In the quiet living room, Nan Fusheng recalled what the teacher had taught in class earlier. He decided to give meditation a try.
He sat cross-legged, calmed his breathing, and focused his mind.
Meditation starts with stillness—feel your presence, feel the flow of nature.
This was the first step.
Nan Fusheng already had a few distracting thoughts. His mind settled quickly into a tranquil state. His awareness gently reached out toward his insect martial soul, sensing the weak but undeniably real presence of soul power.
For a beginner, this much was enough. The goal was to establish a clear connection with one's martial soul and soul power, strengthening the mental bond between them. Only once this was solid could true meditation begin.
In his mind's eye, the insect martial soul slowly squirmed.
Then, Nan Fusheng suddenly felt a strange sense of connection, as though he was tapping into the world of insects.
Weak though they were, given the right time, even the lowliest of insects could emerge from cocoons and become butterflies.
Insects were fragile… yet incredibly resilient. They were the most populous creatures on the continent, having thrived for millions of years.
Even the mighty soul beasts were nearly extinct, but insects remained, as stubborn and enduring as ever.
This faint realization sparked something in Nan Fusheng. He began to sense tiny, imperceptible traces of life force in the air, silently flowing into his body and merging with his fledgling soul power.
It was slow… and the amount was small. But he could feel it.
His soul power was gradually increasing—bit by bit, slowly but steadily.
He didn't know how long had passed before he naturally emerged from his meditative state. His entire body felt refreshed and light, a sensation that came from true soul cultivation.
Not bad at all… so this is what training soul power feels like.
He checked his condition—his soul power was nearly at Level 2. With just one more day of training, he could probably break through.
The jump from soul user to soul master wasn't particularly difficult. As long as one had innate soul power—even as little as half a level—one could reach Level 10 through effort. The only difference was how long it took.
Nan Fusheng had only Level 1 of innate soul power—and that was stolen. But his physical constitution was far from ordinary. After all, the potion-based Sequence system was built to carry mortals to godhood.
Right now, his cultivation speed was roughly equivalent to someone with innate soul power at Level 3.
Just then, a loud shout came from next door:
"Yes! I finally have a little sister!"
Hearing that, Nan Fusheng instantly understood—the Silver Dragon King, Na'er, had officially moved in with Tang Wulin.
Which also meant… it was time for him to speed up his progress. He could finally test a theory he'd been sitting on.
He slowly closed his eyes, focused his mind, and began to mentally recite a string of titles:
"Fusheng Xuanhuang Immortal Sovereign."
"Fusheng Xuanhuang Heavenly Monarch."
"Fusheng Xuanhuang God-King."
"Fusheng Xuanhuang Heavenly Venerable."
As he chanted these titles in his heart, he suddenly felt the air around him change, becoming thick and strange, almost frozen.
Though his eyes were still closed, it felt like a blinding light exploded before him.
He opened his eyes.
Before him lay the gray mist, boundless and formless, shrouding everything in hazy uncertainty.
Source Castle...
As Nan Fusheng mentally repeated the chant, something began to emerge—a glowing sphere woven from gold, red, and yellow light. It slowly floated toward him.
The "Swindler" potion...
Without hesitation, Nan Fusheng reached out, grabbed the glowing orb, opened his mouth, and swallowed it whole—all in one smooth motion, without even blinking.
Immediately, his face flushed red, and waves of strange energy surged through the rest of his body.
He felt like a boiled shrimp, his spirit tearing away from his body. His consciousness fragmented, splitting into countless fine needles, each one diving into a droplet of potion, piercing into every cell.
He didn't need a microscope—he could see the transformation of his body at the cellular level.
In those strange seconds, Nan Fusheng felt like a robot—his parts being rebuilt and rewired.
Time blurred. Eventually, his silhouette appeared in his mind, reflected like an echo, like hearing your voice played back through a mic.
Through this bizarre reflection, he found he could now control his facial expressions and body language with incredible precision.
And in that moment, he knew with absolute clarity:
He had successfully advanced to Sequence 8: Swindler.
Exiting the Source Castle, Nan Fusheng immediately began familiarizing himself with his new abilities:
Swindler Abilities:
Charm – Increases one's appeal and presence.
Eloquence – Enhances the persuasiveness of speech.
Mental Interference – Creates illusions to deceive or distract opponents.
The Swindler takes joy in deception and manipulation, thrives on misdirection, and is naturally agile and quick-footed.
As mentioned before, potion abilities require digestion. Normally, digesting a Sequence 9 potion would take one to two years of role-playing.
The fastest cases could do it in one month.
As for Nan Fusheng? It had taken him nearly six years, but that couldn't be helped. Who else becomes a Beyonder while still in diapers?
He only began properly "acting" the Swindler role when he turned four or five, right around the time his martial soul awakened. That was when he finally finished digesting the first potion.
Now, checking his current condition, Nan Fusheng found his soul power had reached Level 2, and his physical strength had also noticeably increased.
His training speed now matched someone with Level 5 innate soul power, and would likely improve even more once he finished digesting this new potion.
But there was still one looming problem—money.
Becoming a soul master wasn't cheap.
A thousand years ago, he could've gone out and hunted soul beasts. But now? Soul beasts were almost extinct.
The only path forward was to buy soul spirits, and those weren't cheap.
In Nan Fusheng's case, his family could only afford the most basic, randomized spirit, priced at 30,000 federal credits.
His family was far from wealthy. Poverty had always been the root of their problems.
His father had abandoned them when he was just three months old, and his mother was now a marionette under his control. With no income, raising him to this point had already drained most of the household funds.
Back when he was four, Nan Fusheng sometimes did odd jobs to make money, helping out wherever he could.
Of course, being a child, most industries refused him. The Federation had laws against child labor.
But there was an exception—soul masters.
Those who hired him either:
Felt sorry for him and wanted to help,
Or were human traffickers.
For the first type, he only accepted food as payment.
For the second? He stole whatever he could, mercilessly.
Bit by bit, cutting corners and working odd jobs, occasionally "borrowing" from street punks, and scraping together what little inheritance was left… he'd finally saved up just over 30,000 credits.
(End of Chapter 6)
Let me know when you're ready for Chapter 7, and I'll continue translating.
Would you like me to now compile Chapters 1–6 into a downloadable .docx file?
I can include:
Chapter headers
Clean formatting
Optional glossary at the end (terms like "Swindler," "Source Castle," etc.)
Let me know your preferences!