"Caw!"
"Caw caw~"
Right as it turned six in the morning, a loud noise sounded from outside the room.
It was the cry of a Cuckoo Bird, a flying type soul pet.
The Cuckoo Bird outside was Mother Wang's, an ordinary soul pet that could be raised easily.
As such, they were often used in civilian families.
Meanwhile, Wang Che was mentally exhausted after having attempted to cultivate for an entire night.
However, since there had been no results at all, he could only walk out of the room with dark circles under his eyes.
As he listened to the soul pet's cry, he unconsciously recalled basic information about it.
Cuckoo Bird: A flying type soul pet. Its entire body is covered in gray feathers. There are long feathers on its head and tail as well. The difference between these is that the long feathers on its head can sense the passing of time, while the ones on the tail can sense changes in airflow, allowing it to predict the weather.
As if on cue, the Cuckoo Bird, which was about 20 to 30 centimeters in length, flew over to Wang Che's door.
It made a cawing sound, reminding him that it was time to get up and eat.
Then, after seeing Wang Che walk out, the Cuckoo Bird flew into the living room.
"How did it go last night?"
Father Wang was surprised to see Wang Che.
Throughout the winter break, he had never once seen his son wake up this early.
Wang Che would often sleep only after the sun rose, all the way until noon.
"The child is already 18, don't ask anymore."
Mother Wang, who was preparing breakfast, turned to Wang Che. "Come and eat quickly. Oh right, Little Che, didn't you tell me a few days ago that you were going out with your classmate today?"
He nodded back silently.
It seemed that his parents in this life were quite ordinary.
In fact, Wang Che had come from such an ordinary household that he still hadn't managed to awaken his martial soul, even after signing a life contract with his soul pet.
If it had been any other world, this would have been a tragic sight to behold indeed.
However, it was common for one's martial soul not to be completely awakened here.
Even now, the power of martial souls remains a mystery to the countless countries that were still focused on researching its properties. In any case, they did not completely understand it yet.
At most, even experts could only summarize certain patterns based on historical records and research results.
Though everyone possesed a martial soul in this world, there were not many who could awaken them.
To some extent, the probability of awakening a martial soul depended on one's parents and ancestral bloodline.
Even then, it wasn't guaranteed.
The reason is simple: the life contract.
After receiving a soul beast's vitality , the dormant martial soul in humans may change due to the increase in innate talent.
Only then can the awakened martial soul separate itself from the human's bloodline and transform into another martial soul.
This was especially true before the awakening. Although there were still ways to improve one's innate talent after awakening the martial soul, it would still be a very difficult process.
This was precisely the reason that a Contract Soul Master's first soul pet was of the utmost importance.
Moreover, even though the first life contract can be withdrawn, doing so would release the soul pet bound to it. All things considered, it would take at least three years before the life contract can be used again.
Otherwise, a human's soul power wouldn't have enough strength to enter a second life contract.
In addition, removing the contract could bring about many negative side effects as well.
For instance, it could decrease the natural affinity between soul beasts and the human drastically, which would make signing future life contracts much more difficult.
As such, humans typically didn't choose to withdraw a life contract after signing it. It simply wouldn't be a sound decision, seeing as even the weakest and most ordinary soul beast can boost the strength of its human considerably.
Nevertheless, Wang Che was not interested in such things.
"What's wrong with being 18?" Father Wang tried to argue. "Just 1,000 years ago, 18 was considered reaching adulthood. Yet now, the average lifespan of an ordinary person is about 120 years. 18 is only equivalent to 10 years old now. He's so young!"
"Do you want a beating?" Mother Wang glared at Father Wang. "I'm talking about the present and you dare lecture about the past?"
Wang Che didn't say a word, pretending not to hear his parents.
At that moment, the green bug crawled out from Wang Che's room.
It crawled to his feet and raised its head slightly. After glancing at Wang Che for a second, it instinctively took a few steps back.
"Oh my! Mommy, hurry up. Where's breakfast?" Father Wang coughed a few times while pointing at the green caterpillar, trying to change the subject.
Mother Wang shot an annoyed look at him before walking to the kitchen again. After a while, she returned with a small bowl of pale white leaves that emitted a milky fragrance.
"Here, here, here are some white birch milk leaves. They're your favorite."
Mother Wang walked to the green caterpillar and put down the bowl of leaves. She stroked the head of the green caterpillar dotingly with her fingertips. "It's so cute! Back when Cuckoo Bird had just hatched, it wasn't as shiny as it is now, and honestly looked quite ugly."
"Caw! Caw!" Upon hearing this, the Cuckoo Bird perched on the wooden railing let out a dissatisfied cry.
Father Wang, looking at the ten or so white leaves in the bowl, started to open his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it again.
He watched as the green caterpillar sniffed around curiously before its dull eyes suddenly lit up.
"Ssss!"
The caterpillar nodded at Mother Wang happily, and jumped into the pile of leaves.
"Look, this little guy is quite intelligent," Mother Wang exclaimed. "Is it trying to thank me? Does it really have such a high level of intelligence? It must be a special soul pet! Don't you think so, Old Wang?"
"Maybe it was asking whether you wanted to eat together with it," Father Wang replied sarcastically.
"Are you itching to get beaten today?" Mother Wang glared at him.
Father Wang quickly coughed.
Just as Mother Wang was about to punish him, Wang Che suddenly said, "I'm full."
With that, he quietly walked back into the room.
"…This won't do," Father Wang shook his head while saying. "A soul pet like a green caterpillar… is even worse than your Cuckoo Bird. There's no use in comforting him.
"Yesterday, he told me with a calm voice that it was okay…" Father Wang sighed. "I knew it wasn't that simple…
"He looked so dejected just now. After all, a child's first soul pet is something very important. No one his age would be able to hide their emotions after going through something like that.
"Say, the two of us don't have any talents at all, and we couldn't even awaken our martial souls. Seeing that our son's first soul pet is so weak, I'm afraid that when the time comes, he'll become exactly like us."
Father Wang had a worried look on his face. "If he wants to become a Contract Soul Master, he'll only be able to achieve it in his dreams. Even though he's so outstanding in school…"
"Let nature take its course." Mother Wang sighed as well.
She slowly turned around to look at the green caterpillar. "Though this one isn't all that bad."
——
Unbeknownst to them, Wang Che hadn't actually been dejected. It was just that he couldn't help feeling mentally exhausted after a night of pointless cultivation.
Furthermore, he hadn't said much at the dining table because he had been lost in his thoughts .
He must have looked very upset to his parents.
Still, Wang Che couldn't accept the fact that he hadn't been able to draw Qi into his body after an entire night of cultivation, despite being a former Immortal Ascension Realm Cultivator.
It seemed that there really wasn't a way to cultivate in this world.
This had to be related to this world's rules.
There were powerful restrictions set in place between heaven and earth, after all.
More specifically, these entailed the idea that soul power wasn't the same as spiritual energy, and so cannot simply be applied to just any cultivation technique or method.
Because of this, Wang Che couldn't draw energy into his body to cultivate.
Initially, he had suspected that it was due to his lack of spiritual aptitude.
However, even without a spiritual root, it still didn't make sense for him to be completely unable to draw any Qi into his body.
After several failed attempts, Wang Che decided to try the Demonic Path Qi Refinement Technique, an ability that could forcefully absorb heaven and earth's spiritual Qi into his body.
However, even that didn't work. It was simply impossible for him to absorb any soul power at all.
By that point, he realised that there were certain rules created by the will of the Heavenly Dao in this world.
It was not going to be so simple.
If Wang Che had the strength of an Immortal Ascension Cultivator, these rules wouldn't apply to him.
Unfortunately, after the last cosmic heavenly tribulation, everything had come crashing down. He was considered fortunate enough to have been reborn with a wisp of his soul left.
In conclusion, he could not cultivate anymore.
After pondering for a while, Wang Che closed his eyes and calmed himself down.
It was fine if he could not cultivate.
Cultivating was merely a way of seeking the Dao.
The Great Dao of the cosmos was brilliant and endless.
None of the great cultivators had managed to reach the Immortal Ascension Realm by being mediocre.
Wang Che quickly regained his composure.
He had already encountered many setbacks before. This was nothing.
"First, I'll have to study this world in detail for a while, in order to gain a better understanding of it. Since I can't use cultivation techniques to draw in soul power, I'll follow the rules of this world and work around them to create a technique suitable for cultivating soul power. I'll have to forget about Immortal Cultivation for now."
Wang Che opened his eyes and reaffirmed himself.
He had all the experience and strength he needed. Furthermore, he had even spent tens of thousands of years traveling the universe and witnessing the many civilizations that inhabited it.
Since he was already here, he may as well adapt to the place.
With this in mind, Wang Che rested for a while before washing up. Then, he put on his clothes and examined himself in the mirror.
He found a teenager around 1.8 meters tall wearing white slacks and a light blue shirt looking back at him.
As Wang Che studied his own body, he noticed that his figure was quite slender and well-proportioned. He had refreshingly short hair, and his facial features were distinct with just the right amount of facial hair. His dark eyes had a deep glow…
The current Wang Che was definitely a handsome young man, with looks that could kill.
However, when he saw his reflection, Wang Che started to shake his head and frown slightly, saying to himself, "Not good enough. Back then, I had been one of the best looking guys throughout the cultivation world. This… is barely one percent of my charm.
"It's barely presentable."
Wang Che pushed open the door and walked out again.
If his memory served him right, he seemed to have invited a few classmates to hang out with him today.