A child who did not even have a martial soul had dared to meddle in the affairs of a group of soul masters. To put it kindly, she was bold. To put it bluntly, she was courting death.
Whatever the case, since she had stepped in to help, that kindness alone was worth remembering for a long time.
"Hello, I'm Leng Xiyue."
Leng Xiyue looked at Hu Liena, who seemed like the little girl next door-no, the big sister next door-and felt puzzled. Judging by their ages, the two were barely over ten, but weren't they supposed to become the Spirit Hall's Golden Generation? How could their lives be so miserable at this age?
Just as Leng Xiyue was considering how to ask, Hu Liena spoke first. "Little sister, why are you here? You don't even seem to have a martial soul, do you?"
"Well, to be honest, I've lost my memory. I only woke up a little while ago. I remember things about this world, but I don't remember why I'm here..." The two before her were decent people she could trust, so everything she said was the truth.
"I see."
Leng Xiyue had expected them to doubt that explanation, but instead, they merely nodded solemnly, their expressions grave.
Seeing this, Leng Xiyue asked in turn, "Sister Nana, where are we? And why were those people trying to kill you?"
"This is the Martial Soul Forest." Hu Liena suddenly trembled. "We're taking part in a trial right now. Or you could call it an elimination contest."
"There are about five hundred wandering orphans in our group, all carefully selected from the various branch halls. The Spirit Hall has us undergo a survival test in this forest with no time limit. At the start, they give us a Vital Signs Detector. It won't send us the signal that the test is over until only a hundred people remain."
"There are no rules in this trial. Or rather, the only rule is to stay alive. All they want are those hundred strong survivors."
"All five hundred already had excellent talent. They were carefully chosen from all over. Those who survive to the end will have exceptional cultivation talent, combat skills, and survival experience. They'll truly be the elite of the elite."
As she spoke, a glimmer of hope flashed through both Hu Liena's and Xie Yue's eyes. "If we can claim one of those hundred places, our futures will be bright. Our chances of entering the Spirit Hall's inner circle are vanishingly small, and we'll most likely just become ordinary guards assigned to dirty, exhausting work, but even that life would be hundreds of times better than wandering the streets."
After hearing this, Leng Xiyue more or less understood. From their description, wasn't this just raising venomous creatures in a jar, letting them kill one another until only the strongest remained?
Simple, but useful and efficient.
"I heard the Spirit Hall treats even ordinary people well. Shouldn't that go doubly for talented soul masters like you? Why do you still have to go through something like this?" Leng Xiyue asked curiously.
At those words, Xie Yue and Hu Liena both looked at her as if she were an idiot, though they quickly hid it and explained helplessly:
"Silly little sister, before you can be an ordinary person who gets treated well, you have to count as an ordinary person in the first place. When we were wandering the streets, we were about your age. Whether in the eyes of the little kingdoms or the two great empires, we were nothing but worthless cancers. No one would care if some rich, powerful figure killed us in the street, and countless children like us were captured and made into slaves."
"Meaningless wars between kingdoms, hordes of bandits and marauders, and tyrannical nobles change the fates of countless families every year. Our parents were just like that. They were killed by bandits while traveling on business. Their friends, who had once seemed so kind and friendly, instantly turned into greedy demons. Those officials could confiscate our family's property with any excuse they pleased, without caring whether we lived or died. In the end, all we could do was wander from place to place..."
"If the Spirit Hall hadn't saved us, given us food, awakened our martial souls when we were six, then taught us to cultivate and helped us obtain our first soul rings, how could we ever have had the chance to take part in a trial that still offers some hope? We probably would have starved to death in the streets long ago, or been captured by slave traders and lived a life worse than death."
"From the moment they took us in, we decided that our lives belonged to the Spirit Hall. The Spirit Hall needs this brutal training to cultivate our fighting spirit and unwavering will to fight. What we learn are killing techniques. We're not like those lucky children born in Spirit City, who can receive decent resources through their families' or parents' influence. For wandering orphans like us, only those who survive get to enjoy the same treatment as normal people."
"Actually, the Spirit Hall hasn't forced us to take part in this trial. They're perfectly willing to let us return to the outside world. But no one wants to go back to that hell."
"...So that's how it is."
For some reason, Leng Xiyue, who had barely felt a ripple after killing someone moments earlier, now found herself filled with complicated emotions.
In her memory, the Douluo Continent had been a prosperous world, but the darkness hidden behind that prosperity was probably unimaginable as well. There was, for example, the slave trade network in the Heaven Dou Empire that persisted despite repeated bans in the story, along with brazen human trafficking. She had unconsciously forgotten those dark things. Only now, after hearing Hu Liena speak, did she recall them.
But how much better could the Spirit Hall be, when it held trials like this, raising venomous creatures in a jar?
Despite suffering so much, and having only just escaped death, Hu Liena and Xie Yue were clearly still deeply grateful to the Spirit Hall. They saw nothing wrong with this brutality, either. It seemed they already believed that the strong surviving and the weak being culled was right.
Leng Xiyue could not quite understand what darkness these wandering orphans had experienced to make them prefer dying here to going back.
Seeing Leng Xiyue's spirits sink, Xiao Bai, who was leaning against a nearby tree, said helplessly, "Sigh. I can only draw on things I've experienced to remove their adverse effects on you, so you won't suffer over certain little things, like the aftereffects of killing someone for the first time. That way, you can remain strong-willed, calm, and decisive at all times."
"But I've never lived in human society. Naturally, I can't understand what caused all of this, nor can I use my experience to comfort you. If I told you about the structure of our Protoss Society, you certainly wouldn't understand it, either."
"No matter what, I'll always be by your side. If you're dissatisfied with this world, then we'll change it. Believe me, we absolutely have that power."
"Mm. Thank you, Xiao Bai." After hearing those words, a smile rose on Leng Xiyue's face.
That's right. I'm not alone. Since I'm already in this world, if I'm dissatisfied with something and know what caused it, why shouldn't I try to change it?
I've been given another life. If I can't even follow my heart, wouldn't I be living it for nothing?
"All right, time to get down to business. If we want to activate the system, I think we can start with those two."
"Yes, that's what I was thinking, too."
After replying to Xiao Bai, Leng Xiyue turned to Hu Liena, her eyes brimming with eagerness.
"Sister Nana, I was wondering... could you help awaken my martial soul?"
Awakening a martial soul was not complicated. A soul master of any level could awaken someone else's martial soul. They only needed to use their own soul power to guide the martial soul within the other person's body and activate their innate soul power.
"Hmm... I've never awakened anyone else's before, but I should be able to, right?"
Although Hu Liena and Xie Yue were only One-Ring Soul Masters, their soul power was already at level eighteen or nineteen, just a little short of obtaining their second rings. Naturally, awakening a martial soul was within their abilities.
Hu Liena stepped in front of Leng Xiyue and let her demon fox martial soul possess her. Then she took Leng Xiyue's hand and said softly, "Relax. I'll send my soul power into your body until your martial soul awakens."
The point at which a martial soul could be activated differed from person to person. An Awakening Stone would have made things much easier, allowing them to pinpoint the martial soul's location and activate it directly. If they used this method, akin to passing on a flame... they could only search bit by bit.
Leng Xiyue felt a warm current enter her body through her palm and slowly wander through her. It felt rather like a massage, and was quite comfortable.
The process was extremely taxing and inefficient. Before long, Hu Liena's forehead was covered in beads of sweat, yet Leng Xiyue still showed no sign of awakening her martial soul.
Even Xiao Bai could hardly bear to watch anymore. She reminded her irritably, "Idiot, have her sweep that power through your head. Maybe it'll activate the system."
"Uh... won't something go wrong?" Leng Xiyue hesitated. Sweeping power through her head was no joke if anything went wrong.
"What are you afraid of when I'm here? Just have her do it."
Since Xiao Bai had said so, Leng Xiyue stopped hesitating and told Hu Liena, "Sister, I think I can sense my martial soul. It should be somewhere near my head. Could you try sweeping through this area?"
"...Understood." Hu Liena nodded, then guided her soul power toward Leng Xiyue's head.
This procedure was extremely dangerous. The slightest mistake could leave Leng Xiyue an idiot.
...But there was no helping it. This was how the most primitive method of awakening a martial soul worked. What could they do without equipment to support them?
Hu Liena moved with exceptional care, while Xiao Bai entered the soul space to provide guidance. Before long, Leng Xiyue felt something like a barrier abruptly shatter inside her mind. Suddenly, she could clearly sense the Golden Light Orb's presence.
The soul power Hu Liena had been pouring into her had previously flowed as cautiously as a tiny stream. Now, it suddenly became a surging river, rushing madly toward the orb.
Leng Xiyue's vision suddenly blurred. She felt as though she were ascending, her body growing light and weightless as her consciousness was sucked into the orb.
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