Chapter 2: New Day

Wong Yazhu lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. A day had passed since he took over the girl's body, and he had adjusted well. His acting, as he had expected, was amazing. No one noticed he was different except for the subtle feeling his mother got during breakfast.

After eating, he-- no, she went out to play with her 'friends' all day like she 'always' do. She also helped around the farm, doing little tasks like fetching water or some tool like a sickle. When she held it, she almost guided the blade to her throat, but Tang San snapped him out of his trance when he walked past him. 

Wong Yazhu had tried to talk to Tang San, but one of her friends had dragged her away, so she decided to do it later, but after that, she never saw Tang San again. She would have gone to the blacksmith place, Tang San's house, but she never had the opportunity to go due to having too many friends.

'I never thought that having friends would be a problem.' He sighed. He was starting to miss being alone. 

Pushing up from his lying position, he sat in a meditative position. 'If I remember, Tang San was cultivating before he went through the spirit awakening. I should be able to do that.' He closed his eyes. 'But how?'

He sat silently, his legs folded under him with his hands on his thigh. He took a deep breath and tried to feel the 'essence' within him, but nothing happened. He tried to feel the blood coursing through his veins. Useless. 

Opposing his eyes, he moved over on the bed to let the direct moonlight touch him and tried to use the moonlight to nothing. 'I am just wasting my time---' He froze.

He felt something.

It wasn't his heartbeat, but something foreign was entering his body. Getting excited, he quickly focused on this thing. It was... 

The air.

"Fuck." He fell back on the bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. 'How the hell can I cultivate? What was Tang San doing?'

He sighed. There was nothing he could do except wait till tomorrow. Although he wasn't mentally exhausted, his body, which was the body of a child, was, and he needed to sleep.

Crawling under the bed, he fell asleep.

Wong Yazhu was pulled from the depths of sleep by a man's booming voice, a sound so familiar yet jarring. "Rise and shine!" the voice bellowed, echoing through the small room like a wake-up call meant for the entire village. 

Wong Yazhu groaned, the sound muffled by the pillow he attempted to bury his face into, yearning for just a few more moments of sleep. But the man was persistent, shaking him gently but firmly. "Come on, up you get!"

"I wanna sleep..." he moaned, his voice groggy with sleep and resistance. However, the next words from the man acted like a charm, instantly banishing any remnants of drowsiness. "Today is the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony!"

That statement had Wong Yazhu shooting up into a sitting position, his eyes wide with sudden alertness. The man's face, a face belonging to Prime Wong Yazhu's father, broke into a smile, the lines around his eyes crinkling in amusement. "Knew that would wake you up," he said, a chuckle underlining his words.

Rubbing her eyes, Wong Yazhu groaned, "Good morning, Daddy." Her voice was thick with sleep but also tinged with a newfound excitement for the day ahead.

Her father, Wong Su, nodded, his smile still in place. "I've already prepared the bath for you. Your mother is out harvesting, but I'll take you to the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony today." Wong Su was a large man, standing 185 cm tall, with a bulky muscular build and caramel-colored skin due to working on the farm his whole life. He was also one of the village three hunters with a Great Sword as a martial soul. Too bad he couldn't cultivate. 

He wore heavy dark pants, a long-sleeved brom tunic folded up to his elbow to expose his powerful forearm, and no shoes. His black hair was cut short, and his eyes brown.

Wong Yazhu dragged herself out of the bed, the remnants of sleep still clinging to her as her father, Wong Su, took her hand and led her to the backyard. There, in the cool morning air, her father started brushing her teeth. Wong Yazhu stood, 'half-asleep,' leaning against her father as the brush moved in her mouth.

As he brushed, Wong Su began to speak, his voice filled with pride. "A hundred years ago, our Holy Spirit Village produced a Soul Saint. Ah, in all of Nuoding City, even in the whole Fasinuo region, this is extremely rare." He paused, the brush continuing its steady motion. "People say it's a rumor, a false story, but I know it was real."

"I wish you'll become a Spirit Master," Wong Su said, his tone shifting to one of gentle aspiration.

With the toothbrush still in her mouth, Wong Yazhu confidently said, "I will," her words garbled by the brush.

Her father chuckled. "I know you will." He didn't sound overly optimistic. He was hopeful his daughter would have soul power, but it was rare, and in the past five years, no one from the village had gotten soul power.

After a final rinse of her mouth, Wong Su instructed her to go and quickly bathe. "I've filled the bath with hot water; it should be warm now," he said, guiding her towards the bathroom with a gentle hand on her back.

Wong Yazhu quickly bathed, using the soap that smelled of oil. 'Today is the day.' He thought, staring at his reflection in the bath, his wet hair falling over his face. 'Today is the day when I decide if to kill myself or not.' He thought, dead serious.

He stayed in the bath, just thinking until his father walked into the kitchen. "Are you sleeping?" He asked with a light laugh when he saw his daughter with her head down.

"No, Daddy." She yawned, looking towards her father. 

"Haha, alright." He laughed as he helped her get out of the bath, cleaning her with a towel. 'This is wired as fuck.' Wong Yazhu thought, looking down at 'his' father as the man cleaned his legs.

"Don't be mad if you don't get any soul power." Wong Su suddenly said, catching Wong Yazhu off guard.

"Don't worry, I will get one and become a Spirit Saga." Wong Yazhu vowed. "Believe it!"

"Haha, I will believe it." He chucked at his daughter's centrism. Hanging the towel on a rack and taking her to her room to dress her.

"But daddy," Wong Xui called. "What is a spirit saga?"

As Wong Yazhu stood there, dripping from the bath and listening intently, her father corrected her with a gentle smile. "It's Spirit Sage, not Saga," he walked his daughter to her room. "A Spirit Sage is a rank among Spirit Masters, the noblest vocation on our Douluo continent. They can be formidable champions or possess remarkable assisting abilities. But regardless of their type, all Spirit Masters are categorized and awarded titles based on their spirit power."

While he started dressing Wong Yazhu, he explained further, "Spirit Masters all possess their own spirit power. Based on the intensity of this power, they're divided into ten general titles, each title further split into ten ranks."

He slipped a shirt over Wong Yazhu, continuing, "After crossing the threshold, one is called a Spirit Scholar. As soon as a spirit awakens, everyone is a Spirit Scholar. If the spirit can be cultivated, reaching the eleventh rank elevates one to Spirit Master. And Spirit Grandmaster is the third rank. Reaching the Spirit Grandmaster realm means one is already a fairly famed Spirit Master."

He listed the ranks as he dressed her: "Spirit Scholar, Spirit Master, Spirit Grandmaster, Spirit Elder, Spirit Ancestor, Spirit King, Spirit Emperor, Spirit Sage, Spirit Douluo, and Title Douluo. This is where our Douluo Continent gets its name."

Wong Yazhu groaned, overwhelmed by the information. "That's a lot of words," she complained, raising her legs and leaning on her father's shoulder to help him slip her into her shorts.

Wong Su nodded, understanding her but continuing. "It is said that when one attains the power of a ninetieth-ranked Title Douluo, they can choose a title for themselves. They are unparalleled existences."

With a determined look, Wong Yazhu proclaimed, "I will become a Title Dou...Douloo?" She stumbled over the word, her pronunciation far from accurate.

Her father encouraged her, "I'm sure you will," even though he didn't believe it. The path to becoming a Title Douluo was incredibly arduous and rare, especially for someone from their small village. 

After finishing dressing her, Wong Su took a step back to look at his daughter. "Now, you're ready. Let's go. Today could be the first step towards that goal, no matter how high it seems."

She was dressed in a milk-colored gown that fluttered softly against her shin, the fabric light and airy, with a white long sleeve shirt under the gown, shorts, and Sandals. This was the best dress she had.

"It's a lord attendant who is a Spirit Grandmaster from Nuoding City's Spirit Sub-Hall who personally comes to help our village's children awaken. We can't be late." Her father hurriedly said.

Wong Su held Wong Yazhu's hand firmly, leading her out of their home and towards the center of the village where the Spirit Hall stood. The morning air was fresh, filled with the sounds of the village coming to life.

The so-called Spirit Hall was, in reality, a large log cabin. Since everyone possessed spirits, spirit awakening ceremonies happen every year across the continent. Therefore, Spirit Halls can be found everywhere on the continent. Naturally, these were all only subsidiary halls, there was a distinct hierarchy.

As they approached the Spirit Hall, Wong Yazhu noticed eight other children, each accompanied by their parents. Tang San stood slightly apart from the group, standing with 'Old Jack,' the village elder. Old Jack was a distinctive figure; despite his age, well over sixty, his posture was upright, his attire neat, and his hair neatly combed. 

Wong Yazhu remembered then that Tang San wasn't viewed favorably by the other village children. His father had arrived in the village a few years prior and had quickly gained a reputation for being lazy, and they were rather poor despite being the village's only blacksmith. In societies both large and small, the tendency to favor the rich and disdain the poor was prevalent, and Tang San had become isolated as a result. Prime Wong Yazhu had been among those who avoided him.

Tang San, for his part, seemed indifferent to the social ostracization. Having been reincarnated, his actual age far surpassed thirty, leaving him with little in common with the children of the village. Most of his time was dedicated to cultivation and training, further distancing him from potential friendships with his peers.

'But that won't be a problem.' Wong Yazhu shrugged, moving his eyes away from Tang San to not draw his attention. 'Look how fast he became friends with Xiao Wu because she was clingy.' He didn't know if that was really the reason since he didn't remember the show, but he hoped it was. Because if he gets soul power today, he will become extremely clingy to Tang San.

Just as Wong Yazhu was thinking of the future, a handsome man carrying a package walked towards the spirit hall. This person appeared to be just over 20 years old, with dashing eyebrows and bright facial features. He was dressed completely in brilliant white clothes, a black cloak on his back, and a palm-sized 'spirit' character right on the center of his chest, above his heart. 

On the left side of the chest was a carved badge with two crossed longswords. 'That must be his title badge.' Wong Yazhu guessed. His father had said that the man was a Spirit Grandmaster earlier, so common sense told him two swords represented Spirit Grandmaster.

"Greetings, esteemed Battle Spirit Grandmaster." Old Jack respectfully bowed to the man, followed by the parents. "We will inconvenience you this time."

Indifferently, the man gave a slight bow to at last return the greeting. "My time is scarce, let's begin."