Stars Surrounding the Moon!

However.

When they rushed into the Martial Arts Arena, what they saw was not an assassin.

Instead, it was that five-year-old child standing amidst a pile of stone dust, brushing the gray powder off his body.

And that Touchstone, which had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a floor covered in debris.

The Star Luo Emperor froze.

He stared at the powder on the ground, then looked at the five-year-old Dai Mubai.

"Mubai?"

"Did... you do this?"

The Star Luo Emperor's voice trembled, his eyes wide as copper bells.

Little Dai Mubai looked up; though his face was covered in sweat, his eyes were clear and bright as he bowed with composure:

"Reporting to Father Emperor."

"Your son was just testing a newly realized fist technique and failed to hold back his strength, destroying this Touchstone."

"Please, Father Emperor, punish me."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Immediately after.

The Star Luo Emperor lunged forward and grabbed Dai Mubai's small hand.

He checked it carefully, and after confirming there were no injuries, he suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

"Hahaha!"

"Good!"

"What a 'failed to hold back his strength'!"

"Destroyed well! Destroyed wonderfully!"

"For this broken rock to be shattered by my son's punch is its honor!"

The Star Luo Emperor was so excited he was incoherent, scooping up little Dai Mubai and lifting him high above his head.

"Pass on my decree!"

"Open the Royal Treasury at once!"

"Take ten stalks of Ten Thousand Year Dragon Blood Grass!"

"Five pairs of Thousand Year Snow Ginseng King!"

"Three barrels of Top-grade Spirit Beast Essence Blood!"

"Send them to the Prince's Mansion!"

"Tell the apothecaries to prepare the best medicinal bath for me!"

"If my son suffers even the slightest hidden injury from his training, I will have their heads!"

The surrounding ministers did not object; instead, they knelt one by one and shouted:

"His Majesty is wise!"

"The Third Prince is a heaven-sent genius; this is the fortune of our Star Luo!"

"Heaven blesses the Great Star Luo!"

In the scene, the five-year-old Dai Mubai was surrounded by the crowd, like stars holding up the moon.

All the resources, all the attention, all the affection.

At this moment, it was all poured onto him alone.

As this scene played out.

Dai Mubai in the Black World grabbed onto it as if it were a life-saving straw.

He jumped up from the ground and pointed at the Sky Screen, roaring loudly:

"Did you see that?!"

"Did you all see that!"

"Ten Thousand Year Dragon Blood Grass! Thousand Year Snow Ginseng King!"

"How many resources is that? How much money is that?"

Dai Mubai's face twisted, his spit flying everywhere:

"I knew it! That's why he's so strong!"

"It turns out he was just piled up with medicine!"

"If I had those resources, if I had been soaking in those medicinal baths since I was a child, I could do it too!"

"This isn't fair!"

"This isn't a gap in talent at all; it's a gap in treatment!"

He felt as if he had finally found a reason for his own cowardice and incompetence.

It's not that I'm not good enough.

It's that the Emperor is biased!

It's that the resources aren't enough!

If I were given the same starting point, I, Dai Mubai, would never be worse than that version of myself in the White World!

However.

His roar had not yet faded.

A cold, crisp voice, like a basin of ice water, was poured directly over his head.

"Enough."

The one speaking was none other than anyone else.

It was Zhu Zhuqing from the Black World.

She stood not far away, her eyes filled with unprecedented disappointment, and even a hint of pity.

"Dai Mubai, how much longer are you going to deceive yourself?"

Zhu Zhuqing pointed at the Sky Screen, her voice soft, yet every word pierced his heart:

"Look clearly at the sequence of events."

"It was because he created his own cultivation technique first, shattered the Touchstone with a single punch first, and demonstrated peerless value that the Star Luo Emperor bestowed those resources upon him."

"It is not because he had the resources that he became strong."

"The you in that world is gambling with his life for a future."

"And you?"

Zhu Zhuqing's gaze was like a blade, scanning the Black Dai Mubai up and down:

"What were you doing when you were five years old?"

"You were molesting palace maids, you were bullying servants."

"Give you Ten Thousand Year Dragon Blood Grass? Give you Thousand Year Snow Ginseng?"

"It would be a waste to give them to you!"

"Do you even deserve them?"

These words.

Were like loud, stinging slaps, fiercely striking Dai Mubai across the face.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

They struck his cheeks until they burned, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

"I..."

Dai Mubai stammered.

He wanted to retort.

But as the words reached his lips, he realized he couldn't find a single excuse.

The facts were laid out right there.

The Dai Mubai of the White World had earned his respect and resources through his own efforts.

While he, on the other hand, only knew how to complain and blame others.

From the surrounding crowd, a wave of whispers began to spread.

"That's right, he earned those rewards based on his own ability."

"This Young Master Dai from the Black World really is a sore loser."

"A moment ago he was saying the other guy cheated, now he's saying he relied on resources, it's just..."

"How embarrassing."

Listening to these murmurs.

Dai Mubai felt a surge of blood roiling in his chest.

"Pfft—"

A mouthful of blood sprayed out violently.

His vision went black, he staggered back a few steps, and collapsed onto the ground once more.

His defenses were shattered.

He was completely broken.

This wasn't a comparison.

This was a public execution!

It was stripping his dignity bare and trampling it into the dirt!

The Sky Screen did not stop because of the collapse of the Black World Dai Mubai.

The golden light flickered once more.

The previously paused image began to flow slowly.

New large characters appeared above the firmament.

[Comparison continues]

[Timeline advancement: Six years old]

[Event: Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony]

Seeing these words.

Whether in the Black World or the White World, everyone's spirits were stirred.

Martial Soul awakening.

This was the most important moment in the life of everyone on the Douluo Continent.

It determined a person's destiny.

It decided whether a person would be a dragon or a worm.

For Dai Mubai, this was even more critical.

Because the inherited Martial Soul of the Star Luo Imperial Family, the White Tiger, while powerful, was not without the possibility of mutation.

Everyone in the Black World knew.

The Dai Mubai in the original story awakened the top-tier beast Martial Soul, the Evil Eye White Tiger, with an Innate Soul Power of level eight.

This was already considered an extremely high talent.

But compared to that monster in the White World, level eight soul power seemed somewhat insufficient.

"That monster..."

"What kind of Martial Soul will he awaken?"

Yu Xiaogang stared fixedly at the screen, forgetting even to breathe.

As a master of theory, what he wanted to see most was this kind of existence that broke all conventions.

Over in the White World.

It was the center of everyone's attention.

Countless citizens took to the streets, looking up at the Sky Screen, wanting to catch a glimpse of the Great Emperor's demeanor back then.

The scene shifted.

The setting changed to a magnificent, golden hall.

This was the Awakening Hall exclusively for the Star Luo Imperial Family.

In the center of the hall, a complex array was inscribed.

The six-year-old White World Dai Mubai wore a specially made martial outfit, his posture as upright as a pine tree.

After a year of medicinal baths and tempering, his stature was much taller than his peers.

That tender little face already faintly revealed a sense of sharp, angular determination.

He stood in the center of the hall.

With his hands behind his back.

Facing the impending moment of destiny, there was not a trace of nervousness in his eyes.

There was only.

Only that sense of confidence and dominance that seemed to be born with him.