novel bin 59. The Investigator
59. The Investigator
On the way to the training camp, Bai Ying still showed great respect for Ling Bingtian.
This was not only because of Ling Bingtian's status as the eldest young master of the Ling family, but also because Bai Ying sensed a strong soul power fluctuation emanating from Ling Bingtian, which was almost stronger than her own!
Bai Ying was astonished to hear that Ling Bingtian's innate soul power was already at its maximum level when he awakened his martial soul. But to be able to cultivate to almost the same level as a Grand Soul Master like herself just two years later was truly astonishing.
Therefore, along the way, Bai Ying respectfully answered every question Ling Bingtian asked that she could answer.
For example, how many people are in the training camp, and how many parts does it consist of?
From Bai Ying, Ling Bingtian learned that the Ling family's entire youth training camp had about a hundred people.
Some of them were instructors sent by Fan Xiang and his team from the Extreme Ice Army, the majority were trainees, and a small number were logistics personnel.
The three parts constitute the entire youth training camp of the Ling family.
The trainees are generally divided into four groups: Heaven, Earth, Mystery, and Yellow.
All new trainees will be placed in the Yellow Battalion for basic military training.
Then, depending on the improvement of cultivation level and the completion of training, the training camp will elevate the individual's status to a higher level.
During the conversation, Ling Bingtian also learned about Bai Ying's martial spirit and cultivation level.
A ten-year-old level 21 Snowscale Green Serpent Control System Great Soul Master.
Such talent is already quite remarkable.
Even Shrek Academy is a place Bai Ying could easily go to.
However, according to Bai Ying, it depends on the Ling family's needs.
This is because, apart from the next generation of the Ling family, the other students in the Ling family's youth training camp are all children adopted from various parts of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
According to historical records, ten thousand years ago, the Sea God thwarted the Spirit Empire's plot to destroy the continent, and since then, the Church has ceased to exist on the Douluo Continent.
From that time onward, the entire Douluo Continent gradually transitioned from an era of shared power among gods to an era of monarchical sovereignty.
This led to the rampant spread of the aristocracy.
Ten thousand years ago, with the influence of the Spirit Hall, an influential church, the imperial nobles were quite willing to help ordinary people awaken their spirits to enhance their own strength.
But today, ten thousand years later, many nobles are no longer willing to awaken martial spirits for the commoner children in their jurisdiction.
On the one hand, they want to prevent exceptionally talented Soul Masters from emerging from among the common people, who, remembering their past oppression, will eventually return to take revenge on them after achieving success, seizing their status, power, or even their lives.
On the other hand, without the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads by the power of the church, the imperial nobles inevitably became somewhat complacent.
From the perspective of many nobles, even if the Sun Moon Empire and the original three great empires were to go to war again, as long as they wanted to maintain their rule, they would need the existence of these nobles.
Amazing, they wiped out the royal family.
Apart from a few who were blindly loyal to the royal family or who had received favors from the royal family, the vast majority of nobles in this era did not actually think much of the royal family.
Especially for imperial nobles whose families possessed figures at the level of Title Douluo, they often disregarded the royal family.
Therefore, the people in many places on the original Douluo Continent were even numb.
Birth—Being bullied—Working—Being bullied—Marrying and having children—Being bullied—Dying of old age or illness.
If famine strikes, they might even starve to death during the process.
This is the almost predetermined path for many ordinary people in the Douluo Continent from birth.
A noble family like the Ling family, which is willing to awaken martial souls for the common people for free for a long time, is actually an extremely rare existence among the original three great empires.
Knowing this situation, the Ling family naturally wouldn't sit idly by. The Ling family, which had always possessed one or two Title Douluos, understood one thing best.
Only with a sufficient base can one cultivate sufficiently powerful high-level Soul Masters.
Therefore, the Ling family has dispatched a certain number of Soul Masters to search for them in towns and villages throughout the Heavenly Soul Empire.
Their mission is to visit various impoverished and remote areas to awaken martial spirits for the children of the local people and test their innate soul power.
If there are any children who are talented enough, they will ask the parents if they would like to go with them.
Those who are willing will be brought back for basic literacy education, then placed in a training camp for further training, and then assigned to positions.
As for those who are unwilling to leave, the investigators will not force them, but they will not reveal their identity as members of the Ling family. Instead, they will choose to disguise themselves as a kind-hearted high-level soul master passing by.
Clearly, Bai Ying was a gifted child who chose to be taken back to the Ling family by the investigators.
According to her, she was born in a small mountain village in the western part of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
The father worked hard on weekdays, and the mother stayed home weaving small things. Apart from being bullied by the village chief's family occasionally, they managed to get by.
There is only one problem that is difficult to solve, and that is the problem of Bai Ying's martial spirit awakening when she was six years old.
The local nobles were slightly more intelligent than those who completely forbade the people under their rule from awakening their martial spirits, but not by much.
The nobles who govern the small mountain village agreed to send Soul Masters to the village to awaken their Martial Souls, but the price was that they would have to pay a full one hundred Gold Soul Coins for each person who awakened their Martial Soul.
One hundred gold soul coins!
For Bai Ying's family of origin, even if you sold everything you owned, it would still be an enormous sum that they couldn't possibly raise!
In the entire small mountain village, probably only the village chief's family has the means to pay one hundred gold soul coins to awaken a martial soul when their child reaches the appropriate age.
However, just when Bai Ying's family was about to give up on helping her awaken her martial spirit at the age of 6, a searcher from the Ling family arrived at their mountain village.
What happened next was only natural.
The searchers helped Bai Ying awaken the Snow Scale Green Serpent Martial Soul and the eighth level of innate soul power. After consulting with her family, they took them all away from the small mountain village.
Bai Ying's parents now live in a village near the Ice City, and she goes back to visit them during her breaks from training camp.
After joining the training camp, Bai Ying also received some stipends. It wasn't much, just ten gold soul coins a month, but it was enough to greatly improve her original family life.
Therefore, Bai Ying felt extremely grateful to the Ling family.
During her later education, Bai Ying learned about the fate she might have faced if she hadn't gone with the Ling family.
The Ling family's investigators also investigated the future of the children who, after awakening powerful martial souls, did not choose to go with the investigators.
Sadly, only a tiny minority of these children ultimately succeed. The vast majority succumb to hardship later in life.
"Foolish aristocratic class!" Ling Bingtian couldn't help but sigh after hearing Bai Ying's story.
During the conversation, it was obvious to the naked eye that the two people who were trying their best to follow behind Ling Bingtian and Bai Ying also fell silent.
On one hand, they were too exhausted; on the other hand, they felt a sense of empathy. After all, they were all from humble backgrounds!
Having said that, Ling Bingtian didn't ask any more questions. Instead, led by Bai Ying, they rushed towards the training camp as quickly as possible.
Finally, as the sun was about to set completely in the west, Ling Bingtian and his companions saw a large cluster of tents appear in the distance.
We've arrived at the training camp.