On the Jiuxiao Continent, strength rules all. Even the weakest warriors wield strength to shatter stone. The powerful? They cleave rivers, split mountains. The strongest—Martial Emperors—can tear through the skies and roam the void.

Here, martial power decides fate. Live strong, or be crushed. The weak get trampled. The strong stand above all.

Martial spirits are innate—each warrior is born with one. It's their soul, their path. A warrior's future rides on the strength of this spirit.

Spirits come in all kinds. Some reflect nature—fire, ice, wind, thunder. Others take the form of weapons like swords or spears, or beasts like white tigers, crazed rhinos, wild apes, and dragon-serpents. There are rare types, too—like the Berserker Soul and Undying Soul. As warriors grow, so do their spirits, evolving, getting stronger.

...

Yangzhou City. The Lin estate.

Arliss Greenfield opened his eyes. The room around him held the scent of aged wood and quiet history—strange, yet all too familiar. A faint, bitter smile tugged at his lips."Guess you could call that cheating death." Arliss Greenfield muttered under his breath. The bitter smile on his face faded, replaced by a flicker of amusement at the corner of his mouth.

Yeah, no other way to put it—he had crossed over. Back on Earth, in Jiangnan City of Huaxia, he was a senior in college. One car crash later, he woke up here on Jiuxiao Continent, taking over the body of someone with the same name—a clan member no one respected.

He wasn’t pissed about the time travel itself. Truth was, Earth didn’t leave him with much to miss. He was an orphan, raised by his grandpa. The old man hung on, pushing through his illness just to see Arliss accepted into college. Once he saw that offer letter, he finally let go. Left behind some savings—decent enough back in their rural hometown—just to make sure Arliss could finish school. He put off treating his sickness for it.

Arliss always hustled hard. He took part-time jobs, excelled in his studies, and grabbed the top scholarship every year. All he wanted was to forge his own path, to honor how hard his grandpa fought for him. But over time, he came to understand—effort doesn’t always cut it in a world run by connections.

During his senior year internship, the company held a banquet at a hotel. One of the rich kids got a female intern drunk. Everyone else just turned a blind eye, pretending not to see what was coming next.

But Arliss did. And he wasn’t about to let it happen.Everything he worked for over four years vanished in an instant. He got expelled—accused of harassing a female classmate, and the so-called evidence was her own testimony.

Then things got worse. That same girl, along with the rich kid he helped her escape from, turned the tables on him. They both sued him. Witnesses, evidence—everything ready. No power, no money, Arliss Greenfield didn’t even have the chance to put up a fight. Ten or so years in prison—his fate was sealed. Society had no place left for him.

He still remembered seeing that rich brat with the girl, all smiles, wrapped around each other in a fancy black car. Something inside him snapped. He stole a vehicle, grinned, and gunned it straight at their Audi. Even now, he could recall their terrified, dirty faces. Filthy. Just like the world he died in.

When Arliss opened his eyes again, there was no grief, no confusion. Nothing left to miss in that old life. What really got to him was where he ended up—a useless young master with a trash Martial Spirit.

The original Arliss Greenfield had been an outer disciple at Yunhai Sect. Got beaten half to death by his own cousin, tossed out like garbage. That was the opening fate left for Arliss—the perfect moment for his soul to take over.“Since I’ve got a second chance at life, I won’t let tragedy strike again.”

Lying on the bed, Arliss Greenfield clenched his fists. His eyes stayed fixed on the last wisp of fading soul, and he muttered, “Don’t worry. From now on, you’re me, I’m you. No one’s going to push us around again.”

After merging with most of the old Arliss Greenfield’s soul, he understood clearly what kind of world he was in—a realm where only the strong had the right to speak. If you’re strong enough, even kings will lower their heads before you.

But if you wanted to become a true powerhouse in martial arts, talent alone wasn’t enough. You needed a heart that longed to be great... and a will tough as iron. The former young master had been timid, but now—Arliss wasn’t the same. He had lived two lifetimes, endured pain, faced death. His resolve was far tougher than that of his predecessor.

Maybe that indomitable will stirred something. That lingering piece of spirit finally started to fade, dissolving bit by bit... until both souls blended together perfectly.

Boom!

The moment they fused, his soul trembled fiercely. The shock knocked him out cold.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he opened his eyes again. His brows were furrowed as he quietly sensed the lingering ripple in his soul.Sitting up, Arliss Greenfield flicked a thought, and suddenly, a strange aura spread through the room. He felt himself wrapped in a vague, shadowy figure—pure black.

“Hey, did you hear? That useless Arliss still hasn't woken up. Probably dead already,” came a distant voice.

“Hah! Someone like him should’ve died sooner. Saves our Greenfield Clan the embarrassment.”

The voices drifted in from afar, yet Arliss heard them loud and clear. He didn’t get angry. Instead, a strange look flickered across his face. Not just the voices—every rustle and breeze within hundreds of meters couldn’t escape his ears.

His eyesight sharpened too. Even his thoughts felt quicker, clearer. Those puzzles in martial arts that used to stump him now made perfect sense.

He willed again—and a coiled, tiny snake-shaped shadow appeared behind him. That useless martial soul everyone mocked. No one knew what type it was, only that it couldn’t boost his power.

But now—"Twin martial souls!"But Arliss Greenfield wasn’t the least bit upset about the snake martial soul. Instead, he looked dazed for a moment, then grinned wide—bright and confident. That shadow behind him, pitch black, was a martial soul too. A brand new one. He didn’t know yet what exactly it was, but now, with the snake and this dark shadow, he had two martial souls.

Two souls meant Twin Spirits. And on this continent, anyone with Twin Spirits was considered a genius. Just hours ago, people called him trash—and now, he stood among the rare few.

“I’ll call you Dark Martial Soul for now,” he muttered with a faint smile. He figured this new power came from the fusion of the two souls within him. It made sense. Two souls, two spirits. And from what he could tell, this dark one was boosting his body, sharpening his edge.

He closed his eyes and sank into meditation. Right away, the energy of heaven and earth flowed through every vessel in his body, tempering his frame, nourishing the martial souls.

Two full hours passed before he stopped. A burst of milky white impure energy shot from his nostrils. His whole body felt light, fresh, and powerful—every trace of soreness gone.

“So this is the cultivation of a martial artist... incredible.” Staring down at his fists, he clenched tight. Crackling joints roared like firecrackers—every inch pulsed with strength.His cultivation speed was way faster than he remembered. Arliss Greenfield stepped out of the room and into a wide courtyard. There were wooden stakes and stone pillars around—his training grounds.

He stopped before one of the stone pillars, took a breath, and unleashed the martial skill—Ninefold Wave. His fist sliced through the air with a whistling roar, layers of energy twisting space itself.

“Hah!”

With a low shout, Arliss sank his waist, tightened his core, and exploded forward. His punch struck like a falling star, smashing straight into the stone pillar. The ground shook as a loud boom echoed, and the pillar crumbled instantly, turning into a pile of rubble and dust.

But the force didn’t stop there. The fist wind blasted through, even after crushing the stone. A cracking sound followed as the rippling air slammed into the next pillar two meters away. Another explosion. That pillar shattered as well, stone flying everywhere.

“Must be over six thousand pounds of force,” Arliss muttered with satisfaction.

His strength was back at peak again—Qi Martial Realm, fifth level. And his Ninefold Wave had advanced to the sixth wave. Only with that level could he unleash such power with his current cultivation.“Seems like this Dark Martial Soul of mine not only sharpens my senses, but also makes me train faster and grasp things better.” Arliss Greenfield let out a faint smile.

In the past, folks mocked him as a waste, not just because of his Martial Soul, but because he was slow in cultivation and dull in comprehension. While others his age had already broken into the sixth level of Qi Martial Realm or higher, he was barely at the fifth. Worse, he’d been stuck at the fifth wave of Ninefold Wave for who knows how long, unable to make any progress. Just one lousy martial skill, and he couldn’t even master that. Everyone laughed at him.

But now, with the awakening of this Dark Martial Soul, all those worries about talent didn’t matter anymore.

A soul that boosts every aspect of one’s martial abilities... this wasn’t some ordinary Martial Soul. This was different. This was power.