A Meal Ticket Served on a Silver Platter

Meanwhile, the two maids who had taken Jiang Yu to get cleaned up felt as though the sky had fallen.

Faced with a boy who didn't have a clean spot on his entire body, they sighed at their rotten luck. Then they pulled out every trick they knew and scrubbed him from head to toe. Only when sweat beaded on their brows and their wrists ached did they manage to finish the first round of cleaning.

It couldn't be helped. As far as Jiang Yu could remember, his circumstances in this life had been that bad. Forget bathing—even washing his face depended on whether the rain had left a puddle behind.

After working for well over half an hour, the two maids finally got Jiang Yu clean from head to toe and brought him a fresh set of clothes.

Once Jiang Yu was dressed, they fetched scissors and, with him seated before a mirror, trimmed his tangled hair—which had been at least fifty centimeters long—until it just brushed his shoulders.

When it was all over, Jiang Yu stared blankly at his reflection. For a moment, it didn't feel real.

The boy in the mirror was painfully thin. Though he had already turned six, he stood barely over 1.1 meters tall, and his skin had the pallor of someone long deprived of food and sunlight.

But on closer inspection, his features were remarkably good. Even in such a gaunt state, there was a hint of handsomeness about him. Had he grown up normally, he would surely have been a handsome, adorable child.

The two maids then took Jiang Yu to get something to eat.

After two days without food, and with his body starved for nourishment, Jiang Yu ate nearly enough for two adults before they made him stop.

It wasn't that the maids begrudged him the food. They were afraid he would eat himself to death if he kept going.

After that, a six-ring healing-type Soul Emperor whose martial soul was Evergreen Ivy treated Jiang Yu.

Warmth spread through his body. Under the Evergreen Ivy Soul Emperor's soul skill, the old and new injuries he had accumulated over the years slowly healed. Even his meridians were nourished, becoming a little more resilient than before.

After all that, Jiang Yu finally felt alive again.

At the same time, he began thinking about what to do next.

The two maids had told him that this was Nine Treasure Pavilion, a massive soul master shop established by the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in Heaven Dou City. The red-haired old man who had brought him here was the sect's guardian Douluo, Red Dragon Douluo.

As for the breathtakingly beautiful woman, she was the current Sect Master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

It belatedly dawned on Jiang Yu that the opportunity the system had mentioned was probably a new patron—the richest power on the continent.

Jiang Yu had no complaints about that. If anything, he was a little excited.

Being taken in by the continent's wealthiest faction, one with ten thousand years of history behind it, would do him a world of good.

The era of The Ultimate Douluo was different from ten thousand years ago. Cultivation systems were now largely refined, and training young soul masters was no longer as simple as it had been back then.

Medicinal pills and nourishing food took connections and a great deal of money to obtain, and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had money to spare. If an orphan with Twin Martial Souls and Innate Full Soul Power like him joined, he would gain protection and a stable place to cultivate, along with the best resources the sect could offer.

That would be enormously beneficial to his growth.

Having figured that out, Jiang Yu knew how to deal with Ning Yunxiu and Wu Lie from here on.

Ning Yunxiu looked at the boy before her. He had been transformed, yet his expression remained wary and restrained. She gave him a gentle smile, warm as sunlight.

Together with the quiet grace she carried herself with, it made her seem genuinely approachable and comforting.

"Little one, can you tell me your name?"

At Ning Yunxiu's question, Jiang Yu lowered his head slightly before answering.

"My name is Jiang Yu. Grandpa said he gave me that name to remember the day we met."

Ning Yunxiu nodded, her expression unchanged.

"And where is your grandpa? Why isn't he with you?"

At that question, a pang of genuine grief rose in Jiang Yu's heart.

For as long as he could remember in this life, the old beggar had raised him. Whenever there was anything to eat or drink, the old man had thought of him first. Without him, Jiang Yu would never have survived this long.

After a moment of silence, he said softly:

"Grandpa died of illness on the street not long ago. The patrol soldiers took his body away. They said it might spoil the city's environment."

Ning Yunxiu pressed her lips together, feeling still more pity for Jiang Yu.

He had been raised from childhood by an old beggar with no blood ties to him. Never mind how much hardship he must have endured along the way—losing the person closest to him so recently must have dealt the boy a terrible blow.

Bullied since childhood, then forced to watch a loved one die before his eyes just as his mind was beginning to mature, Jiang Yu must have been full of resentment and hatred.

Ning Yunxiu had no doubt that if Wu Lie hadn't found Jiang Yu, and the boy had killed those three people and fled on his own, the continent might one day have gained another powerful evil soul master who killed without blinking.

After all, wasn't Jiang Yu's childhood exactly the sort of background an evil soul master would have?

At that thought, a flicker of relief and delight passed through Ning Yunxiu's heart.

After all, the worse his suffering had been, the more their help could mean to him. If they stepped in now to ease his hatred and hardship, offering him genuine care, Jiang Yu would surely cling to them like a drowning man to a lifeline.

And that was precisely the outcome Ning Yunxiu wanted most.

So she softened her voice further, filling it with motherly warmth, as though she were caring for her own child.

"Little Yu, from today on, if you wish it, you can rely on me, and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect can be your home. With someone to rely on and a place to call home, you won't have to spend your nights hungry and cold because you can't get enough to eat. No one will bully you or look down on you again."

"With your martial soul and talent, our training could even make you a Titled Douluo like Uncle Wu one day. By then, everything ordinary people long for would be commonplace to you."

"So tell me: will you let me and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect be the ones you rely on?"

Jiang Yu's expression shifted.

What a grand promise... No, wait. What Ning Yunxiu said wasn't an empty promise at all. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect really did have the strength and resources to deliver.

Seeing the sincerity on Ning Yunxiu's face and thinking of what he needed most right now, Jiang Yu pretended to hesitate for a moment before giving a small nod.

Ning Yunxiu smiled and reached out to stroke his head.

"Good boy. From today on, you're a core disciple of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. As its Sect Master, I promise you this: if you reach the Soul Grandmaster realm before you turn ten, you may choose any one of our guardian Douluo as your teacher."

Ning Yunxiu knew better than to be stingy with talent. She had given Jiang Yu the highest status available to any disciple of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, then promised him a Titled Douluo as his teacher if he met her condition.

Even setting his status aside, a Titled Douluo as a teacher was something more than ninety-nine percent of the continent's prodigies desperately wanted.

Ning Yunxiu believed that would be enough to show Jiang Yu her sincerity and kindle his desire to cultivate and grow stronger.

And Jiang Yu's reaction didn't disappoint her.

What Ning Yunxiu could never have guessed, however, was that the reaction she found so satisfying came simply from having such a sweet, comfortable arrangement handed to him on a platter.

She was his future benefactor, after all. Jiang Yu could at least give Ning Yunxiu the reaction she wanted.

After a brief pause, Ning Yunxiu stroked Jiang Yu's head again and asked the question that mattered most:

"Little Yu, can you tell me what your martial soul is called?"

Jiang Yu's heart stirred. Then he said:

"You... which martial soul do you mean?"

Ning Yunxiu froze. Then her expression changed drastically. She had clearly caught the implication in his words.

"Little Yu, what do you mean by that? Are you saying you have more than one martial soul?"

Even Wu Lie, who had been sitting to the side with a smile as he watched his Sect Master coax a six-year-old boy into joining them, could no longer sit still.

He shot to his feet and came over to them, placing a hand on Jiang Yu's shoulder.