Background (Part 1)

After leaving the secret realm, Mo Lin headed for Holy Soul Village.

First, he had once promised Old Jack that he would return when he had time to visit;

Second, he wanted to ask Old Jack about his own background—or, more accurately, the origin of this body.

Like Tang San, Mo Lin had transmigrated into another body. From the moment his martial soul awakened, he had sensed that something was off. He had become the extra ninth child, which meant that in the original timeline, this ninth child should have died before the age of six. Yet during his six years in Holy Soul Village, he had never encountered any potentially fatal accident that required him to resolve with the cultivation techniques he practiced. In other words, when he had transmigrated into this world, the infant had already been close to death. Only after his soul entered the child's body did the child have a chance to survive.

Not wanting to waste time that could be spent training, Mo Lin decided to walk from Sunset Forest to Holy Soul Village. Along the way, he alternated between methods such as Thunder Arts, Qi Body Origin Flow, and Triple Inverse Life to travel, and including time for meals and rest, he arrived near Holy Soul Village in just five days.

After returning to the village, Mo Lin went to Old Jack's house and knocked on the door.

"Coming!"

Old Jack called out as he pulled open the door.

"Little Mo Lin! You actually came back!"

"Grandpa Jack, listen to yourself. Do I really seem that heartless?" Mo Lin said, tilting his mouth and rolling his eyes.

Old Jack smiled and waved his hand.

"Of course not. It's just that nearly a year ago, I heard that Spirit Hall had reformed its education system, allowing students three months each year to arrange freely. But you're the only one from Holy Soul Village to enter Spirit Hall, and you never came back to visit. I thought the reform was just a rumor!"

Mo Lin smiled as he helped Old Jack into the house.

"Grandpa Jack, I finally got the chance to enter Spirit Hall, so of course I had to cultivate diligently. I never expected it would make you overthink things. I'll come back earlier to see you in the future."

"No, no. Young people should spend more of their time and energy on studying and cultivation. Now that you've explained it, I understand. You don't need to change your own plans because of an old man like me," Old Jack said.

After chatting with Old Jack about everyday matters for a few minutes, Mo Lin got to the point.

"Grandpa Jack, there are some things I've never been able to figure out, so I wanted to ask you."

"You've already become a Soul Master. What could an old man like me possibly answer for you?" Old Jack thought Mo Lin was joking.

"How did I end up in Holy Soul Village? Why did you name me Mo Lin?"

The moment Mo Lin asked those questions, Old Jack suddenly fell silent.

Mo Lin's tone was solemn, his attitude resolute.

"Grandpa Jack, I truly want to know these two things, and I believe I have the right to know."

Old Jack looked at Mo Lin, knowing that he had to tell him today. Otherwise, Mo Lin would never let it go.

"I originally planned to tell you when you graduated from Spirit Hall at the age of twenty."

He then walked over to a floorboard, felt around for a moment, and lifted it. A box had been hidden beneath the floor.

Old Jack brushed off the dust on it and handed it to Mo Lin before beginning to tell him about his origins.

"One evening seven years ago, several woodcutters from the village found your mother after they had finished chopping wood in the mountains. At the time, she was holding you in her arms, and both mother and son were barely breathing. They hurriedly brought you back to Holy Soul Village, but unfortunately, your mother breathed her last just after arriving in the village. Not long after that, your breathing also gradually weakened until it almost disappeared.

"But no one expected that just when we thought both you and your mother had died, you miraculously moved. We checked you over carefully again and found that your breathing seemed to have improved. Although it was still very faint, the villagers did everything they could to save you.

"Afterward, we sorted through your mother's belongings and put them all in the box before you. Then we buried her near the sea of flowers beside the village. That little mound of earth is her grave. The answers to what you want to know are all inside. Take a good look, and once you're done, go pay your respects to your mother."

Mo Lin did not open the box immediately. Instead, he set it aside, knelt directly on the ground, and kowtowed once to Old Jack.

Old Jack hurriedly helped Mo Lin up.

"Little Mo Lin! What are you doing?"

"Grandpa Jack, this kneel and kowtow aren't only for you, but for everyone in the village. You all went to such lengths to save a stranger like me. You are all like parents who gave me life anew. Yet when I left a year ago, I said such things. I was truly too immature."

Although Mo Lin was not the "Mo Lin" of this world, since he had taken another person's body, he should bear everything that came with it. Moreover, he knew that even if his soul had been healthy, without cultivating any techniques, there was no way he could have survived in the body of an infant with such weak breathing. Without the help of Holy Soul Village's villagers, he would merely have died again within minutes.

After helping Mo Lin up, Old Jack patted his head and said earnestly.

"Good child, remember this: people don't need a reason to save others. We're not your parents who gave you life anew, either. None of us villagers have any great ambitions, so as long as you remember us after you achieve something in the future, and come back to visit often, that will be enough."

"Alright, Grandpa Jack." For the first time in six years, Mo Lin's eyes grew moist.

"A real man doesn't shed tears lightly. Take a good look at what your mother left you! Tang San's academy will be on break soon as well, and I need to prepare to pick him up," Old Jack said.

After Old Jack left, Mo Lin opened the box. Inside was a booklet, with the four large characters "Mo Family Genealogy" written on its cover. Opening the genealogy, he found a family tree on the first page. On the last row, he saw his own name.

Looking one generation above it, he found: father, Mo Di; mother, Yu Yuanling.

Mo Lin's hand trembled, and the genealogy fell straight to the floor.

"What is going on!? My mother's surname was Yu!"

Other than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he could not think of any other clan whose members bore the surname Yu. And this name—Yu Yuanling—differed by only one character from the name of the current Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan leader, "Yu Yuanzhen"!

But if his mother truly was the younger sister of the current Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan leader, then just who was his father? In the first original novel, there had never been a clan with the surname "Mo"!