"It's a dragon..."
Tang Wulin's eyes widened as he stared blankly at the sight before him. Not far away, an enormous dragon, so tall he couldn't see its head, stood motionless.
It was a dragon—a Golden Dragon.
A dragon at least several hundred meters tall, which looked incredibly powerful, yet was shackled by eighteen seals and had no sign of life. A dragon that...
Was dead!
"Dead..."
"Is it dead?"
Tang Wulin took a deep breath, and his fear eased a little. So he wasn't going to be eaten for lunch.
But...
That fear didn't go away for long.
A dragon had died here. Could he really survive? Wasn't his own death just around the corner?
Tang Wulin didn't dare move again. He blinked, seemingly pondering how he could stay alive. Unnoticed, a glimmer of blue light appeared in his hand: his Blue Silver Grass.
He could use his Martial Soul. That was great!
An idea immediately came to him. At least now he had some chance to fight back. But just as he thought that, his gaze fell on the giant dragon's eyes.
The dragon was clearly dead, yet the moment Tang Wulin met its gaze, a pair of savage dragon eyes flashed into view. A glint of gold shone in them, and their pupils were filled with bloodlust, as if they were staring at prey.
Slowly, the dragon's pressure erupted, surging toward him in an instant.
"I-it's alive!"
Tang Wulin's face turned green with fright, his expression spelling utter despair. Perhaps the desperate urge to survive within him had kicked in, because his legs suddenly moved like lightning. He turned and bolted.
"I have my first Soul Skill, Blue Silver Has Spirit! I'm not afraid of you! Take this, Blue Silver Entanglement—"
"Hmm... it broke?"
"Big Brother Lu Li, Dad, Mom... Anyone, even Lord Sea God, Asura God, or Tang San—could someone please save me—"
Tang Wulin ran as hard as he could, shouting out the names of every hero he knew. He even called for Tang San.
Just as the Golden Dragon was about to reach him, a beam of blue light appeared in the distance and enveloped his entire body in an instant.
At that moment, through the haze, he saw a sacred figure. Without the slightest hesitation, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Big Brother Lu Li, save me—"
"..."
A blinding light flashed. Tang Wulin snapped his eyes open, only to see his assistant homeroom teacher, Wu Changkong. They looked at each other, both completely bewildered.
"Teacher Wu, what are you doing here?"
"I... Where am I?"
Tang Wulin panted as he asked instinctively.
"You passed out earlier. This is the infirmary."
Wu Changkong answered calmly. As he spoke, he pointed toward the person beside him. His cool eyes couldn't help but flash with thought. Had the child woken up because of Brother Lu Li...?
Was this the positive guidance and support that came from having a goal?
"I passed out?"
"So everything before was a dream..."
Tang Wulin's eyes lit up. He said nothing, simply taking in everything around him, which felt so real. He greedily breathed the fresh air, his face already alight with joy.
He'd survived. That was wonderful...
"Child, your name is Tang Wulin, right? I'm so glad you made it."
Su Yuntao, standing beside him, waved at Tang Wulin happily. He clearly hadn't expected a child who'd stopped breathing to survive.
By rounding things up, hadn't he brought a dead child back to life? He'd lived up to his ancestor's name!
"Um... Thank you, Doctor."
"And thank you for worrying about me, Teacher Wu."
Tang Wulin's face twitched, but he still thanked them sincerely.
But wasn't that a little too rough a way to congratulate me?
"Tang Wulin, what happened to you earlier? Why did you suddenly fall down in the middle of the road?"
Wu Changkong looked at Tang Wulin, his cool expression serious. A mysterious fainting spell was already unusual, and besides...
After the boy's heartbeat stopped, his body had been covered in blue light. It was a deep blue, free of any impurities, entirely different from Blue Silver Grass.
Could it be the Blue Silver Emperor, the ancestral bloodline of Blue Silver Grass?
Never mind that Tang Wulin had only three levels of Innate Soul Power and that his Martial Soul talent was nothing special. With power like that, there was no way a Blue Silver Grass Soul Master could sustain it.
Could Lord Sea God have intervened?
"I don't know either. My head suddenly felt heavy, and I passed out right away. I ended up in a pitch-black world."
Tang Wulin shook his head. Naturally, he wouldn't tell Wu Changkong what had happened. He would only tell people he truly trusted about something like that: Dad, Mom, and...
Big Brother Lu Li.
"I see."
Wu Changkong wasn't particularly surprised. A nine-year-old child naturally couldn't be expected to know much.
"Did you have any unusual reactions before you woke up?"
Wu Changkong continued asking.
"Unusual reactions... There was a blue light drawing me toward it, so I ran out. Other than that, nothing happened."
Tang Wulin answered seriously. He thought he could tell them that much. As for the Golden Dragon...
Just thinking about it was terrifying. He couldn't tell them!
"Blue light. Your Blue Silver Grass..."
"Perhaps something went wrong with your Martial Soul, but I don't know enough about your situation yet."
"I'll need to ask your parents before deciding what examinations to run. What kind of Martial Souls do they have?"
Wu Changkong nodded slightly, then asked.
"Teacher Wu, please don't."
"My parents are just ordinary people. They don't have Martial Souls, and they're not Soul Masters. They won't know anything about this..."
Hearing that, Tang Wulin shook his head repeatedly, clearly worried Wu Changkong would tell his parents.
He was just an ordinary person.
His parents were even more ordinary than ordinary people. They couldn't even afford a Soul Spirit. How could they possibly know what was going on with him?
If his parents found out, they'd surely be heartbroken. He could bear something like this on his own...
"..."
"You're a sensible child."
"I understand. Doctor Su and I will give you a full checkup now. After that, you can go home and rest."
"Teacher Lu Li is away these next few days. If you need anything, you can come to me."
Wu Changkong looked at the worry in the boy's expression, then glanced at his plain clothes and sighed.
What a good kid. But even if he agreed to the boy's request now, he couldn't just leave the matter alone afterward.
"Yes, Teacher Wu!"
Tang Wulin's eyes lit up. He got out of bed and walked over to Su Yuntao, who motioned for him to follow.
"Doctor, what's your name?"
"Hahahaha, me? I'm Su Yuntao. You can call me Brother Tao. My ancestor was once a top-notch Awakening Master who helped Tang San awaken his Martial Soul..."
Tang Wulin followed him out.
Where no one could see, a golden-blue phantom stayed close to Tang Wulin, following at his side. At that moment, it nodded with a smile.
"Wulin is a good boy. He's filial, sensible, and knows what he should and shouldn't say. Just as expected..."
"He's the son of me, Tang San, the Sea God and Asura God."
The phantom spoke in a voice only he could hear.
He was Old Tang, and he was also the Sea God and Asura God.
He was none other than Tang San, who had suppressed an entire era two thousand years ago, overthrown the Spirit Hall Empire, led the people of the continent to a happy life, and set them on the right path.
He was also Tang Wulin's biological father. What existed here now was a wisp of his divine consciousness.
"It seems those two raised Wulin well. Even without me by his side, he's become a fine person. He's already a lot like I was as a child..."
"..."
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