Although the values hadn't changed, he could clearly feel that the once-dormant "faith power pool" had produced an extremely faint, yet undeniably real ripple because of the preliminary recognition and "choice to intervene" by that "person of great destiny" in the far distance.
It was like a small pebble thrown into an ancient well; though it failed to kick up a splash, it broke the absolute dead silence.
He stuck out his tongue and licked his dry, cracked lips from lack of water, a tiny arc curling at the corner of his mouth that carried an endless chill.
In that curve, there was calculation, expectation, and moreover, a cold sense of control, as if holding the threads of fate in his hands.
"The cognition has been established... The first step, the piece has been played."
He whispered soundlessly, his voice hoarse but carrying a hint of suppressed excitement.
"Come then, Child of Destiny... Tang San!
Let me see what kind of... reality your 'trust' can bring me when you witness your 'destined' tragedy and 'possible' glory with your 'own eyes'."
The young man in the dilapidated shack was named Fu Shiyan. He had changed the name himself; as for his original name, he had long forgotten it.
He was not of this world; his soul came from another.
When he first crossed over, he had harbored expectations and ambitions just like other transmigrators, thinking he was chosen by destiny.
However, reality dealt him the most ruthless blow—Spirit awakening: Blue Silver Grass, Innate spirit power: Level 0.5.
In Douluo Continent, this was practically a death sentence for his path as a Spirit Master.
To make matters worse, the small village he was born in had briefly prospered because a Spirit Ancestor had emerged from it. As direct relatives of that Spirit Ancestor, his family had also enjoyed a few years of stable life.
But fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. That Spirit Ancestor was killed while attempting to murder someone for their treasure. His enemy was a ruthless fallen Spirit Master who actually took his anger out on the village, washing it in blood overnight.
That night, flames soared to the sky and miserable wails filled the air. Only eight years old, Fu Shiyan crawled out from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood under his mother's desperate protection, covered in filth and bone-deep fear, narrowly escaping with his life.
Since then, fearing pursuit by his enemies, he had lived under an assumed name like a rat in the gutter, struggling to survive at the lowest levels of major cities.
He had been a beggar, a pickpocket, and had scavenged trash in the aftermath of Spirit Master battles, witnessing far too much human ugliness and world cruelty.
Eighteen years of wandering had ground the once-fanciful transmigrator into a heart-of-stone bottom-feeder who would use any means necessary just to survive.
He was twenty-six this year. Relying on the most rudimentary meditation and meager resources occasionally scavenged, his spirit power had barely increased to level eight.
The Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul was almost useless, except for allowing him to identify some non-toxic wild vegetables in the wilderness.
He thought his life would simply rot away like this.
Until three days ago, the [Refining Falsehood into Reality System] awakened in his mind.
The system's core was very simple: consume "faith power points" to transform fabricated "falsehoods" into "reality".
faith power points came from others' "trust" in the fabricated content. The deeper the trust, and the stronger the power or destiny of the provider, the more Faith Power they provided.
And those with great destiny were the most efficient "sources of faith".
The 100 faith power points from the newbie gift pack were pitifully few.
Fabricating a small secret realm to trick mortals might be enough, but the input-to-output ratio was too low, and it was extremely easy for Spirit Masters to see through.
He needed a gamble with a thousandfold return.
Thus, he turned his gaze toward the convergence point of this world's destiny—Tang San.
Using 100 faith power points, he wove an exquisite lie, a virtual system called the [life simulator], and successfully "implanted" it into the mind of Tang San, who was far away in Saint Spirit Village.
And he would be the sole screenwriter and director of this simulator.
Tang San's "trust" would become his only bargaining chip to reverse his fate.
"Tang San... experience the 'future' I've prepared for you well."
Fu Shiyan licked his dry lips, his eyes flashing with a desperate, cold madness. "Your trust will become the ladder for my ascent!"
---
At the mountain peak of Saint Spirit Village, Tang San's consciousness was suddenly dragged into a bizarre vortex.
He felt as if he had become a ghost attached to another "self," clearly able to feel all the sensations and emotions of that "self," yet unable to make any sound or intervention, only able to passively experience everything happening before his eyes.
(Simulation Begins: Saint Spirit Village, Spirit Awakening Ceremony)
He found himself standing in an unfamiliar wooden house, surrounded by several nervous and excited children from the same village.
A man wearing specific attire, called "Deacon Su Yuntao," was guiding a strange energy fluctuation.
Then, he felt a wave of heat in "his" right palm, and a small, light blue grass emerged out of thin air.
'What is this?' The possessing Tang San was filled with wonder. 'A... plant summoned from the body? Is this the special power of this world?'
"Blue Silver Grass, a trash martial soul." The deacon's voice carried a habitual indifference.
At that moment, he suddenly felt a completely different throb coming from "his" left hand!
A heavy power with a certain cold, hard texture condensed in his left palm.
His "vision" (actually perception) involuntarily followed "his" body downward and "looked" back—through the obstruction of the young body, he vaguely "saw" an extremely blurry, pitch-black hammer-shaped phantom flash in his left palm, which was then subconsciously gripped tightly by "himself," completely hidden behind his back and the cover of his sleeve. Except for himself (the bystander and the self in the simulation), no one noticed.
'The left hand! There's another one in the left hand!' The possessing Tang San was profoundly shaken.
'A person can actually possess two of these... "things" at the same time?' He could not understand this phenomenon at all.
Even more confusing things followed one after another.
The deacon took out a crystal ball for "him" to test. The moment "his" hand was placed on it, the crystal ball erupted with an extremely dazzling light!
"In... Innate Full Spirit Power?!" The deacon's exclamation was full of disbelief.
'spirit power? Full spirit power?' Tang San (the bystander) was even more bewildered.
'Does it refer to the internal strength of the Mysterious Heaven Skill I cultivate? The intensity of this light seems to correspond to the level of internal strength I just broke through to in the first tier? It seems this world, just as that system said, uses this method to measure the strength of internal power? And it's divided into levels?'
With a heart full of doubts, "he" returned to the blacksmith shop. That father, who was drunk all day, only gave a cold glance when he saw the Blue Silver Grass appearing in the right hand and was about to lie back down. However, the "self" in the simulation said, "I seem to have another Spirit!"—
A sudden change occurred!
Father Tang Hao's originally hunched and decadent body suddenly stiffened, as if struck by lightning!