As Wang Che finally regained consciousness, he felt a sticky sensation on his face.
It was as if he was being covered in something soft and slimy.
Yet for some reason, Wang Che, who had been cultivating by himself for tens of thousands of years, felt comforted by the sensation.
He suddenly froze. Could he be in the legendary Immortal Transformation Pool one enters upon ascending to the Immortal Realm?
Does this mean he could cleanse his mortal body and replace it with an immortal one that was clean and pure, immune to all evil?
'Have I finally transcended the heavenly tribulation?'
Just as the thought came across his mind, he felt a faint wave of energy surge across his body.
Wang Che immediately opened his eyes and came back to his senses.
The first thing that caught his eye was a green bug next to him about the size of a child's palm that had been spitting out a white substance on his face.
Upon taking a closer look, he realized that the material on his face was white silk.
However, because the bug had spit too much of it onto Wang Che, the threads had degraded into something that was both thick and sticky.
The little bug looked rather cute, with its unproportionately big head and two glass like eyeballs resting delicately on it.
It had a very short green coloured body as well, with several yellow spots on its abdomen and white bumps near its torso.
After studying it for a while, Wang Che finally grasped the situation.
The bug in front of him was just an ordinary green caterpillar!
If this was indeed the legendary Upper Realm Immortal World, it would only mean that Wang Che had been wasting his efforts and cultivating in vain for the past ten millennia.
He fell silent for a moment.
How could he, someone who had failed to transcend the tribulation, ever reach the Immortal World?
"It's okay. It's okay even if I failed."
After taking a deep breath, he flicked the green bug away with his fingers.
"Ssss!" Without much effort, the bug was flipped upside down, which revealed its pale yellow abdomen.
It kept twisting from side to side but struggled to flip itself around.
Realising that it was futile, the caterpillar turned its head to look at Wang Che in confusion.
"I may have failed the Tribulation Transcendence," Wang Che suddenly proclaimed, his determined eyes no longer fixated on the green bug, "but I still have tens of thousands of years worth of experience in immortal cultivation. I have also learned countless immortal cultivation techniques and divine powers, stretching from the Qi Refinement realm to the Immortal Ascension realm. I have everything I need.
"I also have knowledge regarding countless different civilizations. Even in an era of thin and barely existent spiritual energy like the one on Earth, I'm still confident in my abilities to cultivate all the way to the Immortal Realm once again.
"I will definitely ascend and break through in this lifetime!"
As he was reaffirming himself, Wang Che started to organise his thoughts.
'Martial soul? Could this be the world of martial souls? Soul land? Or martial artists? Regardless, I'm familiar with all of them! I've been on Earth for more than 1,000 years after all!
'Soul beast, soul pet? Contract Soul Master? Wait, something doesn't seem right… it's okay, I'll be able to handle it as long as there's spiritual energy around…'
...
It suddenly struck him.
Wang Che realized what kind of world this was.
In ancient times, humans here had managed to awaken their martial soul's power using both heaven and earth as sources of strength.
At the same time, there were many other creatures living in the same world as well.
Nourished by the soul power of the world, these creatures grew innately powerful and lived very long.
They were known as soul beasts.
However, ever since the birth of humanity about 10,000 years ago, this world has been ravaged by endless conflict.
The humans here relied on slaying the soul beasts to obtain soul rings and soul skills that could enhance their martial souls.
Meanwhile, the soul beasts would also slaughter humans in order to mutate and evolve.
As a result, countless battles had broken out between these two species across history.
Wang Che knew this much.
However, everything had changed without warning about three thousand years ago.
After tearing apart the world's barrier, the Soul Demons and Dark Beasts of the alternate world launched a vicious attack.
Neither humans nor soul beasts were spared as the enemy culled their numbers until barely any remained.
Yet, just as the world's inhabitants had been on the verge of extinction, the two species came to an understanding and joined forces to create Soul Contracts. Once united, their forces erupted with immense strength!
Rebirth through destruction, and resurrection through nirvana…
Unable to withstand their attacks, the invaders of the alternate world were forced back and the world returned to its former glory.
After that historical battle, a thousand years of development led to the world's current state.
The level of civilization now was similar to Earth, a planet that Wang Che had once visited before.
However, Contract Soul Masters were the protagonists of this era.
This was the result of the unification between species, where humans would sign life contracts with soul beasts to increase their own lifespan. In addition, these contracts would help them obtain soul rings which they could use to cultivate their own martial souls and make themselves more powerful.
At the same time, soul beasts also benefited from this nurturing, which allowed them to gain the sentience required to achieve their ability to evolve.
Just like that, humans and soul beasts became partners not long after.
"So, this has now become similar to the world of Poké(soul beast)mon? It's very different from what I had in mind… but it doesn't matter. I'm an immortal cultivator anyway."
Wang Che now had a general idea of the kind of world he had found himself in.
He turned to look at the green caterpillar near him. It seemed that he had already signed a soul contract with it not long ago.
Wang Che would begin this life at 18 years old, or in other words, the second semester of high school. According to the world's laws, anyone aged 18 or above has the ability to sign a life contract with a soul beast.
Furthermore, everybody will automatically be given a soul pet egg by the winter break of their third year in high school. If they were lucky, it could contain a rare soul pet.
However, most of the soul pet eggs given to them would contain only ordinary soul pets.
In the case that the recipients aren't happy with the eggs allocated to them, they could also purchase one at the soul beast cultivation base, though ordinary families weren't usually able to afford the high cost.
Upon signing a life contract with the soul pet egg, a portion of its life force will be transferred to the human, which would increase the strength of their martial soul and lifespan.
In return, the human in the contract would give a portion of their own soul energy to their young soul pets.
Then, after hatching from the egg, the soul pets will be able to develop a certain amount of intelligence and sentience.
It was this same process that had awakened the sealed memories of the Immortal Cultivator in Wang Che's soul earlier, allowing him to understand the world he was in.
After all, only a wisp of his soul had been left behind because of his failure to transcend the tribulation. It had then floated through the universe, devoid of memory for a while before being reborn in some unknown world.
However, everything came back to him now.
At that moment, the door suddenly swung open as a tall, middle-aged man with a weathered expression walked in.
When he saw the green caterpillar that had been flipped backwards, the man frowned slightly and said, "Little Che, I know that your soul pet turned out to be the most useless… ordinary… green caterpillar, which must have made you quite unhappy and dissatisfied. Regardless, that's not an excuse to treat your soul pet like this.
"Furthermore, you still haven't awakened your martial soul yet. If you properly nurture this green caterpillar and strengthen your previous life contract, it'll make your innate soul's aptitude even stronger.
"And if you awaken your martial soul, you can also become a Contract Soul Master in the future.
"However, if you treat your soul pet like you do now, you won't be able to get stronger even after you graduate from your third year of high school. Your martial soul awakening won't go too well either…
"The first ordinary Contract Soul Masters back in ancient times all gained the title of Heavenly Kings. Take the Jade Dragon Heavenly King for example. Back then, his first soul pet was a koi fish, which was regarded as purely ornamental. However, when he became a Heavenly King later on, the koi evolved into a powerful dragon-type soul pet, the White Jade Dragon!
"There's still six more months until graduation, so you'll have to work hard…"
The middle-aged man's voice grew noticeably softer. Perhaps he felt that his example just now had been a little far-fetched.
He knew he couldn't compare his son to that.
Moreover, the koi had only managed to evolve into a White Jade Dragon due to certain unique factors.
The conditions had been extremely harsh and required countless materials, but most importantly, it also took a huge toll on the soul contractor's martial soul.
Nevertheless, it had been possible.
As for this green caterpillar…
"Sigh, forget it. It's your father's fault for being useless," The middle-aged man said, full of remorse. "Sorry for not having the money to buy you a better soul pet egg."
When he heard this, Wang Che thought about it for a moment and replied, "It's okay. Actually, the green caterpillar isn't too bad."
Feeling confused, the middle-aged man paused and looked at Wang Che suspiciously.
After studying his face for a moment, the man fell silent for a few seconds before nodding. "Very good. I'm glad that you think so."
He continued, "There's still half a month until school reopens. You might start to see your classmates having their own young soul pets, but don't compare yourself to them. Treat them just as you would normally, understand?"
Wang Che nodded while thinking to himself, 'I'll start cultivating tonight. I don't care if I'm a Contract Soul Master or not.'
If it wasn't for his good natured personality, he wouldn't even have replied to this middle-aged man, who was supposedly his father in this world.
Among the Immortal Cultivation Civilization, especially when it came to ascension-level immortals like Wang Che, most of them were old monsters who had forgotten all about the mortal world after having lived for tens of thousands of years.
Though they weren't exactly emotionless, they didn't experience the same feelings that humans did either.
However, Wang Che was different. He had cultivated for tens of thousands of years and liked traveling the universe and observing their civilizations. It would often bring him great joy to immerse himself into different civilizations and to experience their myriads of emotions.
He longed to comprehend the different Great Dao of each world.
Unfortunately, just when he had managed to touch the Great Dao, he fell back down into cosmic heavenly tribulation.
Meanwhile, when Wang Jianguo saw Wang Che looking so calm, he felt pleased but also worried at the same time.
Still, knowing that it was useless to say anything more now, he left the room.
Before long, night came and blanketed the sky in darkness.
As Wang Che looked at the countless stars outside through the window, he began to feel increasingly calm.
Instead of cultivating, he decided to use the 18 years worth of memories in his mind to try and gain an understanding of this world.
He could feel that there was an abundance of soul force in this world.
This meant that the energy here was definitely very powerful, and that this wasn't just any regular world.
Then, he calmed down and focused his thoughts, preparing to cultivate.
At the same time, the green caterpillar kept trying to crawl over beside Wang Che, but was pushed away repeatedly.
He wanted to cultivate now.
'I can begin now.'
Wang Che's mind was as calm as stagnant water in a well. He was now in the perfect state.
'Ssss!'
The green caterpillar suddenly squirmed its way to Wang Che, using its head to nudge against his thigh.
Its large eyes looked at Wang Che longingly.
"Go away, go away. I don't have time to deal with you now." Wang Che knew what the green caterpillar wanted.
It was a newborn child after all. Due to the life contract, it probably had already developed intelligence and wanted to play.
After being rejected by its own Soul Contract Master, the green caterpillar silently retreated with small steps.
After crawling away, it looked at Wang Che from afar, while relaxing its initially upright body. The caterpillar then turned over, revealing its pale yellow belly as it looked at the ceiling helplessly.
Without much regard for his soul pet, Wang Che got back to cultivation.
In his mind, he picked out the best Qi refining method.
He began to cultivate. It didn't take him much effort to begin, as he was already very familiar with the process.
Until…
Several hours later.
The sky started to brighten, bringing about a new, beautiful day.
Wang Che suddenly opened his eyes and collapsed onto the ground. He could only stare at the ceiling with despair.
After a night of attempting cultivation, he finally understood something.
In this world, one could not cultivate!
——