The Clan Traitor

[TOP 10: Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan]

[Clan Martial Soul: Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon]

[Clan Secret Technique: Dragon Transformation]

[Representative Combatant: Clan Leader Yu Yuanzhen]

[Soul Power: Level 95 Super Douluo]

[Soul Rings: Yellow · Yellow · Purple · Purple · Black · Black · Black · Black · Black]

[Deputy Clan Leader: Yu Luomian...]

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had sixteen hundred disciples. Its ranks were filled with stalwarts, but only Yu Yuanzhen stood at the very summit.

He held up the entire clan on his shoulders.

Just as everyone thought the rankings had ended and the rewards were about to be issued—

The Sky Screen abruptly changed into a painted scroll.

It showed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, but its halls lay in ruins amid scorched earth and drifting smoke. Stone pillars had toppled, buildings burned, bodies lay strewn everywhere, and blood soaked the blue bricks.

Yu Yuanzhen's pupils contracted sharply. He stared at the devastation in disbelief.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan... had been wiped out?

Then the scene ran backward to the moment Spirit Hall launched its surprise attack.

A cardinal oversaw the assault, joined by four Titled Douluo and two Super Douluo of worshiper rank. Everyone who understood what that force meant felt a chill.

What exactly was Spirit Hall planning?

Before anyone could think further, the formation protecting the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan slowly opened—from within...

Yu Yuanzhen's expression changed drastically. He whipped his head toward Yu Luomian beside him.

Yu Luomian nearly lost his soul to terror. He was about to flee, but the pressure of a Titled Douluo pinned him in place. It bore down like a collapsing mountain, like a tidal wave crashing overhead, and his legs began to tremble against his will.

"B-Big Brother, this Sky Screen must be fake! An unreliable ranking! A completely unreliable ranking!

How could I possibly collude with Spirit Hall? Besides, how could our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan rank only tenth?"

Yu Yuanzhen said nothing. His face showed neither anger nor sorrow. Only his aura, tight as an iron hoop, held Yu Luomian fast.

The scene continued. Yu Luomian opened the defensive formation with his own hands. Six Titled Douluo charged straight for the clan leader's hall, while the other Spirit Hall Soul Masters surged in like a flood. They killed everyone they encountered, sparing neither the old nor the young, neither women nor children. They had come to slaughter the clan!

Crack... crack...

Yu Luomian heard Yu Yuanzhen's knuckles popping. The killing intent seeping from between his clenched fingers chilled him to the bone.

Across the square, countless eyes stabbed at him like needles and blades, filled with hostility, suspicion, and accusation. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into a crack in the ground.

He lied desperately to himself:

Don't admit it. Never admit it... As long as I haven't done anything, no one can convict me!

He suddenly raised his voice and shouted:

"So it really is an unreliable ranking! It must be a Soul Tool made by Spirit Hall to throw our clan into disarray!

To place our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan tenth—what an insult! A naked insult!"

He shouted himself hoarse, his face flushed scarlet. Even he nearly believed it.

The disciples and Elders in the square were more than half convinced. After all, how could the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan possibly rank only tenth?

The pride rooted in their blood made them all the more willing to accept Yu Luomian's defense.

But before Yu Luomian could breathe a sigh of relief, the pressure on him grew heavier.

He jerked his head up. On the Sky Screen, Yu Yuanzhen had already plunged into battle against Spirit Hall's six Titled Douluo.

The longer he watched, the more shocked and horrified he became.

When Yu Yuanzhen unleashed the True Dragon Nine Crowns, fought six opponents alone, and forced them all back, Yu Luomian's jaw nearly hit the ground.

How was this possible... How was this possible?!

Then jealousy sank its fangs into his heart like a venomous snake.

That set of Soul Bones should have been mine. I was the next clan leader, the rightful heir!

It was all that old bastard's fault for pouring countless resources into Yu Xiaogang. Otherwise, why would I still be unable to break through to Titled Douluo?

If I'd reached that rank long ago, why would I have needed to join forces with Spirit Hall?

The Sky Screen continued to unfold the events.

To the shock of the world, Yu Yuanzhen fought six Titled Douluo alone. He killed four and grievously wounded one before finally exhausting his strength and dying from the backlash of Qian Jun and Jiang Mo's Martial Soul techniques and secret arts.

(Note: This follows the comic's version—the old dragon's death in the original novel was far too humiliating and lacked the commanding might befitting the world's foremost Beast Martial Soul.)

"Not a bad way to spend a life. One against six, four killed and one wounded—I got my money's worth."

Yu Yuanzhen stroked his beard with a soft chuckle, though his gaze was deep as an abyss.

"I thought Spirit Hall was only plotting against the Heaven Dou Empire. Now I know they want the entire continent."

Spirit Hall's allocation of resources and deployment of personnel made its designs on Heaven Dou plain to see.

And most Heaven Dou nobles were spineless. Offer them a little sweetness, then knock them about, and they would become willing vassals.

He already knew of several traitors to the empire. How many more lurked in the shadows, he could not say.

"Alas... Is the empire destined to rot and decline after all?"

He gave a self-mocking smile. His gaze swept across the vision of his ruined clan, and he murmured:

"And is my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan any different?"

Yu Luomian's heart hammered. He could not shake the feeling those words were meant for him, as though he would be ground to dust the very next moment.

At last, the vision ended.

Yet the ranking's authenticity once again became the center of fierce debate.

"Even if this divine ranking speaks the truth, how could the Thunder Douluo rank only tenth with strength like that?"

Disbelief filled Ning Fengzhi's eyes. If this was the measure of combat strength, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect might face an equally terrible end.

Gu Rong and Chen Xin were even more astonished by Yu Yuanzhen's final burst of power.

Gu Rong asked quietly, "Old Sword Freak, if we joined forces, how much of an advantage would we have?"

Chen Xin slowly shook his head. "Together, we wouldn't fare much better than those six. But... once he activated the True Dragon Nine Crowns, Gu Rong, we'd leave at once. He couldn't catch us."

As expected, the foundations of a great clan with an ancient legacy were never to be underestimated.

[TOP 10 rewards being issued]

[Congratulations to all members of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan whose hearts are loyal to the clan: Soul Power increased across the board!]

[Clan Leader Yu Yuanzhen: True Dragon Nine Crowns greatly enhanced. The age of every Soul Ring has risen from 99,999 years to 100,000 years!]

Crack—

Bibi Dong crushed the armrest of her chair in the Papal Palace with one hand.

Every Soul Ring at a hundred thousand years? Had this ranking gone mad? Such a lavish reward for tenth place—was it trying to make him a god outright?!

Everyone who understood the significance of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring went pale with shock.

For Yu Yuanzhen, it meant every one of his skills had doubled in power. Forget six Soul Douluo—even if Spirit Hall sent its forces against him, so long as Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu did not come in person, he could sweep through them single-handedly!

The remaining rewards fell like a shower of stars. Specks of light descended from the sky and merged into every Soul Master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

"Whoa! My Soul Power went up a whole level!"

"Why did mine only go up half a level...?"

A mote of light stopped before Yu Yuanzhen and silently merged into him.

He felt the barrier that had trapped him for years, thick as walls of copper and iron, shatter beneath the touch of that tiny light.

"Level ninety-six..."

Yu Yuanzhen felt new power surging through him like a great river and could not help sighing. This reward was better than he could have imagined.

He had thought he would advance no further in this life. Never had he expected to break through here.

Everyone in the square reveled in their growing power. Only Yu Luomian felt no increase at all.

He feigned the same rapture, doing his utmost to conceal it. He might have fooled the others, but he could not fool Yu Yuanzhen.

From beginning to end, Yu Yuanzhen watched to see whether any light entered Yu Luomian's body.

Even as the rewards ended, none had.

The answer needed no words.