Today, more than a dozen elders sat on either side of the Fire Leopard Sect's main hall. At the center stood a sect master's chair cast from red copper, where a burly old man with fiery red hair and beard sat. He was Fire Flame Leopard, an eighty-third-rank Soul Douluo and the current sect master of the Fire Leopard Sect.
His Martial Soul was the finest Crimson Flame Leopard King the Fire Leopard Sect had seen in several hundred years.
"Now that everyone is here, this sect master shall..."
Before he could finish, the hall doors were pushed open from outside.
Everyone turned around.
An old man in a simple gray robe stood in the doorway. His hair and beard were white, his frame lean; he looked like a farmer just back from the fields.
The setting sun outside stretched his shadow across the blue-stone floor. He did not pause, but crossed the threshold at an unhurried pace, as if the people seated in the hall were not the Fire Leopard Sect's core leadership, but merely a crowd of strangers.
Fire Flame Leopard narrowed his eyes. A cold glint flashed in his dark red, leopard-like pupils.
"Who are you? How dare you barge into a sect meeting!" shouted an elder nearest the door.
"Chen Xuan." The old man gave his name without breaking stride.
The elders exchanged glances. Not one of them looked as though he recognized the name.
Time was enough to erase the memories of most people. Even the oldest elders present were only in their eighties or nineties; none had been born in Chen Xuan's era.
Besides, all information about Chen Xuan was kept in the sect's most secret archives.
Chen Xuan paid no mind to their bewilderment and walked straight to the center of the hall.
He stopped. Nine Soul Rings rose one by one from beneath his feet, and the Three-Eyed Fire Leopard Martial Soul behind him slowly opened its vertical eye.
Scarlet flames burned soundlessly across the leopard's body. The temperature in the entire hall shot up in an instant, making everyone sweat profusely.
"The Crimson Flame Leopard... That's the Fire Leopard Sect's direct-line Martial Soul!" an elder cried, leaping to his feet and staring fixedly at the Martial Soul phantom behind Chen Xuan.
"Your surname is Chen? No, the Fire Leopard Sect's direct line has always borne the surname Huo. Which branch of the Huo Family are you descended from?"
The hall erupted into a commotion.
The Three-Eyed Fire Leopard Martial Soul was passed down through the line of the Fire Leopard Sect's successive sect masters. There was no way an outsider could possess it.
Several elderly elders exchanged quick glances, the same suspicion rising on their faces: an illegitimate son.
He had to be an illegitimate son of some generation of the Huo Family's sect master, who had been left outside the family. Somehow, he had gained the opportunity to cultivate to the Titled Douluo realm and had now returned to claim his ancestry.
Fire Flame Leopard's expression changed.
He could tell that the old man before him had not come to talk things over.
He stood and suppressed his unease, speaking in a low voice. "Since Your Excellency bears the Crimson Flame Leopard Martial Soul, you must be of the Fire Leopard Sect's bloodline. What brings you back today?"
"One thing." Chen Xuan's tone was as casual as if he were commenting on the weather.
"From this day forward, the Fire Leopard Sect will have a new sect master."
Silence fell over the hall.
Fire Flame Leopard's face shifted from green to white, then from white to purple. His eyes fixed on the nine Soul Rings slowly revolving beneath Chen Xuan's feet. He stared for three full breaths, then clenched his jaw as if he had made a desperate, all-or-nothing decision.
"You want to seize the sect master's seat? You, an illegitimate son who came out of nowhere!"
He roared, and Soul Power burst from his body like a volcano erupting.
The Seventh Soul Ring—a black one—lit up. The phantom of the Crimson Flame Leopard King behind him swelled to twice its size, then abruptly contracted and merged with his burly body.
In an instant, his body grew nearly three feet taller. His muscles bulged like boulders, dark red leopard patterns surfaced on his skin, and his hands and feet transformed into beastly claws wreathed in flame. A thick leopard's tail lashed out from his tailbone, each swing cracking through the air.
Martial Soul Avatar.
At the same time, the four elders at the front, flanking Fire Flame Leopard, moved as one.
They were all trusted followers whom Fire Flame Leopard had personally promoted. Even the weakest among them was at rank seventy-one. Now all four lit their Seventh Soul Rings, and the light of four Martial Soul Avatars bloomed in succession throughout the hall.
Flames surged through the hall. The pressure of five simultaneous Martial Soul Avatars crashed down like a flood of molten rock, scorching the stone pillars until they hissed. Several nearby wooden tables caught fire at once. Flames licked through the air, casting every face in shifting light and shadow.
"Five people." Chen Xuan glanced at them, his tone as casual as if he were counting teacups on a table. "Good. That saves this old man from dealing with you one by one."
The five Martial Soul Avatars gave him no chance to say more.
Fire Flame Leopard struck first. His burning claws crossed through the air, tearing out ten crimson claw streaks, each powerful enough to cleave open a city gate.
At the same time, the other four attacked Elder Chen's vital points from different directions.
Five directions, five attacks, perfect coordination. Clearly, they had joined forces to kill opponents before; they had sealed off every possible escape route.
In Fire Flame Leopard's eyes, even a Titled Douluo couldn't emerge unscathed from the combined assault of all five.
But Chen Xuan did not retreat.
He did not even move his feet.
He simply swept his right hand in a casual circle before him, spreading his five fingers as though brushing dust from his sleeve. Yet the moment he raised his hand, an invisible force abruptly expanded outward from him.
The air froze in that instant—not merely slowed, but truly frozen.
The ten claw streaks Fire Flame Leopard had unleashed hung suspended in midair, as if gripped by an unseen hand. They stopped three feet from Chen Xuan's chest and could go no farther.
A domain!
Fire Flame Leopard's pupils contracted to pinpricks. He tried to shout the word, but before his lips could part, Chen Xuan's attack had arrived.
Chen Xuan raised his right hand. A flame, white and almost transparent, gathered at his fingertip.
The flame was tiny, less conspicuous than any Soul Skill he had ever used. Yet the instant it appeared, the temperature in the entire hall shot up so sharply that the stone pillars began to melt on their surfaces.
He flicked his finger. The white flame became five hair-thin streaks of fire that shot out, each burrowing into one of the five men's brows.
All five Martial Soul Avatars let out a cry of agony at once.
The white flames erupted inside their bodies—not spreading outward, but collapsing inward. Their Martial Soul Avatars seemed to be crushed from within by an invisible hand. The fiery phantoms shattered piece by piece, dissolving into a sky full of sparks.
The flames on Fire Flame Leopard's chest went out first. He was sent flying backward and slammed into the Red Copper Sect Master Chair, smashing it to pieces.
The four elders followed one after another, crashing into the hall walls and sliding to the floor. Their Martial Soul Avatars had completely collapsed, and they no longer had the strength to stand.
Their Soul Power remained, and their Martial Souls remained, but the searing pain in their meridians told them one thing: if Chen Xuan had wanted to, that single strike would have been enough to take their lives.
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