Holy Soul Village, Chaos Awakening (1)

Holy Soul Village lay south of Nuoding City in Fasinuo Province of the Heaven Dou Empire. More than three hundred households were scattered among its wheat fields.

The village had been named for a Soul Saint who had come from there a century ago, a source of pride passed down through generations of villagers.

The spring equinox had just passed, and a crowd had already gathered outside the Martial Soul Awakening room at the village entrance.

Old Jack stood at the door, leaning on his walking stick, with more than a dozen children around six years old in his charge. His face was full of anticipation. Today was the day of the Martial Soul Awakening, and every child's fate could be rewritten.

In a corner of the crowd, however, a little boy kept his head lowered and said nothing.

His name was Lin Chen. Three years ago, he had stayed up late in the modern world to finish bingeing the Douluo series. His eyes had closed, and when he opened them again, he had become an orphan here with the same name. He was six this year and stood just above an adult's waist.

A three-year-old with no father or mother, who didn't even know which pot his next meal would come from-he had truly panicked that first year.

If Village Chief Old Jack hadn't cared for him so attentively over the past few years, the grass on his grave would have grown old by now.

Lin Chen's eyes swept over the children, but his mind was going over the plot. The day Tang San awakened, Blue Silver Grass, the Clear Sky Hammer, all the way to the battle of two gods against two gods... He still had a rough grasp of what had come first and where each stumble had happened.

"He's here, he's here! The lord from Spirit Hall is here!"

The crowd stirred.

A deacon in his twenties strode over, wearing a gray cloak over the white uniform of Spirit Hall.

His name was Su Yuntao, a deacon of the Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City. He was in charge of awakenings in all the villages around here.

"Quiet, all of you." Su Yuntao pushed open the door to the awakening room, his voice carrying a touch of his usual arrogance. "Don't move around during the Martial Soul Awakening. Whether you can become Soul Masters depends on your own fortunes."

The children entered the room one after another.

Inside, six pitch-black stones were arranged in a hexagon, with a blue crystal ball in the center. Su Yuntao stood outside the formation and, as he channeled his Soul Power, the six stones lit up with a soft golden glow, enveloping the child inside.

"You, yes, you. Come here and hold out your right hand."

A sickle appeared in the first child's palm, so rusty it was flaking. When he pressed the crystal ball, it didn't stir in the slightest. Zero.

The second had a hoe, the third Blue Silver Grass... Several children in a row had Trash Martial Souls and no Soul Power at all.

Su Yuntao's face fell by degrees. He hadn't expected much from this remote backwater in the first place.

"When your name is called, hurry up. Don't waste time. Next, Lin Chen."

Lin Chen took a deep breath and stepped into the light formation.

Warm Soul Power surged into his body, traveled along his meridians, and finally gathered in his right palm. A hazy gray pearl slowly emerged. It was simple and unadorned, with an exceedingly faint halo of chaos flowing across its surface. To anyone watching, it looked like an ordinary stone bead.

"Hm? What's that?" Su Yuntao curled his lip. "A Trash Martial Soul. Hurry up and test your Soul Power."

Lin Chen walked over to the crystal ball and gently pressed his right hand against it.

The next second, blinding white light burst from the crystal ball!

Dazzling light filled the entire awakening room. Su Yuntao shot to his feet and cried out, "What? Full Soul Power? Innate Full Soul Power, no less! How is this possible?"

The room erupted.

Outside the door, Old Jack was so excited that even his beard trembled. Good heavens, Innate Full Soul Power! A genius like that only appeared once in a hundred years!

Lin Chen himself, however, was very calm.

He could feel that, besides the Chaos Pearl in his right hand, an incomparably sharp power lay dormant in his left palm-that was his Second Martial Soul, the Heaven-Slaying Sword.

He knew better than anyone how precious Twin Martial Souls were. He absolutely couldn't reveal them carelessly.

"Good, wonderful!" Su Yuntao hurried over to him, his voice eager. "Child, your name is Lin Chen, right? What's your Martial Soul called?"

"The Chaos Pearl," Lin Chen answered mildly.

"The Chaos Pearl..." Su Yuntao had never heard the name and assumed it was some unknown Trash Martial Soul. But with Innate Full Soul Power as his foundation, his future achievements would surely be considerable.

"Ah, it's a shame it's a Trash Martial Soul." Su Yuntao smacked his lips.

"How about this? I'll write you a certificate so you can enroll at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy. I'll also write you a letter of recommendation. Go find a grandmaster named Yu Xiaogang. He's the foremost authority on Martial Soul Theory on the continent. If you become his disciple, perhaps you can find another way and discover a cultivation path that suits you."

The corners of Lin Chen's mouth curved in an almost imperceptible smile.

Gangzi? The foremost authority on Martial Soul Theory on the continent? Su Yuntao, you've got to be doing this on purpose, right?

A grandmaster who had already broken through to fifty years old while still at rank twenty-nine-though his theories had their merits, they were riddled with holes, and many of his assertions were far too absolute.

Later generations would say there were no trash Martial Souls, only trash grandmasters. Follow him, and he'd go straight to setting you up with Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.

"Thank you, Lord Deacon." Lin Chen accepted the certificate and recommendation letter, his tone neither servile nor arrogant. "I'll give it serious thought."

Su Yuntao took him for a composed young boy and nodded with satisfaction. Then he called out, "All right, next, Tang San. Hurry over here."

Lin Chen paused and looked up.

A boy in a short blue cloth jacket walked in. He had black hair and a calm expression, with a steadiness beyond his years hidden deep in his eyes. It was Tang San.

The light formation lit up, and a stalk of pale blue Blue Silver Grass appeared in Tang San's right palm, swaying gently in the breeze.

"Tsk, the Trash Martial Soul Blue Silver Grass." Su Yuntao shook his head in disappointment. "Test your Soul Power."

Tang San walked up to the crystal ball and pressed his palm against it.

Another blaze of dazzling white light shot into the sky.

Su Yuntao froze, his mouth hanging open wide enough to fit an egg. "Another... another Innate Full Soul Power?!"

The entire awakening room fell deathly silent.

Two children with Innate Full Soul Power in one village, on the same day? Who would believe it if word got out? And both had Trash Martial Souls?

Tang San withdrew his hand without betraying anything, while the heavy, imposing Clear Sky Hammer in his left hand quietly vanished.

Tang San looked up at Lin Chen and instinctively activated his Purple Demon Eye, hoping to see this young genius who was just like him clearly. Yet Lin Chen stood there with a peaceful presence, and Tang San found he couldn't see through him.

Lin Chen looked back and gave him a slight nod in greeting.

Their eyes met, then turned away.

Su Yuntao also wrote Tang San a certificate and a recommendation letter, recommending him to Yu Xiaogang as well.

Even after both children had left the awakening room, he still hadn't recovered from his shock.

As the sun sank in the west, Lin Chen returned to his shabby little mud-brick house.

He shut the door, and with a thought, the Chaos Pearl slowly rose from his right palm.

A stream of information flooded his mind-the Chaos Pearl Martial Soul contained the Chaos Space and could store objects. It possessed unattributed Soul Power and an innate resistance to poison, encompassed all things, and could continuously strengthen itself by absorbing the essence blood of Soul Beasts and the medicinal power of spirit herbs.

Lin Chen clenched his fists. With his knowledge of the plot and his top-tier Twin Martial Souls, he would never follow Tang San's old path in this life.

His path would begin with finding that pink figure before Tang San did.

Lin Chen smiled and spoke in a very low voice. "Tang San, oh Tang San, I'm sorry about this."