Chapter 65: Elder Xuan Has a Breakdown! You're Saying That Double-Pupil Genius Is Liu Yuan?
Inside the dim office, the stench of stale alcohol and greasy food scraps hung heavy in the air, but Elder Xuan ignored the chaotic mess cluttering his desk. His gnarled hands gripped the intelligence report from the Star Luo border with such force that his knuckles turned a stark, bone-white. His breathing grew ragged, each heavy exhale whistling through his teeth.
His murky eyes stretched wide, scrutinizing every single character inked onto the parchment, devouring the details word by word.
"Rank 39... slaying a five-ring Evil Soul Master..."
"using a hundred-thousand-year Death Spider Emperor to kill with a borrowed knife... trapping a seven-ring Soul Sage..."
As Elder Xuan read the lines, his mind rapidly reconstructed the bloody scene in the Star Dou Great Forest.
As a Rank 98 Super Douluo, he had lived a long time. He had seen countless so-called peerless geniuses rise and fall. But he knew the grim reality of the soul master world better than anyone. Due to the sinister and extreme nature of their martial souls, Evil Soul Masters possessed actual combat capabilities that far exceeded ordinary soul masters of the exact same rank.
Yet, here was a twelve-year-old, a mere three-ring Soul Elder. Not only did this boy avoid a mental collapse when hunted by a Soul Sage—an expert three entire major realms above him—but he actually manipulated the surrounding environment and apex predators to execute a flawless counter-kill. This level of ruthless cunning and absolute composure had long surpassed the simple category of a genius. It was monstrous.
"Excellent. Truly... too excellent." Elder Xuan muttered to himself, his throat bobbing as he forgot to even swallow the pooling saliva in his mouth.
At this moment, a burning, almost feverish desire seized his heart.
Having sat in the Sea God Pavilion for many years, one of his most critical duties was to scout and cultivate the next generation of successors to carry the banner of Shrek Academy.
In his mind, the calculation was simple. If he could recruit this youth—a monster possessing the mythical Double Pupils and an unfathomably high combat intellect—into Shrek, the academy's absolute dominance over the continent would be unassailable for the next few decades, perhaps even centuries.
A seedling of this terrifying caliber, provided he did not perish prematurely, was practically guaranteed to step into the ranks of a Super Douluo. He might even touch the legendary world of a Limit Douluo.
"This is the leader Shrek has been desperately searching for."
The greedy fire in Elder Xuan's eyes burned hotter, illuminating the dark bags beneath them. He was already spinning grand fantasies, calculating various schemes to bypass that madman Du Busi. He would snatch this youth away from the Body Sect and bring him directly into the Sea God Pavilion for his own personal instruction.
However, just as Elder Xuan immersed himself in these glorious visions of Shrek's future, the intelligence officer standing at attention broke the silence.
"Elder Xuan, there is one more detail."
The staff member adjusted his glasses, looking down at the secondary file. "Because the target entered Star Luo Imperial City this time and left an official entry record at the City Lord's Mansion, our operatives finally managed to uncover the specific name of this Double-Pupil genius."
Elder Xuan's heart gave a sudden, eager thump.
Previously, during their brief encounter in the wilderness, the boy had been heavily guarded by the elite experts of the Body Sect. That old poisonous creature, Du Busi, had been extremely vigilant, throwing up an impenetrable defensive perimeter that made it impossible for Shrek's probes to get anywhere near the youth.
For all this time, the intelligence division only knew the target by the moniker of the Body Sect's Double-Pupil genius. The boy's true identity had remained a frustrating blank space on their reports.
Could he finally put a name to this future Limit Douluo?
"What is his name?" Elder Xuan held his breath, his murky eyes locking onto the staff member with intense, predatory focus.
The staff member glanced at the confidential report and clearly enunciated two syllables.
"Liu Yuan."
Those two words detonated in Elder Xuan's ears like a massive thunderclap.
The feverish, greedy light in Elder Xuan's eyes froze instantly, shattering like thin ice. His entire body went rigid against the back of the wide wooden chair. The intelligence parchment in his hands crumpled into a tight, pathetic ball of waste paper as his fingers began to tremble violently.
"What... did you say his name was?" Elder Xuan's voice dropped to a terrifyingly low rasp, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible quiver.
"Reporting to Elder Xuan, his name is Liu Yuan." The staff member blinked, somewhat unnerved by the Super Douluo's bizarre reaction, but he answered truthfully.
A category-five hurricane instantly ripped through Elder Xuan's mind.
Liu Yuan. Twelve years old. Spirit Eyes martial soul. Double Pupils.
That was the exact same boy he had personally expelled from the outer courtyard of Shrek Academy all those years ago.
Countless fragmented memories overlapped crazily in Elder Xuan's vision. The pathetic figure of that blind youth, his eyes wrapped in thick medical bandages, standing isolated in the courtyard. Then, the image of the peerless prodigy in the intelligence report—the boy who coldly schemed against a Soul Sage in the Star Dou Great Forest and stood proudly before a crowd of Title Douluo.
The two figures merged perfectly in an instant.
"No... this is impossible!"
Elder Xuan suddenly lunged forward, flipping the massive solid wood desk.
Crash!
Wine bottles shattered against the stone floor. Greasy chicken legs and scattered documents flew everywhere, soaking in the spilled alcohol.
His eyes turned completely bloodshot. He roared like a cornered beast, his voice cracking with hysteria. "Absolutely impossible! That kid's martial soul was clearly crippled! His cultivation had not improved a single inch in six entire years! How could a piece of trash possibly turn into a genius who slaughters Soul Sages as easily as reaching into a bag to grab an apple? Not in just a few short months! It is the same name! It must just be the same name!"
Elder Xuan shrieked loudly. It sounded less like he was questioning the accuracy of the intelligence division, and much more like a drowning man desperately trying to deny a truth that terrified him to his very core.
He was afraid.
As a high-ranking elder of Shrek Academy, if he had truly, personally turned away a future Limit Douluo—if he had literally shoved the greatest talent of the generation directly into the arms of their arch-rival, the Body Sect—then he, Elder Xuan, would go down as the absolute greatest sinner in the ten-thousand-year history of Shrek Academy.
If the other high-level officials of the Sea God Pavilion discovered this truth... If Elder Mu, who was in his twilight years and plagued by constant anxiety regarding the academy's declining future, found out what he had done... how would he, Elder Xuan, ever explain himself?
It would not merely be a matter of losing his prestige. He would be condemned by the ancestors! He would be nailed to the pillar of shame for eternity!
"Go investigate! Go investigate again!"
Elder Xuan blurred across the room, grabbing the terrified staff member by the collar. He hoisted the man off his feet, spraying saliva across his face as he roared with a ferocious, twisted expression. "Don't we have soul tool cameras?!"
"Think of every possible method! At any cost, get me a photograph of that Liu Yuan!"
"I want to see his face! I want to confirm with my own two eyes what that little bastard actually looks like!"
The staff member turned ashen, frightened out of his wits by Elder Xuan's man-eating glare. He nodded frantically, stammering out agreements before scrambling out of the office in a blind panic the moment he was dropped.
Elder Xuan slumped heavily to the floor, as if his spine had been extracted. He sat among the wreckage of his office, grabbed an unbroken wine jug from the puddle of grease, and took a massive, desperate gulp. But the fiery burn of the alcohol sliding down his throat could not suppress the icy terror gripping his heart.
Meanwhile, deep within the Golden Tree at the very center of Shrek Academy.
The Sea God Pavilion Master, Elder Mu, lay quietly on his wide, wooden reclining chair.
Although his eyes were gently closed, bathed in the warm, ambient light of the Golden Tree, absolutely no information within its vast coverage could escape his divine perception.
At this moment, another senior teacher responsible for core intelligence was kneeling respectfully before Elder Mu's chair, delivering a complete report regarding the battle at the Star Luo border and the Body Sect's new prodigy.
When Elder Mu heard the detailed account of the youth slaying a five-ring Evil Soul Master and trapping a seven-ring Soul Sage using only his three-ring cultivation, the old man's withered, stick-like fingers twitched slightly against the armrest.
"Rank 39 slaying a Soul Sage... Du Busi has truly picked up a treasure that even the heavens themselves would be jealous of." Elder Mu's voice remained incredibly calm, carrying the serene openness of an ancient sage who had long seen through the mundane ways of the world.
"Although that old poison has a violent, unrefined temper, he is indeed much more fortunate than us in Shrek when it comes to securing a true successor."
A faint sigh escaped the old man's lips, carrying a trace of genuine envy.
However, the serene atmosphere shattered the moment the reporting teacher reached the final line of the document.
"Pavilion Master, the target's name has been confirmed. He is called Liu Yuan."
Elder Mu's previously tranquil, ancient face stiffened. An extremely intense wave of shock violently ripped away his enlightened facade.
Elder Mu was anxious.
He was so thoroughly rattled that his hunched, dying body actually defied its usual lethargy. He sat up straight on the reclining chair, his eyes snapping open to reveal a piercing, disbelieving light.
He leaned forward, his voice losing all its previous calm as he questioned the kneeling teacher.
"What did you just say? His name is Liu Yuan?"
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