The Future?

Douluo Continent? Holy Soul Village?!

Dawn had barely broken, and a blanket of white mist shrouded the village's modest wooden houses.

Two little boys in plain hemp clothes jogged leisurely out of the misty village entrance.

One had wheat-colored skin, bright eyes, and delicate features that made him easy to like. A stem of Blue Silver Grass, common throughout the village, hung from his mouth. Breathing evenly, he made his way toward the hill ahead at an unhurried pace.

Behind him, a little boy in plain blue clothes carried a basket on his back and called out, "Brother Que, let's pick some fruit to take home today!"

Brother Que's full name was Yang Que.

Though he was only two months older, Tang San admired him greatly. Brother Que was known throughout Holy Soul Village for his intelligence and diligence. Somehow, he had greatly increased the village's grain and vegetable yields. He had even drawn plans for a contraption called a waterwheel and had the village craftsmen build it. It made irrigation much faster, so when drought came, the crops could be watered quickly. The once-impoverished Holy Soul Village had gradually grown prosperous.

Even Dad had said, "That Yang Que's mind works differently from everyone else's... He's clever and sensible."

Yang Que also left early and came home late, chopping firewood and picking fruit for Grandpa Village Chief. Everyone thought that, having lost his parents when he was little and been raised by the village chief, he wanted to do something to repay him!

Only Yang Que himself knew he wasn't doing it to repay Grandpa Village Chief. The village chief's household lacked nothing. Villagers brought over things they had grown so often that the household couldn't use them all!

The reason Yang Que left so early and returned so late was that Tang San did! He wanted to learn some martial arts from Tang San and make his name across Douluo Continent. Alas, after two years, he still hadn't learned a thing. The arts Tang San practiced were the Tang Sect's supreme techniques. If they were that easy to pick up, Tang San wouldn't have been called a prodigy!

Yang Que had grown up in an orphanage. Before this, he had been a model student in his third year at Tsinghua University, with excellent grades and teachers who adored him. He was just about to win over the goddess he'd secretly loved for two years when, one night, blood-red lightning suddenly split the sky. As though possessed, he walked to the balcony and jumped. He'd been sure he was done for, but then everything went black. After that... nothing.

When he woke, he was a baby! He had no father or mother. Grandpa Village Chief told him his father had been bitten to death by a Soul Beast while hunting in the mountains, and his mother had died in childbirth. Grandpa Village Chief had raised him himself. It took Yang Que several years to understand that he had transmigrated—and landed in Douluo Continent, in the very same village as Tang San...

Hearing Tang San, Yang Que turned his head slightly and smiled. "Xiao San, go on without me! I'm not going today." After spending two years trying to secretly learn from Tang San without picking up so much as a scrap, anyone would feel discouraged!

Tang San found Brother Que's answer strange. Usually, Brother Que was so eager that he got up even earlier than Tang San. Why the sudden change today?

Tang San glanced at Yang Que, puzzled. Maybe Brother Que has something to do today? Forget it. I'd better get up the mountain, finish my work, and start training. With that, Tang San headed up the mountain alone...

Yang Que watched Tang San's retreating figure. He had been on this continent for over five years and still had nothing to show for it. He was no good at cultivation and had no talent either. Every day, he watched Tang San grow a little stronger, gaining strength and speed beyond ordinary children. The envy left an ache in his heart!

While Yang Que sat on a large rock, lost in thought, Tang San finished his work and sat atop the mountain, absorbing the purple qi in the morning sunlight. Yang Que looked his way and thought, We're both transmigrators... Xiao San, you're a powerful man reborn...

Yang Que sighed. "I'm different. I'm a weakling reborn... How did a twenty-first-century model student at Tsinghua University like me end up in the Douluo World? Transmigrating was bad enough, but I landed in the body of a throwaway side character."

"They didn't even give me a cheat. How am I supposed to play this game?"

Yes, compared with Tang San, he had no background, no talent, no cheat, and certainly no formidable Martial Soul...

Yang Que desperately wanted one, of course. He just didn't have one...

And so Yang Que had spent six years living like a salted fish. All he could do was use the knowledge from his previous life to improve Holy Soul Village a little, making life slightly more comfortable for himself and its people.

Before long, the story of Douluo Continent would begin in earnest. The walking plot device Su Yuntao would soon arrive in Holy Soul Village to awaken the children's Martial Souls. If mine turns out to be a sickle or a hoe, I might as well find a block of tofu and bash my head against it.

Yang Que gazed at Tang San cultivating on the mountaintop, his face full of envy. He sighed softly...

"Those Douluo fan novels I read in my last life had you become sworn brothers with Tang San, and then he'd teach you every last Tang Sect Secret Art... What a load of bullshit!"

At the thought, Yang Que cursed those damn idiot authors in his heart.

Tang San wasn't some six-year-old child. His soul belonged to a genius who had fooled many of the Tang Sect's higher-ups, created its supreme Hidden Weapon, Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, and mastered its highest inner cultivation art.

He had an adult's soul!

He hadn't even told his own father, Tang Hao, about the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record.

Even at six, Tang San kept it hidden as his greatest secret. Why would he tell an outsider? Still... maybe I could try? If it works, then heh heh heh...

Of course, Yang Que was only fantasizing. Tang San hadn't been in Douluo Continent long himself. Even if Yang Que were his blood brother, Tang San might not teach him.

"I want to go back so badly. Finish university, start a business, become a millionaire, marry the goddess of my dreams, and reach the peak of life!"

Not a moment had gone by in those six years when Yang Que hadn't wanted to return!

If he had a cheat, Yang Que felt he could dominate the entire Douluo World, trample every prodigy underfoot, marry a few beautiful girls, win resounding fame, and leave behind a legendary tale...

Without one? Forget it. He'd stay a salted fish!

Soon the sun rose over the horizon, casting ten thousand rays of violet light across the earth, as though dressing it in bright new clothes.

Yang Que felt a faint warmth, too.

"Xiao San should be about done training, right?"

Just then, Tang San came down from the mountaintop, looking refreshed and full of energy.

When Tang San saw Yang Que, he walked over and asked, "Brother Que, why didn't you work with me today?"

Yang Que looked at him.

"Didn't feel like it. It's pointless."

Tang San stared, baffled. That's not right. Brother Que's usually so eager. What's gotten into him today? Ah, forget it. He's so smart; maybe he's thinking something through...

Tang San glanced at the Blue Silver Grass in Yang Que's mouth and asked, "Brother Que, why do you always keep Blue Silver Grass between your teeth?"

Yang Que chewed the grass in his mouth.

"What? You look down on Blue Silver Grass?"

"It is... the most ordinary kind of grass."

Tang San thought for a moment, then said seriously, "But ordinary though it is, its vitality is the strongest and most tenacious. It embraces all of nature, too. In that respect, Blue Silver Grass isn't ordinary at all. I don't look down on it."

Yang Que gave Tang San a surprised look. As expected of the protagonist. He really does think differently!

Yang Que burst out laughing. "If you think so highly of Blue Silver Grass, maybe that'll be your Martial Soul! Heh heh!"

"Brother Que, that's cruel! Why would you curse me?" Tang San said glumly.

After all, Blue Silver Grass was still the most ordinary of plants. Tang San hoped his Martial Soul would be at least a little better...

"Brother Que, let's head back. If we're too late, Grandpa Village Chief will worry about you!" Tang San said, quickly collecting himself.

Yang Que said without concern, "You go ahead. I'll sit here a while longer!"

"Then remember to come back for dinner, Brother Que."

"Sure, I know!" Yang Que closed his eyes.

Tang San thought Brother Que was acting rather strange today, but he didn't dwell on it. Brother Que was so smart that he might be dreaming up something peculiar again! With a large basket of fruit on his back, Tang San hurried home.

Yang Que lay on the big rock, trying to plan what path he should take in the future. But no matter how he planned, the road ahead still seemed so unclear...