Go Run~ Go Fly~ Go Meet Our Youth~

Douluo Continent

Inside Shrek Academy's Sea God Island

A wooden door slowly swung open.

A handsome young boy with a high-bridged nose walked in.

His brows and eyes held a spirited air. His silver hair shone like silk, and he wore a neat, plain white robe. His eyes carried a maturity and steadiness beyond his years as he entered, weighing several Gold Soul Coins in his hand.

Jiang Hao looked around. The golden ceiling and white stone columns gave the building a vaguely Greek style.

"So this is the Awakening Hall? It doesn't look much different from an ordinary hall."

"We can finally awaken our Martial Souls!"

"I want to fly! I want to awaken the Golden Sacred Dragon, become a core disciple of Shrek, and eat Shrek out of house and home!"

"Isn't the Myriad Souls Banner tempting enough? Who needs a sacred dragon? Come overthrow Shrek with me!"

"Move aside, all of you! What could be more appealing than Mother's Entanglement?"

"Forget it. I'd rather pray to awaken Lone Bamboo. Then an old lady could climb the bamboo pole straight up to the Divine Realm, and I could learn from Little Tang and put a curse on Shrek."

All those clamoring voices belonged to Jiang Hao's Clones. At that moment, they were all gathered within him.

After his soul crossed into Douluo Continent, he discovered his unique cheat on the second day: Clones!

Every morning when the sun rose, another Clone appeared in his mind. One every day!

He was six this year. By his rough estimate, more than two thousand Clones were now stacked inside him. Each had an independent consciousness, and every one obeyed him completely.

That would have been fine if he could just dump them all somewhere deserted. His head would be quiet for a little while. At the very least, their voices would grow softer whenever he stopped paying attention.

But there was one problem: he was a second-generation Shrek kid! And he was only six!

He had never even managed to leave Shrek Academy without getting caught and dragged back. Each time, Qian Duoduo and Xian Ling'er gave him a thorough double-team beating.

"All right, step forward!"

Qian Duoduo watched Jiang Hao expectantly.

Jiang Hao did his best to ignore the annoying voices in his head and strode onto the Awakening Platform.

Today's Awakening Day had been arranged especially for him by Qian Duoduo.

A little crab holding a cash box came toward him. It had clearly already made a circuit of the room, and Jiang Hao could not help baring his teeth.

His adoptive father was great in every other respect, but he was far too greedy. He even made money off Jiang Hao.

Jiang Hao pushed ten Gold Soul Coins through the slot in the box's lid. The Soul Tool Crab nearly buckled under their weight, then shuffled toward the Elders seated nearby.

"Ahem, everyone! If you want to watch the awakening ceremony and join the excitement, it's one hundred Gold Soul Coins each! Fair prices for young and old!"

Qian Duoduo coughed. The Elders around him seemed long accustomed to this.

Then the cash box reached Xuan Zi.

Having just finished a chicken leg, Xuan Zi looked at the heap of Gold Soul Coins inside with grease still coating his hands. He pulled the stopper from his wine gourd and took a long swig, draining it dry. Then, with a flex of his fingers, he aimed its mouth at the coins and sucked them in until the gourd was filled to the brim.

"Done! I've received my share. You may begin. I agree to let you awaken this little bastard's Martial Soul."

Jiang Hao heard Xuan Zi call him a bastard and clenched his fists.

One day, he would make that old bastard kneel before him.

If his guess was right, Xuan Zi had been part of the group that organized the operation against the Evil Soul Masters years ago!

Qian Duoduo had only wanted to make the Elders who had opposed him squirm. He had not expected Xuan Zi to pull this stunt and rub coarse salt into Jiang Hao's wound.

With half his goal achieved, Qian Duoduo wisely let the matter drop.

Jiang Hao had waited a long time for this day. To prepare for this awakening, he had let his Clones take over and exercise every night when all was quiet, while he slept snug under the covers. He had even made them study the books he borrowed, one apiece, devouring them with delight and researching Soul Tools as well.

He had worked so hard for one reason: once he inherited the Martial Souls of the parents he had never met, he wanted to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

Two thousand chances! Even if Mendel himself showed up today, these old ghosts would have to give me an answer.

The White-Robed Deacon stepped forward, and Jiang Hao obediently took his place at the center of the Magic Array.

A gentle flow of Soul Power guided the Awakening Platform into giving off a white glow that enveloped Jiang Hao.

Smooth energy flowed through every limb and bone, toward the depths of his being.

"Oh, that feels good! So good!"

"This is even better than looking at those students in my last life."

"I awakened! It's actually a Scythe! And I have Innate Soul Power! I'm a genius! I'm going to become the Death God Douluo! Ye Xishui can get out of my way."

"Main Body, train me first! You saw it too. This is a Scythe Martial Soul. If I cultivate it properly, I'll be Death itself!"

"What the hell is so great about a Scythe? Get lost. Look what I've got! Innate Lone Bamboo! I have the makings of a god."

"Hey, hey! Don't hog all the attention! What am I supposed to do?"

"An External Beast Martial Soul? Fantastic! Wait! No, that's not right. Why is it just a pig? Why can't I sense my Golden Dragon bloodline?"

Hearing the Clones wail inside his mind, Jiang Hao knew that the higher his hopes had been, the harder they would fall.

He had thought that even if each Martial Soul awakening was a gamble, one of his two thousand Clones was bound to hit the jackpot. But judging by the results so far, none looked particularly promising.

"Mm! I'm a Food Type! Super Invincible Red Bean Bun!"

As time passed, Jiang Hao's brows drew tighter and tighter, like a twisted fried dough braid.

Damn it! With this kind of quality, how am I supposed to get revenge? I might as well rent an estate and start farming.

The Soul Master conducting the awakening on the platform was not faring well either. He had already spent a tenth of his Soul Power.

In a normal awakening ceremony, the Martial Soul should have appeared long ago. Why was there still no sign of it? Worse, the pull on his Soul Power was growing stronger.

Qian Duoduo, who had been watching closely from beside the stands, quickly noticed something was wrong.

"Something's off. This child may be awakening a super Martial Soul!"

The Soul Power needed to guide an awakening was closely tied to the Martial Soul's quality. The higher its innate quality, the more Soul Power it required.

The Soul Master conducting the awakening had already lost a tenth of his Soul Power, yet Jiang Hao's Martial Soul still showed no sign of appearing.

Qian Duoduo flashed behind him and placed a hand directly on his shoulder.

A Soul Douluo and a Titled Douluo poured Soul Power into the ceremony without pause, keeping it running smoothly.

"Eighty pulls! I got gold! You old thief, Main Body, it's the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda!"

"Pretty awesome, huh? Call me your big brother and I'll lend it to you to play with for a bit."

Jiang Hao was speechless. If you dared pull that thing out now, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect would probably bring its entire strength to block Shrek's gates tomorrow. It would also prove the Shrek Elders right when they called me a bastard. I can't let that happen.

And if his adoptive father began to suspect that Jiang Hao was not his parents' biological son, he would probably sell him to the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect for Gold Soul Coins so they could carry on the bloodline.

Jiang Hao swallowed. The awakening was only a tenth complete. Out of two hundred Clones, just one had produced a high-quality Martial Soul. The rest had awakened Scythes, hoes, or miscellaneous everyday objects. The slightly better ones were Food Type Martial Souls or Blue Silver Grass.

Out of those two hundred-plus Clones, more than forty had Blue Silver Grass as their Martial Soul. That was no exaggeration.

If he were not certain God King Tang had not tampered with his mind, he would have wondered whether someone had rigged the drop rates.

"Wait! What's wrong with this kid? I've used half my Soul Power! Normally, that would be enough to awaken the Martial Souls of more than two thousand six-year-olds. Why hasn't his appeared yet?"

Just as Qian Duoduo voiced his confusion, Jiang Hao's Main Body finally reacted.

His entire body seemed to swell as energy filled it, his muscles bulging to an astonishing degree.

A humanoid phantom one-third larger than Jiang Hao appeared behind him.

A Body Martial Soul!