Heading to Spirit Pagoda Headquarters

Ziyang looked at the purple Soul Ring that had suddenly lit up beneath his feet and realized that his original goal had already been achieved.

He hesitated between leaving and continuing to ascend within the Ascension Platform.

After a mental battle between his left and right brains, he decided to leave first.

His teacher was the deputy pagoda master of the Spirit Pagoda. He would have plenty of chances to enter the Ascension Platform in the future; there was no need to rush now.

With that in mind, he recalled his martial soul, Little Black, along with Little Evil, who had grown much larger.

The boy pressed the red switch on his hand and instantly vanished from the Ascension Platform.

Accompanied by the crisp clatter of gears, the metal cabinet slowly slid out from deep within the wall. The coffin-like lid scraped heavily as it gradually opened.

Light flooded in like a tide, driving away the darkness. Ziyang sat up from the metal cabinet, and the soul-guided lamp's glare stabbed into his eyes, making him squint and instinctively raise a hand to block it.

Leng Yaoyu watched Ziyang intently as the boy climbed out of the metal chamber. Her red lips curled slightly. "Ziyang, you performed very well this time, but you also exposed a major flaw of yours."

Ziyang raised his head and met Leng Yaoyu's gaze. His calm voice carried a trace of confusion. "Teacher, what flaw?!"

Leng Yaoyu placed her jade-like hand atop the boy's head and smiled. "A flaw you cannot avoid. You were too reckless."

"I was too reckless?" Ziyang tilted his head, confusion showing in his eyes.

"Yes, too reckless. But a child who knows how to correct his mistakes is a good child."

Leng Yaoyu lightly patted Ziyang's head. "Don't get too proud. There are plenty of geniuses in this world. I'll set you a small goal: become a Titled Douluo by the age of twenty-two."

"Twenty-two?" Ziyang was somewhat bewildered, but that age was probably connected to Yun Ming.

He remembered that Yun Ming seemed to have been twenty-three.

"Come with me. I'll take you to get some suitable clothes first." Leng Yaoyu glanced at Ziyang's outfit. It had been a long time since she had felt such an enormous gap between people.

Very soon, the two arrived at an upscale clothing store.

Ziyang changed into one fitting outfit after another and felt as though he had been forced to play Miracle Nikki once, except he was the one being dressed up.

"Nice, nice, this one is nice too. Wrap them all up." Leng Yaoyu pinched Ziyang's little cheek. "Sure enough, with that face of yours, you look good in anything. If you weren't a boy, I'd really want to put you in a dress and see."

"Teacher, no! Please spare me." At the tender age of six, Ziyang instantly developed the syndrome of fearing shopping with women.

"Fine, then let's head back first." Leng Yaoyu smiled faintly.

On the way back, the car traveled along the coastline.

There was hardly anyone by the sea in early winter. The highway wound close to the reefs, while outside the window lay a dusky yellow sky and a glittering sea.

Ziyang leaned against the car window in a daze, his hair drifting in the sea breeze.

Then he saw a large crowd gathered in the distance.

They formed a loose circle, hunched shoulders and arms shoving at something. In the center was a tiny figure, pushed into stumbling before landing hard on the ground.

Ziyang looked at the figure. It was a little silver-haired girl, and his first thought was the Silver Dragon King.

But he repeatedly confirmed that this was Eastsea City, not Aolai City. Had this world changed?

"Teacher, there seem to be human traffickers over there," Ziyang said.

"What? Human traffickers? Where? Pagoda Master Leng, can I make a move?" the driver immediately asked.

"You may." Leng Yaoyu had already turned her gaze in that direction.

The car slowed and pulled over by the roadside.

The driver pushed open the door and got out. He ran very quickly, and the thugs looked up to see a tall, expressionless man in formal attire.

They froze for a few seconds before taking a punch to the face, followed by several more in rapid succession.

Only after they had all fallen unconscious did the driver turn back toward the car. "Pagoda Master Leng, they've been dealt with."

Only then did Leng Yaoyu push open the car door.

As she stepped out, the sea breeze lifted the hem of her trench coat. Ziyang leaned against the window and watched his teacher walk down the gravel path toward the little silver-haired figure.

The light of dusk shone from behind her, stretching a long black shadow across the ground.

The child remained crouched where she was.

Leng Yaoyu crouched in front of her, and only then did the silver-haired girl raise her head.

She was a six-year-old girl with silver hair and silver eyes, dressed in a filthy little dress.

Seeing this scene from inside the car, Ziyang could not help but freeze. That appearance... it was the Silver Dragon King's world-shaking appetite.

This world seemed to have undergone changes beyond anything he had anticipated.

Leng Yaoyu asked, "Little one, what is your name?"

A tiny voice answered, "Na'er..."

"That's a nice name." Stroking her little head, Leng Yaoyu continued, "Do you remember where your home is?"

"I don't remember..."

"Then do you remember who your parents are?"

"I don't remember that either..."

Leng Yaoyu was somewhat helpless at the sight. She called the Federal Police to notify them, but there was no record at all of a missing six-year-old child.

Judging that Na'er had reached the age to awaken her martial soul, she finally asked, "Na'er, have you awakened your martial soul?"

"I have a martial soul..." Na'er raised her hand, and a silver-white spear appeared in her palm.

Leng Yaoyu sensed it for a moment, then looked toward the distant East Sea Spirit Pagoda. A genius with Innate Full Soul Power? How had no one recruited her?

Even the children of great clans would never allow a genius with Innate Full Soul Power to fall into such a state.

As she pondered, she decided to investigate it after returning.

Leng Yaoyu fell silent for several seconds. The sea breeze blew through her long hair, carrying a damp, salty scent.

"For now, come back with me."

Na'er looked up at her and sensed not the slightest malice from her.

Leng Yaoyu turned and opened the car door.

After getting into the car, Ziyang shifted his butt aside. Ignoring the dirt on Na'er's body, he directly asked, "Hello. My name is Ziyang. What's your name?"

"Na'er..." The girl's voice was soft and sweet, making people want to cherish her.

Unfortunately, there was no urge to protect a little girl in Ziyang's eyes, only curiosity over whether Na'er was a half-body or the main body.

"Na'er, then how did those human traffickers surround you?" It would have been fine if he had not brought it up, but the moment he did, those thugs who had merely been knocked unconscious now—

A tall figure turned back. In silence, he thoroughly shattered every bone in each of their bodies. The cracking of their joints was drowned out by the sea breeze, and they did not even manage more than a few cries of pain.

"I don't remember. They suddenly surrounded me and said they wanted to sell me to some... underground auction house," Na'er said.

"I see. Then you're safe now. No one will sell you." Ziyang smiled warmly.

Na'er was still somewhat timid, but when she saw that smile, warm as the sun, her heart stirred slightly. It was like a spring breeze passing through winter and thawing a frozen river.

The car continued along the coastline.

Outside, the sky darkened further. The sea changed from dusky yellow to dark blue.

Ziyang leaned back in his seat, quietly pondering the changes to the plot.

Na'er still sat ramrod straight, both little hands resting on her knees like a tiny porcelain doll placed in a corner. Yet the faint glance from the corner of her eyes remained fixed on Ziyang.

It never shifted away.

Before long, the gates of the East Sea Spirit Pagoda gradually came into view. They had finally returned to the East Sea Spirit Pagoda.