea of Consciousness.

One body, three origins.

What was this, a buy-one-get-one-free deal?

He just didn't know whether this great upheaval had attracted the attention of the Divine Realm.

Never mind. That wasn't something I need to worry about right now.

He had a spiritual-type Body Martial Soul.

Then what about the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm...

Was there still time?

He calculated the timing in his head. He was thirteen, and the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament was a year and a half away. The original story should have just begun.

Yeah, there should still be a chance.

"Nothing feels wrong for now." Xiao Hongchen smiled, stretched his limbs, and changed the subject. "Dream, has Shrek Academy... started classes?"

"Huh?" Meng Hongchen paused, suspicion flickering in her azure eyes. "Brother, why are you asking about that? You've always looked down on Shrek. Even if you really wanted to study there, you couldn't. Shrek has never liked the Sun Moon Empire. They wouldn't accept you."

Study at Shrek? Compete with five hundred people for one toilet?

"Shrek Academy? Just a bunch of relics from a bygone era." Xiao Hongchen scoffed. "The age of Soul Engineers is coming. This will be our era! Those Soul Masters who cling to their Martial Souls and stubbornly refuse to change will be swept into the dustbin of history.

He paused, his expression growing serious.

"I just wanted to check the date... It matters a lot to me."

Meng Hongchen thought it over, then blinked.

"I think classes started around the time you passed out. I'm not sure of the exact date, though."

...I'm screwed.

Xiao Hongchen sighed inwardly.

Going by the timing, the disturbance above Ming Capital had probably happened shortly before Huo Yuhao encountered the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. That was also why Electrolux had been drawn over.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, the Ice Empress, the million-year Wisdom Soul Ring... It looked like he'd completely missed out on the greatest opportunities that originally belonged to Huo Yuhao.

But maybe that wasn't a bad thing.

Huo Yuhao was still the fated child favored by God King Tang, while Xiao Hongchen was only a stepping stone on his path to growth. As long as Electrolux didn't reveal himself, Xiao Hongchen should be safe for now.

"I see. Got it." Xiao Hongchen smiled warmly at his younger sister. "I'm fine now. You've been looking after me for so long, so go get some rest."

Meng Hongchen only gave a little snort, the corners of her mouth lifting.

"Hah? Don't flatter yourself! I just happened to come by at the time!"

"Sure, sure. I know." Xiao Hongchen smiled as he got up and gently ushered his sister toward the door.

"Anyway... I'm back."