Holy Soul Village, Fasinuo Province, Heaven Dou Empire.
Early that morning, a ray of sunlight passed through the window and fell across a shabby wooden bed.
A black-haired, black-eyed boy lying on the bed slowly opened his eyes.
The boy looked malnourished.
His eyes were deep and cold, as though he had lived through endless ages and seen through everything in the world.
"I... came back?... This is... Holy Soul Village! My home!"
Tang San looked at his hands, those very thin, small hands that were still so young.
The current Tang San no longer had the body of a God King, nor the Sea God Trident or the Sea God Inheritance.
But his mind held the memories of his previous life, the memories of having cleared the entire Douluo Continent.
"Every regret from my last life can be made up for in this one."
"Spirit Hall! Dad, the Clear Sky Sect, and Xiao Wu. This time, I won't take the wrong path again."
In Tang San's memories, although he had become a God King in his previous life, he still had many regrets.
His father, Tang Hao, was a Titled Douluo, and the Clear Sky Sect's Clear Sky Douluo at that, yet he had endured years of suffering because of his mother, Ah Yin.
To protect his mother, he had even fought three of Spirit Hall's Titled Douluos while still at the Quasi-Titled Douluo level, one of whom was Spirit Hall's Supreme Pontiff.
In the end, he had still failed to protect his mother, and she had ultimately sacrificed herself to him.
She had nearly lost all hope of resurrection.
Although his mother, Ah Yin, had been resurrected, the process had been incredibly difficult.
And his beloved Xiao Wu had risked herself for him many times.
In this life, he would surely be able to change all of it in advance!
I must take back everything that belongs to me!
Just then, someone opened the door to the house. The house was already very dilapidated, and even the door was made of wood.
So opening the door made a loud wooden creak.
"Little San!"
"Hurry and get up! Don't be late!"
"Today's the day you register at Nuoding Academy! You're our village's hope!"
Tang San's brow twitched slightly. That voice belonged to Old Jack, the chief of Holy Soul Village.
He pushed open his room's door.
Outside the courtyard stood a white-haired old man, none other than Holy Soul Village's chief, Old Jack.
In his previous life, Old Jack had always been someone who took fairly good care of Tang San.
Back when Tang San first went to Nuoding Academy, Old Jack had accompanied him, too.
"Little San, although your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, you have Innate Full Soul Power.
"Even if the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul is difficult to cultivate, the fact remains that you have Innate Full Soul Power, so you should still be able to become an outstanding Soul Master. I'm not asking you to become a Soul Saint. Becoming a Soul Emperor, a Soul King, or a Soul Ancestor would all be fine."
Old Jack had no choice but to say this. He truly hoped an outstanding, gifted Soul Master would emerge from the village. After all, their village had only earned the name Holy Soul Village because a Soul Saint had once emerged from it.
"Even though our Holy Soul Village once produced a Soul Saint, we only get one place a year. Other villages have to share a single place between two or even three villages.
"So you must seize this opportunity, cultivate hard, and become an outstanding Soul Master. Then you can repay the village."
A work-study place was, plainly speaking, a guaranteed admission offered by Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy to poor villages, with "free tuition plus odd jobs in exchange for room and board." Such places were very scarce.
Allocation depended on a village's history of producing Soul Masters and its contributions: Holy Soul Village had produced a Soul Saint a hundred years ago, giving it "historical merit/prestige" recognized by the academy or the Spirit Hall system.
An exception was therefore made, granting the village a fixed place all to itself.
As for why ordinary villages had to share places?
Ordinary villages had never produced Soul Masters, had small populations, and contributed little, so the academy did not want to give every village a free place.
Instead, they were grouped by region: Village A, Village B, and Village C → one shared work-study place. Only a child with good talent, strong connections, or who awakened Soul Power first would have a chance to compete for that place.
Just as Old Jack was saying this, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
Isn't this old man being far too stingy? I have Innate Full Soul Power, after all, and my Martial Soul isn't Blue Silver Grass, but the unawakened Blue Silver Emperor. As a Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power, surely I deserve at least a carriage.
"???" Upon hearing this voice, Old Jack immediately looked at Tang San.
"What's wrong, Grandpa Village Chief?" Tang San looked curiously at Old Jack. Had Old Jack heard some strange noise? Old Jack then looked at Tang San and asked, "Little San, were you speaking just now?"
"Grandpa Jack, when did I say anything? I was just listening to you. I didn't say anything. You were the one talking the whole time, all right?"
Although Tang San spoke politely on the surface, inside he thought, This old man's really sick. He's even hearing things. Forget it. Once I reach Nuoding Academy, this old man will be useless anyway. Later, I heard that after I became a God King, he even had a sign made, calling this place God Soul Village or something. How ridiculous. What does my becoming a god have to do with any of you? You think you're worthy of claiming ties to me? Taking benefits? Taking credit? Pah!
Forget it. Once I reach Nuoding Academy, this old man will be useless anyway. Later, I heard that after I became a God King, he even had a sign made, calling this place God Soul Village or something. How ridiculous. What does my becoming a god have to do with any of you? You think you're worthy of claiming ties to me? Taking benefits? Taking credit? Pah!
Tang San treated people politely on the surface, but inside he was an ugly demon. After all, one only had to look at how he had manipulated Huo (Dai) Yuhao to see that.
Everything he had just thought was also transmitted into Old Jack's mind.
"God King? God Soul Village? Having a sign made?"
After hearing this, Old Jack immediately figured he really must be hearing things. Or were these all Tang San's inner thoughts? Tang San had already gone mad, and he wanted to become a god? What a joke.
I must be hearing things. How could a Blue Silver Grass possibly become a god? Although legends of gods existed on the continent, the problem was that no one had ever seen one.
I must be hearing things. That voice probably didn't come from Tang San. He hasn't even opened his mouth.
Old Jack did not say any of this aloud. He continued leading Tang San toward Nuoding Academy.
As Tang San walked, he complained inwardly about Old Jack. How dare he disrespect his father? His father was the Clear Sky Douluo. Tang Hao was the Clear Sky Douluo of his generation, from the Clear Sky Sect, one of the Upper Three Sects.
If Spirit Hall hadn't killed his mother, how would my father have ended up like this? Why would he be living in such a run-down village?
You old man have no value whatsoever.
After hearing this, Old Jack was certain. He probably was not hearing things. These must be Tang San's inner thoughts.
At the same time, he could hear Tang San's thoughts. He had never heard of these factions or strange things, but he did know that these factions were mostly made up of Soul Masters, and a village could not afford to provoke them.
They were not to be trifled with, and he was genuinely furious, too.
"Tang San, go by yourself. I have something to do, so I'll be leaving."
"???" Tang San looked utterly bewildered. In any case, he had been to Nuoding Academy before and could easily make the trip there and back, so he did not need anyone to accompany him.
But Old Jack had actually just left.
Didn't you say you were a God King? Since you're so capable, go to Nuoding Academy yourself.
Old Jack thought this but did not say it aloud, because if Tang Hao truly was a Titled Douluo, this village would be impossible to preserve. Yet inwardly, he still very much wanted to complain, A Titled Douluo who actually treats his own child like this and still needs other people to help look after him. How ridiculous.
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