Subduing the Fire Leopard Sect

Today, in the main hall of the Fire Leopard Sect, over a dozen elders sat on either side. In the center sat a throne cast from red copper, occupied by a burly old man with fiery red hair and beard—Fire Flame Leopard, an eighty-third-level Soul Douluo and the current Sect Master of the Fire Leopard Sect.

His martial soul was the Crimson Flame Leopard King, the highest quality martial soul the Fire Leopard Sect had seen in centuries.

"Since everyone is here, then this Sect Master shall..."

Before he could finish, the hall doors were pushed open from the outside.

Everyone turned their heads.

An old man wearing a simple grey cloth robe stood at the entrance. With white hair and a thin, lean frame, he looked like a farmer who had just returned from the fields.

The sunset outside the hall dragged his shadow long across the bluestone floor. His footsteps did not falter, crossing the threshold at a steady, unhurried pace, as if the core leadership of the Fire Leopard Sect sitting in the hall were nothing more than strangers to him.

Fire Flame Leopard narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing in his dark red leopard pupils.

"Who are you? How dare you trespass on a sect meeting!" an elder closest to the door shouted sternly.

"Chen Xuan," the old man stated his name, his pace never stopping.

The elders in the hall looked at each other, none of them showing any sign of recognizing the name.

Time is enough to erase the memories of most people; the oldest elder present was only eighty or ninety years old, and they had all been born long after Chen Xuan's era.

As for information regarding Chen Xuan, it was stored only in the deepest, most hidden secrets of the sect.

Ignoring their confusion, Chen Xuan walked straight to the center of the hall.

He paused, and nine soul rings rose from his feet one by one. Behind him, the Three-Eyed Fire Leopard martial soul slowly opened its vertical eye.

Crimson flames burned silently on the leopard's body, and the temperature of the entire hall instantly climbed to a degree that left everyone drenched in sweat.

"Crimson Flame Leopard... this is the direct-line martial soul of the Fire Leopard Sect!" an elder stood up abruptly, staring fixedly at the phantom of the martial soul behind Chen Xuan, and blurted out, "Your surname is Chen? No, the direct line of the Fire Leopard Sect is clearly surnamed Huo—which branch of the Huo family are you a descendant of?"

The hall instantly erupted into chaos.

The Three-Eyed Fire Leopard martial soul was the inherited martial soul of the Fire Leopard Sect's successive Sect Masters; it was impossible for an outsider to possess it.

Several older elders exchanged glances quickly, the same speculation surfacing on their faces—an illegitimate child.

He must be an illegitimate child of some generation of the Huo family who had been left outside, having somehow attained the realm of a Title Douluo through sheer fortune, only to return now to claim his ancestry.

Fire Flame Leopard's expression changed.

He could sense that the old man before him did not seem to be here for a friendly conversation.

He stood up, suppressing the unease in his heart, and said in a deep voice: "Since Your Excellency possesses the Crimson Flame Leopard martial soul, you are indeed of the Fire Leopard Sect's bloodline. Why have you returned today?"

"One thing," Chen Xuan's tone was as flat as if he were commenting on the weather, "From today on, the position of Sect Master of the Fire Leopard Sect will change hands."

As his words fell, the hall went deathly silent.

Fire Flame Leopard's face turned from green to white, then from white to purple. He stared fixedly at the nine slowly rotating soul rings at Chen Xuan's feet for three full breaths, then gritted his teeth, as if having made a desperate, all-or-nothing decision.

"You want to seize the position of Sect Master? Just because you're some illegitimate child who popped out of nowhere!"

He roared, and the soul power around him exploded like a volcanic eruption.

The seventh soul ring—a black soul ring—lit up. The phantom of the Crimson Flame Leopard King behind him expanded to twice its size, then suddenly contracted, merging into his burly body.

His stature grew by nearly three feet in an instant, his muscles bulging like boulders. A layer of dark red leopard patterns appeared on his skin, his hands and feet transformed into flaming beast claws, and a thick, sturdy leopard tail whipped out from his tailbone, each lash cracking the air with a sonic boom.

Avatar of the Martial Soul.

At the same time, the four elders closest to Fire Flame Leopard on his left and right moved simultaneously.

They were all loyal confidants handpicked by Fire Flame Leopard, with the lowest cultivation being level seventy-one. At this moment, they all revealed their seventh soul rings, and the light of four Martial Soul Avatars bloomed in the hall one after another.

In an instant, flames soared within the hall. The pressure from five simultaneously released Martial Soul Avatars was like a deluge of molten lava, causing the stone pillars of the hall to sizzle. The wooden tables closest to them spontaneously combusted, and the flames licked the air, casting flickering, distorted shadows on everyone's faces.

"Five people," Chen Xuan glanced over, his tone as flat as if he were counting teacups on a table, "Very well, that saves me from having to deal with you one by one."

The five Martial Soul Avatars did not give him the chance to continue.

Fire Flame Leopard struck first, his flaming claws crossing in the air to tear out ten crimson claw beams, each one capable of cleaving a city gate in two.

Simultaneously, the other four also attacked Elder Chen's vital points.

Five directions, five types of attacks, coordinated to the extreme. It was clear this was not their first time joining forces to execute an opponent, sealing off every possible path of retreat.

In Fire Flame Leopard's view, even a Title Douluo could not remain unscathed under the combined assault of the five of them.

But, Chen Xuan did not retreat.

He did not even move his feet.

He merely circled his right hand casually in front of him, fingers slightly spread, as if he were simply brushing dust off his sleeve. But the moment he raised his hand, an invisible force suddenly radiated from him as the center.

The air solidified in that instant—not slowed down, but truly, physically solidified.

The ten claw beams torn out by Fire Flame Leopard hung suspended in mid-air, as if gripped by an invisible hand, unable to advance even an inch further, three feet from Chen Xuan's chest.

Domain!

Fire Flame Leopard's pupils contracted to the extreme in that instant. He wanted to open his mouth to shout the name, but before his lips could even part, Chen Xuan's attack had already arrived.

Chen Xuan raised his right hand, a flame so white it was nearly transparent coalescing at his fingertip.

That tiny flame was far more inconspicuous than any soul skill he usually employed, yet the moment it appeared, the temperature in the great hall spiked until the surfaces of the stone pillars began to melt.

With a flick of his finger, the white flame transformed into five hair-thin threads of fire that shot out, sinking into the space between the brows of the five men.

Their five Martial Soul Avatars let out a simultaneous, agonizing wail.

The white flames erupted from within their bodies, not by expanding outward, but by collapsing inward—their Martial Soul Avatars were crushed from the inside as if by an invisible hand, the fiery phantoms shattering inch by inch and dissipating into a sky full of sparks.

The flames on the chest of the Fire Flame Leopard were the first to extinguish; he was sent flying backward, slamming heavily into the Red Copper Sect Master Chair and smashing it to pieces.

The four elders followed suit, crashing against the hall walls one after another before sliding to the floor, their Martial Soul Avatars completely collapsed, leaving them without even the strength to stand.

Their soul power remained, and their Martial Souls were still intact, but the searing, agonizing pain lingering in their meridians told them one thing—had Chen Xuan wished it, that single strike would have been enough to claim their lives.