Chapter 1: Martial Soul — Bai Ze… But Why Is It Alive?
"Kid, it's your turn to awaken your martial soul. Stop playing already."
A broad-shouldered old man looked helplessly at the two children who were still happily playing cat's cradle at the entrance of the awakening chamber.
Such an important ceremony— yet someone was actually playing games outside the awakening room.
"Huh? Is it my turn already? That fast?"
A skinny little boy lifted his head and stood up from the floor.
"Next—Fan Chen."
A deep, resonant voice echoed from within the awakening chamber.
Fan Chen quickly wrapped up the string game in his hands and smiled at the little girl who had been playing with him.
"Sorry, I'm going in to awaken my martial soul. I'll come play with you later."
"Mm."
The little girl only nodded softly, but her eyes followed him with reluctance as he walked calmly into the awakening chamber.
"Come on, Xiao Xue. We should head back too—we've already stayed out long enough."
Golden Crocodile Douluo leaned down and whispered to the girl beside him, Qian Renxue. After all, he had snuck her out in secret.
"Second Grandpa… can we wait for him to come out? I want to say goodbye."
Qian Renxue's voice carried a hint of pleading. To her, Fan Chen wasn't just the child she played games with— he was her first friend of the same age.
"This…"
Golden Crocodile Douluo sighed in defeat.
"Alright."
In any case, they had already been discovered. Staying a little longer didn't make much difference.
"Thank you, Second Grandpa."
...
Fan Chen had been in this world for six years, and today was finally the day he had been waiting for—his martial soul awakening.
He grew up in an orphanage under the Spirit Hall, a place specifically used to shelter children left behind after wars or abandoned or trafficked by others.
The Spirit Hall would raise these children, and those who possessed soul power would be recruited into the Spirit Hall as soul masters.
As for those who awakened without soul power, the Spirit Hall wouldn't abandon them either—they would still be raised, taught practical skills, and given a way to survive.
Fan Chen appreciated this policy. After all, the Spirit Hall had no shortage of money.
Raising ordinary children costs next to nothing. Even if only one out of a thousand became a soul master, it was still a profitable investment for them.
And more importantly, using a bit of gold soul coins to gain public support was extremely cost-effective.
As a transmigrator, Fan Chen understood all of this clearly, and he was one of the beneficiaries.
Without the Spirit Hall, he would have been a corpse long ago.
As for the awakening itself, he wasn't particularly worried about whether he had soul power.
He was a transmigrator, after all.
Even if he didn't have Tang San's built-in cultivation cheat, he should at least awaken with some soul power.
Otherwise, why transmigrate him here—just to die?
And even if the worst happened and he had zero soul power, his knowledge of this world would still allow him to live quite comfortably.
But ideally, it was best to have soul power.
After all, possessing a sword and having no sword were two entirely different concepts.
"So this is the awakening chamber? Pretty unique."
Inside the room, Fan Chen curiously observed his surroundings.
The moment he stepped inside, he felt an inexplicable force curling around his body.
It was comfortable— like basking in the warm light of early morning.
Under the guidance of the Spirit Hall staff, Fan Chen stepped onto a circular platform.
Beneath his feet was a hexagram magic formation, engraved with strange runes he couldn't understand.
At the six points of the formation lay six black stones. The moment Fan Chen stepped in, the stones gave off faint ripples of energy.
The staff members were startled.
"I haven't even activated the formation with soul power yet—why are the Martial Soul Awakening Stones reacting on their own?"
In all his years of conducting awakenings,
This was the first time such a phenomenon had occurred.
The staff member's gaze shifted toward Fan Chen, a trace of curiosity flickering in his eyes.
But he quickly steadied his emotions—there was still work to do.
"Are you ready? I'm about to activate the array."
Hearing this, Fan Chen immediately focused. Before arriving, they had been informed about several precautions related to the awakening ritual.
Everything was set. The awakening attendant raised his palm and injected soul power into the magic formation beneath Fan Chen's feet.
As the energy poured in, the dormant hexagram slowly lit up.
Countless specks of light rose from the formation, drifting toward Fan Chen like fireflies, surrounding him in an instant.
The Awakening Stones also floated up at this moment, shining with dazzling white brilliance.
All six Awakening Stones lit up at once—
The attendant was stunned speechless.
The number of stones lit up directly reflected the potential quality of one's martial soul.
One stone meant a useless martial soul—
like Blue Silver Grass, rags, rocks… basically trash.
Two to three stones meant an ordinary martial soul, like sickles, hoes, or axes.
Four to five stones represented high-grade martial souls— guaranteed innate soul power and strong talent, the core combat strength of mainstream soul masters.
Six stones… were top-tier martial souls.
Extremely rare across the entire Douluo Continent— examples included the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, the Clear Sky Hammer, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
"This child actually possesses a top-tier martial soul… No wonder the Awakening Stones reacted to him earlier."
The probability of a top-grade martial soul appearing was extremely small. In an orphanage like this, it was practically impossible.
Such martial souls were usually born only in great sects and large clans.
After all, martial soul quality was heavily tied to bloodline. For ordinary people to obtain a top-tier martial soul, it would require an extremely rare mutation.
—BOOM!!
One of the Awakening Stones exploded, sending the attendant stumbling backward in fright.
The loud blast also alarmed Golden Crocodile Douluo and Qian Renxue outside, who had been waiting for Fan Chen.
As the second-in-command of the Spirit Hall's Douluo Hall and a full-fledged Super Douluo, Golden Crocodile instantly detected the unusual soul power fluctuations inside.
At first, he only thought Fan Chen's martial soul was "pretty good," nothing more.
But that explosion made his expression darken.
"What happened?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo pushed open the awakening room door and strode inside.
The moment he entered, a white blur lunged straight at him.
Instinctively, the Golden Crocodile Douluo reached out to grab it.
But to his surprise, the white creature twisted its body with incredible agility—
slipping right out of his grasp.
"What was that?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo was stunned.
He was a Super Douluo—how could something escape his hand?
Even without using full strength, slipping away from him shouldn't be this easy.
And worse— he hadn't even managed to see what the creature looked like.
"Ah!"
A sharp cry sounded behind him.
Golden Crocodile Douluo's heart tightened immediately— that was Qian Renxue's voice.
He spun around anxiously—
Only to see Qian Renxue sitting on the floor, having fallen back in surprise.
In her arms was a small white beast that had somehow appeared out of nowhere.
The tiny creature was entirely snow-white, sporting two small horns on its head and miniature wings on its back. Its appearance was strange yet adorable, unmistakably a soul beast cub— and at this moment, the cub was being tightly held in Qian Renxue's embrace.
"A soul beast? Where did this thing come from?"
Golden Crocodile Douluo was completely confused. Why would a soul beast cub show up in a place like this?
"Grandpa, hurry and grab it—that's my martial soul!"
Fan Chen's anxious voice rang from behind.
Golden Crocodile Douluo turned—
And the sight before him shocked him out of his wits.
"Who dares behave so presumptuously here!?"
—
End of Chapter