Chapter 1: Feng Qin

Douluo Continent, in a kingdom situated at the far south of the Heaven Dou Empire.

That kingdom was called the River Scale Kingdom. It was a pretty insignificant kingdom overall and their most powerful spirit master was at the Spirit Emperor level, although powerhouses like that was rare and are very powerful but not to the point of being as rare or formidable as demons, gods, true phoenixes and true dragons.

In a small area around the edges of the Black Iron Forest, a young boy, wearing only a black short, at the age of seven was panting heavily, clearly exhausted, as he rested his butt on the green grass.

He had unruly black raven hair that couldn't be combed easily, blue ocean-like eyes that could reflect those who stare at them, and an average boyish face that clearly had baby fat in them still. He could make any grandmother, mother, aunt and big sister want to pinch his cheeks.

His name is Feng Qin, a normal boy from a small family of three; his parents and himself, that owned a restaurant in the middle area of the kingdom.

Feng Qin hissed as he raised both of his hands up and winced, unsurprised to see both of his hands injured and bleeding from his knuckles. That wasn't the only injuries he had as he could also feel the stinging feeling from his legs. Although they weren't broken, he could instinctively tell that they had bruised to the point of being vibrant purple.

He looked up in front of him to see a tall black iron tree, a famous tree in the River Scale Kingdom that was known for its tenacity and rough, colored black appearance. These two characteristics makes it be mistaken it as a sort of metal, especially since it also weighs five times the size of a normal tree. They would be mostly used to be made as bows and shafts of a spear or halberd in the military.

Feng Qin let out a sigh of disappointment and flopped his back onto the ground. He stared aimlessly at the blue sky.

"What kind of joke is this. I know the rumors of it being freakishly tough but... It's been an entire year yet I've never managed to put even a single scratch onto it." He covered his face with his left arm, shielding himself from the sun's rays. His lips twitched into a frustrated frown.

In this continent, there was a lofty position that everyone that was born in this continent strived to be; and that was being a spirit master!

Simply put, a spirit master are humans on the Douluo Continent that possess a Martial Spirit that one can awakened when they reach the age of six and have spirit power. The only issue of this is that one in a hundred kids could only have the possibility of awakening enough innate spirit power to become a spirit master!

Feng Qin is currently seven years old so he had already awakened his martial spirit a year ago, not only that but he also had innate spirit power that made him become an unofficial spirit master!

Unfortunately however, the road to being a great spirit master wasn't an easy one.

Feng Qin is a student at a small spirit elementary academy in the River Scale Kingdom so he was a bit knowledgeable about spirit master lore.

Being a spirit master all comes down to one truth, to have a good martial spirit to help them as their tool to defeat their enemies and more importantly, slay spirit beasts to gain their spirit rings and advance their cultivation.

Spirit beasts are powerful beasts, different from normal animals, that have great strength and supernatural abilities. Feng Qin had even heard from his teacher that the most powerful spirit beast could even level mountains and split the seas! Something only a legendary peak Titled Douluo could do!

As to spirit rings, well they are what spirit masters at the peak of their realm, an example is what Spirit Scholar level 10 or Spirit Master level 20, would need to break through to the next realm. Not only that but a spirit ring could even bestow the spirit master a spirit ability, something that no mortal could ever hope to replicate or match with normal weapons.

Secondly are the different paths a spirit master could take that best suit their abilities, this term is called a system and it branches into many paths: control, power, agility, defense and auxiliary. Though there was a few more but they're basically branches to these systems.

To choose one of these systems as their path as a spirit master, naturally depends what their Martial Spirit is. A Martial Spirit is the foundation and strength of a spirit master, while their energy was spirit power that courses throughout their meridians to use for cultivation and other variety of use.

Thirdly, and the important one of all, were the classification of a spirit master. Spirit masters are divided into two different classes.

The Tool Spirit Master and the Beast Spirit Master, the former is a spirit master who awakened a tool spirit and most are physically weaker than the latter as they awakened a beast spirit, known for their Spirit Body Enhancement, that enhances their base physical capabilities by twice at least.

And for Feng Qin, his path and classification was...

Feng Qin closed his eyes, took a deep quick breath, and circulated the small amount of spirit power stored in his body towards the middle of his bare chest.

Suddenly, a glowing orange light begun to shine in the middle of his chest and an orange oval gem, at the size of two thumbs, suddenly appeared in place as the orange glow dimmed until it disappeared a second later.

Moments later Feng Qin opened his eyes and felt... absolutely nothing.

There was no sudden burst of increased strength and speed, no sudden bulkiness of muscles to make him more durable and resilient. Heck, there wasn't even a heightened sense of perception that can suddenly make him understand all the secrets of the universe and make him ascend to godhood.

Okay, the last is a bit far fetched but there were a lot of legends and myths that tells about certain people who had managed to do so when they awakened their martial spirits. Feng Qin himself didn't believe in any of them but he wanted to believe that his Martial Spirit could do something useful.

No one, not himself or even the top teacher at his academy, knew what his Martial Spirit is and what it could do.

Although it was sort of an object, it was embedded in his body unlike other Tool Spirit Masters who summons their spirits out of their bodies.

But his spirit didn't give him any animalistic features and abilities so the teachers and members at the Spirit Hall classified him as a Tool Spirit Master.

Feng Qin's road to being a powerful and famous spirit master was a difficult one. Not only was his Martial Spirit an unknown one, and a useless one at this point, his innate spirit power was also at the middle tier: at rank 4!

Moreover, being a technical Tool Spirit Master gives him a disadvantage against a Beast Spirit Master as it is well known that they are innately stronger than other spirit masters in their base form due to being influenced by their Martial Beast Spirit.

His future of being a spirit master, judged by the numerous teachers at the academy, was destined to be either pathetic or average, the latter case being if he worked hard and encountered some lucky encounters in the wilderness.

Feng Qin would be extremely lucky if he manages to become a Spirit Ancestor at the age of 50, even if he had a lot of resources.

He clenched his teeth and his fists, even if the pain from his bleeding knuckles was enough to make him break out tears and cry out, he held it in. He held his head high and faced the sky with a dignified face.

"I'm not giving up. Never."

Feng Qin was stubborn and unwilling. Even though he was just a kid, just seven years, his mental age and wisdom seem to be beyond his physical age.

He was unwilling to submit to his destiny of being a low tier spirit master. He didn't want to be shackled by something called common sense and limits.

His aspiration and ambition for himself was something that made anyone who heard about it, laughed at him out of mockery and contempt. But he didn't care.

So what his Martial Spirit was useless, he'll just trained up his body and use it as a weapon! And if his body wasn't enough and his spirit power was needed, then he'll just find some heavenly treasure to fix that up!

No matter the hardship, no matter the obstacles. Step by step, he will continue on walking down his path of a spirit master to reach the peak! To look down upon all as a supreme master!

"But even then, a spirit master has their limits. Even when they reached the peak of their cultivation, they're no different from a mortal in terms of lifespan and cause of death: nature. No matter how much power, abilities, and energy they hold at the tip of their fingertips they still can't overcome the natural order of the world." Said Feng Qin, letting out a despondent sigh. Doubt appeared on his face for a moment before his eyes narrowed into fierce determination.

"So if being spirit master won't cut it, then I'll follow a different system of cultivation. A path that no one in the world has ever walk down before!" The words coming out of his mouth, from a seven year old boy, was completely absurd and stupid if anyone heard about it.

Following a different cultivation system? As if no one had tried to do that but look at the current history! Spirit Masters has been around for thousands of years now, and there had been a lot of people trying to find a different cultivation system due to various reasons yet none had succeeded.

And unlike Feng Qin, some of these people were wise, intelligent and powerful as they were at least the Spirit Sage realm!

How could he measure up to them?

For a brief moment, the orange oval gem in the center of his chest slightly glowed for a moment before dimming down without Feng Qin noticing it.