Volume 2, Chapter 12: Village of the Transmigrator
Ten thousand years is a very long time for memories to keep their shape. In the higher dimensions of the Phoenix God Star, those thousands of years felt like a calm, lazy afternoon spent watching clouds drift slowly across the sky. But down on the actual soil of the Douluo Federation, ten thousand years had completely transformed the world. The old days of small kingdoms constantly fighting each other were long gone. The continent had become one big, connected nation filled with spirit tools, fast Phoenix-Rail trains, glowing Baybayin script, and a level of peace that most people from the old era could never have imagined.
•••••••••
Lakan sat on the edge of a beautiful fountain in his private garden inside the Divine Realm. The water sparkled with soft rainbow colors under the artificial suns. He wasn't admiring the flowers or the peaceful scenery around him. His eyes were locked onto a small, faint ripple he could sense in the lower world. To any other god, it would have looked like normal background noise. To Lakan, it looked like a dirty smudge on an otherwise clean window.
"You're staring again," a soft voice said from the shadows of a nearby pillar.
Zhu Zhuqing stepped into the light. She looked almost exactly the same as she had ten thousand years ago, but her eyes held the deep, endless darkness of the Night itself. She was the Goddess of the Night and the Matriarch of the Hall of Shadow.
"Something feels itchy, Qing'er," Lakan said, rubbing his thumb against his palm. It was a small nervous habit he had never quite shaken off from his mortal days. "The Universe's Will is playing a shell game again. It just dropped a new pebble into the pond, and I really don't like the sound it made."
"You want me to go down there myself?" she asked.
Lakan shook his head. "No. The rules are there for a reason. If we start stepping on the grass too much, the whole garden might fall apart. But your Shadows… they're still active down there, right?"
Zhu Zhuqing nodded. "The Shadows never sleep. They've been watching the Sun-Moon border and the outer regions since the big treaty was signed. You want them to look for a needle in a haystack?"
"Look for a glitch," Lakan corrected. "Look for someone who doesn't quite fit. Someone who speaks the language but has the wrong accent. Someone who knows things they really shouldn't know."
••••••••
Ten thousand years ago, the Martial Soul Hall was just one powerful sect among many. Now, it had become the very skeleton that held the entire Federation together. It had grown and evolved into four Great Halls that managed almost every part of life in the new world.
If a rogue master caused trouble, the Hall of Execution would send strong enforcers with special cuffs to deal with them. If someone was sick or their martial soul was unstable, the Hall of Radiance would help heal and stabilize them. If you wanted to learn the ancient Baybayin script to strengthen your spirit tools or spirit pads, you went to the Hall of the Phoenix — Lakan's personal hall.
Inside the Hall of the Phoenix was a special branch called the Body Hall. This was the place for people born with rare Body Martial Souls. Lakan had personally helped create and support this hall, bringing in training methods adapted from the old Body Sect. Here, these warriors focused on strengthening their physical bodies to extreme levels. The grown cat-woman Miao'er from 10,000 years ago was a powerful and respected fighter, its rising stars and symbols of what Body Hall could achieve.
And if you were a hidden secret that needed to be found, the Hall of Shadow would track you down without fail.
•••••••••
In a small, dusty village on the outskirts of the Star Loulan region, a six-year-old boy named Chen Feng suddenly woke up. His head felt like someone had used it as a target for a sledgehammer. He sat up on the hard dirt floor of a rundown shack, his small, dirty hands shaking as he touched the ground.
Wait… this isn't the street. Where's the truck?
Then the "download" hit him like a violent shove. It wasn't gentle. He suddenly saw the entire history of this Douluo World — ten thousand years after the Great Unification. He remembered all the stories he had read in his previous life: Tang San, Huo Yuhao, Tang Wulin, the plots, the secret treasures, and the destined paths.
"System?" he whispered, his young voice cracking.
[Welcome, Host. System 001 is now online.]
[Current Location: Douluo Continent. Timeline: 10,000 years after the Great Unification.]
Chen Feng frowned deeply. Ten thousand years? So this is way after Douluo Dalu 2. The Sun-Moon Continent should have already clashed with us. He crawled to the door and looked outside. A sleek Phoenix-Rail train screamed past in the distance, a blur of silver and gold light. He saw a tall, elegant pagoda with glowing Baybayin script on its walls — a local Awakening Branch of the Martial Soul Hall.
"Wait a minute," Chen Feng muttered, his brow furrowed. "Martial Soul Hall? Tang San was supposed to have destroyed them. They shouldn't exist anymore. And what the hell is a 'Federation'? That was supposed to happen much later!"
He walked to a puddle and looked at his reflection. He looked like a normal village kid, but his eyes carried the tired, cynical exhaustion of someone who had already lived a full adult life on Earth.
"System, give me the status of the world," he commanded.
[Error: Major Historical Difference Detected.]
[The Tang Sect does not exist. Sovereign Lakan has unified the continents.]
[The Sun-Moon Empire was defeated 9,000 years ago.]
Chen Feng sat back on his heels, his heart racing. Who the hell is this Lakan? This isn't the book I read. This is some fanfiction world, and I'm stuck inside it as a side character.
[New Quest: Survival of the Fittest.]
[Goal: Exploit the local Awakening Ritual to gain a strong Martial Soul, preferably Twin Martial Souls.]
[Reward: Beginner's Gift Pack.]
"Fine," Chen Feng spat, wiping dirt from his face. "If the story is broken, I'll just break it even more. If this Lakan guy thinks he's the main character now, he's about to meet someone who actually read the original Plot."
••••••••
Miles away, near the capital of the Star Luo province, another boy was walking through the woods. His name was Huo Yuhao.
His life had been full of hardship and pain. He was the son of the White Tiger Duke, a descendant of the legendary Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun (sister to the Goddess Zhu Zhuqing). But because his mother, Huo Yun'er, was only a maid, they lived in a small shack behind the kitchen. He had spent his childhood watching his mother slowly wither away under constant abuse from the Duke's wife.
When she finally died, Huo Yuhao didn't cry. He just felt a cold, hollow space in his chest. He left the mansion with nothing but a rusted knife and a heart full of broken glass.
He sat by a stream, washing the mud from his face. "Mother," he whispered. "I'll make them regret everything. I'll make the whole Duke's Mansion bow before me one day."
Suddenly, the air around the stream became completely still. The birds stopped singing. Even the insects froze. Time itself seemed to pause.
Huo Yuhao looked up. A man was standing there. He wasn't flying and didn't have wings. He was just… there. He wore a simple tunic that showed off his strong, manly build and had a confident smirk that looked like it had seen every joke the universe had to offer.
Lakan looked down at the boy. He felt a small pang of guilt. In another timeline, this kid would have met a special ice silkworm and become a legend. But because Lakan's wife Shui Bing'er had already taken the silkworm as her soul spirit, Huo Yuhao was just a boy with a rusted knife and an unawakened Spirit Eye.
To be honest, after taking Zhu Zhuqing from Dai Mubai, Lakan once thought that Huo Yuhao wouldn't even be born. But after becoming a God, he had foreseen the boy's birth. Not as a descendant of Dai Mubai (who was already dead), but as a descendant of Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun.
"You look like you're having a really bad day, kid," Lakan said gently, sitting down on a nearby rock.
Huo Yuhao gripped his knife tightly. "Who are you? Did the Duke send you?"
Lakan laughed lightly and waved his hand. "No, those guys are boring. My name is Lakan. You've probably heard of me." He ran his fingers through his hair in a dramatic, slightly narcissistic way. "I'm the most awesome and powerful guy — and God — around. But right now, I'm just someone who thinks the world owes you a refund."
Huo Yuhao's eyes went wide with shock. Of course he knew the name. Lakan was the Sovereign, the Phoenix, the hero who united the continent, brought peace to the land, and led the Golden Age where many soul masters became gods one after another.
Lakan reached out. He didn't use a flashy divine beam. He had something better. He simply tapped the air. Using his Recursive Simulation, he had spent the last hour preparing a special tool. It wasn't part of the Universe's Will. It was a 6D construct made from his own power — a counter-measure.
"I can't give you your mother back," Lakan said, his voice turning serious. "And I can't make the Duke a better person. But I can give you a real way to settle the score. You want to see the world for what it really is?"
He pressed his finger gently to Huo Yuhao's forehead.
[Sovereign Counter-Measure Initiated.]
[Host: Huo Yuhao. Soul Spirit: Spirit Eye (Primary).]
[Installing: The All-Seeing Library.]
Huo Yuhao's eyes flared with deep violet light. He felt his brain expand. His vision stretched until he could see the individual atoms in the water. More than that, he felt a calm, ancient presence appear in his mind.
"What… what is this?" Huo Yuhao gasped, falling to his knees.
"It's a gift," Lakan said. "It'll help you find the things the System tries to hide. And don't worry about being lonely. I've invited an old man to stay in your head. He's a bit of a grouch, but he knows a lot about life and death. He will guide you throughout your journey."
Deep within Huo Yuhao's soul, a grey mist began to swirl. A voice, ancient and filled with strange melancholy pride, echoed out.
"Where am I?" the voice asked. "A child? Is this my reincarnation?"
"His name's Electrolux," Lakan whispered, standing up. "He's from a different world, just like me. You two should get along fine. He likes people with a bit of fire in their hearts."
Lakan began to fade into the air. "Good luck, kid. Don't let the system user win. Cheaters are usually pretty annoying."
With a snap of his fingers, Lakan disappeared, and the forest returned to normal.
Huo Yuhao sat there, completely dumbfounded, wondering if everything he had just experienced was real or just a dream.
Zhu Zhuqing's followers, the Shadows, were already moving. In the Hall of Shadow, a high-ranking assassin named Lin was looking at a report on his spirit pad.
He had received direct orders from the Ancestress herself.
Find the boy in the village of Loulan. Observe. Do not touch. Report every word.
Lin moved through the shadows of the village like a ghost. He watched Chen Feng talking to himself. He saw the boy waving at empty air as if there was a screen only he could see.
"Target is behaving erratically," Lin whispered into his communication device. "He's looking for 'The Tang Sect.' He seems confused that the Martial Soul Hall is still standing. He keeps mentioning 'The Script.' Permission to continue surveillance?"
•••••••
Back in the Divine Realm, Lakan heard the report through Zhu Zhuqing.
"A reader, huh?" Lakan leaned back, his eyes narrowing with interest. "So he thinks he knows how this story ends because he read the books. He doesn't realize the author already changed the story a long time ago."
Lakan looked at the faint violet-black energy still humming in his palm — the power of Hollow Genesis.
"Qing'er," Lakan said, his voice cool and steady. "Tell your people to keep watching closely. I want to see how this 'System' handles a world that doesn't want to be saved by a hero from a book."
But deep down, Lakan felt a thrill he hadn't felt in a long time. It was the feeling of a new game starting. A game where he wasn't just the player — he was the one who owned the board.
"Let's see if your cheat code can handle my command console, Chen Feng," Lakan whispered toward the stars with a confident smile.
The game is on.
End of Volume 2, Chapter 12