A Single Breakthrough

Mu Ye's "great opportunity" was not a genuine Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui, a spiritual root of heaven and earth. Rather, it was a miracle he had forcibly "forged" after spending several months of painstaking effort, using as its core the purest and most abundant origin bloodline energy Xie Jiayun had accumulated over the past few months while racing across the land to provide aid and save lives. It was supplemented by several rare heavenly treasures and combined with fragmentary records from an ancient body-tempering secret manual, nearly buried beneath dust in the depths of the Body Sect's secret vault.

An "opportunity" prepared specifically for Mu Ye's breakthrough to rank 95—the "Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui"!

Between a rank 94 Title Douluo and a rank 95 Hyper Douluo lay only a single rank, yet it was a chasm universally acknowledged in the soul master world as nearly impossible to cross. This was not merely the accumulation of soul power, but a leap in the essence of life—a shared "ascension" of soul and flesh.

Once one crossed this threshold, their soul power would undergo a qualitative transformation. Their perception and control of heaven-and-earth origin energy would soar, their Martial Soul Avatar would become more condensed and powerful, their domain might evolve accordingly, and their combat power would surge as well!

Many extraordinarily gifted figures across the continent had remained trapped before the threshold of rank 94 for their entire lives, dying bitter and unfulfilled.

Mu Ye, the pillar holding up the heavens for the Body Sect, had lingered at the peak of rank 94 for decades.

His accumulation was terrifyingly profound! With the Body Sect's secret Immaculate Golden Body, his physical strength had long surpassed those of the same rank, and he could even withstand higher-level soul skills head-on. His four-word battle armor, personally tailored by the Divine Blacksmith Zhenhua and inscribed with countless enhancement and defensive runes, gave wings to a tiger.

Not to mention the god-grade mecha connected to his mind, its power unfathomable! The three combined gave him combat strength comparable to an ordinary rank 98 Hyper Douluo. On the battlefield, he was practically a humanoid weapon of destruction.

Yet he still remained one step away from rank 99, the realm of the "Limit Douluo," representing the absolute pinnacle a human soul master could attain.

That one step was the gulf created by his life level's failure to fully ascend. Though his strength was formidable, he had yet to reach that perfect state of being "whole and seamless, a world unto oneself."

Every time he fought a true Limit Douluo, he could feel the suppressive force born of that difference in life level, like thorns pressed against his back.

Zuo Qiu Lun knew his master's predicament well. This "artificial Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui" was the key to breaking through that he had custom-made for Mu Ye!

The pure bloodline energy it contained would not be injected crudely. Instead, it replicated the legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui's effect of "nourishing the origin and catalyzing transformation," thoroughly cleansing and elevating Mu Ye's long-exhausted potential!

Once Mu Ye successfully used this "Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui" to step into the realm of a rank 95 Hyper Douluo, then with his invincible will tempered over decades, his Golden Body secret art perfected to the pinnacle, his top-tier four-word battle armor, and his god-grade mecha that could look down upon all others, his overall combat strength would experience a terrifying surge!

Zuo Qiu Lun was confident that, by then, his master's strength would no longer merely be "comparable" to rank 98. He would truly reach the level of a rank 99 Limit Douluo!

Moreover, among those with Limit-level combat strength, Mu Ye's all-encompassing, flawless defense and explosive power—built jointly by the Body Sect's Golden Body, top-grade battle armor, and god-grade mecha—would make him one of the most troublesome opponents for every powerhouse.

The "single step" that had plagued him for decades would be completely filled by this "Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui"!

Expectation shone in Zuo Qiu Lun's eyes. He could practically see the vast, natural, mountain-like and sea-like aura that would erupt when his master emerged from seclusion after breaking through—and that Limit-level combat strength which would make the entire continent turn its gaze!

When that time came, a Body Sect Master with Limit-level combat strength would lead the Body Sect back to its peak!

And upon that foundation, Zuo Qiu Lun would lead the Body Sect beyond its peak! To heights never before reached!

One week later

Inside the secret chamber,

The secluded chamber was dimly lit. Only several soul-conducting glowstones embedded in the walls emitted a gentle radiance, barely outlining Mu Ye's mountain-like figure as he sat cross-legged.

The air seemed frozen, permeated by a suffocating heaviness.

He slowly opened his eyes. He had already adjusted himself to his optimal state. A flash of brilliance passed through his gaze, replaced by a steadfastness like solid rock.

Decades of waiting, countless failed attempts at breaking through—all his unwillingness and anticipation would be decided today.

He extended a palm as large as a cattail fan without the slightest hesitation and placed into his mouth the "Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui," forged through the painstaking efforts of his disciple Zuo Qiu Lun and radiating a pale-gold and crimson glow.

The "Tai Sui" melted the moment it entered his mouth. It did not carry the fresh fragrance of plants, but transformed into a scorching, viscous torrent as blazing as magma that instantly flooded through every limb and bone in his body!

It ignited the fire of life; fuel burned to the heavens, and the wall was on the verge of breaking!

The origin bloodline energy born from Xie Jiayun's bloody battles, then refined repeatedly by Zuo Qiu Lun within his sea-of-consciousness space, revealed its violent nature the instant it entered Mu Ye's body!

Like a fiery meteor cast into a pile of dry kindling, it detonated the life potential that had lain dormant within Mu Ye for decades!

Boom—!

It was as though a colossal explosion only Mu Ye himself could hear erupted within his body.

His bloodline energy, once as calm as a deep pool, instantly boiled over! The speed of his rushing blood increased tenfold, a hundredfold. His heart pounded like a war drum, each beat pumping out energy like a volcanic eruption!

His skin instantly turned crimson. Fine beads of blood even began seeping from his pores, only to rapidly evaporate beneath the heat and form a faint blood mist around him.

This was not gentle nourishment, but the most violent and direct ignition!

The energy became an invisible gigantic hammer, ruthlessly crashing again and again against the invisible barrier standing between rank 94 and rank 95!

Every impact was accompanied by agony as though his meridians were being torn apart, while his bones gave groans beneath an unbearable burden.

Mu Ye clenched his teeth tightly. Veins bulged across his forehead like coiling dragons, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans mixed with blood as they rolled down his face. Yet under the stimulation of that excruciating pain, the soul power within him became like an enraged beast, circulating madly with unprecedented activity. It instinctively resisted the impact while attempting to guide that violent force!

For the Body Sect Master, every breakthrough in cultivation was a tempering of the "Golden Body"!

At that moment, the Tai Sui's energy was no longer merely the giant hammer assaulting the barrier. It transformed into countless invisible carving knives and furnaces, beginning to penetrate every smallest corner of Mu Ye's body.

His flesh, bones, organs, and even every single cell underwent an unprecedented baptism!

Muscle fibers already tempered as tough as refined gold began breaking and reforming beneath the wash of violent energy, becoming denser and containing explosive power. Fine golden patterns emerged upon the surfaces of his bones, as though they were evolving.

His internal organs were enveloped by dense life energy, as though soaked in a divine spring. Their functions were strengthened to the utmost limit, and every pulse released even more majestic vitality.

Inside the secret chamber, Mu Ye's body began to radiate increasingly dazzling golden light!

That radiance did not come from soul rings or battle armor, but from his body itself!

Golden liquid seemed to flow beneath his skin. The outlines of his bones appeared and vanished within the golden glow, and his entire body resembled divine metal being forged under extreme heat. Mu Ye's innate secret art, which had not advanced for decades, was moving toward the higher realm of the Golden-Bodied Arhat!

The process was agonizing beyond measure, as though his body were being ground to pieces inch by inch before being reshaped. Yet Mu Ye's eyes grew brighter and brighter, because he could clearly sense that the bottleneck which had imprisoned him for so many years was beginning to loosen beneath this mighty force attacking from within and without!

Within Mu Ye's dantian sea of qi, his rank 94 peak soul power—already saturated and condensed like mercury—was forced to its limit beneath the dual pressure of the Tai Sui's surging energy and the eruption of his life potential!

Like a spring compressed to the utmost extreme, or a dam swollen full of floodwaters, quantitative change finally gave rise to qualitative change!

His soul power, once a dense deep gold, began collapsing inward and condensing!

The density of his soul power rose at an astonishing pace. Every strand became incomparably heavy, yet contained even more terrifying energy.

The color of his soul power was also transforming, gradually shifting from profound gold to a purer, more restrained dark gold!

This was the mark of a Hyper Douluo—soul power of a higher level, more condensed and more powerful in essence!

Crack...

A crisp, unmistakable sound of shattering, audible only in the depths of Mu Ye's soul, rang out! The chasm-like barrier that had stood firm for decades was finally smashed apart completely by the violent torrent that surged from within outward, from bloodline energy to soul power!

The instant the barrier shattered, Mu Ye's life level completed that crucial leap! An indescribably vast aura surged skyward from his body!

The ceiling of the secret chamber seemed not to exist at all as an incomparably thick pillar of energy—blending majestic bloodline power and newborn dark-gold soul power—pierced straight into the heavens!

The skies changed abruptly. Heaven-and-earth origin energy across several hundred li was torn by the storm, crazily gathering toward the pillar of light and forming a massive origin-energy vortex! Lightning flashed and thunder roared at the vortex's center, while faint dragon roars and tiger howls resounded, as though heaven and earth themselves were celebrating the birth of a Hyper Douluo!

Within the secret chamber, Mu Ye's body slowly rose into the air.

The golden light over his body gradually withdrew, but the pressure originating from the essence of his life spread outward like a rising tide—heavy as mountains, vast as the sea!

With a thought, the four-word battle armor covering his body appeared instantly. At that moment, the battle armor seemed to have been given life. The runes across its surface circulated on their own, releasing a deeper and more powerful glow that perfectly matched Mu Ye's newborn soul power. Its defensive and enhancement effects doubled!

Even more astonishing was the god-grade mecha that had been guarding the corner of the secret chamber in a dormant state!

Its massive body suddenly shuddered. Its core furnace erupted with an unprecedented roar, and the crimson-gold patterns flowing across its frame abruptly lit up, as though a primordial ferocious beast slumbering for ages had been awakened by its master's breakthrough!

The invisible spiritual link between the mecha and Mu Ye became incomparably clear and powerful at that moment. The two truly fused into one.

Mu Ye slowly opened his eyes. Golden lightning seemed to flash within them before fading into profound dark gold.

He felt the brand-new soul power coursing endlessly within him, vast as a galaxy. He felt the strength contained in every inch of flesh and blood, as though he could crush mountains in his hand. He felt his unprecedentedly close connection with his battle armor and mecha. He felt heaven-and-earth origin energy drawing close as naturally as breath...

"Hahahahahahaha!!!"

At last, an unrestrained smile bloomed across his weathered yet unyielding face.

His smile was wild and flamboyant. Every wrinkle seemed to stretch open, brimming with the ecstasy of breaking free from shackles. Decades of waiting, countless failures in attempting to break through, and the open and hidden doubts of others.

The regret and stifled frustration buried deep in his heart—that he, as the Body Sect Master, had failed to reach the Limit realm... at that moment, it was all washed away completely in that earthshaking laughter!

"Exhilarating! Exhilarating indeed—!" As his laughter subsided, Mu Ye let out a long howl that shook everything within a hundred li!

He suddenly threw a punch into the sky. The air was crushed apart in his palm, releasing a muffled sonic boom! Without using any soul skill, merely the force of that casual clench had already far surpassed his all-out strike before the breakthrough!

A dark-gold fist force condensed to the extreme whistled forth, soundless and invisible. Yet the instant it struck the mountain, it triggered a heaven-shaking explosion that razed the entire peak to the ground!

His control over power, effortless as lifting a heavy weight lightly, and his terrifying destructive force had reached the might of the Limit realm!

"Th-this power! Is that the might of the Limit realm?!" an experienced sect elder cried out in shock.

"It's the Sect Master! The Sect Master broke through! He broke through!"

Within the Body Sect, countless disciples and elders were so overwhelmed that tears filled their eyes. They knelt fervently toward the pillar of light. Zuo Qiu Lun stood amid the crowd with his fists clenched, his eyes filled with excitement and pride. His master's laughter was the finest reward for his months of painstaking effort!

Mu Ye's laughter gradually faded, but that unrestrained smile remained at the corners of his mouth.

He swept his gaze across the ruins around him, feeling the strength and freedom within him like never before. He felt heaven-and-earth origin energy lingering at his side like docile pets, and felt the deeper, heavier power flowing from his battle armor and god-grade mecha.

Decades of gloom and frustration scattered in a single day.

From this day forward, the sea was wide enough for fish to leap, and the sky high enough for birds to fly!

At last, upon the pinnacle of the Douluo Continent, his name had been carved—Mu Ye, the Body Douluo!