The Talented Underdog

Chapter 9 The Talented Underdog

Upon hearing the name "Spirit Hall," Liu Erlong immediately calmed down considerably. Seeing this, Yin Shu quickly pulled her aside and whispered something to her.

Wearing the old man's wet coat, Yinlan scrambled towards where Cuihua was.

"Cough...cough..." The burly girl was surrounded by broken blue silver grass, and her breathing sounded like a broken basket. Her eyes were full of longing as she looked at the youngest girl.

When Cuihua was thrown away, her mother called upon the nearby Blue Silver Grass to protect her, absorbing most of Liu Erlong's attack force and even blocking the flames Liu Erlong used to finish her off.

But Cuihua's neck was snapped the moment Liu Erlong threw her out. The broken bone pierced her trachea. She didn't die immediately, but every second she lived was excruciating.

"Sister Cuihua!" Yinlan crawled to Cuihua's side.

Help……

She saw that emotion in the child's eyes.

"Mom! Mom!" Yinlan, disregarding the fact that Lan Yinhuang's identity had caught Cuihua's attention, hurriedly scooped up the somewhat limp Lan Yinhuang from her arms. "Mom! Save her!"

The leaves of the Blue Silver Emperor contracted slightly, then swayed.

"No...no!" Yinlan knew that her mother was in extremely poor condition. She had already used all her strength to protect herself from Liu Erlong. Both mother and daughter had escaped death, so where would they have the strength to help others?

"Use that, yes, use that!" Yinlan summoned both martial souls at the same time again, trying to enter the previous state to replenish Cuihua's life force, but the soul power in her body had already been completely drained, and the two martial souls disappeared immediately after being summoned.

The weakness emanating from deep within her body filled Yinlan with despair once more. Her body went limp, and she stumbled again.

"Sister Cuihua, I'm sorry... Xiong Da, Xiong Er, Hua Qiang, and everyone else... I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Liquid slid down her cheeks, indistinguishable between tears and saliva.

Suddenly, Yinlan's wrist was gripped tightly. The girl looked up and saw that Cuihua, as if in a final burst of energy, had used her last breath to grab her.

He shook his head at himself.

Then there was silence.

............................................................

The flames eventually died down, and the dilapidated building where the orphans lived collapsed completely, becoming their graves.

The little girl, dressed in patched clothes and holding a flowerpot filled with blue silver grass with golden patterns, stared blankly at the "grave" in front of her, seemingly oblivious to the bag at her feet.

The first family members who welcomed her into this world are buried here.

Yin Shu was ultimately afraid that Liu Erlong would cause trouble again, and he also heard that the people from the Spirit Hall in charge of awakening spirits were on their way. In addition, the villagers all began to drive them away, so he and the students forcibly took Liu Erlong away.

Before leaving, he left a bag of gold soul coins to the only surviving child, Yinlan. Yinlan didn't open the bag, so she didn't know how many there were, but it should have been quite a lot.

They didn't say anything more to Yinlan, nor could they say anything. Liu Erlong had just killed someone, and as his companions, any explanation they offered to the sole survivor would be seen by the villagers as adding fuel to the fire, ultimately making the situation uncontrollable.

Along with Yinlan, an elderly man surnamed Lin was also lost in thought. He was hunched over, staring at the dilapidated building that was unrecognizable from its original state, seemingly lost in thought.

"Grandpa Lin," Yinlan said, breaking the silence, noticing that her voice was a little hoarse.

"Child?" The old man surnamed Lin forced himself to look at the little girl beside him. He knew that the child had suffered no less than he, a lonely old man.

Although it's not good to say this now, the living must always plan for the future. I couldn't do it before, but now that I only have this child left, I can raise him with my own abilities.

"How about..." The old man surnamed Lin considered how to speak without hurting the child's feelings, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the girl.

"Thank you and everyone in the village for taking care of us over the years," the girl bent down, picked up the bag at her feet, handed it to the old man surnamed Lin, and said softly, "Please share this money with everyone as a way of repaying the village for all these years."

"Child, you can't..." The old man surnamed Lin didn't care how much money was in the bag, but he sensed something else in the girl's tone.

But that's a Soul Master! How could this child possibly do that...?

He wanted to try to dissuade her again, but then he heard the girl speak up once more: "I'm sorry, Grandpa Lin, just consider it me being willful... Let me spend a little more time with everyone..."

The old man surnamed Lin could tell that the child was determined to leave. He sighed and emptied half of the gold soul coins from the bag, leaving half a bag of gold soul coins at the girl's feet. Holding the remaining loose gold soul coins, he walked towards the village, somewhat dazed.

Yinlan carried her mother and walked into the ruins. She looked around at the charred environment, which was no longer visible. She went into each room and came out again, recalling everyone who had taken care of her over the years.

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After arriving in this world and learning about her origins, she never felt any sense of crisis. Even before awakening her martial soul, she was certain that her talent was definitely not bad. Even if she didn't have twin martial souls like Tang San, the quality of any single martial soul would be just as good. At worst, she could replicate Tang San's rise to power. As long as she didn't ruin her martial soul and was a little faster than him, she could definitely rise to prominence.

But before she grows up, all of that is just her fantasy. Any possible accident could shatter everything before she can begin her growth plan.

The sudden turn of events made her realize that in this worldview, only those who survive can be called "strong," while the rest are "weak" forgotten in the corners of history.

She's just a "talented but weak person."

Even someone as upright and honorable as Qian Daoliu, a moral exemplar and gentleman in the entire Douluo Continent, was ultimately judged as a "coward" by his great-grandfather Tang Chen, simply because he died in the end due to his sacrifice to Qian Renxue during the Divine Trial, while his great-grandfather lived to the end.

The dead cannot refute the opinions of the living.

Yinlan didn't want to know how the Douluo people would judge her after her death. She didn't want to die; she wanted to live, she wanted to become strong, she...

...a thirst for power.

Fun fact for today: Gintoki's initial cause of death was not a sacrifice, but suicide.

Of course, he later changed the established rules and changed everything to sacrifice.

Good afternoon, everyone!

(End of this chapter)