The silent, fathomless starry sky resembled the surface of a still lake.
No one knew what lay hidden behind that calm, for since ancient times, no power had ever stirred the will slumbering beneath that deathly silence and drawn its attention.
Yet as a milky-white light blossomed in the darkness, that calm was utterly shattered.
It was a ring of energy suffused with pure white light. It appeared out of thin air in this peaceful, tranquil sanctuary, then made a sound that was not loud and could even be called faint.
The next moment, the energy dispersed, and the white Soul Ring swiftly vanished from this boundless place of stillness, without beginning or end.
Yet after the white Soul Ring departed, that first sound brought a change to the entire world.
"Drip."
At first, it was a ripple, like the tiny disturbance caused by a drop falling onto a lake.
Then came a second, a third. More and more ripples spread through this world, stirring terrifying, towering waves.
Rumble~~
Purple energy spilled from the ripples and intertwined, filled with pain and fury, like someone forcibly awakened from a beautiful dream.
Whoosh!
Enormous purple eyes snapped open in the darkness, brimming with savagery and resentment.
Those sinister pupils turned ceaselessly, yet no matter what they did, they could not find the figure who had caused them such unbearable agony.
In the end, the purple eyes could only release an unwilling roar before vanishing into the void.
"Hm?"
Meanwhile, Luo Chen, who was studying the Celestial Star Crown Martial Soul with Na'er, inexplicably felt the strange sensation that he had lost something.
"What happened?"
Luo Chen connected to The Star Forger Martial Soul and carefully probed it, but found no clues whatsoever.
"Master?"
Na'er looked at Luo Chen curiously, not quite understanding his sudden silence.
"Na'er, do you feel like something's gone missing?"
"Missing?"
Na'er shook her head. "No. I haven't seen anything missing from the Martial Soul Space."
"Really? How strange."
Luo Chen scratched his head. "Was I imagining it?"
Since he truly could not find anything wrong, Luo Chen could only set that strange feeling aside and return his attention to his Innate Aspects.
"The Celestial Star Crown can obtain the souls of Soul Beasts and turn them into Innate Aspects. Aspects are celestial lifeforms."
Perhaps because she was an Innate Aspect, Na'er knew a great deal about the Celestial Star Crown.
"Celestial lifeforms?"
"They receive Astral Power on the foundation of their original Soul Beast bloodline, then evolve toward a higher level."
Na'er held nothing back, answering not only the questions Luo Chen asked.
She also reminded him of things he had not considered, telling the master she had acknowledged every last detail she knew.
Using the information Na'er provided, Luo Chen made an Aspect stat card for her.
[Na'er] Race: Silver Dragon King → Star-Creating Wyrmling State: Dragon soul Divine Power: Level 30 Talent: Elemental Control Awakened elements: Light, darkness, space Affection: Absolute adoration
"Silver Dragon King, dragon soul."
Star-Creating Wyrmling, dragon soul state-together, that made her the dragon soul of a Star-Creating Wyrmling.
This was the result of Na'er's Ascension after Luo Chen's Martial Soul bestowed Astral Power upon her.
Before her evolution, the Celestial Star Crown had called Na'er the "dragon soul of the Silver Dragon King."
"So the silver scale that gave birth to Na'er came from a Soul Beast called the Silver Dragon King?"
Luo Chen had never heard of the Silver Dragon King and had no idea what kind of Soul Beast she was.
"When I watched the animation, I did hear about the Evil Orca King and the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King."
Judging by that naming style, Na'er's race should be called 'silver dragons,' and she's the king of that Soul Beast race, Luo Chen thought.
Yes, that made perfect logical sense.
(A certain sleeping Silver Dragon King: You're a silver dragon! Your whole family are silver dragons!)
Unfortunately, when Luo Chen asked Na'er, the girl had absolutely no concept of her own race.
"The silver dragon race?"
The little girl with silver hair and purple eyes pondered for a long time before helplessly shaking her head. "I don't have any memories of that kind of Soul Beast."
With no other choice, Luo Chen could only give up on investigating the details of silver dragon Soul Beasts for now.
[Divine Power: Level 30]
Na'er had many extraordinary qualities. For instance, the power she possessed was not Soul Power, but Divine Power, which stood a level above it.
This made Luo Chen all the more certain that the Soul Beast called a silver dragon was something truly remarkable.
Although the amount of Divine Power within Na'er was extremely small, barely different from the amount of Soul Power at the same level.
Divine Power was still Divine Power.
The difference in quality between Divine Power and Soul Power was like the distance between the clouds and the mud.
Without any exaggeration, although she was also level 30, Na'er, who possessed Divine Power, could easily thrash a group of three-ring Soul Elders with her Divine Power-strengthened body alone, even without using the three elemental powers she had already awakened.
This also meant that, despite how weak Luo Chen currently appeared...
If he summoned Na'er, he would unquestionably have combat strength above the Soul Elder level.
"My ability is Elemental Control. As your Soul Power cultivation rises, Master, I'll awaken a new element every time you break through a major realm."
"And as long as I'm in your Martial Soul Space, Master," Na'er said, "my power is your power."
This meant that Luo Chen's First Soul Ring actually had two uses.
One was to summon Na'er and let her fight independently.
The other was to bestow Na'er's abilities upon Luo Chen so that he could wield them himself.
"But if you do that, Master, you won't be able to use my Divine Power. You'll have to use Soul Power to activate my power to control the elements."
"I'd have to have a hole in my head to fight with Soul Power instead of letting you act, Na'er."
Luo Chen paid no mind to this shortcoming and said self-deprecatingly, "Besides, with my current physique, there's no way I could fight in person, is there?"
Absorbing his First Soul Ring had barely improved Luo Chen's physique, leaving him utterly helpless.
"Originally, I could have slowly healed your body, Master."
Na'er said, "But when I examined your body just now, I discovered a fatal weak point inside you."
"A weak point?"
Luo Chen froze, then asked in confusion, "What weak point? And a fatal one?"
At that moment, Luo Chen thought of Bibi Dong.
To be honest, Luo Chen did not have a bad impression of Bibi Dong.
In his view, as long as Bibi Dong treated him well, even if she became the lunatic from the animation in the future, Luo Chen would still stand by her side as much as possible.
"Was it her?"
Na'er and Luo Chen shared a mental connection, so he knew she understood what he meant.
"No."
Hearing Na'er's answer, Luo Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, it was not Bibi Dong. Otherwise, Luo Chen truly would not have known how to face her.
"Then what the hell is this weak point, and where did it come from?"
Luo Chen's main impression of such weak points came from practicing some external body-hardening martial art, becoming impervious to blades and spears while retaining a single vulnerability-a weak point.
But the problem was that Luo Chen had never practiced any cultivation method at all.
"It isn't something you had originally, Master. It came from an outside power that feels very familiar to me."
Na'er soon told Luo Chen the results of her examination.
It turned out that the true reason Luo Chen's body could not recover was not the Death Spider Emperor's deadly poison.
Although that poison was formidable, with the vitality The Star Forger granted Luo Chen, he could have completely detoxified himself.
In fact, this body of Luo Chen's had already died before he transmigrated.
Thus, Bibi Dong's perception had not been wrong. There truly had been no other living people in the village at the time.
A dead infant naturally could not be poisoned.
Luo Chen's soul had transmigrated into this body and brought the child back to life, but before that, Bibi Dong had already withdrawn her Death Spider Emperor Poison.
"Logically, Bibi Dong's poison shouldn't have appeared in your body at all, Master."
Na'er shared Luo Chen's memories from after his arrival in this world. In the earliest fragments, she discovered traces of someone working behind the scenes. "But right at that moment, an extremely terrifying power swept up a large amount of Death Spider Emperor Poison that should have dissipated and entered your body, Master."
According to Na'er, Luo Chen's physique was not merely strong; thanks to The Star Forger's power, it was immensely powerful.
Yet this energy had damaged Luo Chen's origin, preventing him from recovering completely.
"If your vitality is likened to meridians, Master, then that power is a blockage."
Na'er said, "And suppressing the Death Spider Emperor Poison is already the limit of the vitality that remains."
This was also why Luo Chen had remained half-dead and incomparably weak all these years.
"So Teacher really did save my life?"
If Bibi Dong had not brought him back to the orphanage and left enough Gold Soul Coins to purchase medicine and strengthen Luo Chen's vitality...
Then even with The Star Forger's power protecting him, Luo Chen would have died because of the obstruction caused by that outside energy.
At this thought, the last trace of estrangement Luo Chen felt toward Bibi Dong vanished like smoke and clouds.
"The debt of saving my life, plus the kindness of raising me."
Luo Chen sighed helplessly. "Looks like I'm truly going to be bound to you, Teacher."
"Na'er, where did this energy come from?!"
Casting aside those unnecessary thoughts, Luo Chen furrowed his brow deeply, a trace of killing intent entering his eyes.
His mind was resilient, but after learning that the torment he had suffered all these years was someone's doing, even someone as even-tempered as Luo Chen could not help wanting to grind the culprit's bones to dust and scatter the ashes.
"I don't know either. I just feel like I've encountered it somewhere before."
Na'er said, "Also, I hate the presence of this power. I hate it so much!"
In Na'er's description, this high-quality power resembled a mass of blood-red blades driven viciously into Luo Chen's origin, waiting to be awakened one day and deliver a fatal blow.
The eruption of this hidden injury might not necessarily kill Luo Chen once he had grown stronger.
But if the right moment were chosen, such as when Luo Chen was fighting a powerful opponent, a sudden attack could truly leave him gravely wounded or even kill him.
This was the fatal weak point Na'er had spoken of!
"Is there any way to remove this power?"
With a time bomb inside him, how could Luo Chen feel at ease?
"Yes."
Since Na'er had brought it up, she naturally had a countermeasure ready.
She possessed incredibly powerful vitality, but this blood-red energy was of considerable quality, making it very difficult to resolve through normal means.
"So the best method is to detonate it early, under our direct control."
Na'er's method was to make the lurking blood-red energy attack Luo Chen ahead of time.
Although doing so would leave Luo Chen's body even more damaged, it would also neatly resolve the problem of his weak point.
Afterward, he could recover normally on his own.
He would no longer remain as he was now, neither worsening nor recovering.
"In other words, I'll become even weaker, but every day afterward, I'll grow healthier and stronger?"
"Yes."
Na'er said, "But that means you'll have to suffer for a while, Master."
After speaking, the girl looked timidly at Luo Chen, her eyes filled with heartache, while intense killing intent arose in her heart toward the bastard responsible.
An Innate Aspect shared the same root and origin as Luo Chen, and their hearts and minds were connected.
To Na'er, Luo Chen was her one and only.
Likewise, Luo Chen could clearly feel Na'er's feelings for him. "What do I need to do?"
"You need to obtain a few more Soul Rings, Master. My current power isn't enough to force that power out."
According to Na'er, the Divine Power she possessed was of a very high level, even slightly higher than that power, but she lacked the quantity and feared exhausting herself midway, causing all their efforts to fall short at the final step.
"Don't worry, Master. Whether we succeed or fail, your life won't be in danger."
"All right."
Luo Chen nodded and told Na'er he was not afraid of hardship, much less pain.
The torment of the Death Spider Emperor Poison made living worse than death.
But so what?
Luo Chen was very confident in his willpower. If I endured it once, I won't fear being unable to endure it a second time!
He told Na'er that whenever she felt the time was right, she could make the attempt.
Luo Chen's consciousness left the Martial Soul Space. He opened his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling. "Who exactly did this to me, and why?"
"Na'er said this power belonged to the Douluo World. Could it be..."
Luo Chen's expression grew increasingly grave. "Was a god of this world behind it?"
That was highly possible.
After all, secretly doing something like this to Luo Chen was not something a Soul Master could accomplish.
"But who exactly was it?"
Luo Chen had absolutely no idea when he had ever offended a god of this world.
"I really regret it."
Back in reality, Luo Chen raised a hand and lightly thumped his head. "Why didn't I watch a few more episodes of the animation? I only watched the finale..."
"Hm?"
"The finale?"
Suddenly, Luo Chen seemed to remember something. "I remember that at the end, Tang San held the Dual Godhood of the Sea God and the Asura God."
"The Asura God, Slaughter City, blood-colored energy..."
At that moment, a vague suspicion stirred in Luo Chen's mind. "No way. Could the one plotting against me behind the scenes be this Asura God?"
But why?
"Is it because I came from another world, because I'm an outsider, that he wants to strangle me in the cradle?"
At that thought, Luo Chen sucked in a cold breath. "Whether it's the Asura God or not, I'll have to keep a lower profile from now on. Until I have enough strength, it can't hurt to be more cautious."
Of course, if the Asura God really was the hidden hand behind this, Luo Chen would never let him off.
Although Luo Chen would not say anything like "courting death," once they had become enemies, there could be no more mercy.
(End of chapter)