Nights in the extreme north always come early. It was just past four in the afternoon, and the night curtain rapidly covered the entire sky like a huge black drape.
Seeing the increasing wind and snow, Chen Yi quickened his pace, wrapped his collar tightly, and hurried home.
The road underfoot was covered in thick snow, each step like treading on a fragile mirror, emitting a faint creak. The outlines of distant houses loomed in the darkness, with warm yellow window lights gradually lighting up like scattered stars.
Ice crystals clung to Chen Yi's long eyelashes, and the white mist he exhaled dispersed in the biting cold wind before it could form. Looking at this snowy land where he had lived for four years, a complex emotion surged in his heart.
He still remembered how much he used to hate these long winter nights. Lonely, desolate, oppressive—standing alone in this seemingly frozen world always gave him a sense of not belonging.
Chen Yi came from earth.
By chance, he arrived in this extreme northern land.
It was a sunny day when he was playing outside and suddenly encountered a torrential downpour.
He hurriedly ran under the roadside trees, trying to reach a distant building for shelter. However, just as he was about to arrive...
"You really can't take shelter under a tree during rain—honesty doesn't deceive me!" Chen Yi shook his head with a bitter smile, recalling the scene, still unable to resist complaining: "Struck so accurately by lightning!"
When he woke up again, he had come to the world of a novel he had read in his youth—Douluo Continent—and was even born into a legendary sect that would shake the continent ten thousand years later: the Body Sect.
Chen Yi's understanding of the Body Sect mostly came from descriptions he encountered while reading related works during the Douluo 2 era. This sect had always been shrouded in mystery, known as the "world's most mysterious sect."
From those descriptions, it was clear that the Body Sect's foundation and strength were unfathomably deep, even comparable to the continent's top academy, Shrek Academy, ten thousand years later.
Over eight thousand years later, the Body Sect stirred up a bloody slaughter in the Star Dou Forest, triggering a massive beast tide.
However, at the time, though Chen Yi had speculated about the Body Sect's existence period, he believed its history might not be too ancient. Even if it had appeared early, it was probably just an insignificant small sect in this era.
It wasn't until Chen Yi truly arrived in Douluo Continent that he realized how naive his previous thoughts were. Through conversations with sect elders, he learned that the Body Sect had been founded over eight hundred years ago! The previous sect master was even from the same era as the soul master world's "Two Peaks"—Clear Sky Douluo Tang Chen and Angel Douluo Qian Daoliu.
When Chen Yi first learned this, it did cause a small ripple in his heart, but the surprise didn't last long.
After all, building a complete cultivation system for martial souls is no easy task. It requires not only long periods of careful refinement but also generations of geniuses to personally verify its feasibility. The time and effort invested are undoubtedly enormous.
Although the body martial soul system wouldn't reach perfection until thousands of years later, that doesn't mean the Body Sect didn't exist in this era. In fact, the development of any thing is gradual, and the body martial soul system is no exception. Before it fully matured, there were likely pioneers silently exploring and trying, laying the foundation for later generations.
It was precisely because the sect had been painstakingly exploring cultivation methods for body martial souls that, in this long and arduous process, many body soul masters in the sect unfortunately went mad, becoming cripples or even perishing.
Now, the number of true body martial soul soul masters left in the sect was only sixty-eight. Though this number was pitifully small, they were the hopes of the sect, painstakingly gathered from all corners of the continent.
Just sixty-eight body martial soul soul masters—compared to other sects, the Body Sect was utterly dwarfed. It could be said that on the current Douluo Continent, there was probably no sect more impoverished than theirs.
After all, in this era, body martial souls were publicly recognized as waste martial souls. They neither provided the powerful physical enhancements of beast martial souls nor the obvious offensive advantages of tool martial souls. Among numerous martial souls, body martial souls held an awkward position, only slightly better than Blue Silver Grass, the top waste martial soul—essentially on the same level as the most ordinary farm tools like hoes and sickles.
The most important theory for body martial souls, secondary awakening, was still in its infancy and not fully developed. Despite this, including the founding sect master, only thirty-four soul masters in the Body Sect's history had successfully achieved secondary awakening of their body martial souls. In the current sect, the number of successful secondary awakenings was even scarcer, only eleven. Moreover, the success rate was shockingly low, not exceeding ten percent, truly lamentable.
However, what deeply surprised Chen Yi was not the difficulty of secondary awakening but the powerful strength displayed by the Body Sect. The current Body Sect actually had seven Soul Sages, three Soul Soul Douluos, and two Titled Douluos—a top-tier lineup that even compared to the Upper Three Sects was not inferior.
Standing at the door, looking at the bright lights ahead, Chen Yi's face bloomed into a brilliant smile. He took a deep breath, then pushed open the door without hesitation, shouting loudly: "Dad, Mom, I'm back!"
Hearing Chen Yi's call, a woman in red clothes with a beautiful face came out, looked at Chen Yi, and said irritably: "Oh, our big busybody still remembers he has a mom? Training ended in the morning, and you come back just before dinner. Why not wait until breakfast tomorrow?"
Hearing Mu Xi's words, Chen Yi awkwardly touched his nose, pondering how to respond. Just as he was about to speak, a tall figure suddenly walked in from outside.
This figure had steady steps, each one carrying an invisible aura. He strode into the room with hearty laughter: "Xiao Yi is back?! Your Eighth Uncle just told me your boxing today was beautifully done, almost catching up to your senior brothers! Haha, not bad, not bad—worth of being Chen Zhen's son, really making me proud!"
Seeing the newcomer, the embarrassment on Chen Yi's face instantly vanished, replaced by joy. He quickly went forward and said respectfully: "Father, your child is back."
Seeing this, Mu Xi immediately raised her head high, her face full of pride and confidence, her tone brimming with self-assurance: "Of course, look whose son he is!"
Hearing Mu Xi's words, Chen Zhen laughed heartily and nodded repeatedly: "That's right, that's right. Marrying such an excellent wife is a blessing I must have earned in my past life! Those savages in our sect don't know how envious they are of me!"
With that, Chen Zhen quickly stepped forward and carefully helped Mu Xi into the inner room. Before leaving, he didn't forget to wink at Chen Yi.
Seeing this, Chen Yi immediately gave his dad a thumbs up—Dad's still the reliable one.
At the dinner table, father and son smiled broadly, enthusiastically serving food to the family head. While enjoying the delicious meal, they chatted about recent events.
Suddenly, the father seemed to remember something important. His expression turned serious, he put down his chopsticks, and slowly said: "Earlier, disciples outside the sect sent news: the Spirit Hall Pope, Angel Douluo Qian Xunji, has succumbed to severe injuries and fallen."
This sentence exploded like thunder at the dinner table. Mother and son's actions froze instantly; they looked at each other, faces full of shock.
Chen Yi sighed inwardly, thinking: "It seems Tang Buddha has finally appeared."
After hearing her husband's words, Mu Xi's confusion deepened. She frowned and asked: "Died from injuries? But I heard the Pope returned to Spirit Hall alive. With Spirit Hall's foundation, they couldn't save him—how severe must the injuries have been?"
It wasn't surprising Mu Xi was shocked. After all, Spirit Hall was the continent's top soul master holy land, with countless heavenly materials, treasures, elixirs, and an astonishing number of top healing soul masters.
The Angel Clan from which Qian Xunji originated had an even deeper foundation, having produced a god ten thousand years ago. Moreover, Qian Xunji returning alive to Spirit Hall already indicated his injuries weren't as exaggerated as imagined. To die under such circumstances was unthinkable no matter how you looked at it.
"Not just you, Mom—I'm afraid Tang Big Hammer is even more surprised!"
Hearing the disbelief in his mother's words, Chen Yi couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity surge in his heart.
Yes, absurd!
Qian Xunji was an extremely rare idiot in the entire Douluo series. To say he was good—he did things that left people speechless and dumbfounded. To say he was bad—after what Bibi Dong did, he didn't eliminate the root to prevent future troubles, which was hard to understand.
Knowing Bibi Dong was full of resentment and possessed unparalleled talent, since he had already done it, he should have been thorough. Either eliminate her after Qian Renxue's birth to cut off loose ends, or directly cripple her martial soul so she could never rise again.
However, inexplicably, he not only didn't do that but pampered her, providing good food and drink, and even prepared extremely precious hundred-thousand-year soul rings and soul bones for her. As the leader of a major force, Qian Xunji's baffling actions were incomprehensible no matter how you thought about it!
"With the Pope suffering such heavy injuries and ultimately dying, Spirit Hall will probably go into a frenzy. As for Clear Sky Sect, with Tang Chen mysteriously missing, they probably can't withstand Spirit Hall's wrath."
Mu Xi continued.
Hearing his wife's words, Chen Zhen nodded and said: "According to the news, the new Spirit Hall Pope is the Saintess Bibi Dong. Upon taking office, she issued a crusade against Clear Sky Sect and a kill order for Tang Hao. Moreover, the former Two Peaks of the soul master world, the invincible in the sky, previous Angel Douluo Qian Daoliu, has come out of seclusion—seemingly to avenge his son's death!"
Qian Daoliu, as a living legend in the soul master world, had slain countless fallen ones as Spirit Hall's judgment elder, his prestige in the soul master world even surpassing the land's invincible Tang Chen.