Chapter 1: Douluo Continent
Star Luo Empire, Imperial Palace.
After a heavy snowfall, the entire imperial palace was covered in a silver blanket. The cold northern wind blew fiercely, making people not want to leave their homes.
"Hey, come get your food!"
In front of a remote cold palace, a eunuch, dressed in a thick cotton coat, handed a cold food box through a small hole in the wall. He laughed loudly and shouted into the cold palace.
The hole by the wall was very small, almost like a dog hole.
Crack—
A pair of thin, yellowish hands stretched out carefully and touched the food box. But the hands immediately retracted as if burned. In this freezing weather, the metal food box was painfully cold.
From behind the wall of the cold palace, faint sounds of suffering could be heard.
But not long after, the frostbitten, small finger, which had turned red from the cold, trembled as it stretched out again and clung tightly to the food box, refusing to let go, even though the metal was unbearably cold.
With a crack, the food box was pulled through the dog hole.
Seeing this, the eunuch and the surrounding palace maids and eunuchs burst into laughter.
"Haha, the little brat's eating now!"
"'Little Prince,' the food's cold, but at least you can eat. Don't force yourself. With your skinny arms and legs, don't you dare die, or how will we explain it to the Empress?"
"That bitch dared to offend the Empress. Now she's dead, but as her son, you'll have to suffer!"
"Li Gonggong, you've been doing great these years, the Empress will definitely reward you. Don't forget us when that happens!"
One eunuch flattered the eunuch handing the food box to the cold palace.
"Of course!"
After laughing, the group of eunuchs and palace maids left, their faces full of joy, as if promotion and wealth were within their grasp.
Inside the Cold Palace.
A five or six-year-old boy, staring at the food box that had been dragged in, was silent for a moment. With a determined look, he gritted his teeth, and forcefully pulled his finger off the cold metal box. Immediately, blood began to pour out.
The weather was so cold that, after only a brief touch, his finger had frozen to the iron surface, making it impossible to separate.
The boy's face twisted in pain. He quickly put his finger in his mouth to stop the bleeding, then stumbled toward the cold, broken palace hall with cracked windows.
Once inside, he kicked the door shut with his foot. The wind and snow outside stopped, but the cold wind still crept in through the broken windows.
Although the boy was wearing a "thick" cotton coat, the cotton had long been removed, leaving it little more than a thin cover that barely prevented him from freezing to death.
He tossed the food box aside, and, with a hard resolve, pulled off the broken window. He then crawled under the bed and pulled out two flint stones and some charcoal.
Carefully, he placed the charcoal into a small indentation in the floor, then, gritting his teeth, struck the flint stones together to ignite it. He pulled the wooden frame of the window apart and tossed the pieces into the indentation to help fuel the fire.
Before long, flames flickered, and the ice-cold room gained a little warmth.
The boy kicked the food box next to the fire and used it to heat the food inside. His cracked, frostbitten hands, while burning under the heat of the flames, itched unbearably.
But this warmth was so hard-won.
The boy's name was Dai Yao, the son of the current Emperor of the Star Luo Empire. But his mother had been the victim of the Empress' jealousy. After falling out of favor, they had both been exiled to the Cold Palace.
After his mother's death, this so-called prince seemed to be forgotten, trapped in this small, desolate palace.
It was clear that all of this was the Empress' doing.
For six years, Dai Yao had suffered endless humiliation in the Cold Palace. Under the Empress' orders, the palace eunuchs and maids found every way possible to torment him.
In the summer, he liked to cool off under the large tree in the courtyard. The next day, after someone reported it, the tree was cut down. He had once stayed by the pond for a little longer, and the next day, every creature in the pond had been scooped away by a few maids.
As for the broken windows, he had informed the eunuchs, but no one ever came to repair them. He couldn't leave the Cold Palace and had to endure the freezing cold of winter.
If not for the protection of the White Tiger Clan's Elder Council, which oversaw the safety of all the descendants of the White Tiger Clan, he would have long been beaten by the eunuchs.
But being trapped in the Cold Palace for nearly six years had still driven him to madness.
After eating some food, he felt a little better. Looking at the orange flames, he couldn't help but fall into thought.
"Tomorrow, I'll be six years old. My martial soul will awaken. If my martial soul isn't strong enough, even the Elder Council won't protect me forever."
"At that time, it will truly be my death."
Thinking of this, his eyes darkened.
"If that's the case, maybe I should have frozen to death in one of the past winters. I've endured all this just to awaken a strong martial soul and take revenge for my mother!"
Though his mother had officially died in the Cold Palace from sorrow, Dai Yao knew it wasn't like that. She had been murdered by the Empress' people!
Dai Yao's breath quickened, and his fists clenched tightly, as if he had forgotten the pain.
"That bitch, I will make her pay in blood for what she did!"
The cold moonlight shone through the high walls of the Cold Palace, making the already freezing winter night feel even more bitter.
As Dai Yao added more firewood to the stove, he shook his head in helplessness, thinking:
"In those Douluo fanfics, the main character is always living the good life, inheriting the martial spirit of the Wei Wu, picking up girls, and living it up in the Douluo Continent. But why am I so miserable?"
Yes, he was a transmigrator.
In his previous life, he was an ordinary Earthling who, by accident, came to the Douluo Continent.
In his past life, he was just an ordinary person.
When studying, he was just a problem solver; after graduation, he became a worker. He had no remarkable talents, and from childhood to adulthood, his life had been simple and uneventful—nothing particularly dramatic ever happened.
He wasn't tall, his appearance was also very ordinary—neither handsome nor ugly. In this life, though still young and frail, there was an undeniable hidden charm about him that had started to surface.
In his past life, his parents often taught him to be an upright person, to avoid bothering others as much as possible. But after entering the workforce, he realized that such a person wasn't well-suited to survive in society.
Such a person is what people commonly call an honest person. Of course, nowadays, "honest person" is no longer a compliment.
"I'll never be an honest person again in this life!"
Thinking about today's encounter and the bullying he had suffered over the years, his eyes turned sharp and fierce. "The rule of the world is survival of the fittest. It was this way in my past life, and it will be the same in the Douluo Continent. I need to become ruthless, and make those who have bullied me pay the price!"
·····
In the evening, a knock echoed at the door, causing the snow on the eaves to fall.
Dai Yao quickly put out the fire, worried that someone might see it and report it to the eunuchs. Eunuchs were physically disabled, their personalities twisted, and to gain favor, they would use any means necessary.
He opened the door and found a middle-aged man standing outside.
"Third Uncle!"
Dai Yao exclaimed in surprise.
His third uncle was named Dai Hengyu, the third brother of the current Emperor of the Star Luo Empire. However, because of his martial soul, he had not competed for the throne, so there was still some semblance of familial affection between them.
Of all the people Dai Yao had encountered, only his third uncle had ever shown him kindness.
"Ah." When Dai Hengyu saw Dai Yao's battered appearance, guilt and helplessness filled his heart.
He had been close friends with Dai Yao's mother. Before she passed away, she had entrusted Dai Yao to him. However, as a prince with no real power, how could he have had the ability to rescue someone targeted by the Empress within the palace?
But tomorrow would be different.
"Tomorrow is the day you awaken your martial soul. I came today to tell you something." Dai Hengyu said as he picked up Dai Yao and comforted him.
"What is it?"
"It concerns your future. Perhaps after tomorrow, you won't have to stay in this cold palace anymore."
"Our Dai family is part of the Star Luo royal family, and for generations, we have passed down the strongest beast martial soul—the White Tiger Martial Soul. But the stronger the martial soul, the harder it is to inherit. In the Star Luo Empire, only a few people can awaken this martial soul in each generation, and these few people will be titled as princes."
"When it comes to inheriting a martial soul, those who possess the White Tiger Martial Soul and those who have the Netherworld Spirit Cat Martial Soul will have the greatest chance of passing on the White Tiger Martial Soul to their offspring. Therefore, every generation of Star Luo emperors' wives come from the Zhu family. The Zhu family has inherited the Netherworld Spirit Cat Martial Soul."
At this point, Dai Hengyu smiled bitterly. "Like me, your mother didn't have the Netherworld Spirit Cat Martial Soul, so she had little chance of passing on the White Tiger Martial Soul."
"At that time, if you remain in the imperial palace, you will suffer for your whole life. But once you awaken your martial soul, I will take you to the Elder Council."
The Elder Council was the institution responsible for managing the internal affairs of the White Tiger family. It recorded the names, titles, and lineage of the family's children; oversaw the awakening of martial souls, simulated training, soul ring acquisition, and burial after death.
The Elder Council was led by seven family elders who had the strength of Soul Douluo or higher, and it had a vast number of clan members under its leadership.
"Thank you for your kindness, Third Uncle. But I know that while I can hide for a time, I cannot hide forever. If the Empress truly wants to kill me, even the Elder Council won't be able to protect me."
Dai Hengyu was shocked by Dai Yao's maturity—he didn't seem like a six-year-old child at all.
"But if tomorrow I don't awaken a powerful martial soul, then I'll have to rely on you, Third Uncle."
After bidding farewell to his third uncle, Dai Yao returned to his room and rekindled the fire. If possible, he didn't want to live such a helpless life. For six whole years, he had endured beatings and humiliation at the hands of the eunuchs.
A powerful martial soul doesn't necessarily make a powerful soul master, but a powerful soul master must have a powerful martial soul.
In the original text, Master once said: "There is no such thing as a useless martial soul, only useless soul masters."
But why in Douluo Continent are there no "Hoe Douluos" or "Blue Silver Grass Douluos"? Of course, Tang San doesn't count, as his martial soul is the Blue Silver Emperor. These so-called "useless" martial souls rarely produce any soul masters.
To become a Douluo, one's martial soul has to be a powerful one that shakes the world. Martial souls truly determine the course of a person's life.
If Dai Yao fails to awaken a powerful martial soul, he will have to live his life in humiliation and burden.
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.