Douluo Continent, Southwest of the Heaven Dou Empire, Fanos Province.
Notting City, Holy Soul Village.
The sun shone brightly, and the warm, sunny weather lasted for a month.
In the mountains, a sturdy young man with handsome features lay on the blue-silver grass, gazing at the azure sky, murmuring,
"A month has reached its limit. The crops in the village should all be dried by now."
The young man's name was Groudon. He wasn't a native of Douluo Continent, but came from a blue planet.
Sunlight illuminated his face, and Groudon looked wistful, his eyes slightly narrowed: "Six years."
Before he transmigrated, he was playing a pirated Pokémon mobile game. He had just clicked the lottery button when he saw a flash of red light and arrived in this world.
And he didn't know what happened during the transmigration. Half of Groudon's soul fell into another world, a world of trainers and Pokémon.
He even became Groudon, the Earth God among the Hoenn Three Legends.
This was originally a good thing. Although Groudon was always teased for not being able to fly, it was a genuine first-level god, wielding the power of the earth and immortal.
Half a soul became a burden for Groudon.
Groudon closed his eyes, his consciousness entering his clone.
There was no inherent hierarchy between the original and the clone, but Groudon, through reincarnation, had his incomplete soul restored, naturally gaining dominance.
Deep within the ancient earth, golden eyes opened, revealing endless crimson magma. Sensing the weariness deep within his soul, Groudon sighed deeply, drank some magma to moisten his throat, and fell back into slumber.
Douluo Continent.
Groudon opened his eyes, his once calm gaze regaining its youthful liveliness, as if everything before had been an illusion.
He actually sensed that he had transmigrated to the wrong world, but the fact was set and could not be changed.
Groudon could only accept reality.
He turned to look at the mountaintop, where Tang San was cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
For the past six years, Groudon had planned for the future, frequently helping Tang San, providing him with food and clothing, and instilling in him the principles of "benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness."
Tang San showed no intention of teaching Gula the Mysterious Heaven Skill, thwarting Gula's plan to have him learn more of it to try and restore his soul.
However, Gula didn't blame Tang San for being ungrateful.
Tang San was a transmigrator, and the Mysterious Heaven Skill was his biggest secret, something he hadn't even told Tang Hao, let alone a friend he'd only known for a few years.
If he couldn't get the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Gula had a backup plan:to become a god in Douluo Continent, transforming his soul into a divine soul, and then using the unspoken connection with his clone to heal it.
While netizens in the past called Douluo Continent a lowbrow fantasy genre, it did have its merits, namely the extremely low difficulty of becoming a god.
It can be said that as long as one's awakened martial soul isn't too bad, they can improve their talent through the opportunities of Douluo Continent, cultivate a good relationship with Tang San, obtain immortal herbs, and then wait for Tang San to become a god and carry them forward.
No matter how disgusting Tang San's later "Tang Family Continent" was, he was still kind to those who were useful to him.
Gula hasn't awakened his martial soul yet, but he's confident of becoming a god because he already knows what his martial soul is.
It will likely be the "Groudon" martial soul. For the past six years, his clone Groudon has mostly relied on sleeping to repair its soul, but even a trace of power unconsciously emitted is still a huge change for Gula.
When Gula was young, he felt something within his body being covered and devoured by Groudon's energy. If nothing unexpected happened, what was devoured was Gula's original martial soul.
Based on the faint feedback at the time, Gula's original martial soul was rather ordinary, crumbling under the touch of Groudon's essence.
Of course, according to the martial soul classification of Douluo Continent, the Groudon martial soul is at least a god-level martial soul, so it's quite normal for it to devour Gula's original martial soul.
After that, Groudon discovered that he possessed the power to control sunny weather.
Whenever he wanted, regardless of whether the surrounding weather was torrential rain or heavy snow, he could change it to sunny skies.
This was Groudon's ability, Sunlight. He could turn the weather into sunny without external intervention, and with Groudon's training, he could maintain this for a month.
In the past two years, Holy Soul Village hadn't experienced any sudden downpours that prevented them from harvesting their crops. It was Groudon doing something for Village Chief Jack, who had adopted him.
As the sun rose higher, Groudon felt it was about time, so he got up and climbed the mountain, finding Tang San cultivating in the morning purple glow.
"Little San, it's time to go. Awaken your martial soul today, don't keep Brother Tao waiting too long,"
Groudon called from afar.
"Coming,"
Tang San replied from the mountaintop, quickly running down the mountain with the lightness of a wild deer in the forest. Groudon had just heard the voice when he saw Tang San approaching.
A fleeting look of envy flashed in Groudon's eyes.
His body had been modified by Groudon's essence, making his strength and defense comparable to a Soul Master. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to use it effectively; he could only use his power to send bricks flying, kicking up dust as he ran, like a herd of bison passing by.
Tang San pretended not to see the envy in his good brother's eyes. Influenced by Groudon, he had learned some principles of life, such as gratitude and empathy.
However, the worldview he had built over thirty years in his previous life wasn't so easy to reshape, so he hadn't taught Groudon anything.
"Let's go. Awakening a Martial Soul means becoming a Soul Master. I've wanted to go out and see the world for a long time,"
Groudon said, already used to Tang San's taciturn nature, and jogged down the mountain.
Perhaps due to Groudon's control over the earth, Groudon could quickly recover his strength simply by standing on the ground.
He ran all the way back to Holy Soul Village, several kilometers, without breaking a sweat, much to Tang San's astonishment.
It was precisely this extraordinary ability, coupled with his more mature personality compared to his peers, that allowed Groudon to get along so well with Tang San.
In the center of the village stood a thatched hut, the Spirit Hall of Holy Soul Village. Su Yuntao was chatting with Village Chief Jack at the entrance.
Hearing familiar footsteps, Su Yuntao looked up, his stern expression softening considerably. "Little Groudon, hurry up, we've been waiting for you."
Groudon stopped and greeted him with a smile, "Brother Tao, sorry to keep you waiting, let's begin."
Groudon often went to the Spirit Hall in Notting City to read books, and over time he became familiar with Su Yuntao, even helping him with his second spirit ring selection. Therefore, Su Yuntao treated Groudon like a younger brother.
"Okay, line up and come in with me." Su Yuntao didn't reminisce; after finishing the Holy Soul Village awakening ceremony, he had to go to the next village.
Gula and the children followed them into the thatched hut.
Su Yuntao set up an awakening array and shouted, "Lone Wolf, Possess!"
"Don't be afraid, stand in the center of the array."
One by one, the children stepped forward to awaken their martial souls, but all of them were useless martial souls, causing Su Yuntao's excitement to gradually cool.
"Little San, you go first."
Gula politely declined, and Tang San, also curious about what martial soul he would awaken, didn't refuse and stepped forward to stand in the array.
"Blue Silver Grass, useless martial soul."
Su Yuntao shook his head in disappointment.
Tang San's excited heart instantly turned cold. He had learned from Gula about the importance of martial souls; without a martial soul, one could not become a Soul Master, and the Xuan Tian Gong could not continue to break through.
He lost his composure, "I haven't tested my soul power yet."
"Then let's test it..." Su Yuntao didn't take it seriously.
Gula watched all this coldly. Tang San must have twin martial souls and innate full soul power. It was better to worry about himself than Tang San.
"Innate full soul power!"
Sure enough, Su Yuntao looked at Tang San in disbelief, his eyes filled with two words: You?
Tang San, oblivious to Su Yuntao's presence, was engrossed in his own world, studying the Blue Silver Grass in his palm.
Su Yuntao suppressed his shock and beckoned, "Gula, come here."
Gula nodded and stepped forward. Su Yuntao channeled his soul power into Gula's body, flowing through his meridians.
A second, a second, and the martial soul power hadn't filled his meridians. Su Yuntao exclaimed in surprise, "Such wide meridians!"
He gritted his teeth and continued channeling his soul power. Finally, a blazing red light shone, illuminating the entire thatched hut, hotter than the midday sun, burning his hands.
Su Yuntao hissed and withdrew his hand.
Behind Gula, a massive red phantom stood silently in mid-air, its back covered in lava armor, its sides covered in sharp, short spikes, its claws and tail menacing and sharp, silently proclaiming its power.
"This... what kind of martial soul is this!?"
Faced with Groudon's terrifying appearance, Su Yuntao stammered in shock.
Groudon, reveling in the surging power within him, ignored the inexplicable notification sound in his ear and spoke the truth, "Groudon."
Su Yuntao's expression was strange: "You named it after yourself? That sounds odd. Change it, choose a better name. Discovering an unknown martial soul, I have to report it to the Spirit Hall."
Groudon looked up; he was clearly telling the truth.
Oh well, no one would understand anyway.
The loneliness unknown to anyone made Gula sigh: "It's called Lava Giant, simple and clear enough, right?"
"Hmm, that's a good name, a fire-attribute martial soul, sounds very imposing."
Su Yuntao wrote it down on a piece of paper and took out a crystal ball: "Test your soul power."
Gula placed his hand on it, and warm golden light illuminated the thatched hut. Su Yuntao's exclamation rang in his ears: "Innate full soul power!"
"Gula, do you want to join the Spirit Hall? With your talent, you'll definitely be given special training, and becoming a Title Douluo elder in the future won't be a problem. Oh, and Tang San, you can come too."
Su Yuntao's expression was excited, his hands trembling. He hadn't expected that the little brother who always came to the branch hall to read books was actually a genius.
Gula waved his hand: "No, Brother Tao, the Spirit Hall has too many rules, it's not suitable for me. If there's nothing else, I'll go back and familiarize myself with my martial soul."
More importantly, he needed to understand the system he had just obtained.
Just now, a semi-transparent panel appeared in front of him, and a series of prompts rang in his ears. He was awakening his martial soul, but he hadn't had time to hear them clearly.
Su Yuntao's excited heart suddenly turned cold. He couldn't utter a sound, and shook his head with a wry smile:
"Alright, you've always been sensible since you were little, I won't try to persuade you anymore. I hope you'll become an outstanding Soul Master in the future."
"I will," Gula said with absolute certainty.
"You brat," Su Yuntao chuckled, put away the Awakening Stone, pushed open the door, and walked out of the thatched hut.
(End of Chapter)