(Warning: Zombies have eaten your brain.)
(Protagonist's harem: Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Bai Chenxiang, Qian Renxue, Hu Liena, Bibi Dong, Meng Yiran, Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, Xue Wu, Shui Bing'er, Shui Yue'er, Huo Wu, Jiangzhu, Xue Ke, Tang Yuehua, Zhu Zhuyun, Ah Yin, Zi Ji, Snow Empress, Ice Empress, Gu Yuena, Dong Qianqiu, Wang Qiu'er.)
(The above harem is tentative and will be added to at irregular intervals.)
Holy Soul Village, early morning.
Sunlight pierced through the branches and leaves of the old locust tree at the entrance of the village, casting mottled spots of light on the ground.
Ye Hua stood under the tree and stretched heavily. One year since transmigrating to Douluo, and calculating the time, it's about time for me to go to Notting City to study, right?
Tsk tsk tsk, I really don't know how magnificent this kaleidoscopic Soul Master world is, but unfortunately it has nothing to do with me.
Ye Hua shook his head. His martial soul was a wooden stick, and his innate soul power was rank three.
Among the five children of appropriate age in Holy Soul Village this year, only he and Tang San awakened soul power and could guarantee entry to the Soul Master Academy.
Su Yuntao had made it very clear before leaving that between the two quotas in the village, both he and Tang San were on the list of work-study students.
As for Tang San, Ye Hua felt extreme disgust. A certain hypocrite, double-standard dog, fake saint, old blockhead, white-eyed wolf, stingy ghost, parasite, psycho... (10086 characters omitted here).
Yet Tang San hadn't provoked him right now.
Most importantly, he had no cheat!
Having merely lucked into awakening rank three soul power, with a martial soul that was still a trash wooden stick, how could he contend with a cheater?
The old saying went well: if you cannot afford to offend them, you can at least hide from them!
He wouldn't provoke Tang San, and Tang San wouldn't come looking for him. Once he graduated from the Junior Soul Master Academy, he would open a remedial soul master class to charge fees; living the high life wouldn't be bad either.
"Brother Ye Hua!" A crisp voice came from behind.
Ye Hua turned his head and saw a little girl with braided pigtails running over. "Brother Ye Hua, I heard you're going to the city to study? My dad said you're the second soul master in our village!"
"That's right," Ye Hua patted her head. "Our village never had work-study student quotas before. I waited six years, and now I'm twelve this year; I can finally go to school."
(Does not match the original work, but to have ambiguous relations with Xiao Wu in chapter 26, one must be of age, so I temporarily came back to change it.)
Yet right at this moment, a commotion suddenly came from the entrance of the village.
Old Jack led Tang San over, followed by seven or eight villagers whose expressions were somewhat subtle.
Tang San wore a clean set of coarse linen clothes with a gentle smile on his face. At six years of age, he already possessed a composure unfitting for his age.
"Ye Hua, my boy," Old Jack rubbed his hands together, the wrinkles on his face bunching up into a ball, his expression looking like someone constipated for three days. "There's a matter I need to discuss with you."
Ye Hua looked at Old Jack's troubled face, his right eyelid twitching wildly as a bad premonition suddenly surged in his heart.
"It's like this," Old Jack sighed. "Little San... his martial soul is Blue Silver Grass, as you know."
"But he has Innate Full Soul Power. Master Su said this is a once-in-a-century genius. Tang San has discussed it with his father, and he feels..."
"I feel that with my talent, a single person occupying two resource quotas is the only way to maximize my potential."
Tang San took over the conversation in a calm tone, as if everything was completely justified. "So I told Grandpa Jack, I want both quotas!"
"I need double the cultivation resources and double the teacher attention. Only in this way can I grow into a true powerhouse in the shortest possible time!"
Ye Hua froze.
The surrounding villagers, however, nodded successively.
"What Tang San says is right. Innate Full Soul Power—our village only produces one in several hundred years!"
"Of course! This child will definitely become a big figure in the future, so giving him a few more resources is only right."
"That kid Ye Hua, wooden stick martial soul, rank three soul power... going would just waste a quota."
The voices rushed over like a tide, every single sentence precisely piercing into Ye Hua's eardrums.
"Then what about me?" Ye Hua furrowed his brows tightly. "I've waited six years for this work-study student quota, and this year is my last chance!"
"If I miss this time, I'll never have a chance to go to school in my life! If I can't go to Notting City, what will I do?"
Old Jack opened his mouth, ultimately lacking the face to speak.
If not for Tang San throwing a tantrum and threatening to drop out of school if he wasn't given both quotas, how could he possibly have done such a shameless thing!
Tang San stepped forward, reaching out to pat Ye Hua's shoulder with a gentle smile on his face and a sincerity in his voice that left no room for criticism.
"Ye Hua, I know this isn't fair to you. But you must understand that a person's sacrifice is sometimes for a larger picture!"
"With your talent, it will be hard for you to accomplish much even if you go to Notting City. It's better to let me have the opportunity!"
His gaze swept over the villagers present, his voice abruptly rising. "I, Tang San, promise the elders and fellow villagers here today that since Ye Hua is yielding his quota to me today, I will remember this favor!"
"The day I, Tang San, become a Title Douluo, I will definitely not forget his sacrifice! By then, I will surely repay it a thousand or ten thousand fold!"
As his voice fell, the surrounding villagers burst into enthusiastic cheers and applause.
"Good! Affectionate and righteous!"
"This kid Tang San has high talent and knows how to be grateful; he will surely achieve great things in the future!"
"Don't be ungrateful, Ye Hua. Since Tang San has already said so, what are you still hesitating about?"
Even Old Jack nodded repeatedly, the troubled look on his face being swept away to reveal a relieved sense of gratification.
"Xiao San speaks well, gratitude and returning kindness, this is the way a child walking out of our Holy Soul Village should look."
"Ye Hua, just stop being stubborn, this is for the greater good!"
Ye Hua stood in place, a stream of profanity running through his heart.
A person whose soul age added up to almost forty years!
Was forcing a twelve-year-old child to sacrifice his own future!
And everyone around him felt from the bottom of their hearts that this was completely reasonable!
Was this the Protagonist Halo?!
Ye Hua clenched his teeth, understanding that if he refused to agree, the villagers would not let him off, and Tang Hao was even more likely to secretly kill him!
"That's settled!" Tang San smiled, not even giving Ye Hua the chance to say yes or no, "Besides, you should still thank me."
"The soul master world is full of hypocrisy, listen to big brother's advice, you can't handle it! Exchanging the quota for my reward after I become a Title Douluo, isn't that a huge profit?"
Hmph, a level-three trash with a wooden stick martial soul, does he even deserve to compete with me for the quota?
If not for fear that you would make a fuss and ruin my reputation, I wouldn't even bother giving you that promise!
Anyway, once I achieve Title Douluo, who will still remember such a small matter today?
Bah!
If you know what's good for you, obediently shut up and hole up in Holy Soul Village for a lifetime, if you dare to go out and stir things up everywhere... you will be courting death!!!
The crowd gradually dispersed.
Ye Hua stood alone under the old locust tree, watching Tang San's receding back as he was surrounded by the villagers.
The sunlight remained warm, yet he felt cold all over.
No academy, no resources, no teacher.
For a level-three soul power trash with a wooden stick martial soul, cultivating to level ten in this lifetime would mean smoke was billowing from his ancestors' graves.
In this lifetime, he would probably only be able to farm and hunt in Holy Soul Village, slowly growing old like Old Jack, and finally turning into an old man basking in the sun at the village entrance!
And Tang San would sing all the way forward, entering Notting, joining Shrek, ascending to the Divine Realm, and becoming the universally revered Sea God!
No one would remember today's small episode, no one would remember that a child named Ye Hua was sacrificed!
Even if someone remembered, they would only say—
That was the necessary price on Tang San's path to becoming a god, and Ye Hua being able to sacrifice himself for him was Ye Hua's blessing!
"Heh."
Ye Hua let out a low, hoarse sneer.
[Ding—]
[Detected that the host has encountered a destiny-level injustice event, meeting the awakening conditions]
[Dark Salvation System, activating...]
[System's sole rule: rewrite their tragic destinies, give them a happy life]
[Detected salvagable targets—]
[Xiao Wu: One-hundred-thousand-year soft bone rabbit in human form, in the original destiny trajectory she will sacrifice herself in the future, turning into Tang San's soul ring, becoming the Asura Sword Scabbard, suffering the pain of Asura Divine Sword's erosion for a lifetime]
[Zhu Zhuqing: Daughter of Star Luo Empire nobility, in the original destiny trajectory she will be reduced to a tool for imperial marriage, marrying the cowardly scumbag Dai Mubai, trapped in a cage for life]
[Qian Renxue: Heir to the Angel God, in the original destiny trajectory she will be defeated by Tang San, abandoned by the Angel God, barely surviving in despair, enduring endless cold stares and contempt]
[Hu Liena: Spirit Hall holy daughter, in the original destiny trajectory she will be repeatedly toyed with by fate, hopelessly in love with "Tang Yin", ultimately having her heart broken and being abandoned]
[...]
[More targets await the host's own exploration]
[Initial activation reward: one chance at martial soul evolution, a breakthrough in soul power level, 100 gold soul coins of starting capital]
[System advice: those sanctimonious hypocrites do not deserve to have them!!!]
Before you continue