Mu En spoke slowly, his tone carrying the clarity of someone who had seen through the world. "Geniuses all have the pride of geniuses."
"If we rush to recruit him like desperate bootlickers and throw out a pile of offers, we might only make the boy sick of us. In the end, we'd be sticking a warm face against a cold ass—hardly worth it."
Yan Shaozhe nodded repeatedly. "Mu En is absolutely right. Even Tang Ya from the Tang Sect personally tried to recruit him before, and he politely turned her down. That alone shows how proud this child is. What he hates most is being pressured."
Seated at the head of the room, Mu En's aged voice echoed throughout the entire Sea God Pavilion as he made the final decision:
"Enough. That is the rule. From today onward, there is nothing wrong with wanting to recruit this boy, but none of you are allowed to get desperate and blindly curry favor with him. The choice will be entirely his. Everyone present, whether from the Martial Soul Department or the Soul Guidance Department, is forbidden from using recruitment as an excuse to disturb his daily cultivation and life."
The elders all bowed in acknowledgment. No one dared raise another objection.
"Meeting adjourned."
Mu En lightly waved his hand. With those words, the impromptu Sea God Pavilion meeting came to an end.
The elders rose one after another and headed out, each burdened with their own thoughts. Xuan Zi walked at the very end, his old face still flushed. He had been left speechless by the rebuke earlier, and he was still feeling rather embarrassed.
Once everyone had left, only Mu En remained in the vast Sea God Pavilion hall.
He sat alone in the Pavilion Master's white jade chair, his gaze passing through the sea of clouds beyond the hall and toward Shrek Outer Court in the distance. Deep contemplation lay hidden in his aged eyes.
He murmured softly to himself, his heart heavy. "Looks like the skies over the Douluo Continent are about to change."
Even now, he could not grasp Yu Chen's origins and had no way of knowing whether the boy's appearance would bring fortune or disaster. His only prayer was that the heavens would not let him be a spy sent by those bastards from the Sun Moon Empire.
Having lived for hundreds of years and seen countless people, Mu En felt a powerful premonition rise within him. This eleven-year-old child with the Golden Dragon bloodline would surely become someone capable of stirring the world in the future. He would undoubtedly cause earth-shattering upheaval.
Mu En covered his mouth and coughed softly. After several muffled coughs, his aged body trembled slightly.
He lowered his head and looked at his wrinkled, withered hands, a sorrowful feeling of a hero nearing the end of his days rising in his heart. His body had been worsening by the day lately, and the sensation of his lifespan running out had grown ever stronger. He knew perfectly well that the days he had left in this world were likely numbered.
He slowly raised his eyes, looking once more toward the Outer Court as he made up his mind. Even if Yu Chen refused to remain at Shrek in the future and did not join any faction within the academy, he still had to prepare in advance and forge a deep bond between Shrek and the boy.
They absolutely could not let a peerless genius like this slip away without forming such a connection. When the continent fell into turmoil in the future, this friendship might become Shrek's protective talisman.
At this moment, Yu Chen, holed up in his dormitory, had no idea that those old fossils in the Sea God Pavilion had just held a meeting centered around criticizing him.
Yu Chen muttered to himself, his gaze burning. "I need to hurry and break through to level fifty."
The premonition in his heart was becoming increasingly clear. Those words he had heard in his dream before were likely not an illusion, but a genuine opportunity.
He immediately got to work. Raising a hand, he took out the storage Soul Tool at his waist. A flicker of light flashed from his fingertips as a pile of prepared rare medicinal herbs appeared, neatly arranged at one side before he tossed them all into the alchemy cauldron.
Yu Chen sat quietly beside the cauldron and waited patiently, focusing on the warm medicinal power circulating within. Immortal cultivation alchemy required careful control of the heat. Once the temperature was right, the refinement could begin.
He reached out to test the rim of the cauldron, feeling the gentle medicinal power rising from within. A sharp gleam flashed through Yu Chen's eyes. "Almost there."
The cauldron before him was quite large, much roomier than the standard alchemy furnaces at the academy. It could hold a great quantity of medicinal herbs at once.
Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Chen leaped up and jumped straight into the medicinal cauldron! The scorching, concentrated liquid instantly submerged his entire body, wrapping around every limb and bone.
In an instant, faint golden light surged beneath his skin. Fine, hard dragon scales emerged layer by layer along his limbs and spine, firmly covering his entire body.
Yu Chen stood motionless in the cauldron of concentrated medicinal liquid, allowing the warm medicinal power to continuously wash over his body. The golden dragon scales on his surface glimmered faintly, expanding and contracting as if breathing while absorbing the scattered medicinal essence.
"This batch of herbs is still a little lacking in quality."
It was simply unrealistic to rely on them to purify the Golden Dragon bloodline. At best, they offered some psychological comfort. Still, something was better than nothing. The medicinal power in this cauldron was dense, slipping through the gaps between his dragon scales and spreading throughout every meridian in his body. It was just right for tempering the foundation of his Soul Power and forcefully charging toward level fifty.
At that moment, the Soul Power and spiritual energy drifting through the surrounding world seemed to find an outlet, surging madly toward the medicinal cauldron.
Yu Chen's speed of absorbing the world's essence increased severalfold! His golden dragon scales trembled without pause, devouring streams of pure energy into his body as the dormant Soul Power within him instantly boiled over.
The temperature of the medicinal liquid was perfect, fully activating the Golden Dragon bloodline within him. His blood and vitality rolled through his body like blazing waves, as if his entire bloodline were boiling inside his flesh. A domineering, powerful force spread from his dantian through every part of his body, making him feel so good he nearly groaned.
In this intensely invigorating state, Yu Chen soaked in the medicinal liquid for an entire night.
With the medicinal power washing over him all night and the world's essence continuously entering his body, the dragon scales around him remained wreathed in golden light, while his Soul Power steadily rose as though it had been launched by a rocket.
Boom!
A vast surge of Soul Power burst through its restraints. Golden light flashed fiercely in Yu Chen's eyes as he shouted inwardly, Level forty-nine—success!
The dragon scales around his body erupted with dazzling golden radiance. The remaining medicinal power in the liquid was instantly drained dry, and his meridians expanded several times over. He was only one final step away from the level fifty threshold!
It was not just his Soul Power that had broken through. After an entire night of the medicinal liquid tempering his body, his physical strength had risen sharply as well.
The Golden Dragon bloodline was already unrivaled in physical power. After being soaked and tempered by medicinal power throughout the night, his muscles, bones, skin, and flesh had risen to another level. In his current condition, the attacks of an ordinary Soul Ancestor would probably not even leave a mark on him.
Although this cauldron of medicinal liquid could not complete the Golden Dragon bloodline's transformation, the all-night washing of medicinal power had thoroughly activated the dormant bloodline's vitality.
Golden light flowed across the dragon scales around his body as the Dragon Clan power hidden deep within his flesh gradually awakened. Once he found his exclusive Soul Ring in the future, it would undergo a complete transformation.
The next morning, sunlight streamed into the room through the window. Yu Chen slowly opened his eyes, and the golden dragon scales flowing across his body gradually sank back beneath his flesh.
The medicinal liquid in the cauldron had long since dried up completely, leaving only a pile of spent herbal dregs at the bottom.
After a night of medicinal power tempering his body and continuously absorbing the world's essence, his Soul Power had naturally broken through its restraints, firmly stepping into the threshold of a level fifty Soul King!
With the medicinal liquid tempering his body all night, combined with his top-tier Golden Dragon bloodline as a foundation, his physical body had become absurdly strong. Enduring a 100,000-year Soul Ring? That would be no problem at all. There would not be the slightest backlash of his body being torn apart.
Yu Chen stretched his body, and his bones crackled loudly. His eyes were full of satisfaction.
"Damn, this condition is seriously amazing!" Yu Chen shook his hand, feeling the surging power within his body. "With this brute strength, one punch would send even a wild bull flying."
Yu Chen quickly packed his things. The moment he stepped out of the dormitory, he ran straight into Wang Dong.
The moment Wang Dong saw him carrying a bag, she immediately asked, "You look like you're about to run away. Where are you planning to go?"
Yu Chen answered casually, "Nothing much. I'm going to ask the academy for leave and head out to hunt a Soul Ring."
Wang Dong's eyes instantly widened, her voice full of shock. "Hunt a Soul Ring? Don't tell me you're already level fifty?!"
-------------------------------Please vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets.
What do you all think about the future development? Since the protagonist has taken leave, there is no reason for him to return.
What faction do you think he should join?
1. Sun Moon Empire.
2. Body Sect.
Before you continue