Chapter 158: Is Du Busi Planning to Attack Mingde Hall?
The heavy wooden door of the quiet room groaned as it was slowly pushed open. A sharp blade of golden sunlight spilled through the widening gap, cutting across the dim interior and coming to rest on Liu Yuan's broad shoulders.
Long Aotian stood in the doorway, his silhouette framed by the morning glare. Hearing his senior brother's words, a rare pebble of intrigue dropped into the placid, ancient well of Liu Yuan's mind. Ripples of genuine curiosity spread outward.
As the Master of the Body Sect, Du Busi was a man of overbearing arrogance and absolute power. Yet, he rarely summoned his two most prized disciples with such abrupt urgency outside of their routine gatherings., Long Aotian's voice carried an unmatched, heavy gravity. He had specifically used the words 'important matters'and'emergency situations'.
'Could it really be that we are going to attack Mingde Hall?' Liu Yuan mused inwardly, his pulse quickening just a fraction.
Footsteps echoed against the cold stone floors of the corridor as Liu Yuan followed Long Aotian toward the main meeting hall. With every step, his mind worked with cold, calculating precision, piecing together the fragmented clues of the current era. He sifted through the memories of the original timeline he had brought into this world. Elder Mu, the Dragon God Douluo and the towering pillar of Shrek Academy, had finally fallen. Without that Limit Douluo suppressing the world, the undercurrents of the Douluo Continent were boiling into violent, surging waves. Factions were baring their fangs. Shrek Academy was vulnerable.
Under these exact geopolitical conditions, there was only one major event—a true major change—that would require the entire, prideful Body Sect to mobilize its full military might.
A predatory heat flared within the depths of Liu Yuan's deep Double Pupils. The dual irises overlapped, catching the ambient light with a dangerous, golden gleam.
Attacking Mingde Hall was no simple raid. It was not a mere political demonstration to flex the Body Sect's muscles. For Liu Yuan, this was a monumental turning point.
First, the sheer brutality of a full-scale assault on Mingde Hall offered unmatched combat experience. Mingde Hall stood as the absolute highest palace of the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology. Its subterranean halls were fortified with lethal, advanced defensive arrays and guarded by a dense gathering of high-ranking Soul Engineers. A bloody, head-on collision between the continent's top-tier forces was the ultimate crucible. For a Soul Master like Liu Yuan, who hungered for absolute power and practical combat mastery, this was a feast of real-world slaughter and tactical refinement.
Secondly—and far more crucially—was the prize hidden within those metallic vaults. The Snow Empress embryo.
In the original trajectory of fate, the Snow Empress, a terrifying existence approaching seven hundred thousand years of cultivation, had been reduced to a vulnerable state and trapped within the God-Sealing Platform. During the chaos of the Body Sect's assault, that supreme treasure had accidentally slipped into the lap of the era's favored son, Huo Yuhao.
Liu Yuan's jaw locked. A cold sneer tugged at the corner of his lips. This time, he would absolutely not allow such a pathetic twist of fate to occur. A supreme treasure like the Snow Empress embryo belonged in the hands of the strong. He intended to rip it from the jaws of destiny and firmly grasp it himself.
He had the perfect foundation to handle her. Electrolux's fragmented divine sense had recovered far beyond what it had been in the original timeline. Having recently absorbed the immense, pure vitality from a piece of Life Gold, the Necromancer God had reached an astonishing height in his ability to soothe, mend, and control spiritual origins.
'As long as Elder Yi takes action, it is entirely possible to help the Snow Empress stabilize her origin. I could help her successfully recultivate... or even bind her as my first Soul Spirit.' Liu Yuan's fingers subconsciously curled inward, his knuckles popping in the quiet corridor.
The strategic benefits of subduing the Snow Empress were immeasurable. As the absolute ruler of the Far North, she did not merely represent ultimate, ice-attribute combat power. She held the absolute loyalty of the Far North's soul beasts. Securing her meant securing the allegiance of an entire frozen empire. Once she was bound to him and the Body Sect, Liu Yuan would possess a top-tier combat deterrent on the Douluo Continent., she would serve as the perfect foundation to test and promote the revolutionary Soul Spirit system, completely bypassing the traditional, bloody limitations of absorbing soul rings.
Anticipation burned in his chest, making his blood run hot. He desperately hoped Du Busi's target was indeed Mingde Hall. It would accelerate his grand plans and grant him an overwhelming advantage against the hypocrites of Shrek Academy.
Pushing his soaring ambitions aside, Liu Yuan quickened his pace. He and Long Aotian handled the winding, heavily guarded corridors of the sect, finally stepping through the towering stone doors of the Sect Master's hall.
The atmosphere inside was so thick and solemn it felt like wading through deep water. The air crackled with suppressed soul power. High upon the central obsidian throne sat Du Busi. A terrifying, dark cyan aura swirled around the towering man, warping the very space near his skin. Below him, the heavy wooden benches lining both sides of the hall were entirely occupied by the Body Sect's highest echelon.
Elder Chen, Elder Li, and a dozen other veteran Titled Douluo sat in stony silence. Their faces were grim, their eyes sharp, radiating a dense, suffocating aura of killing intent that had been tempered through decades of slaughter.
Liu Yuan stepped into the center of the hall. His expression remained perfectly calm, utterly unaffected by the crushing spiritual pressure radiating from the gathered powerhouses. He offered a crisp, respectful salute to Du Busi, then turned and bowed slightly to the assembled elders.
The moment the elders laid eyes on Liu Yuan, the suffocating tension in the room noticeably thawed. Hardened, scarred faces softened in unison. Those who had personally witnessed the tyrannical, world-suppressing might of Liu Yuan's Gold-grade Double Pupils looked at him with undisguised pride and deep affection. There was no jealousy here, only the fierce protective instinct of a sect looking at its most precious treasure. They all treated Liu Yuan with immense respect, universally acknowledging him as the undisputed future backbone of the Body Sect.
Du Busi slowly opened his eyes. His emerald green pupils flashed with a dangerous, toxic light. With a casual wave of his massive hand, he signaled for Liu Yuan and Long Aotian to take their designated seats.
He did not waste a single breath on pleasantries.
"I have summoned you all today because of a confirmed, top-secret intelligence report transmitted by our deep-cover operatives in the Star Luo Empire," Du Busi's voice rumbled like distant thunder, echoing off the stone walls. "A catastrophic experimental accident recently occurred deep within the Sun Moon Empire's Mingde Hall. Their internal structure is in chaos, and their defensive grid has experienced a critical, temporary gap."
Du Busi leaned forward, his massive frame casting a long shadow over the hall. A savage, bloodthirsty grin split his face. "Therefore, I have made my decision. The Body Sect will mobilize immediately. Our target—a full-scale assault on Mingde Hall!"
Hearing those exact words, a surge of pure, icy exhilaration washed through Liu Yuan's veins. The subtle tension in his shoulders melted away, replaced by the absolute clarity of a predator locking onto its prey. His deduction had been flawless. The heavy, rusted gears of fate had finally aligned with his ambitions.
Du Busi swept his commanding gaze across the silent hall before locking onto Liu Yuan and Long Aotian. His tone deepened, carrying the weight of a mentor.
"The reason I specifically summoned you two juniors to a war council is simple. You are the absolute pinnacle of our Body Sect's younger generation." Du Busi's emerald eyes gleamed. "This operation is fraught with lethal danger, but it is also overflowing with heaven-defying opportunities. I intend for you both to follow the main vanguard and bathe in the blood of real combat."
He slammed a fist against the armrest of his throne. "Your strength is growing exponentially. It is time you witnessed the grand, brutal spectacles that truly dictate the fate of this continent. A true powerhouse is forged in the fires of war, not by cultivating behind closed doors."
Long Aotian's expression remained cold and stern. He stepped forward, cupping his hands in a crisp, martial salute to accept the command. Beside him, Liu Yuan simply nodded, the fierce, burning battle intent in his golden eyes completely undisguised.
However, just as the fiery atmosphere was about to transition into tactical deployment, a sharp scrape of wood against stone broke the momentum. A grey-robed elder slowly stood up from the middle of the benches.
"Sect Master, I believe this matter requires further deliberation."
This man was Elder Zhang, a highly senior veteran within the sect. The reason he dared to interrupt the Sect Master's momentum was simple: he had been in a state of absolute, isolated seclusion for a very long time, desperately attempting to shatter the life-and-death bottleneck of the Titled Douluo realm. Just two days prior, he had finally succeeded, officially stepping into the ranks of the elite as a Rank 91 Titled Douluo.
Precisely because of this prolonged isolation, Elder Zhang was completely ignorant of Liu Yuan's recent, devastating battle achievements. Before he went into seclusion, Liu Yuan had certainly been an exceptional talent, but in the old man's eyes, he was merely a Soul Ancestor with great potential. As for the heaven-defying event of Liu Yuan's Body Soul Secondary Awakening evolving into the Gold-grade Double Pupils, or his subsequent, effortless crushing of Elder Li in combat—Elder Zhang knew absolutely nothing. The sect had placed the entire event under a strict, impenetrable information lockdown.
Standing tall in his grey robes, Elder Zhang cupped his hands toward Du Busi, his tone steady and resolute.
"Sect Master, a frontal assault on Mingde Hall is a mission of nine deaths and one life. We will be plunging directly into the heart of the Sun Moon Empire. We will face no less than ten Class 9 Soul Engineers, backed by their most elite, heavily armed Soul Engineer regiments."
Elder Zhang turned his gaze toward the two young men. His eyes were not malicious; rather, they were filled with the stern, protective care of an elder looking at his juniors. Yet, his words were blunt and uncompromising.
"Although Long Aotian is strong, his soul power rank is still too shallow for a battlefield of this magnitude. As for Liu Yuan... although his natural gifts are unmatched, he is simply too young. I firmly believe that throwing them into a meat grinder of this level is premature."
He looked back at Du Busi, his voice hardening. "In a death match between the continent's absolute apex forces, even a fraction of a second of carelessness will result in instant annihilation. The Body Sect cannot afford to lose the future of our legacy to a stray soul ray."
Elder Zhang lowered his head slightly. "I suggest that this bloody task be handled exclusively by us old bones. Let the boys remain within the safety of the sect to consolidate their cultivation. It will not be too late to speak of life-and-death training once they have truly matured into the Soul Sage, or even the Soul Douluo realm."
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