Volume 2, Chapter 13: Failed God Level Awakening, Meeting Ma Xiaotao, and History's Biggest Misunderstanding
The morning air in the Loulan region didn't smell like destiny or great adventure. It smelled like damp earth after rain and the faint metallic scent from the nearby resonance tracks. Chen Feng stood in a long line with sixty other six-year-old children. Everyone was waiting quietly for their turn to touch the Awakening Stone.
He felt a bead of sweat roll slowly down his spine. It was a small, annoying feeling, but it reminded him that right now he was just a fragile little kid in a world that no longer followed the rules he remembered from the books.
Alright, System, he thought, staring at the tall white pagoda of the local Martial Soul Branch. This is it. You said you could take control of the ritual. I want the classic starter pack — Blue Silver Grass and Clear Sky Hammer. Twin Martial Souls. Let's do this.
[Processing…]
[Target: Awakening Ritual (Lakan-Variant).]
[Strategy: Injecting Outside Knowledge to override how things work here. Estimated Success: 99%.]
Chen Feng smirked to himself. He had read all the books. He knew exactly how this moment was supposed to go. The Awakening was just a burst of energy that woke up the soul. If the System could hijack that moment, it could force his body to create whatever martial souls he wanted. He just had to wait for his turn.
But as he watched the children ahead of him, he noticed something strange. The priest wasn't just pouring power into them. He was carefully tracing glowing symbols in the air — the ancient Baybayin characters.
"ᜊ… ᜎ… ᜑ…" the priest muttered quietly.
Every time a child touched the stone, the symbols lit up. They didn't suddenly get a spirit ring from nowhere. Instead, a small, crystalline seed would float out from the pagoda's resonance chamber and gently merge with the child's chest. It looked clean and orderly, like a proper transaction.
"Next! Chen Feng!" the priest called.
Chen Feng stepped forward, his heart beating fast. He reached out and placed his small hand on the cold surface of the Awakening Stone.
Suddenly, his vision went completely white. But it wasn't the powerful awakening he had hoped for. It felt like a loud, painful scream inside his brain.
[Error! Error!]
[Outside Knowledge Mismatch Detected.]
[Local Script "ᜊ" (Ba) is acting as an Encryption Layer. Foreign influence cannot bypass the Sovereign's Protection Barrier.]
"Wait, what?" Chen Feng gasped, his hand stuck to the stone.
Inside his head, the System was desperately trying to rewrite the ritual. But the Baybayin symbols weren't just pretty decorations. They were part of the rules of this world. They saw the System's attempt as something dangerous and blocked it completely.
The Awakening Stone began to vibrate. It didn't explode, but it let out a low, angry hum that made Chen Feng's teeth ache.
"Is there a problem, child?" the priest asked, his eyes narrowing.
[Emergency Protocol: Forcing Secondary Soul.]
[System failed to create Clear Sky Hammer.]
[Result: Common Hoe.]
[Result: Wilted Grass.]
The light faded. Chen Feng stared at his hands in disbelief. In his left hand was a rusted, crooked iron hoe. In his right was a single brownish blade of grass that looked half-dead.
"Twin Martial Souls!" the priest announced, sounding surprised. "But… they have almost zero soul power? That shouldn't be possible. The resonance should have given you at least Level 1."
Chen Feng felt like someone had slapped him across the face. He had all the knowledge from five books and a powerful Cheat System, and he had just awakened as a farmer with a broken tool and dying grass?! What the hell was this?!
System, explain this right now!
[Warning: The world's rules have been heavily changed by an external Sovereign. Killing low-level lifeforms for quick gains is currently disabled. Soul power must be earned through the Federation's proper education system.]
Chen Feng stared at the rusted hoe in his hand. He wanted to scream. He couldn't even level up by killing monsters? He had to go to school like a normal kid? This was not the easy transmigration story he had been promised.
Hundreds of miles away, on a quiet dirt path winding through the misty forests of the Star Luo province, another boy was walking. His name was Huo Yuhao.
He wasn't running anymore. His movements were steady, almost rhythmic. He was hungry and his feet were blistered, but the Presence in his head kept him moving forward.
"You're thinking too much, boy," a dry, raspy voice echoed in his mind. "Your blood pressure is rising. It's distracting."
"I was just wondering about the gift Lakan gave me," Yuhao replied silently. "He called it the All-Seeing Library. But I don't see any books."
"That's because you are the book," the voice said.
A grey mist swirled in front of Yuhao's eyes, and the figure of an old man in grey robes appeared — only Yuhao could see him. This was Electrolux.
"The Phoenix Lakan didn't give you a System like that other brat," Electrolux explained, stroking his translucent beard. "He didn't want you to take the easy way. He gave you a Counter-Measure. It's a library of Truth. While others see levels and stats, you see the friction. You see the flaws in how their energy flows. You see where their spirit is cracked."
Yuhao stopped by a tree. "And what about you, Elder? You said you're from another world?"
Electrolux sighed. It was a long, weary sound. "I was a King of the Dead in a realm called the Holy Necropolis. I was a man of great light who fell into the deepest shadow. My name was once feared by millions. But here? I'm just a guest in your soul, watching a new story unfold."
"Why did Lakan put you with me?" Yuhao asked.
"Because you have a hole in your heart, boy. Just like I did. You want to settle a score, but you don't want to lose yourself to the darkness. I'm here to make sure you don't repeat my mistakes. Now, keep walking. There's someone ahead."
Yuhao rounded a bend in the road and saw a girl standing by a broken-down spirit carriage.
She looked about his age, maybe a year older. She had short, fiery red hair and wore the uniform of a mid-level academy. She was currently kicking the wheel of the carriage with a frustrated growl.
"Stupid… outdated… resonance-axle!" she shouted.
Yuhao blinked. His All-Seeing Library flickered. In his vision, the carriage didn't look like simple wood and metal. He saw the energy flow. He saw a tiny, jagged "Ba" (ᜊ) marking on the axle that had been scratched, causing the energy to leak out.
"It's the markings," Yuhao said, his voice quiet.
The girl spun around. Her eyes were a bright, piercing orange. "Who are you? A beggar?"
"I'm just a traveler," Yuhao said, stepping closer. "But your stabilization markings are damaged. If you don't fix the stroke on the left side, the energy will keep bunching up and the wheel won't turn."
The girl looked at the axle, then back at Yuhao. She pulled out a small spirit-pen and traced the correction. The carriage hummed to life instantly, the wheels glowing with a steady gold light.
"Wow," she said, her attitude shifting instantly. "You've got a good eye for a kid in rags. My name is Ma Xiaotao. My ancestor was a friend of the Ancient Phoenix Ancestor. His name is Ma Hongjun. Ever heard of him?"
Yuhao shook his head. "I don't know much about the old stories."
"He was the Phoenix of the Shrek Seven Devils," she said, puffing out her chest. "Well, before the Devils were folded into the Hall of the Phoenix. My family's been part of the Federation's elite for generations. Where are you headed?"
"The Anito Academy," Yuhao said.
Ma Xiaotao grinned. It was a bright, energetic look. "Me too! I'm heading back for the new semester. My carriage is fixed, so why don't you hop in? It beats walking through the Star Luo forest alone. There are rogue spirit beasts out here that don't like humans much."
"I don't have any money for the fare," Yuhao admitted.
"Forget the money," she laughed. "You fixed my ride. Consider it a trade."
As Yuhao climbed into the carriage, Electrolux chuckled in his head. "A descendant of the Flame Phoenix. How interesting. Her internal energy is a mess, Yuhao. She has too much fire and not enough cooling. If she keeps going like this, she'll burn her own meridians by the time she's twenty."
Can we help her? Yuhao thought.
"In time," Electrolux replied. "But first, let's see how she reacts when she realizes you can see every secret she's hiding."
Back on the Phoenix God Star, Lakan was relaxing in one of his favorite gardens. He sat on a comfortable stone bench, sipping a cold drink while watching the lower world through a large floating mirror. He saw Chen Feng staring miserably at his rusted hoe and wilted grass. He saw Yuhao sitting in a carriage with a direct descendant of Ma Hongjun.
Lakan took another sip, feeling relaxed for the first time in days.
Then something on the mirror caught his attention.
Huo Yuhao had just met the girl with short fiery red hair. She was kicking a broken spirit carriage and complaining loudly. Her name was Ma Xiaotao — a descendant of Ma Hongjun.
Lakan was casually drinking when he heard her say:
"My ancestor was a friend of the Ancient Phoenix Ancestor. His name is Ma Hongjun."
PFFFFFT—!
Lakan spat out his drink in a dramatic spray. He immediately started coughing hard, his eyes watering.
"Cough! Cough! Cough! What the—?!"
He wiped his mouth, staring at the mirror in complete disbelief. "Friend?! Ma Hongjun?! That fat chicken who kept trying to burn everything down?!"
Lakan leaned forward, his expression a mix of shock and amusement. He activated his Eyes of the Origin God — his powerful 6D Omniscient Gaze. His vision pierced through time and space, looking directly into the past of the Douluo Planet.
He saw the truth.
After the final war with Tang San, Lakan had spared most of the Shrek members. Ma Hongjun and his wife had been allowed to ascend. In the past, Ma Hongjun had to deal with the side effects of his Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul. He had many children with different women during that time. Those children grew up hearing stories from their mothers about how the Sovereign Lakan had spared their father. Over time, those stories twisted. The later generations started believing that Lakan and Ma Hongjun must have been secret friends because both had Phoenix-type martial souls. That belief spread and became "truth" to them.
Lakan leaned back, still coughing a little, but now laughing.
"History's biggest misunderstanding…" he muttered, shaking his head. "They turned the guy who once tried to roast me into my best buddy. This world is hilarious."
He took another sip of his drink, still chuckling. "Well, let's see how this plays out. Poor Yuhao is about to walk into a family that thinks I'm their ancestor's drinking buddy."
Lakan's eyes sparkled with amusement as he continued watching the lower realm.
The game was getting more interesting by the day.
He leaned back, popping a piece of dried mango into his mouth. His gaze return to Chen Feng.
"You see that, Qing'er?" Lakan asked.
Zhu Zhuqing appeared beside him, her silhouette merging with the soft glow of the garden. "The Transmigrator is struggling. His System is trying to force a reality that no longer exists."
"Yeah," Lakan chuckled. "He thinks he's the hero of a story that ended ten thousand years ago. He's trying to use 3D cheats in a world where.y influence is the strongest. It's like trying to play a high-end video game on a calculator."
Yes, the moment Chen Feng's system activated to hack on the Baybayin system, Lakan sensed it and he just denied it.
"And the boy, Yuhao?" she asked.
"He's doing just fine," Lakan said. "He's got the Library. He's got the Old Man. And he's got a bit of that human grit that the System can't simulate. But keep an eye on Chen Feng. When a guy like that realizes he can't win by the rules, he usually starts trying to break the board."
"Yes, the Girl who is the descendant of you Dear Friend" Zhu Zhuqing look at Lakan smiling teasingly at him.
Lakan cough once and then ignored her.
Lakan then looked down at his own hands. He remembered his first day in this world, the confusion, the fear, the feeling of being an outsider, especially when he lost his parents at such a young age of three. If he didnt have his previous life memory, a 3 yrs old would not survive a single day in a forest full of soul beasts. He felt a small pang of sympathy for Chen Feng, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of duty.
"The Universe Will wants a puppet," Lakan whispered. "But I've already turned this world into a symphony. I'm not letting some kid with a Cheat ruin the music."
He stood up, his purple robes fluttering. "Let's see what happens when the Hero tries to buy his first soul spirit. I have a feeling the prices at the Lakan Academy are going to be a bit higher than he expects."
End of Volume 2, Chapter 13