Chapter 31: Successfully Breakthrough to Level 30! The Heavenly Soul Emperor's Regard!
Inside the secluded meditation room of Tingtao Pavilion, the calming scent of burning sandalwood curled through the air. Yet, even that heavy, sweet fragrance could not mask the ferocious, boiling vitality radiating from the center of the room—a surge of blood energy so dense it felt like a coiled dragon or a crouching tiger.
Liu Yuan sat perfectly still, his legs crossed over a cool jade cushion. His breathing rhythm was agonizingly slow, measured to the absolute limit. With every deep inhalation, the ambient air within the stone chamber distorted, forcibly dragged into his lungs by a terrifying suction force.
When he exhaled, a low, muffled rumble echoed against the walls, mimicking the distant roll of thunder.
Ten full days had passed since his return from the blood-soaked forests outside Yaluo City.
For these ten days, he had severed all contact with the outside world. He turned a deaf ear to the bustling Sect, pouring every ounce of his focus into the Body Sect's secret cultivation techniques.
He had already consumed a full third of the Body Strengthening Pills gifted by Du Busi. Whenever the violent medicinal efficacy detonated within his meridians, threatening to tear his vessels apart, he would devour massive quantities of high-tier Soul Beast meat. The rich, dense calories fueled his internal furnace, grinding down the pills' raw power and assimilating it into his flesh.
Guided by the deep origin of his Double Pupils, that torrential flood of energy surged through his pathways like a mighty river returning to the sea. Wave after wave crashed relentlessly against the invisible barrier separating rank twenty-seven from twenty-eight.
'Break.'
At that exact moment, Liu Yuan's eyelids snapped open. A deep, bloody crimson and a deep, abyssal light flashed alternately within his Double Pupils. The river of soul power coursing through his body instantly widened, tearing through the bottleneck with a silent roar. His aura spiked, expanding outward and rattling the wooden shelves lining the room.
Rank twenty-eight!
Liu Yuan exhaled a long, white stream of impure air. He slowly clenched and unclenched his hands, feeling the refined, explosive density of power humming just beneath his fingertips. A faint, satisfied curve touched the corners of his mouth.
"One rank in ten days..." he murmured to the empty room. "It seems that life-and-death struggle in the dense forest pushed my body and spirit into a state of extreme starvation. Surviving that pressure allowed me to accumulate this much potential. The progression is almost frightening."
He could still feel the residual medicinal power burning deep within his marrow, waiting to be fully digested. Exiting seclusion now would be a waste. Liu Yuan adjusted his posture, steadied his breathing, and let his eyelids fall shut once more.
Two ranks remained until rank thirty. That was the critical threshold, the absolute turning point where his entire combat system would undergo a fundamental, qualitative evolution. He refused to delay his ascent by even a single second.
...
While Liu Yuan buried himself in obsessive cultivation, Vina was making her final preparations to leave the Body Sect.
She had lingered for ten days, but her time was up. As a princess of the Heavenly Soul Empire, her identity as a Body Sect disciple was only half of her life. She shouldered the massive burden of maintaining the delicate bridge between the imperial family and the Sect. The Imperial City demanded her return; mountains of government affairs, court politics, and strict etiquette duties awaited her presence.
The luxurious royal carriage rumbled steadily along the paved mountain roads, heading toward the Heavenly Soul Imperial City. Inside, Vina gently lifted the silk curtain with slender fingers.
She gazed back at the towering, cloud-shrouded main peak of the Body Sect. Her mind, however, was not on the scenery. It was entirely occupied by the image of a young man bathed in blood. She remembered his torso nearly severed in half, only to knit back together in a miraculous display of vitality. She remembered his cold, fierce gaze, and the crimson light that had mercilessly pierced through a Soul King's defenses.
"Goodbye... Liu Yuan," she whispered into the mountain breeze. "I hope we can meet again soon."
The journey back to the capital was swift.
The moment the carriage wheels clattered against the cobblestones of the Heavenly Soul Imperial Palace, Vina bypassed her personal quarters entirely. She strode directly through the grand halls, her dress sweeping over the polished marble, and requested an immediate audience in the Imperial Study. There, behind closed doors, she recounted the entire, harrowing expedition to Yaluo City to the Heavenly Soul Emperor, holding absolutely nothing back.
"What did you just say?!"
The booming voice rattled the heavy wooden shelves of the Imperial Study. The Heavenly Soul Emperor, a man renowned for his unshakable composure, slammed his hands onto his desk and shot up from the Dragon Throne.
"A two-ring, rank twenty-seven Soul Master clashing head-on with a five-ring Evil Soul Master? And he recovered instantly after being cut in half?" The Emperor's chest heaved, his breathing turning ragged. He stared down at his daughter, his sharp eyes demanding confirmation.
"Vina, are you absolutely certain you are not exaggerating? A young man's self-healing ability... has it truly reached such a monstrous level?"
"Father, your daughter witnessed it with her own two eyes. There is not a single word of falsehood in my report." Recalling the sheer brutality of that night, a flicker of lingering dread passed through Vina's eyes.
"Not only that, but his first Soul Skill possesses an apocalyptic level of destructive power. That crimson high-energy ray melted right through the Evil Soul Master leader's bone shield as if it were paper. Sect Master Du Busi has already elevated him to the status of a core successor, placing him on the exact same tier as Long Aotian. But in your daughter's humble opinion..." Vina paused, her expression turning incredibly serious. "...his combat comprehension and sheer, cold-blooded ferocity are far more terrifying than Senior Brother Aotian's."
The Heavenly Soul Emperor fell silent. He stepped down from the dais, pacing back and forth across the thick carpets of the study. A shrewd, calculating light flickered in his deep-set eyes.
"Long Aotian is already a monstrous genius, the kind rarely seen even once in ten thousand years. Yet this Liu Yuan... is actually outshining him..." The Emperor stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw set as a decisive gleam crossed his face.
"Draft my decree!" he ordered, his voice ringing with absolute authority. "Liu Yuan has rendered exceptional, meritorious service to the crown by protecting the princess and purging a great evil from our borders. His noble title of Baron of Qinghe is hereby elevated to Viscount! Add three hundred households to his fiefdom. Prepare the finest silks, gold, and cultivation resources. Have a special royal envoy deliver these rewards directly to the Body Sect!"
But bestowing a title and wealth was merely the opening move on the chessboard. The Emperor turned slowly, fixing his gaze on Vina. His tone dropped, becoming heavy with unspoken implications.
"Vina. This Liu Yuan... you need to invest more effort into him."
He stepped closer, his voice softening into that of a scheming patriarch. "In the future, whenever you return to the Sect, find reasons to visit Tingtao Pavilion. You two are of similar age. You are fellow disciples who have bled and fought side by side. Emotional bonds... can be slowly and carefully cultivated."
Vina was a royal of the highest order, clever and politically sharp. How could she possibly miss her father's blatant subtext?
A faint flush of red crept up her pale neck, dusting her cheeks, yet she did not utter a single word of refusal. She simply lowered her gaze, offered a gentle nod, and bowed gracefully before retreating from the Imperial Study.
The heavy oak doors clicked shut. The Heavenly Soul Emperor stood alone in the vast, quiet room. He walked over to the tall arched windows, clasping his hands behind his back as he stared out at the sprawling capital and the distant horizon.
"Originally, I was certain Long Aotian was the absolute, undisputed candidate for the future Master of the Body Sect," he muttered to the empty air. "That was why I intended to betroth Vina to him. It was the perfect move to permanently chain the Body Sect to the imperial family."
He narrowed his eyes against the afternoon sun. "But now... it seems the winds are shifting."
A glint of deep, ruthless calculation settled in his gaze. "The throne of the Body Sect is no longer set in stone. If this Liu Yuan truly possesses the momentum to crush Long Aotian in every conceivable aspect... then Vina's ultimate destination must shift to match."
His fingers tapped rhythmically against his own wrist. "To reap the greatest harvest, one must place their chips on the winning side."
...
Time flowed like water. In the blink of an eye, more than a month slipped by.
During this period, a bizarre and entirely unmatched spectacle infected the younger generation of the Body Sect. It was an absolute, maddening frenzy of cultivation.
In the past, the inner disciples had always been diligent, but they carried themselves with the inherent pride and measured pacing typical of top-tier geniuses. They knew they were superior, so they trained with a certain aristocratic grace.
That grace was now dead.
Ever since returning from the bloodbath at Yaluo City, Long Aotian, Chen Lu, Gu Tong, and Wang Yanfeng acted as if they were possessed by demons.
Out on the sprawling martial arts field, Long Aotian stood bare-chested under the scorching sun. He roared, allowing massive, hundred-pound boulders to be hurled directly at his torso. The heavy stones shattered against his muscles, sending dust and gravel flying, while the metallic bronze luster beneath his skin grew increasingly dark and impenetrable.
He simply could not erase the image of Liu Yuan's absolute dominance during that battle. Even though Long Aotian's own soul power was vastly superior, the sheer, suffocating suppression Liu Yuan exerted over the battlefield had planted a seed of unmatched crisis in his heart.
"My Junior Brother is a monster!" Long Aotian gritted his teeth, the veins on his neck bulging. "As his Senior Brother, I refuse to be left in the dust!"
He threw a devastating punch, the sheer kinetic force detonating the massive boulder in front of him into a cloud of fine, gray powder.
Chen Lu and Gu Tong were no better. They had ruthlessly doubled their daily cultivation hours, pushing their bodies to the absolute brink of collapse. Their pride had been utterly crushed by Liu Yuan's performance. Before the mission, they had arrogantly assumed that since they were all considered geniuses, the gap between them was negligible. But the brutal reality of actual combat had shattered that illusion. Liu Yuan was not just stronger; he existed in an entirely different world of lethality.
Naturally, this atmosphere of manic, self-destructive training did not escape the notice of Du Busi.
Rather than stepping in to prevent them from overworking themselves, the old monster simply strolled through the various training grounds every day, his hands clasped behind his back, grinning so widely his face threatened to split.
"Good! Excellent! Break your bones and forge them anew! That's exactly how my Body Sect disciples should train!" Du Busi barked out a laugh, watching the bruised and battered youths. Internally, he sighed with deep satisfaction.
'This little monster Liu Yuan is like a bloodthirsty shark thrown into a pond of fat, lazy koi,'the Sect Master thought, his eyes gleaming.'He's activated the survival instincts of every single genius in this Sect. Without the threat of being devoured, there is no true progress!'
Meanwhile, the source of all this frantic turmoil remained sealed away. Tingtao Pavilion was deathly silent.
Deep within Liu Yuan's secret meditation room, the final remnants of the last bottle of Body Strengthening Pills had long since crumbled into useless gray ash.
He sat perfectly still, completely shrouded in a dense, suffocating layer of crimson mist. The massive, terrifying phantom of his Double Pupils flickered into existence behind him, fading in and out of reality. The twin irises within the phantom rotated frantically, generating a gravitational vortex that violently ripped the spiritual qi from the air within a radius of several hundred meters, funneling it directly into his pores.
Suddenly, a crisp, explosive crack echoed from deep within Liu Yuan's bones.
It sounded like the first crack of spring thunder, followed instantly by the deafening roar of a dragon piercing the heavens. The stubborn bottleneck that had locked him in place for over a month was utterly annihilated, washed away into nothingness by the long-accumulated, raging torrent of his soul power!
Liu Yuan opened his eyes.
Two concentrated beams of pure crimson essence shot forth from his pupils, striking the solid stone wall across the room and leaving two deep, charred craters in the rock. He lowered his gaze, feeling the unmatched, overwhelming fullness coursing through his veins. His entire physical structure had undergone a fundamental, qualitative change. He slowly clenched his fists, feeling the air itself compress within his grip.
Rank thirty.
In the few short months since he had coldly walked away from Shrek Academy, he had transformed from a rank nine cripple deemed completely worthless, crossing a massive chasm that countless cultivators failed to bridge in a lifetime. He had officially stepped across the threshold. He was now a Soul Elder.
The crimson light in his eyes slowly receded, leaving behind a calm, calculating abyss.
"Next..." he murmured, his voice cool and steady in the silent room. "...it is time to hunt for a new soul ring."
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