Chapter 4 Ling Xiao's Tragic Family

Originally, when soldiers sacrificed their lives for their country, the state would provide compensation to their families. However, due to the corruption of nobles, the compensation money intended for Ling Xiao's father was directly embezzled. As a result, Ling Xiao's grandfather not only failed to retrieve his son's body (because Ling Xiao's father was just a low-ranking soldier, no one would bring his body back), but also received no compensation at all.

Ling Xiao's grandfather knew that with his abilities, there was no way he could get the compensation back, let alone cause trouble. After all, Ling Xiao's grandfather had lived for so many years and naturally knew what kind of people those so-called nobles were. If he were all alone, he might have made a fuss, but when Ling Xiao's father died, Ling Xiao was only two years old. Ling Xiao's grandfather felt that his eldest grandson, Ling Xiao, would not survive without him, so he could only swallow his anger and pretend that nothing had happened.

However, it was precisely because of the successive deaths of his relatives, coupled with the fact that Grandpa Ling Xiao was already quite old, that his health condition deteriorated rapidly. Even Ling Xiao himself did not know how much longer Grandpa Ling Xiao could live; it was truly a case of every day he lived being one day less.

Because Ling Xiao's grandfather's health was deteriorating, and Ling Xiao was still a child who knew nothing, even though Ling Xiao's grandfather had a skill, the family's living conditions continued to get worse and worse. If it weren't for Old Tom, the village chief of Xishan Village, who often helped Ling Xiao and his grandfather, they might have starved to death long ago.

Perhaps it was because children from poor families mature early that Ling Xiao originally helped his grandfather with whatever he could, and occasionally helped the villagers with odd jobs. The villagers all knew about Ling Xiao's family situation, and apart from a very few villagers, the others would help him however they could.

However, the original owner was also unlucky. The day of awakening his martial soul was just around the corner, but he died in this accident.

Based on the original owner's memories, Ling Xiao learned that the world he was in was Douluo Continent. The village where Ling Xiao was currently located was near Notting City, and it was only a small mountain away from Holy Soul Village, where the chosen one of this world was located.

As for Ling Xiao's current timeline, it is two years after Bibi Dong ascended to the throne as Pope, and the environment on the mainland is relatively peaceful at present.

Ling Xiao was excited at the thought of the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony in three days, because this was his chance to defy fate. After all, he had a system, and his innate soul power should not be too bad.

Just as he thought of this, Ling Xiao froze. If he remembered correctly, the martial souls in Douluo Continent were all inherited from their parents. However, Ling Xiao's parents' martial souls were not very good. His father's martial soul was inherited from his grandfather's wooden stick, his mother's martial soul was a foxtail grass, which was even more useless than Blue Silver Grass, and as for Ling Xiao's grandmother, her martial soul was a bead. None of Ling Xiao's four relatives had any soul power.

If Ling Xiao didn't have the system, there would be a 99.999% chance that he would be a complete idiot. After all, this is a world based on bloodlines. People like the original owner, who are commoners at the bottom of society, can only hope that a miracle will happen to them and that they can obtain innate soul power through the mutation of their martial soul.

This is why the two great empires don't care at all about helping commoners awaken their martial souls; in their view, helping commoners awaken their martial souls is a waste of their time.

While the Spirit Hall, this religious organization, also has its share of pests who persecute civilians, its attitude towards civilians is relatively better compared to the two great empires. At least every year, it sends out a large number of low-level spirit masters to help civilians across the continent awaken their spirits.

Although the Spirit Hall did this for its own benefit, wanting to discover those who could cultivate from the huge base of commoners, it is undeniable that without the Spirit Hall, those commoner spirit masters would have no chance to rise to prominence.