Recruitment

"Your parents are dead, and there's no one left at home. Living alone isn't easy. Spirit Hall has always cherished talent. With talent like yours, you shouldn't be buried in the slums. Tell me, are you willing to join Spirit Hall?"

Every word he spoke rang with conviction.

"If you nod, then from this day onward, Spirit Hall will provide all your cultivation resources—soul rings, soul bones, teachers. I will personally arrange them for you. With your aptitude, you will surely become a Soul Sage within ten years, and a Title Douluo within twenty."

That was no small promise.

Cardinal Salas had overseen the Heaven Dou City Spirit Temple for many years and had seen countless geniuses. In the past decade, only a handful had been worthy of his personal recruitment.

Yet he had never before directly promised cultivation resources, much less hinted that he would arrange soul bones as well.

Before his voice had even faded, Xue Qinghe, who had been silently standing to the side, spoke up.

"Your Eminence."

There was an authority in Xue Qinghe's voice that could not be ignored.

He stood with his hands behind his back, his moon-white robes making him seem even more aloof and ethereal.

"This child is from Heaven Dou City. His household registration is in Heaven Dou City, and his parents were citizens of the Heaven Dou Empire. By all rights, he should attend the Heaven Dou Imperial Junior Soul Master Academy."

He turned to Li Hanche and smiled gently.

"The Heaven Dou Royal Academy can provide you with cultivation resources no less generous than Spirit Hall's. A genius like you should not be monopolized by any one side; you should have room for broader choices. Am I right?"

Salas's expression darkened after hearing this.

"Your Highness, that is not quite right. The spirit awakening ceremony was conducted in my Spirit Temple. By continental convention, Spirit Hall has priority in recruiting children who awaken their spirits at Spirit Hall. Besides..."

He rose to his feet and met Xue Qinghe's gaze, neither servile nor overbearing.

"Besides, this child possesses a top-tier mutated martial spirit and Innate Full Soul Power. If you place him in your Heaven Dou Royal Academy, can those high-and-mighty noble students tolerate a child from the slums? I do not wish to see such a fine sapling ruined by your aristocratic ways."

His words were utterly blunt, striking directly at the sore point of the Heaven Dou Empire's noble system.

Xue Qinghe's smile remained unchanged, though his eyes grew slightly colder.

"Your Eminence worries too much. Though the Heaven Dou Royal Academy is an academy for nobles, it also has special admission quotas specifically for talented commoners. Since I have spoken, I will naturally arrange everything for him. As for the attitudes of those noble students..."

He lightly brushed at dust that did not exist on his sleeve.

"A big fist is the only hard truth. With his talent, it will not be long before those noble students can only look up to him instead of excluding him."

The two traded barbs, their words concealing sharp edges. Neither was willing to yield even half a step.

The atmosphere in the room became tense.

The young woman had already retreated into a corner, scarcely daring to breathe.

When had a mere awakener like her ever seen such a scene?

The crown prince and a cardinal were arguing red-faced over a child from the slums. No one would believe it if told.

Yet Li Hanche, standing at the center of the storm, had another burst of golden light explode in his mind.

"Ding! Detected that the host is facing an important choice. [Fate's Forking Path] choice mission activated."

"Current situation: Xue Qinghe, Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, and Salas, Cardinal of Spirit Hall, have both extended recruitment invitations to the host."

"Please choose one of the following three options. Time limit: one incense stick."

Three options appeared in his mind, gleaming with golden light.

[Option One: Join the Heaven Dou Royal Academy]

"Accept Xue Qinghe's recruitment and enroll in the Heaven Dou Imperial Junior Soul Master Academy. Reward: one cultivation method."

"Note: It is good to have a great tree to lean against. Xue Qinghe is deeply calculating, but he is fairly impartial and at least will not treat you poorly. But as for those noble students at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy... good luck."

[Option Two: Join Spirit Hall]

"Accept Salas's recruitment and join Spirit Hall. Reward: movement technique Treading Snow Without Trace."

"Note: Spirit Hall, the continent's number one Soul Master faction, has abundant resources and professional instructors. Though old Salas has a foul temper, he is genuinely willing to spend heavily on juniors he values. But his relationship with the Heaven Dou Empire... weigh it yourself."

[Option Three: Join Neither]

"Reject recruitment from both sides and maintain an independent identity. Reward: permanent title [Orphan]."

"Title effect: The title will hang above the host's head and be visible to all living beings on the Douluo Continent."

"Note: Are you sure you want to be an orphan on the Douluo Continent? Aren't you already one? Never mind, then."

After reading the three options, Li Hanche nearly cursed out loud on the spot.

Was this trash system obsessed with titles or something?

Last time it had been [Coward]; this time it was [Orphan]. Each one was more ridiculous than the last.

He was already an orphan, yet the system had specifically given him an [Orphan] title. Wasn't that just rubbing salt in the wound?

He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and began rapidly assessing the situation before him.

There was not much difference between the rewards for Options One and Two—one was a cultivation method, the other a movement technique, and both were good things. But the issue was that this choice was not merely about obtaining a reward. It would determine which faction he belonged to in the future.

The Heaven Dou Empire, or Spirit Hall?

This was a matter of choosing sides.

And he knew better than anyone else in this room what earth-shaking changes Douluo Continent's future landscape would undergo.

Spirit Hall would become the Spirit Hall Empire, while the Heaven Dou Empire would be infiltrated until it was riddled with holes.

He remembered every one of those plotlines with perfect clarity.

So, let the show begin!

He lowered his head slightly, pressing his lips into a thin line as though making a difficult decision.

That expression was somewhat out of place on a six-year-old child, but paired with his patched old clothes and slightly frail frame, it only made him seem especially pitiful.

He raised his head and looked at Salas, his eyes reddening.

"Lord Bishop."

His voice was hoarse, as though he were holding back some emotion.

"Thank you for your kindness. You're a good person..."

Salas's brow twitched as a bad feeling rose in his heart.

"I often heard people in the slums say this was a good place. That you treated commoners well and didn't bully people."

Li Hanche paused there, as though recalling something.

"But..."

He raised his sleeve and wiped at the corners of his eyes. The sleeve was already bleached white from washing, and rubbing it across his face looked somewhat comical, but not a single person present could laugh.

"Heaven Dou City is my home. My parents may be gone, but they're buried in the mountains outside the city. If I leave, no one will sweep their graves for them."

After he said that, the entire room fell silent.

Salas opened his mouth, but swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

He had lived for over sixty years and had seen far too many children being fought over by various factions after awakening their martial souls.

Some had been ecstatic, some hesitant, some pushed forward by their parents, and some had shamelessly demanded terms.

But he had never seen anything like this.

A six-year-old child, standing in the Martial Soul Temple and facing a personal recruitment offer from a red-robed bishop, refusing because he needed to tend his parents' graves.