Breakthrough to Level Thirty! The Heavenly Soul Emperor's Attention!

Inside Tingtao Pavilion's quiet chamber, sandalwood incense curled through the air, yet it could not conceal the dragon-and-tiger-like fluctuations of blood and vitality.

Liu Yuan sat cross-legged on a jade cushion. His breathing was incredibly slow; with every inhale, the thin air around him seemed to be forcibly drawn into his body by a tremendous suction force.

With every exhale, an extremely faint rumble of thunder sounded in the air.

It had already been ten days since Liu Yuan returned from Yaluo City.

Over those ten days, he had truly shut out all worldly matters and devoted himself entirely to cultivating the Body Method.

He had consumed one-third of the bottle of Qiangti Pills rewarded by Du Busi. Whenever the medicinal power exploded through his meridians, he would digest it with large amounts of high-grade soul beast meat.

Guided by the Double Pupil Origin, that abundant energy flowed like rivers returning to the sea, continuously washing against the barrier between level twenty-seven and level twenty-eight.

"Break!"

At a certain moment, Liu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes. Crimson and profound light alternated within his Double Pupil as the river of Soul Power within him instantly widened, and his aura surged to a new level.

Level twenty-eight!

Liu Yuan let out a long breath. Feeling the more condensed power at his fingertips, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"Ten days per level... It seems that life-and-death battle in the forest really left both my body and mind in an extremely hungry state. That was why I could build up so much before bursting forth with such rapid progress."

Feeling the remaining medicinal power that had yet to be fully digested, Liu Yuan had no intention of leaving seclusion. He adjusted his breathing and closed his eyes once more.

He was still two levels away from thirty. That was the critical point at which his combat system would undergo a qualitative transformation, and he did not want to waste a single moment.

While Liu Yuan was crazily cultivating in seclusion, Vina prepared to depart after staying in the Body Sect for around ten days.

As the princess of the Heaven Dou Empire, although she was also a disciple of the Body Sect, she bore the responsibility of maintaining communication between the imperial family and the sect. Moreover, there were many political affairs and ceremonial matters in the Imperial City that required her presence.

Inside the carriage returning to the Heavenly Soul Imperial City, Vina lifted the curtain.

As she looked back at the cloud-shrouded Body Sect Main Peak, her mind was filled with the image of that young man being cut in half, then recovering as though by miracle, and his ruthless gaze piercing through a Soul King's wings.

"Goodbye... Liu Yuan."

"I hope we can meet again soon."

She soon returned to the Heavenly Soul Imperial Palace.

Upon arriving at the palace, Vina did not delay in the slightest. She immediately entered the Imperial Study and recounted the entire course of events in Yaluo City to the Heavenly Soul Emperor without holding anything back.

"What did you say?!"

In the Imperial Study, the Heavenly Soul Emperor, who had been sitting upright, was so shocked that he rose directly from the Dragon Throne.

"A two-ring level twenty-seven soul master fought head-on against a five-ring Evil Soul Master? He recovered instantly after being cut in half?" The Heavenly Soul Emperor's breathing became extremely ragged as he stared at Vina and repeatedly sought confirmation.

"Vina, are you sure you aren't exaggerating? That youth's regenerative ability truly reached such a level?"

"Father, I witnessed it with my own eyes. There was not the slightest falsehood." Recalling that scene, lingering fear remained in Vina's eyes.

"Not only that, his First Soul Skill had terrifying offensive power. Even the Evil Soul Master leader's bone shield could not withstand that high-energy beam. Sect Master Du Busi has already listed him as a successor on the same level as Long Aotian, but in my opinion... his comprehension and ruthless resolve may be even more terrifying than Aotian's."

The Heavenly Soul Emperor paced back and forth through the study, a shrewd and calculating light flickering in his eyes.

"Long Aotian is already a genius seen once in ten thousand years, yet this Liu Yuan is actually even more outstanding than Long Aotian..." The Heavenly Soul Emperor abruptly stopped and made his decision at once.

"Convey my decree! Liu Yuan has rendered merit by protecting the princess and eliminating evil for the empire. His title of Baron of Qinghe shall be exceptionally elevated to Viscount! Grant him an additional fief of three hundred taxable households, and have all rewards personally delivered to the Body Sect by an imperial envoy!"

Granting him a noble title was only the first step. The emperor looked at Vina, his tone becoming meaningful. "Vina, you should put more thought into this Liu Yuan..."

"When you return to the sect in the future, visit Tingtao Pavilion more often. You are close in age and fellow disciples who have fought side by side. Feelings can slowly be 'cultivated.'"

Vina was exceptionally intelligent. How could she fail to understand the implication behind her father's words?

Her pretty face flushed slightly, but she did not argue. She merely nodded gently, then bowed and withdrew from the Imperial Study.

After Vina left, the Heavenly Soul Emperor stood alone before the window, gazing at the distant horizon as he muttered to himself.

"I originally believed that Long Aotian was the only candidate to become the future Sect Master of the Body Sect. That was why I planned to marry Vina to him, to permanently secure the relationship between the imperial family and the sect."

"But now, it seems the situation may be changing."

A calculating glint appeared in his eyes. "Who will lead the Body Sect in the future is not yet certain."

"If Liu Yuan truly surpasses Long Aotian in every respect... then Vina's future must change with it as well."

"An investment must be made in the right choice."

Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, more than a month passed.

During this time, an unprecedented spectacle appeared among the younger generation of the Body Sect—an intense frenzy of competition.

Everyone had been diligent before, but they had still retained a certain pride as geniuses.

However, ever since returning from Yaluo City, Long Aotian, Chen Lü, Gu Tong, and Wang Yanfeng had become practically insane.

On the training grounds, Long Aotian stood bare-chested and allowed boulders weighing hundreds of pounds to crash against his body. The bronze sheen beneath his skin grew increasingly dark and steady.

He could not forget Liu Yuan's dominance in that battle. Even though his Soul Power was higher, that all-encompassing suppressive force had given him an unprecedented sense of crisis.

"My junior brother is so outstanding. As his senior brother, I can't let him surpass me!" Long Aotian gritted his teeth and shattered the boulder before him with a single punch.

Chen Lü and Gu Tong were the same, doubling their daily cultivation time.

Liu Yuan's performance had utterly shaken them. They had originally believed that they were all geniuses and that the gap between them was limited, but compared in actual combat, Liu Yuan was far stronger than they were.

Du Busi also noticed this atmosphere of frenzied cultivation.

Not only did he not stop it, he even wandered around the various training sites each day with his hands behind his back, smiling from ear to ear.

"Good! This is exactly how it should be!" Du Busi watched the fervently training disciples and sighed inwardly.

"That boy Liu Yuan is like a catfish, stirring up this entire pool of geniuses. Only competition brings progress!"

Meanwhile, Tingtao Pavilion, the source of all this upheaval, remained utterly silent.

Inside Liu Yuan's cultivation chamber, the residue from the last bottle of Qiangti Pills had already turned to ash.

His entire body was shrouded in a faint crimson mist. The phantom image of the Double Pupil behind him flickered in and out of view, its two pupils spinning wildly as they drew in spiritual energy from hundreds of meters around him.

Suddenly, a crisp boom came from within Liu Yuan's body, like spring thunder exploding, like a dragon's roar tearing through the sky.

The bottleneck that had locked him down for more than a month was utterly shattered at that moment by the long-accumulated torrent of Soul Power!

Liu Yuan opened his eyes, and two crimson rays burst from them, leaving two charred marks directly on the stone wall.

Feeling the unprecedented fullness and transformation within his body, he slowly clenched his fist.

Level thirty.

In the few months since leaving Shrek, he had gone from a crippled level-nine youth deemed worthless to crossing a gulf that countless people could never cross in their entire lives, officially stepping into the threshold of a Soul Elder.

"Next, it is time to obtain a new Soul Ring..."