Chapter 162: Shocking Huo Yuhao! Is This Mysterious Expert Really Liu Yuan?
The underground corridor was a tomb of freezing steel. Frost crept along the alloy walls, the temperature plummeting by the second as frigid air bled from the breached core storage area ahead.
Liu Yuan stood in the dim light, a measured distance from the two guarding Soul Douluo. His Double Pupils narrowed, the dual irises overlapping with cold calculation.
A hundred meters behind him, swallowed by the dense shadows of a ventilation duct, Huo Yuhao held his breath. He pushed his Simulation Soul Skill to its absolute limit, blending his physical form and thermal signature perfectly into the freezing metal.
He did not immediately recognize the figure standing in the corridor. Liu Yuan had come prepared. He wore a specialized, pitch-black combat suit issued by the Body Sect, tailored to absorb light and muffle sound. A thin, cicada-wing metal mask concealed his features, its surface etched with formations specifically designed to deflect spiritual detection.
This deep-penetration raid into the heart of Mingde Hall required absolute anonymity. From Liu Yuan down to the Elders led by Du Busi, every member of the strike team had altered their physical silhouettes and suppressed their unique auras. To an outsider, they were merely faceless phantoms of death.
Huo Yuhao pressed his back against the corner of the duct. His palms were slick with cold sweat, his heart hammering against his ribs. Through the omniscient web of his Spiritual Detection Sharing, he locked his focus entirely onto the black-clad intruder.
'Ice Empress, Skydream... that person in front is monstrously strong,'Huo Yuhao communicated in a low, strained voice within his Spiritual Sea.'I cannot see his face. His soul power fluctuations are completely smothered. Yet, looking at his back, there is this suffocating sense of familiarity. I know I have seen him before.''Forget about whether he is familiar or not, Yuhao!' The Ice Empress's voice echoed in his mind, sharp and laced with frantic anxiety.'Behind those heavy doors, past those two Soul Douluo... that is the aura of the Snow Empress! That man in black is clearly here for her embryo. We cannot let him reach the God Sealing Platform first!'
Huo Yuhao ground his teeth together. The nagging familiarity clawed at his instincts, but the lure of the Snow Empress embryo took precedence. He forced his doubts down, steadying his breathing. He would remain hidden. He would wait for the inevitable clash, biding his time to strike from the shadows and snatch the prize.
Ahead, Liu Yuan's gaze turned a fraction colder. His Double Pupils had already caught the subtle distortion in the ambient energy a hundred meters back. He knew exactly who was hiding in the vents.
Huo Yuhao. The boy carried the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Empress within him—two massive variables. If that kid managed to slip past the chaos and touch the God Sealing Platform, the situation would spiral out of control.
Time was bleeding away. 'Jing Hongchen and old monsters like Kong Deming are not fools,'Liu Yuan calculated silently, his eyes sweeping over the dense blockade of elite guards.'Master is raising hell above, but Class 9 Soul Engineers possess terrifying mobility. They will realize this is a diversion and return to reinforce the vault at any second.'
He needed to end this slaughter immediately. The Snow Empress had to be secured now.
Decision made, Liu Yuan moved. Without a single twitch of warning, his boots crushed the alloy floorboards, carving deep grooves into the metal. A harsh, ear-piercing screech of friction echoed through the corridor as his body vanished, replaced by a blurred, hyper-kinetic streak of black.
The world seemed to pause. Mid-sprint, the Double Pupils in his left eye contracted. A speck of dark golden light ignited in the dead center of his overlapping irises, compressing with terrifying density.
"Swoosh—!"
A Spirit Ray erupted. It was no thicker than a single strand of hair, yet it carried an apocalyptic concentration of soul power, slicing through the freezing air with absolute precision.
It bypassed the limits of mortal sight. Across the corridor, a Six-Ring Soul Emperor stationed at the outer perimeter of the defensive line stiffened. The man's fingers were still twitching, desperately trying to trigger the Class 7 defensive soul tool strapped to his forearm. He never finished the motion.
The golden thread punched cleanly through his forehead. His Spiritual Sea detonated from the inside out, instantly pulverized into dust. The light vanished from his eyes, and his lifeless body crumpled to the steel floor like a puppet with cut strings.
A Six-Ring Soul Emperor, erased in a fraction of a second.
"Enemy attack!"
"He is breaching the perimeter! Open fire!"
The dead silence of the vault entrance shattered into absolute bedlam. The Sun Moon Empire's Soul Engineers reacted with ruthless efficiency. These were the elites, handpicked to guard Mingde Hall's most restricted core. Their combat proficiency was forged in endless drills.
Shaking off the initial shock of their comrade's instant death, they unleashed their arsenals. The narrow, claustrophobic corridor was instantly flooded with the blinding, multicolored glare of charging soul tools.
Heavy-armored melee Soul Engineers roared, swinging massive, engine-driven soul swords. They charged like armored rhinos, their blades tearing through the air and generating violent shockwaves. Behind them, ranged specialists dropped to one knee, locking heavy soul cannons onto their shoulders. A torrential downpour of scorching energy rays and screeching tracking missiles flooded the corridor, all converging madly on Liu Yuan's position.
Yet, plunging into this saturated kill zone, Liu Yuan did not slow down. His movements became a bizarre, elegant dance of death. His Double Pupils shifted, locking into their prediction state. The chaotic storm of light, heat, and steel slowed to a crawl. Every incoming ray, every missile trajectory, every swing of a heavy sword materialized in his vision as crisp, glowing lines of intent.
He slipped through the gaps. His body folded and refracted at impossible, joint-breaking angles mid-air. He glided past a cluster of missiles by a millimeter, ducked under a sweeping shockwave, and pirouetted through a grid of laser fire with chilling precision.
When the sheer density of the barrage made evasion mathematically impossible, he simply took the hit. A stray explosive shockwave slammed into his shoulder; a glancing laser scorched his back. But the moment the kinetic force and heat made contact, a faint, regal purple-gold luster flared across his skin.
The passive defense of his Undying Body engaged. Fueled by his monstrous vitality, the superficial burns and bruised tissues regenerated the exact microsecond they were inflicted. Not a single drop of blood was spilled.
"Utterly useless," Liu Yuan murmured, his voice a cold blade cutting through the roar of explosions. He planted his foot, his right hand pulling back before thrusting forward like a battering ram.
"Qilin Precious Technique — Quake the Mountains and Rivers!"
A terrifying surge of dark blue Qilin force erupted from his palm. Amplified by the absolute combat multiplier of his Ultimate Sublimation, the sheer physical pressure warped the air itself, creating a visible, horizontal tsunami of kinetic force that bulldozed down the corridor.
A Seven-Ring Soul Sage, heavily armored and leading the melee charge, raised his shield. The moment the Qilin force collided with his Class 8 defensive soul tool, the high-grade metal shrieked, buckling under a weight it was never designed to hold.
The energy screen shattered like cheap glass. Liu Yuan's fist, now coated in dense, dark scales, punched cleanly through the defensive barrier and slammed directly into the Soul Sage's sternum.
The man let out a wet, shrill scream. His chest cavity caved in completely, ribs snapping into his lungs. The kinetic transfer launched him backward like a cannonball, his body slamming into the reinforced alloy wall with a sickening crunch. A massive, spider-webbed crater deformed the steel. He was dead before he hit the ground.
Without breaking stride, the Spirit Ray in Liu Yuan's left eye flared again. A golden flash pierced the smoke, instantly sniping a Six-Ring Soul Emperor who had tried to flank him from the blind spot. Another body dropped.
Back in the shadows of the ventilation duct, Huo Yuhao watched the massacre unfold through his Spiritual Detection Sharing. His breath caught in his throat. His eyes widened in absolute, unadulterated horror. A violent tremor wracked his body, his shock so deep that his Simulation Soul Skill flickered, threatening to expose him.
'This... this cannot be real, right?'Huo Yuhao shouted frantically within his Spiritual Sea, his breathing turning ragged and shallow.'Skydream! Ice Empress! Did you see that? The martial art he just used... and that golden ray from his eye!'A memory, buried beneath years of bitter training, violently clawed its way to the surface of his mind. The image of the black-clad slaughterer perfectly overlapped with a figure from the past. The All-Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament. That silver-haired youth with the terrifying Double Pupils, sweeping the entire arena with the exact same invincible, suffocating dominance.'Those two abilities... It is Liu Yuan!' The combat style, the ruthless efficiency, that unique, powerful aura—Huo Yuhao pieced it together in an instant.
Yet, this realization brought no joy of reunion. Instead, a cold, heavy despair settled in the pit of his stomach, choking his lungs. 'Why... why has he become this strong?'He refused to accept it. His hands gripped the edge of the metal grate so tightly his knuckles turned bone-white. His fingernails dragged against the alloy, producing a faint, grating screech.'How long has it even been?'Huo Yuhao thought, his mind spinning.'He is standing in the absolute core of Mingde Hall, facing a legion of high-level Soul Engineers, and he is treating them like livestock. A one-sided slaughter.''It has only been a single exchange! Two Soul Emperors and a Soul Sage, dead in the blink of an eye. Is this really him?!'Within his Spiritual Sea, the Ice Empress materialized. Her usually haughty expression was replaced by extreme gravity, her emerald-green eyes narrowing with deep wariness.'Yuhao, I am afraid it is him,'she said, her voice tight.'The sheer rank suppression radiating from his martial soul... even from this distance, it makes my energy stagnate. His current strength has completely eclipsed yours. He is magnitudes stronger than he was during the tournament.'Beside her, the Skydream Iceworm shed his usual lazy playfulness. His tone was dead serious.'Yuhao, calm down. Breathe. His strength is completely unreasonable, yes, but our target is the Snow Empress. He still has to get through those two Soul Douluo guarding the door. When they clash, that will be our only window to act.'
Huo Yuhao clamped his jaw shut, his eyes burning as he stared fixedly at the black figure carving a path of blood through the corridor.
He watched Liu Yuan walk through the elite guards as if strolling through an empty courtyard. The bitter, burning frustration of being left in the dust by a peer ignited in his chest, scorching his pride.
He had truly believed that coming to the Sun Moon Empire, enduring the humiliation, and mastering the art of soul tools would finally narrow the chasm between them. He had been a fool. While he was learning to build weapons, Liu Yuan had ascended to an entirely different world of existence.
However, just as Huo Yuhao convinced himself that he had witnessed the absolute ceiling of Liu Yuan's power, the scene that unfolded next shattered his reality completely.
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