It's Perfectly Reasonable for Me to Cheat for Myself (Seeking Collections and Follow-ups)

Douluo Continent, outskirts of Star Luo City.

Starlight dotted the silver moon, and tranquility spilled across the earth along with the silver-mist moonlight. Everything was deathly silent.

A beautiful night, a beautiful moon.

On a grassy hillside, a small figure knelt powerlessly, as if praying to the starry sky.

It was a child in tattered clothes, sporting short black hair and a sallow, weak complexion. Those large, sapphire-like eyes were dim and lusterless.

He stared at the beautiful starry sky, tears welling up in his eyes.

It was hard to believe that such a desire to die could be seen in a five-year-old child.

Just then, a spatial gate tore open silently, and a young man stepped out.

The young man was exceptionally handsome and refined, with long, slightly pale blue hair draped casually behind him. He possessed an indescribable, otherworldly aura, and his eyes were so clear they seemed to reflect the entire universe.

But most striking was the vertical eye on his forehead, which shimmered with a mysterious, diamond-like light, though it was covered in cracks as if it were about to shatter.

"..."

His gaze was also dim, and he almost didn't dare to look at the child. He was all too familiar with this child; this was the protagonist of this era, and his own past self.

The Son of the Plane of this era, and arguably the last hope of the Douluo Continent.

[Huo Yuhao].

No, right now he was still called Dai Yuhao, trapped in the lowest point of his life.

"This timeline is five years old; there's still time!"

The God of Emotions brushed his face, and his handsome features vanished, replaced by those of an ordinary middle-aged man.

He walked up to Huo Yuhao, ignored the child's hostile and suspicious gaze, and flashed a wide smile.

"Hello, little one. My name is... Baili Du."

One year later, Douluo Continent, outskirts of Star Luo City.

"Come on, little Yuhao, put your hand on it. Let's begin the martial soul awakening ceremony."

The speaker was a man in his thirties with short black hair. His appearance was unremarkable, save for his eyes, which shone as brightly as the sun.

Standing before him was a six-year-old boy wearing white clothes—not high-quality, but clean.

It was young Huo Yuhao.

A year had passed, and the child who once went hungry and cold had changed significantly. His small face was no longer sallow and weak, but exquisitely delicate—so much so that one might not realize he was a boy at a glance. His skin had gained the fairness a child his age should have, and he had grown much taller. Compared to a year ago, it was like night and day.

Ever since the Spirit Hall was destroyed ten thousand years ago by the "impartial and selfless," "pure and noble" Sea God and Asura God Tang San, the original three kingdoms of the Douluo Continent had not continued that welfare. In this god-awful era, awakening a martial soul cost money, and the price was steep: ten gold soul coins.

It wasn't until ten thousand years later that the Spirit Transmission Tower, established by Huo Yuhao, took up the burden of the Spirit Hall, providing free martial soul awakenings for commoners on a large scale.

Two thousand years later, the life energy levels and technology of Douluo Planet were advanced enough that awakening a martial soul was a trivial matter; those with a little money could simply buy an instrument and awaken at home.

Comparing the eras horizontally, Huo Yuhao's time was indeed miserable. As for why it was so wretched, one would have to ask a certain someone named Tang.

Of course, there were other ways. In this era, major families or sects on the Douluo Continent would conduct martial soul awakening ceremonies within their own clans.

For Huo Yuhao and his mother, the only advantage of being in the Duke's Mansion was the ability to piggyback on the benefits of such a powerful faction and undergo a free awakening.

But in [Baili Du]'s memory, after he awakened his Spirit Eye martial soul at the age of six, he and his mother were squeezed by Dai Hao's "good wife" under various pretexts, forcing them to pay the ten gold soul coin awakening fee.

Ten gold soul coins had significant purchasing power in this era. It could be said that a large part of why Huo Yuhao's childhood was so miserable was that he and his mother had to perform all sorts of manual labor to pay off that debt.

But fortunately, he had returned. There was no need for his mother or his younger self to sacrifice anything this time.

Little Yuhao nodded obediently and gently placed his small, tender hand on the crystal ball.

Then, he felt the soul power within him find a gateway, surging into the ball frantically.

A blinding white light erupted instantly, and then, with a "crack," the crystal ball shattered!

[Baili Du]'s eyes lit up.

Clearly, this wasn't the innate full soul power of level ten.

It was innate level twenty! A god-tier talent.

Golden light shimmered in those large blue eyes. Unsurprisingly, it was [Huo Yuhao]'s signature Spirit Eye.

And [Baili Du] could see clearly that deep within Huo Yuhao's pupils, deep nine-colored ripples were undulating, likely related to the power of emotion.

But what if... there was more?

Little Yuhao suddenly raised his head and roared.

"...Ah!"

His small body slowly became slender, and dark blue scales grew over his skin. Human features and aura slowly faded from him, replaced by... the characteristics of a dragon.

"Roar!"

The dragon's roar wasn't loud, but it carried an indescribable deterrent force. The clear sky instantly darkened, as if the sun had been eclipsed.

Then, his martial soul appeared.

A deep blue halo rippled outward from young Huo Yuhao's body, obscuring his figure within the glow. The entire courtyard seemed to transform into a watery realm; though the rippling waves were merely an illusion, they were overwhelmingly lifelike.

A massive form burst from the illusory water's surface with a thunderous splash.

Its dragon head possessed soft contours that lost none of their majesty, crowned with four ornate horns wrapped in faint, deep-purple electrical arcs. Its eyes were ice-blue vertical slits, as if ground from eternal frost, cold and piercing. Its fangs were a translucent white, releasing wisps of frigid mist whenever its jaws snapped shut.

Its slender, hundred-meter-long body coiled, revealing hind legs tipped with hooked claws, while its whip-like, sharp tail carved a wide arc through the air. The lithe body shimmered with a brilliant, deep-blue glazed luster, with dragon scales of the same hue standing erect from its head and back down to its tail, flanked by four pairs of blue dragon wings extending at regular intervals.

It was impossible to tell if it was a Western or Eastern dragon, and it bore no resemblance to the native dragon species of the Douluo plane, yet its presence was solemn and magnificent.

The dragon opened its maw wide, unleashing a roar like a thunderclap. The air grew damp, with lightning snakes dancing wildly within it, as if a torrential storm were about to break at any second.

It was common knowledge that the births of famous emperors and generals were often accompanied by celestial phenomena, such as rooms filled with red light or the appearance of dragons and phoenixes; the most famous example was, of course, His Majesty Li Erfeng, the strongest carbon-based lifeform of the seventh century.

The same held true on the Douluo Continent; a martial soul capable of altering the weather upon awakening naturally signified its immense power.

Standing to the side, Baili Du narrowed his eyes, watching Huo Yuhao's awakening with keen interest and a nod of satisfaction.

Ultimate Water combined with Ultimate Lightning, and... a very fine combination. Once he fuses with Brother Tianmeng, he should be able to turn water into ice.

His essence blood and the Dragon God's marrow had not gone to waste; it had resulted in a twin martial soul.

And both were god-tier martial souls!

Naturally, considering they were the essence blood of two God Kings, it would have been problematic if they hadn't produced a new martial soul.

Huo Yuhao no longer displayed a single trace of the White Tiger bloodline; in its place was a different characteristic—the Dragon!

Moreover, it was a dragon of a quality not inferior to the Nine Great Dragon Kings, approaching the level of the Golden Dragon King or the Silver Dragon King.

Of course, he could have crafted a god-tier martial soul for Huo Yuhao, such as the God of Emotions, but considering the fated connection between Huo Yuhao and Qiu'er, he had used his own origin bloodline and a drop of the Dragon God's marrow to completely replace the boy's original bloodline, while simultaneously cleansing his marrow and refining his physique.

Since it was the same person, the bloodlines fused with natural ease, but as for that drop of Dragon God marrow... at the thought, a cunning and treacherous smile crept onto Baili Du's face.

He wondered what kind of expression that second-generation Dragon God, who had also transmigrated to this era, would wear when he saw his "uncle-in-law" suddenly possess the bloodline of the Dragon God.