Changes After Five Years

The shock Ye Chen had brought the two senior elders today nearly rivaled the total number of shocks they had experienced over the rest of their lives.

Ever since becoming Title Douluo, they had never encountered anyone who brought them as many surprises as Ye Chen.

After gaining this First Soul Skill, Ye Chen had become a prized target, someone any team would fight to recruit.

Even if he were placed in an army, he would be capable of changing the outcome of an entire war!

Xiao Chen is a child worth the academy's full effort to nurture!

The two pillars of Shrek Academy arrived at the same thought without prior discussion.

"Xiao Chen, what level is your Soul Power at now?" Elder Mu asked from his reclining chair.

"It has already reached level fourteen," Ye Chen answered respectfully.

Having witnessed so many surprises, the two senior elders seemed to have grown accustomed to them.

They were not surprised by this result. If he had absorbed a fifteen-hundred-year First Soul Ring and still failed to reach this level, that would have been surprising.

After leaving Sea God's Pavilion, Ye Chen walked along the academy roads when he sensed a faint, elusive voice calling to him from the direction of the Star Dou Forest.

But when he focused and tried to sense it carefully, the voice disappeared again.

After several fruitless attempts, he concluded that it had merely been an illusion.

That evening, Ye Chen lay on the small bed in his room, deep in thought.

"Why does that flame seem to contain such a powerful life force? It feels like the Nirvana Fire among the Ten Great Primordial Fires of the Great Wilderness. But isn't the flame possessed by the Three-legged Golden Crow the top-ranked True Sun Fire?"

Recalling what had happened when he fused with the Soul Ring, Ye Chen murmured to himself.

He could not make sense of it no matter how much he thought about it.

If he remembered correctly, True Sun Fire was a flame derived from the sun. It was a fire of absolute hardness and pure yang, and should not possess such boundless life force.

With that thought, Ye Chen once more sensed the fiery aura carried by the Three-legged Golden Crow on the Fusang Divine Tree martial soul within his sea of consciousness.

It truly did possess an immense vitality.

Unable to figure it out, he cast aside the jumble of thoughts in his mind and decided to deal with it later.

Ye Chen sat cross-legged and quickly entered a meditative state.

Ever since awakening his martial soul two months ago, he had spent every night meditating.

He did not want to abandon effort just because he possessed great talent. Seizing every moment to cultivate and grow stronger was the proper path.

Besides, he was currently like someone sitting atop a treasure mountain without knowing how to enter it. He seemed to possess an ultimate flame, yet did not know how to use it, leaving him no choice but to stare at it helplessly.

Nothing could be more miserable than that.

At midnight, a wave of intense pain interrupted Ye Chen's meditation.

The source of the pain was still his pair of gemlike eyes.

The river of time remained as swift as ever, and in the blink of an eye, five years quietly passed.

Early in the morning, on the official road leading from Shrek Academy to the Star Dou Forest.

A girl who looked fifteen or sixteen skipped along the road with a skewer of candied hawthorn in her hand.

Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail that hung behind her, while her light-blue fitted outfit outlined her youthful vigor.

Not far behind her followed a boy around the same age.

He was slender and upright, with short dark-blue hair. Though still young, he gave off a refined air.

With both hands clasped behind his head, a gentle smile rested on his handsome face.

"Bei Bei, hurry up! We won't make it there before noon otherwise!" the girl urged, wrinkling her delicate upturned nose and looking back with bright, lively eyes.

"Got it, Xiao Ya!" Bei Bei replied, quickening his pace.

"What did you call me?" Xiao Ya's beautiful eyes widened in mock anger.

"Alright, alright, Teacher Xiao Ya!" With a flash of movement, Bei Bei arrived beside Xiao Ya and ingratiatingly began massaging her shoulders.

"Hmph! That's more like it. Remember, when we're outside, you have to call me Teacher Xiao Ya!"

Xiao Ya proudly lifted her chin and shot him a charming sidelong glance, leaving Bei Bei momentarily dazed.

Their names were Bei Bei and Tang Ya. They were a couple, both third-year students of Shrek Academy's Outer Court. Once the school year began, they would advance to the fourth year.

This trip to the Star Dou Forest was to help Tang Ya obtain her third Soul Ring.

The young couple bickered and teased each other as they traveled down the official road, growing farther and farther away from Shrek City.

On a tall tree not far ahead of them, a boy lounged lazily on a thick branch, a small stick picked up from the ground hanging from his mouth.

The boy looked eleven or twelve years old. He wore a black fitted outfit, and his hair was an uncommon shade of black, streaked with strands of gold.

His face was so handsome that even girls would envy it. Though he wore a sunny smile, his Twin Pupils gave him an unusual aura.

If one had to describe him in a single sentence, it would be: a gentleman as flawless as jade, unparalleled in this world.

This boy was none other than the eleven-year-old Ye Chen.

Compared to five years ago, his body had grown much more upright, and he had already reached a height of 1.7 meters. His muscles were firm, and he no longer looked as frail as he had in childhood.

There were also far more golden strands in his hair than before. He had considered that it might be because the Fusang Divine Tree martial soul had obtained its second Soul Ring.

He had another deeply hidden change as well: his Twin Pupils had grown far more profound than they had been five years ago.

Over the past five years, his eyes would ache every two months, only to be completely fine again when he awoke the following day.

Ye Chen had not told anyone about this. He was the only one who knew.

At first, he had worried that this periodic pain might cause some kind of effect, but over time, he grew used to it.

Ye Chen was lying high up in the tree, and with the branches and leaves concealing him, an ordinary person would not notice him without looking carefully.

Seeing the boy and girl approaching from afar, a meaningful smile appeared at the corner of Ye Chen's mouth.

"Bei Bei, are you planning to leave without greeting your elder? Is that what your teachers taught you?" Ye Chen said loudly with his eyes closed.

As for why he had closed his eyes, it was naturally to put on an act.

The sudden voice rang out over the quiet official road, startling Bei Bei and Tang Ya.

Following the direction of the voice, the two looked up and spotted the "dignified" Ye Chen on the tall tree beside them.

The gravity on his face needed no thought at all. One glance made it obvious that he was faking it.

"Xiao Chen, why are you here? Does Dean Xian Lin'er know?" Bei Bei asked helplessly.

Ye Chen was the son of Xian Lin'er and Qian Duoduo, and he called Mu En Grandfather.

Mu En was Bei Bei's great-grandfather, so by seniority alone, Ye Chen was technically part of Bei Bei's grandfather's generation.

But since they were not related by blood, Ye Chen had reluctantly agreed to raise Bei Bei's standing by one generation after Bei Bei repeatedly complained.

"Bei Bei, what did you call me?" Ye Chen widened his eyes and feigned anger in the tone of an elder addressing a junior.

"Uncle," Bei Bei said through twitching lips, thoroughly unwilling.

He suddenly realized that Ye Chen's expression and words were exactly the same as Tang Ya's moments ago!

The main plot of Douluo Dalu 2 has begun. What kind of story will unfold next?

The early stages will follow the original work for a while, but it will absolutely not fawn over the original protagonist. Some problematic elements have been changed, though some parts are no longer easy to alter. Overall, things will probably diverge from the original after the first school year.