Douluo Continent, Heaven Dou Empire, Douluo Village.
Like Holy Soul Village, it lay within the territory of Nuoding City. Despite its grand-sounding name, it was actually a small village founded when the nearby villages grew too crowded and ran out of farmland, forcing people to clear new land here. It had only been around for a dozen years or so.
It was called Douluo Village because someone among its villagers supposedly had a Soul Douluo ancestor, so they had chosen an exaggerated name to show off.
Bang!
An explosion suddenly rang out in the mountain forest. Dust flew, and wisps of bluish smoke curled upward.
A child of about six, with sword-like brows, star-bright eyes, and an alarmingly sturdy build, poked his head out of the bushes beside the blast crater.
His name was Lu Yuan, and he was the adopted grandson of Old Tom, the village chief of Douluo Village.
According to the villagers, when Old Tom found Lu Yuan, he had wondered what to name him. Lu Yuan kept babbling, "Lu Yuan, Lu Yuan," which was how he had ended up with his current name.
At the center of the explosion, a wild boar's fresh carcass lay amid loose, scorched earth, giving off a faint aroma of meat.
Lu Yuan emerged from the bushes with a smug look and dusted off his hands.
"Just as I thought, the laws of physics from other worlds work on the Douluo Continent too. One part sulfur, two parts saltpeter, three parts charcoal. My bomb packed a pretty decent punch."
Then Lu Yuan shook his head in disappointment.
"Too bad I haven't studied bombs in much depth. Otherwise, I could follow Tang San's example with the Tang Sect and start a 'Lu Temple' or something."
That was right. Lu Yuan was a transmigrator.
In his previous life on Blue Star, a new season had begun in the Kingdom of Locke world. Lu Yuan stayed up all night just to collect every Shiny Pokémon in the new season, died suddenly on the spot, and transmigrated.
While still swaddled in blankets, Lu Yuan saw people here summon martial souls from their palms and immediately realized he had transmigrated to the famed Hydrogen World-the Douluo Continent.
Holy shit! Hydrogen people! All right, I'm one too.
Lu Yuan approached the wild boar's fresh carcass. Although he was small compared to the boar, the average resident of the Douluo Continent was practically superhuman. After tying a rope around the carcass, Lu Yuan could actually drag it along.
Under the blazing sun, Lu Yuan made his way through the mountain forest and soon reached a small village in a stretch of flat land among the mountains.
"Hah!"
As Lu Yuan approached, he heard a weathered voice grunt with exertion.
Beside the parched field ridges, a dozen or so villagers stood around an old man whose white hair hung down around his head. The old man summoned a Spiral Water Orb into his hand, then swept it sharply upward.
The orb spiraled into the sky, rapidly swelling before bursting with a pop. It turned into a light shower that fell over the withered fields. As the soil grew damp and water pooled, even the seedlings straightened their backs a little.
"Wonderful! The crops are saved!"
"The chief's Rainfall Art is amazing!"
"With the chief here, our Douluo Village gets favorable winds and timely rain every year, and we always bring in the harvest on time!"
"That's right. It's all thanks to the chief."
"Thank you, Chief!"
Seeing the cracked earth turn moist, the villagers bowed to the old man in thanks. He was Old Tom, the chief of Douluo Village and Lu Yuan's adoptive grandfather.
"All right, everyone, go take care of your own work."
Old Tom had served as chief ever since Douluo Village was founded and commanded great respect there. At his word, the villagers cheerfully dispersed.
Old Tom's martial soul was a rare elemental martial soul-water.
By rights, he should have possessed innate soul power, yet for some reason, Old Tom did not have a single Soul Ring.
Lu Yuan had asked him about it before, but Old Tom always replied that the Soul Master World was too dangerous, and there was nothing wrong with living a quiet, ordinary life.
"Grandpa, I'm back! Look what I brought!"
Lu Yuan approached Old Tom and swung the hemp rope in his hand, tossing the wild boar's fresh carcass down in front of him.
"Yuan, you went hunting again? And brought back another wild boar this time."
With a kindly gaze, Old Tom stroked his beard and looked at the grandson he had taken in with a touch of helplessness.
The boy truly was exceptionally gifted. Lu Yuan had not been so sturdy at first. But two years ago, he had caught a Soft Bone Rabbit in the mountain forest and brought it home, and everything had changed.
Combined with his friendly personality, that had quickly made Lu Yuan the "other people's child" praised by villagers throughout Douluo Village and even several neighboring villages.
"Yuan, let's go home. Grandpa will stew some pig trotters for you tonight to build you up. In a few days, Master Su Yuntao will come to our village to awaken the children's martial souls. I'm sure you'll awaken a good martial soul then."
What! It's already time for the annual martial soul awakening again?
Lu Yuan's face lit up with excitement. This was Douluo Village's yearly main event.
In the years since he had transmigrated, not a single child in Douluo Village had awakened innate soul power. Lu Yuan wanted to know whether he, as a transmigrator, could break through that wall.
Over those years, Lu Yuan had also watched Su Yuntao's soul power level rise from 21 to 25.
Lu Yuan knew that the start of the Douluo Continent's storyline was not far off now. Compared to Tang San, he was probably only a year or two older.
He had also asked Old Tom whether he knew of Holy Soul Village. To his surprise, Old Tom had looked astonished and told him that Holy Soul Village was on the opposite side of Nuoding City from Douluo Village. Old Tom and its chief, Old Jack, had once been close brothers who had braved life and death together.
Upon hearing that, Lu Yuan immediately lost interest in exploring Holy Soul Village. It was not just the long journey. If Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao or Tang San discovered him, the little bombs he made would not be enough to save his life.
That night, after eating and drinking his fill, Lu Yuan lay in bed, staring blankly at the pure moonlight falling onto his face through the window.
"I finally got a chance to come to the Douluo Continent, where I can become a god and live forever. I hope I don't stumble at the very first step because my martial soul has no innate soul power."
Several days later, at the Spirit Hall in Douluo Village.
They called it a Spirit Hall, but it was really just a dilapidated wooden hut used once a year.
After washing and tidying himself up, Su Yuntao arrived at Douluo Village in a jade-green Spirit Hall uniform, with the Spirit Hall emblem pinned to his chest.
The villagers excitedly ushered the three children of the appropriate age that year into the Spirit Hall to awaken their martial souls.
"Hello, children. My name is Su Yuntao. My martial soul is Lone Wolf. I'm twenty-five years old, and my soul power is level 25."
"I'm a member of the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City. I've come to Douluo Village today to awaken your martial souls. Only those with innate soul power can become Soul Masters like me."
Su Yuntao sang his own praises, but when he noticed the worried expressions on the other two children's faces, he immediately coughed and changed his tone.
"Awakening your martial soul is good for you even if you don't have innate soul power. It will improve your physical fitness, and the martial soul you awaken can be useful. Blue Silver Grass can feed pigs, a sickle can cut grass, and so on."
With that, Su Yuntao arranged six Awakening Stones in front of the three children, setting up the formation for awakening martial souls.
Once everything was ready, Su Yuntao shouted,
"Lone Wolf, possess me!"
After his Lone Wolf martial soul possessed him, Su Yuntao grew somewhat bulkier. Blue-green fur sprouted over his body, while wolf ears and sharp claws emerged on his head and hands.
His rather unnerving appearance left the children trembling with fear. Even Lu Yuan, who was seeing a Soul Master use Martial Soul Possession for the first time, felt a little nervous. Su Yuntao immediately reassured them.
"Don't be afraid, children. This is my martial soul, Lone Wolf. Now enter the formation one at a time and sense your martial souls."
The other two children followed Su Yuntao's instructions and stepped into the martial soul awakening formation in turn. Ordinary Blue Silver Grass and a sickle appeared in their hands, respectively.
"Blue Silver Grass, no innate soul power. Next."
"Hoe, no innate soul power. Next."
Su Yuntao read out the results in an even tone, seemingly unsurprised.
"Lu Yuan, right? Your turn."
Holding the list of children awakening their martial souls in Douluo Village that year, he beckoned Lu Yuan into the formation. This year, it was finally his turn to awaken his martial soul, last of all.