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Chapter 6: What? You Have to Pay to Awaken a Martial Soul?
Hearing the voice behind him, Tang San slightly furrowed his brows. He patted the dust off his pants and walked toward the shop's interior.
From the inherited memories, he knew that his father often beat and scolded him. Yet for someone who had gone through two lifetimes without ever truly experiencing fatherly love, simply having a man who cooked for him after the age of six — someone he could call "father" — was already more than enough.
After all, in his first life, he had been an orphan. In his second, although Tang Hao had been his father, he had never shown him the slightest bit of affection during his childhood. Even after Tang San had taken the initiative to cook for him, the task of preparing meals ended up becoming his permanent responsibility.
Heaven Dou City, as the capital of the empire, was a land where every inch was worth gold. Being able to rent even a single blacksmith's workshop was already the limit of Tang Ba's abilities. Because of this, their daily life — eating and sleeping — was all crammed into the back half of the shop, which doubled as the forge.
Fortunately, Heaven Dou City was located in the northern part of the continent, where the weather remained cold for most of the year. Sleeping near the forge allowed them to make use of the lingering warmth radiating from the furnace.
As soon as Tang San stepped inside the forge room, he saw a slovenly, unkempt middle-aged man emerge from the kitchen, holding two plates of food. The moment the man's eyes met Tang San's, his expression darkened visibly, as if a storm cloud had crossed his face.
"Hmph. The moment you hear it's mealtime, you come running home. Every day it's the same — you expect your old man to wait on you hand and foot. Can't even carry a few dishes yourself, you useless brat! What's next, you want me to feed you too?"
This man was naturally Tang Ba, Tang San's father in this new life.
Seeing Tang San lower his head and remain silent, Tang Ba snorted coldly and jerked his chin toward the pile of wine bottles stacked by the wall.
"Go get me two bottles of wine."
"Yes, Father."
Tang San obediently walked over and rummaged through the pile of empty bottles. After searching for a long while, an awkward expression crept onto his face. He turned back toward Tang Ba and said softly, "Father, it looks like… they're all empty."
"Tch!" Tang Ba clicked his tongue in irritation. He fumbled through his tattered clothes, finally fishing out two silver spirit coins. His expression grew even darker.
The forge's business had been poor for quite some time — they never knew when the next order might come. If they spent their last bit of money on alcohol, the two of them might not even have enough to eat in the coming days.
"Forget it. Come eat, you little bastard. Your mother should've taken you with her when she ran away — would've saved me the trouble of raising you and going without wine!"
Venting his frustrations upon his son, Tang Ba plopped heavily onto his chair and began to eat without the slightest restraint.
On the small wooden table sat only two simple vegetable dishes. The one in front of Tang Ba contained a few meager bits of minced meat — something he used as a side for drinking.
Tang San's portion, of course, was purely vegetarian. But that didn't bother him. After all, he had lived through days in his previous life where he survived on nothing but thin porridge.
More importantly, this man was his father.
In Tang San's eyes, no matter what kind of person a father was, he was still one's father. In his first life, he had once heard a saying: "Among all virtues, filial piety comes first."
Though he had been an orphan back then, he had always longed for the warmth of family and deeply resonated with those words.
Perhaps it was precisely because of that wish — that yearning for familial love — that Heaven had shown him mercy. For in every life since, no matter how bitter the circumstances, he was always granted a father to accompany him.
As for the mother Tang Ba had just mentioned, Tang San retained some faint memories. She had been a beautiful woman — not a peerless beauty by noble standards, but certainly striking and graceful among common folk.
As for how his parents had met, the original Tang San had once heard his mother tell the story. After Tang Ba arrived in Heaven Dou City, his pride and arrogance made life difficult for him, and for several years, he lived in poverty. Fortunately, luck had not completely abandoned him. As a former disciple of the Clear Sky Sect (Haotian Sect), he occasionally received commission orders for hidden weapons from the once-glorious Tang Sect, which had long since fallen from its peak.
Although the Tang Sect was already in decline, those rare orders provided Tang Ba with enough money to improve their living conditions. During that time, Tang San's mother fell in love with Tang Ba's talent and diligence, and eventually married him. Two years later, Tang San was born.
But good times never last. The Tang Sect's decline continued unabated, and before long, the commissions stopped coming altogether. Losing his primary source of income, Tang Ba gradually succumbed to despair and turned to drinking to numb himself. As his addiction grew, so too did the arguments with Tang San's mother — until finally, his frustrations manifested as violence.
At first, she had hoped that the man she married would recover his spirit, that he would return to the man he once was. But disappointment followed disappointment. Finally, when Tang San was four years old, she could no longer endure it. She abandoned her husband and child and fled, never to return.
From that day onward, Tang Ba's drinking became even worse. In his drunken rants, he cursed not only his wife, but also the Tang Sect — and most of all, he directed his fury at Tang San, the child left behind.
In fact, naming his son Tang San had already been an act of bitterness. Tang Ba had chosen the name to vent the resentment he bore toward the Clear Sky Sect — "Tang San" represented his unhealed wound. Now, combined with his wife's betrayal, the abuse only worsened.
Of course, for the current Tang San, all of that no longer mattered. Among all virtues, filial piety comes first. No matter how his father treated him, he was still his father.
Ironically, though his mother had been an ordinary person without spirit power, her Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass. His father's, on the other hand, was none other than the Clear Sky Hammer.
The thought filled Tang San with a strange sense of destiny. Excitement stirred in his chest as he lifted his head and asked,
"Father, I'm already six years old now. When can I awaken my Martial Soul?"
Tang Ba frowned, staring at him as though he were an idiot. "Awaken your Martial Soul? What for? With the money that costs, your old man could drink for a month! You should be grateful I feed you at all, and you still want me to waste money on that nonsense?"
Tang San was stunned. "Eh? Isn't Martial Soul awakening… free?"
"Free?" Tang Ba let out a derisive laugh. "There is a way to do it for free — if you become a servant to some noble house or enlist in the army. Then they'll awaken it for you. When you're older, I can send you to do that."
"But I heard that, ten thousand years ago, the Spirit Hall used to help commoners awaken their Martial Souls for free."
"Oh?" Tang Ba raised an eyebrow, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. "So you do know something besides eating, huh? You even know about the Spirit Hall? Who told you that?"
He didn't wait for Tang San to answer. His tone turned mocking. "Spirit Hall did awaken Martial Souls for free — but tell me, where do you see a Spirit Hall now? It was destroyed ten thousand years ago."
Tang San's face froze.
If he were still in the God Realm, such matters would have meant nothing to him. But divine law was absolute: gods were forbidden to interfere in the affairs of the mortal world.
As one of the Great God-Kings of the Divine Realm, Tang San had always upheld the law with unwavering dedication. It was precisely because of his discipline and integrity that the Gods of Kindness and Evil had entrusted the entire Divine Realm to him before their departure.
Yet now, after ten thousand years, he stood face to face with the bitter fruit of the very fate he had once shaped with his own hands.
And this time, he could do nothing but taste it himself.
(End of Chapter)