"Did you kill that beast?"
Xie Wuqing turned to face the group of four Soul Masters standing at the cave's entrance. His heart sank. The thing he had hoped to avoid had finally arrived.
Scouting the cave, battling the Land Octopus, undergoing physical enhancement, and then absorbing its spirit ring—it had all taken time. Time enough for the group he'd overheard earlier to recover and follow him here.
'So they came earlier than expected… troublesome.'
The leader stepped forward, rubbing his face in irritation, his companions fanning out to block any path of escape. His sharp gaze fell on the black-haired youth. "A rank 20 Spirit Master. How did you kill this thing?"
Now that the spirit ring pulsed within him, his aura could no longer be hidden.
Xie Wuqing tilted his head, voice calm. "I guess it was too weak."
"Too weak?" The leader barked out a laugh. "I am a Spirit Grandmaster, and they are all Spirit Masters. The only reason we dared challenge that thing was with paid information." His eyes narrowed. "And you claim it was too weak?"
Xie Wuqing placed a hand on his chin as though pondering. Then his eyes gleamed with mock realization. "Then that means…" He leaned forward, lips curling into a smirk. "You four are simply too weak."
"You—!" The leader's face flushed crimson. "Hand over the Spirit Fruits, brat, and we'll let you crawl away. Otherwise, don't blame us for spreading the word you're an evil soul master."
At that word, "evil," Xie Wuqing's gaze flickered to the shrivelled corpse of the Land Octopus. He understood. Its drained husk was evidence enough for those who wanted an excuse.
Another mercenary snarled and summoned his martial soul, a gleaming longsword. One by one, the rest followed suit, blades flashing in the dim cave light. Each bore a single yellow ring.
The leader snapped his wrist, a sword manifesting in his palm. Two yellow spirit rings floated at his feet. "We are the Silver Wing Mercenaries! Put those fruits down, or we'll cut you down!"
"Cut me down?" Xie Wuqing showed no fear. "We have no grudge, nor any enmity. Do some spirit fruit warrants such a strong response?"
The Spirit Grandmaster looked at the boy and smirked. "Looks like you are still a naive kid who still reeks of his mother's milk." His words made the others laugh. "No enmity? Kid, this is a dog, it's a dog world; too bad you will die right after learning this lesson."
Xie Wuqing knew this world was a dog-eat-dog world. He also knew that these soul masters would fight him over the spirit fruits. So why did he say those words?
'Maybe it is my naivety.' If he started to cut down people at first sight of conflict, he would be no better than a bloodthirsty warmonger. There were fights everywhere in this world, but did all these fights lead to killing? They did not.
Yet here these guys were, their killing intent locked on to him from all directions.
"Then come." Xie Wuqing raised his right hand, and Deathscythe appeared in his grasp. And then, to the horror of these soul masters, a spectral figure rose from the shadows, towering over them all. "I shall teach you how to respect life."
The atmosphere in the cave suddenly became oppressive. And it was at this moment, the soul masters knew...
"Ahhhh!"
Was it out of fright? A mercenary lunged with a sweeping slash. Metal screeched as Xie Wuqing's scythe hooked his blade aside, the crescent edge biting into the man's wrist before dragging upward. Blood sprayed as the mercenary screamed, stumbling back.
"Fuck!" The leader of these mercenaries screamed. "Charge together. He is only a Spirit Master."
Hearing those words, another mercenary rushed in, blade stabbing for Xie Wuqing's ribs.
The black-haired boy pivoted, scythe whirling in a deadly arc. The curved edge caught the sword mid-thrust, redirecting it harmlessly before the shaft smashed into the man's jaw with a crack. He collapsed.
The remaining two pressed him together, swords flashing in precise, trained strikes. Sparks lit the cave as steel clashed again and again. But Xie Wuqing flowed like water, the long handle of his scythe granting leverage and reach they couldn't match. Each deflection was followed by a punishing counter—cuts blooming crimson across arms and thighs.
"Tch!" The leader finally moved, his spirit rings flaring. His second ring lit up. Power surged into his blade, doubling its speed as he dashed forward, followed by his first spirit ring. "Die, brat! Silver Wing Slash!"
The blow was fast—fast enough that for the first time, Xie Wuqing's scythe shuddered under the impact, his arms straining. The mercenary leader's face twisted in a victorious grin.
But the boy's lips only curved darker.
"An offensive spirit skill and another that boosts speed?" It was a good combination, Xie Wuqing had to agree. "Then let me show you my new spirit skill as well."
The yellow ring around his body pulsed. Darkness bled from the ground in every direction, swallowing the cave in a 25-meter radius.
The mercenaries froze. Ten shadowy hands burst from the earth, cold and unyielding, wrapping around wrists, ankles, throats. The Silver Wings thrashed, but their bodies were pinned, swords clattering uselessly as a crushing gravity dragged them deeper into the black mire.
"What...what is this?!" The leader's voice cracked. Spirit energy sputtered under the suffocating pressure, his limbs trembling as the oppressive aura smothered him.
Xie Wuqing stepped forward, scythe balanced casually on his shoulder. His silhouette blurred against the ocean of darkness. "Touch of Darkness."
Their screams echoed in the cavern as the shadowed hands dragged them down. Xie Wuqing's scythe fell in ruthless arcs, each strike precise, each slash final. One by one, their cries were cut short, the silence broken only by the wet sound of blades through flesh.
When the darkness finally receded, only Xie Wuqing and the leader of these mercenaries remained standing amidst the corpses. His scythe dripped crimson, his face calm, almost indifferent.
Touch of Darkness - the skill created an area (25-meter radius) around him where hands made of darkness rose from the ground and bound the opponents. Due to the inherent nature of the darkness attribute, those trapped inside felt as if they were being devoured alive, making their movement, as well as their spirit energy circulation, sluggish.
It was a control-type skill whose effect would increase by 100% with every spirit ring he added.
The boy walked over to the leader, who was kneeling on the ground, trapped in the darkness, trembling in fear.
"P-Please...we have no enmity. Please don't kill me."
"Who started this?" Xie Wuqing looked down at him.
The soul master trembled. "I was wrong...please." He begged.
"Now do you respect life?" He sat down, looking the trembling man in the eyes. The spectral figure leaned down, its green eyes looking into the man's soul, and the soul master knew...
Death was here.
With a swipe of his scythe, Xie Wuqing beheaded the man.
Looking around, he found himself surrounded by corpses. "Silver Wing Mercenaries, was it? Too weak indeed."
And once again, the moment the battle was over, the Soul Reaper started draining energy from the corpses, transferring only the purest of its kind into Xie Wuqing. His physical strength increased a little once more.
"Time to loot." He did not forget the most essential thing and went around searching through the corpses. In the end, he only found a few gold coins on the Spirit Master's corpses, but the ring on the Spirit Grandmaster's right hand made him smile ear to ear. "A storage-type Spirit Guidance Device."
He used his spirit energy to prob the ordinary-looking ring. It was one cubic meter and relatively empty, except for some dried rations, a few hundred gold coins, and a scroll containing information on the Land Octopus, including the time it would start its egg-laying.
Xie Wuqing grabbed one of the spirit fruits and, with a little bit of concentration, learned how to store it in the ring. Once he was done looting everything, he gave the whole cave a look over before walking out.
He had entered this cave, penniless and without any spirit ring. Now he had a couple of hundred gold coins to his name with spirit fruits worth a couple of hundred thousand each. Moreover, his first Spirit Ring had come from a spirit beast with 970 years of cultivation, breaking the 'optimal limit' theorized by Yu Xiaogang.
But instead of announcing this feat to everyone like a naive child, Xie Wuqing silently left the forest and, after buying a horse of good breed, started travelling south.
'I should pay him a visit before going to my next destination.'
-
Soul masters were generally respected throughout the Douluo continent. Every human aspired to be a soul master, but very few achieved success.
Especially those who came from small villages that surround major cities.
So, when the news spread that Holy Spirit Village had produced two soul masters, Village Chief Jack's prestige increased among the other chiefs of the nearby villages.
With a smile that had not left his face for the last five years, old man Jack did his daily rounds across the village, meeting the families that lived here, making sure everything was working perfectly.
Since he had no family of his own, he considered everyone in this village as his own; even the villagers respected him and made sure he did not have to do any physical labour in his old age.
As he walked through the unpaved road of Holy Spirit Village, he saw someone riding a black horse towards him. At first, he was confused, but soon his eyes widened in surprise, and his lips curved into a large smile.
"WUQING!" He excitedly walked forward and, when the boy got off the horse, hugged him tightly. "You have not been back for two years."
"I missed you, too." Xie Wuqing hugged the old man, someone he considered part of his family. "I was very close to a breakthrough, so I could not come see you."
Old man Jack's eyes lit up in delight as he asked, "Did you really?"
"I am now a Spirit Master with a spirit ring."
"Heavens! Hahahaha." The old man laughed, and seeing the commotion, other villagers came towards them one by one.
When everyone learned he had become a Spirit Master, everyone was happy and congratulated him.
"Can you show us your spirit skill?"
Xie Wuqing turned to the boy who had asked and immediately recognized him. They had both gone through their Martial Soul awakening together, and this boy was the first to go forward and had awakened a Sickle. Too bad he had no innate spirit power.
"Sure." Nodding his head, Xie Wuqing stepped backwards, and the villagers became excited.
But the boy could not reveal his Martial Soul and thus decided to use one of his self-created soul skills. Being ignorant about the ins and outs of soul master, these villagers would not realize anything.
'Hmm?' Suddenly, a frown appeared on Xie Wuqing's face.
"Are you okay?" The old man Jack asked. "If you are tired, go rest. You don't..."
"It was nothing." Xie Wuqing waved his hand and then smiled, the frown on his face disappearing, as if it was never there. "Ready?"
"Yes!"
Immediately after, darkness engulfed them all, and before the villagers could panic, it disappeared.
"W-What was that?"
"Spiritual Illusion." Xie Wuqing explained. "My Spirit Eyes's first ability allows me to put my opponents into an illusion where they cannot see anything but darkness."
"So that's what it was."
"It is so much cooler than Tang San's spirit skill Bind."
"I know, right?"
"But Tang San has two of them."
"So what? Brother Xie can turn you blind and game over."
The children started comparing the spirit skills while the adults just chuckled at their antics.
"Are you going to stay?"
After the villagers asked a few more questions and started to disperse, old man Jack asked.
"No." The boy shook his head and took out a small pouch from his robes. "Keep this. I will be gone for a long time, but this much should be enough to live comfortably."
"This is?" The old man opened the pouch and was stunned. "This is too much!" He immediately shoved the pouch with a hundred gold coins back to the black-haired boy. "How can you just give away so much money?"
For a small villager, even a gold coin was enough to live a decent life, let alone a hundred of them.
"I am young and you are already old." Xie Wuqing pushed the pouch back to the old man. "When I came to this village, I was distraught and had no one in the world. Do you know how much you took care of me? How much did your presence help me come out of my loss?"
The hands of the old man trembled. "I..."
"Shush." The boy silenced the old man. "I will not hear anything. Moreover, isn't it considered good manners to give a part of your first salary to elders?" He pointed at the gold coins. "This is my first official income after becoming a Spirit Master, so don't refuse it. Okay?"
"Alright." The old man let out a deep sigh.
The duo spent the rest of the day talking, where Xie Wuqing told him about everything he had done in the Nuoding Academy over the last two years. After eating the dinner the old man cooked for him, Xie Wuqing knew it was time to leave.
"I am going to visit my father's grave."
"Wasteland of Death?" The old man asked.
"Yes."
Wasteland of Death was an area where human influence was among the least, second only to the great Star Dou Forest.
Xie Wuqing had once lived in a village that bordered that treacherous land. And the spirit beast that had ravaged his village along was also a dengine from the Wasteland of Death.
Knowing he could not stop him from visiting such a dangerous area, the old man just patted his shoulder. "Stay safe."
"And you better get some good meat with that money."
"Hahah, I will!"
Xie Wuqing sat back on his horse, then waved his hand and left the village. The sun had already started to set, but he did not mind. While others found it hard to travel at night, he was fond of it. The darkness made him feel safe.
So, he kept travelling...at least for a couple of kilometres before he tied his horse to a tree in a safe location, letting it sleep a bit more before looking towards the Holy Spirit Village.
Veil of Darkness.
He used the soul skill and started running toward one of the larger hills that surrounded the village. Once there, he looked around and sure enough, he heard it again.
...Help...please...
A cry for help, and it sounded like a woman's voice. Moreover, the voice was transmitted directly to his mind.
"I don't know where you are."
...This...way...
At first, Xie Wuqing was confused, but then he saw the Blue Silver Grass under his feet tilting towards the distant waterfall.
"Oh?" He followed the directions, keeping a careful eye on his footsteps to ensure no tracks were left behind.
He had first heard the plea for help when he was about to show the villagers his 'spirit skill.' But he had ignored it at first, thinking he might have hallucinated, but throughout his stay at the village, the voice kept repeating in his head.
Was someone trying to lure him into a trap? Well, curiosity killed the cat.
But thanks to his strong spiritual strength, he could tell the voice was in pain and was genuinely pleading for help. Was he going to help the other party? That had yet to be decided.
Soon, he reached the foot of the waterfall and then, thanks to the guidance of Blue Silver Grass, found a cave that was very well hidden.
Veil of Darkness erased every single footprint of his as he cautiously entered the cave, ready for a fight. But what he encountered was...a grass?
A Blue Silver Grass, that looked like every other of its kind, yet more...majestic? It had a golden thread running across its body that made it look surreal.
"Umm..." For a second, he was confused. Was a piece of grass asking for his help?
Thank you.
"You're welcome?" He said, baffled. "Is it you who has been asking for my help?"
Yes.
The Blue Silver Grass swayed in the air.
Xie Wuqing frowned. "What do you want?"
Please...take me away. I am dying.
Now that he was right next to it, he could easily make out whatever it was trying to say. But as unbelievable as the circumstances were, Xie Wuqing did not let his guard down.
"Why should I help you? I don't know who you are, nor who put you here. Why should I take a risk on your behalf?"
What was Xie Wuqing's nature? Was he cruel? Was he benevolent? Or was he a calculating person?
If one were to answer that question, the only reasonable answer was...it depends.
He did what he wanted, how he wanted and why he wanted. Nothing could constrain him; no one could force him. If he wanted to be cruel, he would. If he wanted to be benevolent, he would. If he wanted to be a calculating person, he would.
Xie Wuqing was very mature for his age, but he was also very chaotic. Everything about him could make sense for one moment and not the very next.
'Am I a psychopath?' He had once asked himself and had quickly concluded. 'They could never be him.'
And so, the fate of this piece of grass now depended on whether it could provide him with enough benefits that he would take the risk and help it.
The piece of grass in front of him looked extraordinary, and if someone had put it here, maybe they were a party he could not afford to offend.
And just as he had expected, the Blue Silver Grass became silent.
If it wanted his help, there must be some profit for him in all this, or why else would he take an unnecessary risk? Unless he was really in the mood for it, which he wasn't at the moment.
Power.
The piece of grass said. How ironic it was. Blue Silver Grass, considered to be the trashiest of Martial Souls, offers him power. But Xie Wuqing did not judge, nor did he interfere.
If you help me escape, I will give you a spirit bone that is far beyond the reach of even a Titled Douluo.
"Spirit bone?"
Xie Wuqing knew what a spirit bone was and how precious they were. Every soul master, even the famed Titled Douluo, wanted to obtain one and yet could not because they were so rare.
"But wouldn't that just paint a massive target on my back? Moreover, aren't you just a blade of grass? How can you promise me a spirit bone? Do you take me for a fool?"
The Blue Silver Grass seemed to hesitate for a moment before the spirit energy in the cave surged, and a metallic box was dug out of the ground. Slowly, the lid on it was removed, and what Xie Wuqing saw left him stunned.
"Is that..."
A right leg spirit bone of a 100,000-year spirit beast. It is yours if you help me.
"What if I just snatch it away?"
The moment he said those words, the spirit bone started to shine, as if on the verge of detonation. Despite not having seen a 100,000-year spirit beast, Xie Wuqing knew the energy in the spirit bone could easily kill him.
But that raised another question.
"Why not use it to kill whoever trapped you here? And what is the guarantee you won't explode it after I absorb this thing?"
The piece of grass became silent before it asked.
Can I see you, Martial Soul?
"No."
I know it is not Spirit Eyes.
"Oh?" Xie Wuqing frowned.
While my powers are limited, the Blue Silver Grass around this village is under my control. I saw you use it in that little cave of yours, five years ago.
Spirit power surged inside Xie Wuqing as he contemplated whether he should kill this Blue Silver Grass here and now.
Sensing the threat, the piece of grass immediately apologized.
I need to see it, to make my decision.
Xie Wuqing frowned before he sighed and summoned his Martial Soul. The Soul Reaper stood proudly behind him with a giant scythe in its hand. Aura of darkness enveloped the whole cave as it became Xie Wuqing's domain.
So I was correct.
The piece of grass swayed in the air, but its voice was now a bit suffocated under the gaze of the Soul Reaper.
Your Martial Soul... It's the personification of all that is Spiritual, Darkness and Death. Its voice echoed in Xie Wuqing's mind.
Three Ultimate attributes in one body, how can this be possible?