Ten thousand years had passed since Spirit Ice Douluo ascended.
Today was the day when all six-year-old children in Shrek City underwent their Martial Soul Awakening.
For ordinary people, Martial Soul Awakening was the most important event in changing their fate.
Even in an age of rapidly advancing soul guidance technology, the standing of Soul Masters still could not be underestimated.
A high-quality martial soul and considerable innate soul power could let an ordinary person soar, leaving their ordinary status behind.
It was therefore easy to understand why, with dawn barely breaking, the vast square was already heaving with people. Countless parents held their children's hands, their eyes brimming with apprehension and hope.
Voices seethed in an endless clamor, and everyone silently believed in the ironclad rule passed down for ten thousand years by a Grandmaster of his generation:
There were no useless martial souls, only useless Soul Masters!
Inside the Spirit Transferring Pagoda, rather than mingling with the crowded throng, a woman and a child stood quietly.
The woman wore the Spirit Transferring Pagoda's fiery-red robes, their fabric luxurious and their patterns exquisite. A gentle, restrained aura of soul power lingered around her, and her bearing was cool and dignified, carrying the natural composure and detachment of someone in authority.
She was none other than the Spirit Pagoda's deputy pagoda master—Leng Yaoyu.
As a rank-98 Hyper Douluo, she had no need to come for such a minor matter. An ordinary awakening ceremony did not require her personal presence; the boy beside her was the sole reason she had made this special trip today.
"Finally, Martial Soul Awakening. Time to find out whether I'm a mule or a horse."
The boy's name was Xiao Chen, and he was six years old. His frame was straight and trim, his features refined and cool. Deep within his pitch-black eyes lay a calmness and distance far beyond his peers, without a trace of a child's innocent naivety.
But he was not a Douluo native.
Six years ago, while Xiao Chen was playing Minecraft and fighting the Wither Storm, his computer had suddenly exploded. He had tragically departed the beautiful Blue Star, and when he opened his eyes, he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent and become a baby.
Fortunately, Leng Yaoyu had come across him while passing by. Moved by compassion, she had taken him back to the Spirit Transferring Pagoda and adopted him, tending to him with care.
Leng Yaoyu held a high position, was cool by nature, and kept others at a distance. She rarely showed anyone tenderness, yet she lavished care on Xiao Chen, the child she had picked up.
Over those six years, she had taught Xiao Chen personally and raised him with painstaking care. She was his only family on the Douluo Continent.
Xiao Chen lifted his gaze, resting it on the towering, solemn structure of the Spirit Transferring Pagoda ahead.
Its gray-white stone walls rose straight into the sky, bearing the supreme order bestowed by the Federation, revered by countless people as a symbol of fairness and opportunity.
But to Xiao Chen, who had read the original Douluo Continent and knew the plot, Great God King Tang's hand lay behind all this continent's order, all its fates, and all its rises and falls.
No one knew that Sea God Tang San, whom the world worshipped on bended knee, was the true orchestrator of Douluo's ten-thousand-year calamity.
Starting with Huo Yuhao in Douluo II, first there had been the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, then the dog-training contest in Qiankun Asking Love Valley, and then Sea God's Descent when the Sun Moon Empire sought to unify the continent. He had forcibly interrupted the historical process of the Douluo Continent's unification, even changing the Sun Moon Empire's name, while its imperial family consisted of his son-in-law's descendants.
The most ridiculous part was that, in the end, it had still been Sun Moon that unified the Douluo Continent. The name had been changed back, the imperial family abolished, and it had become the Sun Moon Federation.
Then there was how, despite knowing full well that the Abyss Plane was the ultimate hidden threat that could destroy Douluo, he had ignored it throughout, leaving the planar crisis in place. The crucial point was that he had been the one to draw the Abyss Plane there in the first place.
He had stood by as the plane's origin continued to decline, allowing war, calamity, and suffering to sweep through the mortal world.
Every last bit of it had been for his Tang Family Continent. In the end, he would descend upon the Douluo Continent as its savior, keeping the Tang family's control over it forever secure.
The Sea God whom the world praised as pure as ice and immaculate as jade stood upon the blood and tears of countless living beings.
"Even after reading Douluo so many times, I still have to experience Great God King Tang's grand plan firsthand to appreciate Tang San's wisdom."
Xiao Chen pressed his lips together slightly and murmured under his breath, his tone flat and unruffled. There was no towering hatred, no compassion for all living beings, only pure tedium.
He had never intended to save this continent ensnared in schemes, nor did he have any grand ideals. Opposing Tang San had never been a responsibility or a mission to him.
But!
Great God King Tang, high above everyone, had calculated everything, locking everyone's fate in place and reducing all things in the world to stepping stones for the Tang family's ascent to the summit.
The crucial point was that he happened to be among them.
Such an unchanging fate, controlled by someone else from beginning to end, left him no choice but to clash with Tang San.
You want total control, Tang San? A flawless script?
On what grounds? Just because you arrived twenty thousand years before me?
Then he would insist on being that aberrant piece that leaped off the board and threw heaven and earth into chaos.
"What are you thinking about so intently?"
A cool, gentle woman's voice sounded beside him, interrupting Xiao Chen's thoughts.
Leng Yaoyu lowered her eyes to the boy beside her, barely perceptible tenderness and anticipation hidden in her gaze.
"Your Martial Soul Awakening is about to begin. Don't be nervous, little Chen. No matter what martial soul you awaken, I can keep you safe and free of worry."
In her view, Xiao Chen was far too quiet, unlike the liveliness of ordinary children. He must have been staring into space because he felt nervous and apprehensive.
Xiao Chen looked up at her and nodded gently, his voice soft and steady. "I'm not nervous, Aunt Leng."
Xiao Chen's composure far exceeded Leng Yaoyu's expectations.
After six years together, she had long grown accustomed to the boy's steady temperament. Seeing him now, she felt even more satisfied and nodded with a smile, watching him walk slowly toward the Awakening Array in the center.
The middle-aged deacon responsible for overseeing the awakening ceremony spotted the two from afar. He hurriedly stopped his work and strode over to bow, his manner utterly respectful.
"Greetings, Deputy Pagoda Master!"
"No need for formalities."
Leng Yaoyu raised a hand lightly, her tone even.
"I brought little Chen to awaken his martial soul. Just proceed as usual."
"Yes!"
The deacon dared not delay and hurriedly bowed in acknowledgment.
Under Leng Yaozhu's expectant gaze, Xiao Chen walked slowly into the very center of the Awakening Array.
An ancient-looking, smooth, rounded Martial Soul Awakening Stone floated in midair, suffused with a gentle, milky-white glow. Wisps of pure soul power flowed slowly, enveloping the entire array.
"Relax your mind, empty it of distracting thoughts, and guide your soul power to awaken."
The deacon gathered his focus and instructed him in a low voice.
Xiao Chen stood as directed, his posture upright, his expression calm and unruffled, without the slightest ripple in his eyes.
As the deacon finished speaking, the Awakening Stone blazed with light. Gentle white radiance flooded into every part of Xiao Chen's body like a tide, its mild soul power nourishing his meridians and bones.
The next second, a shocking transformation suddenly erupted!
The formerly docile, gentle milky-white light exploded, transforming into a terrifying black pillar of light that broke through the clouds and shot straight into the heavens!
Rumble-
Dull thunder resounded in their ears. With Xiao Chen at its center, a violent storm of soul power suddenly erupted. The air twisted fiercely, and an invisible pressure of soul power swept across the entire venue, making everyone's heart sink and even their breathing grow labored.
The middle-aged deacon's pupils suddenly contracted. The composure vanished from his face, and he exclaimed in astonishment:
"Innate full soul power!"
Innate full soul power!
Beside him, Leng Yaoyu's eyes also lit up, filled with delight and relief, and her anxious heart finally settled.
No matter what, a martial soul with innate full soul power could not possibly be poor in quality!