The dark world of Martial Souls

Sun Shan and Hu Liena rode together on horseback.

A few days earlier, Sun Shan had received an assignment from Spirit Hall.

He was to investigate an unsolved case in the southern Heaven Dou Empire.

The inhabitants of a village had all died unnatural deaths overnight.

Their deaths had been exceedingly strange, with twisted, crazed smiles on every face.

Their eyes had been blood-red, like rabbits' eyes.

Every last drop of blood had been drained from their bodies.

The Soul Masters who had conducted the initial investigation tentatively concluded that some unknown Evil Soul Master was responsible.

Sun Shan had no objection to this assignment. After all, Evil Soul Masters were fair game for anyone to slay.

But before he left, Bibi Dong solemnly warned him:

"Beware of hands reaching out from the shadows. They've begun to move."

Sun Shan naturally knew that by "they," Bibi Dong meant the factions struggling within Spirit Hall.

Before setting out, Sun Shan had wanted to bring Xiao Wu along, but he could find no trace of her.

It was as though she had vanished from the face of the earth.

Remembering that Xiao Wu's Soul Power had been on the verge of breaking through to rank forty, he thought she might have gone to add a Soul Ring to her Martial Soul.

Sun Shan gave it no further thought.

He hurriedly set off, only for Hu Liena to catch up with him halfway and ask to accompany him.

The night deepened.

Sun Shan found somewhere to stay, intending to rest there with Hu Liena for the night before continuing.

They handed the two horses they had been riding over to the innkeeper to look after.

Just as Sun Shan and Hu Liena were eating,

a startled cry came from the stable behind their inn.

Sun Shan moved at the sound, his vigilance at its peak, and reached the stable.

But the horses they had ridden that day were nowhere to be seen.

The place was a mess, with scattered traces of blood.

The innkeeper was utterly bewildered and apologized to Sun Shan repeatedly.

Sun Shan frowned slightly. "Are they coming after me?"

Looking somewhat worried, Hu Liena took Sun Shan's hand, beads of sweat seeping into her palm.

Fortunately, whoever had done this seemed rather inexperienced.

Hu Liena activated her Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox Martial Soul, and her senses instantly sharpened severalfold.

Her nostrils twitched as she caught the horse thieves' scent in the air.

Following the scent, Hu Liena led Sun Shan to the outskirts of a ruined temple outside the city.

Firelight flickered inside amid a clamor of voices.

Both summoned their Martial Souls, readied themselves, and struck decisively with the force of thunder overwhelming all.

The first battle would be the decisive battle!

"Wait, Nana, stop!"

Sun Shan shouted, thrusting out his large hand to hastily block Hu Liena's attack.

As it turned out, inside this ruined temple,

there were no Evil Soul Masters, nor any of Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined's men.

There were only starving people in ragged clothes, filthy all over, their faces sallow with hunger.

They had already slaughtered Sun Shan's two horses.

Now the horses were roasting over the fires, sizzling with fat.

Seeing Sun Shan and Hu Liena, the horses' owners, come looking for them, the starving people were naturally terrified.

Some fell to their knees and begged for mercy.

Others simply kept chewing the food in their mouths.

They seemed long since numb to life and death.

"You ate both horses just like that?" Sun Shan asked in astonishment.

"I stole the horses, Master Soul Master. If you're going to punish someone, punish me. No one else had anything to do with it."

A sallow, emaciated boy stepped forward openly.

He raised his head to look up at Sun Shan, his eyes brimming with tears.

"Ever since I was little, my parents taught me to do things properly and live honestly..."

"But none of us had eaten for three days. We were so hungry... that we stole your horses."

The boy covered his face and sobbed.

At his words, Sun Shan's expression dimmed, revealing a trace of wordless sorrow.

"What fine appetites. I've heard that after eating so much horse meat, you'll burst your bellies if you don't drink some wine."

Sun Shan brushed his fingertips over the storage ring on his hand and took out several jars of yellow wine.

"Come have a drink with me!"

The boy tilted his head. "Master Soul Master, why aren't you arresting me? Why are you giving me wine instead?"

"You're just going to let this go?"

Hu Liena, standing beside him, was equally puzzled.

They had come to catch horse thieves.

Yet now, not only was Sun Shan sparing them punishment, he was even going to drink with them. It was simply unimaginable.

"I would rather harm horses for people's sake than harm people for horses' sake," Sun Shan said calmly.

At these words, a peculiar light flickered in Hu Liena's eyes.

In truth, Sun Shan understood.

It was not this child's hands that were unclean, but this world, which would not allow children to live upright lives.

Stealing horses to sell for one's own pleasure was naturally a crime deserving punishment. But if it was to fill one's belly and survive, was that a crime?

If a thief who stole food to stay alive was guilty, were the great robbers guilty as well?

Sun Shan knew there was far too much injustice on the Douluo Continent.

But at least he could still do a few things within his power.

Such as wiping the tears from the eyes of a child who had cried for so long.

He bent down and brushed the tears from the corners of the boy's eyes.

"Consider it something the people of this world owe you."

Clenching his fists, the boy gritted his teeth and swore:

"I won't ever steal again. I promise!"

"I believe you." Sun Shan laughed and raised his wine bowl. "Come, let's drink!"

Sun Shan lifted his wine bowl and invited everyone to drink their fill.

"Who says there is no food? With you, I shall feast. Who says there is no wine? With you, I shall drink!"

Sun Shan laughed and drained his bowl.

At his words, tears streamed down the starving people's faces, and they covered their faces and wept.

"A good man! What a good man!"

After a few cups of warm wine, he even felt somewhat tipsy.

Through his conversation with the boy,

Sun Shan learned the whole story.

The boy was named Mi Liang. His home was Rice Fragrance Village, where his family had farmed for generations.

Just as harvest time approached, two Titled Douluos had passed through while fighting.

One of the Douluos had a fire attribute.

A wisp of flame that escaped during their battle fell into the nearby fields.

When the village farmers heard, they immediately risked their lives trying to put out the fire.

They tried to extinguish it with water.

Unfortunately, this was no ordinary fire, and ordinary water was useless against it.

The farmers then went to beg the powerful Soul Masters nearby.

But those Soul Masters either stood high above them, looking down on the farmers as ants and refusing to help,

or looted the burning house by demanding exorbitant payment.

But how much could a farmer earn from a single mu of land?

Naturally, they could not afford it.

And so the boy's father, a farmer, and his fellow villagers could only watch helplessly as the blaze rapidly swallowed field after field.

His father first stamped his feet in anxiety, then sighed, and finally merely sat numbly on a field ridge with the nearby villagers.

They stared at the scorched earth in prolonged silence.

Just as it had been on this continent for tens of thousands of years.

Just as it had been for generations of ordinary people.

What could they do when powerful Soul Masters bullied them? They could only remain silent.

They could only swallow the bitter fruit.

Before long, famine struck the area. The wealthy and influential families and the Soul Masters naturally had plenty of ways to weather it.

Only the common people suffered, and so they fled the famine one after another.

After Mi Liang's parents pressed the last mouthful of dry rations they carried into his hands, they starved to death on the road.

After hearing this, Sun Shan felt a fire burning in his chest.

Soul Power seethed throughout his body.

Hu Liena had never seen Sun Shan like this.

He was completely different from his former carefree, flippant self.

She patted Sun Shan's shoulder and tried to dissuade him.

"Why involve yourself in these matters? There are too many pitiful people in this world."

"Because it's cool. Because they were crying, and I heard them!"

Sun Shan answered.

"If people who have never met can turn their blades on others and kill them for those ridiculous reasons,

"then I can love, too-love those kind people who have nothing to do with me!"

"Hu Liena, do you know? I truly hate conflict."

"I don't understand. What meaning is there in one person killing another?

"I like seeing everyone laughing freely in the sunshine.

"So if it's to stop evil from happening, to keep kind people from suffering again and again,

"even if I'm covered in blood for it, even if I'm consigned to eternal damnation and fall forever into hell, I will never regret it.

"Because heroes never flee in the face of battle!"

An indescribable madness showed in Sun Shan's eyes.

He turned to look at Mi Liang.

"Have you eaten your fill?"

The boy nodded in reply.

"Good. I'll take you to kill someone-a Titled Douluo!"