The Oswei Kingdom was a kingdom of considerable strength on the Douluo Continent, its lands dotted with cities and its factions tangled in a complex web. Oswei City, the heart of the kingdom, was especially prosperous, its streets teeming with people.
Aside from the royal palace, the most imposing building in the city, the one people least dared approach, was undoubtedly the Spirit Hall Main Hall.
Spirit Hall's influence spread like tangled roots throughout the Douluo Continent, and its hierarchy was rigid in the extreme.
Every city on the continent inhabited by humans was certain to have a Spirit Hall Branch, responsible for awakening and registering local Soul Masters and other such matters. Cities of secondary importance had the higher-ranking Martial Soul Sub-Hall. In major central cities such as the capital of the Oswei Kingdom, a prestigious Spirit Hall Main Hall held authority, its power and strength far beyond those of the branches and sub-halls.
As for the Spirit Hall Sacred Halls, which stood even above the main halls, only the capitals of the Two Great Empires qualified to establish them. They symbolized Spirit Hall's core strength, and ordinary Soul Masters could spend their entire lives without ever getting so much as a step closer to them.
The master of the Oswei Spirit Hall Main Hall was named Adrian, a formidable figure who could make the entire Oswei Kingdom tremble three times with a single stamp of his foot. Not only was he a powerful Soul Douluo, but he also held the rank of Red Bishop within Spirit Hall, wielding tremendous authority.
Across the entire Oswei Kingdom, even the lofty king had to show him deference. After all, Spirit Hall's power was far beyond anything a single kingdom could withstand.
Yet this mighty figure, usually so far above everyone else, now stood bent at the waist inside the Spirit Hall Main Hall's great chamber, his face plastered with a fawning smile as he cautiously watched the white-haired youth seated in the seat of honor.
The white-haired youth looked quite young, his long, snow-white hair particularly striking. His face was full of impatience, and a terrifying pressure radiated from his body.
Light Feather Douluo gently twirled a gleaming arrow between his fingers. Once he grew bored with it, he slowly stopped and raised the arrow, his gaze sweeping over the solid wooden desk before him. Then, with a slight exertion of his wrist, the sharp arrow drove viciously into the hard desk with a thunk, more than half its shaft sinking into the wood and making the desktop shudder.
The sudden noise made Adrian tremble from head to toe. His legs nearly buckled, a sheen of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead, and he did not even dare breathe loudly.
"Where are they?!" Light Feather Douluo frowned and snapped impatiently, "I've been here for three days! All I asked was for you to capture a few damned scumbags, and you're still dragging your feet? Can you do your jobs or not?"
Light Feather Douluo was seething with anger. He had come here to order Spirit Hall's people to capture a batch of thoroughly wicked wretches who deserved to die. Yet three days had passed, and they still had not gathered enough people. Their inefficiency had pushed him beyond the limits of his patience.
He still had an assignment in the next city to get to. He had no time to waste here with this pack of useless fools!
"My lord, please calm down! Please, my lord, don't be angry!" Seeing this, Adrian hurried over to Light Feather Douluo, bowing and nodding as he repeatedly tried to soothe him. His face was a picture of misery as he cautiously explained.
"My lord, as you know, we recently rounded up a batch of vermin guilty of all manner of evil. The kingdom's prisons and our own Soul Prison have long since been emptied. We simply can't gather that many people!"
Adrian had his own troubles, but no way to voice them. This lord wanted a batch of people who deserved to die. In principle, that should have been easy; they could simply round up a few condemned prisoners. But his requirements were exceedingly strict: they had to be Soul Masters below the Soul Elder rank, and their martial souls had to be at least intermediate grade.
Those conditions made finding anyone far too difficult!
Any Soul Master with an intermediate-grade martial soul had at least some potential. Even wastrel heirs were priority targets for their families' cultivation. Who would go committing crimes for no reason? Besides, they had recently sent a batch to Slaughter City to boost their "performance figures," and most of the villains within the kingdom had already been cleared out. Where were they supposed to find people who met those conditions now?
Over the past few days, however, Adrian had quietly begun to figure something out. He suspected that Light Feather Douluo was most likely capturing these people to serve as sparring partners for Spirit Hall's gifted disciples.
At that thought, Adrian gritted his teeth and decided to take a gamble. He leaned closer and lowered his voice. "My lord, half a month ago, two young nobles committed a monstrous crime in the neighboring city!"
"Those two scumbags took a fancy to a woman from an ordinary family and forced themselves on her, harassing her before ultimately assaulting her in public. Afterward, in full view of everyone, they even murdered her entire family, young and old. Their methods were cruel beyond belief!"
"And what happened in the end? Just because the families behind those two beasts had extraordinary backgrounds, they escaped the law's punishment! They weren't punished in the slightest, and they're still out there roaming free!"
After hearing this, Light Feather Douluo raised an eyebrow slightly, a trace of amusement appearing on his face. He asked mildly, "Oh? Just what sort of background do they have, to commit such an outrage on the Oswei Kingdom's soil and still walk away unscathed?"
The Oswei Kingdom was, after all, an independent kingdom. Its royal family had no shortage of Soul Saints, and even had Soul Douluo experts guarding it. Its armies were such that even Titled Douluos had to avoid their cutting edge. Thus, even members of the Lower Four Sects did not dare act too brazenly here.
For the kingdom's authorities to simply let the matter drop, those two wastrels' backgrounds had to be anything but ordinary.
Seeing that Light Feather Douluo was interested, an icy glint flashed through Adrian's eyes. He lowered his voice and uttered just one word: "Yu!"
Yu?!
Light Feather Douluo understood at once. His lips curved into an icy smile, and his gaze instantly turned cold.
No wonder they dared act so arrogantly. Aside from that pack of lizards who only think with their lower halves, who else would commit such filthy deeds, defying all under heaven and stripping themselves of every shred of conscience?
"It seems my second brother was too lenient with his killing back then, leaving so many scourges behind!" Light Feather Douluo snorted coldly. The chill around him threatened to freeze the entire chamber, and his voice brimmed with killing intent.
With that, he glanced up at the meek, cringing Adrian before him and barked impatiently, "What are you still standing around for? Hurry up and bring those two beasts to me. Don't try any tricks!"
"Yes! As you command! I'll see to it immediately!" Adrian was overjoyed. At last, he had solved this lord's problem, and he could send that conscienceless filth in along the way.
He hurriedly bowed to accept the order. As he turned, the fawning look instantly vanished from his face, replaced by murderous intent. A terrifying chill radiated from him as he strode swiftly outside, ready to capture those two inhuman creatures himself.
Watching Adrian hurry away, Light Feather Douluo snorted coldly again. With undisguised displeasure in his voice, he cursed under his breath:
"Beasts worse than pigs and dogs, yet they managed to escape the angel's judgment and roam free for so long! Bibi Dong, are you just sitting around eating for nothing?"
Holy Soul Village.
The village was remote and poor, filled with low earthen houses. Most villagers made their living by hunting and farming, leading lives of severe hardship.
At that moment, a slovenly middle-aged man stood there, his face covered in untidy stubble and his hair tangled into a disheveled mess. A strong smell of alcohol perpetually clung to him, and his clothes were ragged and coated in dust. He looked like a homeless drunk.
The disheveled man's eyes were wide as he stared fixedly at the small, skinny, dark-skinned boy before him. His gaze rested on the boy's open hands, his breathing growing rapid and his chest heaving violently.
Above the boy's right hand floated an ordinary, inconspicuous blade of Blue Silver Grass, faintly green and entirely unremarkable. Above his left hand, however, hovered a small, delicate hammer that radiated an immensely weighty aura. Its body was pitch-black, with faint traces of a power that made the heart tremble.
A blade of grass and a hammer, two completely different martial souls, had appeared in the same child at once!
"Twin martial souls... my son actually has twin martial souls!"
The disheveled man abruptly came back to his senses, his voice trembling. An unprecedented brilliance shone in his eyes-the light of a man in despair who had glimpsed hope.
Unable to contain his emotions any longer, he lunged forward and hugged his frail son tightly, his arms squeezing as though he wanted to knead the child into his very flesh and bones. At that moment, his usual dejection and slovenliness were gone. His face overflowed with wild joy and excitement, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Only after a very, very long time did he slowly release his son from his embrace. He crouched down, gripped his son's shoulders tightly with both hands, and looked into the boy's eyes with utmost solemnity, speaking each word distinctly:
"Little San, remember this. What your father tells you now, you must keep in your heart for the rest of your life."
"No matter what happens in the future, no matter what danger you encounter, you must use the hammer in your left hand to protect the grass in your right!"