Martial Soul Awakening

Fasinuo Province, north of Nuoding City, Red Maple Village, Spirit Hall.

It was called Spirit Hall, but it was really nothing more than a small room.

Inside Spirit Hall stood a line of young brats, each looking uneasy as they followed the procedure, called forward by name by the esteemed Lord Soul Master before them to awaken their Martial Souls.

"A hoe. No Soul Power."

"Blue Silver Grass. A textbook trash Martial Soul. Testing for Soul Power is hardly even necessary."

Although Su Yuntao looked impatient, he still passed over the crystal ball used to test Soul Power.

"Put your hand on it. Let me see... no Soul Power. Next..."

"A radish. If you had Soul Power, you could become a food-type Soul Master. Unfortunately... you don't."

This was the Douluo Continent. Everyone had a Martial Soul, but from the moment they awakened it, people were divided into ranks according to the strength of their Soul Power.

As long as someone had Soul Power, even the most insignificant single level, they could be addressed as Lord Soul Master.

Without Soul Power, they could only struggle at the very bottom for the rest of their lives.

This was an iron law of this world.

"Next..."

Su Yuntao looked exhausted. Presiding over the Martial Soul Awakening of so many children was no small burden even for a Soul Grandmaster like him. Fortunately, only the last one remained.

When the final child approached, Su Yuntao raised an eyebrow, a trace of surprise crossing his face.

The boy had delicate features, yet a large red scar covered his face, stretching like flames from his forehead across nearly half his face.

However, the scar was not ugly. Instead, it gave the boy a distinctive bearing.

"Lin Yang, right... stand in the center of the formation."

Lin Yang stepped into the center of the six stones on the floor and stood firmly in place.

Su Yuntao poured Soul Power into the formation, and the six stones on the floor gave off a faint glow.

At the same time, Lin Yang sensed an incredibly gentle, warm current moving through his body. It flowed through his limbs and bones before finally turning into two streaks of light that rushed toward his left and right hands.

Swish!

A gleaming black blade abruptly appeared in Lin Yang's hand. About a meter long, its edge glinted coldly, looking slender and sharp. A round, openwork guard connected the blade to the hilt.

Near the guard, the words "Destroyer of Demons" were faintly engraved on the blade.

The instant he saw those words, it was as though a door had opened in his mind. With a boom, a vast torrent of memories suddenly flooded Lin Yang's mind.

Blue Star... Demon Slayer... Sun Breathing... the final battle in Infinity Castle... fragments of past memories flashed through his mind.

He remembered. Lin Yang's pupils dilated slightly.

He was a transmigrator, but he had first transmigrated into the world of Demon Slayer. After encountering a demon and being rescued by the Demon Slayer Corps, he had naturally joined their ranks.

With his foreknowledge and exceptional talent, he had learned Sun Breathing from Tanjuro Kamado, then slain demons all along his path and risen to become the Sun Hashira.

He had naturally unlocked the three-piece demon-slaying set: a bright red blade, the Demon Slayer Mark, and the Transparent World.

In the end, he had also outmaneuvered Muzan Kibutsuji and initiated the final battle in Infinity Castle. Through his combined efforts with the other Hashira, they had let that "scumbag demon" Muzan bask in the sun, achieving a happy ending.

He had even unlocked the achievement of becoming "one big loving family" with the Kocho Sisters.

What he had not expected was that, after dying at twenty-five, he would actually begin a third playthrough, transmigrating to the Douluo Continent.

His body seemed to still be his own, only regressed into an infant.

Very fortunately, an old woman from Red Maple Village had taken him home and raised him.

His memories of his first and second playthroughs had been sealed away because his body was too frail, leaving him no different from the other children over the past six years.

Only now, during this Martial Soul Awakening, had he remembered everything from his past.

And his Martial Soul was his Nichirin Blade, Crimson Interval.

However, he could clearly sense that another Martial Soul had appeared within him.

Twin Martial Souls? Wouldn't he soar straight into the skies now?

"A blade..."

Su Yuntao looked at the meter-long Nichirin Blade in Lin Yang's hand, a gleam appearing in his eyes. This blade looked extraordinary. Perhaps the boy would have Soul Power.

"Come, let's test your Soul Power."

As he spoke, he offered the crystal ball. "Put your hand on it and relax your whole body."

By now, Lin Yang had emerged from the tide of memories. Without betraying anything, he placed his hand on the crystal ball.

The instant he touched it, a suction force erupted within the crystal ball, and the warm current inside him surged uncontrollably into it.

The next second, the crystal ball suddenly lit up.

"He really does have Soul Power." Su Yuntao's eyes immediately brightened.

"Not bad. Level-five Innate Soul Power! You could be considered quite a little prodigy."

Lin Yang raised his eyebrows slightly. He felt that his Innate Soul Power was higher than level five.

Of course, he certainly would not say that in front of Su Yuntao.

"Lin Yang, congratulations on having level-five Soul Power. Work hard at your cultivation, and you might become a Soul King someday."

With that, Su Yuntao eagerly asked,

"Would you be interested in joining Spirit Hall, like your big brother here?"

Lin Yang scratched the back of his head, looking at a loss. "Well... I'll have to go home and ask my grandma..."

"Of course."

Su Yuntao could not help inwardly cursing his own impatience. What could he expect a six-year-old child to do? The boy probably did not even know what Spirit Hall did.

It was hardly surprising. He had conducted awakenings in several villages in succession, yet aside from Lin Yang before him, there had not been a single promising child who could become a Soul Master.

If he could find a promising child within his assigned area, he could gain quite a few benefits himself.

"Come on. Let's go see your grandma first."

When the door opened, Talen, the village chief of Red Maple Village, rushed over in a single bound, moving so nimbly that he hardly seemed like an old man in his fifties or sixties.

"Master Su, did anyone in our village awaken Soul Power this year?"

"Congratulations on finding such a promising child." Su Yuntao nudged Lin Yang forward.

"Level-five Innate Soul Power. His Martial Soul is a blade."

"Level five? My heavens!"

The village chief jolted, his eyes fixed on Lin Yang as he murmured, "Good, good. Our Red Maple Village has finally produced a promising child."

The other villagers around them, however, inevitably showed a trace of disappointment and envy.

They knew that Lin Yang's future would be completely different from their children's from now on.

"Village Chief Talen, I would like Lin Yang to join Spirit Hall. Could you take me to meet his family?"

"Yes, yes, of course." Talen nodded hastily.

"Please follow me, Master Su."

The old woman who had adopted Lin Yang was named Su Xi. When she named him, she had given him her husband's family name.

Su Xi's husband had joined the army in his younger years and died on the battlefield. The two had no children, and she had lived alone for the following decades until she found Lin Yang out in the wilderness.

She treated Lin Yang very well. Even with the red scar on his face, she had never rejected him, instead doting on him as though he were her own grandson.

Of course, although Lin Yang had not yet awakened his memories, a person's true colors did not change. He always did whatever chores he could manage.

In addition, the neighbors in Red Maple Village got along very well. Apart from being a little strapped for money, the grandmother and grandson had lived quite peacefully.