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--- Chapter 478 ---
"Now... I am terrified to test your innate spirit power, kid," Guo Zhenfeng couldn't help but voice his honest thoughts, his eyes gazing down at the smoking, melted slag of the mobile awakening device.
"You will definitely awaken with an Innate Full Spirit Power, but with the sheer craziness of what just happened, there is a chance you might have awakened that legendary Supreme Innate Power."
Han Yuan tilted his head in confusion, instantly slipping back into the role of a naive kid. "Hmm? Uncle, what is Innate Spirit Power?"
"..."
Guo Zhenfeng fell speechless. He had to forcibly remind himself that this boy had spent months held captive in the deep, dark dens of the Evil Spirit Masters.
The psychological trauma alone could easily cause a child to block out most of his memories.
'It's a miracle in itself that he still remembers the concept of awakening a martial soul,' The commander thought, a wave of sympathy washing over him. 'At the very least, his brain and spiritual consciousness seem entirely intact.'
Yet, before Guo Zhenfeng could even gather his thoughts to explain the knowledge of soul cultivation, the high-frequency vibration of his spirit guidance communicator shattered the quiet morning air. It was a direct bypass call flashing from an unknown caller.
"Who could this be?" Guo Zhenfeng's eyes widened in disbelief, his jaw tightening into a frozen form. An unknown caller managing to bypass a Regimental Commander's personal military communicator was an extremely unnerving sign.
Still, preparing himself, he pressed the communicator's receiver, allowing a deep, unfamiliar, yet mysterious voice to echo through the speaker.
"Hello... Am I speaking with Benefactor Guo Zhenfeng?" The voice asked, sounding measured, polite, yet it carried a current of terrifying spiritual pressure that made the air turn cold.
Guo Zhenfeng's mental defenses flared. He did not recognize this voice at all. "Yes, sir. This is Guo Zhenfeng speaking. If I may ask, how did you get my personal, secure military channel?"
"It was just a matter of using some close relations..." The voice answered calmly, cutting through the question. "But let us skip the pleasantries, Mr. Guo."
"I have just received a highly classified operational brief stating that you discovered my lost grandson within a lair of the Evil Spirit Master."
The voice on the other end paused, a vibration of raw, barely contained emotion breaking through its cold facade. "I am calling to confirm this matter..."
"Is he truly there?"
"This isn't just another false lead or an error, right?"
"This is..." Guo Zhenfeng blinked in sudden realization. He stared blankly at the pulsing interface of his communicator, and then looked up at the tiny, silver-haired boy standing quietly beside him.
The scattered pieces of the puzzle immediately slammed together in his damned mind.
"I-Is this... His Excellency, the Illusory Brain Douluo?"
"Yes, it is I," the Illusory Brain Douluo, Han Tianyi, confirmed directly. "I am routing this call through the priority channel of the Northern Army Corps' high command to know my grandson's status."
"Tell me... how is he? Is he severely injured? Did those hideous bastards do anything to him?"
A terrifying, static-laced hum bled through the transmission as the older man's spiritual control slipped. "Those damned Evil Spirit Masters..."
"I swear on my cultivation I will rip their marrow out and grind their bones to dust."
Guo Zhenfeng's expression turned deeply complicated. He glanced at the melted slag on the floor, took a slow, grounding breath, and sighed. "Your Excellency... your grandson is currently safe with me."
"He is very much alive, and remarkably healthy."
He paused, casting a long look at the silver-haired boy. "...In fact, I have just finished conducting his Spirit Awakening ceremony."
"Good! Good! Good! Praise the heavens, Xiao Yuan, my grandson, is still alive!" The Spirit Pagoda Elder's hopeful voice quivered. The raw, crushing weight of despair eased off his shoulders in a single breath. "Thank you, Benefactor Guo. Thank you for rescuing the flesh and blood of my Han family!"
"To think you even personally awakened his spirit... I, Han Tianyi, will remember this life-debt."
"I will do absolutely everything within my capability to return this favor to you and the Northern Army Corps."
Guo Zhenfeng responded with genuine humility, lowering his head slightly despite the distance. "Ah, there is truly no need for such grand gestures, Your Excellency."
"Truthfully, I merely stumbled upon your grandson during the operation, and the awakening was performed entirely at your grandson's own request."
"No, I insist upon it. Benefactor Guo, I ask that you tightly secure the area and guard my grandson for just a brief moment longer. I nearly entered the airspace of Whale's Laugh City, and I will be at your location soon."
Click.
The communication line snapped shut into dead static.
The line hadn't been hung up, and the sheer, hypersonic speed at which Han Tianyi was currently tearing through the atmosphere had physically caused sonic booms.
"Kid, your grandpa is coming to pick you up..."
Guo Zhenfeng slowly lowered his arm, his complex gaze locking onto Han Yuan with a mixture of exhaustion and awe. The storm was coming, and this little boy was the absolute center of it.
With the terrifying, monumental spirits Han Yuan had just awakened, he was bound to reshape the very era of the Douluo Continent.
It didn't take long.
A sharp, violent tear echoed across the sky as a glaring crimson streak cut through the clouds, instantly dominating the horizon.
It was a mecha—a massive, brilliantly polished red mecha. A weapon of pure, unadulterated destruction, also known as a Divine-class Mecha.
Guo Zhenfeng instinctively pulled Han Yuan behind him, using his heavy frame to shield the boy from the sudden atmospheric shockwave and a tempest of dust.
The colossal red machine decelerated, defying the laws of physics as it hovered effortlessly over the cliff edge, its internal soul arrays humming like a dormant beast.
Thud!
A figure came out from the cockpit, free-falling before landing heavily onto the solid stone.
The man who emerged from the mecha was tall and broad-shouldered, carrying a naturally imposing stature. He possessed sharp, short silver hair and matching silver eyes, with a faint, intricate golden flower mark etched into the center of his forehead. He wore the sweeping white-and-grey robes unique to a high-ranking Spirit Pagoda Elder.
"You're alive... Xiao Yuan, you're actually alive!"
The formidable man dropped directly to his knees on the dirt, his intense gaze locking instantly onto the small, silver-haired boy. Even at a glance, the boy shared roughly eighty percent of his facial features.
Meanwhile, Han Yuan blinked in genuine surprise. He hadn't expected the original host's grandfather to be a powerhouse of this realm.
A Rank 98 Super Douluo, and a specialized mental-attribute Spirit Master who had already achieved the peak of the Spirit Domain Realm—resting a mere step away from the Divine Domain.
"Um... who are you?" Han Yuan asked softly, tilting his head with perfectly executed confusion, despite knowing the man's identity
Deep down, a rare flicker of sympathy brushed against Han Yuan's silver eyes. He felt a brief pang of pity for the older man. Han Tianyi was the original host's last family member.
And even though Han Yuan had chosen to claim this body and live in his stead, the reality remained that this grandfather had, in truth, already lost his real grandson to the dark experiments of the Evil Spirit Master.
Perhaps the best Han Yuan could do was make up for the loss of familiar attachment toward this grieving grandfather. He never had a grandfather, either.
Meanwhile, hearing those innocent, vacant words, Han Tianyi froze on the spot. His face paled to a ghostly, horrifying white.
The realization hit him like a physical blow.
He clutched his heavy chest, his breath catching in his throat as a wave of extreme fury and heartbreak erupted from his spiritual sea.
He slammed his fist down into the ground, causing the granite rock of the cliff to crack into jagged, deep spiderwebs.
"Holy Spirit Cult!" Han Tianyi's voice dropped into a guttural, trembling growl that shook the very air.
"You and I are entirely irreconcilable!"
"It is one thing for your evil group to commit atrocities across the world, but to lay your filthy hands on my one and only grandson..."
"YOU ARE COURTING DEATH!"
The Super Douluo lunged forward, closing the distance instantly to pull Han Yuan into a fierce, protective, and trembling embrace, holding him as if the boy might vanish again.
"Don't be scared, Xiao Yuan..."
"Everything is going to be alright now..."
"Everything will definitely be," Han Tianyi whispered, his voice cracking with emotion as he buried his aged face in the boy's silver hair.
"Your grandfather is here. I will make sure that no one in this world can ever hurt you again!"