(An opening reminder from the author: this work begins with a tiny bit of the "ensemble cast" style often seen in masterpieces, so the first few chapters will have a hair's breadth of depth. Readers familiar with the four Douluo novels might experience an extremely brief spell of "not understanding," but later revelations will repeatedly bring that feeling of-so these details were in the original all along, and we never noticed. Of course, there's no need to worry about anything else. After all, our original intention in reading derivative fanfiction is this: if the original had a happy ending, we add flowers to the brocade. But if its ending left something to be desired, then we turn back the collapsing tide and shore up the tower on the verge of falling!)
"Hello, Director. Here's my personal profile."
Five fingers spun an admission application half a turn with a swish and pushed it across the vermilion desk.
The admissions director picked up the form, adjusted his silver-rimmed glasses with his left hand, and nodded as he read. "Mm, not bad."
"You managed to get referred to my office without even bringing a letter of introduction. Judging by your information here, mm, you do indeed possess the requisite potential and aptitude."
The admissions director began reading the profile carefully-
Name: Xu Zi (zǐ). Age: 15. Level: Level 30 Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster. Martial Soul: Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon.
"Heaven Annihilation? And a dragon Martial Soul?" The admissions director craned his neck, staring wide-eyed at the Martial Soul section. Several seconds passed before he looked up at the purple-haired boy and asked, "This Martial Soul of yours... is there any record of it in the world?"
"Oh! Heh-heh." The admissions director looked as though realization had dawned. "You named this dragon Martial Soul yourself, didn't you?"
"No." As though he had expected this, the purple-haired boy immediately shook his head. "This Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon Martial Soul mutated from my clan's Sun Martial Soul. There were precedents of its awakening among my ancestors, so it falls within the scope of stable inheritance."
(The Sun Martial Soul has a certain chance of mutating into the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. This setting comes from the printed Peerless Tang Sect books and its animated adaptation, not the recently altered content of the original.)
"A Sun Martial Soul? There's actually a clan like that on the continent today?" The admissions director frowned slightly, skeptical of this explanation.
Still, in the director's experience, verifying the claim would be simple. As a rule, once a Martial Soul's name reached five Chinese characters, it was essentially at the strength of a top-tier Martial Soul-especially a one-in-ten-thousand dragon Martial Soul like this.
In the current era, Martial Souls were divided by quality into trash Martial Souls, ordinary Martial Souls, high-grade Martial Souls, top-tier Martial Souls, and divine-grade Martial Souls.
Among them, awakening a top-tier Martial Soul could grant its awakener at least level 7-9 innate Soul Power.
The history of Douluo Soul Masters also clearly recorded that every genius with innate full Soul Power had awakened one of the very finest Martial Souls of their time.
Thus, he only needed to check the archives and verify exactly how many levels of innate Soul Power the boy had possessed when his Martial Soul awakened to determine whether he was spouting wild boasts.
"Which branch hall did you awaken your Martial Soul in when you were six?"
As he asked, the admissions director flipped the application over to the section where applicants filled in their "place of origin."
Four characters met his eyes, but his brow only furrowed more deeply.
The box contained only four characters: across the ocean.
"Across the ocean?" The admissions director looked up. "I seem to remember that when the admissions instructor at our academy gates referred you here, he said you'd traveled all the way from the west of the continent. Could your clan live on an island in the West Sea?"
But the moment those words left his mouth, he froze in his seat.
Several seconds later, the admissions director suddenly glanced from side to side, then lowered his voice and asked again, "You're from... Sea God Island?"
Nearly twenty years earlier, Qian Xunji, then the pope of Spirit Hall, had assembled an army of Soul Masters. Led by the Angel Legion at its height, the full might of Spirit Hall had embarked on an expedition to Sea God Island beyond the West Sea.
That battle had not only severely weakened the Angel Legion but also cost the life of the Elder Hall's seventh consecrator: Sea Turtle Douluo.
As the admissions director of Spirit Hall Academy, he might even have participated in the logistical work back then. Thus, whenever anywhere beyond the West Sea was mentioned, his first thought was invariably Sea God Island.
But Xu Zi shook his head in denial and explained, somewhat torn between laughter and tears, "No. I come from beyond the West Sea of the continent beneath our feet. There's another continent in that direction."
"Its name is Sun Moon."
"Sun Moon? The Sun Moon Continent?" The admissions director straightened in his chair. The doubt in his eyes deepened, and for a moment, he even suspected he was being deceived.
After all, what awakener of a top-tier Martial Soul would remain stuck at level 30 without acquiring a Soul Ring?
Even if their elders were not particularly powerful, a student with a top-tier Martial Soul would absolutely receive special attention from their academy, the local Spirit Hall, and other such organizations.
He could not help adopting a mocking tone. "Then are you also going to tell me that your Sun Moon Continent has a Sun Moon Forest, and beside that forest is a Sun Moon Empire?"
"You've given your Martial Soul such a mighty, imposing name. It must at least be an inherited Martial Soul of a royal bloodline, right?"
"Oh, and a mutated one at that... imposing."
Xu Zi naturally heard the sarcasm, but he still offered the man a basic measure of patience. "Yes and no. Our Sun Moon Empire does indeed dominate half the Sun Moon Continent, but its largest Soul Beast forest is called the Evil Demon Forest."
"And this Martial Soul of mine is indeed..."
"Enough, young man!" The admissions director slapped the form onto the desk and interrupted him. "Don't get so lost in your delusions. You renamed your Martial Soul 'Heaven Annihilation,' and you actually dare apply to our Spirit Hall Academy?"
"Must I remind you that our academy answers directly to Spirit Hall, and Spirit Hall was founded by the great Angel God? Does this 'Heaven Annihilation' name of yours imply contempt for the Angel God, hmm?"
"Hah. Since you're still young, I won't have you hauled off to the temple knights. Go back where you came from."
The admissions director turned his head away and waved a hand, signaling for the boy across the desk to leave.
Xu Zi had remained standing the entire time. Only after hearing the middle-aged man's supposedly well-intentioned warning did he click his tongue and close his eyes.
Two and a half seconds later, the admissions director began wondering, Why isn't he leaving yet? Just as he rose to drive him out...
At the third second, Xu Zi abruptly opened his purple eyes. A vertical slit had formed in each pupil, like the eyes of a dragon or serpent!
Crackling erupted all around as a purple manifestation slowly rose behind the boy, almost filling the entire single-person office.
The purple manifestation rose into a circle, then swiftly collapsed into shape, forming a dark-purple blazing sun.
Within that resplendent purple sun, an immense, majestic being stretched its formidable draconic body, ceaselessly scattering the beauty of destruction into the world.
As the dragon's body continued to writhe and coil, a pair of purple-gold dragon eyes finally settled within the purple sun. Terrifying draconic might immediately came crashing down.
The presence of destruction spread in surging waves, and the will of destruction slowly expanded, frightening the admissions director until his heart and mind trembled.
Everywhere the eye could see blazed with purple. Even the shapeless, boundless air was rent with fissures by destruction.
Destruction stood on the same level as creation, and together, the two formed the world as it existed.
Thus, this was pure beauty, beauty standing apart from the world...
Beauty wrought from pure destruction!
Xu Zi's eyes and the purple-gold dragon eyes behind him fixed on the space ahead at the same time. The will of destruction and the presence of destruction alternated, tormenting the mind and flesh of the living being before them.
Purple fissures spread in blazing splendor. The surrounding tables and stacks of document folders were on the verge of being washed into ruin by that resplendent purple.
Just then, Xu Zi blinked deeply, and the two vertical dragon pupils in his eyes abruptly vanished.
The purple blazing sun behind his head likewise dissolved into a purple manifestation with that blink, gradually sinking behind him until it disappeared without a trace.
Xu Zi took two light, panting breaths, but his tone remained as calm as ever. "This is my Martial Soul: the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. It mutated from my clan's inherited Sun Martial Soul, and it is a unique, unparalleled existence in the world today."
The admissions director kept his head lowered, not daring to respond. Both elbows were braced against the desk, his joints trembling faintly.
Having just been washed over by the presence of destruction, the will of destruction, and resplendent draconic might, he no longer dared question a single word or action of the young man before him.
Only after a long while did he recover enough to stammer, "W-wait a moment. I'll go report this."
The next second, he stumbled away, fleeing swiftly through the office doorway, until footsteps sounded on the stairs nearby.
With the admissions director gone, the surroundings instantly fell quiet.
Afternoon sunlight slanted into the office, reflecting off the floor tiles into a pair of purple eyes.
Since he had come, he would settle in.
Xu Zi cleared his mind and began practicing the Imperial Sun Meditation Method, naturally entering a meditative state.
His surname was Xu, and his Martial Soul was a purple sun, yet it also harbored a dragon that commanded destruction.
These were all symbols of the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family, so his birthplace naturally lay across the western ocean, on the Sun Moon Continent.
The sun in the Sun Moon Empire represented the Sun Clan: the Xu family;
The moon in the Sun Moon Empire represented the Silver Moon Clan: the Kong family.
As for "Imperial Sun" in the Imperial Sun Meditation Method, "sun" meant the sun, and "imperial" meant the imperial family. Put together, the two words read as "the Sun imperial family."
Thus-
Everything pointed to the same fact: as a member of the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family, he absolutely should not have appeared in this place at this point in time.
Moreover, as a descendant of the Dragon God's companion, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon likewise commanded the power of destruction. But as everyone knew, will was an existence above spiritual power. Without a Destruction Godhead to support it, how could a mere Martial Soul give rise to a will of destruction?
The afternoon sunlight slanted brightly through the room, yet a layer of invisible dark clouds shrouded this enigmatic boy...
The afternoon sun lingered. Xu Zi had only just entered meditation, following the unique pathways of his meditation method.
Yet suddenly, the sound of robes whipping in the wind came from the corridor, accompanied by steady footsteps.
From the sound alone, one could guess: someone whose stride stirred the wind had arrived.
Someone important is here. The thought stirred in Xu Zi's mind, and he opened his clear eyes.
The admissions director first poked half his head inside. After confirming Xu Zi was still there, he turned and spoke quietly and respectfully to the person behind him. "Your Excellency, he's still waiting inside."
"Mm, good."
A reply came from outside. The next second, a red-robed figure strode into the office and sat directly in the office chair across the desk.
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