The Starting Point of an Ordinary Person

Su Yuntao took a deep breath, calming the turmoil in his heart stirred up by the awakening of "Innate Full Soul Power Blue Silver Grass."

He glanced at the two remaining children, Ning Chuan and Ning Xiaohe, and inexplicably felt somewhat more relaxed.

It seemed that all the fortune of Holy Soul Village had ultimately been claimed by the child named Tang San alone.

The rest would most likely just go through the motions, after which he could pack up and return to Nuoding City.

At the thought of Nuoding City, Su Yuntao's heart warmed, and Sisi's graceful figure and captivating smile seemed to appear before his eyes.

Once this mission was over, he would have a few days off again. Perhaps he could invite Sisi to sit at the newly opened teahouse in town...

Thinking of such pleasant things, the lines of Su Yuntao's somewhat fierce face, still altered by Martial Soul Possession, seemed to soften.

Fortunately, Ning Chuan was fully focused on his own awakening and had no way of knowing the rich inner thoughts of this Soul Grandmaster. Otherwise, he truly might not have been able to stop himself from cursing inwardly, "Simps get no house!"

"All right, it's your turn." Su Yuntao gathered his thoughts and turned his gaze toward Ning Chuan. His tone returned to its previous businesslike manner, carrying even a hint of urgency to finish the task.

To him, there was no difference between the second-to-last child and the last one.

Ning Chuan's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Although he had long been mentally prepared, and although he kept telling himself that this body's original owner was most likely just an ordinary nobody, when the moment truly arrived, fear of the unknown and a lingering, absurd hope still coiled around him like vines.

Taking a deep breath, Ning Chuan stepped into the awakening formation arranged from six black stones.

The stone floor beneath his feet was cold, and the air still carried the faint traces of Soul Power from before. In particular, the dazzling golden glow from Tang San's awakening seemed not to have fully faded.

He stood still, raised his head, and looked at Su Yuntao, who had already dismissed his Lone Wolf possession but still had faint ripples of Soul Power around him.

"Close your eyes and feel carefully." Su Yuntao's voice was calm and flat. He extended a finger, its tip wreathed in a faint white glow—his Soul Power.

As Su Yuntao pointed, a gentle stream of Soul Power carrying a guiding force instantly flowed into the formation.

Buzz...

The six black stones lit up once more, releasing a hazy golden radiance that enveloped Ning Chuan.

Ning Chuan obediently closed his eyes and focused entirely on sensing it.

It's here!

A warm current gently surged into his body, traveling along some strange path.

Inside his body, it felt as though something dormant had been lightly stirred by that external force and was beginning to awaken.

His right palm itched and heated slightly, as if something were struggling to emerge from it.

Yet the process... was utterly calm.

There was no earth-shaking pillar of golden light like Tang San's, not even anything comparable to the children before him who had awakened sickles and hoes.

Ning Chuan's heart sank bit by bit.

The last trace of unrealistic fantasy silently shattered like a bubble beneath sunlight.

The warm current receded, and the golden light faded.

"Hold out your right hand." Su Yuntao's voice sounded, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

Ning Chuan slowly opened his eyes and spread out his right hand as instructed.

There, resting quietly in his palm, was a slender, fragile little grass.

It had only two or three slightly curled blades and looked utterly unremarkable. It was almost identical to the Blue Silver Grass Tang San had awakened, except that it seemed even smaller and thinner.

"Blue Silver Grass. A useless martial soul. No Soul Power fluctuations." Su Yuntao took one look and pronounced the result without surprise, speaking so quickly that he could not even be bothered to offer another word of explanation.

He then picked up the crystal ball beside him and held it out. "Test your Soul Power."

Ning Chuan pressed his left hand against it.

The crystal ball showed no response. It remained dim and lifeless, like an ordinary glass sphere.

"No Soul Power. Next." Su Yuntao took back the crystal ball without even looking at Ning Chuan, then turned directly to Ning Xiaohe, the last one remaining.

The entire process was swift, efficient, and carried a matter-of-fact indifference.

Ning Chuan silently walked out of the awakening formation and stood to one side.

Lowering his head, he looked at the Blue Silver Grass swaying faintly in his palm, his feelings too complicated to describe.

Just as expected.

A transmigrator's benefits? They did not exist.

Exceptional talent? He had been thinking too much.

This was the naked reality—the reality for the vast majority at the bottom of Douluo Continent. They awakened a useless martial soul, possessed no Soul Power, could not cultivate, and were destined to live ordinary lives.

Was he disappointed? Of course.

But strangely enough, it was not as devastating as he had imagined.

Perhaps it was because, from the moment he awoke, Ning Chuan had constantly prepared himself for the worst. Or perhaps it was because...

The so-called Heavens Trash Recycling Station in his mind, which had only just bound itself to him and which he had not yet had time to examine closely, gave him a faint, ethereal confidence—one that was even somewhat laughable.

After all, could things get any worse than this? A recycling station sounded better than a Blue Silver Grass that could only be cut down by a sickle, didn't it?

While Ning Chuan's thoughts wandered, his younger sister Ning Xiaohe's awakening was also completed.

A slender plant martial soul appeared in the little girl's palm. It seemed to be a pale Little Wildflower, and the Soul Power testing crystal showed no reaction either.

"Another useless martial soul. No Soul Power." Su Yuntao announced flatly, then immediately began gathering the black stones and blue crystal ball from the ground. His movements were brisk, and he was eager to return.

Ning Xiaohe stared blankly at the inconspicuous little white flower in her hand. Then she looked up at the equally pitiful Blue Silver Grass in her brother's hand, and finally toward Su Yuntao's cold back and his utterly unconcerned movements.

The little girl's eyes reddened almost instantly. Crystal tears spun desperately in her eye sockets, while her small lips pressed tightly together as she forced herself not to cry aloud.

She did not yet fully understand what "useless martial soul" and "no Soul Power" meant, but Su Yuntao's undisguised indifference, along with the indistinct looks from the surrounding children—whether pitying or something else—made her clearly feel that this was something terrible, something deeply sad.

Ning Xiaohe timidly walked over to Ning Chuan, stretched out her little hand, and tightly gripped the corner of her brother's clothes, seeking her only source of support.

Feeling his sister's fear and disappointment, Ning Chuan sighed softly in his heart. He put away the Blue Silver Grass in his palm, took her cold little hand in his, and comforted her in a low voice, "It's all right, Xiao He. Your brother is here."

Su Yuntao did not care in the slightest about how the two children felt at that moment.

As far as he was concerned, the awakening mission in Holy Soul Village had completely concluded.

The only surprise—the Blue Silver Grass boy with Innate Full Soul Power—had already been recorded. It was a pity, but it had nothing to do with him.

All Su Yuntao could think about now was returning to the Nuoding City Spirit Hall Branch as soon as possible to submit his report, then going to see the goddess Sisi.