Chapter 21: Sparring with Ao Tian
Long Aotian stood frozen in the courtyard. Hearing Du Busi's muttered words of absolute shock, a wry, self-deprecating smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
He slowly lowered his gaze to his own hands. The tough, bronze-colored skin he had always taken such immense pride in—a symbol of his grueling physical tempering—seemed to lose a bit of its luster in that moment.
"Junior Brother's talent..." Long Aotian let out a long, helpless sigh, his voice heavy with deep emotion. "It is simply too monstrous. Compared to him, I, the so-called Chief Disciple of our sect, look entirely mediocre."
"You? Mediocre?" Du Busi whipped his head around, glaring at his eldest disciple with intense annoyance. He snorted, a sound like grinding boulders. "Ao Tian, if the other disciples in the sect heard you spouting that nonsense, they would spit blood in fury! If you are mediocre, then what does that make them? They wouldn't even qualify as rotting wood in a ditch!"
Despite his harsh reprimand, when Du Busi turned his gaze back toward Tingtao Pavilion, the emerald light swirling in his deep-set eyes flickered erratically. His voice dropped, carrying a complex, almost existential weight.
"However... that kid Liu Yuan really is a bit too freakish." The towering old man rubbed his chin, his expression caught between sheer elation and disbelief. "Back in my day, I prided myself on being an unmatched genius. Yet, when I first practiced this Body Secret Method, it took me a full four months of agonizing trial and error just to go from knowing nothing to truly grasping the basics! What kind of heaven-defying comprehension ability does this kid possess?"
The more Du Busi chewed on the thought, the less he could stand still. In his long, storied life as a Level 98 Super Douluo, he had crushed and nurtured countless geniuses. But this was the first time he had ever encountered a true monster like Liu Yuan—someone whose sheer aptitude shattered the boundaries of common sense.
With an impatient wave of his massive, calloused hand, he barked at Long Aotian, "Let's go! Let's go see him!"
The master and disciple blurred into motion. Their figures flickered like phantoms, instantly crossing the vast expanse of the courtyard to land silently before the carved wooden doors of Tingtao Pavilion.
Deep within the quiet room of Tingtao Pavilion, Liu Yuan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, drawing himself out of a deep state of cultivation.
His previously shut eyelids snapped open. Within his gaze, two distinct pupils overlapped and rotated with hypnotic precision, emitting an unprecedentedly concentrated, golden brilliance that seemed to pierce through the very air of the dim room.
He slowly raised his right hand, curling his fingers inward. He could feel the soul power surging through his meridians, roaring like a torrential river bursting through a dam.
Not only had his soul power rank broken through to Rank 25, but what truly thrilled him was the fundamental transformation of his physique. The Body Secret Method had tempered him from the inside out. Every single muscle fiber now thrummed with explosive, coiled kinetic energy. His bone density had skyrocketed, feeling as heavy and unbreakable as refined iron.
Even more crucially, under the passive enhancement of his Double Pupils'Origin, his mental force had condensed, becoming as sharp and penetrating as a steel needle. His sensory detection range and microscopic precision had more than doubled.'The Body Sect...'Liu Yuan clenched his fist, a cold, pragmatic joy washing over his heart.'I truly came to the right place.'
Only now, after tasting the absolute pinnacle of the Body Sect's specialized cultivation system, did he fully comprehend the sheer inefficiency of Shrek Academy. The so-called elite meditation techniques he had been forced to practice there were nothing more than crude, generalized garbage compared to this. Shrek relied on the innate talent of its students to maintain its glory, while the Body Sect actively forged gods from flesh and blood.
Suddenly, his razor-sharp mental force twitched. Two vast, oppressive auras had just materialized outside his door—one as deep as an abyss, the other sharp and unyielding.
Not daring to delay, Liu Yuan immediately stood up. His joints popped with a crisp, satisfying sound as he strode out of the quiet room, pushing open the doors just in time to meet Du Busi and Long Aotian.
"Disciple Liu Yuan greets Master, and Senior Brother." Liu Yuan bowed deeply, his posture impeccable, his attitude noticeably more respectful than his usual calm demeanor.
This respect was not born from fear of their overwhelming strength. It was earned. Du Busi had shown him absolute trust, unreservedly handing over the most guarded foundational secrets of the sect without a second thought. To a pragmatist like Liu Yuan, such genuine investment demanded genuine respect.
"Good lad, stand up!" Before Du Busi had even closed the distance, his booming, urgent voice rattled the wooden pillars of the pavilion. "That fluctuation just now—did you master the Body Secret Method?!"
Liu Yuan straightened up, a faint, confident smile playing on his lips. "Replying to Master, I was lucky enough to grasp the basics."
"Hahahaha! Good lad!"
Upon confirming the smooth, natural aura of the Origin flowing smoothly around Liu Yuan's body, Du Busi could no longer suppress the wild ecstasy surging in his chest. He threw his head back, his booming laughter echoing like a series of thunderclaps. The sheer sonic force of his joy startled the birds in the surrounding bamboo forest, sending them scattering into the sky in a panicked frenzy.
Du Busi was truly, madly overjoyed.
In this generation alone, the heavens had blessed the Body Sect with two supreme geniuses possessing Gold-level Secondary Awakenings for their Body Martial Souls. But what shocked the old monster even more was that Liu Yuan's comprehension ability completely eclipsed Long Aotian's—and even his own!
This meant Liu Yuan wouldn't just go far; he would shatter the ceiling of the continent's power hierarchy at a speed terrifying to behold.
Du Busi stepped forward and slapped Liu Yuan on the shoulder with his massive hand. The heavy, affectionate strike would have fractured a normal Soul Grandmaster's collarbone, but Liu Yuan took it without flinching.
"Let's go!" Du Busi declared, his tone brimming with irresistible, hearty enthusiasm. "Since Ao Tian is here too, you two brats are coming with me to eat!"
He pointed a thick finger at Liu Yuan. "You've been in the Body Sect for a while now, yet you've only locked yourself away to cultivate. You haven't even thought to come share a cup of tea and chat with this old man."
Liu Yuan rubbed the back of his neck, offering a rare, slightly embarrassed smile. "Disciple was simply too absorbed in the cultivation method. I neglected my duties to pay my respects to Master."
"You really are a little cultivation maniac." Du Busi shook his head, his eyes full of warmth. He turned and led the way down the pavilion steps. "Come. We're heading to my private quarters. We are having a proper feast today."
Before long, the three of them arrived at the spacious inner hall of the Sect Master's residence.
The massive circular dining table was already groaning under the weight of a dazzling array of delicacies. Steam rose in thick, fragrant plumes, carrying the rich, savory scent of roasted meats and rare herbs.
Liu Yuan swept his Double Pupils across the spread. He immediately noticed that nearly every dish consisted of prime cuts from high-level soul beasts. The meat sizzled with dense, visible fluctuations of soul power. These ingredients hadn't just been cooked; they had been carefully alchemically prepared. Not only did they look mouth-wateringly delicious, but they were also incredibly nourishing—specifically designed to help high-ranking Body Sect soul masters repair micro-tears and temper their physical vessels.
Dispensing with cumbersome noble etiquette, the three men took their seats and dug in.
Du Busi ate like a whirlwind, tearing into a massive bone-in roast while casually filling Liu Yuan in on the political shifts occurring in the outside world over the past month.
"While you were cooped up in that room of yours, the Emperor of the Heavenly Soul Empire couldn't sit still," Du Busi said, wiping grease from his chin. "An imperial envoy already delivered a decree. It stated that you were heavily credited with protecting Princess Vina during the previous incident. Because of that, the Emperor has specifically conferred upon you the noble title of Baron, complete with your own fiefdom."
Liu Yuan paused, his chopsticks hovering over a plate of sliced fish. He was slightly taken aback, but his sharp mind immediately connected the dots. This was a chain reaction orchestrated by Vina to bind him closer to the empire.
He nodded slowly, showing no signs of being flattered. In the brutal, unforgiving world of soul masters, a mortal noble title was merely icing on the cake. Absolute strength was the only true currency.
Seeing Liu Yuan's indifferent reaction, Du Busi nodded in silent approval. The old man then shifted the conversation away from politics, asking with genuine concern about any bottlenecks Liu Yuan might have encountered during his initial practice of the Body Secret Method.
"Although your speed in mastering the basics is unmatched, your foundation must remain absolutely stable," Du Busi warned, his tone turning serious. "During your circulation, did you feel any points where your mental force and the physical pulse of your blood and qi did not perfectly align?"
Liu Yuan set down his bowl and chopsticks. He pondered for a moment, mentally reviewing his cultivation process, before concisely describing a few specific areas of obstruction he had felt while forcing soul power through the delicate acupoints surrounding his Double Pupils.
A flash of deep appreciation crossed Du Busi's eyes. The boy's self-awareness was terrifyingly precise. The Super Douluo immediately launched into a deep, detailed explanation, breaking down the complex mechanics of cranial acupoint circulation.
Every single piece of guidance from Du Busi struck directly at the core of the issue. For Liu Yuan, it felt like parting heavy clouds to finally see the sun. The minor kinks in his understanding were instantly smoothed out, leaving him immensely benefited.
The meal concluded in a cheerful, academically enriching atmosphere, the heavy table now completely cleared of food.
After the feast, Du Busi uncharacteristically did not immediately bark at them to return to their grueling cultivation. Instead, he led them to the open-air pavilion behind the main hall, allowing them to sit and let the dense soul power from the beast meat settle into their meridians.
Just as Liu Yuan began to think that today's rare master-disciple tea party was drawing to a peaceful close, Du Busi slowly stood up.
A dangerous, deeply meaningful glint flashed in the old monster's emerald eyes. He raised a massive hand, beckoning the two young men over.
"Alright, you two have rested enough. Follow me to the sparring arena."
A trace of confusion flickered in Liu Yuan's overlapping pupils. He looked up. "Master, what are we doing there?"
Du Busi let out a low, rumbling chuckle. He pointed a thick finger directly at Long Aotian, and then shifted it to point right between Liu Yuan's eyes. His aura suddenly flared, domineering and absolute.
"You've been in the Body Sect for quite a while now, kid. While I know your potential is heaven-defying and your comprehension ability is enough to shock the gods, I still don't know how your actual combat capability holds up in a real fight!"
Du Busi grinned, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "It just so happens that Ao Tian has also made a breakthrough recently. Let's go to the sparring arena. I'm having Long Aotian spar with you. Let me see exactly what level you two monsters are currently at."
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