Azure Dragon Opens Its Eyes

My name was Yu Tianlin. This was my third life.

In my first life, I was a 996 corporate drone on Blue Star. In my second, I cultivated bitterly in an immortal world for eight hundred years, only to have my soul scattered by heavenly lightning just after forming my Nascent Soul. In this life, I was reborn on Douluo Continent as a collateral descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

I slowly opened my eyes, my mind still somewhat hazy.

A smooth, jade-like arm lay across my chest.

I turned my head. A delicate face was buried in the crook of my neck, her breathing warm and even. She was my personal maid, Qing Luo. Last night, using "practicing a new soul skill" as an excuse, I had asked her to help me adapt to the flow of Soul Power. The girl had been very earnest, but her comprehension was too poor. By the end of the lesson, she had exhausted me half to death.

I gently moved her arm aside and sat up. Qing Luo let out a soft murmur and drowsily opened her eyes. The moment she saw me, her face flushed crimson.

"Young Master..." Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"If you're awake, get up." With my back to her, I put on my clothes.

"Today, we're going to the Martial Arts Arena for the awakening ceremony."

"Ah... yes!" She hurriedly tried to get up, then realized she was not wearing anything and curled up beneath the blanket, revealing only a pair of watery eyes.

I did not look at her again and pushed open the door.

The sunlight outside was just right. The awakening ceremony at the Martial Arts Arena was already prepared. There were more than twenty children taking part in this batch, the oldest no more than eight and the youngest barely over six. A few were so nervous their palms were sweating. One of them even began crying, only to be slapped silent by his father.

The elder presiding over the ceremony had white hair and beard, eyes like lightning, and unfathomable Soul Power. I quietly sensed him out. He was at least a Soul Douluo-level powerhouse.

I did not step forward right away. Standing among the crowd, I swept the area with my spiritual sense.

Among these children, several had fairly decent Soul Power fluctuations. One boy dressed in blue had roughly level five or six Soul Power. Another girl with a ponytail had level four or five. Most of the rest were only level two or three, and some had no Soul Power fluctuations at all.

"Next, Yu Xiaolou."

The round-faced little fatty nervously walked up and stood in the center of the awakening platform. A faint spark of electricity flashed, and a palm-sized blue puppy appeared by his feet. It drooped listlessly, looking as though it had not woken up yet.

"Martial Soul: Blue Lightning Dog. Soul Power: level three." Fortunately, the elder had received strict training. No matter how strange a Martial Soul awakened, he would not laugh.

Yu Xiaolou came down with his lips pursed. When he saw me, his eyes reddened. "Brother Tianlin, am I really that useless?"

"You're all right. Not bad." I patted his shoulder.

"Next, Yu Tianlin."

I put away my smile and walked toward the awakening platform.

I stood in the center of the platform. Energy from within the awakening stone poured into my body, drawing my Soul Power outward. An ordinary child would probably have fainted from nervousness by now. But I had lived three lives, and my mind had been tempered by the Visualization Method. This little pulling force was like a brook trying to shake a boulder.

With a thought, I took the initiative to guide that power.

The sky above the Martial Arts Arena suddenly changed.

Heavy dark clouds gathered from the horizon, layer upon layer, blotting out the sun. A low dragon's roar echoed through the clouds. It was not heard through the ears, but slammed directly into the depths of everyone's minds.

The elder abruptly raised his head, his pupils shrinking.

A cyan phantom slowly condensed behind me. First came the dragon's head, then its body, and finally its tail. The dragon was covered from head to toe in emerald-like scales, each one gleaming with an eerie cold light. When its eyes opened and closed, it seemed as though two bolts of lightning brewed within. It coiled in midair, its majestic aura pressing down like a mountain.

"A mutation... this is a mutated Martial Soul!" The elder's voice trembled. "After three hundred years, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon lineage has produced another true dragon!"

The surrounding clansmen had already fallen to their knees. Those who had awakened Martial Souls such as snakes, wolves, and hawks now had trembling legs and could barely stand.

Yu Xiaolou stared at me with his mouth wide open. The instant the Azure Dragon phantom appeared, his listless little blue dog shrank straight back into his body.

At that moment, an overwhelmingly powerful pressure descended from the heavens. Even its aftershock made everyone present shudder inwardly.

I raised my head. Through my spiritual senses, I detected a figure tearing through the air at an unimaginable speed, nine soul rings slowly rotating behind him.

Two yellow, two purple, five black.

A Title Douluo.

The figure landed atop the tallest roof of the Martial Arts Arena. He was an old man clad in a purple robe, with white hair and beard, yet his face was as resolute as if carved by a blade. He stood with his hands behind his back, eyes like lightning, staring fixedly at the Azure Dragon phantom behind me.

The entire arena fell deathly silent.

The elder came to his senses and hurriedly dropped to one knee, his voice trembling. "Clan Leader!"

All the clansmen fell to their knees in unison.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's leader, Thunder Douluo, Yu Yuanzhen.

He ignored everyone and simply stared at the Azure Dragon.

"This Martial Soul... what is its name?"

His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached every ear.

"Prison-Suppressing Azure Dragon." I raised my head and met the gaze of this Title Douluo.

The instant our eyes met, his pupils visibly trembled.

A six-year-old child was facing a Title Douluo without flinching or fear, as calm as a deep pool.

Yu Yuanzhen was silent for a moment, then suddenly threw back his head and laughed.

His laughter boomed like thunder, rolling across the Martial Arts Arena and making the roof tiles tremble faintly.

"Good! Good! Good!" He spoke the word three times, each one ringing with force.

"After three hundred years, my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has finally produced another true dragon! And a mutated true dragon whose rank even this old man cannot see through!"

He leaped down from the roof and landed in front of me.

"Child, which branch are you from?"

Yu Tianlin cupped his hands and said, "My father is Yu Heng."

"A collateral branch?" A trace of surprise flashed through Yu Yuanzhen's eyes.

For collateral bloodlines to awaken a mutated Martial Soul of this level was highly unlikely.

"Interesting. Truly interesting." He patted my shoulder.

"From now on, I will personally teach you. On the fifteenth of every month, come find me at the Thunder Pool in the back mountain."

The elder beside us sucked in a sharp breath.

The entire arena erupted in uproar.

The Thunder Pool was a forbidden ground of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Aside from the clan leader and several supreme elders, no one was allowed to enter. Even direct descendants were not qualified to cultivate there, much less a collateral descendant.

Yu Yuanzhen ignored the discussions around him. His gaze swept over the kneeling clansmen.

"Whoever lets even half a word of today's events get out will be treated as a traitor to the clan."

His voice was not loud, but it carried unquestionable authority. Everyone lowered their heads even further.

He looked at me again, his tone softening somewhat. "Test his Soul Power again."

The elder hurriedly brought over the testing crystal ball. I placed my hand on it, and the crystal ball instantly burst with dazzling light as the markings within rapidly rose.

Level one, level five, level eight, level nine.

At last, the light stopped firmly at level ten.

The elder's voice cracked with excitement. "Innate Full Soul Power!"

The crowd stirred again. A mutated true dragon Martial Soul, Innate Full Soul Power, and personal instruction from the clan leader. Any one of these things would be enough for an ordinary descendant to brag about for a lifetime. Yet all three had fallen upon me alone.

Yu Yuanzhen did not seem overly surprised. He merely nodded. "Not bad."

He glanced at the sky and turned to leave. After taking two steps, he stopped again.

"Tianlin."

"Yes?"

"Did you name your Martial Soul yourself?"

I thought about it and answered honestly, "It was already in my head when it awakened."

That was not a lie. At the moment my Martial Soul awakened, those four words had indeed surfaced naturally, as if engraved into my bones.

Yu Yuanzhen nodded thoughtfully. With a flash, he vanished from where he stood.

The pressure around us suddenly disappeared, and only then did the kneeling clansmen dare to breathe deeply.

Yu Xiaolou was the first to rush over, his face flushed red, even more excited than I was. "Brother Tianlin! You're incredible! Prison-Suppressing Azure Dragon! Even the clan leader was alarmed!"

"Calm down." I patted his head.

"That was a Title Douluo! You actually dared to look him in the eye! My legs went weak just standing there!"

I ignored him and turned toward the exit of the Martial Arts Arena. Qing Luo had come at some point and stood far outside the crowd, clutching the hem of her clothes with both hands. Her eyes were red, as though she had just cried.

When she saw me looking at her, she hurriedly wiped away her tears and forced a smile at me.

I smiled back, then looked away.

The awakening ceremony was not over yet. Several more children were still waiting to be tested. But no one's attention remained on the ceremony. Glances kept secretly drifting toward me—some envious, some jealous, some thoughtful.

I pretended not to notice.

After surviving in the immortal cultivation world for hundreds of years, this little scene was nothing to me.

What did concern me was Yu Yuanzhen's reaction just now. It seemed like a kind of expectation, but also a kind of worry.

But I could not be bothered to think about it right now.

First, I needed to go back and catch up on sleep. We had messed around for most of the night, and I was exhausted.