After escorting the old village chief back to his home, Lu Yuan temporarily returned to his own house.
During the martial soul awakening earlier, with so many people around and prying eyes everywhere, he hadn’t had the chance to carefully experience his new power.
Now, he was somewhat eager to take another look at his martial soul.
As for the matter of schooling, the old village chief had already helped Lu Yuan resolve it.
In the past, Dihun Village had at least produced a Spirit King-level powerhouse.
Just like Shenghun Village, Dihun Village also had a work-study student spot at the Notting City Primary Spirit Master Academy.
Arriving in front of a relatively exquisite two-story wooden hut at the village’s head, Lu Yuan carefully surveyed his surroundings.
After confirming no one was watching, he tightly locked the main door.
Inside the house, he found an open space and summoned his martial soul.
“Martial soul possession!”
Imitating the movements Su Yuntao had performed in the Spirit Hall, in an instant, an extremely oppressive figure silently materialized behind Lu Yuan.
Walking over to the table, Lu Yuan picked up the head-sized mirror from home.
This time, he finally got a clear look at the martial soul behind him.
Aside from the color scheme, this figure was practically identical to Kula from Rainbow Sea Star—sharply defined features that resembled those of the elf race.
Behind that rounded head, a strand of hair swayed back and forth.
As for the crow—
Lu Yuan was equally familiar with it.
That was Kula’s beloved beast pet—the Gunpowder Crow!
“My goodness, I’m absolutely amazing!”
“Innate spirit power level twenty, plus this god-level martial soul.
Even if I were a pig…
well, scratch that.
Even if I trained half-heartedly, with this talent alone, I could become a god in the future.”
Lu Yuan studied the martial soul behind him for a while longer, then stretched out his hands and muttered to himself:
“I’ve heard that spirit masters who possess beast martial souls have their physical constitutions enhanced to a certain degree after awakening.
Hehe, I wonder just how much my physical abilities have improved.
Seems like I need to run some tests.”
Acting on his words, Lu Yuan turned and walked to the room where he usually trained.
This room had originally been a storage space, but Lu Yuan had cleared everything out and converted it into a simple training room.
The room wasn’t large, just over twenty square meters, but it was filled with all kinds of training equipment.
There were dumbbells made of stone, barbells fashioned from hardwood and rocks, and even a millstone used for grinding flour.
As for that somewhat out-of-place millstone in this room—Lu Yuan had initially planned to imitate those training fanatics he’d seen on TV, dragging tires for running exercises.
But the Douluo Continent didn’t have those kinds of tires, and coincidentally, Lu Yuan had come across this millstone.
Sometimes, imagination is beautiful, but reality is cruel.
Lu Yuan’s training plan had barely begun before it died in its infancy.
First of all, the Douluo Continent didn’t have ropes that strong.
Ordinary commoners used hemp ropes, which were fine for simple binding and hanging.
But if dragged across the ground, they wouldn’t last long.
In the end, Lu Yuan simply couldn’t pull it.
It had taken every ounce of his strength just to get that millstone into the house—forget about training with it.
Walking up to the millstone, Lu Yuan spread his legs apart, digging his feet firmly into the ground.
He took a deep breath, then bent down, grabbed the bottom of the millstone with both hands, and yanked it upward with all his might.
At the same time, the figure behind Lu Yuan mimicked his movements exactly.
“Up we go!”
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
The moment Lu Yuan finished his chant, the situation turned out somewhat different from what he had expected.
Because he had exerted too much force, his entire body stumbled backward several steps as he lifted the millstone.
“Why doesn’t it feel as heavy as I imagined?” After steadying himself, Lu Yuan hefted the millstone a few times and discovered that the stone he could previously only budge inch by inch was now easily lifted.
Then Lu Yuan gave the millstone a slight toss upward.
Watching that three-hundred-pound millstone being tossed around like a volleyball, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but remark: “It seems beast martial souls really do enhance one’s physical constitution.
And the boost my god-level martial soul gives me should be much greater than what others get.”
Leaving the training room, Lu Yuan returned to his own bedroom and flopped directly onto his bed, replaying the results of his tests in his mind.
“Without martial soul possession, my single-arm strength is already a hundred catties.
With martial soul possession, three to four hundred catties is no problem.”
“Without any spirit rings, my physical strength alone is enough to go head-to-head with a Great Spirit Master under beast martial soul possession.”
“Since my physical constitution has been improved, I can aim higher when it comes to the age limit for my first spirit ring.
I can probably choose something around eight to nine hundred years.
After all, even a two-ring Great Spirit Master’s physical constitution might not necessarily be stronger than mine.”
Putting aside the matter of spirit ring age limits, Lu Yuan once again pondered the information about his martial soul.
“I didn’t expect ‘Kula’ to be this strong even as a martial soul.”
“However, compared to all this, Kula’s strongest ability is still his Rainbow Stone power—’Steel Refining Technique.’
But right now, I don’t have any information about that at all.
I wonder if I’ll gain related memories after attaching spirit rings to my martial soul.”
“And also…
I remember Kula had a ridiculously powerful ability.
I think it was called ‘War Armament.’ Fusing with the Gunpowder Crow—supposedly capable of blowing up half a planet.”
“Tsk tsk, with that kind of power, forget about God Kings—even the Dragon God himself would probably have to kneel if he showed up.”
“Now there are still three months until the Notting City Primary Spirit Master Academy starts.
Within these three months, leaving others with the impression that I broke through from innate level-eight spirit power to level ten shouldn’t be too unreasonable.”
“The only problem is—after cultivating spirit power to the bottleneck, how do I obtain a hunting order?”
According to the original work’s introduction, to enter a soul hunting forest, one must have the Spirit Hall’s approval, as well as the guarantee of three nobles.
Suddenly, Lu Yuan sat bolt upright, his voice filled with excitement: “Oh, right—I can go to the Sunset Forest to obtain my spirit ring!
That place is far less dangerous than the Star Dou Forest, and it doesn’t require a hunting order either.”
But immediately after, as if thinking of something, he collapsed limply back onto the bed, looking utterly lifeless.
“Damn it—I actually forgot!
In the six years I’ve been in the Douluo Continent, I don’t even know what spirit beasts look like, what they’re called, or where they live.
I can’t exactly get a spirit ring with just my mouth!”
Currently, Lu Yuan couldn’t really be called illiterate—after all, he did have some foundational knowledge.
For example: pharmaceutical principles, the growing locations of different medicinal herbs—these were all things his parents had taught him before they passed.
“Sigh!
What a mess!”
Lu Yuan let out a sigh and helplessly closed his eyes.
After resting for a while longer, he patted his cheeks to calm himself down, then stood back up.
“Whatever—I’ll take it one step at a time.
Since I’ve chosen this path, I can’t afford any regrets.”
“Besides, this is already the most suitable path for me right now.”
Taking off his simple training clothes, Lu Yuan washed up briefly and changed into a coarse hemp garment that, though patched, was cleanly washed—the clothes he usually wore when hunting in the nearby woods.
Walking to the front door, he casually grabbed a machete and a simple bow from the wall behind the door, slung the quiver over his back, pushed open the door, and headed toward the distant forest.
“I wonder if any prey will have taken the bait in the traps I set yesterday.”
After leaving the village, Lu Yuan quickened his pace and ran toward the spot in the forest where he had set his traps.
Unlike before, after awakening his martial soul, Lu Yuan had not only gained strength.
His speed, hearing, and dynamic vision had also been enhanced to a certain degree.
The mountain path was rugged and winding, with all kinds of trees growing in tangled clusters.
But as Lu Yuan walked through this forest, it was no different from doing his usual running training in the village—he was completely unbothered by the crisscrossing trees before him.
What used to take half an hour now took only a few minutes.
As he drew closer, Lu Yuan faintly heard the sound of a babbling brook.
To avoid alerting any prey, he slowed his pace.
The reason he had chosen a spot near this water source was precisely because this stream was very small, only enough for small animals to drink from.
After all, Lu Yuan’s body was only six years old.
Before awakening his martial soul, there was no way he could have dealt with large wild beasts.
Lu Yuan continued forward.
Just as he approached the trap site, he suddenly caught the scent of fresh blood.
Immediately, Lu Yuan grew alert.
He knew well that in the wild, the smell of blood and the stench of rot were both danger signals.
Raising his sharp machete, Lu Yuan carefully observed his surroundings.
After just a few steps, he saw a bloody and bizarre scene.
The rabbit that had been caught by a hemp rope and left hanging from a tree was now nothing but a bloodstained hind leg, dangling alone in midair.
Beneath the rabbit’s leg, atop the trampled weeds, the blood and plant sap had mixed into a strange, eerie color.