Transmigrated into Douluo: A detached martial soul

"What are you here for? Is this any place for country bumpkins like you?"

The sudden reprimand, sharp and overbearing, shattered the early autumn peace outside Notting Academy.

Leaning against the stone steps by the street, Lin Chen had been letting his mind wander when the shout jolted him awake. He instinctively looked up ahead.

At the far end of his view, a magnificent stone arch towered over the street, its imposing presence utterly overshadowing every surrounding building.

The arch spanned a full twenty meters and rose over ten meters high. It was built entirely from solid blocks of dark blue stone, their coarse, heavy surfaces weathered by the years and steeped in an ancient, weighty character.

Beneath the arch stood two massive black iron gates. Their thick, sturdy bars sealed off the Academy entrance, solemn and imposing.

At that moment, a tall young gatekeeper in an Academy guard's uniform stood squarely before the gates, his face full of impatience as he stubbornly barred the way of an old man and a child.

The old man was stooped, his clothes worn and his face lined by wind and frost. The child beside him was slender, with calm eyes and simple cloth clothing. Standing on the bustling streets of Nuoding City, they looked utterly out of place.

"Where the hell have I ended up?"

Lin Chen instinctively murmured under his breath, his heart filled with bewilderment.

He glanced around reflexively. Old-fashioned shops lined the street, with carriages, horses, and pedestrians passing to and fro. The buildings in the distance had thick stone walls and an antiquated style, without the slightest trace of a modern city. There were no familiar streets or buildings, no neon lights amid streams of traffic. Everything before him was strange and uncanny, nothing like the world he had lived in.

The unfamiliar surroundings, antiquated buildings, and distinctive bustle of street life only deepened his confusion.

Just as Lin Chen was marveling inwardly, full of questions, the young gatekeeper's cutting mockery rang out again. Every word reached his ears clearly and struck straight into his mind:

"A Blue Silver Grass martial soul? And innate full soul power? What a joke! That's the most ridiculous thing under the sun!"

The young gatekeeper folded his arms, his face full of sneering disdain. His eyes betrayed his contempt for country folk, and his voice dripped with mockery:

"I've been the gatekeeper at Notting Academy for four years. What kind of genius haven't I seen? I've never once heard of a student with innate full soul power! This brat's martial soul is Blue Silver Grass, the most useless kind there is, and you dare claim he has innate full soul power? I say this admission certificate from Spirit Hall must be a forgery!"

"??? Martial souls? Blue Silver Grass? Innate full soul power?"

Those few words exploded in Lin Chen's mind like a thunderclap.

His pupils abruptly contracted, and he froze on the spot. Countless scraps of information raced through his mind, memories of his past reading surging and boiling up. An absurd yet utterly real possibility rose uncontrollably within him, making him blurt out in a hushed cry:

"Fuck! Isn't this the scene where Tang San enrolls? I've transmigrated! And into the Douluo Continent, no less!"

The Douluo Continent!

That supernatural world where martial souls reigned supreme, soul masters stood above all, and the strong devoured the weak!

In an instant, countless fragments of memory flooded his mind like a tide, pouring forcefully into his consciousness and rapidly merging completely with his original soul.

The original owner's entire life, every detail of his childhood, Nuoding City's local customs, the basic rules of the soul master world, the fundamental classifications of martial souls, knowledge of soul beast ranks, common principles of soul power cultivation, and basic information about Spirit Hall, Soul Master Academy, and the continent's factions all surfaced clearly.

The enormous torrent of information briefly battered his consciousness, leaving him slightly dizzy. He instinctively raised a hand to his forehead.

As he raised it, he caught a clear glimpse of his own palm.

Fair, slender, and tender—it was the small hand of a six-year-old child, not the adult hand he had possessed in his previous life.

There was no doubt now. He really had transmigrated, and it was his soul that had crossed over.

After sorting through all the memories, Lin Chen fully understood his current identity.

He was now in Nuoding City, on the western border of the Heaven Dou Empire. He was the only son of Lin Tianyu, a serving Deacon at the Notting Spirit Hall branch. Born and raised in Nuoding City, he came from a stable household and had never needed to struggle for a living.

Just a few days earlier, he had celebrated his sixth birthday and successfully undergone his martial soul awakening at Spirit Hall's Nuoding City branch.

Unlike the various martial souls ordinary people possessed, which were attached to their bodies, he had awakened an exceedingly rare Detached Martial Soul—White Fox.

His innate soul power had also tested at level six.

The original owner's father, Lin Tianyu, was a serving Spirit Hall Deacon who had spent years immersed in the soul master system. His knowledge far surpassed that of ordinary commoners, and he understood how precious and unusual a Detached Martial Soul was.

As it happened, he knew that Yu Xiaogang, the continent's foremost authority on martial soul theory, also possessed a Detached Martial Soul. Yu Xiaogang had recently drifted into Nuoding City and was temporarily staying at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

Although Yu Xiaogang's own soul power was limited, leaving him a mere level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster, he was the first known person to possess a Detached Martial Soul and must have studied the subject deeply.

To avoid squandering his son's martial soul, Lin Tianyu had specifically arranged for Lin Chen to attend Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.

First, it would allow him to complete the basic training appropriate for a soul master apprentice his age.

Second, Lin Tianyu hoped to use the Academy's connections to find an opportunity to consult Yu Xiaogang and obtain a cultivation method suited to a Detached Martial Soul.

Today was the start of the term at Notting Academy, the day the original owner had arrived early and quietly waited to begin his studies.

Yet no one could have imagined that, after dutifully arriving at the academy, the original owner would be replaced by someone from another world, completely rewriting the predetermined course of his life.

With every cause and consequence, his background, and his surroundings now clear, endless emotion surged through Lin Chen's heart, followed by a profound sense of relief and certainty.

In his previous life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary person. Aside from work, his only hobby had been reading novels.

Now that he had transmigrated into Douluo, he had started as the son of a Spirit Hall Deacon, with level-six innate soul power and a detached White Fox martial soul. His starting point was high enough to crush every other apprentice his age in all of Nuoding City.

He lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze settling on his empty left palm.

With a slight stir of intent, a soft, luminous white glow quietly emerged from his palm. It condensed into a snow-white spirit fox the size of an adult fox from his previous life, which landed before him.

The fox was snow-white all over, its fur fluffy and soft, its expression bright and docile. Its limbs were slender and light, and its eyes were clear and luminous. White Fox crouched quietly before Lin Chen, utterly gentle.

Lin Chen bent down and reached out to stroke White Fox. He nodded inwardly and murmured in a calm voice:

"Mm, a Detached Martial Soul and level-six innate soul power. Not a bad start."

It was not a heaven-defying opening, but it was already an excellent beginning.

More importantly, he possessed complete memories of the original Douluo story and all sorts of Douluo fanfiction. He knew the continent's landscape over the coming decades, the characters' fates, opportunities and hidden Secret Realms, the rise and fall of factions, and their tangled grudges and affections.

He knew exactly who was blessed by fortune, which hidden powerhouses lay low, who concealed trump cards, and who would meet a miserable end.

Just then, the argument at the Academy gates reached his ears again, pulling Lin Chen's thoughts back to reality.

He looked up. The young gatekeeper was still throwing his weight around and making things difficult, while Old Jack argued his case. The slender boy stood silent throughout, a patience and composure far beyond those of ordinary people hidden deep in his eyes.

Tang San.

The destined protagonist of the entire Douluo Continent story, blessed with fortune and handed advantage after advantage until he finally ascended to godhood.

And he had happened upon that famous enrollment scene just after transmigrating.

As he watched the classic scene about to unfold, a faint, cool gleam flashed through Lin Chen's eyes.

In his previous life, he had been a spectator, quietly watching the protagonist rise against the odds until he looked down upon all living beings.

But in this life, he was part of the game, armed with considerable starting talent and an understanding of how every fate would unfold.

He would no longer remain an anonymous backdrop, much less become a stepping stone for the destined protagonist.