Forget It, Nothing Worth Mentioning

The Dust Family, main hall.

Candlelight flickered, casting the hall in semi-darkness. Chen Li stood alone in the hall. Before him, in the main seat, sat a man with a stern face, appearing to be around thirty years old.

He was dressed in fine clothes, his fingertips tapping rhythmically on the armrest of the purple sandalwood chair. His gaze upon Chen Li held no trace of fatherly affection, only scrutiny and undisguised disappointment.

This was the current patriarch of the Dust Family, Chen Ran, a Level 57 Battle Soul King with the Star Dust Sword Martial Soul.

His talent was not particularly outstanding among past Dust Family patriarchs. His position was gained more through shrewdness and ruthlessness.

"Servant Dave sent word that you failed to absorb a Soul Ring?" Chen Ran's voice was indifferent, betraying no emotion, yet the invisible pressure seemed to make the air in the hall congeal.

"Yes, Father. The Soul Ring shattered during the final fusion stage and could not be absorbed," Chen Li straightened his back, meeting his father's gaze calmly.

Six years after transmigrating, he had long since seen through the true nature of this man of blood relation. After his mother's early death, he, the legitimate eldest son, was more of a family symbol and a pawn for marriage alliances than someone cherished for family ties.

Chen Ran had numerous illegitimate children outside the family; Chen Li vaguely knew of no less than three or four, all of whom were being secretly nurtured.

"Trash," Chen Ran slowly uttered two words, his tone as dismissive as brushing dust from his sleeve.

"Innate Full Soul Power? Top-tier Lightning Variant Martial Soul? Hah, you can't even absorb a Hundred Year Soul Ring. Your glorious awakening has become a colossal joke! You've shamed my Dust Family today!

Chen Li remained silent, offering no defense, nor displaying any hint of grievance or anger.

Defense was useless, and anger was merely a manifestation of a weakling's incompetence. He simply stood quietly, as if the harsh words fell upon him without stirring the slightest ripple.

This almost apathetic calmness, however, caused a deeper displeasure to flash in Chen Ran's eyes. He detested this son.

"The family does not support the useless, much less the trash that brings shame upon the family," Chen Ran stood up, looking down at Chen Li from his superior height, and delivered his verdict.

"Three months. Within three months, if you cannot resolve this Soul Ring issue and prove you still have a shred of value, then pack your things and leave the Dust Family. There are plenty of others who can take the position of Dust Family heir."

After speaking, he didn't spare Chen Li another glance, flicked his sleeve, and turned to enter the rear hall.

The cold finality offered no room for negotiation.

Chen Li watched his father's disappearing back, the corner of his mouth curling imperceptibly, as if in mockery, or perhaps relief.

He slightly raised his head to look at the decorations overhead, then turned, and left the suffocating main hall with steady steps.

I haven't failed yet.

Chen Li narrowed his eyes. When he had attempted to absorb that Soul Ring today, although he had ultimately failed, he had also heard the system's prompt.

[Ding!]

[Acquired Hundred Year Soul Ring *1 (Quality: Flawed)]

Chen Li opened his system panel and looked at the single, lonely yellow Soul Ring within. He just hadn't found the right path yet. Time... was still plentiful.

Moonlight illuminated Chen Li's profile. His expression was calm, with only a fleeting glint of lightning in his eyes betraying his mood...

The news spread like wildfire. Within three days, the entire upper-class society of Star Luo City knew that the Dust Family's exceptionally talented legitimate son was actually a waste who couldn't absorb Soul Rings.

The former awe, envy, and fawning quickly turned into ridicule, pity, and schadenfreude. Occasionally, when Chen Li went out, he could feel pointing fingers and suppressed snickers behind his back.

However, none of this caused significant ripples in Chen Li's heart.

He had expected this day to come long ago.

The soul of a transmigrator made it impossible for him to fully integrate into this feudal clan, and he lacked any feeling for so-called family honor. Over the past six years, relying on his status as heir and a mind far beyond that of a child, he had already made considerable preparations in secret.

His greatest reliance was money.

His annual allowances, birthday gifts, and especially the substantial New Year's money and gifts from various parties were all carefully saved by him.

The Dust Family was wealthy, and these amounts meant little to the family, but to an individual, they represented astonishing wealth.

Furthermore, before his mother passed away, she had left him an ancient, bracelet-like Storage Soul Tool with an internal space of about ten cubic meters. This became his biggest secret stash, besides his system space.

After all, not everything could be stored in the system space. Currently, only Soul Rings could be placed inside; everything else was rejected by the system space.

For the three-month deadline, he hadn't truly pinned his hopes on resolving the Soul Ring issue.

The root cause of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's rejection of Soul Rings lay in the incompatibility at the rule level or insufficient quality, which was by no means solvable by conventional means on the Douluo Continent at this stage.

He used this time to do three things: First, he continued to try various methods to train the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Although there were no substantial advancements, it deepened his subtle control over lightning power.

Second, he sorted the supplies within the bracelet Soul Tool into categories. He used the remaining Gold Soul Coins to exchange a large amount of easily portable large-denomination Gold Notes and currency commonly used in the Heaven Dou Empire through covert channels. Simultaneously, he purchased high-quality wilderness survival gear, clothing, rations, clean water, and a few small defensive items.

Of course, during this time, he had tried to absorb Soul Rings many times, but without exception, they all failed. After failing, the Soul Rings were absorbed into the system space.

The last day of the deadline, early morning.

Chen Li's courtyard was unusually quiet.

He placed his last few changes of clothes and a notebook he had compiled into the bracelet. He glanced around the room he had lived in for six years, his eyes calm and unwavering.

This place had never given him the warmth of a home. Leaving held no reluctance.

He didn't wait for Chen Ran to send someone to fetch him. Dressed neatly in dark blue, practical attire, with a small backpack as a disguise, he proactively went to the side gate of the Dust Mansion.

At the side gate, a butler was already waiting, his face wearing a perfunctory expression. He handed over a light money bag.

"The Patriarch has instructed that this is for Young Master's travel expenses. From this point forward, whatever the Young Master does, it will have no connection to the Dust Family. We hope the Young Master... will take care of himself."

Inside the money bag were one hundred Gold Soul Coins, an insult to a former heir being expelled.

Chen Li looked at the money bag and took it directly.

At the same time, he glanced lightly at the butler. The calmness and depth in his eyes made the experienced butler's heart inexplicably jolt, his hand holding out the money bag freezing in mid-air.

"Please relay a message to my father," Chen Li's voice was clear and steady, "Just wish him... forget it, there's nothing to say."

With that, he turned without hesitation, stepped over the high threshold of the Dust Family, and his figure quickly merged into the bustling crowd on the street outside, never looking back once.