Yang Jian

Heaven Dou Empire, Weihai City, Yellow Fish Village.

On a cliff by the sea behind the mountain, a skinny, sallow-faced boy in coarse linen sat gazing out at the blue ocean. A vertical red birthmark lay between his brows.

"Spirit Hall's Soul Master should be coming to the village soon to help awaken our martial souls, right?"

Yang Jian let the faintly salty sea breeze blow over him, his little face filled with anticipation.

Six years ago, he had hit the jackpot and transmigrated here. At first, he had thought it was ancient times, only to later discover that this was actually the Douluo Continent.

In this life, his parents had been ordinary fishermen. They made a living by going out to sea, catching fish, and hauling them into the city to sell. Life had been extremely difficult; they wished they could spend one copper soul coin as two.

Still, they had barely managed to be happy.

But three years ago, when his parents went out to sea to fish and never returned, their sky came crashing down.

His older brother, Yang Jiao, had been only six years old then, yet despite having awakened with level 1 innate soul power, he had no choice but to shoulder the burden of supporting the family.

He gave up going to Weihai City's junior Soul Master academy as a working student.

He gave up the chance to possibly become a Soul Master.

Before dawn every day, he went to help the villagers with their work in exchange for food to support Yang Jian and their newborn younger sister, Yang Chan.

"I hope I have innate soul power too." Yang Jian lightly clenched his fists. "It doesn't have to be high. As long as it's level 1 like my brother's, if I work hard enough, I'll still have a chance to become a Soul Master!"

"Soul Masters can collect one gold soul coin from Spirit Hall every month."

"That could improve our lives tremendously!"

Of course, Yang Jian knew that the odds were far too small.

When he had first transmigrated here, he had once thought he was the chosen one. Even if he could not become a Titled Douluo, he had at least expected to live a prosperous life.

Reality had given him a vicious slap instead.

It would have been fine if his parents had both been Soul Masters.

But unfortunately, they were merely ordinary people without innate soul power.

His father's martial soul was a fish fork.

His mother's martial soul was a mutt.

They were both utterly trash, gutter-tier martial souls.

It was no exaggeration to say that Yang Jiao awakening level 1 innate soul power was already like smoke rising from the family graves.

After all, the Douluo Continent had a population in the hundreds of millions.

There were probably fewer than a hundred thousand Soul Masters altogether.

Unless something unexpected happened, he would most likely inherit one of his parents' martial souls.

But could he really possess soul power?

Yang Jian could not help recalling a certain theory master's famous saying.

There were no useless martial souls, only useless Soul Masters.

What utter bullshit!

Having lived in Yellow Fish Village for six years, he had naturally seen quite a few children successfully awaken their martial souls, but none had possessed more than level 1 innate soul power.

Not one of those children had failed to want to change their fate through cultivation. Who among them had not worked harder than Yu Xiaogang, who had gone to Notting City's junior Soul Master academy to freeload and stagnated at level 29 until he was fifty?

And in the end, hadn't they all simply hit a wall and returned home to inherit the family trade?

"Second Brother!"

Just then, a little girl with horn braids, a thin body, ragged clothes, and a beaming smile ran to the mountaintop and charged toward Yang Jian.

Yang Jian hurriedly stood and opened his arms to catch her. "Xiao Chan, what's wrong?"

"Grandpa Village Chief said the Soul Master has arrived, so he told me to come get you." Yang Chan blinked her innocent, wide eyes and rubbed her head against Yang Jian's chest. She had always loved being close to her second brother.

Someone from Spirit Hall was here!

Delighted, Yang Jian scooped up Yang Chan, who weighed barely more than twenty pounds, and raced down the mountain. Though he was only six, his childhood habit of exercising meant he did not find it difficult at all.

Before long, he arrived outside a wooden house in Yellow Fish Village.

Quite a few villagers had already gathered there to watch, along with three children waiting to awaken their martial souls. Including him, there were four.

"Xiao Jian." Old Jerry, the village chief, stood at the front of the crowd. Seeing Yang Jian's flushed face from running, he smiled and gestured for him to come over.

Yang Jian set Yang Chan down and told her to stand still obediently. Then he looked around.

He did not see his eldest brother, Yang Jiao.

He was probably still out working.

His heart grew a little heavier. He walked toward what might be his only chance in this life to change his fate, praying that he would awaken innate soul power.

After Yang Jian joined the other three children,

Old Jerry rubbed his hands together and looked ingratiatingly at the stern-faced middle-aged man in Spirit Hall attire before him, speaking respectfully.

"Lord Wang Hegui, these four are the children from Yellow Fish Village who meet this year's requirements."

"Mm. Come inside with me."

Wang Hegui gave a slight nod, glanced at the four obviously malnourished children, then turned and entered the wooden house behind him.

Yang Jian followed nervously.

Old Jerry and the other villagers waited outside.

Inside the wooden house, an awakening formation had already been set up with six awakening stones. A crystal ball sat on a wooden rack nearby.

"Stand inside."

"Remember, no matter what happens, don't be afraid. Hold out your right hand."

Wang Hegui had visited several remote villages that day and was exhausted, so he naturally had no pleasant expression on his face. He immediately pointed at the child at the front.

He only wanted to get this over with and go back early.

"Iron Fish, possess!"

Once the child stood in the center of the awakening formation, Wang Hegui gave a low shout. A white and a yellow soul ring appeared beneath his feet.

His body abruptly grew to three meters tall, scales emerged across his skin, and his face became somewhat ferocious.

The sight startled the children inside the wooden house.

Yang Jian knew this was martial soul possession.

Still, seeing it for the first time, he could not help being shocked.

"Don't be afraid. This is my martial soul, Iron Fish," Wang Hegui said. "If you awaken a beast martial soul and obtain your first soul ring, you can become like me too."

After that brief explanation, he began pouring soul power into the six awakening stones, only to be disappointed moments later.

"Martial soul: fishing net. Trash martial soul. No innate soul power. Next."

"Martial soul: seaweed. Trash martial soul. No innate soul power. Next."

"Martial soul: kitchen knife. Hmm, that barely counts as an attack-type tool martial soul, but no innate soul power. Next."

The first three children

only made Wang Hegui, who had already been depressed, even more so.

For five whole days, he had visited dozens of villages in a row. Forget awakening a top-tier martial soul—he had not even encountered anyone with level 1 innate soul power.

It seemed there was no hope for a year-end bonus.

Feeling utterly listless, he looked at the last child waiting to awaken a martial soul. He held no hope for him either and pointed at the awakening formation. "Stand inside."

At those words, Yang Jian walked into the awakening formation on his short legs and took a deep breath.

Please, let me have innate soul power.

Of course, it would be even better if he awakened a martial soul mutated from his parents' martial souls.

"Ha!"

Wang Hegui once again mobilized his soul power and poured it into the six awakening stones.

Buzz—

The six awakening stones lit up at once. Pale golden light rose from the ground and enveloped Yang Jian.

A warm, strange force immediately flowed into his body.

Dazzling radiance shot into the sky from the center of the wooden house.

At that moment, Yang Jian felt as though something was about to emerge from his hands. Shocked beyond measure, he directly held them out.

A strange weapon began to take shape in his right palm...