Two Great Kings

Before the branch hall of Spirit Hall in Nuoding City, over a hundred children around six years old had gathered, waiting for their martial souls to awaken. Some were dressed lavishly, clearly from distinguished families; others wore cheap clothes, obviously from poor households.

Despite their different backgrounds, every child's face was filled with excitement and anticipation, because this was the moment that would determine their future.

Yet fate always loved playing tricks on people. Not everyone had the aptitude to become a Soul Master; most would awaken useless martial souls.

I hope it's not a useless martial soul. I'm not Tang San. Cheng Xiao took a deep breath and entered the hall under the guidance of a Spirit Hall deacon.

Cheng Xiao understood the rules of this continent very well. A useless martial soul had no chance of turning things around. After finishing Douluo Continent in his previous life, he had found plenty to criticize. It was a textbook example of how "a person's fate is already decided."

Yu Xiaogang's claim that "there are no useless martial souls, only useless Soul Masters" was complete bullshit. If there were no useless martial souls, wasn't he saying that he himself was useless?

Tang San's Blue Silver Grass had originally been the Blue Silver Emperor, and he even possessed Twin Martial Souls. Wasn't Yu Xiaogang using a genius to prove that "useless martial souls can also become the strongest Soul Masters" a joke?

"Scythe, tool martial soul..."

"Burlap, tool martial soul..."

"Blue Silver Grass..."

"Rope, tool martial soul..."

"Gray Wolf, beast martial soul..."

Amid the deacons' indifferent voices, one child after another had their fate pronounced. Most had useless martial souls. Countless children walked out of the hall sobbing, but the deacons offered no comfort. They saw this happen every year and had long since grown numb to it.

At last, it was Cheng Xiao's turn. Standing at this fork in fate, even after living two lives, he could not help feeling nervous.

As he entered the center of the formation, Cheng Xiao felt some force awakening within him under the deacon's control. Yet when he spread open his hand, he found nothing in it. Instead, that mysterious power was surging toward his eyes.

"Hm? A mutated martial soul? Interesting." Seeing Cheng Xiao's eyes turn completely ink-black, the deacon said with some surprise, "Test your Soul Power."

The deacon was somewhat expectant. If his Innate Soul Power was decent, combined with a mutated martial soul, perhaps he might be selected to enter Spirit City.

"Level one..." But the next moment, the deacon was disappointed.

Level-one Innate Soul Power. Becoming even a Soul Grandmaster would likely be difficult. What a pity.

"Next!" The deacon immediately called for the next child.

Meanwhile, Cheng Xiao was pushed out of the formation by the excited child behind him, who took his place at its center. Cheng Xiao stood there blankly for a while. Others merely thought he could not bear the blow and paid him no attention.

But no one knew that a raging storm was churning in Cheng Xiao's heart, impossible to calm.

Within his consciousness, there were actually two martial souls!

And he knew both of them all too well. They were the Shadow King—Asben—and the Destruction King—Dragon Emperor Antares—from I Level Up Alone!

However, his two martial souls seemed to have developed a problem. Within his body, they were repelling each other with extreme intensity. The mysterious shadows had formed into a sphere, tightly sealing away the violent light dragon martial soul.

Within the Shadow Space, that terrifying giant dragon was crashing about madly, unleashing earth-shaking roars. Every roar sent ripples through the sphere of shadowy light, making Cheng Xiao's heart tremble in fear.

Cheng Xiao had no doubt that if it truly broke through the shadows' seal, that destructive power would rip him apart directly.

This was not a power he could control right now!

Fortunately, the Shadow King could subdue it, preventing Cheng Xiao from suffering backlash from his own martial soul.

Still, the conflict between the two great martial souls meant he could only use a tiny fraction of the shadows' power. In a sense, this also counted as a malignant mutation of his martial soul, which was why his Innate Soul Power was insufficient.

But if he could find a way to resolve the conflict between the two martial souls and strengthen his body until it could withstand the Power of Destruction, he would be able to completely unleash the Shadow King and the Destruction King.

The Shadow King... it's actually the Shadow King. Doesn't that mean I can build a Shadow Legion in the future? The more happily Tang San fights, the larger my legion will become.

With that thought, Cheng Xiao raised his head and strode proudly out of Spirit Hall. There was not the slightest hint of dejection on his face; instead, excitement gleamed in his eyes.

Those who did not know the truth saw how refreshed he looked and assumed he had awakened some extraordinary martial soul. Once they asked around and learned it was merely a mutated martial soul with only level-one Innate Soul Power, a burst of laughter immediately erupted.

"Hahaha! So he only has level-one Soul Power. Looking at him, I thought he had Innate Full Soul Power."

Cheng Xiao did not hear the mockery behind him. Even if he had, he would not have cared.

"100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a ten-kilometer run!"

That very day, Cheng Xiao set a training plan for himself. Although he did not have Sung Jinwoo's leveling system, he was still extremely strict with himself. Only by building his body to its limits without cutting corners could he more quickly complete the liberation of his Twin Martial Souls.

Cheng Xiao was still a child, and this level of training was tremendously difficult for him. By the end, he was practically inching toward the finish line, only barely completing the training plan at sunset.

The next day, his entire body hurt so badly that he could not even stand up. Without a Healing Soul Master, it would be difficult for him to maintain high-intensity training over the long term.

"I still need to find a good academy." Cheng Xiao sighed.

"Luckily, I'll be able to enroll in a Junior Soul Master Academy in a few days."

Dragging his aching body upright, Cheng Xiao began training other muscle groups once more...

A few days later, Cheng Xiao grimaced as he headed toward the Junior Soul Master Academy to enroll, his steps trembling.

Nuoding City had only one Junior Soul Master Academy. Cheng Xiao could not possibly attend an academy in another city, so he naturally had no choice but to enroll at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

"What are you here for?" As soon as Cheng Xiao arrived at Nuoding Soul Master Academy, before he had even entered, the gatekeeper noticed him and barked with a frown.

"I'm here to enroll. This is my martial soul certificate." Cheng Xiao handed over the certificate in his hand.

"A mutated martial soul, Black Pupil? Level-one Soul Power? Tch, and you think you can become a Soul Master?" The gatekeeper took the certificate, scoffed after reading it, and could not help mocking him inwardly.

Still, he knew Cheng Xiao had paid tuition and was not one of those miserable work-study students.

Though he looked down on him, he was not about to stop him. After returning the certificate, the gatekeeper opened the gates, waved impatiently, and said, "Go in."

Cheng Xiao glanced indifferently at the gatekeeper without giving it much thought. People stepping on the weak and currying favor with the strong was only human nature. He was not Tang San, who treated every little offense as a reason someone deserved to die.

Without declaring anything like "thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river," Cheng Xiao walked into the academy, putting his certificate into his backpack as he went.

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, a dark shadow blocked out the sunlight. A tall man appeared right in front of Cheng Xiao.

Unable to dodge in time, Cheng Xiao crashed straight into him. Because of the excessive training over the past few days, he could not hold himself steady and lost his balance, landing on his backside.

"Are you all right?" The tall man held out a hand.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Thank you, Teacher." Cheng Xiao grimaced as he used the man's hand to stand up.

"Teacher? I'm not a teacher at this academy. A person only has one teacher in their life; only if you sincerely take me as your master can you call me that." The man shook his head. "Everyone else calls me Grandmaster. You can call me Grandmaster too."

Cheng Xiao froze. This was Yu Xiaogang? He looked completely different from his anime depiction. Sure enough, appearances could not be trusted completely. After all, those were just 3D simulations, so the differences were bound to be considerable.

"You're here to enroll, right? I'll take you..." Yu Xiaogang picked up Cheng Xiao's certificate from the ground. Upon opening it and taking a look, he subtly changed the words that had reached his lips. "The registration office is over there. Don't go the wrong way."

As he spoke, he stuffed Cheng Xiao's certificate into his backpack, dusted off the backpack, then calmly handed it back to him without blushing or missing a beat.

What the hell? You can do that?

Cheng Xiao was stunned. He had clearly heard the words "I'll take you." He should have meant to say "I'll take you there," right? Right?

I originally wanted to write a system like the one in I Level Up Alone, but considering that many people do not like system novels, I removed it. Instead, I wrote the protagonist as setting his own training plans.

It is a little unreasonable, but it should be better than a system descending from the heavens like some mechanical god. Please bear with it; I will try to make the later developments more reasonable.

Also, the skill Stand Up will appear in Chapter 17.