Chapter 1: The Fate Breaker Awakens
The sun rose over the Star Dou Forest, bathing the ancient canopy in warm, golden light. The trees, centuries old and towering into the skies, cast long shadows across the underbrush. Birds chirped in a cacophony of life, and spirit beasts began to stir from their slumber. Yet beneath this veil of natural beauty, something alien pulsed—a presence not born of this world, nor beholden to its laws.
Po-Ming awoke.
His eyes snapped open as the golden sunlight filtered through the leaves, his breath calm and steady. He sat cross-legged in a small clearing encircled by a ring of trees so old they had names in the language of beasts. At first glance, he was a mere boy—twelve, perhaps thirteen. But his eyes told a different story. They were sharp, golden, and filled with a wisdom that didn't belong in a child's body. More than wisdom. Madness. Calculation. Clarity.
He wasn't originally from this world. That much was clear.
"Soul Land..." he whispered, running a hand through his tousled black hair. "It really is Soul Land. The Douluo Continent."
The memories were settling in now. He was dead, once. A man with no great name, no tragic past, no grand destiny. But now, reborn—transmigrated—into a realm of martial souls, soul rings, and divine paths, he had no intention of following anyone else's footsteps.
Not Tang San.
Not Yu Xiaogang.
Especially not those two.
"This time, I break fate itself."
A smirk curled across his face as he stood up. He flexed his fingers, calling forth his martial soul for the first time.
Reality twisted.
The forest quieted as an invisible weight descended on the area. Leaves fell in unnatural spirals. The light bent slightly around him. Behind Po-Ming, a tall humanoid figure began to materialize, draped in an ethereal coat that flowed as though underwater. It had a blank, terrifying gaze—emotionless, inevitable.
Wonder of U.
Not a martial soul in the traditional sense. Not beast, not tool, not weapon. A Stand. Something foreign, parasitic to this world's logic. And powerful beyond measure.
The moment it fully manifested, the spiritual energy in the forest... recoiled. Po-Ming could feel it. The soul power in the air behaved like a body reacting to infection—rejection, confusion, horror. Wonder of U didn't belong here. It didn't want to play by this world's rules.
And that delighted Po-Ming.
"You don't absorb spirit rings from slaughtered beasts... do you?"
The Stand didn't respond. But he felt it—revulsion, not spoken, but etched into the tension in the air.
Po-Ming grinned wider.
Instead of hunting soul beasts, Wonder of U generated its own soul rings, drawn from the deepest recesses of its existence. He could already feel the first pulsing in his soul—a ring not made of beast, but of will.
He knelt, touching a wilted flower at the edge of the clearing. His fingers glowed faintly as a pulse of energy traveled into the plant.
It stood tall, blooming with radiant petals seconds later.
Golden Experience.
"Life creation... vitality manipulation. Beautiful."
He had no master. No teachers. No sect. No one to chain him to fate.
He would make his own.
---
Po-Ming moved north, following a winding trail through the Star Dou Forest. His steps were quiet, unhurried. Occasionally, spirit beasts would emerge from the underbrush—some curious, some territorial—but none approached him. A strange force bent their instincts. They felt wrongness in him. Something unnatural.
By the time he reached the forest's edge, he'd practiced extensively with Golden Experience. He could regrow severed plant roots, knit small wounds, and even accelerate his own physical recovery from fatigue. But more importantly, he could observe. Test boundaries. Learn how his Stand reacted with this world's systems.
And there were cracks.
The soul power network—qi, energy lines, formation laws—was predictable. Abusable. And Po-Ming was good at breaking systems. He was an aura farmer by instinct, manipulating momentum and expectation to create emotional and spiritual leverage. The Stand only amplified this further. He didn't just want to survive.
He wanted to play this world like a game.
And games needed pieces.
---
It was a week later, near a riverside pass on the outskirts of the empire, when Po-Ming met his first.
Screams.
He heard them before he saw them. Five rogue cultivators surrounded a teenage girl, cornering her against a rocky outcrop near the river. Her clothes were torn, her arm bleeding. She was fast—inhumanly so—but not fast enough.
The men laughed.
"You really think you can escape, little cat?"
Po-Ming's golden eyes narrowed.
Zhu Zhuqing.
She was younger than he expected. Probably just thirteen. But her aura was already sharp, predatory. Her martial soul, the Hell Civet, shimmered behind her in a ghostly overlay. Her movements were low and efficient—evasive, not wasteful.
He watched as she clawed one man across the chest before retreating, only to be kicked into a rock by another.
Blood ran down her cheek. She snarled.
Po-Ming smiled.
"Wonder of U."
The Stand manifested silently, invisible to all but him.
He focused.
Calamity responded.
The first man slipped on a patch of moss that wasn't there seconds ago. His neck cracked with a wet snap. The second raised his blade, but it rebounded mid-air, slicing his own shoulder. The third convulsed as his internal energy reversed flow, hemorrhaging from his nose and ears.
The fourth simply dropped dead. No wounds. Just terror.
Zhu Zhuqing's eyes widened. She looked around, panting, blood dripping onto the ground. Her claws trembled slightly.
Po-Ming stepped out of the trees.
She spun toward him, claws raised.
He raised both hands casually.
"Relax. If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dreaming about it."
She didn't lower her stance.
"Who are you?"
He walked past the corpses toward her, eyes gleaming.
"Call me Po-Ming. I hate watching predators prey on the weak. Unless I'm the one doing the hunting."
Zhu Zhuqing narrowed her eyes.
"You're insane."
"Not insane. Precise. Calculated. Free."
"Why help me?"
"Because your claws are sharp, but your heart's still in a cage. I like watching people break their chains."
He turned to leave.
"Come with me. Or don't. The choice is yours."
She didn't move.
He took three steps.
She followed.
---
In the days that followed, Zhu Zhuqing remained wary, but intrigued. She kept her distance at night, never let him see her sleep. But gradually, walls began to crumble. She learned about his martial soul—though she could barely comprehend it. He spoke of souls, concepts, and laws in ways that defied her teachings.
And yet... he treated her with respect. No orders. No commands.
Only one promise:
"You won't need Shrek. I'm building something better."
She hesitated.
"I was supposed to go there. Dai Mubai—"
"Is a pig. You're not a toy. You're a blade. They'd dull you."
She stared at him for a long moment.
And nodded.
Po-Ming smirked in the darkness.
---
Miles away, golden eyes watched the horizon from the Imperial Palace.
Xue Qinghe, crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, frowned. "Something is distorting the currents of fate."
Farther south, in a peaceful village, a girl with rabbit ears tied in buns stirred restlessly.
Xiao Wu sensed something wrong. Her spirit beast bloodline trembled.
In the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, a noble girl with brilliant emerald eyes sneezed unexpectedly.
Ning Rongrong scowled. "Something annoying is coming."
Po-Ming walked toward Heaven Dou with a Hell Civet by his side and a smile born not of joy, but certainty.
He wouldn't just survive.
He would burn the world and rebuild it from its ashes.