The morning sun rose over the eastern sea like a blade being drawn. Karim was already running. Barefoot, shirtless, his small body shivering with cold as his feet slapped against the wet rocks.
Each breath hurt. Each step burned. But he pushed forward.
> "I won't be average. I won't awaken some useless broomstick martial soul."
He reached the top of the cliff and dropped to do push-ups. His body was lean but wiry—every inch of him hardened by a daily routine no other child in the village dared attempt.
Below, the waves crashed.
---
🍽 The Diet of a Predator
At night, Karim sat at the firepit, scarfing down grilled fish. Not one, not two—but five. Bones crunched in his mouth. He ate everything: eyes, skin, organs.
His adoptive mother watched in awe.
"Karim, you'll grow up to be a sea beast if you keep eating like that."
He didn't laugh. He only chewed.
> "Spirit essence lives in beasts… and in their flesh. The more I consume, the stronger my body gets. The cleaner my soul channels will be."
It wasn't a theory. It was instinct—and Earth knowledge.
---
📚 His Secret Notebook
At night, hidden under the floorboards of his room, Karim kept a notebook made of stitched fish-skin pages.
Drawn inside were diagrams:
The Soul Master cultivation system.
The martial soul awakening ritual.
Known God Paths: Emotion, Sea, Asura, Life, Destruction...
Rare martial souls and their conditions.
At the bottom of the latest page, he scribbled:
> "My theory: If the body is strong enough, it may pull a stronger martial soul from the soul sea. Or attract a soul mutation. Or even... twin martial souls?"
---
🌀 The Village Visit
On his fifth birthday, the village elder came to visit with a traveling Spirit Master from the Soul Spirit Pagoda.
"This one's Karim," the elder said proudly. "We found him five years ago after a storm."
The Spirit Master looked Karim up and down. His spiritual power was faint but calm, unusually stable for his age.
"Hmm. You might have potential," he said. "We'll return next year for your Spirit Awakening. Work hard until then."
Karim only nodded. But inside, his thoughts were lightning.
> "That's the same year Huo Yuhao awakens the Spirit Eye... I have one year to prepare. And then my fate is sealed."
---
🌊 A Whisper from the Deep
That night, as he swam beneath the waves, Karim felt it again—that pulse in his chest.
He dove deeper than ever before, the water cold enough to steal his breath.
Then he saw it.
Far beneath the ocean, a flicker of glowing blue eyes. No form. No shape. Just a pressure—watching.
Then, a voice in his mind:
> "Prove your worth, little god-seeker. The sea remembers."
Karim swam to the surface gasping, but smiling.
Something ancient had just acknowledged him.