Chapter 159: Passing the Test, Commencing the Mission
The air inside the grand council hall grew heavy the moment Elder Zhang finished speaking. His words carried a fierce, protective intent toward the younger generation, but they were hopelessly outdated. As his voice echoed against the stone pillars, the expressions of the other elders seated along the long table shifted into something highly unusual.
Elder Chen slowly stroked his long white beard, his sharp gaze darting back and forth between the stubborn Elder Zhang and the perfectly calm Liu Yuan. A few seats down, Elder Li simply shook his head, a wry, self-deprecating smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Having personally experienced Liu Yuan's absolute dominance on the sparring stage just half a year ago, Elder Li knew exactly what those terrifying Double Pupils were capable of.
Rather than descending into tense opposition, the atmosphere in the hall rippled with a collective, unspoken amusement.
A moment later, a senior elder seated in the front row pushed his chair back and stood. He cupped his hands respectfully toward Elder Zhang, though a distinct smile played across his weathered features.
"Junior Brother Zhang, it seems you have missed quite a few devastating events within the Body Sect during your half-year of closed-door cultivation." The senior elder chuckled softly. "While you were focused on breaking through to the Titled Douluo realm, the strength of this child, Liu Yuan, has grown to a level you cannot even begin to imagine."
He gestured toward the young man standing in the center of the room. "Not only did he successfully complete the Secondary Awakening of his Body Martial Soul, achieving the legendary Gold-grade, but during a recent internal test, he defeated Elder Li in a head-on clash. And that was after Elder Li had fully activated his Martial Soul Avatar."
"Defeated Elder Li? Head-on?"
Elder Zhang froze. His jaw slacked slightly. The sheer absurdity of the claim caused his newly formed, still-unstable Titled Douluo aura to violently fluctuate, sending a sudden wave of heavy pressure rolling across the stone floor.
He snapped his head around, staring fixedly at the tranquil youth standing before him. His eyes widened in absolute disbelief.
"Junior Brother Li is a Rank 75 Assault System Soul Saint! His raw destructive power is immense! How could he possibly lose to a junior? How old is Liu Yuan right now? What is his soul power rank? This defies all logic!"
The initial shock hit Elder Zhang like a physical blow, but the ingrained caution of a veteran powerhouse quickly took over. He forced his erratic aura back under control, took a deep, grounding breath, and turned to face Du Busi, his tone dead serious.
"Sect Master, it is not that I doubt the words of my fellow brothers, but hearing is false. Seeing is believing." Elder Zhang planted his feet firmly. "Liu Yuan is far too important. He is a Qilin child, a peerless genius rarely seen even once in ten thousand years. He is the absolute future pillar of our Body Sect."
His gaze hardened. "We are planning to raid Mingde Hall. That place is a den of crouching tigers and hidden dragons, the absolute core of the Sun Moon Empire's military might. If he does not possess combat power that completely crushes anyone at his rank, I cannot allow him to step into such danger. I must verify his strength personally."
Liu Yuan remained perfectly still in the center of the hall. Listening to Elder Zhang's stubborn, impassioned speech, a strange, almost dry amusement flickered in his eyes. He slowly turned his head to look at Du Busi, who sat upon the main seat as immovable as Mount Tai.
'Master, is a test of this level really necessary?' Liu Yuan's gaze silently conveyed the question.
Du Busi looked down at Elder Zhang's unyielding posture, and a highly predatory, playful smirk curled the corners of his mouth. He understood this old man entirely too well. If this stubborn elder was not forced to witness a generational gap in power with his own two eyes, he would never drop the issue.
"His personality has always been like this. He has sought absolute stability his entire life." Du Busi waved a massive hand dismissively toward his disciple. "Since he wants to see it, just show him your strength, kid. It also gives me a perfect excuse to see exactly how much you have improved during your recent closed-door cultivation."
Seeing that his master had already made the decision, Liu Yuan could only offer a helpless, quiet sigh. He turned back to the veteran elder, his posture relaxed but his eyes sharpening like drawn blades.
"Since Elder Zhang has such a refined interest, then please, enlighten me."
The heavy wooden doors of the council hall swung open, and the group of elders filed out, making their way to the expansive white jade square situated just outside the Sect Master's hall.
It was mid-afternoon. The blazing sun beat directly down upon the polished white stones, casting harsh, crisp shadows. News of the sudden spar spread like wildfire. Dozens of patrolling disciples halted their duties, gathering at the edges of the square. They held their breath, their eyes wide with anticipation as they prepared to witness this incredibly rare intergenerational duel.
Elder Zhang stood thirty meters away from Liu Yuan. The air around the old man began to warp and distort. The terrifying, suffocating aura of a Rank 91 Titled Douluo rose from his body, pressing down upon the square like a descending mountain.
His Martial Soul was Dual Arms. In an instant, his aged, wrinkled arms swelled massively, the skin darkening into a deep, bruised purple that gleamed with an indestructible metallic texture. Veins pulsed like coiled steel cables beneath his skin.
"Liu Yuan!" Elder Zhang's voice boomed across the courtyard, rattling the nearby weapon racks. "Use your absolute strongest means! Let me see what you are truly capable of!"
Liu Yuan stood completely relaxed. He assumed no flashy opening stance, nor did he tense his muscles. He simply lowered his eyes, his breathing perfectly even.
Then, the space around him shattered.
A terrifying, suffocating pressure erupted from his body. Rings of light exploded upward from beneath his feet, but it was the fifth ring that caught everyone's attention. A blood-red, hundred-thousand-year soul ring flared to life, illuminating the white jade square with a savage, crimson glow.
"Fifth Soul Skill." Liu Yuan's voice was a quiet murmur that somehow echoed directly into the minds of everyone present. "Forbidden Domain."
The moment the words left his lips, the blazing afternoon sunlight was violently swallowed. Absolute darkness descended upon the square. A massive, semi-spherical domain of pulsing dark purple light expanded outward at the speed of thought, using Liu Yuan as its absolute center. Before Elder Zhang could even twitch a muscle, he was entirely swallowed by the terrifying enclosure.
Within the oppressive gloom of the domain, Liu Yuan raised his head. The three distinct pupils within his eyes, originally arranged in a perfect triangular formation, suddenly shifted. They slid toward the center of his iris, overlapping and fusing together in a fraction of a second.
"Dominator."
As the three pupils merged into one, a singular, abyssal dark purple pupil was revealed to the world.
In that exact instant, Elder Zhang felt the very fabric of space around him solidify into a suffocating quagmire. The oxygen grew heavy, turning into sludge within his lungs. But far more terrifying was the absolute, high-tier suppression crashing down upon his soul. The vast, oceanic reserves of his Titled Douluo soul power, which had been surging wildly through his meridians just a second ago, were forcibly suppressed, instantly plummeting by more than thirty percent.
From the dark, distorted void of the domain, countless dark purple chains forged from pure soul power materialized out of thin air. They whipped through the heavy atmosphere, emitting shrill, ear-piercing shrieks as they shot toward Elder Zhang from every conceivable blind spot, seeking to bind him completely.
'What kind of Soul Skill is this?!' Elder Zhang's mind reeled in absolute shock.
He tried to evade, only to discover that his physical body was firmly locked in place by a terrifying power that operated entirely on the level of worldly rules.
Roaring in defiance, he swung his metallic, purple-swollen arms wildly. He channeled the raw, unadulterated brute force of a Titled Douluo, smashing his fists into the incoming chains. Metallic clangs rang out as the purple links shattered under his devastating blows.
But it was utterly futile. For every single chain he managed to shatter, ten new ones slithered out from the void, multiplying like a hydra.
The moment the dark purple chains wrapped around his forearms, they reacted violently with his soul power defense. A sickening, sizzling sound filled the air. The chains acted like highly concentrated acid, rapidly dissolving and dismantling his origin defense layer by layer.
High above, Liu Yuan hovered silently in the mid-air of his Forbidden Domain. His singular, dark purple pupil gazed down at the struggling elder with the cold, detached apathy of a god observing a mortal insect.
Realizing he was being completely overwhelmed, Elder Zhang finally let out a furious, desperate roar. Sparing absolutely no cost, he recklessly overdrew his physical potential. His soul rings flared blindly as he forcibly ignited the absolute peak combat power of his Rank 91 cultivation.
A colossal, phantom projection of two massive purple arms materialized behind him, thrashing wildly within the confines of the Forbidden Domain. Relying entirely on his overwhelming advantage in raw cultivation rank, he poured every ounce of his strength into one final, explosive surge. After several agonizing breaths, the phantom arms managed to rip through the suffocating chains, violently tearing a small fissure in the corner of the Forbidden Domain.
Elder Zhang threw himself through the gap, crashing heavily onto the white jade stones outside the domain's range.
He hit the ground hard, his boots skidding across the polished jade. His chest heaved like a broken bellows, pulling in ragged, desperate gasps of air. The neat, dignified gray robes he had worn just moments ago were now torn, scorched, and entirely disheveled.
Slowly, Elder Zhang lifted his head to look at Liu Yuan, who was just now descending gracefully from the air as the dark domain faded away. The elder's gaze had completely transformed. The protective, slightly condescending kindness reserved for a junior was entirely gone. In its place was a deep, deep reverence—the kind of respect one only offered to a peer powerhouse, or perhaps, to an existence operating on a completely higher plane.
"What an impossibly overbearing domain..." Elder Zhang muttered, shaking his head with a bitter, wry smile. He did not bother to hide his defeat, choosing instead to praise the youth loudly in front of the gathered disciples.
"Liu Yuan, it seems I was truly a frog at the bottom of a well. If that suppression just now had been followed up with your actual killing moves, I fear even elite Soul Saints would be instantly slaughtered without a chance to fight back. I fully acknowledge your strength. You are more than qualified to represent the Body Sect in executing this mission."
On the sidelines, the other observing elders, led by the towering figure of Du Busi, had naturally caught all the subtle details of that brief, terrifying exchange.
Elder Chen stepped forward, his eyes wide with genuine surprise. He stared intently at Liu Yuan, his spiritual sense sweeping over the youth for a brief moment before he turned back to Du Busi.
"Sect Master, did you notice? Liu Yuan's soul power rank has increased again. If my senses are correct, he has already reached Rank 57., his aura is vastly more condensed than it was when he defeated Elder Li half a year ago. His absolute control over the spatial elements within that domain has grown by a terrifying margin. It seems his recent closed-door cultivation yielded massive improvements."
Elder Li nodded vigorously in agreement. "Exactly. The last time I faced him, his domain did not possess the sheer rule-bending authority required to instantly lock down a Titled Douluo's movements. It is obvious that Junior Brother Liu has drastically deepened his comprehension of his Gold-grade Secondary Awakening."
Liu Yuan fully retracted his Martial Soul, the heavy pressure vanishing from the square as his eyes returned to their normal state. He smoothed his robes, stepped forward, and offered a slight, respectful bow to the gathered elders.
"The elders flatter me," Liu Yuan said, his tone smooth and perfectly humble. "I merely gained a small amount of insight and improved my soul power circulation a bit. It is truly not worthy of such high praise."
Having finally steadied his chaotic breathing, Elder Zhang spoke up once more. This time, however, his stance had completely shifted in favor of the young monster standing before him.
"Since Liu Yuan possesses such monstrous combat power, his inclusion in the strike team will indeed be a massive asset. However..." Elder Zhang paused, turning his head to look at the tall, silent figure of Long Aotian standing off to the side.
"Although Long Aotian is undeniably an outstanding talent among our younger generation, his current strength is simply not enough. Executing a raid of this magnitude is far too dangerous for him. I strongly suggest that Long Aotian remain behind to guard the sect."
Several of the surrounding elders nodded, their expressions reflecting clear agreement. After all, this upcoming raid on Mingde Hall meant clashing directly with the absolute advanced military force of the Sun Moon Empire. An anomalous freak of nature like Liu Yuan, who could effortlessly fight across major realms, could afford to go and gain live combat experience. But precious seeds like Long Aotian, who had not yet fully matured and lacked the reality-bending abilities to instantly alter a battlefield, were much better off staying home where they could be safely protected.
Du Busi fell silent, pondering the proposal carefully. His sharp gaze swept back and forth between his two most prized disciples.
A brief flash of deep regret and frustration flickered through Long Aotian's eyes. His fists tightened slightly at his sides, but he did not speak out of turn. He was a pragmatic cultivator; he knew his own limits and understood exactly where he currently stood in the grand hierarchy of power.
"Aotian, what Elder Zhang said is correct," Du Busi finally spoke, his deep voice carrying a tone of absolute finality that aligned with the elders' consensus. "Although your current strength is highly commendable, on a battlefield of that chaotic caliber, I cannot guarantee I will be able to protect you at all times."
He looked directly at the chief disciple. "You will remain within the Body Sect and continue to cultivate patiently. Do not let this discourage you."
Du Busi then shifted his gaze back to the youth who had just dominated a Titled Douluo. A fierce, bloodthirsty grin split the sect master's face.
"As for Liu Yuan, he will follow us old monsters. Together, we are going to tear Mingde Hall apart."
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