Foundation of Soul Tools: The Birth of Soul Guidance Engravings! Please Keep Reading! Please Vote!

What? Isn't it embarrassing for someone so grown-up to get beaten by his mother?

You laugh at Brother Hong for getting beaten by his mom, while Brother Hong laughs at you for not having a mom.

(Shrek Seven Devils: Curse us again!)

"Ah, I never blamed you."

Inside the dim wooden house, Chen Hong, hiding beneath the blankets, softly sighed at Ye Lingling, who was hugging him from behind and silently sobbing.

Chen Hong really wanted to tell Ye Lingling that it was just a family interaction game that the Old Chen Family had picked up in recent years. Look how badly it had frightened the poor girl.

Chen Hong did not know why, but he always felt that something was off with his brain. His thoughts kept running wild. His soul skill, Sage Time (Wasn't it called Mental Focus??), could temporarily suppress Chen Hong's somewhat abnormal mind, but blocking was worse than channeling. Chen Hong had to accept the manic "brainstorms" that came with his everyday life.

Chen Hong guessed that this might be related to his reincarnation. Perhaps he was someone who "should not exist" in this world. If he had not guessed wrong, Ning Lu had probably nearly miscarried back then, yet Chen Hong had somehow been born into this world.

The martial souls of this new world seemed to be products of the combined influence of soul and bloodline. The fact that Chen Hong's martial soul had manifested as Psychic Power showed just how terrible the circumstances of his rebirth had been.

Chen Hong did not know why he had been able to reincarnate. At the final moment of his previous life, he remembered activating some super-technological creation that could no longer be read. Using a battlefield-made, one-use Wormhole Bridge Star Ring, he force-jumped to the Swarm Homeworld, offering the silent, icy dark universe the brief yet dazzling light of a desperate fugitive's stellar annihilation, without a single reservation.

But Chen Hong could no longer remember why a "max-level repair soldier" who cherished his life so dearly had acted so bravely at the very end. It was as though... he no longer had anything left to lose.

"You just don't know that I'm always making Mother angry. Once you get used to it, you'll stop finding it strange."

Chen Hong felt that something might really be wrong with him. He seemed to especially enjoy taking the initiative to provoke Ning Lu into beating him. If he did not run from the mountains to the city to get beaten by Ning Lu at least once every month or two, he would feel unfocused and uncomfortable all over.

"Everything is a gradual process. Courage isn't something you gain overnight either. You have to experience things, you have to lose things, and only then can you suddenly become incredibly brave at some moment in your life."

Having received Chen Hong's comfort and forgiveness, Ye Lingling finally calmed the inexplicable panic in her heart. She silently used the Soul Power of her Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul to heal Chen Hong's internal injuries, burying her little head against his back without saying a word.

Yet after comforting Ye Lingling, Chen Hong himself suddenly froze, because he had suddenly remembered what he had lost in his previous life... What had turned him into that final desperate fugitive!

"Warning! Spatial fluctuations detected at Wormhole Bridge No. 4 in the Ovi Galaxy!"

"Swarm detected! Federation Seventh Combined Fleet, open fire! Hold on! The Second Fleet is about to complete its jump and reach the battlefield!"

"Wait! What is that?! Requesting support! Requesting support! An Alien Leviathan has been discovered in the Ovi Galaxy!!!"

"Retreat! Retreat! All remaining troops, make an emergency landing! Establish a ground defense line! Await support from Federation brother units!"

"It's been six months! Six months!! Support! I fucking need support!"

Beep! Beep!

Beneath the wreckage of an interstellar warship amid scorched earth and ruins, a repair soldier captain who had survived his 472nd high-intensity battle listened to the captain of the "Arc of Immortality" human resistance squad on Ovi 3 Terrestrial Planet furiously yelling into the interstellar communications console nearby. Smiling, he added another tally mark to his scarred pocket watch, then opened it to reveal a photograph of a man and a woman inside. He smiled and murmured softly:

"I survived again, Mom."

"Are you doing well back on Lan Jia, the homeworld?"

"Wait for me, Mom. I'll come back alive. I definitely will."

The next morning, Chen Hong slowly woke from his dream and opened his dull black eyes, staring blankly at the wooden ceiling.

Only after a long while, when he felt the vitality flowing through his body, did he slowly come back to himself.

He praised inwardly, As expected! The fact that Mother held back proves she still loves me! With Life Nectar and the Nine Heart Begonia working together, I recovered my mobility overnight!

But why was the blanket Mother prepared so heavy? It was almost crushing the breath out of me.

A trace of doubt rose in Chen Hong's heart. He subconsciously lowered his head and saw what seemed to be an extra silver-blue ball of fur on his chest.

"Fuck! A Plasma Bug Egg!!!"

Chen Hong's terrified scream instantly rang out above the Suspended Pot Medical Center that morning!

Bang! Bang!

When the gentle morning sunlight lit up all of Suotuo City, Chen Hong, carrying a small backpack, lowered the hat on his head slightly to cover the two dragon-horn buds that had suddenly mutated from his head that morning and were beginning to develop. Such immense fortune should not be flaunted; wealth must not be revealed to outsiders.

With the version 0.2 Soul Engine in his backpack, Chen Hong left the Suspended Pot Medical Center without looking back and headed for the Chen Family Ironworks, where that old man Chen Lin was.

After Mother's enlightening lesson, Chen Hong now had a deeper understanding of Soul Power and entirely new ideas for further optimizing the Soul Engine.

Chen Lin's Blacksmith Shop opened early. The moment he opened the door, he saw Chen Hong's sullen face as the boy headed straight inside. No one knew a son better than his father. With one glance, he could tell that the brat had definitely gotten a brutal beating from Ning Lu and was currently in a state of "Craftsman God Possession," so he could not be disturbed lightly.

Thus, Chen Lin did not pay Chen Hong much attention and simply let him head alone toward the private courtyard at the very back of the inner yard.

The brat's good in every way, but he always acts as if I owe him millions of Gold Soul Coins. He has none of that obedient little boy behavior he shows in front of his mother. Sigh.

As an adult, Chen Lin could actually tell that Chen Hong seemed to have an inexplicable dependence on Ning Lu. He was closer to Ning Lu, who beat him regularly, while Chen Lin himself—a gentle, refined, perfectly good father—did not seem to know how to get along with the boy.

Of course, Chen Lin had also noticed that Chen Hong himself seemed not to know how to get along with him either, so Chen Lin did not dwell on it. I call you brother, you call me father—let's just leave it at that. After all, he had no standing in the family anyway. Sob sob.

Chen Hong, who had dashed into the inner courtyard in the blink of an eye, took out all the ironworking tools from the small storeroom and began heating the forge and hammering iron.

He had thought of an entirely new use for Soul Guidance Mithril: the Intaglio Coating Method!

No one knew that the beginning of the Soul Tool era had actually originated from a "family beating."

Nor did anyone know what Chen Hong was doing now.

But later generations gave Chen Hong's Intaglio Coating Method an entirely new name:

Soul Guidance Engravings!