Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Freshman Class One.
Although it was called an elite class, the atmosphere was especially oppressive because of Yu Tianyu. The "Blue Lightning Abandoned Disciple," who had nearly shattered the Testing Crystal during the test and sent an upperclassman flying with one punch, was now sprawled over his desk, fast asleep as if no one else were there.
Sunlight slanted in through the window, falling on his short, deep blue-black hair and outlining it with a soft glow. To the other students in class, however, it looked more like a dangerous signal from a Ferocious Beast taking a nap.
"Brother Yu, wake up. This is Director Sun Buyu's class. He's already looked over here three times."
Pang Hu hunched his shoulders and discreetly poked Yu Tianyu with his thick palm. Ever since the class placement test, Pang Hu had become Yu Tianyu's number-one follower. As he put it, getting a little benefit from standing beside such a powerful ally would be enough to bring glory to his family when he returned home.
Yu Tianyu lazily raised his head. His deep violet eyes still held a trace of sleepiness, yet they were enough to make the girls sneaking glances at him catch their breath.
"What are we on?" Yu Tianyu asked casually.
"W-we're talking about choosing a Spirit Ring's age and the body's limits." Pang Hu pointed at the densely packed charts on the blackboard. "Director Sun said the limit for the First Spirit Ring is four hundred and twenty-three years. If you force yourself to absorb one older than that, your body will explode."
"Your body will explode?"
Yu Tianyu let out a scornful laugh. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly through the quiet classroom.
Sun Buyu stopped writing. His cold, hawk-like eyes immediately fixed on Yu Tianyu.
"Yu Tianyu, do you have a different opinion about what I've been teaching?" Sun Buyu pushed up his glasses, his tone unfriendly.
He really didn't like Yu Tianyu. Though Yu Tianyu had displayed astonishing talent, his disregard for the school rules and disrespect for his elders struck Sun Buyu, a traditionalist, as the classic case of "talented but lacking virtue."
Yu Tianyu stood up, his tall, slender frame looking even more imposing in his uniform. Sun Buyu's intimidating presence didn't frighten him. Instead, he met the man's gaze and said calmly, "Teacher, the limits you're talking about apply to ordinary Martial Souls and ordinary Spirit Masters. But for someone with a top-tier Martial Soul, limits are meant to be broken."
"Arrogant!" Sun Buyu slammed his hand down on the lectern. "This is an ironclad rule established by thousands of years of research into the Martial Soul world! Who do you think you are? You think you can surpass everyone who came before you?"
"Just because those who came before couldn't do it doesn't mean those who come after can't."
Images of Bibi Dong's records surfaced in Yu Tianyu's mind, along with the thought of the "halo" Tang San was originally supposed to have. Now that Yu Tianyu had come to this world, the so-called "Grandmaster's theories" could only amount to second-rate ideas.
"If I were you, Director Sun, I'd pay more attention to a Spirit Master's willpower and physical strength instead of fixating on those dry numbers."
Without paying any attention to Sun Buyu's face turning red as liver, Yu Tianyu headed straight for the classroom door.
"Stop! Where are you going?!" Sun Buyu roared.
"This class is no use to me. I'm going to the Mimicry Training Ground. That place suits me better."
Yu Tianyu waved without looking back. His carefree departure drew a flurry of stifled gasps from the classroom.
Dugu Yan, seated in the front row, stared fixedly at the doorway. Her slender fingers were so tense that her knuckles had turned white.
"Physical strength... willpower..." she murmured, repeating Yu Tianyu's words. An unusual light flickered in her eyes.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Forest Mimicry Training Ground.
This place simulated the outer reaches of the Star Dou Forest. The air teemed with life force, making it an excellent place for Beast Martial Soul Spirit Masters to train.
Yu Tianyu sat cross-legged beneath a huge ancient locust tree. There was no one else around. He slowly closed his eyes and looked inward.
The two Martial Souls hidden deep within his soul were in a peculiar state of balance. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul remained suppressed, while the Martial Soul called "Dragon Slayer Magic" was like an inexhaustible furnace, voraciously devouring the ambient Soul Power.
"I haven't even added a Spirit Ring yet, and my body is already almost saturated?"
Yu Tianyu could feel that his physical condition had far surpassed that of an ordinary Spirit Master with full Soul Power at level ten. Dragon Slayer Magic wasn't merely a means of attack. The instant it awakened, it had begun to "transform" its host's body into that of a dragon.
There was no visible change to his appearance, but the density of his muscle fibers beneath the skin, the strength of his bones, and even the toughness of his internal organs were all becoming more like those of a dragon.
"It's time to find a suitable Spirit Ring. Dad said he'd find me the best one, but the best might not be in one of those Soul Beast parks."
Yu Tianyu stood up and stretched. His punches and kicks cut through the air, setting off a series of muffled booms.
"Heh. You've been watching for so long. Aren't you going to come out and say hello?" he suddenly said with a cold laugh, addressing the nearby undergrowth.
"Whoosh—"
A dark green figure shot out like a serpent from its hole and reached Yu Tianyu in an instant.
Dugu Yan.
She no longer had the haughty air she'd worn in the classroom. Instead, her expression was grave. Looking Yu Tianyu straight in the eye, she asked bluntly, "What did you mean when you said in the cafeteria that I couldn't control my own poison?"
For the past few days, those words had circled through her mind like a curse. Especially when she trained late at night, the numbness caused by the buildup of poison had grown noticeably worse.
Yu Tianyu looked at her, the corner of his mouth curling into an amused smile. "I meant exactly what I said. Dugu Yan, your grandfather, Dugu Bo, is Poison Douluo. But when he taught you to cultivate poison, didn't he tell you that poison is a double-edged sword?"
"Grandpa said only the weak get hurt by their own poison!" Dugu Yan retorted, but her conviction was clearly faltering.
"That's because he has extraordinary talent—or because he used his powerful cultivation as a Titled Douluo to forcibly suppress the poison. But what about you? What level are you now?"
Yu Tianyu took a step forward, closing in on Dugu Yan. The faint Dragon Slayer Pressure emanating from him made the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul within her shrink back once more.
"The color of your fingernails has turned an unnatural dark green. That's a sign the poison has seeped into your bones. If you don't deal with it, once you reach level thirty, you'll suffer excruciating pain whenever it rains. Your skin will also slowly begin to rot."
"You're lying!" Dugu Yan's face instantly turned deathly pale, and she instinctively took a step back.
"Whether I'm lying or not, you know the truth."
Yu Tianyu reached out and caught a falling locust leaf. His fingers tightened slightly, and the leaf crumbled into charred black powder in his palm.
"If you want to live—or if you want your grandfather to live a little longer—you'll have to listen to me."
Dugu Yan abruptly lifted her head, her eyes full of shock. "Y-you can even tell what's wrong with my grandfather?"
"Is that so hard?" Yu Tianyu turned his back to her, his voice low and distant. "There's nothing in this world I can't see through."
"If you agree to one condition, I'll consider helping you—and even helping your grandfather put an end to his suffering from the poison's backlash."
Dugu Yan remained silent for a long time. All that could be heard around them was the rustling of leaves.
As the granddaughter of Poison Douluo, she had grown up surrounded by praise and fear. No one had ever dared to speak to her with such an air of condescension. But Yu Tianyu's absolute confidence and the fear she felt deep in her blood left her no choice but to believe him.
"What condition?" she asked through gritted teeth.
Yu Tianyu turned around, revealing a dazzling smile that sent a chill down Dugu Yan's spine.
"It's simple. From today on, you and that girl named Ye Lingling will both listen to me in this academy. In other words, I'm going to be your... leader."
He didn't need groveling slaves. He needed the finest allies in the world. Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling were indispensable to his plans.
"Y-you want to build a force?" Dugu Yan had quickly caught on to Yu Tianyu's intentions.
"A force? No, that's too small-minded."
Yu Tianyu spread his arms, as if embracing the void itself.
"What I want to build is a Dragon-Slaying Guard that will make even the gods tremble..."
The sun sank in the west, stretching the boy's shadow long.
Looking at the peer of hers standing where light met shadow, Dugu Yan suddenly felt that the rumors calling him an "Abandoned Disciple" were the biggest joke in the world.
This fellow before her was clearly a World-Ending Demon Dragon, gathering strength to tear the sky apart!
Heaven Dou City, on a bustling street.
While Yu Tianyu was making plans within the academy, two travel-worn men entered the city gates.
They looked like ordinary middle-aged men, but their eyes were unusually resolute. One wore an old-fashioned hammer emblem at his waist. Though he deliberately kept his aura restrained, the domineering force he held in check still made the passing patrol soldiers feel a strange unease.
"Big brother, this is the place," one of them said quietly.
"Mm." The man addressed as big brother was Tang Hao. He looked much older than before, but his tiger-like eyes contained a boundless hatred.
"That bastard who destroyed my son's hopes... Yu Tianyu. Whether he's hiding in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan or in Heaven Dou Academy, I'll make him pay."
A boy stepped out from behind him. Long years of grueling training had made his appearance somewhat rugged, but the violet glimmer in his blue eyes proved who he was.
Tang San.
Tang San hadn't yet experienced the upheavals that would come later. Under Tang Hao's guidance, he had just completed the initial stage of his training, and his Soul Power Level had also reached the brink of a breakthrough.
"Dad, I'll defeat him with my own hands and prove that Blue Silver Grass is no weaker than a Dragon Martial Soul." Tang San clenched his fists, the Grandmaster's teachings echoing in his mind.
"Don't be careless, Xiao San. Yu Tianyu awakened such a strange Martial Soul; he's no ordinary opponent." Tang Hao looked at the towering gates of Heaven Dou Academy and snorted. "Come on. We'll go see that 'Grandmaster' first and find out what new techniques he's come up with."
The storm gathered over Heaven Dou in that moment.
Yu Tianyu, at the center of the maelstrom, stood atop a tower in the Mimicry Training Ground and watched the sun slowly sink in the distance. A cruel smile curled across his lips.
"You're here? My fated rival..."
He reached out, as if to crush the last rays of the setting sun.
"Too bad. You have no place in the script this time, Tang San."
Night was approaching. Countless shadows stirred in the darkness throughout Heaven Dou City.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's agents, Spirit Hall's spies, even the mysterious eyes and ears of Sea God Island—all of them turned their attention in that moment to the six-year-old boy who had already stirred the world to its foundations.
Yu Tianyu merely straightened his collar and said coolly to the empty darkness:
"Since you've come, don't expect to leave alive."
In the darkness, two crimson Dragon Flames suddenly blazed to life. They were the execution signal that belonged solely to a dragon slayer!
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