Who first awakened from the great dream? My own life, I alone knew.
Yu Tianlong woke from his sleep, utterly bewildered.
He felt an immense warm current constantly roaming through the meridians throughout his body.
What was more, his Soul Power had already reached rank three.
He had even grown taller, and the best proof was that his formerly loose clothes were now stretched tight!
What was going on?
Just as Yu Tianlong was puzzling over this, a young voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
"Master, you're awake?"
"How do you feel now?"
Upon hearing that voice, Yu Tianlong froze, instinctively looking toward Cho'Gath beside the bed.
But that single glance left Yu Tianlong dumbfounded.
The tiny bug that had originally been only a few fingers in size had actually grown this much. He was already about the size of a cat!
How could Yu Tianlong not be surprised? Although he knew Cho'Gath could grow without limit, wasn't this a little too fast?
But none of that was the most important thing. The most important thing was, why could he talk now?!
"Cho'Gath, is that you speaking?"
Although he already had a guess, Yu Tianlong still asked.
"It's me, Master!"
"I've already evolved twice. The first evolution was my intelligence, and the second was my physical body. That's why I look like this now."
After hearing Cho'Gath's explanation, Yu Tianlong nodded, climbed out of bed, and picked him up to inspect him.
How should he put it? Compared to before, Yu Tianlong could clearly feel that Cho'Gath's shell had become much harder. Many bone spikes had also grown over his body, and even his weight was nothing like what something his size should have weighed.
Even though he had yet to grow fully, he could already give people a sense of visual oppression.
His enormous jaws were filled with sharp teeth. Crown-like bone spikes topped his head, while two demonic horns flanked his cheeks.
Four pincer-shaped arms had grown from the sides of his body, and his back was covered in bone spikes.
His lower body was supported and balanced by two thick, powerful legs.
If he hadn't known this was his own Martial Soul, Yu Tianlong would have stayed as far away as possible upon seeing such a monster!
After all, there was a saying that described him: from the moment the blazing sun shone upon him, he was driven by an insatiable hunger.
The Void's desire to devour all life was perfectly embodied in him.
This was Cho'Gath, the Terror of the Void!
"Little Cho, do you know where you came from?"
Upon hearing that question, Cho'Gath's head filled with question marks.
"Master, aren't I your Martial Soul?"
"Do I have some other identity?"
Upon receiving that answer, Yu Tianlong breathed a slight sigh of relief. After all, he had no desire to face the Void later on.
That thing was no joke.
Wherever the Void passed, everything became infected and mutated, even the land.
"It's nothing. I was just asking."
Although Cho'Gath was puzzled, since his master had said so, he did not ask any further questions.
"Master, do you have anything else to eat? I feel like I can evolve again if I eat a few hundred more corpses like those!"
Yu Tianlong did not know what to say at that moment. His Martial Soul could eat far too much.
But as he sensed the fluctuations of Soul Power within his body, Yu Tianlong fell silent.
"A good appetite is a good thing. A good appetite is a good thing!"
"I'll go buy you some in a bit!"
As Yu Tianlong spoke, he opened his storage ring.
But less than a second after opening it, Yu Tianlong closed it again.
He did not have enough money. All his resources had been taken away by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
The money he had spent on the hundred-year Soul Beast corpses earlier had all come from his savings over the years.
Now he had only thirty Gold Soul Coins left. If he wanted to buy several hundred corpses, the shortfall was far too great!
Perhaps sensing his master's silence, Cho'Gath spoke directly:
"Master, why don't we go hunt Soul Beasts? I'm really strong now!"
As Cho'Gath was his Martial Soul, Yu Tianlong could naturally sense the strength of his physical body.
Leaving aside whether he could defeat hundred-year Soul Beasts, fighting ten-year Soul Beasts should pose no difficulty.
As long as he was careful and tried not to provoke Soul Beasts a hundred years old or older, perhaps this could work!
At that thought, Yu Tianlong nodded.
"All right!"
He acted as soon as the thought struck him. Yu Tianlong checked out of his hotel room and, after eating, headed straight out of town.
At that moment, the sun was slowly rising in the east, gradually widening that streak of fish-belly white as the sky grew brighter.
At the sight, Yu Tianlong silently quickened his pace. Outside was different from the town. There were plenty of people and prying eyes in town, so perhaps others would not dare harbor crooked intentions out of concern for the identity he had assumed.
But out in the wilderness, without elders from his clan protecting him, a scion of such a family was a fat sheep on legs.
That was why Yu Tianlong had set out before the sky had fully brightened.
A quarter of an hour later, Yu Tianlong finally arrived at the Star Dou Great Forest.
The Star Dou Great Forest lay due south of the Heaven Dou Empire. The forest spanned both great empires, and with its abundance of Soul Beasts, this was also where the border between the two nations was least clearly defined.
Judging by the map, most of the Star Dou Great Forest lay within the Star Luo Empire's territory. Naturally, the Heaven Dou Empire had never acknowledged this.
As one of the three great habitats of wild Soul Beasts, this was naturally the place Soul Masters most hoped to visit, because every visit meant they were about to advance.
Although Yu Tianlong's target was different, his purpose was the same: to grow stronger!
No one could say for certain how many years the Star Dou Great Forest had existed on the Douluo Continent, but upon entering the forest, the dense growth that blotted out the sky and sun was enough to tell people how ancient it was.
From afar, Yu Tianlong faintly sensed waves of fresh air blowing toward him. The fragrance of plants refreshed his heart and soul, bringing an indescribable comfort.
He took a deep breath of fresh air, and all thirty-six thousand pores of his body seemed to open up. The refreshing ease of that feeling was beyond words.
At the sight, Cho'Gath could barely conceal the excitement in his tiny eyes.
"Master, I can sense lots of delicious things in there. There are even plenty of creatures that could make me evolve with just one bite!"
"Can you take me to eat them?"
At those words, Yu Tianlong's face darkened with exasperation.
As expected of a creature of the Void, he had absolutely no idea what fear was.
No, that wasn't right. He was terror itself, so naturally he did not know.
Creatures that could make him evolve with a single bite were not things they could afford to provoke right now.
"Little Cho, we can't beat those creatures yet. Once we're stronger, I'll take you to eat them!"
"What we need to do now is keep our heads down and grow stronger!"
Although Cho'Gath was craving them badly, he still nodded with great seriousness, clearly having taken Yu Tianlong's words to heart.