"Not quite. Although a Spirit Hall Deacon helped awaken your mother's martial soul back then, its innate quality was too high, and it was a special martial soul. While she was in the womb, it needed sufficient soul power from her mother to nourish it. Otherwise, her martial soul would fail to develop fully.
And because your mother has a special body martial soul, the Shadow-Devouring Divine Eyes, it is one with her physical eyes. Without enough soul power to nourish and develop her martial soul, her physical eyes could not develop normally either, ultimately leaving her blind from birth.
Now, through this system's mighty power, your mother's martial soul can absorb energy from sunlight to make up for its innate deficiencies. That is why she is now growing not only physical eyes, but also the eyes of her martial soul."
"What the actual heck?" Liu Hao was dumbfounded.
How had his whole family ended up with protagonist builds?
Oh, no, not his father. He was a pure background character.
But his little brother and mother were honestly a bit ridiculous.
Take his little brother. He had originally thought the boy just had a black sphere martial soul that wasn't much use.
Then, during a casual question to the system, he had learned that his brother's martial soul was called the Sun-Devouring Ring!
This martial soul could actually feed on sunlight.
Unfortunately, it was innately incompatible with sunlight, as irreconcilable as fire and water.
That was why Liu Yao had been born afraid of sunlight.
Without Liu Hao's cheat-powered treatment, he probably would have had to wait until he awakened his martial soul and cultivated to a higher level before his body could withstand sunlight for short periods.
It was like water and fire. If there wasn't enough water, the heat given off by a flame would evaporate it outright.
But with enough water, it could swallow the heat released by that flame and turn it to its own use.
Liu Yao's Sun-Devouring Ring martial soul worked on a similar principle. It could devour sunlight within the limits of what it could endure, turn it to its own use, and increase his soul power cultivation.
Originally, however, his martial soul had been too weak to withstand exposure to sunlight.
After the system's treatment, Liu Yao's martial soul seemed to have been wrapped in a smart layer of thermal insulation.
While he was weak, it shielded him from sunlight's harmful effects. Once he grew stronger, he could absorb sunlight to cultivate and improve his strength.
Five years had passed. With Ghost Douluo watching over him and the excellent teachers at Spirit Hall Academy educating him, he had long since begun trying to devour solar energy to cultivate as his strength increased.
At just eleven years old, Liu Yao was already a level 29 Soul Grandmaster, ready to break through to level 30 and become a Soul Elder at any moment.
Now his mother had a body martial soul called the "Shadow-Devouring Divine Eyes," which sounded formidable just from its name.
One was "never look down on a sick young man," and the other was "never look down on a blind woman," huh?
Seeing his mother's eyes grow increasingly uncomfortable, Liu Hao noticed that she had already dropped her cane to the ground. Both hands kept rubbing around her eye sockets, trying to ease the itching, yet she did not dare scratch hard for fear of damaging the tissue inside.
Liu Hao hurried to reassure her. "Mom, your eyes are growing new tissue. They're going to heal. Don't worry."
At the same time, he stepped forward to support his mother, using his wood-element soul power, brimming with vitality, to ease her discomfort.
"What? Hao, what did you say? My eyes are going to get better? Is that true?"
Li Zhaodi asked again and again in disbelief, terrified that she had misheard.
"Of course it's true. Mom, don't worry. You'll have eyes very soon. Not only that, you'll also awaken a really powerful martial soul."
"This... a martial soul..."
The tremendous surprise left Li Zhaodi stunned for a moment, her emotions tangled, and she did not know what to say.
With the nourishing support of Liu Hao's soul power, the itching in her eyes eased considerably and was no longer so unbearable.
As time passed, tiny points of light began to shimmer around Li Zhaodi, just as they once had around Liu Yao, converging toward her eyes.
Since it was daytime, however, those specks of light did not travel far and were impossible to notice without looking directly at them.
Besides, they were inside the little courtyard, so Liu Hao was not worried about anyone discovering them.
Wait, even if someone discovered us, so what?
The corner of Liu Hao's mouth twitched. He had been lying low for so long that he still hadn't shaken off the mindset of a weakling.
He was now a level 99 Limit Douluo. Although his martial soul's strength had not continued to evolve and improve, and might still be a notch below the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul for the time being.
In terms of overall strength, however, he was already one of the very strongest beings on the entire Douluo Continent.
Aside from Qian Daoliu and Bo Saixi, who could draw on a portion of divine power, as well as the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena, who had yet to emerge, the Black Dragon King Di Tian, and the Snow Empress of the Far North.
Who else could defeat him?
At that thought, Liu Hao's habitual desire to keep a low profile began to change.
He could not help recalling the thoughts he had kept suppressed all these years.
Go and see just how beautiful the lofty Pope Bibi Dong really is.
How tempting the seductive, enchanting Hu Liena is.
And how captivating the noble, holy Qian Renxue is.
And all those other peerless beauties who appeared in the original story...
Heh heh heh...
"Honey! What's wrong?"
Suddenly, his father Liu Jun's voice rang out.
It instantly snapped Liu Hao out of his fantasies, and he silently cursed himself for letting his thoughts wander so far.
He turned and saw Liu Jun hurrying over from the gate with a book in his hand.
"Dad, Mom's eyes are about to be healed."
"What? Really? What's going on?"
Liu Jun was overjoyed, his eyes filled with excitement.
"I healed them," Liu Hao said honestly after a moment's thought.
His tone was utterly calm, as though he were describing some trivial little matter.
Liu Jun froze for a moment at those words. He wanted to question him, but swallowed the words before they left his mouth.
He had remembered some of his eldest son's occasional strange behavior over the past few years.
For instance, he would carry a small potted tree into his room, and when he came out, the tree would be gone.
Or sometimes he would swing an emerald-green wooden stick around in the courtyard, displaying terrifying power.
Strangest of all, he did not enjoy playing like other children. Instead, he liked lying in bed and staring into space.
Every afternoon, he would lie in bed staring into space until dinner, then return to lie down again after eating.
At one point, Liu Jun had suspected that his eldest son had also contracted some strange illness, but the doctor he brought over could find nothing wrong.
He could eat and sleep, move and communicate. Everything was normal; he just liked lying down.
In the end, perhaps fed up with all the fuss, Liu Hao had said that he was cultivating and brought up that mysterious old man again. Only then had Liu Jun let the matter drop.
"You... what level are you now?"
After a long silence, Liu Jun finally asked the question he most wanted answered.
Six years ago, his eldest son had said that he had met a mysterious old man who wanted to take him as a disciple.
Yet they had never seen this old gentleman over the years, and the cultivation method he had taught the child was something as incomprehensible as lying in bed and staring into space.
Whenever Liu Jun occasionally asked Liu Hao about the results of his cultivation, the boy refused to say a word.
So, in truth, Liu Jun had always remained half-convinced and half-doubtful about this old gentleman.
"Level 99. Limit Douluo."
"What?"
Liu Jun thought he had misheard.
"I said, my current level is 99. Limit Douluo. Did you hear me clearly this time, Dad?"
The corners of Liu Hao's mouth lifted slightly as he repeated himself slowly and deliberately.
Gulp-
Liu Jun's pupils contracted sharply, and his entire body went rigid. He swallowed with difficulty, unable to utter a word for a moment.
Beside them, Li Zhaodi had naturally heard the conversation between father and son, and she was no less shocked than Liu Jun.
Just then, however, Li Zhaodi suddenly felt light flood into her vision.
The next instant, all sorts of shapes, colors, and lines began to emerge in what had once been nothing but darkness...
"I... I think I can see!"
Before you continue