Task Complete, Chaos Green Lotus

"Phew... phew... I... finally made it through!"

A slender, well-proportioned young man with delicate features and a resilience far beyond his years collapsed heavily beneath a sturdy oak tree.

His coarse cloth clothes looked as though they had been hauled from the water. Sweat streamed wildly down his cheeks, splattering onto the dead leaves below, while his chest heaved like a broken bellows.

The young man was named Bai Shu. He had been transported to this world six years ago.

When he first learned that this was Douluo Continent, Bai Shu had nearly broken down. Though he had been an orphan in his previous life, his parents in this life had been native villagers of Holy Soul Village. They had encountered bandits while working the fields years ago and both died, leaving him, a mere child, to struggle alone for survival.

As everyone knew, in the world of Douluo Continent, the martial soul a person awakened was almost entirely determined by their parents' bloodline inheritance.

One of his parents possessed the common Blue Silver Grass martial soul, while the other had a farm-tool sickle martial soul with no offensive power whatsoever.

Under normal circumstances, he would most likely awaken one of those two. Forget becoming a Spirit Master—even whether he would possess a trace of Innate Soul Power was uncertain.

Bai Shu had originally thought he would live out an ordinary life like any other commoner.

But when he was three years old, a turning point arrived.

A heaven-defying system called the [Task Editor] suddenly awakened in his mind!

The system's function was simple. Every time his strength rose by one major realm, he could edit a task himself, and the system would generate corresponding rewards according to the difficulty he set.

Of course, he could also do the reverse: choose a reward first, then let the system randomly generate a task.

In this world with its somewhat warped cultivation system, if one were to ask what mattered most, the answer would undoubtedly be the martial soul everyone possessed.

Thus, after gaining the system, Bai Shu immediately tried using all kinds of tasks to obtain a powerful martial soul capable of destroying heaven and earth.

It had to be said that the system was incredibly powerful. As long as he could complete the task, he could obtain nearly anything he wanted.

But the tasks...

If it were an ordinary martial soul, the tasks were easy enough. Even for high-grade martial souls, there was hope of completing them with enough effort.

But Bai Shu was a transmigrator with a cheat ability, and he knew about the turbulent future of Douluo Continent. How could he possibly be content with a mere high-grade martial soul?

When he tried setting a god-grade martial soul as the task reward, the system's tasks started becoming absurd.

Tasks such as absorbing a God King's life essence, obtaining three divine artifacts, or acquiring the inheritance of some deity nearly infuriated Bai Shu to death.

If he could crush a God King, why the hell would he need a martial soul? Wouldn't it be better to directly unify the God Realm?

Fortunately, as long as he did not accept a task, he could edit it again.

So, after several days of experimentation, he finally found a loophole in the system: broaden the reward range, remove the specific reward, and make it random.

Just like the task he had completed now.

After a brief rest, Bai Shu eagerly opened the system panel.

A pale blue screen, visible only to him, appeared before his eyes:

[Task: Complete one thousand consecutive days of high-intensity training. The daily training amount will depend on physical strength and will be updated by the system each day. (Completed)]

[Reward: Random god-grade martial soul.]

Looking back on the past three years, Bai Shu still felt lingering fear.

He had initially thought that so-called high-intensity training would at most mean sweating a little and getting tired. He had never imagined that the system's definition of "limit" was practically aimed at taking his life!

For the first three months, Bai Shu trained nearly every day until he fell asleep the moment he touched his bed. Even so, he rarely completed the daily training quota set by the system.

Only after three months did Bai Shu gradually adapt to this hellish training that pushed him to his limit every day.

At last, heaven did not disappoint those who worked hard. The day before his martial soul awakening, Bai Shu completed this system task.

"A god-grade martial soul... It may be random, but it can't possibly be bad."

"System, I want to claim my task reward."

Without the slightest hesitation, he had worked for three whole years. At this moment, there was nothing more important than swallowing the fruit earned through the blood and sweat of a thousand days and nights.

[ Ding. Congratulations on completing this task. You have received the reward: god-grade martial soul, Chaos Green Lotus. ]

As the system's cold yet heavenly notification sounded, Bai Shu instantly felt his spirits surge. An indescribable, strange warm current rushed through his limbs and bones like a roaring river and sea.

The exhaustion from training and the soreness in his muscles were completely swept away by that warm current in a single breath!

Not only that, Bai Shu clenched his teeth tightly. He felt his bones crackling loudly, while waves of unbearable tingling and itching rose from deep within his flesh.

He could clearly feel the density of his bones, the fibers of his muscles, and even the toughness of his internal organs frantically growing stronger at a terrifying rate! In an instant, they had become more than twice as strong as before.

He rolled up his trouser leg and saw that the scar left when he had fallen due to a momentary lapse in concentration had been pushed open by fresh flesh, revealing tender, fair skin beneath.

The sweat from his training also visibly darkened. Before long, a nauseating, foul stench spread outward from Bai Shu.

"Hiss... blegh... Is the Chaos Green Lotus really this powerful? Blegh..."

The changes to his body made Bai Shu involuntarily suck in a breath of foul air, but he had no mind to care about that now. He was completely stunned by his transformation.

After trying, Bai Shu discovered that he could not summon his martial soul.

In other words, these heaven-defying changes, comparable to cleansing his marrow and remaking his body, were merely an incomplete passive ability innate to the martial soul.

"Which version of the Chaos Green Lotus is this? Blegh... Forget it. I should go back and take a bath first."

There was more than one version of the Chaos Green Lotus. Whether in mythology, web novels, or fan creations, this supreme treasure had appeared in many stories.

The most famous was certainly the one from primordial myths that gave birth to Pangu, but Bai Shu was certain that his was not that heaven-defying treasure.

The reason was simple. At first, he had tried setting Pangu Axe martial soul as a task reward.

The system's notification at the time had stated that the world's energy level was too low to bear that reward.

He checked the system, but unfortunately, it gave no specific explanation. Bai Shu did not dwell on it.

He lightly tapped the ground with the tip of his foot.

With a muffled bang, the dead leaves on the ground exploded outward, and Bai Shu shot forward four or five meters like an arrow released from a bow. Even he was startled by his nimble physical abilities.

He quickly calmed himself and sprinted down the mountain path toward his home in the village.

"Grandpa, I'm back!"

The moment he reached the courtyard gate, Bai Shu shouted.

"Oh, Little Shu, you're finally back! It's almost dark. If you hadn't returned soon, Grandpa would have taken his cane to the back mountain to look for you!"

Old Jack was standing at the courtyard gate. When he saw Bai Shu, he immediately hurried over with his cane.

"What is it, Grandpa? Did something happen at home?"

Bai Shu was somewhat puzzled. He looked at Old Jack, who was dressed normally, then at the table in the courtyard laden with food. No matter how he looked at it, it did not seem as though anything had happened.

"You still have the nerve to ask? What did you promise me this morning? Tomorrow is your martial soul awakening day, and you still came back this late."

"Uh..."

Seeing Old Jack puffing his beard and glaring, Bai Shu awkwardly scratched his head.

But there was no way he could tell Old Jack about the task, so he could only shrink his neck and put on an obedient expression, as though he knew nothing at all.

"Hmph. Fine, I prepared hot water in the kitchen. Hurry up and wash yourself. Look at the state you're in. Anyone who didn't know better would think you fell into a latrine."

Old Jack did not particularly mind Bai Shu's smell.

Bai Shu often got himself filthy from falling and the like. Old Jack had worried at first, but after Bai Shu talked him into it, he simply let him do as he pleased.

"Hehe, thank you, Grandpa. I'll go right now."

Bai Shu took the opportunity to slip away. Ever since his parents had died in an accident, the village chief, Old Jack, had taken Bai Shu into his home and raised him. The two were like true grandfather and grandson, so Bai Shu had always indulged the old man's temperament, wishing only for this kind elder to enjoy a few more happy years in his old age.

Dinner in the village was simple, but because the next day was his martial soul awakening, Old Jack had unusually prepared some meat, allowing Bai Shu to eat his fill.

Late at night, all was quiet.

Bai Shu lay silently on his somewhat cold, hard wooden bed.

His anticipation for the martial soul awakening made Bai Shu, who had never suffered from insomnia before, unable to fall asleep for a long time as his heart pounded.