Chapter 5 — Stealing Tang Wulin's Chance, Cultivating a Future Backstabber of the Sea God!
Huo Tiangang, the middle-aged man, was not surprised. After all, this was their million-year soul beast—the ancestral spirit of the Huo Clan.
Even if Jiang Chen had been born with full innate soul power, he wouldn't have found it strange.
"Ancestor, do you have any other requirements?"
Even he didn't truly know why the ancestor had traveled thousands of miles to a small city just to awaken a martial soul. But since it was the ancestral spirit himself, he surely had his reasons. His only job was to fulfill every request the ancestor made.
"Wait."
They arrived at the monitoring chamber. Through the crystal display, he could clearly see the awakening room.
Moments later, a boy with short black hair and a noticeably taller-than-average build entered the room.
"Tang Wulin! Martial Soul: Blue Silver Grass! Innate Soul Power: Level Three!"
That's right.
Jiang Chen had come to intercept Tang Wulin's fate!
In his long-planned counterattack against Tang San, Tang Wulin represented a critical link in his strategy.
Jiang Chen had no intention of killing Tang Wulin as a child.
That was impossible.
With the Sea God's mark and an avatar of the Sea God within him, Tang Wulin's safety was guaranteed. He also had as protectors the Plane Lord who was his grandfather, the Douluo Core who was his grandmother, and two quasi-gods capable of unleashing divine power—Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape.
That lineup was absurdly powerful.
Though Jiang Chen himself was a million-year soul beast with quasi-god-tier strength, he couldn't unleash his full power. Having just turned human, he couldn't reverse the process without risk—and above him loomed the inevitable one-million-year tribulation that meant certain death.
In short—
Show yourself, and you die instantly!
Tang San stole Huo Yuhao from him. Snatching away Tang San's son in return seemed more than fair.
Besides, it wasn't for himself. He simply wanted to guide what was considered the best protagonist across the Douluo five-part saga onto the right path.
He would raise Tang Wulin into a righteous, reasonable, principled hero!
He would rescue this main character from the corrupt grasp of evil destiny.
"Innate level three? Blue Silver Grass? But… quite the extraordinary bloodline."
As descendants specialized in studying martial and beast bloodlines, the Huo Clan recognized the uniqueness of Blue Silver Grass at a glance.
In this era, innate soul power no longer determined everything.
As long as one had some soul power, forming a contract with a high-quality soul spirit could awaken dormant bloodlines—raising potential levels beyond the natural limit through postnatal cultivation.
And Blue Silver Grass should never be underestimated. After all, the Sea God himself—one of Shrek Academy's original Seven Monsters—wielded the same martial soul!
Golden-veined Blue Silver Grass—
Now that was interesting.
"Should we approach him in the name of the Huo Clan or the Spirit Transmission Tower?"
Jiang Chen rolled his eyes. "What do you think?"
Moments later, a graceful woman with an intelligent smile entered the awakening room. She approached Tang Wulin kindly.
"Hello there. You must be Tang Wulin, right?"
"My name is Zhou Qin. I'm the director of the Aolai City Spirit Transmission Tower branch. Your bloodline seems unusual. Would you be interested in joining the Tower?"
Tang Wulin didn't understand what was happening, but an inexplicable sense of rejection welled up within him. His brows furrowed as he hid behind his father, Tang Ziran.
When Tang Ziran saw his son being courted by the Spirit Transmission Tower, even he was taken aback. As a former Federation mecha designer and pharmaceutical engineer, he was well aware of the Tower's power—equal to that of Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect.
He hadn't expected his son to receive such an invitation. Tempted though he was, he respected Tang Wulin's feelings and declined politely.
Ah… So strange. The founder of the Spirit Transmission Tower was Tang San's own son-in-law. Why, then, did Tang San resist contact between his child and the Tower?
Favoritism? Paranoia?
Zhou Qin wasn't surprised. Instead, she calmly took out a document and handed it to Tang Ziran.
"This is the Spirit Transmission Tower's Talent Cultivation Program. Any child recognized as a potential genius by the Tower is eligible for our additional support."
"This isn't formal membership in the Tower. Even regular spirit masters can apply for support through us. You'd simply receive a bit more."
An early investment, nothing more.
After all, the Tower couldn't possibly recruit every single genius in the world. Some would join the Federation, some the Tang Sect, some Shrek Academy.
But if a few developed goodwill toward the Tower—perhaps they'd choose to join later.
It was business. The Tower always profited.
And it wasn't like they were stingy; gold coins meant nothing to them. Better to toss a few gleaming coins around than to be a stingy fool like that particular God King—who once took Spirit Hall's golden soul coins, then annihilated them soon after.
"When you reach level ten, you'll need a good soul spirit. Choosing one can be expensive…"
"Little Wulin," she said gently, "surely you don't want your parents to struggle endlessly just to support your future cultivation, right?"
Tang Wulin paused.
Though her words sounded strange, he swallowed his instinctive resistance and nodded slightly.
He had noticed recently that his appetite had grown rapidly, putting a strain on his family's finances. If this could ease their burden, why not?
It was free anyway. Surely they wouldn't scam him… right?
If not for that inner resistance, he wouldn't have refused earlier. With his meager level-three innate soul power and weak martial soul, he hardly seemed worth anyone's attention.
"Thank you, sister!"
Zhou Qin smiled warmly. She didn't understand why the higher-ups wanted her to recruit a child with such low talent and such a simple martial soul.
Still, she had heard tales—like the Sword-Obsessed Douluo, Ji Juechen of ten thousand years ago, who had started with only level-three innate power yet achieved Titled Douluo rank.
The Spirit Transmission Tower no longer idolized talent itself; rather, it valued the potential within a bloodline and whether the martial soul could mutate through cultivation.
But what bloodline could Blue Silver Grass possibly hold?
Surely not Blue Silver Emperor—that spirit awakened with full innate power.
Though Zhou Qin didn't understand, orders were orders.
She would simply follow them.
"Ancestor! Ancestor! What's so special about that little boy that you're paying him so much attention?" whispered Huo Yuner curiously.
"Yuner! Mind your tongue!" Huo Tiangang frowned and scolded. "Show respect to the Ancestor!"
She pouted and hid behind Jiang Chen.
Watching Tang Wulin leave, Jiang Chen shook his head. He would observe for two more days.
"All right, little Yuner. What kind of soul spirit do you want?"
"The usual one from the clan."
After so many generations, the Huo Clan had perfected their combinations for the Evil-Eyed White Tiger, the Three-Eyed White Tiger, and the Spirit Eye martial souls.
For the Evil-Eyed White Tiger, they copied and refined the soul skills of the old Xingluo Dai bloodline, making slight optimizations over time.
For the Spirit Eye, they followed the path of the Spirit Ice Douluo. The Tower had long developed soul spirits capable of enhancing spiritual abilities, most notably—the Iceworm.
These provided abilities like Spiritual Detection, Sharing, and Interference. Not as monstrous as Huo Yuhao's four-in-one first skill, but even one of them would suffice.
As for the Three-Eyed White Tiger—that hybrid evolution—its development depended on individual growth.
Still, what really mattered was what new soul skill their reincarnated ancestor might bestow upon her.
(END CHAPTER)
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