She's dead.

Those simple yet cruel words echoed in the young Dai Yuhao's mind as he finished up carving the wooden grave of his recently deceased mother as rain continuously fell down from the heavens and drenching the young boy.

He clenched his hand that was holding onto a cool looking dagger and stabbed it into the ground.

How did their lives turn out this way?

"It's all because of those bastards...!" Dai Yuhao said through gritted teeth.

Scenes from Dai Yuhao's memory unceasingly flashed through his mind.

His background was a harsh and pitiful one.

Dai Yuhao's mother had been one of the Duke's personal maids, and had grown up together with the Duke. A personal maid only existed for the simple sake of serving her master, but Dai Yuhao had quietly appeared within his mother's belly one night, twelve years ago.

Despite what identity Dai Yuhao's mother previously had, he was still the son of the Duke. Therefore, although his treatment within the palace couldn't be described as good, it still wasn't too bad. His mother no longer remained a maid, and relied on her child's nobility to obtain a courtyard for herself.

As such, everything should've continued without any trouble, but who could've known that disaster would arrive so soon?

The Duke went to war as a representative of the Star Luo Empire, leaving all of the Mansion's internal affairs to the Duke's wife. The Duke's wife already had two sons and a daughter, and she treated anything that could affect her children as things that needed to be suppressed.

Things were quite good for Dai Yuhao and his mother while the Duke was in the Mansion, but when he left, the Mansion became the world of the Duke's wife. Furthermore, she was the favourite daughter of the Star Luo Empire's current emperor.

Dai Yuhao's mother had grown up beside the Duke, resulting in her being heavily doted upon by him. Thus, she was always envied by the Duke's wife. Once the Duke left, she immediately became the main target for the Duke's wife. Using the excuse that Dai Yuhao's mother had contracted an infectious disease, she chased them to the servant's wooden sheds, which were located at the back of the mansion. Furthermore, she cut away all their current sources of income. Dai Yuhao was only two when this happened.

Dai Yuhao's mother didn't have a healthy body from the start, thus the arduous lifestyle that they had to live in caused her body to gradually collapse. What's more, the servants under the control of the Duke's wife would frequently suppress her.

Due to the frequent amount of wars that the Duke had to participate in, he spent very little time within the mansion. Due to the Duke's wife deliberately concealing the matter, Dai Yuhao's mother was gradually forgotten by the Duke. When the Duke asked about her, his wife merely said that Dai Yuhao's mother had fallen ill.

Dai Yuhao's mother had suffered many bitter hardships as she brought him up. When he was six, he carried out the awakening of his martial soul within the Mansion.

Martial souls were something that everybody on the Douluo Continent possessed. Although the Sun Moon Empire had developed in a different way compared to the other three empires, martial souls were still one of their fundamental concepts.

Everyone would naturally have a martial soul that could be awakened at the age of six. A martial soul could be anything, from a tool to an animal. Beast-type martial souls were referred to as 'Beast Souls', while all other martial souls that weren't Beast Souls were collectively known as 'Tool Souls'. However, there were naturally some martial souls that possessed mutations. Thus, they were exceptions to this rule.

After the awakening of one's martial soul, a small amount of people would have a special power along with their martial soul. This power was called 'soul power'. Only people who possessed soul power had the ability to cultivate, and to become the noblest profession on the Douluo Continent—a soul master.

Soul masters were separated into nine different ranks. From lowest to highest, they were: Soul Scholar, Soul Master, Soul Grandmaster, Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Sage, Soul Douluo, and Titled Douluo.

Soul masters would increase in power as their soul rank increased. If one managed to reach the highest level of the Titled Douluo rank, one would have the terrifying ability to both move the mountains and seas, as well as even shift the stars.

People who were between the first and tenth rank of soul power fell underneath the category of Soul Scholar. When someone's martial soul was awakened, their innate soulforce would signify their talent towards becoming a soul master. As such, a person with greater talent would have a greater cultivation speed. If one had tenth-ranked soul power after their martial soul had awakened, they would be a gifted person with 'innate full soul power'. That person would thus be referred to as a genius soul master. A genius soul master would have great accomplishments in his life as long as his martial soul wasn't too bad.

Although Dai Yuhao was the son of the Duke, he hadn't inherited a powerful martial soul from the Duke. If he had, the Duke's wife would've had to report his martial soul to the Duke, regardless of whether or not she liked him. From then on, Dai Yuhao and his mother's destiny would've also changed.

Unfortunately, an extremely rare mutation appeared in Dai Yuhao's martial soul.

He possessed the 'Spirit Eyes'.

Outside of the two main categories of martial souls, there was an extremely tiny subcategory that were known as 'Body Souls'. The martial soul that they awakened would be a part of their body, such as an arm, or a leg.

Almost all Body Souls were extremely strong, but the probability of them appearing was extremely small. It could be said that they were existences above both Beast Souls and Tool Souls, and because of this, they were greatly valued whenever they appeared.

Unfortunately, Dai Yuhao's martial soul was an exception to this.

His Spirit Eyes martial soul had naturally appeared in his eyes. Furthermore, it was also an extremely rare spiritual-type martial soul. Under normal circumstances, Dai Yuhao should've become greatly valued.

Unfortunately, there were two points that had restricted his development.

When he'd awakened his martial soul, his innate soul power had only been at the first rank. Thus, it could be said that his talent was quite poor, which meant that his cultivation speed would definitely be extremely slow. The second point that had restricted his development was even more fatal; not only were spiritual-type martial souls rarely seen, spiritual-type soul beasts were also extremely rare.

Whenever a soul master's cultivation reached the tenth soul rank's bottleneck, they would need to kill a soul beast that was compatible with their martial soul, and then would need to use its soul ring to break through it.

Not only were soul rings required to breakthrough a bottleneck, but they would also give soul masters a skill. This was also one of the origins of a soul master's strength.

Combined, these two factors practically doomed Dai Yuhao to have no achievements during his lifetime.

And as if fate and destiny didn't want to leave him just yet and fuck with him some more, Dai Yuhao's mother fell gravely ill, and despite his best efforts to save her, she passed away.

Dai Yuhao was now alone in the world, and with nowhere to go, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I have to become stronger! Mother taught me that a person can only rely on themselves. One can only live a better life if they are strong."

He picked up the dagger he had just stabbed into the ground, wiped it clean, and inwardly made a vow to honor his mother and seek vengeance for all the suffering they had endured.

'My mother...the most kindest and loving person in my life.'

Dai Yuhao's eyes started to tear up, a single drop trickled down. He then put the blade of the dagger against his left palm and let it slightly cut his flesh, slowly spilling out blood.

Unconsciously, his Spirit Eyes activated.

His deep blue eyes had instantly become much clearer, and that there faintly seemed to be light flashing inside of them.

But strangely, and slowly, his deep blue eyes started to undergo great changes.

'She deserved so much better than what she got.'

He closed his eyes, feeling a strange stinging feeling in his eyes.

'This I swear, those who caused her suffering will pay dearly!"

"They...will know pain!" he opened his eyes.

Dai Yuhao's scarlet eyes with strange pupils glowed ominously as blood slowly sipped out, staining his cheeks and the grass.

.....

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