Notting City.
The little girl with short, silver-white hair stumbled into the house with a small courtyard.
With a 'bang', the front door of the house closed tightly against its frame.
"Is this the beginning of my uselessness?"
Sunlight streamed through the window into the room, falling directly on the girl.
Leaning against the faded wall, her slightly trembling hand brushed aside the silver-white strands of hair that obscured her vision. Despite the midday sun, the girl felt a profound chill in her heart and body.
"A useless Martial Soul without Soul Power… I really can't accept this kind of setup."
Her father was a five-ring Soul King, and her never-before-seen mother also seemed to be a formidable Soul Master. Yet, when it came to her, everything collapsed like a landslide.
Other transmigrators either had innate full Soul Power or innate super Soul Power. Some even had multiple Martial Souls, starting as Titled Douluo, effortlessly marrying beautiful and rich women, and reaching the pinnacle of life.
Xu Qian gritted her teeth and accepted the absurd situation of being in a 'big dragon' pit.
She was mentally prepared for even very low Soul Power.
But a catastrophic start, being unable to cultivate, was truly a completely new version she had never imagined.
"Sigh! Life is not easy," Xu Qian sighed, leaning back helplessly in her chair, her eyes vacant as if they had lost their light.
The Douluo Continent has about 100,000 Soul Masters. Ninety-nine percent of people awaken a Martial Soul but have no Soul Power, unable to become Soul Masters their entire lives. But Xu Qian didn't want to be part of that ninety-nine percent.
As a man—bah!
As a transmigrator.
Who hasn't harbored the delusion of holding the sun and moon, plucking the stars, and being unparalleled in the world?
Even a little, she didn't want to live a mediocre life.
If she couldn't become a Soul Master, wouldn't she have to marry then?
Ordinary people who cannot become Soul Masters tend to marry quite early.
She hadn't degenerated to that extent yet; she found the idea of marriage quite repulsive at the moment.
If she could become a Soul Master, using cultivation as an excuse to refuse marriage, her old-fashioned father wouldn't say anything.
"My Martial Soul is completely different from my father's. Some might even believe I'm adopted."
Xu Qian had never met her mother. She only regained her past life's memories after turning three, so she had almost no impression of her mother. The information she had was subtly extracted from her father.
However, that never-before-seen mother's Martial Soul also didn't seem to be a book.
Her fair right hand was placed in front of her, and a faint glow gathered.
At the call of her will.
An ordinary-looking book revealed its full form, its cover shimmering with a light green luster.
With a slight thought, the book slowly flipped open.
"Swish, swish, swish, swish—"
Flipping from front to back, it was blank all the way through.
Aside from the slightly yellowed, aged cover, there was no indication of what this Martial Soul was for.
"Perhaps it's because I don't have Soul Power."
Xu Qian slowly closed her eyes, perceiving the changes in her body after activating her Martial Soul.
Time passed by minute by minute.
Xu Qian only felt herself in an endless darkness, and her five senses became extremely acute at this moment.
Noisy sounds echoed in her ears. Not just sounds, even images flashed through her mind, like a dying person's life flashing before their eyes.
"Huh, Boss Shi San's voice?" Xu Qian directly filtered out the other converging noises and unimportant images, leaving only familiar sounds and scenes.
In an instant, her mind felt slightly dazed.
The familiar layout of the blacksmith shop appeared in her mind.
"Blacksmith Boss Shi San is scolding his two sons, saying they're not doing proper work, always slacking off, and how will they inherit the family business, and so on and so forth…"
In the original work, Boss Shi San and his two sons were supporting characters who had interacted with Tang San. Tang San also forged iron in this blacksmith shop in Notting City.
"Can I perceive what's happening in the blacksmith shop several hundred meters away?" Xu Qian was quite surprised.
The current situation was like having a high-definition, omnidirectional, zero-latency camera installed in the blacksmith shop.
She skipped the scenes of the blacksmith shop and continued to further understand the scope of her perception.
"One hundred… two hundred. No, the radius of the perception range is about five hundred meters."
Xu Qian felt a little excited, her body trembling slightly.
Her Martial Soul might not be as useless as she expected; there might still be a tiny chance to salvage it?
After a while, Xu Qian slowly opened her eyes, a hint of regret in her voice: "If I could cultivate Soul Power, perhaps I could uncover more secrets of my Martial Soul."
Not long after her words fell, she froze.
Soul Power, internal energy, Tang San… Xu Qian vaguely had a bold idea in her mind.
But a few seconds later, the bold idea was dismissed again.
Going directly to Holy Soul Village was too obvious. Convincing her father to live in the remote Holy Soul Village for a few years was also unrealistic, plus Tang Hao had a personality that would rather kill the wrong person than let one go.
A Soul King taking his child to Holy Soul Village and claiming no ulterior motive—who would believe that?
Perhaps, if she wasn't careful, her life would be gone.
She only had one life; caution was key to sailing for ten thousand years.
"Let's not rush for now. Anyway, Tang San will come to Notting Academy later."
Xu Qian set a small goal for herself: using the time Tang San came to Notting City for school, she would slowly observe through her Martial Soul to see if she could "steal" the cultivation method of Xuantian Gong.
Tang San might have just been born now, so she had to consider other ways to cultivate in these six years.
Xu Qian understood the principle of not putting all eggs in one basket. If she could truly cultivate in six years, there would be no need to risk approaching Tang San.
With innate level 0 Soul Power and a snail's pace of cultivation, it was unlikely she would have much interaction with those favored children of heaven in the future.
Xu Qian was very clear about her own positioning.
Being bad at the game but having a huge addiction only happened when she played "Honor of Kings" in her previous life.
Risking her life?
How many lives did she have to squander like that? Did she think she was the protagonist?
Shaking her head to clear away the jumbled thoughts, Xu Qian looked out the window. From the treetops obscured by leaves, the chirping of birds occasionally drifted.
Her thoughts also drifted out involuntarily.
"By my calculations, Father should be back soon."
"He'll be very disappointed that I can't become a Soul Master and cultivate, won't he?"
Her father had a relatively good relationship with the Notting City Lord. She didn't know what he was doing in Tiandou City this time, but she wanted him to help escort her.
Based on previous estimates, if nothing unexpected happened, he should be home in these two days.
"Thump, thump, thump"
Urgent knocking interrupted Xu Qian's thoughts.
Xu Qian looked towards the door.
"Who is it?"
So urgent, one would think you were attacking the city!
"I am a servant from the City Lord's Mansion…"
After the person knocking explained their identity and purpose, Xu Qian opened the door and, with considerable doubt, followed them to the Notting City Lord's Mansion.
Why was City Lord Xiao looking for her?
After much thought, Xu Qian couldn't get a useful answer. The attendant in front of her also had a hesitant expression, only saying that she would know once she met City Lord Xiao.
Really, everyone was a riddle.
Not long after, Xu Qian entered the reception hall of the City Lord's Mansion.
The attendant who brought her in quickly left.
"Qianqian, you're here."
The square-faced man, who had been waiting for a long time, quickly walked out from behind a screen.
He was none other than Xiao Yuanshan, the City Lord of Notting City.
However, his current state didn't look good.
His right arm was bent and held in front of him, wrapped in thick bandages, and his loose clothes were stuffed full. Even his forehead was wrapped several times with bandages, and a strong smell of herbal medicine emanated from him.
"Greetings, Uncle Xiao."
Xu Qian suppressed the unease in her heart and greeted Xiao Yuanshan.
After the previous resonance with her Martial Soul, even without activating it, Xu Qian could use some of her wide-area perception, though it wasn't as clear as when her Martial Soul was active.
Seeing Xiao Yuanshan's condition, Xu Qian began to investigate the City Lord's Mansion.
Suddenly, the pungent smell of fresh blood, as if poured directly into her nostrils, created a strong impact on her five senses, causing her to frown slightly.
Blood… a strong smell of blood.
Within a five-hundred-meter radius of the City Lord's Mansion, there were numerous corpses.