The Blind Douluo, You Didn't Lie to Me

Eastern border of the Heaven Dou Empire, Sea Soul Village.

Today was the day the village's children of the right age awakened their martial souls.

Ning Yuan waited in line for his awakening.

He was an orphan. His parents had gone out to sea to fish three years ago and never returned, and he had been taken in by the village chief.

At the moment, the other children were all excitedly discussing what their martial souls might be.

Ning Yuan, however, stood silently in the middle of the line, his bearing completely out of place among the children around him.

As it turned out, he had transmigrated here six years ago, and when he learned that this world was the world of Douluo, aside from excitement, what he felt more than anything was tension.

Because he had read the original novel.

He knew the entire story began with Tang San, and he also knew what kind of person Tang San was.

If the current timeline was already at the point where Tang San was about to become a god, then he would have no time to develop at all.

Having transmigrated all this way, if he didn't go against Tang San, he would feel wrong all over.

"I wonder what point in the timeline this is."

Ning Yuan murmured.

Soon, the deacon from Spirit Hall in charge of this awakening appeared.

"Hello, everyone. I am Su Yuntao..."

"Su Yuntao?"

The moment he heard that name, Ning Yuan immediately perked up.

That was the famous Blind Douluo!

On the stage, Su Yuntao did not notice him.

After introducing himself, he released his martial soul.

The familiar Lone Wolf martial soul.

"Now, come up one by one and awaken your martial souls according to my instructions."

With that, Su Yuntao called up the first child.

The child placed his hand on the awakening crystal.

The next moment.

"Martial soul: kitchen knife."

Then he tested the child's soul power.

"No soul power. Next."

After hearing that, the child walked back down with a miserable look on his face.

It was the next child's turn to go up.

"No martial soul. Next."

Another child went up.

"Martial soul: sea bowl. Rank-one soul power. Next."

Several children went up in a row, and the best among them was the one with rank-one soul power.

The chance of becoming a soul master was still far too low.

For a village to have one or two children in the same batch with both a martial soul and soul power was already pretty good.

Speaking of which, Ning Yuan's parents had actually been soul masters.

His father's martial soul was Octopus, and his mother's martial soul was Cuttlefish.

Both had innate rank-one soul power.

Yet even by the time the accident happened, neither of them had become one-ring soul masters.

After several villages in a row, there had not been any promising seedlings.

Su Yuntao, on the platform, was also getting a little impatient by now.

He wanted to finish this village quickly and hurry to the next stop.

Finally, it was Ning Yuan's turn to awaken.

He walked up onto the stage.

"Don't be nervous. Put your hand on it and try to sense any movement inside your body."

Su Yuntao recited the same unchanging spiel.

After Ning Yuan placed his hand on it, a warm current flowed from his palm into his body, traveling along his meridians through his whole body, tingling and numbing, as if something had awakened in his blood.

Suddenly, the awakening crystal emitted an unusually bright light.

It was stronger than anyone before him.

Su Yuntao's attention was also drawn by the anomaly.

Then Ning Yuan spread his palm and looked at the... blob before him with a complicated expression. Yes, it should be called a blob.

At that moment, the pitch-black, bumpy, jelly-like substance kept wriggling up and down in Ning Yuan's palm.

It made goosebumps rise all over anyone who saw it.

This was also the first time Su Yuntao had encountered such a situation.

He did not recognize this martial soul. Logically speaking, in a case like this, it should be registered and reported.

"Child, what is your martial soul called?"

Ning Yuan answered mechanically.

"Venom..."

That was right. This... blob of substance in Ning Yuan's hand was none other than a popular character from a certain comic in his previous life.

The symbiote, Venom.

As for how Ning Yuan knew that?

"Is this the outside world?"

In his mind, Venom's hoarse and bizarre voice rang out.

[Wow, so many people!]

[Wow, smells so good. I smell something really good.]

[I'm so hungry!]

From the moment the martial soul awakened, this pitch-black substance had not stopped talking in Ning Yuan's mind.

It was so noisy that Ning Yuan's nerves hurt.

With that nonstop chatter, it was definitely Venom.

"Shut up!"

Ning Yuan really could not take it anymore.

"What did you say?"

Su Yuntao was a little surprised.

Ning Yuan came back to his senses and realized he had let that slip out.

He quickly covered his mouth.

"Sorry, Deacon Su Yuntao, I wasn't saying that to you..."

"I'm sorry..."

Ning Yuan hurriedly scolded Venom in his heart.

[Settle down!]

[Why are you telling me to settle down?]

[Don't you like eating brains?]

[How did you know! Yes! I love eating brains! Fresh ones are best! So fragrant! Can you smell it? I can already smell that guy from the village next door's brai—"]

[If you don't shut up, then starting today, don't even think about eating anything.]

[?]

[Don't! That's my favorite brain! Don't stop me from eating it. I'll shut up, shut up, shut up! Happy now!]

[No eating brains!]

[...You're ruthless.]

Then...

his mind was finally quiet.

Ning Yuan let out a long breath.

The children beside him kept casting looks at Ning Yuan that said, You're awesome.

Even Su Yuntao dared to scold him? Ning Yuan, you were ruthless!

Su Yuntao stopped dwelling on it.

"You just said your martial soul is called Venom? That's rather fitting."

Looking at that lump of stuff that was obviously packed with deadly poison at a glance, Su Yuntao said as much.

"Then what type of ability does it have?"

Ning Yuan answered with some apology.

"It doesn't have any abilities itself."

Ning Yuan was not wrong to say that.

From a certain perspective, it really did not have any abilities itself.

"No abilities? If it doesn't have a fixed form, then it definitely doesn't possess attack power."

"And it doesn't look like a beast martial soul that can possess the body."

"Looking at it this way, this is a mutated useless martial soul."

"You're saying mine is a useless martial soul?"

After hearing that, Ning Yuan, agitated, grabbed Su Yuntao's hand.

Su Yuntao was caught a little off guard.

"That's right, yours is a useless martial soul!"

"But don't be too sad..."

"I'll borrow your auspicious words, Deacon Su Yuntao!"

Before Su Yuntao could even say his words of comfort, Ning Yuan excitedly held his hand and thanked him.

As everyone knew, Su Yuntao was known as the "Blind Douluo."

His ability was that as long as he thought your martial soul was useless, then in the future, at the very least, you would have no bottlenecks all the way up to Title Douluo. You might even surpass the limits of Limit Douluo and attain godhood.

And Su Yuntao had said that to him, didn't that prove he would have a chance to become a god in the future?

[He said I'm a useless martial soul? I'm the most dazzling guy among symbiotes, and you dare say I'm trash?]

[Calm down.]

[I can't calm down! I'm going to chew his head off!]

[You don't even have a physical body right now. Chew my ass!]

Ning Yuan's response left Su Yuntao completely at a loss.

No, I said you had a useless martial soul, so why were you thanking me instead?

This child must have been hit too hard. He had gone mentally unstable.

Su Yuntao hurriedly pulled his hand back.

"All right, go down. Next..."

"Wait, I haven't had my soul power tested yet!"

Ning Yuan hurriedly stopped him from calling the next person.

"What? I already said yours is a useless martial soul, and you're still hoping to have soul power?"

"Everyone else got tested. Test me too."

Ning Yuan still insisted.

"..."

"Test it!"

Su Yuntao said impatiently.

He thought to himself that not letting him test was leaving him some dignity. If he learned that his martial soul was useless and that he had no soul power on top of that, wouldn't he die on the spot?

Ning Yuan did not know what he was thinking at that moment.

He placed his hand on the soul power crystal.

The next second...

The crystal emitted a dazzling light.

Then...

Crack!

Though the sound was soft, it was especially clear at that moment.

"The crystal broke?"

"Impossible, right?"

Su Yuntao's mouth fell open in shock.

These were professional tools supplied by Spirit Hall. There was absolutely no problem with their quality.

But the fact was, it had shattered.

Could this child in front of him be born with full innate soul power?

No, even full soul power shouldn't do something like this, right?

Su Yuntao stared at Ning Yuan in disbelief, as if he were looking at some little monster.

Ning Yuan acted like a child who had done something wrong.

"Th-this won't make me pay for it, will it?"

"N-no."

Su Yuntao came back to his senses.

"A useless martial soul, but born with full innate soul power... maybe even more than full soul power."

"This... impossible... ah... my brain's about to grow wrinkles..."

"I have to report what happened here as soon as possible."

Thinking of this, Su Yuntao asked sincerely, "You..."

"Ning Yuan."

"Ning Yuan, are you willing to join Spirit Hall? Our Spirit—"

Before Su Yuntao could even finish his introduction, Ning Yuan agreed.

"Ah... what... you agreed?"

Su Yuntao had not caught up.

He had not even finished his pitch!

"Since you've agreed, Ning Yuan, after I report your information, if nothing unexpected happens, someone will come to pick you up in three days at the latest. And most likely, they'll be from the main hall."

Su Yuntao reminded him, "Handle your family affairs over the next few days. Once you join Spirit Hall, it'll probably be very hard for you to come back over the next few years..."

"My parents died long ago."

"...I really deserve to die..."

After hearing that, Su Yuntao felt deeply guilty.

Ning Yuan nodded, then put on a curious expression and asked, "Uncle, what year of His Holiness the Pope's rule is it?"

Su Yuntao answered proudly, "This year happens to be the sixth year of His Holiness the Pope's rule."

After hearing that, Ning Yuan immediately worked out what point in the original story they were at.

The sixth year of Bibi Dong's rule meant it had also been six years since Qian Xunji's death.

And Tang San had been born after Tang Hao hammered Qian Xunji to death, so he should only be around six years old now.

Right now was exactly the beginning of the plot. There was plenty of time, enough for him to develop.

None of the children after that had soul power.

That made sense. If every one of them had soul power, this village would be terrifyingly strong.

Because he was anxious to report Ning Yuan's situation as soon as possible, Su Yuntao finished handling things here and set off without stopping for even a moment.

As soon as Su Yuntao left, the people nearby crowded around.

They had all seen Su Yuntao's reaction just now. No matter what, there was no doubt about Ning Yuan having full innate soul power.

Their tiny fishing village had not produced a soul master for hundreds of years, and now that one had finally appeared, he was born with full innate soul power.

The village chief, Old John, tottered over, his face piled with smiles, his wrinkles like layer upon layer of pastry. "Congratulations, Ning Yuan. You're qualified to join Spirit Hall. When you make it big in the future, don't forget our village!"

The half-grown companions at the side also gathered around, chattering as they congratulated Ning Yuan.

In their understanding, being able to become a soul master was the highest glory.

Ning Yuan responded to each of them in turn. After all, over these three years, he could basically be said to have grown up eating from a hundred families' tables.

The villagers were simple and kind. If he became successful in the future, it would only be right to help them.

Just then, a middle-aged man in a straw hat, covered in blood, ran over from the distance.

"By the sea... sea soul beasts have come ashore..."

After saying that, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.