Cocoon of Fate Defying, Finally Becoming a Titled Douluo

Deep within the Star Dou Forest, a shrill, mournful cry tore through the morning silence.

The Golden Earth Dragon—one of the rulers of this region—collapsed with a thunderous crash, its massive golden body sending fallen leaves flying into the air.

A deep claw mark on its forehead poured out dark golden blood, while the light in those vertical pupils that had once looked down upon the forest rapidly faded.

Standing before it was a young man who appeared to be twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

Luo Can shook the blood from his hand, his expression calm as he stood silently and watched a black Spirit Ring tinged with red slowly rise from the Earth Dragon's corpse.

"The last one."

He murmured to himself and sat down cross-legged.

The instant he closed his eyes, the air behind him rippled, and a strange phantom emerged—part dragon, part moth.

Its entire body was covered in fine silver-red dragon scales. A pair of silver dragon horns curved upward from its forehead, but the most striking feature was its pair of butterfly wings, enormous to an almost exaggerated degree. Flame-like patterns flowed across their membranes, while their edges were sharp as dragon-wing bone blades.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black.

Eight Spirit Rings lit up in succession, each one radiating a pure draconic aura.

This was the conviction he had upheld for thirty-eight years: every Spirit Ring had to come from a dragon-type Spirit Beast.

Taking a deep breath, Luo Can guided the Spirit Ring toward his martial soul.

"Begin."

The moment they touched, violent energy flooded into his body like a burst dam. The Golden Earth Dragon's lingering will resisted madly, trying to tear apart the human who dared covet its power.

Luo Can let out a muffled groan, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. Yet he did not panic. Thirty-eight years of cultivation had long tempered his will into something as unshakable as stone.

"Be still."

He shouted inwardly, circulating his Soul Power as his meridians locked down the impact like walls of bronze and iron.

Second by second, time passed, and the forest returned to silence.

[Thirty-Two Years Earlier · Baican Village]

Six-year-old Luo Can stood before the Awakening Stone in the village's Spirit Hall branch, his palm pressed against the cold crystal surface.

Light flared—a plump white silkworm phantom appeared in his palm.

"Martial soul, White Silkworm."

"Innate Soul Power, level 0.5."

The Spirit Hall official's voice was flat, even carrying a trace of pity.

"Another silkworm!"

"Level 0.5? What's the difference between that and nothing?"

Luo Can lowered his head and returned to his parents. His mother gently stroked his hair. "It's all right, Little Can. Our Baican Village has raised silkworms for generations. Haven't we lived quite well?"

That night, Luo Can lay on his hard wooden bed, staring at the thatched roof.

He had transmigrated.

And he had transmigrated into Douluo Continent, this bottom-tier fantasy world.

Yet he had become trash.

He recalled the Douluo Continent novel from his previous life. The plot had already become hazy, and he remembered only a few key terms: the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, Immortal Herbs, Shrek, Tang San. But every one of them was far beyond his reach.

"I refuse to accept this."

He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms.

[Present]

Half an hour later.

The dark red Spirit Ring settled steadily into the position of the Ninth Spirit Ring. At that very moment, the bottleneck shattered, and Luo Can officially broke through to rank ninety-one.

Luo Can opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

His aura condensed in the air without dispersing, carrying a faint trace of dragon might.

"I did it."

He summoned his martial soul.

The Dragon Moth martial soul underwent another transformation. Its scales turned into dazzling gold, gleaming beneath the sunlight. Its dragon horns extended by a third, forming perfect streamlined curves. The flame pattern on its butterfly wings became flowing golden streaks of light, scattering fine golden motes with every flap.

His Spirit Rings rose once more: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, and that dark red Ninth Spirit Ring edged with scarlet light.

"Thirty-eight years..." Luo Can's gaze turned distant. "From a silkworm to the Dragon Moth I am today."

He recalled the day when he was ten, when he had climbed the cliff behind the village known as Jueming Cliff to gather herbs and slipped.

There had been no fear, only a sense of release. Maybe if I die, I can go back.

But he had not died.

He had fallen into a valley shrouded in mist.

Medicinal herbs covered the ground there. At its center was a clear spring no more than three feet across. The water was pure and cold, and after a single sip, his meridians felt as though they had been washed by warm water.

He had stayed there for three days, surviving on spring water and wild fruit. When he left, he discovered that his Soul Power had somehow surged to level three.

That was the Fate-Defying Spring's first gift to him.

Later, it took him an entire year to find a safe way in and out of the valley.

At thirteen, with the Fate-Defying Spring's Cleansing Marrow and Washing Meridians and the aid of medicinal herbs, he had forcibly raised his Soul Power to level ten.

Then he made the decision that would change his life—

"If a silkworm can form a cocoon and become a butterfly, why can't my martial soul?"

He sold a Thousand-Year Ginseng and traded it to Ye Shengxin, the head of the Nine-Heart Begonia family, for the Encyclopedia of Soul Beasts and one thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Afterward, he traveled through the Spirit Hall branches of three cities and bought every martial soul theory book he could find.

Half a year later, he reached a conclusion: dragons stood at the pinnacle of Spirit Beast bloodlines.

If a silkworm wished to evolve, the best nourishment would be dragon blood and dragon souls.

First Spirit Ring: a hundred-year Iron-Armored Earth Dragon.

Second Spirit Ring: a hundred-year Flying Dragon Lizard.

Third Spirit Ring: a thousand-year Dragon Blood Python...

Every absorption had been agonizing, but each time, his silkworm martial soul became stronger.

Until he was thirty, when he finished absorbing his Seventh Spirit Ring—a forty-five-thousand-year Abyssal Demon Dragon—his martial soul finally began to transform.

For three days, he curled up beside the Fate-Defying Spring, his entire body wrapped in a thick white cocoon.

When he broke free of the cocoon, he saw a new self—and a new martial soul.

Dragon Moth.

From then on, he had challenged a White Tiger Spirit Saint of the same rank and won within ten moves. He had challenged a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Douluo and remained undefeated after a hundred moves.

His martial soul was no longer a useless martial soul.

"Golden Dragon Moth..." Luo Can softly spoke the name. As if responding, his martial soul let out a clear, resonant hum.

Just then, he caught sight of golden light flickering from the Golden Earth Dragon's head.

A Spirit Bone.

And a complete Head Spirit Bone at that.

Luo Can swiftly removed it—it was a palm-sized golden bone shaped like a Dragon Crown. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, and liquid golden light seemed to flow within it.

He stored it in his Storage Soul Tool, then circulated his Soul Power and blasted a deep pit into the ground, burying the Golden Earth Dragon's corpse.

"Thanks," he said.

The dragon wings on his back spread wide. With one beat, he shot into the sky.

Seven days later, Baican Village.

The village remained peaceful. Mulberry fields stretched into the distance, and the silkworm houses echoed with the rustling sound of leaves being eaten.

Luo Can walked along the familiar bluestone road as the villagers watched him curiously.

On the hillside behind the village, two unmarked gravestones stood quietly.

Luo Can knelt down and placed wild fruit he had brought from the Star Dou Forest before them.

"Father, Mother, I'm back."

"You always said that although silkworms are weak, they can spin the toughest silk. Now I understand... my martial soul was never useless. It simply needed time, patience, and transformation after transformation."

He kowtowed heavily three times.

Rising to his feet, Luo Can spread his wings and flew into the sky, soaring toward the clouds.

A short while later, he arrived at Cliff of Desperate Fate, dozens of miles from the village. He landed at its summit and looked down at the rolling sea of clouds below.

This was where he had fallen all those years ago, beginning his path of defying fate and changing his destiny.

Without hesitation, he leaped off.

The wind howled as mist rushed into his face. After passing through the thick cloud layer, the sight below suddenly opened up.

The valley hidden within the folds of the mountains was still shrouded in mist and fragrant with medicinal herbs.

He landed beside the Fate-Defying Spring.

The water remained clear and cold, bubbles rising from the spring's source.

Luo Can crouched down, scooped up a handful, and drank. Familiar warmth flowed through his entire body.

Ten years had passed, and he had returned here once more.

"Old friend," he said to the spring, "I've become a Titled Douluo."

The spring water rippled faintly, as though responding.

Luo Can stood and looked toward the end of the valley.

There stood a Dragon Blood Tree sapling he had planted ten years ago. It had now grown more than thirty feet tall. He walked beneath it, sat cross-legged, and began consolidating the realm he had just broken through to.

The Golden Dragon Moth appeared behind him. Golden motes drifted like fireflies, illuminating this treasured place that had changed his life.