The rooster crowed, signaling the arrival of another new day. Jiang Chen slowly ended his cultivation session and opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Tang San rapidly leaving from the village entrance.
Three years had passed. Unless the weather was terrible, Tang San would go up that small mountain to cultivate every single day without fail.
"What a little monster," he muttered, though deep down he greatly admired Tang San's perseverance.
Thinking back on how he himself had been disliked and avoided by everyone these past few years, Jiang Chen couldn't help but give a bitter smile. It was all because of that damned evil technique.
He had recovered his memories from his previous life when he was a little over one year old. At that time, a cultivation method had automatically appeared in his mind: Heavenly Corpse Transformation.
Just the name alone sounded terrifying. Although he knew he had transmigrated, he didn't dare to rashly cultivate it.
A living person cultivating a technique that seemed to be for corpses? That was no joke.
Later, he spent a whole year learning the language of this world, and finally realized that the world he was in was actually the Douluo Continent.
In his previous life, he had been a novel fanatic and had naturally read Douluo Dalu. This was a fantasy world where one could have the chance to become a god.
How many people could resist the temptation of becoming a god?
Jiang Chen was no exception. However, making him cultivate that creepy technique still required more courage than he had.
It wasn't until he was three years old that he saw Tang San persistently going up the mountain every day to cultivate without fail that he finally came to his senses.
Even Tang San, the child of destiny of the Douluo Continent, was working so hard at cultivation. And what did he himself have?
Apart from this strange technique, he had nothing special. As a student from 21st century Earth who had read countless novels, he deeply understood the principle of winning from the starting line.
Having read Douluo Dalu, he also knew that if one started cultivating from childhood, it was possible to awaken innate full soul power at six years old and win right from the beginning.
So he made up his mind and began cultivating Heavenly Corpse Transformation.
Sure enough, it was an extremely powerful technique that gave him great strength, but it also made him look neither human nor ghost, turning him into what everyone saw as a plague god.
The corpse poison and corpse qi in his body had not yet reached the level where he could control them perfectly. Every time even a trace leaked out, it would cause panic throughout Saint Soul Village.
Moreover, once one started cultivating this technique, there was no stopping. If he stopped, he would turn into an emotionless blood-sucking zombie.
Back then, after he secretly sucked the blood of a few poultry, he never dared to stop cultivating Heavenly Corpse Transformation again.
Only by continuously cultivating Heavenly Corpse Transformation could he continue living like a normal person.
During that period, he had once fallen into deep depression, but he still forced himself to keep cultivating. Other people who transmigrated got all kinds of awesome systems, while he turned into a zombie. Who knew if he could even have a happy future?
Later on, he slowly came to terms with it. He discovered that cultivation actually felt quite comfortable, and as long as he could become a god, happiness or whatever seemed not that important anymore.
Recently, the cultivation of Heavenly Corpse Transformation had reached a bottleneck. No matter how he cultivated, the power inside his body wouldn't increase anymore. Jiang Chen understood that, just like Tang San, he probably needed to obtain his first soul ring before he could continue progressing.
Right now, the thing he cared about most was what kind of martial soul he would awaken during tomorrow's awakening ceremony.
He already had a powerful cultivation method. If he could also obtain an awesome martial soul, then he would truly win from the starting line. Even if he couldn't compare to the child of destiny, Tang San, he probably wouldn't be far behind.
Everything depended on tomorrow.
…
Time passed quietly while Jiang Chen waited in anticipation, and in the blink of an eye, another morning arrived. Tang San, as usual, went up the mountain to cultivate like clockwork. Jiang Chen excitedly jumped down from the roof.
Today would be a day full of hope.
After casually eating some breakfast, Jiang Chen headed straight toward the center of the village, toward the Spirit Hall. He didn't wait for old Jack to come notify him, because he knew old Jack had gone to pick up Tang San.
Calling it a Spirit Hall was actually just a slightly larger wooden house. In the previous years' awakening ceremonies, he had only been able to watch from far away, feeling extremely envious.
Now, it was finally his turn. This day might very well be recorded in the history books of the Douluo Continent.
This year, Saint Soul Village had a total of nine children awaken. When Jiang Chen arrived at the Spirit Hall, seven children were already inside.
Outside the door, it was surrounded by adults packed so tightly that not even water could pass through. Compared to the children inside, the adults outside were actually even more excited.
The children inside were the future of their Saint Soul Village! If even one of them could awaken a martial soul suitable for cultivation and become a soul master, then Saint Soul Village would become famous.
Jiang Chen stood behind the crowd of adults' backsides, looking somewhat helpless.
"Excuse me, please let me through," he spoke up to remind them.
A woman in her thirties in front of him turned around in confusion. The moment she saw Jiang Chen standing right behind her backside, she immediately let out a scream, the loudest and highest-pitched scream of her entire life. Her body leaped to the side and, astonishingly, jumped a full three meters away.
Jiang Chen was utterly speechless. Was the reaction really necessary to be this exaggerated? He just wanted to go inside...
The woman's scream was extremely miserable, as if she had suffered inhuman treatment, instantly causing many people to turn around abruptly.
The moment they clearly saw the small figure standing behind them, everyone's reaction was the same as the woman's. They all screamed and jumped away, and in an instant, the entire area in front of the Spirit Hall was cleared.
"Jiang Chen, what are you doing here?" a middle-aged man asked with a frown after confirming a safe distance.
Jiang Chen showed an innocent smile. "Uncle, I'm six years old this year too. I came here today to participate in the martial soul awakening ceremony."
Everyone showed expressions of sudden realization, but someone still said, "No, you can't go in. The others are awakening inside. If you go in, won't you cause trouble? What if you ruin our village's awakening ceremony?"
"Right, right, right, he absolutely cannot be allowed in. My son is still inside. We can't let him ruin my son's awakening."
"That's right! What if he uses that demonic technique again? Maybe all the children won't be able to awaken their martial souls because of him."
"The fortune teller said my son has the potential to become a Titled Douluo. Even if I have to risk my old life, I won't let this kid ruin it."
"…"
All kinds of condemning voices rose one after another. A few of the braver villagers even courageously blocked the doorway. Looking at their expressions of facing death unflinchingly, it was clear they would rather die than let Jiang Chen enter.
They absolutely would not allow Jiang Chen to harm their sons or daughters.
From beginning to end, Su Yuntao had seen everything happening outside the door, and he was starting to feel somewhat impatient.
He had just visited two other villages and hadn't awakened a single child who could cultivate. His mood was already quite bad.
Moreover, he still had a heavy workload today. After finishing Saint Soul Village, there were still five more villages waiting for him.
Seeing that the children still hadn't all arrived and one was even blocked outside, he immediately became furious.
"Let that child go! Let him in!" he shouted in a deep voice.