Shi Quan

"Broken shoes, broken hat, broken cassock on my back..."

"You love me, I love you, Mixue Bingcheng, sweet and sweet..."

"You are that-that-that... Sunshine Rainbow Little White Dragon..."

Douluo Continent, southwest of the Heaven Dou Empire, Fasinuo Province.

Stone Family Village.

One catchy, slightly bizarre Blue Star song after another drifted from a modest courtyard in Stone Family Village on Douluo Continent.

"Xiao Quan, stop reading and come eat."

A soft, gentle call came from the house at the center of the courtyard.

"Got it, Mom."

A childish voice came from one corner of the yard, and the humming stopped as well.

Creak. The rocking chair swayed to a halt. A boy who looked no more than five or six, bored out of his mind, set the book in his hand on the small table beside the chair before slowly getting up.

Several large words were written on the side of the book: "Spirit Beast Encyclopedia."

The boy had neat, short hair and fair skin. His lively eyes in particular gave him an air of intelligence.

The courtyard was not large, but its surrounding fences were covered in flowers of every color. Their fragrance drifted through the air without being overpowering, making the yard feel refreshing, peaceful, and relaxing. It had clearly been tended with great care; its owner must have put a great deal of thought into it.

After only a few steps, the boy reached the door of the main house.

Before he even entered, the enticing smell of food wafted out, immediately stirring his appetite.

A woman sat on the right side of the dining table. She had an oval face and looked around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Her black eyes were bright and lively, and she carried herself with remarkable grace. By any measure, she was a beauty.

The dishes had already been laid out. The boy walked over and sat naturally on the left side of the table, leaving the middle seat open.

Just as the boy sat down, a man around thirty emerged from the kitchen carrying three bowls of rice. He looked utterly ordinary, the sort of person who would disappear into a crowd without drawing a second glance.

"Thanks for your hard work, Dad!" The boy grinned and reached up to take a bowl of rice from him.

"Eat." The man nodded slightly, his voice low and steady.

The family of three looked exceptionally warm and harmonious.

The boy's name was Shi Quan. The woman on the right was Li Meili, his mother in this life, while the man in the middle was his father in this life, Shi Jian.

Shi Quan did not know whether he was lucky or unlucky to have caught up with the great transmigration trend and suddenly arrived in the world of Douluo Continent.

In his previous life, Shi Quan had been an ordinary office drone with nothing: no house, no car, no savings. He had graduated from an ordinary university with an ordinary bachelor's degree and belonged to the most ordinary sort of people. There had been nothing special about him.

Special talents?

The answer was that he had none whatsoever.

As for how he had transmigrated, after pulling an all-nighter at work, he had clocked out during a torrential downpour. To save a few yuan on taxi fare, he had ridden his bike home through the rain with an umbrella. Then, he had suddenly felt numb all over and lost consciousness.

They said that when bad luck struck, even drinking cold water could get stuck in your teeth. Before losing consciousness, Shi Quan had guessed that he had most likely been struck by lightning. His final thought had been that the little savings he had worked so hard to accumulate would probably all have to go toward medical bills.

When he regained consciousness, he felt as though he was wrapped in a warm liquid. His mind was muddled, and he could do nothing. He did not know how long he had been enveloped by that warmth, but one day, he finally felt himself being squeezed and pulled, before being born into this world.

Only then did he understand that the lightning strike had apparently sent him straight into someone else's belly. For some unknown reason, he had retained the memories of his previous life and been reborn. That warm sensation had all come from his mother in this life.

After being born, Shi Quan immediately noticed that this world was different.

It was simple: he could not understand a single word anyone said.

People said children were clever. Although he carried the memories of his previous life, they did not hinder his quick wits in the slightest. In less than a year, he had learned the language of this world and discovered that he had transmigrated into a world filled with martial souls.

It would be a lie to say he had not been excited or thrilled about transmigrating and being reborn.

But the boredom was real, too.

An ordinary office drone from the twenty-first century would already be devastated without a phone, let alone after being sent back into the body of a child. He could not do anything at all. Just thinking about it was enough to feel the despair of boredom taken to the extreme.

Things had been manageable just after he was born. His consciousness had been hazy, his body underdeveloped, and most of his time had been spent sleeping after drinking milk. Later, he had the language of this new world to learn, which at least gave him something to do and helped pass the tedious days.

By the time he was one, he had learned most of the language, his body had mostly developed, and he no longer needed as much sleep every day.

When a soul of twenty-five or twenty-six was trapped inside the body of a one-year-old child, spending every day in a woman's arms, staring blankly at her jawline and unable to do anything, then one truly understood what boredom was. It was genuinely unbearable.

With nothing to do, Shi Quan could only find things for himself to do. Otherwise, his mind would collapse before he ever grew up.

What Shi Quan found to do was read and study.

Was Shi Quan someone who loved studying? Absolutely not. Otherwise, he would not have graduated from an ordinary second-tier university in his previous life and remained a nobody years after graduation, only to get struck by lightning while trying to save on taxi fare.

But he had no choice. If he did not find something to do, he really would die of boredom.

For a child around one year old, other than reading and studying, he truly could not find anything else to do.

When he was a little over one, Shi Quan began deliberately displaying his intelligence and acting as if he were extremely interested in books.

His mother, Li Meili, could read and write. Under her instruction, he learned most of Douluo Continent's written language, including writing, in less than a year despite being only one.

Although the intelligence Shi Quan displayed surprised his parents, it delighted them even more. What family would not want their child to be a genius?

After turning two, Shi Quan began reading by himself. He truly could not bring himself to play with children his own age; to him, it was simply too childish.

With nothing else to do, Shi Quan could only shift all his attention to reading and studying.

It was also that year when Shi Quan learned that the world he had transmigrated into was actually Douluo Continent.

He had seen Spirit Hall in books, as well as the Upper Three Sects: the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and the Clear Sky Sect.

When Shi Quan realized he had transmigrated to Douluo Continent, it felt as though someone had dumped a basin of cold water over him, chilling him to the core.

His parents were both ordinary people. In this Douluo world, where bloodline inheritance was paramount, he had started with an utterly disastrous hand. As for the golden finger every transmigrator was supposed to have, he had called for it countless times without ever receiving a response.

As a transmigrator, how could he willingly resign himself to mediocrity? Shi Quan had not neglected trying to research cultivation methods and the like. Forget success—there had not even been the slightest sign of progress.

No matter how restless one's heart was, it might still stir for one or two months. After one or two years, it could only barely move. After three or four years, no matter how unwilling he was, he could only accept his ordinary self and begin planning for the future.

At the dining table.

"The village chief announced today that the awakening ceremony will be held the day after tomorrow. You're old enough to take part this year."

As she spoke, Li Meili picked up a piece of meat and placed it in Shi Quan's bowl.

"Spirit Awakening?"

Shi Quan's eyes immediately lit up. Six years had passed. He could finally undergo Spirit Awakening. This was the most crucial turning point that would determine the course of his life.

After excitedly shoveling down two mouthfuls of rice, Shi Quan's gaze shifted, and he stared blankly at Shi Jian in the middle.

"What is it?" Shi Jian paused mid-bite and looked at Shi Quan in confusion.

Shi Quan chuckled and put on an expression of having seen through everything. "Dad, I already know you're a hidden master. Just tell me the truth."

Shi Jian froze briefly, then smiled and shook his head. "Your dad would like to be a hidden master too. Maybe in my dreams."

Li Meili let out a laugh like silver bells and encouraged him, "Xiao Quan, don't worry. You're so smart—you'll definitely have Soul Power!"

"Mm..."

Shi Quan sighed softly and nodded. With Spirit Awakening so close, he still had some expectations. But given the circumstances, he would most likely inherit the martial soul of either his father or mother.

Stone Family Village.

True to its name, most of the people in Stone Family Village bore the surname Shi. According to the village elders, the village had gradually formed after a powerful Soul Master named Shi Hao secluded himself here. With the addition of outsiders over time, it had grown into the present Stone Family Village of nearly four hundred and fifty households.

When it came to Stone Family Village, its most famous products were undoubtedly stone carvings and clay sculptures, which were also its main source of income. The village's stone carvings and clay sculptures were supplied not only to nearby Notting City; people from several major cities in Fasinuo Province even came specifically to place orders.

Stone Family Village had gained fame far and wide because of its genuine skill. Its stone carvings and clay sculptures were not only exquisite but lifelike. Whether people or objects, most could be faithfully reproduced. Relying on this craft, the village's standard and quality of life far surpassed those of nearby villages.

Shi Quan's father, Shi Jian, was also well known in Stone Family Village. The village was famous for its stone carvings and clay sculptures, yet Shi Jian was not even thirty, and his clay sculptures were vivid beyond compare. Even veteran craftsmen in their forties and fifties could not match him. Throughout Stone Family Village, if he claimed second place, no one dared claim first.

His mother, Li Meili, came from neighboring Blue Heart Village and was one of the few beauties among the surrounding villages. Shi Quan had heard that many people had pursued his mother back then. He did not know much about the love story between his parents, nor did he know why Li Meili had ultimately chosen his father, but he knew that his mother was happy.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the day of Spirit Awakening arrived.

Early that morning, Li Meili got up and began tidying Shi Quan up. For today's Spirit Awakening, she had specially prepared a clean, neat new outfit for him, symbolizing her hope that he would awaken Soul Power and gain a fresh start.

"My son looks so handsome today. Don't be nervous during Spirit Awakening. Our Xiao Quan is the best."

Just before they left, Li Meili still looked Shi Quan over from head to toe. She bent down to straighten him up once more, then affectionately kissed his little cheek with her cherry-red lips.

"Don't worry, Mom."

Shi Quan clenched his fist with an air of absolute confidence. In truth, he was not certain at all. He understood how difficult it was for ordinary people to possess Soul Power. His chances were not high, since the intelligence he had displayed was merely the accumulation of his previous life.

Li Meili nodded, then took Shi Quan's hand and led him toward the village's Spirit Hall.

His parents in this life had both treated Shi Quan very well, especially his mother, Li Meili, who had doted on him from childhood and granted nearly every request he made. His father, Shi Jian, had a steady personality and did not usually express his feelings openly, but Shi Quan could clearly sense that Shi Jian's heart was always occupied by thoughts of him and his mother.

Stone Family Village's Spirit Hall stood at the center of the village, not far from their courtyard. Before long, the two arrived at its entrance.

The Spirit Hall was a fairly large single-story building, with a small plaza built of stacked stone around it. By the time they arrived, five or six adults were already standing in the plaza.

"Why is Xiao Quan's mom so late today?"

As soon as they arrived, the people in the plaza greeted Li Meili familiarly.

They were all from the same village, so the neighbors were naturally well acquainted. Moreover, with Shi Jian's craftsmanship, their family was quite popular.

Li Meili also began chatting casually with everyone in the plaza.

Shi Quan stood quietly beside Li Meili without saying a word. Nearby, three or four children his age were playing and chatting among themselves.

Since Shi Quan had been reading since childhood and had never gone out to play with the other children in the village, he was not familiar with them.

Before long, more and more people gathered in the plaza. Spirit Awakening was the most vital turning point by which commoners could change their lives, so most village children had been personally brought by their elders.

Shi Quan roughly counted them. Including himself, there were already twelve children undergoing Spirit Awakening this year. That was quite a lot, but it seemed no one else was coming. There should be only twelve.

The Soul Master sent by Spirit Hall had not yet arrived. The small plaza was lively, with everyone chatting about household matters and flattering one another.

"Xiao Quan's mom, your Xiao Quan has been smart since he was little. Ah Jian nearly had Soul Power back then too. Maybe your family will produce a Soul Master today."

The speaker was an elderly woman around fifty or sixty. Li Meili replied with a smile, "Then we'll gladly accept Aunt Feng's good wishes."

There was no such thing as almost having Soul Power. Either one had it or one did not.

The reason such rumors had spread was because Shi Jian's martial soul was a mutated martial soul.