“Why is it you?” Luan Ling asked. “I thought it was the dragon force inside my body.”
The demon star replied, “Master, why must you draw such a clear line between us? I am your dragon force.”
To complete dragon force sensing, he had to calm the water surface in his mental world and restore the reflected moon in the water to perfection.
Luan Ling asked, “Then does my body actually have dragon force or not?”
“Yes,” the demon star answered. “You possess the most powerful dragon force in the world, thousands of times stronger than anyone else’s. That is me! It is just that right now I am very weak. I need to devour enough dragon force to become strong again.”
As the demon star communicated through consciousness, it continuously released low levels of energy to ease the agony of Luan Ling’s body reaching its limit.
Luan Ling could almost see with the naked eye that the demon star’s light was growing smaller and dimmer. Suddenly, he felt a strong urge to starve the demon star to death.
“Master, the two of us share the same fate. If I die, you die too,” the demon star said. “When your vitality was draining away, I kept pouring energy into you. But when my vitality drains, I will instinctively devour the energy inside your body.”
Luan Ling was instantly speechless.
“Master, I don’t know why you resist me so much, but I am you, and you are me. We cannot be separated,” the demon star continued. “My energy is constantly being consumed right now, so you must complete dragon force sensing as quickly as possible. You only need to use your spirit to control my power, still the water surface in your mental world, and restore the round moon to wholeness. I will completely obey your will.”
At this moment, Luan Ling finally understood. As long as he wanted to cultivate martial dao, there was absolutely no way to avoid the demon star.
The demon star’s words—“I am your dragon force”—seemed unreasonable at first glance, yet upon careful thought, they proved correct.
Because the so-called dragon bloodline in the humans of this world was, in truth, nothing more than an anomalous form of energy. After all, humans on Earth had never possessed any such thing as dragon force.
Taking a deep breath, Luan Ling immediately used his spirit to control the energy released by the demon star, soothing the chaotic water surface in his mental illusion.
At this point, because he was holding a stone weighing over a hundred jin while maintaining horse stance, his body had already reached the painful limit. Thus the demon star kept releasing energy to relieve his suffering.
The scene of this energy release looked somewhat like the pulsing contraction of a jellyfish. With each contraction, thousands upon thousands of energy threads were released, then instantly dissipated into his limbs and bones.
This visual was exactly the same as the way other people released dragon force.
However, when ordinary people performed their first dragon force sensing, controlling these thousands upon thousands of energy threads with their spirit was extremely difficult.
At the beginning, they could only control dozens or hundreds of threads. Only after thousands of attempts could they control enough energy to calm the chaotic water surface in the mental illusion.
That was why, even for people with extremely high mental talent in this world, it still took nearly a full month to complete the first step of enlightenment—dragon force sensing.
Yet right now, what resided inside Luan Ling was the demon star.
The moment Luan Ling used his mental power to control these countless energy threads, it felt completely effortless, as natural as moving his own arm. All the released energy obeyed his mental will without the slightest resistance.
He felt himself growing stronger and stronger. These millions of threads of power seemed to transform into an invisible hand, gradually calming the wind in the mental illusion and steadily settling the turbulent waves on the water surface.
The wind grew smaller and smaller.
The ripples on the water surface grew gentler and gentler. The reflected round moon recovered bit by bit.
“Hu!” A final gust of wind blew past, and then it was as though Luan Ling’s spirit had instantly frozen everything in place.
In the mental illusion, the wind and waves were completely stilled. The reflected moon in the water was perfect and flawless.
Just like that, Luan Ling had effortlessly completed what was called dragon force sensing.
This was utterly astonishing. Even the top geniuses could not achieve one hundred percent control over the energy released by dragon force, let alone during their very first sensing.
No supreme expert could ever fully master their own dragon force. Yet Luan Ling could effortlessly control one hundred percent of the energy released by the demon star.
“I succeeded. The water surface and reflected moon in my mental illusion have been completely restored to perfection,” Luan Ling said as he opened his eyes.
“This, this is impossible,” Ye Jingyu exclaimed in shock.
Because from the moment Luan Ling began his first dragon force sensing until now, only two or three hours had passed. Not even a full day.
Even the legendary supreme powerhouse Jiang Shang had taken a full ten days. Yet Luan Ling had done it in a single day? How could this be possible? It completely overturned Ye Jingyu’s understanding.
After a moment of silence, Ye Jingyu asked in bewilderment and astonishment, “You, you’re certain you succeeded?”
Luan Ling nodded. “I’m certain.”
Ye Jingyu asked, “You had never practised this before?”
Luan Ling replied, “Never.”
Ye Jingyu was completely speechless. Moreover, whether dragon force sensing had truly been completed was entirely subjective. No one else could verify it.
She trusted Luan Ling deeply. He would never lie to those close to him. But completing dragon force sensing in just one day was simply too earth-shattering.
Could it be because of his golden-yellow dragon bloodline?
Luan Ling asked, “Shall we proceed to the second step of enlightenment now?”
Because only half a day had passed so far. Ye Jingyu was completely unprepared. She had originally planned to give Luan Ling a full month to complete dragon force sensing. Who could have imagined he would finish it in merely half a day?
Right at that moment, Su Ningbing’s gentle voice sounded from outside. “Little brother, Jingyu, Big Brother has arrived.”
……
The “Big Brother” Su Ningbing referred to was Suo Han Yi, the adopted son of Earl Suo Long.
Suo Han Yi had originally been born to serfs. It was Earl Suo Long who discovered his talent, nurtured him with all his resources, and took him as an adopted son. The purpose was for Suo Han Yi to fully support Suo Lun in the future.
And he had not disappointed Earl Suo Long’s expectations. At only twenty-seven years old, he advanced to Dragon Warrior and became one of the foremost young experts in the Raging Waves Kingdom. At twenty-eight, he was appointed Grand Commander of the Tianshui City Guard, controlling nearly half of the city’s military power. He was truly the pillar holding up the entire Suo clan.
Luan Ling and Ye Jingyu followed Su Ningbing into the main hall.
At this moment, a young man was anxiously pacing back and forth in the living room. His body was still covered in the dust and weariness of a long journey.
He had golden hair, a strikingly handsome and heroic face, eyes that burned brightly, stood a full one hundred and ninety centimetres tall, straight as a spear, majestic as a mountain. His entire being radiated powerful masculine charm.
He was Suo Han Yi. In terms of appearance alone, he looked far more like the rightful Lord of Tianshui City than Suo Lun ever had.
“Greetings, Big Brother.” Luan Ling stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
Because before coming here, Su Ningbing had repeatedly emphasised that he must show utmost respect to Big Brother Suo Han Yi. Right now, he was the greatest pillar supporting the entire Suo family.