Douluo Star.
The Federation.
Heaven Dou City.
Six-year-old Jiang Xia looked somewhat somber.
"The moment of judgment is finally coming."
He had transmigrated here, and his parents had died in an accident when he was three, leaving behind a sizable estate. Yet he, their biological son, had been unable to inherit it. Instead, officials had forcibly sent him to an orphanage on the grounds that he was too young.
As for the villa and the many other assets his parents had left behind, someone had embezzled them.
Jiang Xia had neither power nor influence, and he was young. Without any means of investigating, he did not even know who the culprit was.
He had not made a fuss over these three years.
He had been waiting for this very day.
I hope my martial soul can deliver.
On this Douluo Continent, martial souls and talent were ultimately what mattered.
This was the era of the Legend of the Dragon King. Jiang Xia could not be bothered with those two overpowered monsters, the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King. Right now, he only wanted to take back what was his.
At the same time, he also suspected that his parents' deaths had not been an accident.
The Spirit Pagoda.
The spirit master gestured for Jiang Xia to step forward.
Coming back to his senses, Jiang Xia took a deep breath and stepped into the hexagram-shaped soul tool array.
Pale golden motes of light filled his surroundings and surged into his body.
His body was like a bottomless abyss, gathering vast quantities of pale golden light.
At this sight, the spirit master also revealed a look of delighted surprise.
Feeling the surging soul power within him, Jiang Xia's heart stirred!
As his martial soul awakened, he also successfully connected with it.
He sensed its existence. It was-
An illusory dreamscape...
It had neither shape nor form, shifting ceaselessly.
An understanding of his martial soul's abilities rose in his mind.
"Child, what is your martial soul?"
The spirit master inquired carefully.
"My martial soul is Broken Dream!" Jiang Xia said earnestly.
Understanding dawned on the spirit master's face. He seemed to know of this martial soul.
"Let's test your soul power."
Jiang Xia did as instructed.
"Rank ten! Full soul power!"
Smiling at Jiang Xia, the spirit master asked, "Child, would you like to join the Spirit Pagoda?"
Having awakened a child with innate full soul power already counted considerably toward his performance.
If he could recruit the child into the Spirit Pagoda, he would receive a large sum of merit points as well, and his rank could rise too.
Jiang Xia was among the children sent over together by the orphanage, so he did not ask about Jiang Xia's parents or anything of that sort.
As long as Jiang Xia agreed to join the Spirit Pagoda, the Spirit Pagoda could take him directly out of the orphanage.
Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Xia nodded emphatically.
"I'll join the Spirit Pagoda!"
In this era of the Legend of the Dragon King, innate full soul power was indeed everywhere, but that did not mean it was no longer valued.
Besides, Jiang Xia was fully confident that he was different from those with ordinary innate full soul power.
After all, even those with innate full soul power differed from one another.
First, mine is of the spiritual attribute. Second, my Broken Dream martial soul has a vast future in this era. At the very least, I already have an idea of how to develop it. Jiang Xia's heart burned with anticipation.
The spirit master was also delighted that Jiang Xia had joined the Spirit Pagoda so decisively.
He told Jiang Xia to go to his office. Once he finished awakening the others, he would take Jiang Xia to register separately.
Alone in the spirit master's office, Jiang Xia's mind churned with all sorts of thoughts.
I wonder if joining the Spirit Pagoda will let me take some big shot as my master right away?
For a gentleman, ten years was not too late for revenge. Once he turned his talent into strength, he would naturally be able to track down the fellow who had embezzled his family's assets.
But Jiang Xia could not wait that long.
If he could settle it sooner, he would of course do so as early as possible.
Of course, that depends on whether I can find a good teacher.
If he could not find a good teacher, then ten years would still not be too late.
The "broken" in my Broken Dream martial soul isn't broken in that sense.
The dreamscape is complete, yet also incomplete, because the "completeness" it is measured against is the whole formed after connecting with someone else's spiritual consciousness!
Its incompleteness was not a flaw. On the contrary, it was the greatest, most fundamental mechanism of his martial soul!
Jiang Xia knew that twenty thousand years ago, Tang San had faced an assassination attempt by a soul master with the Broken Dream martial soul.
His name was Shi Nian.
Unfortunately, he had been countered by the Purple Demon Eyes.
There are plenty of Purple Demon Eyes in this era, so I absolutely cannot follow Shi Nian's path. Illusions are absolutely an inferior approach.
At least in this era, illusions were absolutely an inferior approach.
Never mind the Purple Demon Eyes. Every one of those top powerhouses operated on mind over matter, on spiritual domains.
If he brought out an illusion now, it might well be shattered to pieces.
Compared with illusions, Jiang Xia valued another trait of his martial soul more.
Broken Dream, Broken Dream. Dreams are the foundation. Rather than casting illusions outward, I'll construct a genuine dreamscape within.
When one day the dreamscape becomes so real that it descends into the world, what kind of sight will that be?
Such a wild idea would ordinarily be difficult to realize, but Broken Dream happened to have its own mechanism.
I've also transmigrated into exactly the right era.
The era of the Legend of the Dragon King has no shortage of virtual worlds.
The Spirit Pagoda has the Spirit Ascension Platform, the Tang Sect has the Hall of Heroes, and Shrek has its own virtual world too.
In the future, the Federation will even launch the Star Dou Battle Network, and Gu Yue Na will invest in developing the Myriad Beast Platform.
Every one of these virtual worlds was Jiang Xia's target.
I'm not cut out to study the technology and learn how to build these virtual worlds. But if it's just imitating them within my martial soul, feeling my way by intuition, perhaps I can give it a try.
These virtual worlds are so lifelike. I need to learn how they evolve all things.
I'll build a genuine realm of reality within my dreamscape!
At this thought, Jiang Xia's emotions began to surge violently.
Actually, by the time the Myriad Beast Platform comes along, I'll have a chance to encounter methods of turning the illusory into reality. And all of that will depend on Gu Yue-or rather, Gu Yue Na.
*...*
Immersed in fantasies of the future, Jiang Xia's mind gradually went blank.
He did not know how long he had slept before the spirit master's voice woke him.
"You're quite lucky, kid. A senior from our Spirit Pagoda happens to be visiting our Heaven Dou City Spirit Pagoda. After hearing about your martial soul, he wanted to meet you."
A senior?
Jiang Xia's gaze shifted slightly.
He followed the spirit master into the elevator and went straight to the Spirit Pagoda's highest floor.
As he watched the elevator reach the top floor, even Jiang Xia's breathing became a little restrained.
Clearly, the senior the spirit master spoke of was a true powerhouse!
When they reached the branch pagoda master's office, the door was open. Even from the corridor, they could hear a man's hearty laughter inside.
"Pagoda Master, I've brought him."
The spirit master knocked lightly on the open door.
In fact, the branch pagoda master and the other person inside, a vigorous-looking old man, had long since sensed their arrival.
Both looked over together.
Jiang Xia instinctively looked toward the old man.
The old man's eyes were unfathomably deep, as though they could draw a person's very soul into them.
Noticing something amiss, Jiang Xia immediately closed his eyes of his own accord, no longer meeting the old man's gaze.
"Very perceptive. You've only just awakened your martial soul, yet your spiritual power is unexpectedly high as well. But, boy, illusions don't rely on sight alone."
The old man spoke slowly.
As his voice rang out, Jiang Xia once again felt as though his soul were about to be drawn into some bottomless abyss.
Soon, however, he returned to normal.
Clearly, the old man was only demonstrating, rather than truly intending to do anything to him.