The Dragon Pearl was the source of the Dragon Clan's power. But at the level of a Second-Level God like the Wind Dragon King, he no longer placed much importance on it.
Instead, his immensely powerful body had become a burden that kept the Wind Dragon King from being revived.
Xiao Xiao's task now was to refine the Wind Dragon King's Dragon Pearl.
As the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City was the most prosperous and imposing city in the north of the continent.
Its towering city walls rose into the clouds, built entirely of black obsidian. Soul Master legions were stationed there year-round to patrol the city.
Shops lined the streets, and merchants and travelers came and went in an endless stream. Prosperity was everywhere.
Xue Yuheng and Xiao Xiao hadn't expected that after leaving the Wind Dragon King's demiplane, they would appear above Heaven Dou City, tens of thousands of miles from Dragon Suppression Cliff.
Naturally, neither of them chose to enter the city. Xiao Xiao had only just made contact with the essence of heaven and earth, and the cloudless sky changed in an instant.
The Nine Treasures Mountain Range, home of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, lay east of Heaven Dou City. The two decided to undergo the tribulation there.
"Xiao Xue, what if we destroy the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect?
They're the continent's foremost financial power. We couldn't pay them back even if they sold the two of us!" Xiao Xiao asked, puzzled.
"Don't worry. I've already thought of how to repay them," Xue Yuheng replied.
The Nine Treasures Glazed Sect was definitely going to come under Xue Yuheng's command. This "visit" was also a chance for him to show off his strength.
Xiao Xiao seemed to understand. Surely the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect wouldn't turn down a future Limit Douluo?
Dark, oppressive thunderclouds drifted above them like a curse clinging to their bones, locking onto their auras and following them wherever they went.
Xue Yuheng brought Xiao Xiao along as he started up the Motorcycle Soul Guidance Vehicle. It went from zero to a hundred in just one second, and in an instant they shot into the sky and headed straight for the Nine Treasures Mountain Range to the east.
As soon as they entered the territory of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, the sect's warning Soul Tools were triggered. Alarms rang throughout the entire mountain gate.
At the same time, the sudden celestial phenomenon threw the imperial palace in Heaven Dou City into chaos.
The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament was about to begin, and the Astrology Institute had long since forecast clear skies with no rain for nearly half a month.
These thunderclouds, blotting out the sky and sun, alarmed the imperial court.
Princess Weina of the Heaven Dou Empire stood atop the palace's highest observatory, watching the roiling thunderclouds to the east. Her beautiful eyes were grave as she summoned the accompanying Soul Masters and ordered them to investigate the source of the anomaly.
A peak in the Nine Treasures Mountain Range
Xiao Xiao sat cross-legged on a boulder at the summit and slowly closed her eyes.
The Dragon Pearl, which contained the source of the Wind Dragon King's power, floated before her, glowing with a gentle green light.
Xue Yuheng stood beside her. The Wordless Heavenly Book floated in midair, and the Power of Creation poured down from it, shielding them both as it guided the Dragon Pearl's source energy into Xiao Xiao's body.
The thunderclouds grew thicker and thicker, nearly covering the entire Nine Treasures Mountain Range. Nine-colored bolts of lightning roiled wildly within them.
Deafening thunder shook heaven and earth. Even the air around them shimmered with waves of heat.
This terrifying celestial phenomenon instantly alarmed the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect's upper ranks. The two Guardian Douluo set out with the sect's disciples and gathered at the foot of the mountain.
The Heaven Dou Imperial Family's Guardian Douluo soon arrived as well.
Princess Weina, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng, along with members of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect and the imperial family, landed on the summit of a shorter mountain not far away. They gazed toward the two figures at the center of the tribulation.
"The power of this tribulation is far too terrifying," Wu Feng said, clenching her fists as she watched the roiling thunderclouds. Her voice was full of disbelief. "Who could be undergoing a tribulation here?"
Ning Tian stared at the two unfamiliar figures on the summit, her brows knitted. "According to the information we've gathered, they're the Crown Prince of the Dou Ling Empire, Xue Yuheng, and his Crown Princess, Xiao Xiao, the princess of the Soul Suppressing Family."
A complicated look flashed through Princess Weina's eyes. "They haven't exactly kept a low profile these past six months. I didn't expect that after disappearing for so long, they'd make such a commotion the moment they showed up."
The three girls discussed matters in a corner of the crowd. They had known each other for a long time, while the people in front of them bustled about.
The tribulation struck.
The first bolt crashed down. A purple-gold streak of lightning, shaped like a giant dragon and carrying the force to destroy heaven and earth, shot straight toward the pair on the summit.
Xue Yuheng stepped forward to shield Xiao Xiao. The Wordless Heavenly Book opened before him, its pages whipping wildly as they formed a massive black hole.
The terrifying bolt of lightning, powerful enough to kill a Soul Douluo instantly, was swallowed whole by the Wordless Heavenly Book without even causing a ripple.
On the distant mountaintop, Weina, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng watched, their hearts trembling.
To them, the young man standing beneath the tribulation looked like a god of war who commanded thunder. His awe-inspiring presence made them feel reverence from the depths of their hearts.
"The Nine-Colored Lightning Tribulation! The trial faced by Soul Beasts a hundred thousand years old or more! Aren't those two human?"
The exclamation came from one of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect's Guardian Douluo. He had lived nearly a hundred years, yet had only ever seen records of the Nine-Colored Lightning Tribulation in ancient texts.
Every Soul Master watching stood dumbfounded, their faces filled with utter shock and disbelief.
They had received word from Xue Yuheng not long ago that Xiao Xiao would undergo her tribulation today. But they had never imagined it would bring down the legendary Nine-Colored Lightning Tribulation.
After all, this was the highest tribulation there was, one that might not even appear when a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast underwent its trial. Now it had fallen upon two children of only six or seven. How could anyone not be shaken to their core?
The nine bolts of lightning fell one after another, all swallowed by the Wordless Heavenly Book.
The book's pages slowly closed. A line of numbers appeared clearly: five thousand two hundred points of the Power of Creation, all collected.
But Xiao Xiao's condition on the mountaintop took a sudden turn for the worse.
The Dragon Pearl's source energy was far too domineering. It rampaged through her meridians.
Xiao Xiao gritted her teeth, cold sweat covering her forehead. Her face twisted with excruciating pain.
Patches of green dragon scales spread from Xiao Xiao's cheeks down her neck. Even her exposed arms were covered in cold scales.
If this continued, the Dragon King's source within the Dragon Pearl would completely transform Xiao Xiao into a dragon before long, and she would lose herself entirely.
Seeing this, Xue Yuheng didn't hesitate for a moment. He drew on all the Power of Creation within his body.
A vast tide of the Power of Creation surged into Xiao Xiao in an instant.
Like cures like, they say.
As he soothed the raging Dragon King's source within her, he guided its power through Xiao Xiao's meridians and slowly into her Martial Soul.
Using his own Power of Creation as a guide, Xue Yuheng gradually broke down and refined the Wind Dragon King's source.
He stripped away the mark of the Dragon Clan and transferred the purest sources of wind and the Law of Space to Xiao Xiao.
Even the Wind Dragon King couldn't see through Xue Yuheng's Power of Creation. That was why he had felt safe entrusting the Dragon Pearl to Xiao Xiao.
Otherwise, before leaving, the Wind Dragon King would surely have fulfilled his duty as their teacher.
He would have helped Xiao Xiao through her tribulation.
The green light around the two grew brighter and brighter. The Power of Creation and the Dragon King's source intertwined, eventually forming a huge green cocoon that enclosed them both.
Inside the cocoon, Xiao Xiao's consciousness began to fade. Fine green dragon scales covered her from head to toe, even spreading to her hair.
The violent surge of power shredded Xiao Xiao's clothes, while green cracks appeared across her fair skin. The sight was utterly horrifying.
The Four Symbols Heaven-Suppressing Cauldron, floating before Xiao Xiao, had been completely taken over by the Dragon Pearl's power. It shook violently, emitting deafening dragon roars, as if it might shatter at any moment.
After an unknown length of time, a crack finally appeared in the green cocoon.
Blinding green light burst through it, sweeping across the entire world.
After surviving several brushes with death, Xiao Xiao finally withstood the assault of the Dragon King's source and completed the evolution of her Martial Soul.
The Four Symbols Heaven-Suppressing Cauldron shed its original, heavy darkness. A lustrous blue-gold divine light flowed across its body as it evolved into a God-Level Martial Soul—
the Four Symbols Divine Dragon Cauldron!
Xiao Xiao's innate soul power surged as well, smashing straight through its limit and reaching the astonishing level of twenty.
The cracks left on the cauldron by Xiao Xiao's Water-Fire Tribulation were fully repaired too.
Goddess Transformation!
Xiao Xiao descended like the daughter of the Wind Dragon. A pair of enormous green dragon wings appeared on her back.
The Wind Dragon King's Wings—a Dragon King-level Soul Bone!
Xiao Xiao slowly opened her eyes, divine light flowing around her.
In an instant, Xiao Xiao's figure grew rapidly, transforming from a delicate girl who had been just 1.4 meters tall into a statuesque goddess, 1.9 meters in height.
Divine light remade Xiao Xiao's clothes into a fitted blue-gold gown. A pair of green dragon wings, stretching more than ten meters and blotting out the sky, unfurled slowly behind her. Every membrane gleamed beneath the sunlight.
The Wind Dragon King's Wings, a gift from the Wind Dragon King within the Dragon Pearl, was a complete Dragon King-level External Soul Bone. It had fully fused with Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao hovered in midair, her dragon wings beating lightly. The wind around her danced in response. She looked like a Dragon Goddess who commanded wind and space, standing proud beneath the heavens with peerless might.
The many Heaven Dou powerhouses on the low mountain stared at one another.
"...You're telling me she's only seven?"
"Prince Gan and his consort have come to visit Heaven Dou, yet they didn't tell us in advance. They should have, so this old man could personally welcome them."
Du Busi of the Body Sect had arrived.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of miles away, a powerful tremor shook the Evil Demon Forest. The ground quaked and the mountains swayed.
"What happened?"
A man and a woman appeared silently in the depths of the Evil Demon Forest. Their auras were unfathomable, and even the surrounding darkness seemed to bow before them.
Their gazes fell upon the gray-clad youth before them.
The youth replied calmly, "I sneezed."
"..."
A sneeze had caused an earthquake measuring nearly eight on the Richter scale. Across the entire Douluo Continent, how many experts possessed power like that?
The pair didn't ask anything more. With a flash, they vanished from the spot.
After they left, the gray-clad youth bowed slightly. His normally impassive expression now showed unmistakable excitement.
"My lord, have you awakened?"
A gentle female voice slowly sounded in his Spirit Sea.
"It'll take some more time... A good vessel was born on the continent just now, and it awakened me... Find it for me."
The youth lowered his head, his tone utterly respectful.
"Yes."
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