soul land: Yuhao Outplays Tang San

In this era, the influence of the Spirit Hall had permeated every corner of the empire. Even in remote mountain villages, there were deacons from the Spirit Hall responsible for awakening martial souls for the people.

It was once again the annual Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony in Emperor Soul Village. From afar, Huo Qiqiang watched as the village elder, Old Tom, stood outside the Spirit Hall with a group of children, awaiting the arrival of the deacon.

At last, a deacon entered the village. He took out a key and opened the doors of the Spirit Hall, leading the children inside.

"Children, my name is Su Haitao. I'm 24 years old and a deacon of the Spirit Hall. Today, I'm responsible for awakening your martial souls. Look—this is my martial soul: Lone Wolf, possess!"

Su Haitao stretched out his arms, and a wolf's howl rang out behind him. A mighty wolf spirit appeared behind him, followed by the descent of two soul rings—one white and one yellow.

Level 24, martial soul: Lone Wolf, soul ring configuration: white, yellow.

The children waiting to awaken their martial souls stared at Su Haitao's formidable martial soul. Some were so frightened they hid behind others, while others gazed intently at the Lone Wolf with shining eyes.

"Deacon sir, can I awaken a powerful martial soul like that too?" a child asked timidly.

Su Haitao shook his head and said, "That's hard to say. It depends on what kind of martial soul you end up awakening. Come now, line up, and I'll awaken your martial souls one by one."

The children quickly formed a line, and Su Haitao prepared the Spirit Hall's awakening tools and began awakening them one after another.

"Martial soul: Scythe, innate soul power: 0. What a pity. If there were even one or two levels, you might've made a decent Tool Soul Master."

"Martial soul: Blue Silver Grass. Useless martial soul. Innate soul power: 0."

"Martial soul: Bellflower. Useless martial soul. Innate soul power: 0."

"Martial soul: Hoe. Useless martial soul. Innate soul power: 0."

...

Huo Qiqiang used his spiritual sense to observe the entire awakening process. Most of the children had no soul power, which was typical for martial soul awakenings on the Douluo Continent. In a world where bloodline inheritance was everything, dragons birthed dragons, phoenixes birthed phoenixes. Powerful martial soul clans formed their own lineages, and their descendants rarely had to worry about awakening a useless martial soul. Ordinary people, lacking such inheritances, naturally couldn't expect much from their children's awakenings.

Martial soul mutation was the only variable. Within this variable, some commoners soared to the heavens, like Ma Hongjun from Grass Chicken Village. Others, like the noble-born Yu Xiaogang, fell into obscurity due to martial soul mutation.

But the advantage of the commoners was in their sheer numbers. The larger the base, the greater the potential for mutations. Whoever could control the awakening of martial souls among the masses would hold a portion of power strong enough to counterbalance the noble clans.

In this era, the Spirit Hall controlled it all. They extended deep into the countryside and gathered the most direct data from martial soul awakenings. Top soul master clans like the Angel Clan, the Golden Crocodile Clan, and the Qian Clan became the pillars of the Spirit Hall. And the soul masters among the commoners who benefited from awakenings formed the majority of Spirit Hall's formidable army. Thus, the Spirit Hall was able to dominate this era.

...

One useless martial soul after another was awakened, yet Su Haitao's expression remained unchanged. He had been to many villages, and the results were largely the same.

Finally, a child awakened a Wild Boar martial soul, and the soul power crystal lit up with two levels. Upon seeing this, Su Haitao finally smiled and said:

"Martial soul: Wild Boar. Innate soul power: level 2. Child, you qualify to become a soul master. Would you like to join the Spirit Hall?"

The child replied excitedly, "I can become a soul master? I'm willing!"

"Good. Stand behind me. After the ceremony, I'll take you back." The deacon turned to the rest of the children and said, "Next!"

Then came a boy who appeared prematurely mature, his face wrinkled and a bit sly-looking, as he stepped into the awakening formation set up by Su Haitao. Su Haitao channeled his soul power to assist him.

A flash of light appeared, but no Tool Soul or Beast Soul emerged—nothing seemed to change.

"Where's the martial soul?" Su Haitao stared blankly at the boy and activated the awakening formation again.

Still, no martial soul appeared.

"How could this be?" Su Haitao was shocked.

"Deacon, what's happening to me?" the prematurely aged boy asked in a panic.

Su Haitao pondered for a moment, then suddenly understood and said with regret, "Although rare, your situation isn't unheard of. According to past awakening records from the Spirit Hall, there are always a few children each year who fail to awaken a martial soul. I'm sorry, child—you don't have a martial soul."

Hearing this, the boy's face turned pale, and he hung his head in despair. In this world, martial souls meant everything. Even a useless martial soul was better than none.

As the awakening ceremony concluded, Su Haitao left the village with the child who had awakened level 2 soul power. The rest of the children with useless martial souls went home. Only the boy without a martial soul remained, sitting in a daze on the steps of the Spirit Hall.

Suddenly, a hand patted the boy on the shoulder. He looked up to see a stranger.

"What's your name?" Huo Qiqiang asked.

The boy replied, "Uncle, my name is Lu Yuan."

"I saw the entire awakening just now. It seems you didn't awaken a martial soul. How about I try again for you? Maybe the deacon made a mistake."

Huo Qiqiang took out a martial soul awakening tool.

"Please try again for me! I beg you!" Lu Yuan said excitedly.

Huo Qiqiang nodded and activated the awakening formation. Lu Yuan eagerly stepped in, and under Huo Qiqiang's guidance, once again—no martial soul appeared.

"Still nothing," Lu Yuan murmured, lowering his head.

"Let's test your innate soul power," Huo Qiqiang said, noting a faint glow of light element covering the boy's skin. He handed him the crystal ball.

Lu Yuan placed his hand on the ball, and in an instant, it burst into dazzling brilliance, even brighter than the boy with the Wild Boar soul.

"Your innate soul power is level seven," Huo Qiqiang said.

"I don't have a martial soul… and still have innate soul power?" Lu Yuan exclaimed in surprise.

Huo Qiqiang shook his head. "You do have a martial soul—your martial soul is your body."

"My body?"

"Yes, a Body Martial Soul. It's a separate category from Beast Souls and Tool Souls. A body martial soul could be a hand, hair, torso, eyes, nose, mouth—any part of the body. And yours… is the rarest and strongest among them: the True Body Martial Soul."

Yes, Lu Yuan's martial soul was the same as that of Poison Undying, the future sect master of the Body Sect ten thousand years later—it was his original body as his martial soul. The difference between the two was that Poison Undying had a poison attribute, while Lu Yuan possessed the light attribute.

If this were ten thousand years in the future, this child would absolutely be fought over by the Body Sect. If he joined the sect, he would be the destined heir to Poison Undying—a martial soul of the true body even more top-tier than Huo Yuhao's original Spirit Eyes.

But in this era, when people generally did not yet realize that one's body could become a martial soul, any soul awakening that revealed the true body was typically categorized as having no martial soul at all.

Overlooking such a top-tier genius gave Huo Qiqiang (Huo Yuhao) the feeling of having won a million-dollar lottery. Even though he was already a billionaire, that kind of feeling was still incredibly satisfying.

His appearance also gave Huo Qiqiang an idea: should he found the Body Sect in this era?

If he could gather the current body martial soul experts and form a sect—backed by the inheritance of the future Body Sect that he held, as well as the cultivation method he had developed specifically for Body Sect martial souls—he could absolutely create a powerful sect rivaling the top three before Tang San even appeared.

Thinking this, Huo Qiqiang patted Lu Yuan on the shoulder and said, "There's probably no one in this world more familiar with body martial souls than I am. I'm confident I can cultivate you into a Titled Douluo with a body martial soul. Would you be willing to cultivate with me?"

"I would."

Given Huo Qiqiang's abilities, searching the entire continent for body martial souls would take an eternity. But in the God Realm, he had his Divine Vision.

With the idea of founding the Body Sect in mind, the divine Huo Yuhao activated his godly vision to scan the entire Douluo Continent, using his divine power to perform deductions. In an instant, every person on the continent with an awakened—or yet-to-awaken—body martial soul was marked. After repeatedly narrowing down the best of the best, a list formed in Huo Yuhao's hand.

"Tian Meng."

"I'm here, Yuhao," Tian Meng responded from the lower realm of Douluo Continent.

"I have a task for you. Use the power of your Eternal Chamber of Commerce to locate and gather everyone on this list for me." Huo Yuhao sent the list and coordinates to Tian Meng via a planar channel.

"Leave it to me! Brother Tian Meng guarantees everything will go smoothly."

Two months later.

With the help of the body martial soul cultivation method provided by Huo Qiqiang (developed from Xuantian Skill), along with heavenly treasures like whale glue and Xuan Shui Pill, Lu Yuan's cultivation advanced rapidly. He soon reached level 10 and was ready to obtain his first soul ring.

In the Star Dou Forest, Huo Qiqiang located their target—a thousand-year-old Illusory Light Butterfly.

Without activating his martial soul, Huo Qiqiang simply used his soul power to grab the butterfly by force, pinning it to the ground. He tossed a dagger to Lu Yuan and said, "Kill it. This will be your first soul ring."

Lu Yuan took the dagger and struck the butterfly. A purple soul ring floated up, and without hesitation, he began absorbing it.

Though the process was painful, Lu Yuan endured it. His first soul skill was Illusory Light, which could distort light elements and conceal his body within the environment.

He repeatedly practiced the skill, which allowed him to blend into any location like an assassin hidden in the night, always shielded by his surroundings.

"Not a bad soul skill. Your martial soul's future path is clearly agility-attack. After all, what could be faster than light?" Huo Qiqiang remarked.

"Thank you for your guidance, Teacher."

"All right, pack up. It's time we moved on."

"Teacher, where are we going?"

"To the Body Sect."

…

On the peak of Tianqiong Mountain, located at the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, the individuals from the list had already been brought to the mountain. Atop this towering summit, a sect compound was taking shape, already hinting at the scale of a great sect. But to Huo Qiqiang, a sect was truly supported by talent and resources.

Currently, about 300 people were gathered there, most between the ages of 6 and 30. Although many had lost precious cultivation time due to being misclassified as having no martial soul, some had already passed the golden age for cultivation. Still, thanks to their exceptional martial souls and talent, they were still worth cultivating with some effort.

Of course, Huo Yuhao's top selection criterion was character. Many highly gifted individuals were eliminated for this reason—he didn't want his Body Sect to produce people like Hu Liena or Bibi Dong.

Tian Meng said, "Yuhao, I've brought you everyone you asked for."

"Thanks for your hard work, Tian Meng." After speaking, Huo Qiqiang led Lu Yuan to stand before the crowd and said, "Everyone, look around you. Can you spot what you all have in common?"

A youth named Xiao Zhi said, "It seems like none of us have martial souls."

"Correct," Huo Qiqiang said. "When your martial souls awakened, they were neither beast souls nor tool souls, so you were categorized as having no martial soul. But that's not true. It's simply that the world has not yet recognized the uniqueness of your martial souls. What you have, I call 'body martial souls.'"

Then, Huo Qiqiang motioned for Lu Yuan to step forward.

Lu Yuan came to the front and said, "Two months ago, when my martial soul awakened, I was told I had no martial soul. But my teacher told me otherwise—my martial soul is myself. I am the True Body of Light Element."

As he spoke, he released his martial soul. His body was enveloped in light elements, and a purple soul ring descended, circling him. "Thanks to meeting my teacher, my talent wasn't buried."

The crowd immediately erupted. These people, who had long thought themselves unqualified to walk the path of soul masters, were now witnessing the truth—that they could cultivate. How could they not be excited?

"My martial soul is my eyes—the Eye of Fate, which sees through destiny." Huo Qiqiang's pupils became deep and profound, reflecting the fate lines of all beings, capable of seeing their preordained future and past. This was the upgraded form of the Spirit Eyes—the Eye of Fate.

Immediately after, nine soul rings descended—yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, red, red, red—swirling around Huo Qiqiang. He said, "I have gathered you all here to establish a sect based on body martial souls. This sect will be called the Body Sect. You may choose to join, or not. Those who do will receive full cultivation support to develop the potential of their body martial souls. But once you join, betrayal is not tolerated. Any violation of sect rules will be punished severely."

After Huo Qiqiang announced the strict rules of the Body Sect, all 300+ people joined without hesitation.

Besides Lu Yuan, there were two other true body martial souls: Xiao Zhi with the Frozen Body, and Zhao Quan with the Flame Body. These three became Huo Qiqiang's disciples. Other important body martial souls like Brain, Heart, and Blood were admitted as inner disciples. Martial souls such as Hair or Fingernails were classified as outer disciples.

Thus began the rise of the future-renowned Body Sect.

(next scene)

"Soul power, Level 3."

"Level 3, huh? This useless trash only reached Level 3 after three years of cultivation. What a joke."

"Let's be clear, this Level 3 isn't the third level of Soul Sect or Soul King—it's Level 3 of a Soul Scholar. One level per year."

"Sigh, this trash has utterly disgraced the family. The mighty Thunderclap Douluo Yu Yuanzhen actually fathered such a thing."

"It's not that the Sect Master is incompetent—it's that this trash is hopeless. Just look at the Sect Master's other son, born from a concubine. He's our sect's most talented disciple, the one with the most potential to break through to the Titled Douluo rank. In just three years, he's already a Level 19 Soul Master. At least he hasn't embarrassed the Sect Master."

"This guy doesn't even count as a proper Soul Master. How does he have the face to receive core disciple resources—three shares, no less! If those resources were given to me, I'd have already advanced to Soul King!"

"Exactly, but what can you do when his father is the Sect Master?"

"If the Sect Master weren't his father, this kind of trash would've been expelled from the sect long ago and left to fend for himself. No way he'd still be mooching off the sect."

Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, Resource Pavilion.

 A boy with a flat crew cut walked into the Resource Pavilion, enduring the ridicule of everyone around him.

"Three shares of core disciple resources," said Yu Xiaogang.

The elder looked displeased, but seeing the Sect Master's token in Yu Xiaogang's hand, he had no choice. Reluctantly, he handed over three shares of core disciple resources. Yu Xiaogang expressionlessly stored the cultivation resources in his soul tool and turned to leave.

After Yu Xiaogang left, the elder muttered, "I really don't understand what the Sect Master is thinking. What value does he see in this kid? No matter how many resources the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect has, this kind of waste is just squandering them."

Outside the Resource Pavilion, Yu Xiaogang was met with another wave of mockery.

"Well, well, if it isn't Cousin Xiaogang. Off to collect resources again? Three shares, huh? That's a lot. Share some with your dear brothers, won't you?" said Yu Xiaoke, approaching with a smirk.

Yu Xiaogang quickly covered his soul tool and said, "No way. These are my cultivation resources. Don't forget what happened last time someone tried to steal them. If you try again, I'll tell my father, and he'll punish you all."

At these words, a flash of hostility crossed Yu Xiaoke's eyes. He suddenly charged forward and slammed his elbow into Yu Xiaogang's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Ahh—" Yu Xiaogang cried out in pain.

Yu Xiaomen quickly stepped forward, helped Yu Xiaogang up, and scolded Yu Xiaoke, "How could you be so careless? Not watching where you're going and bumping into my brother? Apologize, now."

Yu Xiaoke quickly said, "Cousin Xiaogang, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to bump into you. Are you alright? It wasn't on purpose."

With reddened eyes, Yu Xiaogang shook off the fake concern of Yu Xiaomen, stood up, and pointed at Yu Xiaoke. "Liar! You did it on purpose! You elbowed me deliberately—everyone saw it! I'm telling Father. He'll punish all of you!"

Yu Xiaoke turned to the surrounding crowd and asked, "Did you all see that? I just accidentally bumped into Yu Xiaogang."

Yu Xiaozhu chimed in, "Yeah, we all saw it. Yu Xiaogang ran into your elbow himself."

Yu Xiaoren added, "He wasn't watching where he was going and ran right into it."

"Right, right. Three years of cultivation and he's this fragile? Just a slight bump and he falls—what a complete waste."

Yu Xiaogang's eyes were red with rage, his fists clenched tightly, glaring fiercely at everyone laughing at him. "You… you… all of you…"

For a moment, everyone froze. Was Yu Xiaogang about to snap? Maybe he was ready to fight them all? Even though anyone present could crush him, he was still Sect Master Yu Yuanzhen's son. If they seriously hurt him, there would be trouble. What if he ran crying to his father again?

While everyone hesitated, Yu Xiaogang suddenly covered his tear-streaked face and turned to run away.

 Everyone was stunned. He ran away—again?

That night.

"Damn it… damn it all…"

 Yu Xiaogang soaked in an expensive body-tempering medicinal bath, venting his frustrations. Before the age of six, every disciple in the sect treated him with respect, calling him "Young Master Xiaogang."

 Yu Xiaoke, Yu Xiaozhu, Yu Xiaoren—they all used to flatter him by bullying Yu Xiaomen.

 But ever since his Martial Soul awakened, everything changed.

Now, to curry favor with that bastard Yu Xiaomen, they bullied him and stole his resources.

 Was this how much talent affected how one was treated?

 Why, heavens—why?

 Why did Yu Xiaomen get an innate soul power of 9.5, while he—clearly a Soul Master of the Golden Holy Dragon—ended up with the useless Luo Sanpao? Why!?

"AAAAAAAH—"

 His skin started to sting slightly, and Yu Xiaogang couldn't bear it anymore. He rose from the tub.

After resting, he soaked again. The medicinal liquid had already lost part of its potency with time. After soaking three times, he poured it out and replaced it with a fresh batch.

A single batch of medicinal liquid could usually last two or three hours.

 But Yu Xiaogang's body was delicate—he couldn't endure even slight pain—so he only soaked for half an hour each time.

 While others could absorb over 80% of the medicinal power, Yu Xiaogang barely absorbed 30% due to his fragile constitution.

His weak physical condition filled him with despair.

 He took three months to reach Level 1, one year to reach Level 2, and a year and a half to reach Level 3.

 The higher the level, the harder it got. His soul power rose slower than a snail's crawl.

And this was just as a Soul Scholar. The higher the level, the harder it was to advance.

 At this rate, he wasn't even sure he could ever reach Level 10 and become a real Soul Master.

Thinking about such a bleak future filled Yu Xiaogang with unwillingness.

 Gritting his teeth, he muttered, "No. I won't be a nobody. I will become a Soul Master, a Grand Soul Master, a Soul Elder, a Soul Sect. I'll do whatever it takes to grow stronger. One share of resources isn't enough? Then I'll take two. Two isn't enough? Then three, four, five!"

Watching his peers become Soul Masters and gain their first soul rings while he was still mocked as trash, Yu Xiaogang's heart had long become twisted.

 He didn't care about the sect anymore. He only cared about himself—about shedding the label of "trash."

"I'll go ask Father tomorrow. Next month, I need at least two more shares of resources—or my cultivation will remain too slow."