The morning was dim, just before dawn.
The manor was shrouded in a hazy mist, drifting all around, making it feel unreal, like a fairyland.
On both sides of the street, rows of plants had sprouted new buds at some unknown time. The buds were a vibrant green, exuding vitality in this early spring season.
Drip~
The cold dew from the spring night dripped from the tips of the green leaves onto the soil, silently nourishing the ground.
Deep within the manor, between two banyan trees, stood a three-story wooden house. Its ancient exterior walls were covered in creeping vines, exuding a dual aura of age and life.
On the second floor, by the window, a young child sat cross-legged on the bed.
The child was about six years old, dressed in a moon-white sleep robe. His long black hair was casually spread behind his head. His face was young and delicate, and he sat barefoot on the bed, meditating with his eyes closed.
After a few breaths, faint footsteps could be heard approaching the door.
"Click~" The wooden door was pushed open.
"Your Grace, the Martial Soul awakening ceremony is ready. Please change your clothes."
The voice was old and steady. The child opened his eyes upon hearing this and looked forward.
Before him, an old man in a black robe had a ruddy complexion and graying hair and beard. His hands held a tray with a complete set of sky-blue silk robes.
Seeing this, the child nodded slightly, then said helplessly, "Grandpa Yu, didn't I tell you!"
"When there are outsiders, you call me Your Grace, and I call you Uncle Yu. When there are no outsiders, you call me Young Master, and I call you Grandpa Yu."
"Why do you always forget?"
"Haha!" The old man in the black robe smiled warmly upon hearing this and explained, "Young Master, today is a big day with two important events: your sixth birthday and the awakening of your Martial Soul."
"I am the steward of the Duke's mansion, and you are the Duke of the Duke's mansion. By all rights, I must call you Your Grace."
As he spoke, the old man in the black robe approached the bed and helped the child change his clothes.
The child's surname was Lin, and his given name was Rong. He was the master of this manor—the Duke Lin's mansion. The old man in the black robe was the steward of the Duke's mansion, named Yu Yuan.
The Lin family was prominent, holding a hereditary ducal title in the Heaven Dou Empire.
The family's inherited Martial Soul was the "Dragon Soul Vine," a top-tier plant-type Martial Soul.
Top-tier Martial Souls were always accompanied by innate Soul Power, with a minimum of level five, and levels seven or eight were also common.
Therefore, every two to three generations, the Lin family would produce a Soul Douluo.
The most recent Soul Douluo in the Lin family was Lin Rong's paternal grandfather, who possessed a Soul Power of level eighty-five. However, his grandfather had passed away before Lin Rong was born.
Consequently, the title of Duke of the Lin family was inherited by Lin Rong's father. Unfortunately, his father died during a hunt for soul beasts when he encountered a beast tide.
Fortunately, Lin Rong's mother, who was pregnant with him and staying in the Duke's mansion to rest, was spared. As for Lin Rong, due to his father's death, he automatically inherited the Lin family's hereditary ducal title before he was even born.
Finally, his mother, grieving her husband's departure and suffering from depression during her pregnancy, fell ill. She passed away shortly after giving birth to him, joining his father in the afterlife.
Thus, Lin Rong was the only one left in the Lin family.
Fortunately, the old steward, Yu Yuan, remained loyal and diligent. He not only managed all the affairs of the Duke's mansion but also personally raised the young master, Lin Rong.
The Lin family had a long history and numerous businesses, yet no one dared to seize the family's assets during its downturn.
The reason for all this was that the Lin family's old steward, Yu Yuan, was also a powerful Soul Douluo. Even though the current Duke of the Lin family, Lin Rong, was still young, no one dared to offend them.
"Grandpa Yu." Lin Rong sat upright on the bed, looking down at the old steward, and asked softly, "What Martial Soul do you think I will awaken?"
"Martial Souls are inherited from one's parents," the old steward replied gently, his hands not ceasing their movements as he put shoes and socks on the young master. "Your parents' inherited Martial Souls were the Dragon Soul Vine and the Thousand Leaf Banyan, respectively. The former is a top-tier Martial Soul, while the latter is a high-tier Martial Soul."
"In the inheritance of Martial Souls, the strong are supreme. Therefore, it is expected that Young Master will awaken the Dragon Soul Vine."
"Of course, the quality of the Dragon Soul Vine and the Thousand Leaf Banyan are not significantly different, meeting the requirements for awakening Twin Martial Souls. Thus, it is also possible for Young Master to awaken both the Dragon Soul Vine and the Thousand Leaf Banyan simultaneously."
Twin Martial Souls? Is that all?
Lin Rong narrowed his eyes and thought, "That's right. Unless a Mutated Martial Soul is awakened, Twin Martial Souls are indeed the optimal outcome."
"Moreover, most Mutated Martial Souls are malignant mutations, with only a very few being benign."
"The lower the quality of the Martial Soul, the lower the probability of a malignant mutation. The higher the quality of the Martial Soul, the lower the probability of a benign mutation."
"But I have cultivated the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, so perhaps my Martial Soul will undergo a benign mutation."
The Marrow Cleansing Scripture was one of many scriptures from the Dragon Country on Earth.
Lin Rong knew about the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, naturally, because he was not originally from this world; he was a transmigrator.
In addition to enjoying reading novels, he also enjoyed rock climbing.
The reason for his transmigration was a fall during a rock climbing session, after which his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
When Lin Rong regained consciousness, he had become a fetus.
The fetus was less than a month old, which meant his own consciousness was extremely weak. He spent over eleven out of twelve hours of the day in a deep sleep.
When awake, he occasionally heard some indistinct words. Although he couldn't understand them, he somehow grasped their meaning.
From these vague utterances, Lin Rong extracted several keywords, such as "Martial Soul," "Spirit Hall," "Pope," and "Clear Sky Sect."
This made him realize he had transmigrated to the Douluo Continent, specifically to the timeline of Douluo I.
On the Douluo Continent, Martial Souls reigned supreme.
In this world, everyone possessed a Martial Soul, but only those who awakened Innate Soul Power were qualified to become Soul Masters.
In the vast majority of cases, the quality of one's Martial Soul determined whether they possessed Innate Soul Power.
Martial Souls were inherited through bloodlines. Through a process of natural selection over centuries, for commoners to awaken Innate Soul Power, their Martial Souls had to undergo a beneficial mutation.
However, the probability of a Martial Soul mutation was one in ten thousand, let alone a beneficial one.
Therefore, very few commoners could awaken Innate Soul Power.
Thinking of this, Lin Rong's heart skipped a beat.
What if he was born into a commoner family in this life, and he didn't awaken Innate Soul Power? Even with knowledge of the plot and opportunities, it would be useless.
Given this, Lin Rong could only silently try to find a solution in his mother's womb.
During this time, he greatly envied Tang San's transmigration cheat, the "Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record," which not only contained profound skills like the Mysterious Heaven Skill and Purple Demon Eye but also knowledge of medicine and poison, including detailed records of immortal-grade herbs.
But this also reminded Lin Rong that he could perhaps try cultivating the scriptures from his past life's memories.
In his past life, out of interest, he had memorized many scriptures from both Taoism and Buddhism.
However, those scriptures were too obscure and difficult to comprehend. He could only memorize them by rote, and if he didn't review them for a few days, he would forget most of them.
Only one scripture, the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, had been memorized by Lin Rong on the very day before his transmigration, so his memory of it was complete.
From then on, Lin Rong began cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.
In the early stages of cultivation, he couldn't perceive any effects.
During this period, Lin Rong also heard someone refer to his mother as "Madame Duke," learning that he would undoubtedly awaken Innate Soul Power. He almost gave up cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture several times.
But he had nothing else to do in his mother's womb, so he persisted.
Several months later, as the fetus took shape, Lin Rong finally felt the effects of cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.
Seeing that it was effective, he became exceptionally dedicated to cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture.
Since the fetus inherently possessed prenatal qi, Lin Rong's cultivation proceeded smoothly without any obstacles. Before birth, he had already opened up all the meridians.
Thinking of this, he felt exceptionally pleased and also very certain in his heart:
"Whether my Martial Soul will undergo a beneficial mutation, I don't know!"
"But with all eight meridians open from birth, if I don't have Innate Full Soul Power with such potential, then there's no such thing as Innate Full Soul Power in this world!"
The original settings of Douluo have contradictions. To ensure logic, I can only try to downplay the contradictory settings of Douluo I and only adopt the worldview of Douluo I.
The settings of subsequent Douluo installments, Douluo II, III, and IV, will not be used at all.
For example: Soul Core, the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, Dragon Valley, Silver Dragon King...
These are not present in this book.
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