Snowclaw Vulture

Before the iron cauldron, the line inched forward. It took nearly ten minutes before Lin Wan's turn came.

Looking at old Drus's face, Lin Wan raised his chipped clay bowl and forced out a pitiful yet adorable smile, hoping old Drus would take pity on him and give him a little more gruel.

Old Jack's clouded eyes glanced at Lin Wan, but he said nothing.

He merely repeated what he had done dozens of times: lifting the wooden ladle, then tilting it to pour a stream of warm, thin liquid into the bowl.

Lin Wan looked at the amount in his bowl and silently sighed.

It was clearly a third less than usual. There was only a shallow layer of slightly thick gruel at the bottom, while the rest was no different from plain water. He could practically see his pale, anxious face reflected in it.

"Brother Wan, there's so little today."

Holding an equally pitiful half-bowl of gruel, Doggie squeezed up beside Lin Wan. His voice carried a sob, and his little face was scrunched into a ball.

Lin Wan said nothing. He glanced at Doggie's bowl, and immediately felt much better. Doggie had only half of his usual portion.

Happiness came from comparison. Lin Wan instantly felt a little happier.

Lin Wan carefully shielded the bowl with both hands, refusing to let the wind and snow carry away even the slightest bit of warmth.

Then he lowered his head and took small sips along the rough inner wall of the clay bowl. He even licked the bowl clean, wasting not a single drop.

The warm gruel slid down Lin Wan's dry throat, bringing him a brief moment of comfort.

But there was too little of it, and Lin Wan's stomach was like a bottomless pit. Instead, the gruel only provoked louder growls from it, reminding him that this little bit was not even enough to fill the gaps between his teeth.

Rather than easing, the hunger grew fiercer, like countless tiny teeth gnawing at his insides.

Lin Wan sighed. He had long grown used to this feeling.

He raised his head, his gaze instinctively turning toward the lead-gray sky.

The blizzard still raged, but several gray-black shadows moved through the wind and snow between gaps in the rolling clouds, occasionally letting out cries that pierced the storm.

"Screech—!"

They were Snowclaw Vultures, the most common soul beasts in the Far North.

They possessed claws as sharp as iron hooks and keen eyesight capable of locking onto prey in a blizzard.

They were the scavengers of this bitterly cold land, circling high in the sky every day in search of bodies frozen to death by the cold.

Then they would dive down like lightning, seize the frozen corpses in their talons, and carry them back to their nests as food to survive the harsh winter.

Of course, besides corpses, they also liked the flesh of children, because children were the easiest prey for them to obtain.

Watching the Snowclaw Vultures circle through the blizzard, a sense of urgency rose sharply in Lin Wan's heart.

He abruptly withdrew his gaze and hugged the empty bowl tightly to his chest. It was his tool for eating; he could not lose it.

He tugged at Doggie, who was still staring blankly at the gray shadows in the sky with curiosity in his eyes.

"Go! Hurry back! Don't stay outside!"

The two children stumbled through the snow toward their respective shack areas.

The blizzard seemed to have grown even stronger, and every step Lin Wan took was incredibly difficult.

Lin Wan staggered back to his own precarious shelter and tightly tucked in the ragged cloth curtain.

He curled up again in the pile of rotten grass, burying his freezing toes inside and drawing what little warmth it held.

Lin Wan took the empty bowl from his chest. Faint traces of gruel and a weak lingering warmth seemed to remain on its inner wall.

He hesitated for only a moment, but ultimately could not resist his instincts. He stuck out his tongue again and carefully licked the bowl once more, until he could no longer detect the slightest trace of anything.

The cold wind howled outside the shack, but an unstoppable warmth filled Lin Wan's heart.

Because in two more days, people from the Martial Soul Hall would come to Cold North Village to perform martial soul awakenings for the six-year-old children.

In the darkness, Lin Wan hugged his small knees tightly and buried his face deep against them.

"Douluo Continent."

He silently recited the name of this world, a world with wondrous martial souls and soul masters.

Lin Wan had once read this novel. Back then, he had been captivated by its thrilling plot and marvelous martial souls. He had also dreamed of being transported into this world, awakening a powerful martial soul, and soaring to greatness.

But now, he realized that the wondrous world in those novels was as distant as the stars in the sky to a six-year-old orphan curled up in a pile of rotten grass, struggling for half a bowl of vegetable gruel.

A martial soul awakening was an ordinary person's only hope, and Lin Wan's only ladder out of the mire.

He had to hold on and endure these final two days.

He could not be wiped away soundlessly by the blizzard and birds of prey like an insignificant speck of dust.

The blizzard that had raged for days finally stopped on the third day.

Several cracks opened in the heavy lead-gray clouds, refracting brilliant golden sunlight.

Lin Wan curled up in the pile of rotten grass, his arms wrapped around his knees.

Days of hunger had left him dizzy and incredibly weak.

"Clang—! Clang—!"

Just as Lin Wan was about to pass out, several piercing sounds suddenly reached his ears, instantly restoring his clarity.

Lin Wan's eyes flew open, and a guess immediately formed in his heart. Had the soul masters from the Martial Soul Hall arrived?

Sure enough, village chief old Drus's hoarse voice soon carried over.

"All children who have turned six, immediately! At once! Gather at the Martial Soul Branch Hall in the center of the village. The soul master has arrived. The martial soul awakening ceremony is about to begin."

A faint smile rose on Lin Wan's pale little face.

"The martial soul awakening... I finally made it."

His voice was weak, yet filled with hope for the future.

Lin Wan swayed as he climbed out of the rotten grass pile. The icy air immediately made him shudder.

He carelessly brushed the bits of grass from himself, then picked up his porcelain bowl from the corner of the shack.

The food supply team would return today with the soul master from the Martial Soul Hall. Lin Wan guessed that food would surely be distributed later; after all, the villagers had gone hungry for several days.

"Brother Wan! Brother Wan!"

Doggie stumbled over, his little face blue from the cold and snot hanging from his nose again, yet his eyes shone brightly.

"The soul master is here. Does that mean we'll have food?"

Lin Wan shot Doggie a helpless glance.

He knew Doggie was foolish, but he had not expected his only concern to be whether there would be food.

"Yeah."

Lin Wan helplessly took Doggie's icy little hand and stumbled out of the shack, hurrying toward the Martial Soul Branch Hall at the center of the village.

The blizzard had continued for several days, leaving thick snow throughout the village. Every step Lin Wan took was exceptionally difficult.

But when he thought of how he would soon awaken his martial soul, resolve instantly filled his heart.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled Doggie forward once more.