Lan Xuanyu: I'm Already Max Level, and You're Telling Me to Restart? (Seeking Collection and Follow-up Reads)

Douling Empire, Lingdou City.

Although the Douling Empire was the weakest of the three original nations on the Douluo Continent, the prosperity of Lingdou City as its capital was self-evident.

The streets were filled with coming and going traffic and bustling crowds; even in the daytime, the soul-guided neon lights flickered incessantly.

Yet, the more prosperous a place was, the more it tended to hide filth and ugliness.

This place was precisely a slum.

The pungent, foul stench made it impossible to breathe; flies buzzed about, and garbage and sewage flowed everywhere. Most of the people living here were dressed in rags, their figures gaunt and withered.

At the far end of the slum, on a relatively clean step near the street, sat a child of about five or six years old. He wore a tattered garment covered in patches, his expression dull as he stared at the street where few people passed by.

The child's appearance was ordinary, with nothing particularly striking; he was the type you wouldn't notice if thrown into a crowd.

If one had to point something out, the most prominent feature was two tufts of hair on the sides of his head that stuck straight up, looking from a distance just like dog ears.

"Xiuxiu... Xiuxiu..."

He kept whispering these two words, as if murmuring to a lover.

That's right.

Standing before you was none other than—

The Second-Generation Dragon God, Arbiter of the Universe, Ruler of the Dragon God Realm, Supreme God King—Tang Xuanyu.

None of that mattered; the most important thing was that he was the grandson of Tang San.

Thus, it went without saying that the simple four-character title "Grandson of Tang San" had overshadowed everything Tang Xuanyu had previously achieved.

No, he should be called Lan Xuanyu now.

Because... he had been reborn.

Lan Xuanyu lowered his head, looking at his small, tender hands in confusion.

Why... did it turn out like this?!

I, the Dragon God King, had already reached max level! And you're telling me to restart?!

Memories flooded his mind like a tide, and Lan Xuanyu recalled why he had appeared here.

As the inheritor of the Dragon God bloodline and the genuine Second-Generation Dragon God, Lan Xuanyu's strength and status were unrivaled across the entire God Realm; he was hailed as the strongest God King, bar none!

He had even grasped the essence of the Dragon God divine position and the laws of the universe, becoming the "Arbiter of the Universe." Even his grandfather, the Sea God Tang San, who had returned after a rebirth and stat-reset, was no match for him.

Logically, he should have been an invincible existence in the universe. Why had he been reborn in this era?

The matter began after the return of [Rebirth of Tang San].

Ever since Tang San's rebirth, Douluo Planet and the Great God Circle had been developing at high speed. Especially on the Douluo Continent, after their [Shrek Team] project succeeded, over a dozen Level-1 Gods appeared on Douluo Planet in just a thousand years.

Although the distribution of resources might have been slightly uneven, he believed no one would dare raise any inappropriate questions.

After his cousin Huo Zhanji conquered the [Falan Galaxy] and the [God of Heaven Guard] joined the Great God Circle, everyone believed the moment to assault the God Star had arrived.

After all, the timing, the location, and the people were all in their favor. All the deities were of one mind, and the combined influence of the two great God Realms was even broader than the [Dragon God Realm] at its peak.

Most importantly, they had two Supreme God Kings—himself and his grandfather—presiding over them, and the [God of Heaven Guard] was also in their God Realm.

No matter how you looked at it, the advantage was theirs!

However, neither he nor Tang San realized they had thought too simply.

Just as they led all the deities with all their might and had already completed the Douluo God Star, everything came to an end.

Before the gods of the newly born [Douluo God Star] appeared that giant god who brought the end to the world...

Recalling that terrifying entity, Lan Xuanyu couldn't help but shudder instinctively. He was certain that for the entire universe, it was an unprecedented catastrophe.

He was blasted apart after taking only two hits. Even his grandfather Tang San's infallible [Unfixed Storm] had no effect; he and his trident were smashed into pulp... If even two Supreme God Kings could be blasted apart so easily, what chance did the others have?

Except for the Emotion God King, his uncle-in-law Dai Yuhao, who had fled from the start—he didn't know if he was dead or alive.

Perhaps due to the immortal nature of his Dragon God divine position and his formidable cultivation, Lan Xuanyu had luckily retained a wisp of his soul.

After all the deities perished, the two great God Realms exploded from the inside out, leaving nothing behind—far exceeding the God Star ceremony of the [Dragon God Era].

At least back then, the [Dragon God Realm] had something left after the Dragon God Rebellion, which became the later Douluo God Realm. But in that explosion, the two great God Realms were truly wiped out completely.

In such a terrifying explosion, no living creature could have survived... Every planet in the [Douluo Galaxy] and [Longma Galaxy] was also obliterated. Lan Xuanyu even doubted whether the [Falan Galaxy] could have remained.

Perhaps because his cultivation was deep enough and he was relatively lucky, he had accidentally traveled through time during that explosion and arrived in this era, surviving.

Whether it was destiny or mere coincidence, the name of this body was also Lan Xuanyu. It was just an orphan living in a slum, parents both dead—a perfect protagonist template.

But ever since Lan Xuanyu was reborn in this era, he had discovered something truly terrifying.

Although he hadn't awakened his martial soul yet, he clearly realized that the Dragon God bloodline within him was gone...

One had to know that the Dragon God divine position, being "unique in the universe," was tied to the Dragon God bloodline. Without it, he could never have gained the recognition of the Dragon God, let alone possess the Dragon God divine position.

As for the Dragon God's own claims about "searching the universe for countless years for an heir," that was just talk—who could actually believe it?

Without a pure Dragon God bloodline, where would one inherit the Dragon God divine position? Didn't you see that the Silver Dragon King or the Golden Dragon King didn't even get a hair of it?

"..."

Lan Xuanyu gritted his teeth, trembling. While his immense power in his past life had been earned step by step through his own hard work and intellect, the Dragon God bloodline had been indispensable.

But now... it was gone... everything was gone...

As a Supreme God King, Lan Xuanyu possessed not only supernal power but also the wisdom befitting a supreme deity. Even if he didn't quite match his grandfather Tang San, who held the moniker "God of Wisdom," he was not far behind.

Back in the Longma Galaxy, he had used that very [wisdom] to disguise himself as a woman, leading the Dragon Knights in circles. He had stolen numerous Heaven-Nurturing Crystals from Tianlong Planet, making an unparalleled contribution to the prosperity of the Douluo Federation and Douluo Planet!

Thus, Lan Xuanyu understood clearly that this rebirth was merely a sliver of his divine soul, which had happened to land in this dying slum boy.

According to later research, a martial soul was inextricably linked to one's bloodline and soul. No matter how it mutated, the resulting martial soul would always be connected to the individual's bloodline.

Even Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao martial soul was a prototype of the Golden Sacred Dragon; Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eye martial soul was a mutation based on the Evil Eye White Tiger.

Based on this, how could the Dragon God bloodline possibly appear in his body again?

Thinking of this, Lan Xuanyu couldn't help but miss his true parents—not Nan Cheng and Lan Xiao, but Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena.

After gathering information and making his own deductions during this time, Lan Xuanyu confirmed that this era belonged to his aunt, the Butterfly Goddess Tang Wutong, and her husband, the Emotion God King Dai Yuhao.

In other words, his mother was still around, but his father had not yet been born.

He wouldn't be able to obtain the Golden Dragon King bloodline anytime soon, but if he could first secure his mother Gu Yuena's Silver Dragon King bloodline, he could take off...

However, how was he supposed to meet his mother?

No, the problem Lan Xuanyu faced right now wasn't whether he could meet Gu Yuena.

"Awakening a martial soul costs 10 gold soul coins?!"

Lan Xuanyu's expression stiffened. Awakening a martial soul required a fee? How had he never heard of such a thing?

Think of him, Lan Xuanyu: born with innate full soul power, possessing the universe's top-tier Dragon God bloodline, accompanied by the super-divine artifact Heavenly Saint Splitting Abyss Halberd, and protected throughout his growth by the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena and the Golden Dragon King Tang Wulin. Although he had "endured hardships," he had overcome them all through his own efforts and superior intellect.

Yet, he never imagined he would be worrying about how to awaken his martial soul... 10 gold soul coins! In this era, that was enough to cover a common family's expenses for ten years!

What kind of screwed-up era was this?! In his own time, one could awaken their martial soul at home for free!

Suppressing the dissatisfaction in his heart, Lan Xuanyu shouted at the old beggar beside him: "Wait, what about the Spirit Transmission Tower? What happened to it? Doesn't it awaken martial souls for soul masters for free? Where is it now? And the Tang Sect? Doesn't the Tang Sect distribute the Mysterious Heaven Technique for free?"

The old beggar waved his hand impatiently: "What Spirit Transmission Tower, what Tang Sect? What kind of gibberish is that?! Where did you hear such things?"

"..."

Lan Xuanyu slumped to the ground in despair. No Tang Sect, no Spirit Transmission Tower, no Spirit Ascension Platform...

Where was he supposed to go to blow up the Spirit Ascension Platform... oh wait, absorb the immortal spiritual energy?

And Shrek Academy—he was only five years old now; even if he went, they wouldn't take him.

After thinking it over, Lan Xuanyu couldn't come up with any better plan. He would have to get close to his aunt and uncle, ride their coattails for opportunities, and then find a way to reach his mother in the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain her bloodline.

His uncle Dai Yuhao was the Son of the Plane in this era. Although his final achievements weren't very high and his status in the Tang family was low, he had still managed to ascend from a first-rank god to a God King under the guidance of his grandfather Tang San, eventually becoming a half-step Supreme God King. As long as he got close to him, he might even find a way to contact his grandfather.

Moreover... in this era, the eighty-thousand-year-old Xiuxiu had not yet transformed into a human, so he could still continue his predestined relationship with her.

That would have to be the plan!