Everyone Gathered Around Him!

However.

When they rushed into the Martial Arts Arena, they didn't find an assassin.

Instead, they found the five-year-old child standing amid a pile of stone dust, brushing the dirt off himself.

And the Touchstone had vanished, leaving nothing behind but a heap of powder.

The Star Luo Emperor was stunned.

He stared at the powder on the ground, then at Dai Mubai, who was only five years old.

"Mubai?"

"Did you... do this?"

The Star Luo Emperor's voice trembled, and his eyes widened until they were as big as bronze bells.

Young Dai Mubai looked up. Though his face was covered in sweat, his eyes were clear. He bowed respectfully, neither servile nor arrogant.

"Your son greets Father."

"Your son was just testing a newly understood fist technique. I failed to hold back my strength and destroyed the Touchstone."

"Please punish me, Father."

Silence.

A deathly silence.

Then—

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

He examined it carefully. After confirming there wasn't a single injury, he suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

"Hahaha!"

"Good!"

"Now that's what I call failing to hold back!"

"Good! Wonderful!"

"For that broken stone to be shattered by my son's punch is an honor!"

The Star Luo Emperor was so excited he could barely get the words out. He scooped up Young Dai Mubai and lifted him high above his head.

"Carry out my decree!"

"Open the royal treasury at once!"

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

"Five pairs of Thousand Year Snow Ginseng Kings!"

"And three barrels of Top-grade Spirit Beast Essence Blood!"

"Send them to the Prince's Mansion!"

"Tell the apothecaries to prepare the finest medicinal bath for my son!"

"If he suffers even the slightest hidden injury from practicing martial arts, I'll have their heads!"

The ministers around them didn't object. Instead, they all knelt and cried out:

"His Majesty is wise!"

"The Third Prince is a heaven-sent genius. He is the good fortune of our Star Luo Empire!"

"This is Heaven's blessing upon Great Star Luo!"

On the screen, five-year-old Dai Mubai stood surrounded by everyone, like the moon among countless stars.

All the resources, all the attention, all the affection—

At that moment, they were all poured into him alone.

As the scene played, Dai Mubai from the Black World seemed to seize a lifeline.

He sprang to his feet and pointed at the Sky Screen, roaring:

"Do you see?!"

"Did you see that?!"

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

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

Dai Mubai's face twisted as he sprayed spittle everywhere.

"I knew it! How else could he be so strong?"

"So he was only strong because he was built up with medicine!"

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

"This isn't fair!"

"This has nothing to do with a difference in talent. It's a difference in treatment!"

He seemed to have finally found an excuse for his own cowardice and incompetence.

It wasn't that I wasn't good enough.

It was that Father played favorites!

I didn't have enough resources!

If I'd had the same start, I, Dai Mubai, would've been every bit as good as that version of me from the White World!

However.

Before his shouts had even faded, a cool voice poured over him like a bucket of ice water.

"Enough."

The speaker was none other than Zhu Zhuqing from the Black World.

She stood not far away, looking more disappointed than ever—and even a little pitying.

"Dai Mubai, how long are you going to keep lying to yourself?"

Zhu Zhuqing pointed at the Sky Screen. Her voice was soft, but every word struck home.

"Look at what happened first."

"He invented a technique and shattered the Touchstone with one punch. Only after he proved his extraordinary worth did the Star Luo Emperor reward him with those resources."

"It wasn't the resources that made him strong."

"In that world, you were risking your life to fight for your future."

"And you?"

Zhu Zhuqing's gaze was like a blade as she looked Dai Mubai up and down.

"What were you doing at five years old?"

"Flirting with palace maids. Bullying servants."

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

"It would've been a waste!"

"Do you deserve it?"

Her words were like one resounding slap after another, striking Dai Mubai across the face.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

His cheeks burned, and his head spun.

"I..."

Dai Mubai was at a loss for words.

He wanted to argue.

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

The facts were right there.

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

And all he could do was complain and blame others.

Whispers rose from the crowd around them.

"Exactly. He earned that reward through his own ability."

"This Young Master Dai from the Black World really can't take a loss."

"First he said the other one cheated, and now he says it was all because of resources. Honestly..."

"How embarrassing."

Hearing the whispers, Dai Mubai felt his blood surge in his chest.

"Pfft—"

He suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

His vision went black. He staggered back a few steps, then collapsed to the ground again.

He'd completely lost it.

Completely.

This wasn't a comparison.

It was a public execution!

They had stripped away his dignity and thrown it to the ground, then trampled it mercilessly!

The Sky Screen didn't stop just because Dai Mubai from the Black World had broken down.

The golden light flashed again.

The paused scene began to move once more.

New words appeared across the sky.

[Comparison continues]

[Timeline advances: Age six]

[Event: Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony]

At the sight of those words, everyone in both the Black World and the White World perked up.

Martial Soul Awakening.

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

It determined a person's fate.

Whether they would become a dragon or a worm.

For Dai Mubai, this was even more crucial.

The White Tiger was the Martial Soul passed down through the Star Luo Imperial Family. It was powerful, but it could still undergo mutations.

Everyone in the Black World knew that.

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

That was already considered exceptional talent.

But compared to that monster from the White World, level eight Soul Power didn't seem like much.

"That monster..."

"What kind of Martial Soul will he awaken?"

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

As a Grandmaster of theory, he was most eager to see an existence that defied convention like this.

On the White World's side, too—

Everyone watched with bated breath.

Countless commoners took to the streets and looked up at the Sky Screen, hoping to glimpse the emperor's younger days.

The scene shifted.

It moved to a grand, resplendent hall.

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

Complex arrays were carved into the center of the hall.

Six-year-old Dai Mubai from the White World wore a specially tailored outfit. He stood tall and straight, like a pine tree.

After a year of medicinal baths and rigorous conditioning, he had grown noticeably taller than other children his age.

His tender face already showed the beginnings of sharply defined features and steely resolve.

He stood in the middle of the hall.

With his hands behind his back.

As he faced the moment that would shape his destiny, there wasn't the slightest trace of nervousness in his eyes.

There was only—

The confidence and commanding presence that seemed to have been born in him.