Douluo Continent, Holy Soul Village.
The sky was just beginning to lighten in the east, the horizon barely tinged with a faint fish-belly white. On a small hill over a hundred meters high outside the village, a tall and sturdy figure had already appeared.
It was a child who looked only six or seven years old, but his body was exceptionally well-built. His short black hair looked neat, and although his clothes were simple, they were very clean.
For a child his age, climbing such a tall hill wasn't an easy feat.
Yet strangely, when he reached the summit, he wasn't even short of breath, nor was his face flushed. Instead, he looked calm and at ease.
This child was none other than Xiao Yan, who had transmigrated here.
Xiao Yan sat cross-legged at the hilltop, his eyes fixed on the eastern sky where the light was gradually brightening. He inhaled slowly through his nose and exhaled softly through his mouth—each breath gentle and controlled, forming a perfect cycle.
Just then, his eyes suddenly widened. Amidst the brightening fish-belly white of dawn, a wisp of faint purple energy emerged.
If not for his astonishing eyesight and focused spirit, he would never have noticed it.
The appearance of the purple qi instantly sharpened Xiao Yan's concentration. His gaze locked firmly onto that faint trace of violet.
The purple qi didn't linger long. After a few minutes, the rising sun flooded the sky with its golden glow, completely drowning out the violet hue.
Only then did Xiao Yan close his eyes slowly and enter a meditative cultivation state.
After a while, he opened his eyes again. His black pupils had grown noticeably deeper.
According to the records of Purple Demon Eye, his pupils should have turned purple.
However, from a young age, Xiao Yan had known he was in a dire situation and also understood the flaws of the Purple Demon Eye technique. So, he hadn't followed the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record strictly when he began cultivating.
"If it were Tang San, revived and transmigrated, he definitely wouldn't have dared commit such a rebellious act," thought Xiao Yan.
Back when he stood before the Ghostly Cliff, Tang San's final memory was: with no hope of survival, he might as well hand over the Buddha Fury Tang Lotus to the Tang Sect elders and leap to his death for a good reputation.
Xiao Yan scoffed at this hypocrisy.
"A man who stole his sect's martial arts dared to seek a good reputation? What a joke."
But with Xiao Yan now in control of this body, all of that no longer mattered.
With over twenty years of cultivation experience and a complete martial arts manual to study, the original Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record had been extensively modified by him—excluding the hidden weapons and light body techniques, of course.
And now, his modified version was drastically different from the original.
Take the Purple Demon Eye for instance—originally it emitted a distinctive purple glow when used. But now, it emitted nothing, making it much harder to detect.
Not only that, what was once merely a vision-strengthening technique that could injure with the eyes at mastery level had now been altered into a method for cultivating spiritual power.
The absorbed purple qi at dawn would now be fully integrated into his Niwan Palace, enhancing his spirit.
The only downside was that he could only cultivate it at dawn, when the purple qi appeared.
Xiao Yan's goal was to further transform the Purple Demon Eye into a technique that could train spiritual power at any time.
But his experience was limited. For now, he couldn't make such a fundamental change.
Still, after years of cultivation, he'd developed a much deeper understanding of this modified Purple Demon Eye.
"Give it some more time," he thought, "and I'll perfect it."
Another technique that had changed was the Mysterious Jade Hand.
By combining the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record's medicinal knowledge with Tang San's understanding of herbs, Xiao Yan had created herbal baths. These not only toughened the entire body, but also removed the jade-like hue from the skin when the technique was activated.
In fact, his skin now looked more delicate than a rich family's pampered child.
Though only in appearance.
Even without actively using the Mysterious Jade Hand, his body was now far more resilient than the average child's.
Because it relied on internal energy to strengthen the body, Xiao Yan renamed the technique to Mysterious Heaven Body Refinement Art.
As for the Crane-Capturing Dragon-Seizing Technique, Xiao Yan didn't bother learning it in full—just extracted its core principles.
Thanks to years of binge-watching wuxia dramas, he had a head full of martial concepts. When combined with real cultivation experience, it was easy for him to replicate techniques he'd seen on screen.
The essence of Crane-Capturing Dragon-Seizing was releasing internal energy to control or seize an enemy at a distance.
He absorbed this idea and applied it to the legendary Six Meridians Divine Sword.
The Six Meridians Divine Sword, when combined with agile movement, sharp senses, and knowledge of hidden weapons, was the ideal martial path for him. Close combat? Too crude.
He had opened all his eight extraordinary meridians before he was six months old, making this style of internal-energy-based swordplay progress incredibly fast.
Moreover, having cultivated internal energy since infancy—while his meridians were fully open—meant that even after just six years, the depth of his internal energy rivaled martial artists who had cultivated for decades.
That's one of the key benefits of unlocking the extraordinary meridians—faster cultivation.
In addition to that, his natural talent and the mutated Mysterious Heaven Technique played major roles.
However, the Six Meridians Divine Sword demanded an insane amount of internal energy. In terms of technique level, it was on par with Dugu Qiubai's swordless sword realm—if you didn't have a century's worth of cultivation, you couldn't use it properly.
The only reason Duan Yu managed to learn it was because he absorbed the internal power of numerous masters—it was like enlightenment by energy boost.
But Duan Yu, who never trained in martial arts as a child, could barely control it.
Xiao Yan, on the other hand, was the opposite—his technique was perfect, just lacked energy.
"Good thing I also modified the Mysterious Heaven Technique," he muttered. "Now I can cultivate with every breath—twenty-four seven. My speed is faster than even the most gifted geniuses."
He chuckled and raised his right index finger.
With perfect connection between mind and internal energy, he naturally unleashed a strike of the Shangyang Sword.
A powerful surge of pale internal energy shot toward a rabbit grazing in the distance.
Thanks to his experience with hidden weapons, the energy pierced directly into the rabbit's tiny ear canal.
Pop! Its head exploded, and it died on the spot without a single hair out of place.
After killing one rabbit, he raised his left pinky and fired a Shaoze Sword to the left—another rabbit, another clean kill.
"Roast rabbit for dinner again. Not bad."
Xiao Yan smiled, picked up both rabbits, and started skinning them with practiced ease.
With expert hands, he peeled the skins off in one smooth motion.
Originally, there weren't any rabbits on this hill. He'd worked odd jobs for the village chief, Old Jack, to earn a few rabbits and let them roam freely here. A few months later, the population boomed.
He sold the complete, undamaged pelts to Old Jack for good coin.
With two sticks skewered through the rabbits, Xiao Yan lit a fire and began roasting.
After learning the local language, he finally understood his situation.
He was still stuck with the unlucky name of Tang San.
And that man who used to feed him hot porridge as a child? He really was his father.
But Xiao Yan didn't fully trust the man named Tang Hao.
Drunk all day, forgetting to feed his son half the time—that was no father.
If he hadn't roasted rabbits to nourish himself, who knows how scrawny he'd be by now.
In his heart, Xiao Yan was more convinced than ever that Tang Hao was his enemy—someone who'd stolen him from his real parents as a child.
After all, he was Xiao Yan, from the Azure Planet, with parents who loved and cherished him.
They weren't rich, but they raised him like a treasure.
"Tang Hao? What the hell is he compared to them?"
Still, having suffered once, Xiao Yan made sure not to show it.
(End of Chapter)