Yu Xiaogang: It Was Nothing but a Little Hardship

At the bottom of the Thunder Pool.

Yu Xiaoheng slowly opened his eyes.

His originally pitch-black pupils now flickered with specks of silver-blue lightning, appearing and vanishing in their depths like a thunderous sea of stars hidden within.

He examined himself inwardly.

Perfected Dragon Body. His sinews and bones resonated as one, his blood and vitality flowed like mercury.

That domineering Thunder Mark imprinted upon his Golden Holy Dragon Spirit gave him an intimate, blood-bound connection to the Power of Lightning around him.

It worked!

Excitement surged through Yu Xiaoheng's heart.

Sure enough, it was just as he had thought.

The instability of his Martial Soul was not a flaw!

It also represented limitless malleability, the potential for evolution!

Using the Thunder Pool as a furnace and the Holy Dragon Bone as his foundation, he had successfully granted his Golden Holy Dragon Spirit the authority to command thunder!

This was only the beginning.

In the future—flames, ice, light, darkness...

His Martial Soul would possess endless possibilities!

At that moment, Yu Xiaoheng's figure was completely engulfed in lightning, looking incomparably perilous.

In truth, with a thought from him, the vast thunder was completely Devoured, becoming nourishment for the Thunder Mark and thoroughly solidifying this evolution!

At the same time, outside the Thunder Pool, the frenzied cheers gradually subsided.

That was because the lightning vortex, which had already begun shrinking, not only failed to disperse but instead maintained its terrifying scale as it poured madly into the figure at its center.

"What's going on?"

An elder of the Blue Lightning Sect was the first to notice that something was wrong, his voice trembling slightly.

"Perfected Dragon Body is already the limit of Thunder Pool body tempering. He... he's still absorbing it?!"

"Stop! Young Master Xiaoheng! Come out now!"

"If this continues, he'll burst apart!"

Cries of alarm rose one after another.

On the platform, Yu Yuanzhen's brows, which had only just relaxed, furrowed once more.

He could sense that the origin power of the Thunder Pool was draining away at an astonishing pace, while Yu Xiaoheng's aura seemed locked at a certain threshold and no longer rose.

Energy entered, but none left.

This was the most dangerous sign!

Yu Luomian's expression was equally grave as he looked toward Liu Erlong beside him.

The tear tracks Liu Erlong had only just wiped dry were soaked by fresh tears.

She bit her lip hard, her hands clenched into fists.

"Brother Xiaoheng..."

In the viewing stands.

Tang Wei of the Clear Sky Sect and Ning Zhenyuan of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect also noticed the abnormality at the same time.

Ning Zhenyuan frowned slightly. "Sect Master Yu, the state of your worthy nephew Xiaoheng... does not seem right."

Tang Wei said in a deep voice, "Too much is as bad as too little. His body has already reached perfection. If he keeps absorbing, I fear it will damage his foundation."

Everyone's hearts rose into their throats.

Wild elation had turned into extreme tension.

Yu Yuanzhen and the others' eyes had turned red.

"No!"

"We have to forcibly bring Xiaoheng out..."

But...

A sudden change occurred!

The lightning vortex hovering above the Thunder Pool abruptly froze without warning!

Then, at ten times its previous speed, it began to contract madly!

All light, all electricity, all energy flooded into Yu Xiaoheng's body in that one-thousandth of an instant!

The Thunder Pool returned to calm.

Only wisps of electrical arcs remained on the water's surface, proving that the apocalyptic sight from moments ago had not been an illusion.

And at the center of the pool.

Yu Xiaoheng remained seated cross-legged, his posture as straight as a pine.

After that momentary silence, his aura began to soar wildly in geometric progression!

"This... this is..."

An elder stammered as he pointed at Yu Xiaoheng, unable to finish a single sentence.

The elder who had spoken earlier stared with wide eyes and roared out the rest of his words with all his strength.

"Holy... holy shit! He made it!"

"The Fourth Level of Body Tempering!"

He had made it!

Just as everyone feared he would explode and die, not only had he survived, but he had even...

Broken through again?!

In the viewing stands, the muscles on Tang Wei's face twitched violently.

He slowly sat down and picked up his teacup, only to discover that his hand was somewhat unsteady.

As he looked at Yu Xiaoheng in the pool, the Blue Lightning became a long, bitter laugh.

"Tang Hao..."

"You are far inferior to him."

After a second of dead silence, the members of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan erupted with cheers a hundred times more intense than before!

"A True Dragon! A True Dragon has been born in our clan!"

"Hahaha! Heaven blesses the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan!"

Several elders flushed red with excitement, high-fiving one another like madmen.

Yu Yuanzhen swept away all his previous gloom and let out a long roar toward the sky, his voice making the dome hum.

"Good! Good! My son Xiaoheng has received our ancestors' favor!"

Liu Erlong smiled through her tears, yet her tears flowed even more fiercely.

Amid the surging waves of cheers, there were always a few reefs that seemed utterly out of place.

In a corner, Yu Xiaogang stood quietly.

Several disciples nearby cast undisguised looks of contempt at him.

"Hmph, he used to boast that he was the sect's number one genius. Now look at him. Compared to Young Master Xiaoheng, he's as different as clouds and mud!"

"Exactly. With his Martial Soul mutated into that ghastly state, he still wants to inherit the position of sect master? What a fool's dream!"

"You said Young Master Xiaoheng couldn't make it, right? What about now?!"

Yet Yu Xiaogang did not get angry.

He did not even spare those people a glance.

His gaze passed through the frenzied crowd and fell upon his elder brother at the center of the Thunder Pool.

How familiar this scene was.

Once upon a time, the one receiving the crowd's contemptuous gazes had been Yu Xiaoheng.

And he had been the one basking in boundless glory.

Yu Xiaogang smiled.

Sure enough, my theory was right.

Tempering oneself in extreme environments can indeed promote a Martial Soul's evolution in a positive direction!

The sect disciples' evolution had been so weak before only because the resources they invested were far from enough!

My brother used his own body to prove my hypothesis!

So what if there are endless insults?

At most, I am merely walking the path Xiaoheng once walked.

Seeing his expression, one disciple grew even more displeased. He strode forward and blocked Yu Xiaogang's path.

"You still have the nerve to smile?"

The disciple pointed at Yu Xiaogang's nose.

"Yu Xiaogang! Xiaoheng is a genius, while you are nothing but trash!"

Yu Xiaogang finally raised his eyes and looked at him quietly, his gaze calm and unruffled.

The disciple's heart tightened under that gaze. Though he had prepared a bellyful of vicious insults, he could not utter a single word.

He only felt like a clown making a spectacle of himself.

"Hmph!"

Finding it boring, the disciple cursed under his breath, turned around, and returned to the crowd.

A sentence his elder brother had once said suddenly echoed in Yu Xiaogang's mind.

Back then, he had still been immersed in the halo of genius, and he had regarded Yu Xiaoheng's endurance with nothing but disdain.

Back then, he did not understand the meaning of those words. Now, he had become the person in them.

His lips moved, and a soft laugh escaped him.

I... once surpassed Xiaoheng through theoretical knowledge, and now I have verified my hypothesis about Martial Soul Evolution.

My path, Yu Xiaogang's path, has only just begun.

As for these insults and attacks, just as Xiaoheng said...

They are nothing but a little hardship.