The night slowly deepened, falling into silence, as the stars shone brilliantly in the sky.
On the hillside, a child around six or seven years old stood in a strange posture, his feet apart with his toes touching the ground and heels raised, hands held high above his head, his head slightly tilted back, and a faint stream of nature's spiritual energy continually swirling and twisting around his body.
Moonlight, pure and bright, spilled down, enveloping the child's body.
The child maintained this posture, taking deep breaths, as the spiritual energy of the world followed his rhythm, entering his body and circulating through his meridians.
The night passed slowly.
As the moonlight faded and the first rays of sunlight fell upon the child, he slowly brought his palms together and opened his eyes, revealing a sharp glint within their depths.
Huang Xiaolong exhaled a breath of stale air as his starry eyes gazed at the rising sun. Since his birth in this world, seven years had passed, and he had been practicing Yijinjing for four years, starting from the age of three. In those four years, he had cultivated Yijinjing to the third position, Palm Supporting the Heavens.
In his previous life, his ancestors had been Inner Sect Disciples of Shaolin Temple, and this Yijinjing was a heritage passed down to him. To this day, Huang Xiaolong still couldn't understand how he, once hailed by his family as a martial arts prodigy that appeared once every hundred years, suddenly crossed into this world after waking up from a deep sleep!
And what made him feel depressed was that he had taken over the body of this newborn child.
Huang Xiaolong looked at his small arms and managed a wry smile. In his previous life, at the age of seventeen and after fourteen years of hard training, he had finally cultivated Yijinjing to the Ninth Form. Now, he had to start cultivating from scratch again.
Just then, soft footsteps reached Huang Xiaolong's ears, coming from the foot of the hill. Without turning around, he knew who it was; sure enough, a sweet and tender voice rang out, "Big brother, I knew you'd be here watching the sunrise again, Dad and Mom are looking for you."
Huang Xiaolong turned his head and saw a cute little girl around five or six years old with two long braids and round, looping eyes, walking up from the bottom of the hill—this was Huang Min, Huang Xiaolong's sister in this life.
Besides Huang Min, Huang Xiaolong also had a younger brother three years his junior named Huang Xiaohai.
"Dad and Mom are looking for me?" Huang Xiaolong questioned, "What for?"
"I don't know." Huang Min's voice still carried a hint of childlike innocence, "Big brother, let's hurry back, or else if we return late, Dad and Mom are going to spank you!"
Upon hearing this, Huang Xiaolong chuckled, pinched his sister Huang Min's cute little cheek, and said, "Then let's go."
Huang Min touched the cheek that had just been pinched by Huang Xiaolong, pouted her lips, and said indignantly, "Big brother, you're so annoying. I've told you before, you can't pinch my cheeks anymore."
However, no sooner had Huang Min finished speaking than Huang Xiaolong pinched her cheek again. After pinching her, he laughed and started running off, with Huang Min squealing in her milk-like voice, chasing after him.
"Big brother, stop right there!"
Thus, the siblings playfully chased each other down the hill, heading back to the Huang Family Manor.
In his previous life, Huang Xiaolong, although a seventeen-year-old youth, sometimes felt a sense of childishness when he was with his sister Huang Min.
Soon, the brother and sister returned to the Huang Family Manor.
Upon returning to the Huang Family Manor, Huang Xiaolong headed towards the eastern court. When he arrived, he saw a man, around thirty or so, with a refined appearance, sword-like eyebrows, and an aquiline nose, dressed in a white robe, seated there. Next to the man was a beautiful young woman—these were Huang Xiaolong's parents in this life, Huang Peng and Su Yan.
"Dad, Mom, you were looking for me?" Huang Xiaolong entered the court and asked.
Huang Peng's eyebrows raised sharply, "Where did you go early in the morning?!"
"Alright, don't scare the child." Su Yan intervened with a smile, "Long'er, you'll be seven years old in a few days. Around the age of seven, the Martial Soul in the body can awaken. We will take you to the Martial Hall later to stimulate the awakening of your Martial Soul."
Martial Soul awakening? Huang Xiaolong was momentarily stunned.
In this world, most people possessed a Martial Soul within their bodies. A warrior's future strength was closely linked to the Martial Soul. Martial Souls varied in low, intermediate, and high levels, subdivided into ten ranks, and above the tenth rank, there were the heavens-defying Super Martial Souls. Only those with a Martial Soul could absorb spiritual energy and become warriors.
Of course, there were people without Martial Souls, or some had Wasted Martial Souls that couldn't cultivate. Such people were considered utter wastes!
"Martial Soul." Huang Xiaolong's eyes sparkled, as he too was eager to find out whether he possessed a Martial Soul and, if so, what it was.
Thus, led by Huang Peng and Su Yan, Huang Xiaolong made his way to the Huang Family Manor's Martial Hall. By the time they arrived, the hall was already packed with people. Apart from Huang Xiaolong, other disciples from the manor were also there for the awakening of their Martial Souls.
Standing in the center of the Martial Hall was a middle-aged man with a stern face and thick eyebrows, exuding an imposing aura that exerted an invisible pressure. This was Huang Xiaolong's father's elder brother, Huang Ming, followed by his own son, Huang Wei, who stood beside him. Huang Wei was one month older than Huang Xiaolong and had also come to the Martial Hall for the awakening of his Martial Soul.
Huang Peng and Su Yan led Huang Xiaolong to the center of the great hall, and Huang Peng spoke first, "Big brother."
Huang Xiaolong followed his parents and called out, "Uncle."
Upon seeing Huang Peng and Su Yan, Huang Ming, whose face had been expressionless, relaxed a bit and nodded, "You've arrived."
From what Huang Xiaolong could remember, he had never seen his strict uncle Huang Ming smile. Huang Ming was in charge of the manor's discipline.
After speaking, Huang Ming said nothing more. Knowing his brother's temperament, Huang Peng was not bothered by it.
Not long after Huang Xiaolong and the others arrived, hearty laughter sounded from outside the hall. Everyone turned their eyes toward the entrance to see an old man with snow-white hair and a tall stature walking into the hall, amidst a crowd of people. This was Huang Xiaolong's grandfather, Huang Qide, the Manor Master of the Huang Family Manor and the man who had established the manor forty years ago.
"Old Manor Master!"
Upon Huang Qide's arrival, all the manor disciples in the great hall hurriedly paid their respects.
Huang Ming, Huang Peng, and Su Yan also quickly approached, saying, "Father!"
Both Huang Xiaolong and Huang Wei stepped forward and called out, "Grandfather."
With a smile on his face, Huang Qide nodded to Huang Ming and the others, then cheerfully said to the disciples in the hall, "Alright, alright, no need for formalities, I'm just casually stopping by today." Normally during the annual opening of the Martial Hall, when the clan's disciples awakened their Martial Souls, Huang Qide wouldn't attend. However, this year was different; because of Huang Xiaolong and Huang Wei, he had made a special exception and left his closed-door cultivation to be present.
Huang Qide moved to the front of the hall, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally coming to rest on a gray-robed elder. Smiling, he said, "Now that everyone's here, let's begin."
"Yes, Manor Master," the gray-robed elder replied respectfully before proceeding to the center of the hall.
The gray-robed elder was Huang Family Manor's chief steward, Chen Ying. Huang Xiaolong had heard from his father that Chen Ying was the oldest person who had followed Grandfather Huang Qide, even before the establishment of the Huang Family Manor.
As Chen Ying stepped into the center, his hands glowed, and a formidable, heart-palpitating power radiated outwards from his body.
Huang Xiaolong's eyes sparkled; this was the power of a Ninth Rank warrior's Fighting Energy? So powerful! Even in his previous life, when he had cultivated the "Yijinjing" to the Ninth Form, he was definitely no match for Chen Ying.
As Chen Ying's Fighting Energy surged, the six-sided pattern at the center of the hall suddenly flickered with light, which then grew intensely bright, creating pillars of light.
"Huang Wei, it's your turn," said Huang Qide looking at Huang Wei.
"Yes, Grandfather." Huang Wei replied and then walked in front of the pattern, stepping into the column of light. As Huang Wei entered, all eyes in the great hall were fixed on him. Even the usually stoic Huang Ming couldn't help feeling nervous as he watched his son.
As the six-sided pattern enveloped Huang Wei in light, before long, clusters of black light emerged on his body. The flowing black light revealed a shadow behind him, manifesting as a black tiger with three eyes. As the shadow of the black tiger appeared, a tiger's roar pierced the air, causing the hall to tremble.
Everyone was shocked.
Huang Qide watched the tiger-shaped black shadow behind his grandson, his eyes shining brightly. He was overjoyed and burst into loud laughter.
"That's a Tenth-level Martial Soul, a Three-eyed Black Tiger!" the chief steward Chen Ying exclaimed, his voice trembling.
A Tenth-level Martial Soul, among the top of Advanced Martial Souls, an entity infinitely close to a Super Martial Soul!
Huang Wei's Martial Soul was a Tenth-level Martial Soul, the Three-eyed Black Tiger!
(The new book has been uploaded. The new book period is very important, so if friends who've read pirated versions in the past could come to the starting point to collect and vote for the new book, it would be much appreciated! The contract was mailed out yesterday; it will be changed to A-sign in a few days, and then everyone will be able to send gifts.)