Would You Choose to Become a Dragon or a Pig?

Would You Choose to Become a Dragon or a Pig?

Yu Xiaomen walked outside the Awakening Hall and watched Yu Xiaogang's retreating figure. Yu Xiaogang tripped over a stone, struggled back to his feet, and continued running away.

He raised his head to look at the bright sunlight overhead, extending a hand as though trying to grasp that warm light.

"What a show that was," Yu Xiaomen murmured. Then, as if reminiscing, he added, "Mother, I didn't disappoint you. I awakened a powerful Martial Soul. It's just this Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon..." By the end, a trace of disgust appeared on Yu Xiaomen's face.

Then he said cheerfully, "Hmph, whatever. For now, I don't plan to leave the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan."

"How did he manage it with so little Innate Soul Power?" Huo Yuhao was rather puzzled.

Innate Soul Power determined the upper limit of one's future growth. Logically speaking, Yu Xiaogang's talent should have been enough for him to cultivate to the Soul Master realm. Yet in the original story, before taking the Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma, Yu Xiaogang had somehow reached the realm of a Soul Grandmaster.

Many works attributed it to the enormous amount of Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan resources he had consumed. That might have been part of the reason, but how could ordinary resources possibly accomplish such a thing?

If he had relied solely on Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to break through the limits of his talent and forcibly reach level 29, then in a sense, Yu Xiaogang could be considered a genius who had created a miracle. After all, had anyone ever seen someone with Innate Soul Power like Yu Xiaogang's become a Soul Grandmaster?

Was Yu Xiaogang a genius? Judging from the plot of Douluo Continent's first world, Yu Xiaogang had nothing whatsoever to do with genius.

There had to be something suspicious about Yu Xiaogang's growth.

Although Huo Yuhao could deduce Yu Xiaogang's future fate, it was like watching a drama—if he knew the answer from the start, the rest of the story would lose all its appeal.

Three days—no, it did not even take three days for everything to change.

Yu Xiaomen, once a cautious boy in the clan whom even any random servant could step on, had now become the most talented member of the younger generation. If he grew smoothly, he would surely hold a place in Douluo Hall in the future.

His father's attitude toward him was no longer cold and indifferent, but full of concern. After learning what Yun Niang had suffered, Yu Yuanzhen flew into a rage and ordered the execution of every servant who had ever bullied her.

The clan's other branches all had their descendants curry favor with Yu Xiaomen. Though his status as young clan master had yet to be confirmed, Yu Xiaomen had already received the treatment Yu Xiaogang once enjoyed. Wherever he went in the clan, people had no choice but to lower their heads and respectfully call him, "Young Master Xiao Men."

That day, Yu Yuanzhen handed the Sect Leader Token to Yu Xiaomen and said, "Xiao Men, this token will be yours from now on. With it, you may go anywhere within the clan. You may also use it to collect cultivation resources and request the clan elders to hunt soul beasts for you."

After explaining this, Yu Yuanzhen headed in a certain direction.

"Father, are you going to see Brother Xiaogang?" Yu Xiaomen asked with concern.

Yu Yuanzhen sighed. "After all, he is also my son—your older brother. He has locked himself in his room for three whole days without eating or drinking."

"Yes, Father, you must talk Brother Xiaogang through this properly," Yu Xiaomen said with equal concern.

Yu Yuanzhen nodded and went straight to Yu Xiaogang's room. Faint sobbing could be heard from within. Yu Yuanzhen frowned, then recalled the scene from the awakening ceremony—Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul had initially awakened as a Golden Sacred Dragon. There was no mistaking it. But something had changed afterward, and it had mutated into the Martial Soul Three-Eyed Blazing Demon.

Although it was a useless Martial Soul, Yu Yuanzhen vaguely felt that it had some mysterious connection to the Golden Sacred Dragon. He already had a few guesses regarding the cause of the Martial Soul Mutation. After all, Yu Xiaogang had once been the child he loved most and paid the most attention to. Yu Yuanzhen felt that Xiao Gang might still be salvageable.

He twisted open the lock and burst through the door.

The room was pitch-black. Light from outside shone in, making the dust floating in the air plainly visible.

Standing in the beam of light, Yu Yuanzhen's gaze swiftly locked onto Yu Xiaogang, who was curled up beneath the blankets and trembling.

With frustration at his failure to live up to expectations, he said, "Xiao Gang, what are you doing, locking yourself in this room?"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes were bloodshot, and tear tracks crisscrossed his cheeks. He said painfully, "Dad, why did I awaken Three-Eyed Blazing Demon? It was clearly the Golden Sacred Dragon at first..."

"Even if you cry from day until dawn and from dawn until night, can you cry the Golden Sacred Dragon back?" Yu Yuanzhen asked.

"With your talent, it will be difficult for you to become a Soul Master. Even if the clan could help you break through to Soul Master in one stroke, the resources consumed would not be worth it," Yu Yuanzhen continued.

Yu Xiaogang shuddered violently upon hearing this. He said anxiously, "No, don't! I want to become a Soul Master. I don't want to be an ordinary person. Father, are you going to give up on me?"

The gap between a Spirit Warrior and a Soul Master was an enormous divide of class and status. It represented the fundamental difference between ninety-nine percent of the continent's ordinary people and that final handful of Soul Masters.

Making Yu Xiaogang live as an ordinary person would be worse than killing him. Though Yu Xiaogang lacked the courage to take his own life, dying of old age was still a form of death.

Seeing Yu Xiaogang's pleading expression, Yu Yuanzhen suppressed his displeasure and said, "Listen to me first. Do you remember the half-formed Golden Sacred Dragon when your Martial Soul awakened? That was the critical moment that decided your life. Your Martial Soul seemed to have encountered some kind of obstruction. One step forward would have opened up a vast world, but if it could not take that step, it would fall into the abyss. Your physical constitution, spiritual power, and everything else were insufficient to support your Martial Soul's mutation toward the Golden Sacred Dragon, so it regressed and underwent a malignant mutation into Three-Eyed Blazing Demon."

"So don't underestimate your Martial Soul. There must be some connection between Three-Eyed Blazing Demon and the Golden Sacred Dragon."

Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang immediately understood. Then hatred for Three-Eyed Blazing Demon arose in his heart. You were supposed to be the Golden Sacred Dragon. Why did you degenerate into Three-Eyed Blazing Demon? Why?!

Yu Yuanzhen continued, "Since the Golden Sacred Dragon can degenerate malignantly into Three-Eyed Blazing Demon, there must be a way to evolve Three-Eyed Blazing Demon into the Golden Sacred Dragon."

"What way?" Yu Xiaogang hurriedly asked.

Yu Yuanzhen shook his head. "I don't know either."

"Now I will give you two choices: do you want to become a dragon, or do you want to be a pig? If it is the latter, the clan will train you as a business talent. From now on, you will manage the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's industries. As long as I remain alive, your life will not be too bad, and the clan will not make things difficult for you. But if you want to become a dragon, then all the help I can offer will be within my abilities. The path, however, must be forged by you alone. You must put in two hundred times more effort than other Soul Masters to explore this thorny road."