In Douluo Continent, the Pope used me as a substitute for my first love.

Chapter 293 A Weakened Version from Beyond the Realm: The Legacy of Emperor Yan (Part 1)

During the three years from when Xiao Chenyu was six to nine years old, he could clearly feel that his soul power cultivation speed was very fast, an extraordinary speed. Several times he felt that his soul power level was approaching level ten, which was almost enough for him to hunt for his first soul ring and become a formal one-ring battle soul master.

However, it seemed that fate played a huge joke on him, who was full of hope and anticipation for the future. Although his cultivation speed was fast, he was also "leaking" at the same time!

Whenever he painstakingly cultivated his soul power to a certain level, some of his original soul power seemed to flow to somewhere and eventually disappear. Then, his soul power level would clearly regress...

This undoubtedly dealt a huge blow to the young Xiao Chenyu, who gradually became depressed as a result.

Not to mention, his changes, which were not exactly subtle, were gradually noticed by those around him, and rumors began to circulate in Notting City that the city lord's son was a useless person whose soul power level was "reverse-leveled".

Although perhaps due to his identity, Xiao Chenyu did not receive much ridicule or mockery from those around him, his increasingly sensitive heart could still clearly perceive the piercing gazes they cast upon him.

He then became even more despondent...

Until three years later.

Xiao Chenyu had just finished third grade and was in the midst of a long vacation before entering fourth grade when a sudden change altered everything.

It was still a dark and deep night. Xiao Chenyu was inexplicably awakened from his sleep. His entire body gradually turned crimson, and the terrifying burning sensation instantly reminded him of his situation three years ago.

He didn't think much about it, nor did he have the mind or energy to think about it. He just felt as if his soul was on fire, and he couldn't help but cry out in pain.

When his family arrived at Xiao Chenyu's room and witnessed his condition, before his father, the city lord, could even call for a physician, he suddenly burst forth with a crimson light. Immediately afterward, the phantom of his beast spirit "wolf" appeared behind him, seemingly unattached.

Xiao Chenyu's family didn't know why he suddenly summoned his martial soul at this time. Xiao Chenyu was even more speechless, because it wasn't that he wanted to summon his martial soul, but that his martial soul had inexplicably appeared on its own!

Just then, Xiao Chenyu's father, the city lord, vaguely sensed that something was wrong. He then ordered all irrelevant personnel, including Xiao Chenyu's mother, to leave. For a moment, only the city lord of Notting City and Xiao Chenyu, the father and son, remained in the room.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Chenyu and his father witnessed his wolf spirit phantom gradually being enveloped by crimson light, and then bursting into flames.

"My Martial Soul!"

At that moment, Xiao Chenyu couldn't help but widen his eyes, wondering if he was about to completely lose his martial spirit and become a cripple.

He simply couldn't accept this result!

However, it was already too late to stop it.

Under Xiao Chenyu's bloodshot eyes and his father's complicated gaze, the wolf spirit was completely devoured by the fierce and strange flames. Just when the father and son thought it was over, suddenly, the fireball gradually faded a bit, and finally slowly revealed a flame pattern.

The pattern was wolf-shaped and lifelike, but it lacked any characteristics of a "beast".

Xiao Chenyu did not feel his martial soul disappear. Instead, it seemed to have transformed under the burning flames. He looked at his new martial soul and felt that the fire wolf was more like the legendary elemental spirit than the original beast martial soul. Moreover, it was a pure elemental martial soul. As for the "wolf", it was just a form of "fire".

In other words, his martial spirit has completely changed.

He quickly told his father, the city lord, about his situation. The city lord fell silent for a moment, not knowing what to do, since he himself was not a particularly powerful or knowledgeable soul master.

Suddenly, Xiao Chenyu's eyes widened, then he closed them and fell straight down on the bed.

Seeing this, the city lord thought his son had died, so he hurriedly went over to check his breathing. He was relieved to find that his son had just fainted temporarily.

He helped Xiao Chenyu lie down on the bed, then walked to the wooden chair next to him and sat down, thinking that he wouldn't sleep tonight and would think carefully about the future of Xiao Chenyu and even their entire small family...

What the city lord didn't know at the time was that Xiao Chenyu hadn't actually fallen asleep. He had just closed his eyes and felt his consciousness becoming hazy, and then a picture appeared in his mind.

It was a man wearing a wide black robe, carrying a black ruler that was clearly not light, and surrounded by flames of various colors.

The man seemed to be fighting a powerful being, a battle so fierce it shook the heavens and earth, a truly grand spectacle. Finally, a fire lotus formed from various colored flames bloomed and exploded. The black ruler in the man's hand seemed to have been damaged, and a black fragment fell from it and disappeared into the spatial rift created by the intense battle.

"Is that it?!"

Upon seeing this, Xiao Chenyu, in a daze, inexplicably recognized that the black fragment was the one he had picked up by chance three years ago. Then, he vaguely seemed to understand the reason for his experiences over the past three years.

It turns out, it was all that black fragment's doing!

Xiao Chenyu was at a loss for words. The perspective in his mind stopped following the black-robed man and instead followed the black fragment that had accidentally entered the spatial rift, watching it drift in the boundless turbulence. After an unknown amount of time, it finally fell to a certain place.

As the black fragment fell, Xiao Chenyu clearly witnessed it suddenly encounter some kind of obstruction. However, this did not prevent the fragment from continuing to fall, only at a slightly slower speed. At the same time, it seemed that some kind of force was washing away the black fragment, removing some of the things it carried, while the rest seemed to be assimilated by that unknown force...

"Bang!"

When the black fragment fell into a patch of grass, and a little boy excitedly ran over and picked it up, the whole story came to a close.

"this……"

Xiao Chenyu was momentarily dazed before suddenly opening his eyes. From his father's perspective, it looked as if he had been startled awake from a dream, and only a moment had passed.

Upon seeing this, Xiao Chenyu's father hurriedly came over to check his body, but he quickly broke free from his father's hand and wandered around the room searching for something. Finally, he found the black fragment that he had long since abandoned.

(End of this chapter)