After the fall of the Spirit Hall thousands of years ago, the two great empires attempted free spirit awakenings for a while, but they gave up after a few years.
The reason was that it was a thankless task. Although soul masters could indeed play a greater role in wars, the probability of awakening someone with innate soul power from ordinary people was pitifully low.
In the year Tang San awakened his spirit in his previous life, only he and Xiao Wu were admitted to Nuoding Academy as work-study students from the surrounding villages. Xiao Wu was a 100,000-year-old soul beast, and Tang San's father, Tang Hao, was a Title Douluo, his mother was also a 100,000-year soul beast, and with the help of Xuantian Skill, they were far from being ordinary civilians.
Among true commoners, the chances of one out of twenty awakening with innate soul power were something to pray for.
This was the first problem: the percentage of those who could awaken innate soul power was too low. Without innate soul power, awakening a spirit was pointless, as the combat effectiveness of those without it was no different from ordinary people.
The second issue was that even if someone did awaken with innate soul power, their future prospects were limited.
Soul master talent, like spirits, is hereditary. If two ordinary civilians without soul power had children, unless there was a spirit mutation, their innate soul power wouldn't be high.
With such widespread talent at only level one or two of innate soul power, it was entirely predictable that these individuals would reach only one or two rings at most.
You must know, a thousand years ago, the Grandmaster was the son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect's leader. Despite being part of such a powerful sect, even they couldn't use resources to raise his half-level innate soul power to that of a Soul Elder. In comparison, other commoners without the backing of a sect would achieve far less.
A Grandmaster at level twenty-nine struggled to fight a hundred-year-old soul beast. In war, such a person would hardly compare to well-trained soldiers, and their spirits, varying so widely in type, wouldn't mesh well in teamwork.
A group of one hundred Soul Kings might match a force of several thousand soldiers, but a group of one hundred Great Soul Masters would be practically useless.
Thirdly, soul masters didn't necessarily follow orders.
The two great empires conducted free spirit awakenings to prepare for war, but soul masters didn't necessarily join the army. To make them fight, the cost was far higher than for regular soldiers, further diminishing the benefits of free spirit awakenings.
For all these reasons, the two great empires naturally gave up on mass spirit awakenings like the Spirit Hall once conducted.
However, to completely shut off the path to becoming a soul master might cause unrest among the commoners. Thus, the practice of charging for spirit awakenings was born.
By setting the price of this seemingly necessary service at a level that required most people to scrimp and save for a long time, the empires could greatly reduce dissent and divide the commoners.
Whenever someone voiced opposition to the high costs of awakening, another group that had already paid for the service would jump in to criticize them. After all, they had already paid. If the price dropped, wouldn't they feel like they'd been cheated?
The moment they compromised, their stance had already shifted.
To make it easier for the nobility and royal families to control the soul master population, two methods of free spirit awakenings remained: joining the nobility as a servant or joining the military.
Even so, a considerable number of commoners never awakened their spirits. Among them were children like Tang San, blessed with extraordinary parents, or those whose parents were deceased, and grandparents were bedridden. In some remote villages, such situations weren't uncommon. The burden of supporting the family fell entirely on the children, leaving them unable to leave for a few days to travel to town for spirit awakenings.
Of course, none of this concerned Tang San at the moment. His mood wasn't great.
In his past life, he never would have imagined that he would be reborn, and that even a simple spirit awakening would be a struggle.
Becoming a servant for a noble or joining the military was out of the question. The only option left was paying for an awakening, but relying on his father for money was impossible. He had to find a way to earn it himself.
Thinking of this made him feel irritated. His current body was much weaker than in his past life. Although his spirit hadn't been awakened, he could vaguely sense that his innate soul power was only at level one or two. Starting Xuantian Skill training at the age of six was already late, and now he had to divide his attention between training and earning money.
Fortunately, after his previous life's experiences, his understanding of Xuantian Skill had improved. Living in a big city now, he could buy some medicinal herbs to help with cultivation, speeding things up a bit.
"There are no useless spirits, only useless soul masters!"
At that moment, his teacher's teachings from a thousand years ago echoed in his mind, like a shot of adrenaline, reigniting his fighting spirit.
So what if he was reborn? Tang San would still reach the pinnacle of the world!
Though all this was caused by Huo Yuhao, seeking revenge wasn't as important as becoming a god again. Even if he did avenge himself, without a god's position, his lifespan would only be a few hundred years. That was unacceptable to him.
Even if he had the thought, he had no idea how to become a god again.
After all, in the Douluo Plane, the path to godhood had been controlled by none other than his previous self. It was impossible to ascend through normal means.
What was he going to do? Reveal his identity to the Tang San in the God Realm, hoping he would pass down his god position?
The moment that thought appeared in his mind, Tang San dismissed it. Ridiculous! Although he pretended to be righteous on the surface, claiming that managing the God Realm was tiring and that he wanted to pass on his position, that was just to fool others. He couldn't fool himself.
Forget the Asura God position—he wouldn't even give up the Sea God position.
If the Tang San in the God Realm knew that he was his future self, he would stop at nothing to ensure he died in the lower realm. He would never tolerate the existence of another version of himself.
Tang San didn't know if he could return to his original timeline, but he doubted it. He had to prepare for the possibility of staying in this timeline forever.
If he became a god, could he really stand by and watch another version of himself get intimate with Xiao Wu?
Impossible.
He would never share Xiao Wu with anyone, not even his former self. From the beginning, he and the Tang San in the God Realm were never on the same side.
To become a god and reclaim Xiao Wu, he would have to kill the Tang San in this world's God Realm and take his place.
With that thought, Tang San looked inward at his spiritual space. Seeing a golden trident quietly floating there, his irritation grew.
Before his rebirth, in his battle with Huo Yuhao, his Asura God power had been completely depleted, forcing him to temporarily swap god positions with Xiao Wu. As a result, he entered the time-space turbulence as the Sea God, and the Golden Trident had reincarnated with his soul.
If he had known, he would have brought the Asura God position with him. Then, perhaps, he would have the more powerful Asura Sword.
But what was done was done, and there was no use complaining. Even with this divine tool, he didn't dare use it recklessly. If the Tang San in the God Realm discovered that he also had a trident, the worst-case scenario would be him realizing his identity.
Even though the God Realm's rules wouldn't allow Tang San to openly attack him, he would find other ways to deal with him. Until Tang San could truly protect himself, he wouldn't use this divine tool.
(END CHAPTER)