Breaking Through, Transforming Power!

After a hearty meal, Guang Ling and Azure Luan went out for a stroll, while Cen Yu began asking Tushan Jinci how they could leave this world.

"So you're saying you were sucked in here after touching a gravestone?"

Cen Yu nodded and drew the gravestone on a sheet of paper. "That's right. Take a look. Do you recognize it?"

"I only felt energy flowing inside it. It also said, 'Resting Place of the Nine-Colored Sky Fox,' so I touched it, and then I ended up here."

"Our home is on the Douluo Continent. Is there any way to send us back?"

Sigh... If only he'd known better than to get handsy. Now they couldn't even get back.

"..."

Tushan Jinci fell silent for a while before finally speaking. "That's the Boundary Anchor of our Tushan clan."

"Back then, that... Forget it. That great war was unimaginably brutal. Its flames spread across several worlds."

"It wasn't just the lands of our four clans. Even the Douluo Continent where you're from was one of the main battlefields."

"When the war finally ended, the other three clans vanished without a trace, and Tushan was sealed."

"To make sure our clansmen who wished to return home wouldn't lose their way, we sent these Boundary Anchors throughout the myriad worlds."

At that, Cen Yu's eyes lit up. "Does that mean we can use one to get back, too?"

Under his expectant gaze, Tushan Jinci shook his head. "No. Boundary Anchors are not only one-way, but single-use as well."

"The moment you came here, the one on the Douluo Continent should have shattered."

But... Boundary Anchors could only be activated by those with fox-clan blood.

The two older ones obviously weren't. As for Cen Yu... he couldn't make sense of him.

"As for how to leave this place... I'm afraid even our king may not know..."

But Tushan Jinci had forgotten one thing.

Time flowed extremely erratically in Tushan.

Before the calamity, one day in Tushan was a year outside.

After the calamity, the flow of time between Tushan and the outside world had been constantly changing, with no fixed pattern at all.

Just then, an ethereal energy fluctuation began to emanate from Cen Yu.

"Hmm? Is he about to break through?"

That aura... The power inside him seemed to come from the Douluo Continent. Was it called Soul Power?

How laughable. Those people hadn't just knocked the Douluo Continent down a level; they'd even split its spiritual energy into this ridiculous thing called Soul Power.

At the thought, Tushan Jinci chuckled and released the purest spiritual energy within him, enveloping Cen Yu.

The spiritual energy in Tushan was steadily dwindling. It would be difficult for this kid to refine the energy in his body using the spiritual energy drifting through the air.

But directly absorbing spiritual energy that had already been refined... It might work.

"I'm helping you refine the energy in your body. You'll owe me one for this."

Before long, Tushan Jinci sensed his spiritual energy starting to be absorbed by Cen Yu.

"Hmm? Looks like he's on the right track."

Seeing this, he released even more spiritual energy for Cen Yu to absorb.

Meanwhile, after absorbing the spiritual energy, Cen Yu's aura surged higher and higher.

But... his level inexplicably fell. In only a moment, it had dropped to level twenty.

The next instant—

Golden light rippled around Cen Yu, and his level began climbing by leaps and bounds.

In the blink of an eye, he had returned to his previous level of fifty.

But it didn't stop there. Since his power system had changed, Cen Yu was no longer bound by the Soul Power bottleneck.

In the end, his level settled at sixty-one.

In an instant, a terrifying pressure no weaker than that of a Titled Douluo spread in every direction.

Seeing this, Tushan Jinci withdrew his spiritual energy and nodded in satisfaction.

"Now that's more like it. At roughly the same level, spiritual energy is much stronger than that Soul Power thing..."

Wait...

At that, Tushan Jinci belatedly turned to look at Cen Yu.

Why had the power in his body just now had that attribute? How could it be completely at odds with the attribute he'd sensed when they first met?

Just then, Guang Ling and Azure Luan returned as well.

Seeing that Cen Yu's aura had become utterly different from before, they both froze for a moment, then broke into delighted smiles.

He'd actually broken through just like that? No wonder he was a genius. He could break through just by having a meal.

Guang Ling was about to speak, but then he paused. "Wait... Third Brother, am I sensing this wrong?"

"Why is Xiao Yu over level sixty? When did he absorb a Soul Ring?"

But Azure Luan was also staring at Cen Yu in a daze, and didn't answer Guang Ling.

He was only a Soul Emperor, yet his aura had reached the level of a Titled Douluo?

Seeing the two of them stunned, Tushan Jinci came back to himself and said helplessly, "Sit over there and wait."

"He's changed the power inside his body and needs time to adjust. He won't wake up for a while."

After the three of them sat down nearby, Tushan Jinci's thoughts churned as he began subtly probing into Cen Yu's background.

Guang Ling shook his head. "We don't know either. We only know that Xiao Yu came to the Spirit Hall as an orphan."

"His family, friends, and hometown were all destroyed in a disaster."

Azure Luan, however, asked warily, "You seem very curious about Xiao Yu's childhood. Is something wrong?"

At that, Tushan Jinci smiled and shook his head. "Of course not. I'm just curious. You understand, right?"

It seemed none of them had ever met Cen Yu's birth parents. In that case... it wasn't certain he'd been born to human parents at all, was it?

At the thought...

"By the way, I just remembered I still have some things to take care of. I'll take my leave."

Hearing this, Guang Ling and Azure Luan exchanged a glance, then nodded hesitantly.

As soon as he left the cave dwelling, Tushan Jinci turned and raced toward the mountaintop.

In mere moments, clouds churned over the peak, and an ancient palace emerged from the mist.

Seeing it, he rushed forward, pounding on the door as he called out, "Ming Heng! Lord Ming Heng!"

As soon as his voice rang out, the heavy palace doors swung open.

A cool, detached figure appeared before Tushan Jinci.

Behind him, eight gleaming golden tails unfurled gently, revealing his identity.

He was a fox of the Tushan royal family who observed fate, and a terrifyingly powerful Eight-Tailed Immortal Fox.

The moment he saw him, Tushan Jinci hurriedly explained what he had in mind.

Tushan Mingheng's expression did not change. He merely turned his gaze toward the distant cave dwelling, then looked up at the starry sky.

After a moment, he shook his head. "Tushan's fate will indeed turn soon. Whether it will bring good or ill is unknown."

"The outsider is shrouded in mist."

"What?" Tushan Jinci asked in disbelief. "Even you can't see through him, Lord Ming Heng?"

If even Lord Ming Heng couldn't do it, how could they confirm that boy's origins?