The Secret of the Seal

The fusion process was effortless, at least for Tang Wulin as he was now.

The Blood-Exploding Snake had long since been terrified out of its wits by Long Yuan's dragon might, and Tang Wulin's physical constitution was no longer what it once was, so the process took only half an hour to complete.

Tang Wulin stood up from the room, breathing in the air and sensing the surging strength within his body; he could even feel his blood flowing at a faster pace.

His soul power had grown significantly, and with just a slight movement of his intent, a ripple of soul power radiated from his body.

He swung his arm with force.

"Snap—"

A faint, sharp crack echoed through the air.

"This kind of power... Teacher, I succeeded!"

[Mm, congratulations. Let's take a look at your soul skill.]

"Oh, right, okay." Tang Wulin extended his right hand and released his Blue Silver Grass martial soul.

Slender vines of Blue Silver Grass sprouted from his palm, but instead of spreading out, they stood upright like swords.

If one looked closely, they could see crimson patterns crawling across them, identical to the scales of the Blood-Exploding Snake.

A white soul ring appeared beside him.

Immediately after, a small snake slithered out.

The small snake's crimson scales were now stained with fine golden patterns, making it look even more formidable.

Clearly, this little guy had been thoroughly marinated in the power of the Golden Dragon King.

[Come, let me see your soul skill.]

"Yes. First soul skill, Blood Explosion!"

The soul ring beside Tang Wulin lit up, and the vines in his palm curled back along his wrist, intertwining around his arm.

The leaves of the Blue Silver Grass were thin enough to wind perfectly into his sleeves.

A blood-colored halo shimmered around Tang Wulin's body, and even the depths of his eyes were tinged with a hint of red.

He looked somewhat like he was in a berserk state.

"Teacher, my first soul skill is an augmentation type. Its effect is to increase my overall physical strength by twenty percent, and for every ten levels I gain, the augmentation increases by another five percent."

[Not bad. This is a perfect augmentation skill.]

With Long Yuan's discernment, he could naturally see that the skill's effects were not that simple. Beyond the raw boost, the Blue Silver Grass itself had become much tougher, and combined with the innate constricting ability of a snake, if Tang Wulin managed to get close to an opponent, those vines could also serve as a form of crowd control.

[How about it? Give this little one a name.]

Upon hearing this, Tang Wulin lowered his head to look at the small snake in his palm.

It raised its head slightly and flicked its tongue at him.

The light in the room shone upon it, causing its body to shimmer with a golden glow.

"I'll call you Golden Light!"

After tidying up briefly, Tang Wulin shared the good news with Tang Ziran and headed home together.

Tang Ziran was also delighted by his son's breakthrough.

"Now that you've broken through to level ten, you are officially a soul master. But you must still attend your classes diligently every day, especially with your teacher Mang Tian; you must never let yourself become lax, do you understand?"

"Yes, I will work hard." Tang Wulin nodded vigorously.

The next day, Tang Wulin told Mang Tian the news of having absorbed a soul spirit. Mang Tian was not surprised in the slightest; he simply told him to finish his current tasks quickly so they could officially begin teaching him Thousand Refinement.

"So-called Thousand Refinement is by no means as simple as hammering a piece of metal a thousand times. It is about using constant forging to strip away all impurities within the metal. At the same time, the greatest characteristic of Thousand Refinement is sublimation; during the process of forging the metal, you must induce a sublimation effect."

"Just like people, a soul master's cultivation is a process of self-improvement. The two have much in common."

When he returned home, Tang Wulin was exhausted beyond measure. He had expected Thousand Refinement to be tiring, but he hadn't imagined it could be this grueling.

He threw himself heavily onto the bed, not wanting to move even a finger.

[Wulin, based on my observations over these past few days, my first seal has begun to loosen.]

Long Yuan said suddenly.

"Ah? Teacher, will this have any negative effects on you?"

Hearing this, Tang Wulin sat up from the bed at once, ignoring the soreness in his body, and asked urgently.

Long Yuan nodded with satisfaction. Under his subtle influence over the past two years, Tang Wulin could be said to have developed in all aspects—morally, intellectually, physically, socially, and aesthetically. In his previous life, he would have been a model youth in every sense.

[The breaking of the seal naturally has no effect on me, but the problem lies with you.]

"Me?" Tang Wulin pointed at himself.

[Yes, you.]

[That was a very long time ago. Originally, I was not from the Douluo Continent. It was only because of a great war that, after losing, I was sealed away. It was a long, long time—so long that my memories have blurred, and in the end, my heart was filled with nothing but rage.]

Long Yuan said with a sigh.

Tang Wulin listened intently; this was the first time his teacher had ever spoken to him about his past.

In his eyes, his teacher was undoubtedly a mysterious and powerful existence.

Yet, hearing this now, was he actually not from this world?

[It seems you don't quite believe me. Doesn't Douluo Continent have legends of the Sea God Tang San and the Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao ascending to the God Realm? That is actually a world as well. There are countless planets in the universe; Douluo Continent is far from the only place where intelligent life exists.]

Tang Wulin was deeply shocked, but he indicated that he wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"Then, Teacher, why were you sealed inside my body?"

[After an unknown amount of time had passed, an unprecedented catastrophe struck that world. I seized the opportunity to escape and chose to retaliate.]

[Without a doubt, I failed once again. Then, when I regained consciousness, it was the moment you awakened your martial soul.]

Although he had taken a long detour, the final meaning was actually quite simple: "I don't know."

He had indeed only been awake for two years. As for the consciousness of the former Golden Dragon King, it had long since vanished, leaving only instinct behind.

And after all these years, he had completely integrated those instincts.

[In short, my power is not something you can withstand right now, so you must do your best to improve your physical strength before my seal is broken.]

[At the same time, you must search for three types of spiritual items: a Century Ice Crystal Fruit, a Century Red Flame Fruit, and ten drops of blood from a century-old soul beast with dragon lineage.]

That was right; Long Yuan had already decided to break the seal himself.

Being constantly bound by the seal made it inconvenient for him to do anything.

As long as he could break the seal, even just one layer, he could condense a new body directly through the essence of the Golden Dragon King, just like the Silver Dragon King.

The only difference was that the Silver Dragon King had transformed into Na'er using her spiritual origin, while he would split off a manifestation using his bloodline power.

Oh no, it would be his newly born true body!