Beginning

Douluo Continent, Star Luo Empire, Duke White Tiger's Mansion, twenty li west of Star Luo City's outskirts, Willow catkins drifted freely through the breeze. Amid the palace-like complex of magnificent buildings, a low, dilapidated woodshed looked utterly out of place.

The woodshed was sparsely furnished, containing only a battered wooden bed and a wardrobe with no doors. The only few feminine garments inside were covered in a layer of dust.

Two boys sat on the wooden bed.

One of them had a hint of dark blue at the tips of his hair. His face was thin, and he looked about eleven or twelve years old. He wore a faded gray cloth shirt.

His eyes were tightly shut. From time to time, a wisp of white vapor escaped through his nose and mouth with the rise and fall of his breathing.

Sitting beside him was a boy of similar age and dress. The difference was that this boy bore a faint golden sun-shaped mark between his brows. Rather than cultivating, he quietly watched the bustling scene beyond the window.

Pfft!

The aura around the cultivating boy suddenly surged.

"Brother Jie, I succeeded." Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, joy written across his face.

"Good." Xu Jie came back to himself. "Yuhao, recover your soul power first."

"Mm." Huo Yuhao nodded, closed his eyes, and began sorting out the somewhat unruly soul power within him caused by his breakthrough.

Time passed, and the chaotic aura around Huo Yuhao gradually vanished as the soul power in his body settled.

"Let's go!"

When Huo Yuhao opened his eyes again, Xu Jie picked up two bundles, handing one to Huo Yuhao and slinging the other over his own back.

Creak!

Huo Yuhao abruptly stood up, and the long-neglected wooden bed beneath him let out a startled groan.

He jumped down from the bed, put on his cloth shoes, and carried the bundle Xu Jie had handed him. The two left the woodshed together.

The moment they stepped outside, specks of white fluorescence appeared in Huo Yuhao's eyes. He moved ahead of Xu Jie and led him through the magnificent complex of buildings.

Though they had walked this route out of the Duke's Mansion countless times, they remained extremely cautious. They carefully avoided the manor's servants, and no one noticed them making their way through the estate.

Before long, the back gate on the northern side of the Duke's Mansion opened soundlessly. Two figures darted out, gently closed the gate behind them, and, after making sure no one was following, ran north without looking back.

Although the Duke's Mansion stood outside Star Luo City, the roads around it led in all directions. The two did not immediately take the main road. Instead, they traveled through the woods beside it for more than ten minutes before finally stepping onto the road.

As soon as they reached the main road, Xu Jie opened the bundle on his back and took out a small white porcelain bottle with a chipped mouth. "Yuhao, come apply some medicine."

Even with the White Tiger Dagger clearing their way, they could not avoid getting small cuts from branches while traveling through the woods.

Inferior white powder was sprinkled onto Huo Yuhao's wounds. Pain came from the small cuts, yet Huo Yuhao remained expressionless and did not make a sound.

Xu Jie found this strange. He looked up at Huo Yuhao and saw that his eyes were red, fixed tightly upon Duke White Tiger's Mansion to the south, which was nearly disappearing from their sight.

He raised a hand and patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder. Huo Yuhao snapped back to himself, wiped his eyes, took the white porcelain bottle, poured out some powder, and applied it to Xu Jie's wounds.

Xu Jie turned to look at the Duke's Mansion that was about to vanish from view. Unlike Huo Yuhao, his black eyes were utterly calm.

Huo Yuhao's mother, Huo Yun'er, had been the Duke's personal maid. She had grown up alongside him, and a personal maid was meant to serve her master. Thus, twelve years ago, Huo Yuhao had naturally been born.

Not long after Huo Yuhao's birth, an elderly woman on the verge of death arrived holding an infant and sought out Huo Yun'er.

Though age had greatly altered her appearance, Huo Yun'er still recognized her old friend from when the Sun Moon Empire and Star Luo Empire had established diplomatic relations. She took the infant from her friend's trembling hands.

The instant Huo Yun'er accepted the infant, her friend, whose life was like a guttering candle, uttered the two words "Xu Jie." Then, because she had burned away her life force, her entire body dissolved into specks of light.

Even at the end, Xu Jie's mother had remained cautious. Before reaching Star Luo City, she had already shaken off those pursuing her and led them in the wrong direction.

Moreover, because she had burned her life force, Xu Jie's mother's life aura had long been exceedingly weak. With her deliberate concealment, she passed through the Duke's Mansion and reached Huo Yun'er's small courtyard without being discovered.

After all, if she had been discovered, she would never have reached Huo Yun'er's courtyard.

Fortunately, though Huo Yun'er still had no official status at the time, having borne a child for the Duke gave her a small measure of authority. Finding a personal page for Huo Yuhao was no problem.

Thus, under the pretense of adopting a page for Huo Yuhao, Huo Yun'er hid Xu Jie away. She took him on a circuit through the Lichian Institute (orphanage) in Star Luo City before returning to her own small courtyard.

What surprised Huo Yun'er was that Xu Jie behaved very well throughout the entire journey. He did not make a single sound or cause the slightest commotion.

Although Huo Yun'er told others that Xu Jie was to be Huo Yuhao's page, she treated Xu Jie just as she treated Huo Yuhao.

Because his body had not fully developed, two-year-old Xu Jie's memories from his previous life came and went, leaving him dull and foolish at times, yet extremely lively at others.

It was also during this time that the White Tiger Duke began leaving to wage war. All affairs within the manor were handed over to the Duchess, who, for the sake of her two children, began suppressing every factor in the estate that could possibly affect them.

On the day the White Tiger Duke left, Huo Yun'er and her two children were forced to move into a woodshed in the servants' quarters.

All their sources of income were cut off as well. Fortunately, Xu Jie's mother had left behind a considerable amount of money and valuables. The three lived in poverty, but their lives were still fairly decent. For two years, Xu Jie and Huo Yuhao occasionally helped Huo Yun'er with chores to earn a little extra money.

But the problem lay with Xu Jie's unreliable memories. One day, when the Duke returned from war, Xu Jie relied on the memories in his mind and prepared to complain to the White Tiger Duke.

But how could a four-year-old child, one who possessed only fragments of his memories, possibly be a match for the Duchess?

His complaint failed, and he was captured and brought back. If Huo Yun'er had not shielded him with her body that night, he would have been beaten to death. It was also that night that all of Xu Jie's memories returned.

Only then did he fully understand that he had transmigrated again. This was the second world he had transmigrated to—Douluo Continent, and even the timeline of its second part. The first world he had transmigrated to was the world of Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre.

Xu Jie was fine that night, but Huo Yun'er had already been in poor health. After suffering another beating, she fell seriously ill that very night.

Fortunately, Xu Jie had learned the "Nine Yang Divine Skill" in his previous life. When he circulated his Internal Energy, he discovered that his body actually contained a considerable amount of Internal Energy. On second thought, this was Douluo Continent—what he possessed should have been Innate Soul Power.

At that thought, he hurriedly circulated his soul power according to the first level of the Nine Yang Divine Skill. After converting the Innate Soul Power within his body into Nine Yang Soul Power, he immediately sent it into Huo Yun'er's body to heal her wounds.

But perhaps because of his martial soul, just as Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill could not break through the first level, Xu Jie's Nine Yang Divine Skill had fallen into the same predicament.

The Nine Yang Divine Skill was indeed miraculous, but its miraculous qualities would only reveal themselves one by one as one's cultivation of the Nine Yang Divine Skill deepened.

The first-level Nine Yang Divine Skill did possess the ability to heal injuries, but that ability was far too weak.

Thus, even with Xu Jie continuously treating Huo Yun'er's injuries, Huo Yun'er was still left with a lasting ailment.