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

Chapter 294 A Weakened Version from Beyond the Realm: The Legacy of Emperor Yan (Part 2)

Holding the black fragment, Xiao Chenyu disregarded his father's strange gaze from not far away. His mindset seemed to mature slightly in an instant, as if by some strange impulse. He then slowly placed the fragment on his forehead.

Seeing this, Xiao's father was puzzled, but he did not disturb his son for the time being, and just watched carefully from the side.

After Xiao Chenyu placed the black fragment on his forehead, he immediately felt a cool sensation. However, the black fragment quickly became warm on its own, emitting a strange crimson light. Then, strands of light detached from the surface of the black fragment and flowed into Xiao Chenyu's mind.

Swish!

Xiao Chenyu's mind went blank for a moment, and then it was as if a strange memory flooded into his mind.

He was a boy, a boy who had just been jilted in front of everyone...

"This is?!"

Xiao Chenyu couldn't help but widen his eyes. At this moment, he seemed to be witnessing the experience of a strong person who went from being frustrated and unsuccessful in his youth to suddenly encountering a great opportunity and rising to prominence after three years of twists and turns.

Although they were just fragmented images, they still made him feel excited. Combined with the fleeting images he saw in his mind when he suddenly fainted, he could easily understand that all of this came from the black-robed man who held a black ruler and was surrounded by strange flames.

It turns out that this black fragment actually contains the legacy of that mysterious powerful figure!

Xiao Chenyu suddenly recalled the scene of the black fragment falling into Douluo Continent from the endless turbulence. During its fall, it seemed to be affected by some invisible force. What did this mean...?

He unconsciously tightened his grip on the black fragment, but then the once indestructible fragment suddenly became as fragile as an egg and was crushed by his hand. After being crushed, the black fragment miraculously did not turn into smaller fragments scattered on the ground, but instead turned into countless black light spots.

The image of the crimson light flowing into Xiao Chenyu's mind appeared again, and the black light spots disappeared into Xiao Chenyu's forehead. This time, Xiao Chenyu did not see any images in his mind, but only felt that four light spheres suddenly appeared in his mental sea.

He suddenly opened his eyes and muttered to himself.

"Explosive Step, Eight Extremes Collapse, Basic Alchemist 'Inheritance', and... the Burning Ink Meditation Technique? What are all these things?"

...In short, afterwards, Xiao Chenyu was surprised to find that his soul power level had finally jumped to level ten after three years, which meant that he could now hunt for his first soul ring and officially become a one-ring soul master.

He told his father, the city lord, about the general situation. The city lord simply patted him on the shoulder and told him to continue cultivating diligently and not to reveal what happened today to any third party. Then he left his room alone.

A few more days passed, and Xiao Chenyu had not seen his father since. He only knew that when he saw his father again, his father brought a middle-aged man with him. This man was none other than Yu Xiaogang, a famous master known to everyone in Notting City.

Although Xiao Chenyu usually didn't mock this guy, he was indifferent to him. Who knew that his city lord father would bring Yu Xiaogang here in private, wanting him to become his teacher!

Xiao Chenyu was already somewhat unwilling, and when he saw that the useless master Yu Xiaogang looked at him with a hint of disdain in addition to "research interest", he became even more unwilling. However, when he noticed his father giving him a wink, he paused for a moment and finally agreed to become Yu Xiaogang's teacher.

Whether it was the work of ghosts or gods or not, he not only became Yu Xiaogang's disciple, but also performed the same formal disciple-acceptance ceremony as the black-robed man in his childhood when he became a disciple.

His actions undoubtedly shocked both his father and Yu Xiaogang, but they also touched Yu Xiaogang's humble and fragile heart, and the master-disciple relationship between the two was thus initially established.

Afterwards, once Yu Xiaogang had left, Xiao Chenyu learned from his father why he was asked to become Yu Xiaogang's student.

It turns out that some of the unspoken rules in Douluo Continent are very strict. For these small families, whose status is only slightly higher than that of ordinary commoner soul masters, to become local tyrants, like the city lord of Notting City, is basically the limit.

If a small family wants to advance further, it naturally needs to produce a strong member. However, if a small family advances further, it will undoubtedly infringe on the interests of many medium-sized families. This is very dangerous. If they are not careful, they may provoke some powerful figure in the dog-eat-dog world of soul masters and bring about the annihilation of their clan.

Simply put, it's not that society openly restricts the progress of small families, but rather that if small families want to progress, they can only walk on thin ice, with very few opportunities, and once they start, they can't stop.

As is widely known, absorbing higher-age spirit rings in the early stages can improve a spirit master's aptitude, giving them more opportunities to become stronger.

If that's the case, then why is it that many powerful figures who will become Soul Kings or even Soul Emperors in the future, including Xiao Chenyu in the original work, have white first Soul Rings? Is it because they lack power and influence? Or is it because Xiao Chenyu's family, which comes from the City Lord's Mansion, is unable to hunt down a hundred-year Soul Ring for him?

The reason is actually quite simple. Leaving aside grassroots soul masters, there is an unspoken rule circulating among small families: if any family's descendants are found to be soul masters with the first yellow soul ring in a century, then it is assumed that the family has the intention to cultivate a direct descendant of a strong person and has the idea of ​​"progressing"!

Then, this small family will begin to face a series of attacks...

After all, improving the aptitude of a family's Soul Masters is often not something that can be accomplished in one or two generations, which makes it very difficult for a small family to hide its plans for change, and it is easy to be discovered.

Because of these unspoken rules, many small families can only, or dare only, keep to themselves. Even if they can give their descendants a brighter future, they often have no choice but to let them absorb the first white spirit ring for ten years, causing many originally gifted spirit masters to suffer bottlenecks and limitations in the future.

Because there are few opportunities to try and fail, small families rarely take action. Once they start, they are destined not to stop, because if they stop, the outcome may be nothing at all.

Originally, seeing Xiao Chenyu's extraordinary cultivation speed, Xiao's father thought that the "Xiao family" had a chance to improve. He had been eager to make changes, so he had been frequently making connections in recent years, thinking of paving the way for his son's future path.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Chenyu experienced a strange "regression in soul power cultivation," forcing Xiao's father to sheepishly shelve the plan temporarily.

Xiao Chenyu's sudden change after three years undoubtedly rekindled his father's hope.

(End of this chapter)