I Suspect You're the Child of Destiny of This Era!

Star Dou Forest

Xu Tianchen's Spirit Ring absorption was nearing its end. Soul power surged like a breached riverbank, rushing wildly through his broad meridians.

The bottleneck at level thirty was instantly shattered by that immense soul power, bringing him to level thirty-one. The momentum did not diminish, continuing its charge until his soul power level reached thirty-two.

Even more unexpectedly, the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff had comprehensively enhanced Xu Tianchen's physique and spiritual strength.

Not only had he grown several inches taller, but his bone density had increased once more. His skin had also become tougher, brimming with a sense of strength, giving him the impression of icy flesh and jade-like bones.

His spiritual power had not only improved under the tempering of the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff's powerful ferocity, but his Sea of Spirit had also been nourished and expanded. He had even gained a certain degree of spiritual resistance, allowing him to withstand mental attacks to some extent.

Although that deep-purple Spirit Ring appeared no different from an ordinary one, a closer look revealed black threads flowing within it. This signified that the ring's age was about to enter the ten-thousand-year level.

A circle of dark-gold patterns was embedded around its edge, exuding a unique aura of dominance, unyielding pride, and supremacy over all. It made this Millennium Spirit Ring seem even more extraordinary.

After all, this Golden-maned Lion Mastiff might have been the last one on the Douluo Continent.

Xu Tianchen opened his eyes, dark-gold light flowing within them. They seemed like two sharp swords capable of piercing straight through everything before him.

He slowly rose to his feet. In addition to his original yellow and purple Spirit Rings, a dazzling deep-purple Spirit Ring now floated around him, pulsing with powerful yet steady energy.

"Teacher, I did it!"

"Good. It's good that you succeeded. Such a formidable soul beast as the Golden-maned Lion Mastiff surely wouldn't grant you an ordinary soul skill. Tell me, what is your third soul skill?"

Long Xiaoyao looked at the utterly transformed Xu Tianchen, and even his stern face revealed a trace of satisfaction.

With a thought from Xu Tianchen, his third Spirit Ring lit up and abruptly radiated deep-purple light.

An indescribably heavy and tyrannical pressure, as though capable of suppressing all directions, gathered in Xu Tianchen's right leg. Then he stomped hard on the ground.

"Boom—!"

The ground within a hundred-meter radius instantly split into countless cracks centered on his right foot. Even the stones on the ground shattered into small fragments.

"Radiant Dragon Soul-Suppressing Break can launch area-of-effect attacks and group attacks, but it can also be used against a single target. The area attack works like this—within a hundred-meter radius of me, everyone will suffer an attack transmitted through the ground. For a single-target attack, I can concentrate the energy at one point and strike the enemy with it.

"This soul skill also has another powerful aspect. It can affect not only the body, but also strike at the enemy's spirit. The only pity is that it cannot distinguish friend from foe. Anyone standing within the group attack's range will be affected."

After hearing the effects of this soul skill, Long Xiaoyao felt that it was indeed extremely powerful. Soul skills capable of dealing simultaneous blows to both the spirit and body were still very rare on the Douluo Continent.

"Not bad. This soul skill is very powerful. There's nothing to regret, either. If you are ever surrounded in the future, it will give you a strong means of counterattack. The strong always walk alone; only the weak huddle together for warmth."

After encouraging Xu Tianchen, Long Xiaoyao seemed to remember something. He looked at Xu Tianchen with a complicated, indescribable expression. Xu Tianchen found himself feeling uneasy beneath that gaze and could not help asking:

"Master, why are you staring at me with that complicated expression again? Let me make this clear first—I don't like men. If you keep looking at me like that, I'll tell Mistress when we get back."

Upon hearing those shocking words from Xu Tianchen, Long Xiaoyao immediately slapped him on the head, making him stagger.

"Get lost. Nothing good ever comes out of your mouth. I have only ever loved your mistress in this life. Do you know about Children of Destiny?"

"Of course I do. Why did you suddenly ask about that?"

Although Xu Tianchen was somewhat puzzled by Long Xiaoyao's sudden question, as a transmigrator, he naturally knew about it.

Every ten thousand years, the Douluo Continent gathered a mass of destiny to choose someone on the continent to bear it. The person who bore that immense destiny was the continent's Child of Destiny, or in other words, its Child of the Plane.

The Sea God Tang San from ten thousand years ago, the not-yet-born Huo Yuhao, and Tang Wulin ten thousand years later could all be called Children of the Plane.

Of course, Huo Yuhao should have been the one originally chosen by the plane without interference. The other two had more or less been created under the influence of the lofty gods above.

However, the destiny surrounding Huo Yuhao should no longer have been sufficient to make him a Child of Destiny. In order to free itself from the restraints imposed by Tang San and his son, the Plane Spirit had already bet everything on Xu Tianchen, an outsider from beyond this world.

Aside from certain things that had already been predetermined and arranged, and thus could not easily be changed, the remaining Destiny Force had also flowed into Xu Tianchen's body.

Furthermore, Xu Chengjing had now ascended the throne of the Sun Moon Empire. As one of his only two sons at present, Xu Tianchen had naturally gained a considerable amount of Destiny Force from the Sun Moon Empire as well.

This caused the Destiny Force on Xu Tianchen to become even more abundant than that of Huo Yuhao, the so-called Child of Destiny. Therefore, in a sense, Xu Tianchen was the Child of Destiny of this era.

"I suspect that you are the Child of Destiny of this era!"

Long Xiaoyao's tone was extremely firm, and Xu Tianchen was instantly dumbfounded.

No, how did he know?

"You don't need to be confused. Take a look at this."

With that, Long Xiaoyao waved a hand, and an object glowing with a dark-gold halo appeared before Xu Tianchen.

A Soul Bone!

An External Soul Bone!

An External Soul Bone from the left palm bone of a Golden-maned Lion Mastiff!

"Th-this... Teacher, if I said I was just lucky, would you believe me?"

Even Xu Tianchen was stunned. He had not expected another Soul Bone to drop, and it was even an External Soul Bone.

The chance of a thousand-year soul beast dropping a Soul Bone was already low. Moreover, apart from hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, the Soul Bones dropped by other soul beasts might overlap with a Spirit Master's existing Soul Bone slots.

"Do I look like I believe you? You've hunted Spirit Rings three times, and all three times you obtained Soul Bones. Even the worst one was a torso bone, while the other two were both External Soul Bones. And you're telling me that's just good luck? You still dare say you're not a Child of Destiny!?"

Xu Tianchen felt rather uncomfortable under Long Xiaoyao's somewhat resentful gaze. He hurriedly took the Soul Bone, sat down cross-legged, pressed the left palm bone against his left hand, and said to Long Xiaoyao:

"Teacher, hurry and stand guard for me. I'll absorb this Soul Bone first."

Long Xiaoyao watched Xu Tianchen sit cross-legged and absorb the Soul Bone. He shook his head helplessly, but his face was filled with indulgent affection.

"Ah, never mind. Whether or not you are the Child of Destiny of this era, I will protect you completely."