Wang Xiao continued explaining to Xu Zihuang:
"However, although Her Highness the Princess Consort came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's line, she actually had little to do with the current Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan within the Dou Ling Empire's territory."
"Ten thousand years ago, a powerful soul master organization on the Douluo Continent called Spirit Hall launched a war against the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire to achieve its ambitions. Spirit Hall gathered the Lower Four Sects of the time, as well as three elders of Titled Douluo level, nearly exterminating the once-prosperous Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Fortunately, the clan's most talented young generation, the brothers Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin, known as the Twin Stars, managed to escape."
"Later, during the War of the Three Gods, Spirit Hall was defeated, and the Douluo Continent returned to peace. Both Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin broke through to the Titled Douluo level, but they disagreed over how to rebuild the clan. I don't know the exact details, but the result was that Yu Tianheng and his second uncle, Yu Xiaogang, rebuilt the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan on its ancestral grounds, while Yu Tianxin went alone to a northern borderland of the Heaven Dou Empire called Dragon City and founded the Heavenly Dragon Sect. Her Highness the Princess Consort was from this Heavenly Dragon Sect, inheriting the purest bloodline of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. She was the youngest daughter of the current sect master. However, when she left with His Highness the Prince ten years ago, she severed ties with the Heavenly Dragon Sect."
"So that means I also have the bloodline of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?" Xu Zihuang looked at his hands with a complicated expression. With a thought, the dark violet flames on his left hand and the black-violet lightning on his right receded simultaneously.
In that case, calling his martial soul the Purple Sovereign Extinguishing Heavenly Dragon seemed somewhat inappropriate. Perhaps it should be called the Purple Sovereign Thunder Prison Dragon.
Regardless, his martial soul was without question one of the most supreme martial souls in the world. Combining Ultimate Lightning with the Destruction attribute, its quality even surpassed Huo Yuhao's Ice Jade Empress Scorpion from the original story. Moreover, he faintly sensed that his martial soul was still undergoing some kind of subtle, inexplicable change.
Yao Yang, who had long harbored suspicions, was not particularly surprised. He patted Xu Zihuang's shoulder thoughtfully.
"Besides this, Zihuang, you should have another martial soul, right?"
At those words, the deck suddenly fell silent, broken only by the crashing waves and howling wind, as if time itself had frozen.
"The Young Master has twin martial souls?!"
Yu Lao, behind Xu Zihuang, flushed with excitement. The same thought echoed in the hearts of the other soldiers of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. With such talent, his future held infinite possibilities. Perhaps they even had a chance to one day return gloriously to their homeland.
The only one who remained calm was Wang Xiao, who had already guessed the truth from his talks with Yao Yang.
Under everyone's gaze, Xu Zihuang nodded slightly. His originally dark violet eyes instantly turned a radiant gold, intricate markings swirling around his pupils, transforming his aura completely.
His indifferent gaze combined with the commanding air of a ruler—an innate monarch, regal beyond words.
"This is my other martial soul: the Golden Eye, a spiritual-attribute Body Martial Soul."
The crowd's eyes burned with fervor. As the elite of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion, they had of course heard of the power of Body Martial Souls.
Twin martial souls—one a Body Martial Soul, the Golden Eye, and the other a supreme beast martial soul with Ultimate Lightning and Destruction attributes. Compared to that, even his innate full soul power at awakening seemed trivial.
Such talent was unheard of, whether in the three great empires of the former Douluo Continent or in the countless years of the Sun Moon Empire's history.
"Return to your posts and stay alert." Wang Xiao shot them a cold glare. Out of respect for their regiment commander, they withdrew their gazes, but the excitement in their eyes could not be hidden. Their fatigue from the journey seemed to lessen.
Though Wang Xiao had remained composed, even he felt a sense of unreality. A sudden thought flashed in his mind.
"If it's the Young Master, perhaps he really could fuse with that soul bone left behind by His Highness the Prince."
Yao Yang, meanwhile, did not conceal his admiration. To have hidden this for three years without being discovered—such composure was not something just anyone could achieve.
"Zihuang, how do you plan to cultivate with these two martial souls?" he asked meaningfully.
Xu Zihuang withdrew his martial souls and met Yao Yang's eyes directly.
"I intend to train mainly with the Golden Eye. First, to conceal my second martial soul's connection to the Purple Sovereign Extinguishing Heavenly Dragon of the royal family, and thus hide my identity. Second, cultivating this spiritual-attribute martial soul will also help me greatly in studying soul tool crafting."
"If you first cultivate the Golden Eye, we may indeed encounter suitable soul beasts along this voyage. The ocean has no shortage of spiritual-attribute soul beasts, including many powerful ones. Our destination is the Yuenan Archipelago in the southern seas of the Sun Moon Empire. It will take at least another month at sea. If we encounter the right soul beast, you could consider acquiring a soul ring."
Yao Yang chuckled lightly, with no more doubts about Xu Zihuang's temperament. Extraordinary talent, yet knowing restraint and patience—that was the bearing of a true strong one.
He then began to share his own past experiences, his ties with Xu Zihuang's father, and some plans for the future.
As the three conversed, the silver moon in the night sky slowly shifted.
…
Sun Moon Empire, Imperial Palace.
Before the side-hall study on the palace's left, a servant knelt on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
"Your Highness, Crown Prince."
"What is it?" A steady voice came from within the study.
The servant, pale-faced, gritted his teeth and stepped inside.
The side hall was luxurious yet retained an ancient simplicity, with five-clawed fire dragon motifs everywhere. A young man in white sat behind a desk, calmly gazing at the servant before him.
He looked around twenty years old, dressed plainly. His eyes were bright and sharp, his features not especially handsome, but he radiated the authority of one born to command. His dark skin glistened with health.
The servant knelt, his voice halting: "Your Highness, the Western Sea Soul Engineer Legion and the Lanhai Soul Engineer Legion were completely annihilated on the night they escorted those hundred noble ladies. Prince Zihuang has also disappeared."
The young man in white lifted his gaze, silently staring at the servant. The suffocating atmosphere drenched the servant in sweat.
"Useless trash!" he suddenly roared, leaping up and flinging the teacup on his desk—scalding tea spilling all over the servant.
The servant's skin turned red from the burn, but he dared not move an inch.
The young man's gaze turned cold, his expression thoughtful.
"Was it my third uncle's remnants, or my brothers?"
He had spared Xu Zihuang's life, even schemed to ensure Zihuang left descendants, all for the sake of the Sun Moon royal family's ancestral land. That ancestral land was a small dimension partially overlapping with the Douluo Continent. To enter it required not only the pure bloodline of the Purple Sovereign Extinguishing Heavenly Dragon, but also cultivation beyond the Titled Douluo level.
Although he himself possessed the Purple Sovereign Extinguishing Heavenly Dragon martial soul, his bloodline was not pure enough. Of his generation, only Xu Zihuang had the possibility of entering the ancestral land.
If one of his brothers had rescued Xu Zihuang, that was acceptable—at least until Zihuang matured, they would not obtain the ancestral relics. But if it was his third uncle's remnants, the situation would become far more troublesome.
After a long silence, the young man waved his right hand, sending a jade pendant carved with a five-clawed fire dragon toward the back.
"Xue Lao, tell them it's my command. Have the Evil Lord Soul Engineer Legion accompany you to investigate, and seal off the sea between the southern empire and the Yuenan Archipelago. Put all coastal cities with ports under strict martial law."
The northern border of the Sun Moon Empire was an impassable frozen sea.
As long as no one crossed into the Star Luo Empire from the Sun Moon Empire's southern coast, everything remained under control.
"As you command."
Before the words had finished, a ghostly figure materialized behind him, catching the jade pendant.
It was a hunched old man dressed in the plain garb of a palace servant. His bent back looked as though it might collapse at any moment. Yet in a blur, he had already passed over the servant still kneeling on the floor.
A thin line of blood silently extended across the servant's forehead.
Two other servants entered, heads bowed, trembling as they carried away the corpse.
The young man in white calmly withdrew his gaze, returning it to the scroll on his desk.
He was none other than the current Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire—Xu Tiannan.