Azure Snake Transforms into Dragon!

On the outskirts of Nuoding City, Qing Family Manor.

This manor lay in a valley surrounded by mountains. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a lush forest, without even a proper road leading to it.

Even if someone wandered into the deep mountains by mistake, the illusion array would only guide them elsewhere, and they would never find the entrance to this place.

The manor was not large, with blue bricks and dark tiles hidden amid ancient trees.

Several towering old locust trees stood in the courtyard, their canopies blotting out the sky and casting the entire yard in cool shade.

This was the Qing Clan's ancestral land.

A hundred years ago, the Qing Clan's ancestor had exchanged his illustrious military achievements with the Tiandou Empire for this fief, inheriting the title of viscount and retiring here in his old age.

By now, it had been passed down to the fourth generation.

At this moment, the secret chamber in the deepest part of the manor was brightly lit.

The chamber was not large, roughly three zhang square. A blue stone altar stood at its center.

Coiled atop the altar was a lifelike Blue Stone Snake Statue. Its body twisted sinuously, its head raised high, and two emerald gemstones set in its eye sockets gleamed faintly beneath the candlelight.

This was where generations of the Qing Clan had awakened their martial souls.

Only those of the direct bloodline were qualified to enter this secret chamber.

At this moment, four people stood inside.

Qing Zhengyue stood to the left of the altar, his white hair and azure robes complementing his upright, pine-like bearing.

He was seventy-eight years old, a level sixty-six Soul Emperor. In his youth, he had fought on the battlefields of the Tiandou Empire's border forces and slain countless enemies.

Now, after many years in retirement, the air of slaughter around him had long been restrained, leaving him with only the appearance of a frail old man.

Yet his eyes remained as sharp as blades.

Liu Yunlan stood beside him, with silver hair, jade-green eyes, and a gentle face.

At seventy-four, she was a level fifty-five Soul King. Born into a family of healers, she was skilled in medicine, pharmacology, and poisons.

She was currently smiling at the six-year-old child in the center of the altar, her eyes brimming with affection.

Qing Hongyuan stood to the right of the altar. He was just over forty, refined in appearance, and a level forty-seven Soul Ancestor.

He was the Qing Clan's nominal patriarch, though his father still made the decisions on important matters.

Shen Wanqing stood beside her husband. Forty years old and still graceful, she was a level forty-three Soul Ancestor.

She came from the Shen Clan of the Tiandou Empire. Her martial soul was the Jade Orchid, and she was the true one managing the Qing Clan's finances.

Four people, four pairs of eyes, all watched the child at the center of the altar.

Qing Mufeng.

Six years old.

The only son passed down through three generations of the Qing Clan.

With him, it had reached the fourth generation.

The boy wore a short azure robe and stood barefoot upon the blue stone altar, his expression calm.

His features had not fully grown in yet, but it was already clear that he would become a handsome young man someday.

His black hair was casually tied behind his head with an azure cloth strip. A few loose strands hung over his forehead, making his eyes appear especially bright and clear.

"Mu Feng, come here," Qing Zhengyue said in a steady voice. "Place your hands on the snake statue."

Qing Mufeng obediently walked to the center of the altar, stretched out both hands, and pressed them against the head of the Blue Stone Snake Statue.

The stone statue was icy cold, while the two emerald gemstones beneath his palms grew faintly warm.

Qing Zhengyue took a deep breath, formed hand seals with both hands, and sent the Soul Power within him flowing into the crystals around the altar.

The crystals lit up one after another. Azure light spread along the altar's patterns before finally converging upon the snake statue at its center.

The snake statue's eyes suddenly lit up.

Two jade-green beams shot from the gemstones and enveloped Qing Mufeng.

The awakening had begun.

Qing Mufeng felt something awakening from the depths of his body, like a seed sleeping within his bloodline that had broken through the soil at this moment.

That power spread through his meridians, surged into his limbs and bones, and finally gathered above his head, becoming a phantom.

Above the altar, an azure martial soul phantom slowly emerged.

The four people in the secret chamber held their breaths at the same time.

It was a serpentine phantom.

Its entire body was blue-green, its scales seeming carved from jade. Every scale gleamed with a metallic luster.

Its body was several times larger than that of an ordinary Azure Snake. It coiled above the altar with its head raised high, its pupils golden.

Those were not a snake's eyes, but the eyes of some higher existence.

Majestic.

Noble.

And a faint, indistinct pressure spread from the phantom.

Qing Zhengyue's pupils contracted sharply.

He had lived for seventy-eight years and witnessed countless martial soul awakenings.

He had seen the Qing Clan's Azure Snake martial soul more than ten times.

Yet never had an awakened phantom possessed such an aura.

This did not resemble an Azure Snake.

"The Soul Testing Orb," Qing Zhengyue said in a deep voice, forcing down the shock in his heart.

Shen Wanqing had long prepared the Soul Testing Orb. She hurried forward and held the fist-sized crystal sphere before her son.

"Mu Feng, put your hand on it."

Qing Mufeng nodded and pressed his right hand against the Soul Testing Orb.

The crystal sphere lit up.

Azure light surged from its core, growing brighter and brighter. In less than three breaths, the entire Soul Testing Orb was filled with dazzling blue light.

A number appeared on its surface.

Two.

Then it changed to twenty.

Level twenty.

The air in the secret chamber seemed to freeze.

Qing Hongyuan's eyes widened. His lips trembled slightly, yet he could not utter a word.

Shen Wanqing covered her mouth, and her eyes instantly turned red.

Liu Yunlan's tears fell at once. The old woman clutched her chest and murmured, "Level twenty... innate level twenty..."

Qing Zhengyue did not move.

The old man stood beside the altar and stared silently at the glaring "20" on the Soul Testing Orb for the time it took to brew a cup of tea.

Innate Full Soul Power was level ten.

That was common knowledge on Douluo Continent.

But his grandson had tested at level twenty.

What did that mean?

Qing Zhengyue did not dare think about it.

He only knew that if this news got out, the entire continent would be shaken.

Spirit Hall would come. The major sects would come. Those forces hidden in the shadows would come as well.

When that time came, a mere Soul Emperor like him would not be able to protect this child.

Qing Zhengyue turned around and addressed the entire family in a seriousness they had never heard from him before. "If anyone speaks of what happened today, I will kill them with my own hands."

No one thought those words excessive.

Qing Hongyuan was the first to nod. "Rest assured, Father."

Shen Wanqing wiped away her tears. "I understand."

Liu Yunlan said nothing. She merely pulled her grandson into her arms and held him tightly, tighter than ever.

Qing Mufeng let his grandmother hold him, with little expression on his face.

He knew very well what had happened.

Because he was not native to this world.

He came from another world, a place called Earth.

There, he had read a book called Douluo Continent. He knew this world's history, its factions, and those so-called children of destiny.

He had transmigrated.

He had transmigrated to Douluo Continent and become the sole son passed down through three generations of the Qing Clan.

Six years ago, he had been born into this world with the memories of his previous life.

For six years, he had grown up safely and comfortably, eating the best food, using the best things, and being cherished by his entire family.

But he had never forgotten how dangerous this world was.

Spirit Hall, soul beasts, evil soul masters, and powerful people willing to do anything for profit.

In this world, weakness was the original sin.

So he was in no hurry.

He was not like the protagonists in those transmigration novels, showing off everywhere the moment they awakened and wishing the whole world knew they were geniuses.

He chose to keep a low profile.

He would develop quietly, accumulate strength in secret, reveal nothing, flaunt nothing, and never seek attention.

If he could avoid making a move, he would. If he did make a move, he would leave no survivors.

That was the rule by which he would survive in this world.

"Mu Feng." Qing Zhengyue's voice interrupted his thoughts.

The old man walked up to him, crouched down, and met his gaze.

"You have innate level twenty, so you can absorb two soul rings at once." Qing Zhengyue spoke softly, but every word struck like iron.

"For your first soul ring, Grandpa will find you one that is eight hundred years old. For your second, one that is one thousand six hundred years old."

Qing Hongyuan sucked in a breath. "Father, eight hundred years? The limit for an ordinary soul master's first ring is only four hundred years..."

"He is not an ordinary soul master." Qing Zhengyue cut off his son, never taking his eyes from his grandson's.

"Mu Feng, are you afraid?"

Qing Mufeng looked into his grandfather's eyes and shook his head.

"I'm not afraid."

His voice was calm, far too calm for a six-year-old child.

Qing Zhengyue stared at him for a long time before smiling.

It was the first time since his retirement that the old man had smiled so freely.

"Good." Qing Zhengyue rose to his feet and patted his grandson's shoulder. "That is the Qing Clan's blood."

Inside the secret chamber, the eyes of the Blue Stone Snake Statue gradually dimmed.

But inside Qing Mufeng, the seed that had just awakened had already begun to take root and sprout.

Deep within his perception, a fragment of inherited memory quietly surfaced.

[I am the Azure Dragon of the East, the Origin of Wood, the Lord of the Seven Mansions.]

[Your bloodline is still slumbering. Only by absorbing noble wood-attributed soul rings can my true form gradually awaken.]

[The serpent form is merely an outward appearance. The dragon soul already lies within your heart.]

Qing Mufeng lowered his eyes, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

Azure Dragon.

Not an Azure Snake.

An Azure Dragon.

He told no one.

At least, not yet.