"Good stuff like that, the family only gets a few dozen pieces a month. My dad gave his entire share to this little brat... I don't even know if he can digest it all."
"You're worrying too much, Patriarch." Uncle Song kept his expression perfectly controlled and remained solemn. "The young patriarch has had a good appetite since he was little. He eats as much in one meal as dozens of family members eat in a month, and it's all top-quality food. If the family weren't wealthy, I'm afraid an ordinary household would have been eaten into poverty by him."
"Huh?"
Yu Longyue grabbed the black bun, smacked his lips through a few bites, and swallowed it whole. Before long, he had polished off every black bun Grandpa had given him.
"Kid, can you really digest that much?" Yu Qitian frowned as he watched.
"You little brat, can't you see it yet?" Grandpa narrowed his eyes at Yu Longyue. The fluctuations of blood and Qi within Yu Longyue grew noticeably stronger the more he ate. They could even hear his blood and Qi flowing, and at the same time, his own presence began to grow noticeably stronger.
In particular, a faint dragon's roar came from within his bloodline, and dragon might spilled uncontrollably from Yu Longyue's body. Every Titled Douluo present turned pale.
"Attaboy! We both have the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul, but damn it, he can actually make my Martial Soul want to submit?" Yu Qitian stared in surprise at the changes in Yu Longyue.
"Whose granny are you damning? That's your mother!" Grandpa glared, picked up the cane beside him, and rapped Yu Qitian on the head. "Cursing in front of your son? Have you no manners?"
Yu Qitian scratched his head, not daring to say another word. He stood obediently where he was, waiting for Grandpa to speak.
"From the moment his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul awakened, seven-colored sacred light connected heaven and earth. The Martial Soul he awakened was certainly no ordinary thing." Grandpa stroked his beard. "I reckon it must be the Thunderbolt Sacred Dragon Martial Soul. It's only natural that his Martial Soul can suppress ours."
"The Thunderbolt Sacred Dragon?" Yu Qitian raised an eyebrow. "Even I fell just a little short. I never thought my son would actually achieve it. In that case, we really can give him that Soul Spirit."
Having finished breakfast, Yu Longyue let out a satisfied burp and grinned, looking quite simple and honest. He didn't interrupt Grandpa's conversation.
"Well? Have you had enough to eat?" Grandpa chuckled and reached out to pat Yu Longyue's head, seemingly unable to get enough of it.
It was because Yu Longyue had left home when he was little, and Grandpa had hardly seen him. He truly couldn't bear to part with him.
"I'm full, Grandpa. What were you just talking about? What kind of Soul Spirit are you going to give me?" Yu Longyue blinked.
"An ancestral Soul Spirit. It has been with our family for over five thousand years, asking only that someone in our family become a god, so it can follow them and attain eternal life." Grandpa stroked his beard as he spoke slowly.
"Come on, now that you've eaten, I'll take you to see him. I expect you should be able to meet its conditions."
Yu Longyue assented and followed Grandpa, taking the initiative to step forward and support him as he walked with difficulty using his cane.
Yu Qitian stayed close behind Grandpa to protect him. Seeing how filial Yu Longyue was, he felt somewhat gratified and took the lead toward the ancestral grounds deep within the family's territory.
"Twenty thousand years ago, the family was massacred by Spirit Hall. Fortunately, some family disciples were away at the time and passed down the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon bloodline. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here today."
Grandpa sighed.
"And ten thousand years ago, the family was dragged into the war between the Sun Moon Empire and the Douluo Continent to unify the continent, and was nearly wiped out by the Sun Moon Empire again."
"After those two successive calamities, another rule was added to the family precepts: no matter how prosperous the family becomes or how mighty its strength, everyone must live quietly and pay no heed to anything beyond the family. From then on, the family went into seclusion, but it could not remain cut off from outside society for too long. Remember, those who fall behind get beaten."
"All family members must enter society early, then return to the family once their studies are complete."
"Xiao Yue, you've done very well in that regard. You entered society early and even created such a huge money-making enterprise for the family. Your own strength is sufficient, and from what I can see, your Spiritual Power has reached the Spirit Abyss Realm too, hasn't it? The food I had you eat just now was also a test of your physical strength."
Yu Longyue listened quietly.
Grandpa continued, "You've done very well. You truly are our family's little prodigy. Your father was right: you're more than qualified to inherit a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Spirit."
"It's all thanks to your teaching, Grandpa," Yu Longyue said at once, having heard Grandpa praise him several times in succession.
Grandpa's smile grew even wider. "Hehe, you've developed a sweet tongue. Good, you're much better than your father in that respect. With that explosive temper of his, he was still turning the world upside down out there a few decades ago. Hmph, it makes me angry just thinking about it. If I'd known, I would have given him a few more lashes to vent my anger."
Yu Qitian was drenched in sweat and didn't dare speak.
"We're here."
Grandpa stopped, and Yu Longyue stopped with him. He looked up to see a main hall at some unknown depth beneath the family grounds.
The main hall was magnificent, gleaming with gold and jade, and enshrined in its center was a dragon.
Its entire body was dark blue, and every breath it exhaled carried a dense presence of lightning. Its dragon might filled the surroundings, stirring the bloodline within Yu Longyue.
His bloodline and Martial Soul both began to react, seemingly because the dragon before them dared to release its dragon might in their presence.
Fortunately, Yu Longyue suppressed them. Otherwise, they would already have leaped out on their own.
"Hmm?"
The dragon seemed to sense something. It hurriedly raised its head and opened its eyes, looking at the three people before it.
"Oh, it's you. What do you juniors of the Yu Family want?"
Leaning on his cane, Grandpa said unhurriedly, "We would like to ask you to help us identify something. The Martial Soul my young grandson awakened doesn't seem to be an ordinary Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, but we lack the knowledge to tell exactly what it is. That is why we've come to ask for your help."
"Not an ordinary Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon?" The Thunder Dragon was somewhat astonished. "Come to think of it, I sensed something amiss just now as well. There was a faint pressure that seemed to want to make me submit to its owner, which woke me up. Which of you has this Martial Soul?"
Grandpa and Yu Qitian both looked at Yu Longyue.
"You?"
The Thunder Dragon stared fixedly at Yu Longyue. A moment later, his tone softened. "Please step forward. With you standing together with them, I can't quite tell."
Yu Longyue looked first at his father, then at Grandpa. Seeing no reaction from either of them, he stepped forward and examined the Thunder Dragon before him more closely.
Is this the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Spirit passed down through the generations?
It really looks just like a Soul Beast. It hardly looks like a Soul Spirit at all. Is this Spirit Pagoda technology too?
The Thunder Dragon studied Yu Longyue for a while but couldn't make anything out, so he said:
"Release your Martial Soul."
Yu Longyue took a deep breath and released his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul in front of everyone.
The next second, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon emerged roaring behind Yu Longyue. Its enormous body was even larger than the Thunder Dragon's, and as soon as it appeared, it roared furiously at the Thunder Dragon before it.
The dragon's roar was deafening. Grandpa and Yu Qitian both paled slightly at the sound, and their bloodlines grew restless.
They had been affected too.
The Thunder Dragon had it worse, bearing the immense pressure head-on.
The Thunder Dragon hurriedly lowered his head and let out a mournful cry to signal his submission. Only then was the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon satisfied, retreating back into Yu Longyue's body.
"W-well? What do you think?" Seeing the result, Grandpa's smile nearly reached the heavens.
"It isn't a Thunderbolt Sacred Dragon."
The Thunder Dragon's voice trembled as he explained.
Grandpa and Yu Qitian were somewhat baffled.
"It isn't a Thunderbolt Sacred Dragon? But the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon belongs to the Thunder Dragon line. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon is a member of that line, and the Thunderbolt Sacred Dragon is at the elder level. What else could it be?"
The Thunder Dragon took a deep breath, then slowly said:
"His Martial Soul is neither a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon nor a Thunderbolt Sacred Dragon. It is... the Thunder Dragon King."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Thunder Dragon transformed, shrinking to the size of a small snake. He landed on Yu Longyue's shoulder with a fawning look. "Master, you've just reached level fifty and urgently need a Soul Spirit to become a Soul King. Take a look at me! I am a Thunderbolt Sacred Dragon, perfectly suited to be your Soul Spirit. Even our attributes are a perfect match."
He had even started calling him master.
"Please don't worry that you won't be able to withstand me. If it really comes to it, I can sacrifice myself! I beg you, let me be your Soul Spirit..."
The sight made Grandpa and Yu Qitian's jaws drop.