On the Douluo Continent, in the southwestern area of the Heaven Dou Empire, there existed a small village.

A small village with a population of no more than 1200 people was situated at the edge of the empire. It was a quaint town filled with carefree people living life to the best of their capabilities. Most of the land around the village was dedicated farmland, where most of the populace worked in farming and husbandry, raising many different crops and animals such as cows, goats, sheep, pigs, and even chickens.

Most of the people living here were citizens of the Heaven Dou Empire, who had been born and raised within the village. As such, it was rare to see a new face around the village, especially since there wasn't anything of value in or around the village.

In fact, they were so far removed from the nearest city and commercial hub that there were only two concrete times a year when a carriage procession was sent from the village to the city: once around the start of the year when the snow melted and spring began, so the village could stock up on necessities for the coming year, and around the fall once the harvest was completed and the yearly tax of the village was to be paid.

The only other time that the whole village would organize a trip to the city was if, during the yearly Martial Soul Awakening ceremony, a child was discovered to be lucky enough to be born with enough potential to qualify as a student at the Spirit Master boarding school provided by the Kingdom.

Martial souls were something that every human was able to produce, and it was through these martial souls that humans had been able to rise above the beasts and sit at the top of the food chain for thousands of years. A martial soul was an extension of a person's soul, and as such, each martial soul was unique in some way or another. While there had been extensive research done on martial souls over the years, there was still much that wasn't known about martial souls.

Regardless, it was already an established fact that with how unique, powerful, and beneficial martial souls tended to be, it was also possible for even a remote town such as this one to possibly produce a top-quality martial soul, no matter how low the odds of such a thing happening may have been.

Unfortunately, while the ceremony for awakening the martial soul of children had been carried out religiously in the village year after year, there hadn't been anyone born to the village deemed worthy of becoming a Martial Warrior for the last few hundred years.

Regardless, even if a martial soul was deemed as useless for cultivation, depending on what type of soul it was, it could become useful in everyday life. As a result even though no Spirit Master had been born of the village, the people who lived here still enjoyed the benefits of Martial Souls 

It was here in this random village that two remarkable children resided.

One of the two young geniuses was a young man by the name of Tang San. He was recognized as the son of the village's drunken blacksmith. Even though his home life wasn't considered to be stellar, he had always been considered to be outstanding. From a young age, he learned to be self-sufficient, as his father spent most of his time in the village pub, drunk. While there were many people within the village who worried for the well-being of the young child in his care, they were all pleasantly surprised at how mature he was for his age.

Even though he was quite small for his age, most likely due to being underfed and slightly malnourished since he mostly ate rice porridge, he was a bright and mannerly child. No one in the village had anything bad to say about him. While it would have been normal for such a neglected child to resent his father, his filial piety towards his drunkard of a father was commendable.

The other young child was a boy by the name of Tian Wei. Unlike Tang San, he lived with his mother and father in a small home on the edge of the village. His parents loved him dearly, and as he grew up, his bubbly and outgoing personality meant that hardly anyone found fault with him. That, coupled with his willingness to help anyone in any way he could, meant that he was deemed a saint in the eyes of the adults in the village.

Sadly, Tian Wei had been born with a weak constitution, and as a result, when he was younger, he spent a lot of his time confined to his house. He could barely keep up with the other children his age, and as a result, he hadn't been able to make many friends within the village.

It had been a very hard time for him growing up, especially since he was often left home alone since his father would have to go to work in the field, and his mother worked at the village mill. Even though he wished for nothing and was able to eat his fill everyday, a luxury in a village such as this, he was still miserable most of the time. He tried his best not to show it because he didn't wish to be an bother to his parents, but as the years went by his dissatisfaction with his meager life could only slowly grow.

Left alone and unable to make many friends, Tian Wei found himself walking around the village aimlessly when he came across a young Tang San.

Seeing a new face, he had called out to a potentially new friend, only for Tang San to ignore him and head for the hill at the back of the village. That day, for whatever reason, Tian Wei had followed behind him and after spending a lot of time simply scaling the hill, he came across a young Tang San sitting on a rock under a tree with his eyes closed.

Confused and intrigued by the strange boy, Tian Wei had struck up a conversation with Tang San, and the two of them had spent most of the day under the tree. Unlike the other kids their age, Tang San was willing to talk to him, and Tian Wei had a grand time with his new friend. Unfortunately, because of all the exertion he had done that day, he ended up bedridden for a few days.

Once he was well enough to leave home again, he once more found his way to the hill at the back of the village, where he already knew Tang San would be. Like that, an unlikely friendship bloomed between the two boys, both lonely for varying reasons but both finding solace in their new friendship.

Today, the two friends were once more under the tree on the hill in the back of the village. Both of them were seated on stones in the lotus position, breathing slowly and deeply in sync.

With a final exhale of stagnant breath, the two boys awoke from their meditative trance.

With a spark of intelligence hidden deep in his eyes, Tang San turned to Tian Wei before questioning him.

"Did you make any progress today, Brother Wei? Did you encounter any problems?"

"No, Brother San, it's the same as always. I can't seem to break through the 'Bottle Neck' thing you mentioned. No matter how hard I try, it's like a solid wall that I can't break through, no matter what."

Tian Wei dejectedly lowered his head. He really was sorry that he was disappointing his best friend, but nothing he did seemed to make a difference.

He had been skeptical when Tang San had told him about a magical technique that would allow him to strengthen his physique and allow him to no longer need all that nasty-tasting medication that his mother and father always made him drink. But once he had started practicing under Tang San's careful watch, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it truly did strengthen his body.

From then on, he viewed Tang San as an older brother.

"You don't have to worry too much. You're still benefiting even though there aren't any obvious improvements. I'll have to think about it and try to come up with a solution." Tang San boldly declared as he jumped off the rock he had been sitting on. He flipped several times in the air before landing gently on his feet.

"Tang San you really are way too cool." Tian Wei clapped loudly at the display of athleticism before scrambling from his own rock.

Of course, he simply climbed down since he wasn't sure it would be a good idea to imitate Tang San. The last time he had tried that, he had been locked up at home for a few days with a sprained ankle.

"Are you going to the forge with your dad again today?" Tian Wei asked as he fell into step with Tang San, who was making his way back to the village.

"Yeah, my dad is serious about teaching me, and I want to inherit the family business one day, so I can't afford to slack off."

Tian Wei ever the supportive friend couldn't help but be amazed at how Tang San was already preparing for his future.

"I haven't really thought about what I want to be, but as long as I can protect those I care about, I think it'll be fine. Dad always told me that I need to be a strong protector, so that's what I'll be." Tian Wei didn't notice the weird look that Tang San sent his way, and the two continued to chat as they made their way through the village.

Once the two reached the crossroads, Tian Wei waved goodbye to Tang San and made his way home.

Surprisingly, he ran into both his mother and father on his way home, almost like they had been waiting for him when he came home—an oddity for sure but one that Tian Wei was more than happy to accept.

"Mom! Dad! How come you're home so early?"

His father easily lifted him up with his one good arm and placed him on his shoulder, something he would do from time to time, especially when Tian Wei had been sickly, before the trio started heading home.

"Well, son, the village elder told us that it's almost time for the yearly awakening ceremony, and since you're of age, you're one of the children who will be taking part in the ceremony this year and you'll be awakened this time around."

His father shook his around playfully before pretending to be serious

"Make sure you leave your mark on the village! After all, you only get to awaken once!" His father, Tian Jin, pumped his arm while laughing, and Tian Wei laughed along with him as he swayed from side to side along with his father's stride.

While his father seemed quite relaxed, his mother didn't take kindly to his carefree attitude.

"The ceremony will be held by an official from the city who will arrive in three days' time. In the meantime, all the children elected to take part this time around and their parents have already been told. You're going to have to wear your best clothes and be on your best behaviour. You never know if you might be able to catch the eye of the city official, so don't be like your barbarian father, who always finds a way to come home covered in mud and dust," chided his mother as she smacked Tian Jin playfully.

"You still married this barbarian, so I must be doing something right after all." Tian Jin laughed loudly at the sight of his blushing wife, and while his mother and father kept up their playful banter, Tian Wei was lost in thought about his awakening.

It would be a lie if he said he hadn't been looking forward to his Awakening, especially after his parents had explained to him the basics of what martial souls were and how important they were for the future of anyone who planned to cultivate. Of course, he had asked his parents about their martial souls, but neither of them had been forthcoming with what martial souls they had.

Tian Wei had assumed it was because neither of their martial souls were anything special, and they didn't want to disappoint him. He had already realized that the martial souls of most people in the village were mundane spirits that didn't have much potential. He had come to that conclusion after he realized most of the villagers had martial souls reminiscent of farming tools and some minor crops. There was even an uncle who's martial spirit was a handkerchief!

He had listened to the old village head as he had told stories about the amazing heroes and warriors of the kingdom, and their martial souls had been powerful beasts and amazingly powerful weapons. All of them had powerful sounding names and the things that the Spirit Master could do simply sounded like super human feats of wonder that mundane people could only dream about.

None of those hero's ever seemed to have a hoe or a shovel as their martial soul, but yet most of the villagers had such mundane things as their martial souls.

Therefore, while he was looking forward to the awakening, he also didn't have many expectations. As long as he and his best friend Tang San could keep being friends, then it didn't really matter all that much.

With such thoughts, the Tian family went on their way.

**Meanwhile, in the Forge**

While Tian Wei had gone his merry way, Tang San had indeed gone back to the forge to practice the hammer method taught to him by his father. He hoped that in a few years, he'd be able to reach a decent enough standard that he'd be able to begin processing some of the hidden weapons of the Tang sect from his previous life.

He knew he was still a good ways off from that, but he was determined to resurrect his sect in this new world.

As he thought about his sect, his mind couldn't help but drift to the little friend he had made in recent years. While he had simply endured Tian Wei's presence at the beginning, assuming the boy would eventually grow tired of him, he was instead amused when he realized that Tian Wei was perfectly content to simply sit and chat under a tree all day.

He had been a little pet project of Tang San's to see if other people in the world could practice the skills of his sect. It would have been pretty ridiculous to try to recreate the Tang Sect in his new life if no one else in the world managed to cultivate the clan's techniques.

He had planned to tweak the techniques of his clan if they couldn't be cultivated, but thankfully, while it had taken a while to get started, he was pleasantly surprised when Tian Wei actually successfully managed to begin training in his [Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record] internal cultivation technique.

Of course, once he also showed signs of being unable to progress past the first bottleneck and move unto the second portion of the technique, the same issue that he himself had been facing for quite some time now, Tang San could only conclude that there must be something preventing him from progressing. Hopefully, he'd be able to find a solution quickly.

Of course, his other techniques had been progressing smoothly if not slowly, and while he could have seriously trained Tian Wei in earnest, the fact that he had a weak constitution was reason enough not to hold too much hope for him. Even though they were both training in the same internal technique, the strength that he was able to show was leagues above anything that Tian Wei could.

The poor boy just wasn't well-suited for the Tang Clan. After all, how was he going to survive once poisons were introduced in his training?

Throwing such thoughts to the back of his head, Tang San walked through the door to the warmed forge, his mind focused now on the impurity cleansing smithing techniques he was about to practice.