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nTranslator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

n“Caw!”

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n“Caw caw~”

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nRight as it turned six in the morning, a loud noise sounded from outside the room.

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nIt was the cry of a Cuckoo Bird, a flying type soul pet.

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nThe Cuckoo Bird outside was Mother Wang’s, an ordinary soul pet that could be raised easily.

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nAs such, they were often used in civilian families.

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nMeanwhile, Wang Che was mentally exhausted after having attempted to cultivate for an entire night.

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nHowever, since there had been no results at all, he could only walk out of the room with dark circles under his eyes.

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nAs he listened to the soul pet’s cry, he unconsciously recalled basic information about it.

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nCuckoo Bird: A flying type soul pet. Its entire body is covered in gray feathers. There are long feathers on its head and tail as well. The difference between these is that the long feathers on its head can sense the passing of time, while the ones on the tail can sense changes in airflow, allowing it to predict the weather.

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nAs if on cue, the Cuckoo Bird, which was about 20 to 30 centimeters in length, flew over to Wang Che’s door.

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nIt made a cawing sound, reminding him that it was time to get up and eat.

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nThen, after seeing Wang Che walk out, the Cuckoo Bird flew into the living room.

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n“How did it go last night?”

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nFather Wang was surprised to see Wang Che.

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nThroughout the winter break, he had never once seen his son wake up this early.

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nWang Che would often sleep only after the sun rose, all the way until noon.

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n“The child is already 18, don’t ask anymore.”

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nMother Wang, who was preparing breakfast, turned to Wang Che. “Come and eat quickly. Oh right, Little Che, didn’t you tell me a few days ago that you were going out with your classmate today?”

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nHe nodded back silently.

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nIt seemed that his parents in this life were quite ordinary.

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nIn fact, Wang Che had come from such an ordinary household that he still hadn’t managed to awaken his martial soul, even after signing a life contract with his soul pet.

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nIf it had been any other world, this would have been a tragic sight to behold indeed.

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nHowever, it was common for one’s martial soul not to be completely awakened here.

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nEven now, the power of martial souls remains a mystery to the countless countries that were still focused on researching its properties. In any case, they did not completely understand it yet.

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nAt most, even experts could only summarize certain patterns based on historical records and research results.

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nThough everyone possesed a martial soul in this world, there were not many who could awaken them.

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nTo some extent, the probability of awakening a martial soul depended on one’s parents and ancestral bloodline.

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nEven then, it wasn’t guaranteed.

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nThe reason is simple: the life contract.

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nAfter receiving a soul beast’s vitality , the dormant martial soul in humans may change due to the increase in innate talent.

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nOnly then can the awakened martial soul separate itself from the human’s bloodline and transform into another martial soul.

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nThis was especially true before the awakening. Although there were still ways to improve one’s innate talent after awakening the martial soul, it would still be a very difficult process.

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nThis was precisely the reason that a Contract Soul Master’s first soul pet was of the utmost importance.

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nMoreover, even though the first life contract can be withdrawn, doing so would release the soul pet bound to it. All things considered, it would take at least three years before the life contract can be used again.

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nOtherwise, a human’s soul power wouldn’t have enough strength to enter a second life contract.

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nIn addition, removing the contract could bring about many negative side effects as well.

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nFor instance, it could decrease the natural affinity between soul beasts and the human drastically, which would make signing future life contracts much more difficult.

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nAs such, humans typically didn’t choose to withdraw a life contract after signing it. It simply wouldn’t be a sound decision, seeing as even the weakest and most ordinary soul beast can boost the strength of its human considerably.

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nNevertheless, Wang Che was not interested in such things.

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n“What’s wrong with being 18?” Father Wang tried to argue. “Just 1,000 years ago, 18 was considered reaching adulthood. Yet now, the average lifespan of an ordinary person is about 120 years. 18 is only equivalent to 10 years old now. He’s so young!”

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n“Do you want a beating?” Mother Wang glared at Father Wang. “I’m talking about the present and you dare lecture about the past?”

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nWang Che didn’t say a word, pretending not to hear his parents.

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nAt that moment, the green bug crawled out from Wang Che’s room.

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nIt crawled to his feet and raised its head slightly. After glancing at Wang Che for a second, it instinctively took a few steps back.

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n“Oh my! Mommy, hurry up. Where’s breakfast?” Father Wang coughed a few times while pointing at the green caterpillar, trying to change the subject.

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nMother Wang shot an annoyed look at him before walking to the kitchen again. After a while, she returned with a small bowl of pale white leaves that emitted a milky fragrance.

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n“Here, here, here are some white birch milk leaves. They’re your favorite.”

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nMother Wang walked to the green caterpillar and put down the bowl of leaves. She stroked the head of the green caterpillar dotingly with her fingertips. “It’s so cute! Back when Cuckoo Bird had just hatched, it wasn’t as shiny as it is now, and honestly looked quite ugly.”

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n“Caw! Caw!” Upon hearing this, the Cuckoo Bird perched on the wooden railing let out a dissatisfied cry.

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nFather Wang, looking at the ten or so white leaves in the bowl, started to open his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it again.

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nHe watched as the green caterpillar sniffed around curiously before its dull eyes suddenly lit up.

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n“Ssss!”

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nThe caterpillar nodded at Mother Wang happily, and jumped into the pile of leaves.

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n“Look, this little guy is quite intelligent,” Mother Wang exclaimed. “Is it trying to thank me? Does it really have such a high level of intelligence? It must be a special soul pet! Don’t you think so, Old Wang?”

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n“Maybe it was asking whether you wanted to eat together with it,” Father Wang replied sarcastically.

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n“Are you itching to get beaten today?” Mother Wang glared at him.

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nFather Wang quickly coughed.

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nJust as Mother Wang was about to punish him, Wang Che suddenly said, “I’m full.”

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nWith that, he quietly walked back into the room.

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n“…This won’t do,” Father Wang shook his head while saying. “A soul pet like a green caterpillar… is even worse than your Cuckoo Bird. There’s no use in comforting him.

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n“Yesterday, he told me with a calm voice that it was okay…” Father Wang sighed. “I knew it wasn’t that simple…

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n“He looked so dejected just now. After all, a child’s first soul pet is something very important. No one his age would be able to hide their emotions after going through something like that.

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n“Say, the two of us don’t have any talents at all, and we couldn’t even awaken our martial souls. Seeing that our son’s first soul pet is so weak, I’m afraid that when the time comes, he’ll become exactly like us.”

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nFather Wang had a worried look on his face. “If he wants to become a Contract Soul Master, he’ll only be able to achieve it in his dreams. Even though he’s so outstanding in school…”

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n“Let nature take its course.” Mother Wang sighed as well.

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nShe slowly turned around to look at the green caterpillar. “Though this one isn’t all that bad.”

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n——

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nUnbeknownst to them, Wang Che hadn’t actually been dejected. It was just that he couldn’t help feeling mentally exhausted after a night of pointless cultivation.

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nFurthermore, he hadn’t said much at the dining table because he had been lost in his thoughts .

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nHe must have looked very upset to his parents.

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nStill, Wang Che couldn’t accept the fact that he hadn’t been able to draw Qi into his body after an entire night of cultivation, despite being a former Immortal Ascension Realm Cultivator.

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nIt seemed that there really wasn’t a way to cultivate in this world.

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nThis had to be related to this world’s rules.

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nThere were powerful restrictions set in place between heaven and earth, after all.

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nMore specifically, these entailed the idea that soul power wasn’t the same as spiritual energy, and so cannot simply be applied to just any cultivation technique or method.

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nBecause of this, Wang Che couldn’t draw energy into his body to cultivate.

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nInitially, he had suspected that it was due to his lack of spiritual aptitude.

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nHowever, even without a spiritual root, it still didn’t make sense for him to be completely unable to draw any Qi into his body.

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nAfter several failed attempts, Wang Che decided to try the Demonic Path Qi Refinement Technique, an ability that could forcefully absorb heaven and earth’s spiritual Qi into his body.

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nHowever, even that didn’t work. It was simply impossible for him to absorb any soul power at all.

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nBy that point, he realised that there were certain rules created by the will of the Heavenly Dao in this world.

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nIt was not going to be so simple.

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nIf Wang Che had the strength of an Immortal Ascension Cultivator, these rules wouldn’t apply to him.

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nUnfortunately, after the last cosmic heavenly tribulation, everything had come crashing down. He was considered fortunate enough to have been reborn with a wisp of his soul left.

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nIn conclusion, he could not cultivate anymore.

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nAfter pondering for a while, Wang Che closed his eyes and calmed himself down.

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nIt was fine if he could not cultivate.

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nCultivating was merely a way of seeking the Dao.

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nThe Great Dao of the cosmos was brilliant and endless.

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nNone of the great cultivators had managed to reach the Immortal Ascension Realm by being mediocre.

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nWang Che quickly regained his composure.

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nHe had already encountered many setbacks before. This was nothing.

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n“First, I’ll have to study this world in detail for a while, in order to gain a better understanding of it. Since I can’t use cultivation techniques to draw in soul power, I’ll follow the rules of this world and work around them to create a technique suitable for cultivating soul power. I’ll have to forget about Immortal Cultivation for now.”

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nWang Che opened his eyes and reaffirmed himself.

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nHe had all the experience and strength he needed. Furthermore, he had even spent tens of thousands of years traveling the universe and witnessing the many civilizations that inhabited it.

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nSince he was already here, he may as well adapt to the place.

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nWith this in mind, Wang Che rested for a while before washing up. Then, he put on his clothes and examined himself in the mirror.

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nHe found a teenager around 1.8 meters tall wearing white slacks and a light blue shirt looking back at him.

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nAs Wang Che studied his own body, he noticed that his figure was quite slender and well-proportioned. He had refreshingly short hair, and his facial features were distinct with just the right amount of facial hair. His dark eyes had a deep glow…

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nThe current Wang Che was definitely a handsome young man, with looks that could kill.

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nHowever, when he saw his reflection, Wang Che started to shake his head and frown slightly, saying to himself, “Not good enough. Back then, I had been one of the best looking guys throughout the cultivation world. This… is barely one percent of my charm.

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n“It’s barely presentable.”

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nWang Che pushed open the door and walked out again.

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nIf his memory served him right, he seemed to have invited a few classmates to hang out with him today.

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