Lin Ciyan felt the Martial Soul within him, sharing its name with an auspicious sacred beast from Chinese legend, and a strange feeling stirred in his heart.
"Douluo Continent has dragons and phoenixes, and now even qilin have appeared... It seems different worlds really do share a bit of 'all under heaven are one' when it comes to certain mythical creatures?
Could this be what people mean when they say the end of the universe is metaphysics?"
He quickly put that curiosity out of his mind, and in its place came indescribable joy and excitement.
As a transmigrator whose soul came from China, he had awakened the Qilin Martial Soul, a symbol of auspiciousness, benevolence, and power.
This was practically a stroke of incredible luck, perfectly matching his cultural identity and hopes!
"This transmigration was worth it! Among all those miserable fellow transmigrators, my starting setup has to be top-tier, right?"
Along with his joy, he became more clearly aware of the earth-shattering changes in his body.
The most obvious change was his appearance. His soft, light brown hair, which had originally glinted a pale gold in the sunlight,
had now turned into even more dazzling hair, a mixture of platinum and silver-white, with what seemed like faint light flowing between the strands.
He had suddenly shot up in height, and his body, which had once been tinged with childish innocence, had stretched out considerably.
Though he was still young, the outlines of his muscles had already begun to emerge, containing a restrained yet powerful strength.
But the greatest change of all was his face.
His once harmless, adorable face, with a little baby fat,
now had clear, handsome lines. His brows and eyes had opened up, and his amber-gold eyes had grown deeper.
When he gazed at someone, molten gold seemed to flow in his eyes, and an inviolable, sacred majesty and steady, domineering presence came naturally to him.
Though he was still young, the unique bearing of the sacred beast Qilin had already begun to take shape. Truly, "Though the qilin is young, its divine might shines through."
"Tsk, tsk. Guess it'll be hard to keep a low profile now." Lin Ciyan indulged in a little private vanity.
"With this Martial Soul and this face, I've got to be a top star for both looks and strength in Peerless Tang Sect, right?
Just how handsome was he? It was hard to imagine. All he had to do was think of himself looking in the mirror to know how handsome Lin Ciyan was.
"Ci Yan! Quick, test your Innate Soul Power!" His grandfather Lin Qingmo called out excitedly.
Lin Qingmo carefully handed a Soul Power testing crystal ball to Lin Ciyan, his voice trembling slightly with anticipation.
Though everyone already knew what the result would be, this ceremonial step remained crucial, especially with Mu En, the Sea God Pavilion Master, and the elders who had hurried over upon hearing the news watching.
Everyone's eyes, especially Mu En's fervent, hopeful gaze, were fixed on Lin Ciyan and the crystal ball in his hands.
The entire Awakening Hall was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
Lin Ciyan looked at the cool, translucent crystal ball in his hands and took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement.
After all, this was his first time deliberately channeling Soul Power, and his movements were still a little clumsy.
He closed his eyes, trying to sense the warm mass of energy in his dantian, and attempted to guide a strand of Soul Power slowly into the crystal ball.
At first, the Soul Power was like a mischievous little beast, not quite willing to obey.
But soon, under the powerful pull of the Holy Radiance Qilin Martial Soul's source,
a thread of incomparably pure, milky-white Soul Power, tinged with a faint sacred glow, finally flowed obediently out and touched the crystal ball.
"Vmmmm—"
The instant the Soul Power touched the crystal ball, a sudden change occurred!
Rather than lighting up from within as usual, the crystal ball seemed to have a miniature sun thrown into it!
A pure, dazzling yet gentle platinum light burst forth in an instant.
It filled every corner inside the crystal ball completely, without leaving the slightest gap.
The light even shone through the crystal, forming a gentle column of radiance.
It enveloped Lin Ciyan's right hand as he held the ball, illuminating his handsome profile and sacred bearing as if he were a divine statue!
Innate Full Soul Power!
And not just that—the Innate Full Soul Power was of exceptionally high quality, containing the Ultimate Light and sacred attributes!
"Wonderful! Wonderful!" Lin Qingmo was the first to shout excitedly, tears even welling in his old eyes.
At last, the Lin family had produced a true dragon! No, a true qilin!
Mu En let out a heavy breath of relief, a brilliant smile of relief and boundless satisfaction appearing on his face.
His gaze as he looked at Lin Ciyan was full of boundless hope and approval.
The surrounding elders also applauded in amazement, their discussion full of joy and shock.
"As expected, Innate Full Soul Power! Such pure radiance—it's unprecedented!"
"Holy Radiance Qilin... Shrek is blessed by heaven!"
"This child's future is limitless!"
Yet Lin Ciyan, at the center of the storm, seemed exceptionally calm.
He slowly handed the now-dark crystal ball back to his grandfather, his face showing not the slightest trace of wild joy.
Instead, he looked... languid and indifferent, as if he had just woken up.
He lightly rolled his wrist, feeling the new power surging ceaselessly through his body.
Then, in a voice tinged with confusion yet sounding as though it were only natural, he murmured softly:
"That's strange. I barely did any proper cultivation these past six months. I was either lying around or fishing every day. How did my Soul Power... seem to fill up all by itself?"
His voice was quiet, but everyone present was at least a Soul Douluo-level expert, so they heard him clearly.
In an instant, the commotion in the hall was cut short, as if someone had grabbed it by the throat. Silence fell.
All the elders, including Mu En and Lin Qingmo, seemed frozen in place, their expressions stiffening.
He barely did any proper cultivation?
He spent every day lying around and fishing?
His Soul Power... filled up by itself?!
Was that even something a person could say?! How many Soul Masters struggled their entire lives, training without rest, yet still couldn't reach the threshold of Innate Full Soul Power!
And he attributed this talent, comparable to a divine miracle, to... lazing around and fishing?!
[ Ding! Detected that the host, in front of numerous Titled Douluo and Super Douluo, pulled off the most outrageous humblebrag in history with the most casual attitude. Achievement unlocked—"Versailles Debut"! Slacking Points awarded: 3000! ]
The sudden notification in Lin Ciyan's mind, far louder than usual, and the exceptionally generous reward startled him.
An achievement? Right, he seemed to have unlocked one before, too. What was it called again? "Peacefully Being a Parasite." It had only given him 10 points, and he hadn't paid it much attention at the time...
This achievement reward was actually even greater than the points he'd gotten for awakening his Martial Soul.
So achievements gave such generous rewards? He'd have to keep an eye out and unlock more of them from now on!
[Current Slacking Value: 6343 points!]
The two thousand-plus points he'd had before, plus the thousand points for awakening his Martial Soul and the two thousand points for unlocking the achievement.
That brought him to over six thousand, enough to buy things in the Slacker Shop again.
Hmm... First, he'd buy the Winning-by-Lying-Down Aura, so this little brother Bei Bei, who wanted to usurp his position, could experience what truly irresistible power felt like.
Stay forever beneath the qilin's might, little brother.
After that, should he save up to unlock the permission to buy things for ten thousand points, or get some more items to improve his quality of life?
While his thoughts raced, the elders outside were already on the verge of going mad.
"By... itself?" An elder in charge of Martial Soul Theory stammered, his worldview taking a massive blow.
"Could it be... Could his 'Relaxation Cultivation Method' and 'Theory of Autonomous Soul Power Affinity'... not be nonsense, but... actually true?!"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" another elder instinctively retorted.
But looking at Lin Ciyan, with sacred radiance flowing all around him and unmistakably bearing Innate Full Soul Power, he swallowed the rest of his words.
Vice Dean Qian Duoduo's eyes blazed with feverish excitement as he stared fixedly at Lin Ciyan.
He looked as though he were gazing at a rare treasure. "Ultimate Light, Innate Full Soul Power, and this... this utterly incomprehensible way of growing! This boy is a top-tier research subject all by himself!"
Vice Dean Xian Lin'er murmured as well, "Could it be that all this time, we've been cultivating hard in the wrong direction?"
Bei Bei was completely dumbfounded, too. He looked at Lin Ciyan, who remained composed amid everyone's shocked stares, even seeming a little bewildered.
He felt as though the desperate cultivation he'd secretly thrown himself into over the past few months... had been a joke.
If Lin Ciyan knew that Bei Bei had been frantically pushing himself in secret, he would surely have told him righteously, "Little brother, you still haven't grasped the true meaning of lying flat. You actually went and got secretly caught up in the rat race. Only the incapable choose to join the rat race."
Mu En took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the storm raging in his heart.
When he looked at Lin Ciyan, his gaze had changed from its initial joy and satisfaction to something far more complicated.
It even carried a hint of... curiosity and intrigue, of which he himself was unaware.
He thought back to all of Lin Ciyan's "slacking off" over the past few years on Sea God Island. Those seemingly absurd remarks now seemed to be shrouded in mystery.
Mu En looked at Lin Ciyan, his tone more solemn and... gentle than ever. "Ci Yan, it seems your 'path' is different from everyone else's. The academy won't interfere with you. Just keep going in whatever way you think is best. The academy will make all its resources available to you!"
Lin Ciyan looked at all the elders, shaken to the point of questioning their lives by his "unintentional remarks." Then he glanced at the system panel, where his Slacking Points had surged once again, and his heart brimmed with delight.
"Sure enough, the most lethal bragging is the kind you don't even realize you're doing! This Achievement System really is a treasure!"
He maintained his usual serene expression and bowed slightly to Mu En and the elders, his tone easygoing:
"Thank you, Grandpa Mu. Thank you, Elders. I'll keep... um, relaxing."
[ Ding! Established the foundation of "relaxation cultivation" before a Limit Douluo and reinforced the "slacker" persona. Slacking Points +200! ]
At that moment, every elder realized just how different the future path of this child who had awakened the Holy Radiance Qilin would be from that of any other genius in Shrek's history.
Perhaps his strength was hidden in that unfathomable "relaxation" and "slacking off."
As for Lin Ciyan, he silently planned, "I need to buy the Winning-by-Lying-Down Aura, and I need to dig up new achievements, too! Looks like my great slacking enterprise is finally about to enter a period of rapid growth!"
With boundless anticipation for the future and a huge windfall just in hand, Lin Ciyan felt the skies over Douluo Continent had never looked brighter.
Standing to one side, Bei Bei watched Lin Ciyan, who was the center of everyone's attention and shone with dazzling brilliance. He looked at the phenomenon surrounding the crystal ball, far greater than the one at his own awakening.
The pride Bei Bei had felt earlier over his Bright Blue Lightning Overlord Dragon had now been scattered to the winds.
He opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing. He only looked at the "Brother Lin" who had once led him in slacking off, but had now soared to the skies, his eyes complicated.
Lin Ciyan looked at the crystal ball in his hands. Its light was gradually fading, but it remained crystal-clear throughout, without a single flaw.
Feeling the surging Soul Power within him, perfectly matched to his Martial Soul, the corners of his mouth finally lifted despite his efforts to hold them back.
He raised his head and glanced at his excited grandfather, Mu En smiling in satisfaction, and the many astonished elders.
At last, his gaze seemed to pierce the dome of the hall and fall upon the boundless sky.
"Innate Full Soul Power, Holy Radiance Qilin... Hmm, this setup should just about be enough for me to keep 'slacking off' in peace." He humblebragged to himself, then felt a surge of ambition.
"But now that I've got such a great starting point, if I don't leave behind a legend of my own in Douluo Continent,
wouldn't that be letting down the 'Slacker System' and this Qilin Martial Soul?"
"The road ahead seems to be getting more and more interesting."
The dazzling platinum light finally faded completely into the crystal ball.
But the fact that he had an "Ultimate Martial Soul" and "Innate Full Soul Power" had already been branded into the hearts of everyone present.
At Shrek Academy, a new star bearing auspiciousness and the Ultimate Light was rising.
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