Huang Fei

As for whether Spirit Hall would clash with Tang San someday, what did that have to do with him?

He only wanted to cultivate in peace and find Hui Liyi. He didn't want to get involved in anything else, and he couldn't be bothered to.

"If I join Spirit Hall," Lu Mingfei asked Su Yuntao, "can you help me find someone?"

Su Yuntao paused. "Who?"

"A girl."

Lu Mingfei's voice suddenly dropped. For the first time, a light that made the heart tremble appeared in his habitually half-lidded eyes.

"Red hair, a red dress. She's beautiful. I don't know where she is in this world.

"I don't even know if she's in this world.

"But if she really came here... I have to find her."

Su Yuntao looked into Lu Mingfei's eyes and fell silent for a moment.

He had met many children.

Some had greed in their eyes, some fear, and some confusion.

But he had never seen the light in Lu Mingfei's eyes before.

It was an expression too complex to name.

"As long as you join Spirit Hall,"

Su Yuntao said slowly, "Spirit Hall's reach extends across Douluo Continent. If the person you're looking for really exists, Spirit Hall will find her."

Lu Mingfei nodded. A faint smile tugged at his lips, carrying a relief he couldn't quite put into words, as though he'd finally glimpsed a glimmer of light after a long time in darkness.

"All right," he said. "I'll join Spirit Hall."

A smile finally broke across Su Yuntao's face, born of sheer delight.

He knew this day would be etched into his memory forever.

In six years of presiding over awakening ceremonies, his greatest achievement had been bringing a few low-level Soul Masters into Spirit Hall.

But from today onward, things would be different.

He had personally discovered a genius with a top-tier dragon Martial Soul and Innate Level 20 Soul Power.

That achievement alone was enough to raise his standing in Spirit Hall by several ranks.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Su Yuntao repeated the word as he sprang to his feet.

"Go back with Old Jack and pack your things. I'll send a message to Spirit Hall by carrier pigeon right away.

"Someone from Spirit Hall will come for you by tomorrow at the latest.

"Lu Mingfei, from this day forward, you belong to Spirit Hall!"

What he failed to notice was that, as the black dragon's shadow faded from around Lu Mingfei,

a glimmer of silver-white light silently flashed deep in Lu Mingfei's eyes, then vanished without a trace.

It was so faint that even someone staring straight into his eyes might not have noticed that momentary change.

It was the purest holy light.

The White Dragon King's power lay like a mighty dragon dormant in an abyss, opening a pair of silver-white eyes in the deepest darkness.

Its presence had been deliberately concealed, so perfectly that no one...

not even Lu Mingfei himself... knew another dragon still slept within him.

Only a crow in the old locust tree at the village entrance shuddered at that instant. It tumbled from its branch, beat its wings twice, and flew away.

Tang San stood to one side and watched it all in silence. A flicker of something only he could understand passed through his eyes.

He had sensed an eerie duality in Lu Mingfei's Soul Power during the instant of awakening. But it had vanished so quickly that he couldn't be sure he hadn't imagined it.

Blue Silver Grass. Innate Full Soul Power.

Black Dragon King. Innate Level 20 Soul Power.

On this ordinary day, Holy Soul Village was destined to make an extraordinary mark.

News that Lu Mingfei had joined Spirit Hall caused an uproar in Holy Soul Village.

Old Jack was so excited he barely slept that night. He rummaged through his belongings for the finest clothes he'd worn in his youth, then drew several buckets of well water and scrubbed Lu Mingfei clean from head to toe.

As the old man dried Lu Mingfei's hair, he kept talking.

"Mingfei, you've finally made something of yourself! Spirit Hall! It's Spirit Hall! In the hundreds of years since Holy Soul Village was founded, not one child from here has ever caught its eye! This will bring honor to your whole family!"

Lu Mingfei sat in the wooden tub and let Old Jack scrub him like a plucked chicken. His mind was elsewhere.

He was thinking of Hui Liyi.

He had spent six years coming to terms with those memories, but he had never forgotten her.

That white-haired girl in a red dress, those eyes clear as water—they were a thorn lodged in the softest part of his heart. He couldn't pull it out, and he didn't want to.

He had to find Hui Liyi.

At noon the next day, people from Spirit Hall arrived.

They had come much faster than Lu Mingfei expected.

Su Yuntao's message had only gone out the previous night, yet Spirit Hall had sent someone by noon. The speed was astonishing.

The person who arrived was a tall, mature woman.

Long, dark purple hair fell over her shoulders, and her finely sculpted features had a cool beauty.

She wore the black, gold-trimmed robes of a senior Spirit Hall deacon. Embroidered on her chest was a palm-sized purple emblem: a Phoenix with its wings spread in flight.

Su Yuntao visibly froze when he saw her. His expression shifted between awe and nerves several times before he bowed deeply.

"Your subordinate Su Yuntao greets Lady Huang Fei."

Huang Fei.

Her name was not among the most illustrious in Spirit Hall.

But she was far beyond the reach of a low-ranking deacon like Su Yuntao.

She served as deputy commander of the Inspection Corps, which answered directly to Spirit Hall, and was a level seventy-nine Soul Sage.

She was a figure of some standing even among Spirit Hall's upper-middle ranks.

For someone like her to come personally to a remote little village to collect a six-year-old child showed that Spirit Hall valued Lu Mingfei far more highly than anyone had expected.

Huang Fei paid no attention to Su Yuntao's deference.

Her gaze passed over Old Jack and Su Yuntao, landing squarely on Lu Mingfei.

It was a piercing gaze, like a sword drawn from its sheath, intent on seeing him through and through.

Lu Mingfei felt uncomfortable beneath it, but he did not look away. He stood where he was, lifted his chin, and met Huang Fei's eyes.

After a moment, Huang Fei withdrew her gaze and nodded slightly. "Good foundations. His spiritual core is stable, too. Awakening such a powerful Martial Soul hasn't unsettled his mind, so his temperament seems sound. He's just a little thin."

She walked up to Lu Mingfei, crouched, and lightly touched the back of his right hand with one slender finger.

The Black Dragon King tattoo trembled faintly at her touch. A trace of draconic pressure seeped from it, as though warning the intruder not to make any rash moves.

Huang Fei's pupils narrowed slightly. Then the corner of her mouth curved into an inscrutable smile.