A small town somewhere in the western part of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Luo Chen was helping his mother sort the clothes she had finished sewing. His mother was the best tailor in town.
"Mom, these few pieces are Aunt Zhang's, right?" Luo Chen asked as he sorted through them.
Lin Xiaomei replied, "That's right. Xiao Chen, take them over to Aunt Zhang's. On your way back, buy some vegetables at the market, and some meat too. Your dad's coming home today, so let's have something nice!"
"Okay, Mom. Got it!"
Luo Chen casually grabbed a flatbread and dashed out. He quickly delivered the clothes to Aunt Zhang's house. Then, instead of going to the market for groceries, he turned and headed for the seaside.
Standing on a reef, he gazed out over the sea. Their village was by the ocean, so there were naturally plenty of Sea Soul Masters, but Luo Chen wasn't one of them.
He raised his right hand. A flash of light passed, and a strange spherical object appeared.
A Gulu Ball! This was Luo Chen's Martial Soul. He couldn't help feeling speechless as he looked at the Martial Soul he'd awakened. Wasn't this the item used to catch Pokémon in the Kingdom of Locke from his previous life?
After putting away the ordinary Gulu Ball, he flipped his hand, and another appeared: a crimson ball crowned with a design resembling a king's crown.
It was a King Ball, with a 100% chance of catching its target! Back then, he hadn't had the money to buy VIP membership, so getting his hands on a King Ball had been incredibly difficult.
But how was he supposed to use this King Ball now? Actually, what he wanted to ask was how to use his Gulu Ball Martial Soul! Was he supposed to go catch Soul Beasts with it?
"Damn you, Di Tian! I actually failed!" A sinister presence hurtled in from the horizon. It was inconspicuous, yet carried an oppressive force.
Anyone who could make out his true form would recognize him as a Soul Beast of the Evil Eye Clan.
But his true identity was the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign from the Evil Demon Forest—the Evil Emperor, ranked second among the Ten Great Soul Beasts, with a cultivation base approaching eight hundred thousand years.
As for why he was in such a sorry state, it all went back to the nearly million-year-old Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. To Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts like them, who had to endure tribulations, it was an unparalleled treasure. Obtaining the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm might let them break through the million-year bottleneck and become gods in one bound!
Though he had grievously wounded Di Tian with the Light of Time and Space, he himself had also suffered severe injuries and had no choice but to return to the Sun Moon Continent to recover.
Just as he was about to leave the territory of the Douluo Continent, he suddenly sensed a peculiar fluctuation in Soul Power. It carried the Mental Attribute, as well as the attribute of time and space—very similar to his own!
Luo Chen had no idea that an eye in the sky was watching him. And yes, it was an actual eye!
The Evil Emperor carefully examined Luo Chen's Soul Power attributes and Martial Soul. An idea took shape in his mind.
Humans didn't have to undergo tribulations. He didn't want to cultivate anew, but possessing this human's body was still an option. It had been a long time since he'd encountered a being so compatible with him!
Even if he failed, he wouldn't lose anything. At worst, he could strip this human of his special Martial Soul and use it himself. Perhaps it would deepen his understanding of the laws of time, space, and the Mental Attribute!
Once the Evil Emperor had made up his mind, he acted at once, unleashing the sinister aura that belonged to him alone.
At the same time, Luo Chen was crushed beneath that evil aura. He struggled to lift his head, only to meet a wicked, enormous eye!
The Evil Emperor was holding back. He feared accidentally crushing the human before him into dust. Of course, a mere ant who wasn't even a Soul Master posed no threat to him.
He watched Luo Chen with interest and said, "Human, you seem rather unusual!" He could clearly sense the powerful laws of time and space contained in the strange Martial Soul in Luo Chen's hand.
An eye? Luo Chen thought. There was only one race in the Douluo World that looked like this—the Evil Eye Clan! The Evil Eye Clan was the race of the Evil Emperor, who ranked second among the Ten Great Soul Beasts!
And this Evil Eye could talk! That meant it was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!
At that thought, Luo Chen's heart sank. Was his journey through the Douluo World going to end before it even began?
"Human, don't be afraid. This Emperor won't kill you. I only want to ask what kind of Martial Soul that is."
But Luo Chen's mind was racing. He didn't want to die like a helpless fool. Not going to kill him? He didn't believe that. And hadn't the creature just said "This Emperor"? There was a good chance this was the Evil Emperor himself!
But shouldn't the Evil Emperor be across the vast sea, on the Sun Moon Continent? Why had he come to the Douluo Continent? What there could have drawn him here?
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm! In an instant, Luo Chen figured it out: the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm imprisoned by Di Tian in the Star Dou Great Forest!
So the Evil Emperor had just fought Di Tian—and lost, suffering grave injuries in the process!
Which meant the Evil Emperor had lost health!
Exactly!
A possibility occurred to Luo Chen, and a glimmer of hope rose within him.
The King Ball had a 100% chance of catching its target, as long as that target had been injured!
Either way, he was going to die! He might as well take a chance!
Luo Chen forced himself to stay calm. "Honored Soul Beast, my Martial Soul is called the Heaven Swallowing Ball. It contains the power to swallow the heavens. They say that if it's cultivated to the utmost, it can swallow the sky!"
The Evil Emperor sneered. Swallow the heavens? What an exaggeration. Even he, an eight-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast, wouldn't claim he could swallow the sky. But judging by its name, this strange Martial Soul really did contain the laws of time and space!
"Honored Soul Beast, would you like a closer look? Here, take it!" While the Evil Emperor was thinking, Luo Chen did the unexpected and tossed the King Ball in his hand directly at him. The Evil Emperor paid it no mind. A puny human...
The instant the King Ball touched one of his tentacles, time and space seemed to freeze! Even the mighty eight-hundred-thousand-year-old Evil Emperor couldn't move at all!
A powerful suction force suddenly surged from the strange ball in front of him! The next moment, his vision went black, and he found himself in another space!
He tried to unleash his full cultivation base and break free of this space's restraints, only to find that his entire cultivation base had vanished! He had only the strength of a Hundred-Year Soul Beast!
"Where's my cultivation base?!" the Evil Emperor roared furiously. How could he have been fooled by an ant? And taken such a colossal fall, at that!
Luo Chen had no time to pay attention to the Evil Emperor trapped inside the Gulu Ball!
He was nearly bursting from the rampant Soul Power flooding his body! After all, the Evil Emperor was an eight-hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast!
Fortunately, he had the King Ball. It absorbed nearly all of the Evil Emperor's Soul Power, leaving only a portion for Luo Chen to absorb. In effect, the King Ball was using the Evil Emperor's own cultivation base to suppress him.
(Evil Emperor: What kind of underhanded trick is this?)
As time ticked by, dusk fell. Six hours had passed, and evening had come after a full day.
Luo Chen finally opened his eyes. A flash of purple gleamed in his pupils, and a Soul Ring, red-purple with a hint of gold, slowly rose from beneath his feet!
Luo Chen thought with amusement, Now that's what you call a mechanic!
Before you continue