Chapter 17: The True Face of the Martial Soul

"This Mirror Beast is quite good at hiding; I've been searching for half a month and still haven't found it."

Zhou Yi and Jin Ling were sitting in the clouds, drifting freely above the Bingfeng Forest. Zhou Yi even opened a gap in the clouds and kept peering downward with binoculars.

At this moment, two months had passed since his chance encounter with Zhu Zhuqing, and his Spiritual Power had already reached level 30 two weeks ago.

However, he was already very satisfied with his cultivation speed. Through countless grueling battles and cloud-mimicry cultivation, his leveling speed was a year faster than Tang San's, not to mention that the soul power he required to level up was ten times that of a normal person.

I remember that a year later, Tang San only reached level 30 when he arrived at Shrek.

Hehe~ I'll have to go there too when the time comes. A free Spirit Saint sparring partner—just thinking about it makes me excited. Besides, if I think about it carefully, four of the Shrek Seven Devils in the original work are my acquaintances; it would be nice to see some old friends then.

Xiao San... I hope you won't disappoint me when we meet next time...

By now, he had almost traveled across half the Continent. During this period, no one of his age could be his opponent. For someone like him who enjoyed combat, it was too boring; now, he could only look forward to the protagonist of the original work.

"Eh~ found it! Like this... a 20,000-year Mirror Beast, it's decided, you're the one!"

Finally, they had discovered their target.

A 20,000-year Mirror Beast was still quite easy to fight. Once its illusion was broken, a few ultimate moves were enough to finish it off.

"Thanks for the gift of the Soul Ring, old brother. I hope you can be a bit more generous and give me a soul bone after we're done."

After muttering a few words silently, he began to absorb it under the protection of Jin Ling.

As it was absorbed, the black Soul Ring transformed into immense energy that surged into Zhou Yi's body. Unlike the century or millennium Soul Rings, the energy rushed into his limbs and meridians with violent turbulence, followed immediately by the expected soul shock.

In an instant,

his mental world seemed to be shrouded in boundless darkness. The once-calm sea of consciousness began to churn with massive waves. His spirit, having been strengthened twice, became the only light in this darkness. Zhou Yi steadied his will and fought desperately to hold on beneath the waves.

Finally, the massive tide gradually receded, and the boundless darkness slowly faded away. After enduring the soul shock, his spirit body grew larger and more solid, and the golden light it emitted became increasingly dazzling.

Outside in the physical world, a restrained and heavy black Soul Ring began to gradually condense around Zhou Yi's body, alongside his yellow and purple Soul Rings.

In the mental world, after Zhou Yi finished digesting this increase in mental power, he looked toward the sky in the center of his sea of consciousness, where a massive Cloud floated silently in the endless blue sky.

Zhou Yi's spirit body leaped up and charged toward the cloud layer.

"Come to think of it, I hadn't noticed this cloud when my mental power wasn't strong enough before. Now that I see it, this must be my martial soul. I might as well take this opportunity to go inside and have a look."

After entering, there was indeed a world within. Zhou Yi discovered that the space within this cloud layer might be even larger than his mental world.

In fact, the moment he entered, he had a strange sensation, as if something in this place was calling to him.

But this was just as well; surrounded by clouds, he couldn't even distinguish directions, so following his intuition was better than wandering around blindly.

Just like that, he kept moving toward his target, not knowing how long he had been walking.

This space was also peculiar; he could not feel the passage of time, nor could he perceive changes in spatial position. He only knew that he was getting closer and closer to his target.

Suddenly, a long-lost light appeared. As he approached, the light grew larger and brighter. Slowly, he seemed to discover two suns hanging in the sky.

No! These weren't suns!

These were a pair of eyes!

Finally, he discovered the true form of the thing that was summoning him.

Its horns were like a deer's, its head like a camel's, its eyes like a rabbit's, its neck like a snake's, its belly like a clam's, its scales like a fish's, its claws like an eagle's, its paws like a tiger's, its ears like a cow's; it had whiskers by its mouth, a bright pearl under its chin, and a reverse scale under its throat. It could ride the clouds and travel through water, protecting the land—it was an auspicious creature.

That's right, it was a Dragon!

This Dragon coiled in the sky, its body reaching tens of thousands of feet in length. In front of it, Zhou Yi was as small as a speck of dust.

It was entirely silver-white, dreamlike and ethereal, exuding an immortal aura. It was surrounded by masses of nine-colored auspicious clouds, with lightning born beneath its claws. With every movement, it summoned wind and rain. At this moment, it was silently gazing at him with its massive golden pupils that resembled suns.

Zhou Yi was so shocked that he couldn't speak, until a dragon roar rang out, and Zhou Yi was directly shaken out of his mental world.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Zhou Yi gasped for air. Just from that one dragon roar, his mind had received a massive amount of information, and the sheer volume of it left him struggling to breathe.

After calming down for a while, he looked at the outside world. Jin Ling was still standing guard, and the Mirror Beast's corpse hadn't changed; clearly, not much time had passed.

He rummaged through the Mirror Beast's corpse, but as expected... no soul bone. He had thought this Mirror Beast was the same one as Oscar's in the original work, as the age was similar, but there was still no soul bone. He was now almost used to the fact that he wasn't a "European" (lucky person).

But none of that mattered; he released his martial soul.

Sure enough, a dreamlike, ethereal white Dragon swam proudly within the Cloud Mist. Its figure was like a bubble; if one didn't look closely, one wouldn't even notice that a dragon was hidden within the clouds.

"So... the true name of my martial soul is 'Primordial Immortal Spirit Dragon'..."

No wonder he had been born with divine strength and physical fitness far exceeding that of ordinary people since he was a child.

The Dragon is a divine creature created by the ancient Chinese people from a vague collection of animals like deer, cattle, donkeys, shrimp, elephants, fish, snakes, and phoenixes, as well as natural phenomena like clouds, lightning, and rainbows. It possesses divine qualities such as a love for water, a penchant for flight, the ability to reach the heavens, changeability, supernatural power, the ability to bring good omens, portend disaster, and display majesty.

A dragon can be large or small, can rise or hide: when large, it stirs up clouds and exhales mist; when small, it hides its form. When rising, it soars through the universe; when hiding, it lurks within the waves.

The Cloud martial soul he had previously assumed was merely its external manifestation.

And now, he also understood the truth of his transmigration:

Since ancient times, the Dragon has been inextricably linked to the Chinese people. As early as when the Yellow Emperor pacified the Central Plains, the Dragon race helped him fight everywhere, and Yinglong played a decisive role in his war against Chi You.

Afterward, the Dragon was even more closely linked to Chinese heritage as a totem, and today, the Dragon has become the spiritual symbol of the Chinese people.

Over thousands of years of history, many dragons and humans have intermarried. By now, the bloodline has blossomed, and it can be said that every Chinese person today carries a thin bloodline of the Dragon. Therefore, saying that Chinese people are the descendants of the Dragon is perfectly accurate.

Perhaps Zhou Yi's bloodline had undergone some atavism, giving him more of the Dragon bloodline than the average person. Originally, this wouldn't have had any effect, but it just so happened that the bead he bought was a Dragon Pearl.

With the passage of time, this Dragon Pearl had lost most of its mystery; ordinary people would experience no change upon touching it. Only someone like Zhou Yi, whose bloodline had undergone atavism, could resonate with it. Thus, the Dragon Pearl consumed all its remaining energy to bring him to this world filled with spiritual energy.

After arriving in this world, due to the world's rules, it transformed Zhou Yi's atavistic bloodline into a martial soul.

And the atavistic bloodline Zhou Yi possessed came from a dragon of the primordial era, named: Primordial Immortal Spirit Dragon.