In the interior of the Sun Moon Federation lay Heaven Dou City, one of the federation's first-tier cities.
Of course, this was not the Heaven Dou Empire's Heaven Dou City, merely a commemorative city that had retained its original name.
The story went back more than ten thousand years.
Soul tool technology had been on the rise then, but only the Sun Moon Empire had attached enough importance to it, pulling far ahead of the other two nations.
If Zhou Yang were to discuss this, he would naturally have gone all out on his keyboard.
The three nations of Douluo had each focused solely on martial souls while neglecting soul tools. By the time they reacted, all they could do was regret it. The gap in soul tool technology was simply not something they could close in a few quick steps.
The Sun Moon Empire had struck swiftly, sweeping through Douluo's three nations with the force of thunder. Had some unknown being not forcibly intervened, there would never have been two other continents named the Star Luo Continent and the Dou Ling Continent.
After discovering new continents, the imperial families of the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire had each quietly emigrated and fled, leaving behind nothing but useless empty shells.
But cities could not migrate, and most ordinary people had no way to emigrate either. All that remained in this city were commoners and a handful of people willing to submit to the Sun Moon Empire.
After the two empires fled, the Sun Moon Empire had taken the few cities they had left without lifting a finger, completely unifying the Douluo Continent.
Heaven Dou City had been among them.
As some of the few who had not followed Star Luo and Heaven Dou off to play island raiders, the people in the capitals had naturally become a priority for the Sun Moon Empire's efforts to win hearts.
This Heaven Dou City had only retained its name because of historical factors, as the former capital of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Its unique geographical advantages, combined with economic, cultural, and other factors, had allowed this ten-thousand-year-old city to endure. Even today, ten thousand years later, it remained one of the federation's leading key cities.
Heaven Dou City had also just completed its final round of martial soul awakenings in recent days.
Countless children had waited in eager anticipation. In the end, some rejoiced and others grieved, all because of their martial soul awakenings.
Among them was a particularly unusual boy who seemed entirely out of place among everyone present. His face was expressionless, yet a distinctive bearing surrounded him: an air of arrogance, the pride and indifference of someone standing atop a mountain, looking down upon the masses.
"Tang Yin."
"Here."
Hearing his name, the boy silently walked up to the formation and underwent his martial soul awakening under the spirit master's guidance.
As strange, mysterious soul power acted upon the awakening formation, swirling white light enveloped him. An unusual force surged straight into his body, finally gathering in his right palm and manifesting there.
The spirit master glanced at it, preparing to record the martial soul.
"Awakened martial soul, Blue Silver... is this blue-gold Blue Silver Grass?"
What should have been the exceedingly common Blue Silver Grass martial soul had actually mutated, bearing blue-gold patterns and brimming with fluctuations of life that ordinary Blue Silver Grass should never have possessed.
Even more unusual was that all the patterns on the Blue Silver Grass had taken the shape of tridents, occasionally giving off a peculiar rhythm like ocean waves.
The spirit master frowned slightly, studying what stood before him.
Tang Yin explained, deliberately putting a look of longing on his face.
"This is Sea God Grass."
"Sea God Grass?"
"Yes. According to my mother, when Sea God Tang San became a god twenty thousand years ago, the Blue Silver Grass around Sea God Island evolved along with him, gaining blue-gold patterns marked with trident symbols."
This was a lie.
What he had awakened was indeed Blue Silver Grass, but it was Blue Silver Grass that had mutated under his own influence. He simply refused to let this trash martial soul affect how others judged him, so he had invented such a name.
As for whether the god would blame him, he did not care.
He could personally guarantee that Sea God Tang San would not mind.
Besides, the God Realm had already been swept away by the spacetime turbulence. This continent had no way to provide support for any gods to exist here.
At that thought, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
This was the worst of times, and also the best of times.
The God Realm being swept away by spacetime turbulence was both a problem and an opportunity. This was his chance to bring the Douluo Continent into his fold.
He had laid so many preparations when he drew the Abyssal Plane here ten thousand years ago. His plan would surely proceed smoothly as well.
As the saying went, martial souls came in all manner of strange forms. The spirit master was not particularly surprised. Over ten thousand years, plenty of such cases had piled up in the database.
According to a colleague of his in Eastsea, a new martial soul called Zi-O had even recently appeared in Glorybound City.
Whenever a new martial soul appeared, its owner was the one who named it.
"Is that so? Then would you like to name this martial soul Sea God Grass? As the person who awakened a new martial soul, you have the right to name it."
"Yes."
"All right. Next, get ready to test your soul power."
After recording the relevant information, the spirit master proceeded to the next step.
Following the spirit master's instructions, Tang Yin stepped onto the testing platform as directed. After a series of readings, his soul power value appeared.
"Innate soul power, rank ten."
The spirit master glanced at Tang Yin, looking surprised. He had worked here for several days without encountering any talented prospects, yet he had unexpectedly found one today.
The next moment, his eyes gleamed, as though he had pulled something good from a gacha banner he had given up hope on. Though the process had been miserable, the result was ultimately delightful.
His expression immediately changed, becoming warm and ingratiating as he spoke.
"May I ask, young friend, would you be willing to join the Spirit Pagoda?"
Faced with the spirit master's invitation, Tang Yin remained expressionless and calmly rejected the Spirit Pagoda's overture.
Join the Spirit Pagoda? What a joke!
Joining that brat from ten thousand years ago's organization would be worse than killing me.
More importantly, my surname is Tang. Naturally, I should return to my dearest Tang Sect.
Seeing this, the spirit master immediately grew anxious and began explaining the advantages and benefits of joining the Spirit Pagoda to Tang Yin.
An ordinary child might have happily joined upon hearing this. Unfortunately, the person he had encountered today was Tang Yin.
Even as the spirit master offered all manner of generous, enticing benefits and treatment, Tang Yin remained unmoved. Only his left hand stayed tightly clenched in a fist, as though hiding something.
After registering all his information, Tang Yin returned home.
His empty home looked rather impoverished, but it could not conceal Tang Yin's hidden excitement.
"It worked."
After suppressing himself for so long, Tang Yin finally no longer needed to disguise or control his emotions once he was inside his little house. A curve he could hardly conceal appeared at the corners of his mouth.
A heavy, oppressive presence rose from his left palm. At his summons, an ancient-looking hammer with a weighty, imposing presence appeared.
At the same time, a savage, terrifying blood-sword mark flashed and shone between his brows, resonating with it.
Yet there seemed to be some barrier between the hammer and the sword. They could not harmonize at all the way Sea God Grass did.
Now, reborn into another life as a contingency, with the God Realm swept away by spacetime turbulence, he, the contingency left behind, had been activated.
"I'm back. It's all back."
With fragments of a divine position residing within him, Tang Yin's path already surpassed that of mortals.
On this continent, no one could affect his plan!
Meanwhile, a certain Zhou was holed up in a room, grinding away.
"Achoo! Who's talking about me?"