I Choose Tang San from Five God Kings!

"Mm. Come in with me!"

Su Haitao nodded calmly. After glancing at Lin Hao and the others, who all looked to be in good health, he turned and entered the wooden hut behind him.

Lin Hao and the others followed nervously.

Old Luo Rui and the other villagers were even more nervous as they waited outside.

Inside the hut, an awakening array and a crystal ball for testing Soul Power had already been prepared.

"Stand inside."

"Remember, no matter what happens, don't be afraid."

Su Haitao coolly directed one of the children into the awakening array.

As luck would have it, that child was Wang Kun.

He stepped into the array, nervous but expectant.

"Martial Soul Possession!"

Once Wang Kun was in position, Su Haitao gave a low shout, and two Yellow Soul Rings appeared beneath his feet.

His body shot up to two and a half meters tall. Tiny scales sprouted across his skin, and his face turned fierce.

The sight startled the children, but they could not help gazing enviously at his two Yellow Soul Rings.

Lin Hao had been mentally prepared, so he was not frightened. Instead, he carefully studied Su Haitao's transformation. His Martial Soul looked like some kind of fish.

"Don't be afraid. This is my Martial Soul, Silver Fish. If you awaken a Beast Martial Soul, you'll look like me after using Martial Soul Possession."

After that brief explanation, Su Haitao poured Soul Power into the six Awakening Stones and began awakening Wang Kun's Martial Soul.

"Martial Soul: Free-Range Chicken. Innate Soul Power: level 0.5. Next."

"Martial Soul: Fishing Net. No Innate Soul Power. Trash Martial Soul. Next."

"Martial Soul: White Stripe Fish. No Innate Soul Power. Trash Martial Soul. Next."

Once the awakenings began, Su Haitao seemed to turn into an emotionless machine, repeating the same motions without a flicker of expression.

Of the first six children, only Wang Kun had any Soul Power: a meager 0.5 levels, barely enough to cultivate. Su Haitao felt dejected.

It had been seven whole days!

He had traveled from village to village without awakening a single child with even level-one Innate Soul Power.

It looked as though his bonus this year was going down the drain.

Vast Sea City lay near the empire's border, after all. The people here were far less promising than those in the central regions.

He wondered how his distant cousin was doing. Hadn't he heard the man was in some place called Nuoding City?

Surely his cousin had it much better!

His enthusiasm gone, Su Haitao looked at Lin Hao, the last child, and pointed casually at the array. "Stand inside."

Lin Hao stepped into the awakening array excitedly and took a deep breath.

Please let it be a Mutated Martial Soul. If I awaken one, I'll eat Immortal Herbs every day. Hell, I'd even be emperor!

Hum!

As Su Haitao poured in Soul Power again, all six Awakening Stones lit up. Pale golden light rose from the floor and enveloped Lin Hao.

A warm, strange power surged into his body.

Dazzling radiance shot skyward inside the wooden hut.

Su Haitao stared at Lin Hao in surprise and anticipation. Could this commotion mean...

He'd struck gold!

When the golden light faded, Lin Hao held an utterly ordinary fish spear in his right hand.

The smile that had just appeared on Su Haitao's face froze. An ordinary fish-spear Martial Soul—he saw eight or ten people awaken one every year.

Not one of them had ever possessed more than level-one Innate Soul Power.

"Come on, let's test your Soul Power!"

Out of professional duty, Su Haitao suppressed his impatience and handed Lin Hao the Soul Power crystal ball.

Lin Hao seemed not to hear him. He mechanically reached out and poured Soul Power into it.

The crystal ball glowed faintly.

"Innate Soul Power: level 0.5!" Just as Su Haitao expected, it was half a level.

Nor was he surprised by Lin Hao's dazed expression. Plenty of children looked like that after awakening Trash Martial Souls.

He had seen it all before.

With the awakening complete, he began packing up. He still had to hurry to the next village.

What Su Haitao did not know was that a panel visible only to Lin Hao had appeared before him.

At the same time, a cold, mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

[Your Martial Soul has awakened. Five God Kings are available; please choose one of the following options.]

[Destruction God King: Obtain the Destruction Scepter Martial Soul. Small chance of winning the Destruction God King's favor.]

[Life God King: Obtain the Life Ancient Tree Martial Soul. High chance of winning the Life God King's favor; high chance of earning the Destruction God King's hostility.]

[God King of Goodness: Obtain the Heart of Goodness Martial Soul and the God King of Goodness's attention.]

[Evil God King: Obtain the Scales of Judgment Martial Soul and the Evil God King's attention.]

[Asura God / Sea God Tang San: Obtain the Sea God Trident and Asura Demon Sword Martial Souls, along with the Tang Sect's legacy.]

???

Had something strange slipped in there?

Lin Hao stared at the five options on the panel, his little head full of enormous question marks.

Had Tang San already become a god?

But Spirit Hall was still around. Wasn't this supposed to be the Douluo I era?

The system had a bug!

With no time to think it through, Lin Hao scanned the five options before finally choosing God King Tang San.

The Destruction God King was bent on strengthening the Divine Realm. He might not even intend to pass on his divine position.

The God King of Goodness and the Evil God King did intend to pass on their divine positions, but they already had candidates under consideration. If Lin Hao chose either of them, who knew what might change?

Of course, the most important reason to choose Tang San was that his was the only option with two divine artifacts. Every other option offered just one. Worse still, Goodness and Evil were a pair, as were Destruction and Life.

Who knew how one would react if he chose the other?

He could make his choice one second and have divine punishment rain down from the sky the next.

Most importantly, only the Sea God and the Asura God had left traces on the Douluo Continent. The other four God Kings had left no divine signs there at all.

[God King Tang San selected. Sea God Trident and Asura Demon Sword Martial Souls granted. Tang Sect legacy granted.]

The cold mechanical voice rang out. Red and blue light flashed into Lin Hao's sea of consciousness, where phantoms of the Sea God Trident and Asura Demon Sword slowly took shape.

They anchored his sea of consciousness.

At the same time, the legacies of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, Hundred Solutions to Hidden Weapons, Golden Thirteen Halberds, and Asura Nine Slashes flowed through his mind.

The Mysterious Heaven Skill began circulating on its own, guiding the twenty levels of Soul Power he had gained from the two divine artifacts through every part of his body.

He broke through to the second stage of the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Because he had received God King Tang San's legacy, Lin Hao faced no hurdle of comprehension. Unlike Tang San, he did not need to understand and cultivate it from scratch; his Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record was at the highest level from the start.

He simply lacked the Soul Power to bring out its full strength. As his Soul Power Level rose, his cultivation stage would naturally follow.

That saved Lin Hao the time he would otherwise have spent figuring it out himself.

"This feels incredible! So this is what a God King's legacy is like?"

Lin Hao let out a long breath. Feeling the power surging through his body, he could not contain his excitement.

Everyone cursed Tang San, but everyone wanted to be Tang San.

Now it was his turn to refuse to share the beef.