"However, if word gets out that there's only one Longevity Pill left, what happens to those we've been baiting with the promise of more?" Ditian suddenly voiced his concern.
Before leaving the Federation, many politicians had already begun cozying up to them because of the Hundred-Year Longevity Pill.
"If the news spreads that only one pill remains, the Spirit Transmission Tower will become the target of public outrage, facing pressure from every major faction."
"Revealing such a meaningless secret in exchange for massive political pressure — unless he's an idiot, he'd never do it."
"Not only would he never do it himself," Gu Yuena added, "he also wouldn't allow anyone else to leak it."
"In truth, even if it does leak, it's not a big deal," Yunze said calmly. "Anyone smart enough to become a Federation councilor isn't a fool. They won't just believe rumors — they'll verify them. As long as they come asking and we can show them the pills, it won't matter."
The other two nodded in agreement.…
The next day, the All-Continent Advanced Youth Soul Master Elite Tournament finally began amid immense anticipation.
The venue — the Star Luo Grand Stadium — was already packed early in the morning, thronged with cheering crowds. It took nearly two hours for all ticket holders to enter, filling every seat.
The host stepped onto the stage. Though this wasn't the official opening ceremony, the event still needed a proper beginning.
With eloquent words, the host roused the crowd's excitement before officially kicking off the competition.
The first event was the individual elimination round. After the solo matches concluded, the two-on-two and seven-on-seven team battles would begin.
To speed up the elimination process, fifty arenas had been set up, each hosting ten matches.
A hundred contestants took their places across the fifty stages. With the referee's signal, fifty battles began simultaneously.
Both the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy and Shrek Academy were provided with spacious, comfortable rest areas by the Star Luo officials.
In the Sun Moon Academy's rest zone, Gu Yuena frowned slightly as she stared at one of the stages. "Has Tang Wulin's martial soul… evolved?"
She was watching Tang Wulin's match. During their last encounter — the ambush — things had been too chaotic to notice such details.
Now, with nothing else to distract her, she was surprised to see how much his martial soul had changed.
The vines were as thick as arms, glimmering with blue-golden light, radiating a palpable sense of toughness even from afar.
During the previous battle at the Sun Moon Academy, his Blue Silver Grass had looked nothing like this.
Everything pointed to one conclusion — his martial soul had evolved. It was no longer Blue Silver Grass, but… Blue Silver Emperor.
Standing beside her, Yunze knew she was speaking to him and nodded naturally."Indeed, it evolved — from Blue Silver Grass to Blue Silver Emperor. The quality has increased by more than just a little."
Gu Yuena's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "That shouldn't be possible," she murmured.
"The Blue Silver Emperor species is unique — without its bloodline, it shouldn't even be possible to awaken such a martial soul."
"Could it be that Tang Wulin carries the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline within him?" Her expression turned strange.
If that were true, then it meant this man was half soul beast.
"It should be related to that," Yunze said vaguely, mindful of nearby ears.
"That…?" Gu Yuena glanced at him, then after a moment's thought, her eyes sharpened."It's likely him," she said softly — referring, of course, to the Lord of the Planes, the only one capable of triggering such evolution.
Yunze said nothing more, watching quietly before turning his attention elsewhere.
Gu Yuena, however, kept her gaze locked on Tang Wulin — eyes gleaming like a predator watching prey. Inwardly, she couldn't help but wonder when she would finally be able to extract all the bloodline power from his body.
Although Tang Wulin no longer possessed his Golden Dragon King divine strength, with two martial souls — Blue Silver Emperor and Clear Sky Hammer — his combat ability was still formidable.
After more than ten minutes of fierce battle, he emerged victorious and advanced to the next round.
Yunze's own individual match was scheduled for today as well — the fifth bout on Arena One, still some time away.
Over an hour later, Yunze finally stepped onto the stage. His opponent was a lean young man.
As he entered, murmurs rippled through the audience — a seven- or eight-year-old child on the youth arena? Surely this was a mistake!
The referee, already aware of Yunze's situation, didn't say anything foolish like asking if he'd gone to the wrong stage, and proceeded as normal.
"That's Yunze, right?" a handsome young man whispered to his teammates.
The others all turned to look carefully. Their faces were puzzled — uncertain, skeptical.
"Red clothes, red hair, seven or eight years old. That's him," said another youth with a scholarly air.
"Good. I've wanted to see for myself if he's really as amazing as the teachers say," a third youth added eagerly.
There were eight of them, all wearing the red uniforms of the Star Luo Royal Academy — the men handsome and dignified, the women beautiful and spirited.
"There's no mistake," said Dai Yueyan in a deep voice. "Many people witnessed it firsthand, and my royal father received the same report. They wouldn't dare deceive the emperor."
"I heard his feats all came from using external aids — mechas, soul tools. That's not his true power," one of the girls, Ye Zhi, said skeptically.
"Now that external tools are banned in this tournament, he shouldn't be that strong. After all, he's only seven or eight," she added.
All of them had heard of Yunze's astonishing display during the ambush on the diplomatic mission.
"I agree," said Hua Lantang confidently. "If I face him, I doubt he could beat me."
"Brother Hua," laughed Dai Yun'er, "don't get too cocky! If you actually fight him and lose, won't that be embarrassing?"
"How could I lose to a seven-year-old brat?" Hua Lantang retorted indignantly — though his tone wavered slightly as he added,"As long as he doesn't use those external aids, there's no way I'll lose."
"You sure about that?" asked a bald youth among them, raising a brow and motioning toward the stage.
"Of course I—" Hua Lantang began, but when his eyes fell on the stage, his voice trailed off in shock.
The match had begun.
Yunze hadn't even released his martial soul. His opponent, completely restrained by pure physical dominance, couldn't put up any resistance.
Seeing that Yunze didn't summon a martial soul, the opponent double-checked with the referee that this was indeed his match. Convinced, he grinned — lucky him, facing a mere child!
His martial soul was Flame Bird, mediocre in quality, and his spirit power only that of a Soul Elder — quite weak compared to the rest.
He was about to learn just how wrong he was.