Yang Fan sat cross-legged on the bed, his short black hair stirring faintly in the rising heat, making his still-youthful face look even more handsome.
"Mm..."
Yang Fan groaned, and fine beads of sweat instantly covered his forehead.
The medicinal power of the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue far exceeded his expectations. Wherever that surging heat flowed, his meridians seemed to be seared by blazing flames, torn apart, then swiftly remade beneath the embrace of a gentle vitality.
Yang Fan gritted his teeth and clenched his hands tightly, his knuckles turning bluish-white from the strain.
The intense pain made his body tremble uncontrollably.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly in that moment.
After who knew how long, the heat gradually faded from his body, and the violent medicinal power within him was finally absorbed and subdued.
"Phew~"
Yang Fan let out a long breath of stale air.
Yang Fan lowered his head and looked at his hands.
His formerly pale skin now shimmered with a warm, radiant luster. He lightly clenched his fingers, and a muffled burst of air rang out at once.
Yang Fan raised his head again, a trace of satisfaction flashing through his deep eyes.
His body, not yet twelve years old, had finally withstood the domineering tempering of the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue. His physical strength was now absolutely no weaker than that of an ordinary Soul Elder or even Soul Ancestor with a Beast Martial Soul, and his Soul Power had smoothly reached level twenty.
Without obtaining a Soul Ring, Yang Fan couldn't estimate his current level, but he knew that once he got one and broke through, he would definitely be more than level twenty-one.
With Yang Fan's current physical constitution and the spiritual power he had gained through appraising treasures, he was confident he could obtain a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring of no low rank, even without following the Soul Spirit path.
In The Unrivaled Tang Sect, Wang Dong'er's Second Soul Ring was only a thousand-year one. He figured that this wasn't the limit of a body strengthened through outside means, but rather a lack of spiritual power—especially since this daughter of a God King had even had her soul split.
The hunting system was good, but the Soul Spirit System offered a much wider world.
As the saying went, if there's a shortcut and you don't take it, you're doing your rivals a favor!
Since he was about to head to Legend of the Dragon King, he'd obviously get a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Spirit or a top-grade Thousand-Year Soul Spirit right away.
With Soul Spirit technology accumulated over ten thousand years, and a treasure trove like the Star Dou Forest right at its doorstep, the Spirit Pagoda could even produce some rare Soul Beasts for you.
If the Soul Spirit was high-quality, he could accept even a hundred-year one. It could rank up sooner or later—just look at that good-for-nothing Soul Spirit, Jin Yu.
Yang Fan changed into a new outfit, one more like the clothes he'd worn in his modern life.
Legend of the Dragon King took place twenty thousand years after Douluo Continent and ten thousand years after The Unrivaled Tang Sect. Society had changed dramatically, becoming more like the hometown of his dreams.
He said goodbye to Lan Yin. He was about to cross over!
"Heart of Eros, activate!"
Anyway, I'm still a kid who's not even twelve. It'd be a little awkward for an adult, but it's just right for me now, isn't it?
Yang Fan stood quietly in the Sea of Consciousness and slowly opened his right hand, palm up. A crystalline, translucent, red heart-shaped crystal floated silently above it.
With a slight movement of his thoughts, he poured all his Soul Power and spiritual power into it without holding back.
In an instant, the red heart-shaped crystal erupted in dazzling light, its glow illuminating the secret chamber.
The Heart of Eros throbbed violently at a strange frequency. With each beat, visible ripples in space spread outward in circles.
Then, the red light intertwined and twisted before the real Yang Fan, forcibly tearing open the space in front of him and forming a red, heart-shaped portal.
Beyond the portal lay a boundless, profound torrent of spacetime, where countless bizarre laws from different planes intertwined and flickered.
Yang Fan's expression remained calm as he took a step forward and disappeared into the red heart-shaped portal.
After Yang Fan entered, the heart-shaped portal shattered with a crash, turning into a skyful of tiny red lights that vanished completely into the air.
The next second, in another distant stretch of spacetime, space rippled violently once more.
A boy of twelve or thirteen, dressed in modern clothes, stumbled into an empty corner of a city.
Yang Fan stepped out of the corner and raised his head. Even though he'd prepared himself, the sight before him left him too stunned to speak.
Was this really the Douluo Continent he remembered?
Everywhere he looked, endless steel towers stretched out of sight, soaring into the clouds, their outer walls gleaming with a faint blue light.
Countless transparent tracks crisscrossed overhead like a spiderweb. Sleek flying cars raced silently along them, trailing pale blue flames of energy.
The streets were even more bizarre. Massive holographic projections floated in three dimensions above the ground, while virtual mecha images darted between buildings. The crisscrossing lights and shadows made his head spin.
Yang Fan instinctively clenched his hands, then noticed that some of the pedestrians passing by wore faintly glowing bracelets on their wrists.
He took a deep breath. A faint fragrance lingered in the air.
It was residue left after Soul Guidance Technology consumed and converted Soul Power. Unlike the biofuel of his previous life, the technology of the Dragon King era was more efficient and environmentally friendly.
In this era, Soul Guidance Technology had become thoroughly integrated into every inch of the city.
"So this is twenty thousand years later?"
A gentle voice tinged with confusion came from Yang Fan's Sea of Consciousness.
"Lan Yin, you came too?"
Yang Fan hadn't been sure whether Lan Yin would cross over with him.
The Heart of Eros needed true love. Beyond providing energy, true love was mainly needed as a coordinate—a point that could guide someone home even if they were swept about by the torrent of spacetime.
But Lan Yin was a little different. Because of the Heart of Eros, her true body and soul had become relatively independent. She was both the soul of the Blue Silver Emperor's body and an existence much like the Heart of Eros's spirit.
It seemed the Heart of Eros's spirit took priority. As a compromise, Lan Yin's true body had remained on Douluo Continent, and she could only live beside the Heart of Eros in Yang Fan's Sea of Consciousness, observing the world through him.
"Mm. Douluo Continent has changed so much. I wonder what the Star Dou Forest looks like now."
Compared to Yang Fan, who had once lived in the modern world, Lan Yin had been a Soul Beast native to Douluo Continent. She had never seen a city this magnificent.
She'd thought Heaven Dou City was already the greatest city in the world. She'd never imagined there was a world beyond the heavens and another city beyond the city!
Yang Fan felt a little bad about crushing Lan Yin's hopes... Under the Silver Dragon Fish's leadership, the Soul Beasts had adopted a turtle-shell strategy and retreated until they were practically extinct.
He sighed inwardly. He'd tell her later. Otherwise, it would be a little too cruel for Lan Yin.
He'd only just calmed her down. How could she handle such a blow?
Even Di Tian, that old fellow, had nearly lost control back then. If the Silver Dragon Fish hadn't held him back, Di Tian would truly have dared to lead his subordinates in a desperate battle against humanity.
During The Unrivaled Tang Sect era, Di Tian feared neither Shrek nor the Body Sect. Even the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign had to take a Dragon God Claw when it passed through the Star Dou Forest.
Now the Divine Realm was nowhere to be seen, and their side had even gained a Divine Level combatant, yet they still didn't dare fight.
Yang Fan felt that the rumor of Di Tian being turned into a spaceship in Douluo IV was partly his own fault. Anyone with the slightest knack for reading people should have looked for a chance to seize power.
Soul Beasts couldn't become gods, but what if they had the Silver Dragon King's God Core?