Three Years

After Leng Yaozhu left, only Dai Yuhao and the towering Han Tianyi remained in the room.

Dai Yuhao looked up at the figure standing like an iron tower. His little hands unconsciously clenched into fists, and he could not help feeling the instinctive fear a child felt before an unknown powerhouse.

Han Tianyi merely narrowed his eyes slightly, and Dai Yuhao felt his entire body lighten, as though an invisible, gentle force had lifted him.

Then, his whole body slowly floated upward until his line of sight was level with the standing Han Tianyi. The sudden sensation of hovering made his eyes widen slightly.

A strange smile appeared on Han Tianyi's stern face. Staring at Dai Yuhao, he asked slowly, "Kid, what exactly is your relationship with Vice Tower Master Leng?"

Dai Yuhao blinked his large, moist, innocent eyes and replied, "Relationship? We don't really have one. But Aunt Leng is especially nice to me. She took me to eat lots of delicious things I'd never had before!"

His tone was full of pure gratitude and joy, without the slightest trace of falsehood or concealment.

Seeing the utterly genuine innocence on the child's face, a sharp glint flickered in Han Tianyi's eyes. He knew he would not get any deeper information no matter how much he asked.

The deliberately stern lines of his face softened somewhat, revealing a slightly stiff but earnest attempt at a kindly smile.

"Vice Tower Master Leng took you to eat good food, so... this old man will take you to try some other 'good food' too!"

"How about it? I guarantee it'll be a flavor you've never tried before."

The words "good food" held irresistible appeal for Dai Yuhao.

The fear in his eyes was instantly replaced by curiosity and anticipation. Looking at Han Tianyi with sparkling eyes, he nodded eagerly. "Okay! Thank you, Elder Han!"

"Then let's go."

Han Tianyi said no more. With a thought, the invisible force supporting Dai Yuhao steadily set him back on the ground.

With a light sweep of his sleeve, the wall slid open soundlessly, revealing a passage behind it that extended downward and glowed with a faint pearly light.

"Stay close, kid!"

Han Tianyi glanced back at Dai Yuhao before stepping into the passage first.

Dai Yuhao hurried after him on his short little legs, feeling both uneasy and endlessly curious about that "flavor he'd never tried."

This time, Dai Yuhao did not "wake" from the dream until a full month had passed.

His consciousness seemed to pierce through an invisible boundary, once more sensing the hard bed beneath him, the familiar faint dampness in the air, and his mother's soft, steady breathing.

He opened his eyes to see the familiar cracked ceiling of his Small House.

Compared with the clean, bright, carefree life at the Spirit Pagoda, the days in this remote Small Courtyard of the White Tiger Duke Mansion seemed truly bleak and difficult.

Yet the experiences of that month-long "Dreamscape" had not made Dai Yuhao spoiled.

He did not feel the slightest disdain for the poverty before him. To him, being with his mother, Huo Yun'er, was the greatest happiness and fulfillment.

Over the following days, those strange "dreams" continued to descend upon him from time to time.

Every time he "fell asleep," the time and experiences would seamlessly continue from where the previous "Dreamscape" had left off.

Aunt Leng's meticulous guidance, Elder Han's strange special dishes that left his body warm and cozy, all the novel knowledge and things he encountered... everything continued in an orderly fashion.

His martial soul was originally an eye accompanied by a brain. Though it had yet to awaken, its effect on the growth of his intelligence still far exceeded that of ordinary children.

Thus, as he grew older and gained more knowledge, he gradually discovered something strange!

For example, the hidden injuries left behind when he was bullied in the Duke Mansion would disappear after they were healed in his "dream."

For another, after eating so much delicious food in his "dream" that he had put on quite a bit of weight, he would secretly pinch his cheeks and arms after waking, only to find that they had become rounder as well.

These abnormalities made Dai Yuhao realize that the world with Aunt Leng and countless novel things might... not have been a dream.

It might have been another world that truly existed, one he could travel between by some incomprehensible means.

Afterward, Dai Yuhao began investigating carefully. Through indirect probing, he confirmed one thing: the other world he went to might be a world ten thousand years in the future.

Naturally, the "abnormalities" Dai Yuhao could discover were even less likely to escape Leng Yaozhu, who had been closely watching him all along.

She clearly noticed the subtle changes in the child's physical condition, but since she had not experienced them herself, and because her thinking was constrained by her established understanding—

She attributed all those unbelievable phenomena to that hypothetical Mastermind.

As for the truth right before her eyes, she did not quite dare consider it in that direction. After all, that conclusion was even more unbelievable!

Time flowed by like a tranquil, deep current.

At last, the three years Leng Yaozhu had waited for came to an end.

Now, she would face the moment of verification she had long anticipated—and long dreaded.

"Yuhao."

Leng Yaozhu looked at the boy before her, who had already grown much taller.

Over three years, under Han Tianyi's careful nurturing, the once frail young child had undergone a complete transformation.

Dai Yuhao now had an upright posture, a rosy and healthy complexion, bright and spirited eyes, and abundant, surging vitality throughout his body.

His foundation was no less solid than that of any direct descendant from a great family who had been raised on piled-up resources since childhood.

"Aunt Leng!"

Dai Yuhao looked up at her voice, and a brilliant smile immediately bloomed across his face as he called out to her affectionately.

Three years of daily companionship and careful instruction had long made their relationship even closer. Calling them as close as mother and son would not be an exaggeration.

Leng Yaozhu reached out and habitually ruffled his soft hair, a smile on her lips. "Your Martial Soul Awakening is about to begin. Are you... nervous?"

Though she was asking Dai Yuhao, the depths of her eyes rippled with a faint fluctuation that was almost impossible to detect.

Heaven knew that the person whose heart was churning so violently she could barely contain herself was actually her.

Three years' worth of mysteries would receive their final answers in the coming ceremony.

Dai Yuhao's eyes shone brightly. Trying to maintain a calm appearance, he raised the corners of his mouth and said, "I'm fine, Aunt Leng. I'm not nervous."

Leng Yaozhu's gaze swept over his little hand, unconsciously clenched into a fist, its knuckles slightly white.

She could not help laughing inwardly. This child is rather adorable when he puts on a brave face.

How could Dai Yuhao possibly not be nervous?

On the Douluo Continent, Martial Soul Awakening at Six Years Old was a turning point that truly decided the trajectory of a person's fate.

If one awakened a powerful martial soul, one could embark upon the path of a Soul Master, gain the possibility of changing one's own fate and even one's family's fate, and obtain power, status, and respect.

But if one awakened a useless martial soul, one would be destined to fade into the crowd and spend one's life in mediocrity.

What was more, Dai Yuhao harbored a fervent hope in his heart.

Mom Huo Yun'er had softly told him that the White Tiger Clan possessed an inherited martial soul, the Evil Eye White Tiger—a symbol of power and glory.

As long as he could awaken the Evil Eye White Tiger martial soul, he would be... qualified to stand before his father openly and with dignity.

"Let's go."

Leng Yaozhu's gentle, calm voice sounded at just the right moment, interrupting the turbulent thoughts in Dai Yuhao's mind.

She extended her hand, and Dai Yuhao instinctively placed his slightly sweaty little hand into her warm, dry palm.

Holding his hand, Leng Yaozhu led him through the quiet corridors within Spirit Pagoda Headquarters, toward the special Awakening Room.