Douluo: Legend of the Holy Land

Chapter 3 Is this the Holy Land or the Underworld?

"Ding, host, you have opened the newbie gift pack. Congratulations on obtaining 1 chance to draw a martial soul, 666 diamonds, one copy of 'Advanced Meditation Technique', and one purple-level summon card."

"Advanced Meditation Techniques!"

Without much thought, Xiao Yu took the meditation manual and began to read it.

"This meditation method is based on the microcosm and combined with the soul power cultivation of Douluo Continent."

As Xiao Yu was looking through it, the system was also explaining it to him.

"Excellent, excellent!"

Xiao Yu glanced through it and nodded in satisfaction: "With this meditation method, my cultivation speed will be many times faster than my current daily running speed."

Carefully putting away the meditation technique, Xiao Yu steadied himself, took a deep breath, and then issued the command: "System, prepare to extract the Martial Soul."

"Ding, randomly selecting a martial soul for the host."

The system's voice rang in Xiao Yu's mind again. Xiao Yu felt a flash of golden light before his eyes, and a circular turntable suddenly appeared. The pointer spun rapidly and finally stopped slowly in a gray area.

In an instant, a humanoid figure dressed in black armor and holding a long sword slowly appeared. His long, jet-black hair stretched vertically to his waist, his eyes were pale green, and his whole body exuded an aura of death.

"Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained the Netherworld Apostle Martial Soul."

Xiao Yu was speechless upon hearing this: "What apostle of the underworld? Isn't that Hades, the god of the underworld?"

Having years of experience with Saint Seiya anime on Earth, how could Xiao Yu not recognize this biggest boss in the SS storyline?

"wrong!"

The system stated decisively, "With your current body, it is absolutely impossible for you to withstand 100% of Hades' power. This martial soul is at most a projection of Hades. However, if you can reach level 100 in the future, the Underworld Apostle Martial Soul may indeed be able to advance to become Hades."

Xiao Yu immediately understood: "A weakened version, right? It can still be upgraded!"

"Yes."

"Let's use up the remaining purple-level character summon cards."

"Ding, the purple-level character selection is complete. Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Hades Warrior Earth Demon Star Mu, with the Martial Soul Demon Butterfly, innate soul power level 7, and current soul power level 72."

"Good heavens, is this a Saint Realm System or a Nether Realm System?!"

Xiao Yu was speechless. His martial soul was a projection of Hades, the god of the underworld, and his number one fighter was also a prominent member of the Specters. Normally, shouldn't he get one of the five main characters in his first draw? This was always his strategy when playing games.

However, although things didn't go as expected, Mu himself was a powerful figure, definitely one of the top Specters on Earth. Through his strange telekinesis and the Underworld Butterflies, he once put Aries Gold Saint Mu in a difficult battle.

In the early stages of the Douyi world, a level 72 soul power is considered a decent bodyguard. As long as you don't go to powerful cities like Wuhun City or Tiandou City, you're basically safe.

Shrek Academy clearly offended the higher-ups of the Barak Kingdom when it was in Soto City, yet it was still able to enroll students normally and charge such high application and tuition fees. Isn't that just because Soul Saints like Flander and Zhao Wuji were in charge? And Canghui Academy, an advanced Soul Master Academy, only has one Soul Saint, Dean Shi Nian.

"Mous greets His Majesty!"

Just as Xiao Yu was pondering to himself, Miao, dressed in a long robe of dark green and black, with his jet-black hair styled like an afro, appeared in front of Xiao Yu and knelt on one knee to respectfully bow to him.

. . . . . . . . . .

Time flies, and years pass quickly.

In the blink of an eye, another half a year has passed.

During this period, with the "Advanced Meditation Method" as a guide, Xiao Yu no longer relied solely on running to improve himself as he had in the past. Of course, necessary physical training could not be stopped, but Xiao Yu spent more time and energy circulating his own spiritual power to condense his microcosm.

As for Miao, in order not to attract too much attention, Xiao Yu ordered him to hide and protect him secretly, only appearing occasionally when Xiao Yu encountered problems in his cultivation.

"call!"

After a day of training, Xiao Yu slowly exhaled.

Just then, a system notification suddenly rang in the depths of Xiao Yu's mind: "Ding, it has been detected that the host has reached the age for martial soul awakening. The martial soul will automatically awaken within the next three days."

"It seems it's time to leave."

Upon hearing the notification tone, Xiao Yu slowly opened his eyes. As expected, the age for awakening one's martial soul was just as he had anticipated; it didn't necessarily have to be six years old.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. Although those remote villages have Spirit Hall Spirit Masters who can help with awakening for free, the Spirit Awakening Ceremony is only held once a year. If a child happens to be one or two months before turning six, they can't be made to wait another year until they are almost seven years old before awakening their Spirit.

"Mwah!"

Xiao Yu called out softly, and before he could finish speaking, Miao had already quietly appeared in front of him and whispered, "What are your orders, Young Master?"

The title "Young Master" was a name Xiao Yu specifically asked Miao to change. Firstly, it was illogical for a Soul Saint of over seventy levels to address a five or six-year-old child as "Master," so "Young Master" was more reasonable and wouldn't arouse suspicion. Secondly, it was a little scheme by Xiao Yu. Normal people would assume Xiao Yu was the Young Master, meaning Miao's true master must be Xiao Yu's father. To command a Soul Saint-level guard for his child, Xiao Yu's father, even if not a Title Douluo, must be a high-level Soul Douluo. This gave Xiao Yu the perfect opportunity to use Miao's connections and influence.

"My martial spirit is about to awaken. If I stay here and the people in the orphanage discover that my martial spirit has awakened automatically, it will cause a huge uproar and I'm afraid it will attract unnecessary trouble."

The automatic awakening of a martial soul is big news in any power. Xiao Yu, currently still developing his power, only wants to quietly build up his strength and doesn't want to expose himself to the world so early. Especially since his martial soul isn't some useless one. The Spirit Hall, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, the Heaven Dou Empire, and the Star Luo Empire—if any of these top powers and empires on the continent takes an interest in him, it will be difficult for Miao, a mere Soul Saint, to protect him: "There's no time to lose. Take me away from here tonight."

"Yes, sir!"

Miao was also a smart man, and he instantly understood Xiao Yu's concerns. A few flashes of black light appeared, and Xiao Yu and Miao disappeared from the spot.

The next day, the orphanage caregivers discovered Xiao Yu's disappearance. However, a child who had not even awakened his martial spirit did not attract much attention. Several caregivers searched for several days without success and then gave up.

(End of this chapter)