Douluo: One Man Returns, the Heaven-Defying Seal Smashes Tang San to Death

On one side was a lineup of nothing but beauties; on the other, a lineup of nothing but fat men. The contrast was stark.

Aside from that, Blazing Fire Academy, Godwind Academy, and Thunder Academy were much more normal, because they had only one admission requirement: possessing a Martial Soul that matched the element represented by the academy.

The royal delegation and the teams from the Five Great Elemental Academies had all arrived, yet the representative from Heaven Dou Royal Academy was still nowhere to be seen, causing many people to grow dissatisfied.

Hu Yanli, captain of Elephant Armor Academy's student delegation, snorted coldly. "I heard Heaven Dou Royal Academy only sent one student representative. Lu Yu certainly puts on quite the show, making all of us wait for him!"

Standing beside him was Hu Yanzhen, whose massive frame resembled a small mountain.

Elephant Armor Academy was an affiliated academy of the Elephant Armor Sect, one of the Lower Four Sects among the Seven Great Sects of the Heavenly Dou Empire. Hu Yanzhen was the current sect master of the Elephant Armor Sect and the leader of Elephant Armor Academy's delegation this time. He was also Hu Yanli's grandfather, possessing Level 89 Soul Power.

Hearing Hu Yanli's words, Hu Yanzhen shot him a glare. "Shut up! His Highness the Crown Prince hasn't even spoken yet. What right do you have to speak?"

Hu Yanli shrank his neck and did not dare say another word.

The people around them cast strange looks their way.

Hu Yanzhen was personally leading Elephant Armor Academy this time. Many people could not understand what they were plotting.

Just then, the surrounding spectators suddenly erupted into commotion, all turning their gazes toward the city gates.

The members of the exchange delegation, who had waited for so long, turned around to look. An old man and a young man were slowly approaching.

The old man was thin, with a gentle smile on his face.

The young man was as handsome as jade, dressed in fitted white clothes, like an exiled immortal descending into the mortal world.

"So handsome..."

Among Skywater Academy's group, a petite girl with short light-blue hair and a somewhat childish face widened her eyes, which were filled with little stars.

Beside her, a tall girl who looked seventy percent similar to her but had long dark-blue hair glared at her. "Stop acting like a lovesick fool!"

"Big Sis... he really is so handsome!" The short-haired girl blinked her large eyes.

The long-haired girl looked at Lu Yu and, for a moment, found herself unable to refute her.

Mm... he really is handsome!

The short-haired girl suddenly turned around and looked at a beautiful, voluptuous woman behind her, whose expression was as cold as ice. In a soft voice, she said:

"Mom! Why don't you make an exception just this once and snatch him away from Heaven Dou Royal Academy?"

Shui Ningyan, the beautiful woman who served as Skywater Academy's dean, froze for a moment. Then she rapped the short-haired girl on the head and scolded, "Shut up!"

The short-haired girl pursed her lips and said nothing more.

At the same time, Lu Yu and Meng Shenji had reached the front of the group. They came before Xue Qinghe and bowed slightly in greeting.

Xue Qinghe took two steps forward. Rather than paying attention to Meng Shenji, he reached out to help Lu Yu up, then said with a smile:

"Lu Yu, there is no need for such formalities before me in the future."

This gesture, along with Xue Qinghe's words, caused quite a few expressions to change slightly.

They had long heard Lu Yu's name, but they had never expected the imperial family to value him so highly!

After all, Xue Qinghe now held great power and could already represent the imperial family's stance.

"Now that everyone is here, let's set off!"

At Xue Qinghe's command, the more than twenty Soul Kings standing neatly behind him leaped onto the carriages.

For this imperial exchange delegation, Soul Kings were serving as coachmen!

Clearly, the Heavenly Dou Empire was flexing its muscles before the Star Luo Empire.

Aside from Xue Qinghe, everyone else in the royal delegation possessed at least six soul rings.

Everyone boarded the carriages, and the convoy soon set off grandly along the official road.

Just as the convoy departed, a black-dressed girl in the crowd silently turned around and entered the city gates.

Elsewhere, atop the city wall, Dugu Bo looked at Dugu Yan beside him, who was gazing longingly into the distance, and sighed. "Yan Yan, if you want to go with them, Grandpa can bring you into the royal delegation!"

Dugu Yan shook her head. "No! I need to focus on cultivation and break through to Level 40 before the Soul Master Competition begins! Then I'll join him in the competition!"

With that, Dugu Yan turned and headed down from the city wall.

Dugu Bo remained standing in the wind, his expression shifting uncertainly.

He wanted to bring Lu Yu and his granddaughter together. After all, Lu Yu could dispel the toxins caused by the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul. Once that boy grew stronger in the future, perhaps he could help Dugu Yan completely eradicate the poison embedded in her bones.

Moreover, Lu Yu possessed formidable lightning abilities, seemingly a second Martial Soul. If Dugu Yan got together with him, their descendants would likely be able to completely escape the hidden danger of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul.

But the problem was...

That brat had never stated his intentions. Instead, his own granddaughter had been utterly bewitched by him, which made Dugu Bo somewhat irritated.

Suddenly, Dugu Bo gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and muttered:

"When that little brat returns, I'll make sure to get a clear answer out of him!"

"At worst, I'll just make them consummate the marriage first!"

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and the imperial exchange delegation finally reached the edge of the Heavenly Dou Empire's territory.

Along the way, every city they passed received them with the highest standards.

Setting aside the fact that the group was led by Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, the many powerful figures in the delegation, as well as the young geniuses, were enough to make every city lord take them seriously.

After resting in a small border city, the imperial exchange delegation bypassed the Star Dou Great Forest and entered the buffer zone where the Heavenly Dou Empire and Star Luo Empire met.

After all, even for a Title Douluo, crossing the Star Dou Great Forest was no easy task.

After leaving the border, the convoy stopped before entering Star Luo Empire territory and set up camp to rest.

Xue Qinghe walked to the center of the camp and called out loudly:

"Everyone, we will soon be entering the Star Luo Empire!"

"Bandits run rampant along the Star Luo Empire's borders. Every one of you present is a precious asset of the Heavenly Dou Empire. Please remain alert and avoid any accidents!"

After speaking, Xue Qinghe glanced in Lu Yu's direction before returning to the carriage he had been riding in.

Lu Yu was currently sitting beside a campfire, grilling meat. He had brought the meat himself, along with a full assortment of seasonings.

In his previous life before his previous life, Lu Yu had worked at a barbecue restaurant to make a living and learned the craft of grilling meat.

Although Xue Qinghe's words were grave, the students from the various academies did not take them too seriously.

In their eyes, with the teachers from their academies and the many experts dispatched by the imperial family present, they would not face any danger even if they encountered bandits.

The more than twenty Soul Kings sent by the imperial family were currently standing guard around the camp, while the students from the various academies chatted and laughed with relaxed expressions.

Lu Yu's side was the liveliest of all.

Along the way, most members of the exchange delegation chose to fill their stomachs with dry rations, but Lu Yu alone never settled for that.

Whenever the convoy stopped, he would start a fire and grill meat. When they occasionally passed by rivers, he would even catch a few fish to roast.

Most importantly...

Lu Yu's grilled meat smelled incredibly good!

At first, everyone could endure it. But as time went on, whenever they smelled the fragrant aroma of roasted meat and then looked at the cold, hard rations in their hands, they immediately lost all appetite.

Thus, someone finally could not hold back any longer and tried to cozy up to Lu Yu.

What left everyone both amused and exasperated was that the first person to approach Lu Yu was actually Hu Yanli from Elephant Armor Academy!

This fellow had been quite displeased when Lu Yu arrived late, yet he had now been conquered by Lu Yu's grilled meat.

Everyone assumed that Lu Yu, hailed as the number one genius of the Heavenly Dou Empire, would naturally be incomparably arrogant and would not pay Hu Yanli any attention at all.

But to everyone's surprise, when Hu Yanli shamelessly asked for grilled meat, Lu Yu did not turn him away. Instead, he directly tossed him a roasted lamb leg.

And so...

The large group of fat men from Elephant Armor Academy swarmed over, and even Hu Yanzhen came over to join them.

Every one of these people had a huge appetite. Naturally, Lu Yu had no time to serve as their cook, so he merely gave them some casual pointers on heat control and grilling techniques, then gave them some seasonings and told them to fend for themselves.

But these big, burly men were beginners. The grilled meat they made was truly hard to praise, though it was at least better than cold, hard rations. They no longer had the nerve to come forward and beg for more.

Lu Yu did not keep secrets either. He told the others how to grill meat as well and gave each group a batch of seasonings.

Yet even so, some people still tried to cozy up to Lu Yu in hopes of eating the delicious food he grilled himself.

So Lu Yu set a rule: every time the convoy stopped, only ten people could eat meat at his place.

They also had to find their own prey and pay ten Gold Soul Coins each for the meal.

Even so, everyone scrambled desperately to compete for those spots.

Fortunately, the teachers from the various academies and the members of the royal delegation kept up appearances and did not compete with the students.

"Brother Lu! This is the rabbit I just caught! I should be the first one today, right?"

Just as Lu Yu finished grilling a wild boar leg, a tall young man with a somewhat handsome face, silver-gray spiked hair, and a green academy uniform jogged over.

The young man carried a wild rabbit in his hand. Lu Yu merely glanced at it before softly saying, "Leave the rabbit here and wait to the side for a while."