Outside Soulshatter Gorge, the last rays of sunset fell over Tang Wulin, gilding him with a faint golden outline.
He slowly opened his eyes. A trace of confusion flickered through his pinkish-blue gaze before giving way to clarity.
"How long... was I asleep?"
Tang Wulin struggled to sit up and instinctively checked his condition.
What he found left him stunned.
His wounds had healed completely, without leaving even a single scar. Even more astonishing, the soul power within him, once utterly exhausted, was now brimming—and was even more concentrated and powerful than before.
"This is..."
Tang Wulin clenched his fists, feeling the power surging within him.
"Rank ninety-five... ninety-six... ninety-seven!"
His soul power had actually risen straight from rank ninety-five to rank ninety-seven!
A leap of two whole ranks!
That was the equivalent of years, even more than a decade, of grueling cultivation for an ordinary Titled Douluo!
"How is this possible?"
Tang Wulin murmured in disbelief.
He clearly remembered that before he collapsed, his soul power had been exhausted. He had even damaged his vital essence by overusing the power of life.
"Could it have been..."
He recalled that warm embrace in his Sea of Consciousness, that gentle golden figure.
"Senior Light Dragon King..."
Just then, the Light Dragon King's gentle yet majestic voice rang out in his mind again.
"Silly boy, stop staring into space."
"Hurry and stabilize your cultivation."
"Your soul power has risen too quickly, and your foundation is still unstable. Unless you consolidate it now, you could easily leave yourself with hidden problems."
Tang Wulin's heart tightened. He hurriedly sat cross-legged and began circulating his soul power under the Light Dragon King's guidance.
"Your affinity with life had already reached a critical threshold. Together with that thread of my essence I gave you, it allowed