Chapter 2: The Second Martial Soul, Demon Blood
"Sister, Sister Su."
Before reaching Lin Yang's doorstep, Village Chief Tai Lon's loud voice could already be heard from two miles away.
With a "creak," the wooden door, whose original color was obscured by peeling paint, was opened, and an old woman with silver hair walked out.
This was Lin Yang's grandmother, Su Xi.
"Grandma," Lin Yang quickly stepped forward and skillfully helped Su Xi up.
Su Xi had difficulty with her legs, so Lin Yang went to the Spirit Hall by himself.
"Xiao Yang, what were the results?"
As soon as Su Xi finished speaking, Tai Lon, who was beside her, immediately said,
"Sister Su, you can enjoy a comfortable life at home from now on! Xiao Yang awakened innate spirit power, and it's Level Five! Level Five! At the very least, he can become a Spirit Ancestor."
Tai Lon held up five fingers, his voice trembling, clearly due to excitement.
Su Xi was full of disbelief, only believing that her grandson had become a Soul Master after Lin Yang nodded.
For people from small families like them, becoming a Soul Master was simply bringing glory to their ancestors.
"Good, good, good. I knew Xiao Yang would definitely amount to something."
"Oh right, Sister Su," Tai Lon quickly introduced Su Yuntao,
"This is Master Su Yuntao, who performed Xiao Yang's Martial Soul awakening. He wants to take Xiao Yang to the Spirit Hall. What do you think?"
"Ah... this..."
Although she was reluctant, for the sake of her grandson's future, Su Xi decided to endure the pain and let him go.
Just as she was about to speak, Lin Yang suddenly said from the side,
"I'm not going. Grandma is old, and I don't want to be too far from her."
"Xiao Yang, I..."
"Grandma, just listen to me this time," Lin Yang reassured her,
"My innate spirit power isn't considered high. With so many geniuses in the Spirit Hall, I definitely won't be prioritized. It's better to go to the Junior Spirit Master Academy first and make plans after I've grown stronger."
Seeing that Lin Yang's words were reasonable and well-founded, Su Xi suddenly felt that her grandson seemed to have matured.
"This..." Tai Lon subconsciously looked at Su Yuntao beside him, afraid that he would get angry.
"It seems I was presumptuous."
Su Yuntao wasn't annoyed; instead, he felt that although Lin Yang was young, his considerations were very thorough. He said,
"How about this: I'll prepare your Spirit Certification for you. Just take the certification and report to the Nuoding City Junior Spirit Master Academy three months from now. We'll use your village's Work-Study Student slot for your enrollment."
The reason he offered the Work-Study Student status was that he saw Lin Yang's family was not well-off.
"Yes, yes, yes, Master Su, please rest assured," Tai Lon quickly said.
Lin Yang also bowed slightly: "Thank you, Master Su!"
Su Yuntao personally issued a Spirit Certification, left his Martial Soul imprint, handed it to Lin Yang, and after offering some encouragement, he immediately left Red Maple Village.
"Sister Su, you and Xiao Yang enjoy your time together for now. When school is about to start, I'll have someone take Xiao Yang to Nuoding City."
Su Xi nodded: "Thank you, Village Chief."
"Hey, it's nothing," Tai Lon waved his hand, then looked at Lin Yang with a kind gaze,
"Xiao Yang is the only genius with Soul Power in Red Maple Village in decades. The future of our village rests on him."
The concept of "When one man achieves the Dao, his pets and livestock ascend to heaven" is extremely common in the Douluo Continent World.
After giving a few instructions, Tai Lon turned and left.
After helping Su Xi back to the room, Su Xi lit incense for her husband and muttered softly about something.
Lin Yang didn't disturb her; he quietly left and returned to his own room.
Sitting on his bed, Lin Yang slowly raised his left hand, and a flash of blood-red light quickly disappeared.
As the light condensed, a drop of blood, bright red and even somewhat demonic, appeared on his small hand.
"How is this possible? This is..." Lin Yang's eyes darkened, and his voice sounded as if it was squeezed out from between his teeth,
"Demon Blood?"
That's right, Lin Yang's second Martial Soul was actually the blood of the Demon King.
"Could it be from that time..."
Thoughts churned in Lin Yang's mind.
During the final moments of the decisive battle, he had been injured by Muzan's Flesh Thorns. Perhaps at that time, a small amount of Muzan's blood had already entered his body.
Muzan probably intended to turn him into a demon at the time, but unfortunately, he died too quickly.
The Demon Blood not only failed to take effect but also underwent some kind of mutation.
Even after Muzan's death, this drop of Demon Blood still survived, silently lying dormant inside him until the moment of Martial Soul awakening.
This drop of Demon King's blood seized the opportunity and became his second Martial Soul.
But why hadn't he turned into a demon before, and why wasn't he afraid of the sun?
Lin Yang touched the Demon Slayer Mark on his face.
If his guess was correct, the reason he hadn't turned into a demon over the past six years was entirely due to the Demon Slayer Mark suppressing the Demon Blood, preventing it from taking effect.
And the fact that he felt his innate spirit power was more than Level Five was likely due to the consumption caused by the Demon Slayer Mark suppressing the Demon Blood.
"If that's the case..."
Lin Yang's breathing suddenly changed, and the Demon Slayer Mark on his face completely melted away like ice and snow, revealing a rather handsome face.
"Just as I thought," Lin Yang looked at himself in the mirror, a hint of joy appearing on his face.
Although his memory hadn't recovered over the past few years, his instinct as the Sun Hashira remained, and subconsciously, he used the Demon Slayer Mark to suppress the Demon Blood.
He didn't have a natural Demon Slayer Mark, but it seemed that after this transmigration, his body was even more compatible with Sun Breathing.
If his compatibility with Sun Breathing was ninety percent in the Demon Slayer World, it was now at least over two hundred percent.
Following this, Lin Yang looked at the Demon Blood in his hand, his expression fluctuating.
As the Sun Hashira, he naturally felt aversion towards demons, always killing all evil demons outright.
But now that the Demon Blood had become his second Martial Soul, he couldn't get rid of it even if he wanted to.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Yang left home and headed towards a desolate area behind the village where almost no one went.
He wanted to experience the effects of this Demon Blood Martial Soul.
After tinkering around all afternoon, Lin Yang finally figured out the state of the Demon Blood Martial Soul.
Logically speaking, blood should belong to the Body Spirit category.
But his Demon Blood Martial Soul was more like a special Beast Spirit, which could attach attributes to himself through an "possession" state, strengthening his physique.
After using the Demon Blood Martial Soul, Lin Yang unsurprisingly turned into a demon.
Aside from lacking Blood Demon Art, it had all the expected demonic traits: extreme craving for flesh and blood, fear of sunlight, enhanced physique, Super Regeneration... everything a demon should have, and nothing less.
If this were ten thousand years later, he would definitely be a seed for an Evil Spirit Master.
Fortunately, Lin Yang could control whether he became human or demon by controlling the Demon Blood Martial Soul, which was a blessing amid misfortune.
"Sigh, forget it. Since this is fate, I should make good use of this Martial Soul."
It was predictable that Lin Yang would frequently use the Demon Blood Martial Soul from now on.
Solely because of that Super Regeneration ability, it could be considered a cheat in this World.
In other words, no matter how severe Lin Yang's injuries were, as long as he didn't die immediately, he could use the Demon Blood Martial Soul to regenerate, even if he was crippled.
Demons are just that unreasonable.
Of course, when it's time to lay low, he must lay low.
If he was too flashy, he could easily be captured, sliced up, and researched.
Moreover, the so-called immortality, aside from the sun being its biggest nemesis, could also be defeated if all his cells were completely destroyed.
Given his current strength, quite a few people could achieve that.
At the same time, he needed to find a way to overcome the weakness of the Demon Blood Martial Soul: its fear of sunlight.
Because of his involvement, the entire Kamado family survived, and Nezuko never turned into a demon. Therefore, until the end of the Second Cycle, no demon appeared that wasn't afraid of sunlight.
Nezuko's experience is hard to replicate, but the Douluo World is a fantasy World, and there must be ways to resolve Martial Soul defects.
If he could resolve the Martial Soul's defect, perhaps... he could let Grandma Su Xi live longer.
Lin Yang silently tucked this goal away in his heart.