Mu Ye's "great opportunity" was not a genuine Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui born of heaven and earth. Rather, it was a miracle he had painstakingly "forged" over several months, using as its core the purest and most abundant source Blood Qi energy accumulated through Xie Jiayun (Healing)'s months of traveling everywhere to provide aid and save lives.
It was supplemented by several rare heavenly treasures, then combined with fragmented records from an ancient body-tempering secret manual nearly buried beneath dust in the depths of the Body Sect's secret vault.
An "opportunity" specially prepared for Mu Ye's breakthrough to Rank 95—the "Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui"!
Though there was only one rank between a Rank 94 Titled Douluo and a Rank 95 Super Douluo, it was a chasm universally acknowledged in the world of Soul Masters as nearly impossible to cross. This was not merely an accumulation of Soul Power, but a leap in the essence of life, an "ascension" undergone by both soul and body.
Once he crossed this threshold, his Soul Power would undergo a qualitative transformation. His perception and control of heaven-and-earth energy would soar, his Martial Soul Avatar would become more condensed and powerful, his domain power might evolve accordingly, and his combat strength would skyrocket as well!
Many exceptionally gifted individuals on the continent had remained trapped before the threshold of Rank 94 for their entire lives, dying in frustration.
Mu Ye, the towering pillar of the Body Sect, had remained 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, allowing him to withstand even higher-level soul skills head-on. His Four-Word Battle Armor, custom-made by the Divine Craftsman Zhenhua and engraved with countless enhancement and defensive runes, made him even more formidable.
Not to mention the god-grade Mecha connected to his mind, whose power was unfathomable! The combination of all three gave him combat power comparable to an ordinary Rank 98 Super Douluo, making him a humanoid weapon of destruction on the battlefield.
Yet he was still just one step away from the realm of Rank 99 Limit Douluo—the absolute pinnacle a human Soul Master could reach.
That single step was the gulf caused by his life level's failure to fully ascend. Though his power was formidable, he had yet to reach the perfect realm of "being wholly unified and becoming a world unto oneself."
Every time he fought a true Limit Douluo, he could feel the suppressive force that came from the difference in their life levels, like a thorn against his back.
Zuo Qiu Lun knew his master's predicament well. This "artificial Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui" was the key he had forged specifically for Mu Ye to break through!
The pure Blood Qi energy it contained would not be injected violently. Instead, it replicated the legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui's effect of "nourishing the source 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 Super Douluo, his invincible will, tempered over decades, his perfected golden body secret method, his top-tier Four-Word Battle Armor, and his god-grade Mecha that stood above all others would bring about a terrifying surge in his overall combat power!
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!
Perhaps even among those with Limit-level combat power, Mu Ye's all-encompassing, flawless defense and explosive strength, formed by the Body Sect's golden body, top-tier Battle Armor, and god-grade Mecha, would make him one of the most troublesome opponents for all powerful experts.
The "single step" that had plagued him for decades would be completely bridged by this "Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui"!
Anticipation gleamed in Zuo Qiu Lun's eyes. He could almost see the vast, natural, mountain-like and sea-like aura that would burst forth when his master emerged from seclusion, along with that Limit-level combat power that would make the entire continent take notice!
At that time, a Body Sect Master with Limit-level combat power would lead the Body Sect back to its peak!
And on that foundation, Zuo Qiu Lun would lead the Body Sect beyond its peak, to unprecedented heights!
One week later
Inside the secret chamber,
The secluded chamber was dimly lit. Only several soul-conducting fluorescent stones embedded in the walls gave off a soft glow, barely outlining Mu Ye's mountain-like figure as he sat cross-legged.
The air seemed frozen, filled with a suffocating heaviness.
He slowly opened his eyes. He had already adjusted himself to his best condition. A sharp glint flashed through his eyes before being replaced by a rock-solid resolve.
Decades of waiting, countless failed attempts at breaking through—all his unwillingness and anticipation would be decided today.
He extended a palm as broad as a fan, showing no hesitation as he placed the "Ten-Thousand-Year Tai Sui," painstakingly forged by his disciple Zuo Qiu Lun and glowing with pale gold and crimson light, into his mouth.
The "Tai Sui" melted the instant it entered his mouth. It did not taste of plants and herbs, but became a scorching, viscous torrent as fierce as lava, flooding into every limb and bone in an instant!
Ignite the fire of life, let the fuel burn the heavens—the wall was about to break!
The source Blood Qi energy born from Xie Jiayun (Healing)'s bloody battles and refined several times by Zuo Qiu Lun in the Sea of Consciousness Space revealed its violent nature the moment it entered his body!
Like a blazing meteor thrown into a pile of dry kindling, it explosively ignited Mu Ye's dormant life potential, which had lain still for decades!
Boom—!
It was as if an earth-shattering roar rang out inside Mu Ye's body, audible only to him.
His Blood Qi, once calm as a deep pool, instantly boiled! The speed of his rushing blood increased tenfold, a hundredfold. His heart pounded like a war drum, each beat pumping out energy like an erupting volcano!
His skin instantly turned crimson. Fine beads of blood began seeping from his pores, only to evaporate under the intense heat and form a faint bloody mist around him.
This was not gentle nourishment, but the fiercest and most direct kindling!
The energy became an invisible giant hammer, smashing fiercely, again and again, against the intangible barrier separating Rank 94 from Rank 95!
Every strike brought pain like his meridians were being torn apart, while his bones groaned under unbearable strain.
Mu Ye clenched his teeth. Veins bulged across his forehead like coiling dragons, while beads of sweat the size of soybeans mixed with blood and rolled down his face. Yet under the stimulation of the excruciating pain, the Soul Power in his body surged madly with unprecedented activity like an enraged beast, instinctively resisting the impact while trying to guide that violent force!
For the Body Sect Master, every breakthrough in cultivation was a tempering of the "golden body"!
At this moment, the Tai Sui's energy was no longer merely a giant hammer battering the barrier. It transformed into countless invisible carving knives and furnaces, beginning to penetrate every tiniest corner of Mu Ye's body.
His flesh, bones, internal organs, and even every cell were undergoing an unprecedented cleansing!
His muscle fibers, long tempered to be as tough as refined gold, began to rupture and reform beneath the torrent of violent energy. They became denser and contained explosive strength. Fine golden patterns appeared across the surface of his bones, as if they were evolving.
His five internal organs were enveloped in dense life energy, as though soaked in a divine spring. Their functions were strengthened to the utmost, and every pulse released even more majestic vitality.
Inside the secret chamber, Mu Ye's body began emitting increasingly dazzling golden light!
This radiance did not come from a Soul Ring or Battle Armor, but from his body itself!
It was as if golden liquid flowed beneath his skin. The outlines of his bones appeared and disappeared within the golden glow, and his entire body resembled divine metal undergoing high-temperature forging. Mu Ye's Innate Secret Method, which had not advanced for decades, was moving toward the higher realm of the "Golden Body Arhat"!
The process was agonizing beyond measure, as if his body were being crushed inch by inch before being reforged. Yet Mu Ye's eyes grew brighter and brighter, because he could clearly feel the bottleneck that had bound him for years beginning to loosen under this immense power attacking from within and without!
Within Mu Ye's dantian sea of qi, his Rank 94 peak Soul Power, long saturated and condensed like mercury, was being forced to its limit under the dual pressure of the Tai Sui's energy torrent and the eruption of his life potential!
Like a spring compressed to its limit, or a dam filled to bursting with floodwaters, quantitative change finally gave rise to qualitative change!
His Soul Power, once a rich dark gold, began collapsing inward and condensing!
The density of his Soul Power rose at an astonishing speed. Every strand of it became incomparably heavy, yet contained even more terrifying energy.
The color of his Soul Power was also transforming, shifting from deep gold toward a purer, more restrained dark gold!
This was the mark of a Super Douluo—Soul Power of a higher, more condensed, and more powerful essence!
Crack...
A crisp shattering sound rang out, audible only in the depths of Mu Ye's soul! The solid heavenly chasm that had stood for decades was finally completely shattered by this violent torrent surging from within, from Blood Qi to Soul Power!
The instant the barrier broke, Mu Ye's life level completed that crucial leap! An indescribably majestic aura shot skyward from his body!
It was as though the secret chamber's ceiling did not exist. A massive pillar of energy, mixed with immense Bloodline Power and newly born dark-gold Soul Power, pierced straight into the heavens!
The skies changed abruptly. Heaven-and-earth energy within hundreds of miles was torn by the storm and frantically gathered toward the pillar of light, forming a colossal energy vortex! Lightning flashed and thunder roared at its center, while faint dragon roars and tiger howls echoed, as if heaven and earth themselves were celebrating the birth of a Super Douluo!
Inside the secret chamber, Mu Ye's body slowly rose into the air.
The golden light around his body gradually receded, but the pressure stemming from the essence of his life spread outward like tides, as heavy as mountains and as vast as the sea!
With a thought, the Four-Word Battle Armor covering his entire body appeared instantly. At this moment, the armor seemed to have been granted life. The runes on its surface circulated on their own, radiating deeper and more powerful light as they perfectly matched Mu Ye's newly born 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 enormous body suddenly shook. Its core furnace erupted with an unprecedented roar, and the crimson-gold patterns flowing across its surface abruptly lit up, as though an ancient primordial beast slumbering within had been awakened by its master's breakthrough!
The invisible spiritual link between the Mecha and Mu Ye became incomparably clear and powerful. The two had truly become one.
Mu Ye slowly opened his eyes. Golden lightning seemed to flash through them before settling into a deep dark gold.
He felt the new Soul Power endlessly surging within him, as vast as a galaxy. He felt the strength in every inch of flesh and blood, as though he could crush mountains in his grasp. He felt his unprecedentedly close connection with the Battle Armor and Mecha, and felt heaven-and-earth energy draw near him as naturally as breathing...
"Hahahahahahaha!!!"
At last, an unrestrained smile bloomed across his weathered yet resolute face.
The smile on his face was wild and radiant. Every wrinkle seemed to stretch open, filled with the ecstasy of breaking free from shackles. Decades of waiting, countless failed breakthroughs, and the doubts of others, open or hidden.
The regret and frustration buried deep within him—the regret of being the Body Sect Master yet failing to reach the Limit—were all washed away completely by this earth-shaking laughter!
"Wonderful! Wonderful indeed—!" As his laughter subsided, Mu Ye let out a long howl that shook the land for a hundred miles!
He suddenly threw a punch into the air. The air exploded in his palm with a dull sonic boom! Without using any soul skill, the power of this casual strike alone had already far surpassed his full-force attack before his breakthrough!
A dark-gold fist aura, condensed to the extreme, shot out with a howl. It made no sound, yet the instant it struck the mountain, it triggered a world-shaking explosion that leveled the entire peak!
His effortless control over power and terrifying destructive force had now reached the might of the Limit!
"Th-this power! Is that the might of the Limit?!" A well-informed 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 among the crowd, fists tightly clenched, his eyes full of excitement and pride. His master's laughter was the finest reward for his months of painstaking effort!
Mu Ye's laughter gradually subsided, but that wild smile remained on his lips.
He looked around at the ruins, feeling strength and freedom he had never possessed before. He felt heaven-and-earth energy circle around him like docile pets, and felt the deeper, heavier power emanating from his Battle Armor and god-grade Mecha.
Decades of gloom and frustration vanished in a single day.
From now on, the sea was wide enough for fish to leap, and the sky high enough for birds to fly!
At last, the pinnacle of Douluo Continent bore his name—Mu Ye, the Body Douluo!
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