The First Soul Ring

Deep within the Lake of Life, inside an independent space.

Gu Yuena held Lin Shuo's hand, the two figures—one large, one small—moving slowly through the glowing light at the bottom of the lake. Her fingertips were cool, yet they possessed a power that brought Lin Shuo peace of mind.

"Sit, Xiao Shuo."

Gu Yuena sat down across from Lin Shuo, her long silver hair cascading behind her like a waterfall as her purple eyes watched him in silence. It had been six years. She had raised this child with her own hands, watching him grow from a swaddled infant into the handsome boy he was today.

Although she had harbored suspicions about the origin of Lin Shuo's bloodline, she was still shocked when his martial soul truly awakened.

"Xiao Shuo, I am going to tell you about the history of the Dragon Race."

"The Dragon God was once the most powerful deity, and the first of the Dragon Race to become a God King. Long before humans achieved godhood in the God Realm, the realm was ruled by the Dragon Race. However, because the Dragon God governed such diverse powers, his consciousness eventually suffered a degree of fragmentation. These conflicting abilities often drove the Dragon God into madness, leading him to slaughter other beast gods. Later, human deities rose to power and established a firm foothold in the God Realm. Tensions between the races led to a great war. During the conflict, the Dragon God fell into madness once more. The human deities seized the opportunity to ambush us; the Dragon God failed to strike down his enemies and instead attacked his own kin. In the end, the Nine Great Dragon Kings fell, and the Dragon Prince was killed while trying to protect the Dragon God. Once calm returned, the Dragon God was slain by the Asura God, one of the human God Kings. The Dragon God split into the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King. Ultimately, the Golden Dragon King was sealed within the God Realm, while I escaped through a spatial turbulence. Later, the five God Kings—the God of Goodness, the God of Evil, the God of Destruction, the Goddess of Life, and the Asura God—established the God Realm Committee and forbade beasts from cultivating into gods, sealing the path for soul beasts to ascend to the God Realm."

A long silence fell over the independent space. When Gu Yuena spoke the final word, her purple eyes remained calm, but the way her fingertips tightened told Lin Shuo that she was not as composed as she appeared.

Lin Shuo, of course, knew that the history of the Dragon Race as Gu Yuena told it was flawed. According to the visions he had seen and the memories of his past life, the Dragon God had been ambushed by the laws of the universe at the critical moment of becoming a God Star, and the Dragon Prince had sacrificed himself to help the Dragon God achieve that state. The Dragon God had descended into madness only after witnessing his son's death before his eyes, killing the Nine Great Dragon Kings in his frenzy. Upon regaining his senses, he was filled with infinite remorse and allowed the Asura God to cleave his body in two, decreeing that unless the Dragon God returned, the beast race would never be allowed to become gods. This did not mean Gu Yuena was lying to him; it simply meant that this was the history of the Dragon Race as Gu Yuena and Di Tian believed it to be.

"And Xiao Shuo, your bloodline, your martial soul—you are the son of the former Dragon God. If there is anyone in this world qualified to inherit the Dragon God's divinity, it can only be you. Only you can lead the Dragon Race to reclaim its former glory." Gu Yuena's typically indifferent purple eyes looked at Lin Shuo with expectation.

"Sister Nana, I understand. I will certainly inherit the Dragon God's divinity as soon as possible and break the curse that forbids soul beasts from becoming gods." Lin Shuo looked up, his gaze firm as he met Gu Yuena's eyes.

Gu Yuena walked over to Lin Shuo, reached out, and brushed her cool fingertips gently through his hair. She then produced a long spear from space, its entire body a brilliant silver, etched with hexagonal scale patterns.

"This is the divine artifact, the Silver Dragon Spear. Use it as a transitional weapon for now; we will find you something more suitable when the opportunity arises. From now on, I will personally guide your cultivation." Gu Yuena paused, then continued.

"Although you possess the bloodline of the Dragon Race, you are a pure human, so you still need to absorb soul rings to increase your cultivation. While the Star Dou Great Forest has accumulated a vast number of hundred-thousand-year soul bones over tens of thousands of years, the bones of other soul beasts are not worthy of being fused into your body. Therefore, aside from the soul rings necessary for your cultivation, I do not recommend that you absorb any soul bones." She paused, her purple eyes looking at him earnestly as she continued.

"As for soul rings, while others are not worthy of you, to boost your cultivation, I will have Chi Wang sacrifice himself to you later. Let him be the first to aid you on your path of growth—"

Before Gu Yuena could finish her sentence, the independent space suddenly shuddered violently. It was not the shaking of an earthquake from beneath their feet, but a resonance of the space itself, as if something had torn through layers of barriers to descend directly into this place.

A beam of light descended from the dome.

It was pure, devoid of any impurities, its color shifting silently through nine hues.

Gu Yuena's pupils contracted sharply. She instinctively moved to shield Lin Shuo, yet the light was faster than she was—it struck like a shooting star, sinking straight into Lin Shuo's chest. There was no collision, no impact; it was like a wanderer returning home, merging into him without the slightest resistance.

Lin Shuo's body jolted.

He looked down to see a faint, nine-colored glow emanating from his chest. A power of extreme warmth exploded within him, surging through his meridians to every limb and bone.

"Xiao Shuo!" Gu Yuena cried out in alarm, stepping in front of him.

But before she could reach out to examine him, a purple soul ring rose slowly from beneath Lin Shuo's feet.

Gu Yuena froze. It was not because the quality of the ring was too low; on the contrary, she felt an aura from this ring that made her very soul tremble. It was a God-Bestowed Soul Ring, and she could sense the aura of the Dragon God within it.

Lin Shuo looked down at the purple ring at his feet. He could feel the power contained within—it was roughly three thousand years old, and if he wasn't mistaken, this ring would grow in strength alongside his own cultivation.

Gu Yuena looked at Lin Shuo, her purple eyes swirling with complex emotions.

"Chi Wang does not need to sacrifice himself. There is likely no soul ring in this world more suited to you than this one. If I am not mistaken, this ring was bestowed upon you by the Dragon God. Perhaps the Dragon God still has residual power in this world; he sensed your bloodline and sent this ring to you."

Lin Shuo felt the power surging through his body. In his past life, as an ordinary person, he had never possessed such supernatural abilities. Even after transmigrating to the Douluo Continent, before awakening his martial soul, he had only been stronger than the average person.

"Sister Nana, my Seven-Colored Dragon King martial soul can not only freely use the basic elements of water, fire, earth, wind, light, darkness, and space, but it has also granted me powerful physical attributes."

Gu Yuena nodded slightly. She had known this all along; Lin Shuo's martial soul was the Seven-Colored Dragon King, and these were merely the most fundamental of his powers.

"And my first soul skill," Lin Shuo thought, and the purple ring lit up. His body grew rapidly in height, and a layer of seven-colored light emerged from his skin.

"I call it the Seven-Colored Dragon Body. It not only significantly reduces my soul power consumption but also doubles all of my attributes."

"A fine soul skill." For any other martial soul, this ring would be considered incredibly powerful, but for the son of the Dragon God, it was merely decent.

Gu Yuena's voice returned to its usual coldness, though if one listened closely, one could detect a hint of carefully restrained emotion. She turned, her long silver hair tracing an arc in the glowing light of the space.

"Let's go, Xiao Shuo. I have matters to attend to with Di Tian and the others."