Meanwhile, Qing Linyun was curled up in his dorm, grinning nonstop at the object in his hand.
It was a card shimmering all over with multicolored light: an Emotion Card.
After a week of careful cultivation, the number on the card had settled firmly at 1,000 points.
Full.
Qing Linyun gazed at the number, liking it more the longer he looked. His grin nearly stretched to his ears.
One week. A whole week.
Soul Bones, Soul Rings, keeping him company and talking with him-as his master, I've put in more effort than his own father. I've finally managed to grind out all 1,000 points.
That Tang Wulin kid really knows how to repay kindness. I barely even tried to grind for points this week. His gratitude alone was enough to fill the Emotion Points to the brim.
Good kid. He really saves me trouble.
He smacked his lips and, without the slightest hesitation, focused his fingertips and sent a wisp of Soul Power flowing into the card.
Hum.
The card suddenly lit up, bursting with radiance.
[Ding!] [Congratulations, host: Emotion Card successfully redeemed.] [Obtained: full Golden Dragon King Bloodline.]
Qing Linyun froze for a moment.
The next second, an incomparably terrifying surge of scorching energy poured out of the card without warning and thundered into his body through his fingertips.
It felt like someone had thrown a bucket of molten lava straight in his face.
He grunted, his bones cracking all over as the Soul Power in his body seemed to ignite and explode.
The scorching energy rampaged through his meridians like a wild horse that had thrown off its reins, desperately trying to burst out of his body.
If his body hadn't already been tempered by the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's power of destruction, that alone would probably have burned right through his internal organs.
He gritted his teeth against the searing pain and spread out his spiritual power, pinning the energy down and saving himself from making a spectacle of himself on the spot.
The Emotion Card in his hand couldn't withstand the power. With a crack, it shattered into specks of multicolored light that dispersed into the air.
Qing Linyun had no time to mourn the card. He hurriedly sat down cross-legged, steadied his mind, and looked inward at his body.
What he saw made him suck in a sharp breath.
The eighteen Golden Dragon King Bloodline Seals, which should have been safely stored inside Tang Wulin, were now floating neatly inside him. The mighty Golden Dragon King was now quietly bound in chains, looking a little like he wanted to die.
Eighteen.
Not one was missing.
He sensed them carefully, and the wariness in his heart slowly eased.
This Golden Dragon King Bloodline seemed a little different from the normal one.
It wasn't violent or restless. It lay quietly there like an inanimate object, a frozen lump of iron, waiting for him to draw on it whenever he wished.
This system really does have some skill.
He marveled at it inwardly.
It even managed to move over the seals laid down by that old bastard Tang San.
He couldn't help thinking back over the past week.
A week's work for the full Golden Dragon King Bloodline. You couldn't find another deal like this under heaven. Life is sweet, so sweet. With pickled greens and boiled tofu in my belly, even the emperor can't compare to me.
Little Wulin, those Emotion Points you've been grinding have made your master mighty happy. If anything this good comes up again, your master will come looking for you.
He happily made plans in his head, the corners of his mouth curling up again.
Meanwhile, in the classroom.
Tang Wulin was sitting in his seat when he suddenly felt an emptiness in his chest.
It was an indescribable feeling, as though something had been drawn out of his body, leaving a hollow hole behind.
He instinctively pressed a hand to his chest, but no matter how he pressed, he couldn't make that hollow feeling go away.
He sat there as his mood suddenly sank, not even knowing why.
Sharp-eyed as ever, Xie Xie gave him a nudge with his elbow. "Hey, what's wrong? Weren't you fine just now?"
"I'm fine." Tang Wulin shook his head and forced a smile. "I just... spaced out for a second."
"Spaced out?" Xie Xie gave him a suspicious look. "Your face keeps turning pale and green. Did you eat something bad?"
"I'm really fine." Tang Wulin pushed down the strange feeling in his heart. "Let's pay attention to class."
That was what he said, but the sense of loss lodged in his heart like a thorn, and he couldn't pull it out.
At the same time, Na'er, far away on Sea God Island, abruptly stopped what she was doing. Her brows knitted tightly as she looked into the distance.
"Brother? The Golden Dragon King..."
Back in the dorm, Qing Linyun knew nothing of what was happening in the classroom.
He was sitting cross-legged on his bed, wholly focused on studying the eighteen Golden Dragon King Bloodline Seals inside his body.
In the original story, Tang Wulin had broken through eleven seals by the time he had seven rings.
That kid could break eleven seals at seven rings, so what about him?
With his physical strength, having transmigrated here, which of his talent, foundations, or cultivation speed wasn't better than Tang Wulin's?
What? You wanted to know how he got all that? He had obviously traded his precious money for it.
Not to mention, after passing through the system's hands, the Golden Dragon King Bloodline was as docile as a cat, nothing like the violent state it had been in inside Tang Wulin in the original story.
If I still can't break through them like this, I might as well quit.
Breaking thirteen or fourteen seals would do justice to the physique I built up with my precious money.
He didn't actually intend to break them all in one go. The Golden Dragon King Bloodline grew more tyrannical the further along it went. In the later parts of the original story, Tang Wulin had risked death every time he broke a seal. For now, he wanted to play it safe: fully digest what he could first, then take his time with the rest.
You can't get fat in a single mouthful, he reminded himself. Ten. I'll start with the first ten. The rest can wait until I'm a level eighty Soul Douluo.
He thought no more about it. Taking a deep breath, he adjusted his condition to its peak.
Blood Qi, Soul Power, and spiritual power all fell into place, ready to go.
The next moment, he unleashed his power.
Violent Soul Power surged out in an instant, slamming straight into the first seal of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline.
Crack.
The first seal shattered on impact.
Immediately afterward, he crushed through the second, third, and fourth seals, continuing all the way down.
Ten seals shattered almost simultaneously.
Cracks rang out one after another inside his body, like a string of firecrackers going off in his bones.
The terrifying power of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline burst forth with surging energy, instantly filling his entire body.
That power was frenzied, tyrannical, and utterly wild. Like a ferocious beast finally freed from its cage, it rampaged through him, eager to tear him apart from the inside out.
But Qing Linyun was no pushover.
His spiritual power was at the peak of the Spirit Domain Realm, after all. A force like this might have been a deadly torrent to others, but to him, it was just a somewhat louder storm.
His spiritual power spread out, as deep as an abyss and as imposing as a prison, wrapping the violent power in layer upon layer. He subdued it inch by inch and guided it strand by strand, letting it flow along his meridians and slowly merge into his body.
It was like taming a wild horse.
At first, it still kicked and bucked, but under the suppression of his spiritual power, the horse gradually grew docile.
Qing Linyun felt his body undergo a complete and thorough transformation.
His sinews, bones, muscles, meridians, and blood Qi-from head to toe, from inside to out-were all washed over by the power of the Golden Dragon King Bloodline, like iron reforged in a smith's furnace.
He could clearly feel his physical body growing stronger at a terrifying rate.
It was a wondrous feeling beyond words.
Every inch of muscle was tightening anew, every bone being reinforced. Even the blood Qi flowing beneath his skin had been replaced, radiating the tyranny and vitality unique to the Golden Dragon King Bloodline.
He raised a hand and knocked on his forearm.
Clang.
A crisp metallic ring sounded.
I've turned to iron.
He chuckled inwardly.
No, I'm harder than iron. If I keep strengthening myself like this, I can use my body as a shield.
I'll turn into Captain America, the hormone kid.