Xu Yan Wouldn't Live Past Soul Elder?

The woman who spoke was named Yun Jin, a rank ninety-one Titled Douluo.

She wore a pale blue silk dress, her beauty cool and ethereal.

Yet an intoxicating allure hid in her eyes and brows. She looked barely thirty.

A newcomer to the Offering Hall, she was also one of only two female elders serving there.

Her beauty and bearing surpassed even Elder Luanfeng's.

Liao Mengkai cast her an indifferent glance and said bluntly:

"I was merely speaking the truth.

Though I haven't spent long with Xu Yan, I can see his character clearly.

The boy is fiercely ambitious and decisive in matters of life and death, utterly unlike his indecisive father, the emperor. His talent also towers above everyone of his generation.

With careful nurturing, he would unquestionably be the best candidate to inherit the throne."

"What good is talent, however great?"

Ye Yulin sneered, his face full of disdain. "Sun Moon Imperial Family blood may flow through his veins, but half his blood also comes from the Heaven Dou Empire.

His birth is already tainted. The throne is simply beyond his reach.

Besides, his martial soul conceals a fatal flaw. His days are numbered. He won't live much longer."

Liao Mengkai's brows suddenly knitted, his expression grave.

"He won't live long? What do you mean?"

"You've spent these past two years stationed at the border, defending our lands. Naturally, you know nothing of the palace's secrets."

Ye Yulin explained calmly, his tone certain.

"Xu Yan's talent defies heaven, but his body simply cannot withstand the backlash and erosion of his own martial soul.

Elder Kong declared long ago that the boy wouldn't live past the Soul Elder stage."

"Impossible!"

Liao Mengkai immediately turned toward Kong Deming in the seat of honor, his face filled with astonishment.

"That boy is as vigorous as a dragon and as fierce as a tiger, brimming with vitality. I've never seen the slightest sign that he would die young!"

"That abundant vitality is merely a false appearance."

Seated in the place of honor, Kong Deming sighed softly and began to explain.

"You spent two months with him. You should have noticed.

During daylight, Xu Yan's strength continually surges, and the power of the ultimate fire within him increases dramatically with the intensity of the sunlight."

Liao Mengkai nodded slightly.

He, too, had been profoundly shocked by this.

Without activating a soul skill, the boy could pile layer upon layer of combat power onto himself through sunlight alone.

Such an ability had already transcended the bounds of ordinary soul masters. It was almost inhuman.

"Yet this heaven-defying talent is precisely what is dragging him toward death."

Kong Deming's voice was solemn as he slowly revealed the crux of the problem.

"Every day at noon, the yang fire within him goes berserk.

While his combat power multiplies several times over, it also produces an extremely powerful burning backlash.

He may possess a body martial soul, but you know what a body martial soul is like before its second awakening.

An empty framework with no foundation.

It simply cannot withstand the relentless erosion of that ultimate yang fire.

To endure this increasingly violent yang fire, he can only keep breaking through to higher stages, absorbing soul rings to strengthen his body.

But the stronger his soul power becomes, the more potent his yang fire grows, and the deadlier its corrosive backlash becomes."

"That traps him in an inescapable death spiral."

Kong Deming shook his head slightly and delivered his verdict.

"He advances to withstand the backlash, but advancing only intensifies it. In the end, his own yang fire will burn him alive.

That is the fundamental reason I declared he wouldn't live past Soul Elder.

The only way out is for his body to undergo a fundamental transformation."

At that, he said no more.

Everyone in the hall, however, understood perfectly.

There were only two ways for a soul master's body to evolve:

The first was to use soul rings and soul bones to temper the bloodline, but that slight improvement was no more than a cup of water thrown onto a blazing cartload of firewood.

It simply could not keep pace with the increasing backlash of the yang fire.

And without advancing to a higher stage, he could not obtain a new soul ring. Ultimately, there was no solution;

The second was to consume a heaven-defying immortal herb.

But immortal herbs were vanishingly rare, encountered only by fortune, never found by seeking.

There was even less hope of finding one suited to Xu Yan's constitution.

That left only one possible way to break the deadlock.

A second awakening of his body martial soul.

But this was the Body Sect's exclusive core secret, never taught to outsiders.

Obtaining it would be harder than ascending to heaven.

Weighing every advantage and drawback, Xu Yan might possess peerless talent, but he was a short-lived genius with no future in sight.

He simply wasn't worth pouring resources into to cultivate.

Besides, Xu Tianran's talent was likewise exceptional.

With his mutated, top-tier martial soul, the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, his worth scarcely differed from Xu Yan's.

He was already the best choice for the succession.

After hearing this, Liao Mengkai fell into doubt, his expression complicated.

He felt as though Elder Kong was describing an entirely different person from the one he knew.

The Xu Yan he knew was powerful and vigorous, ruthless and decisive, nothing like someone whose days were numbered.

Yet Kong Deming possessed profound knowledge and never spoke empty words. Liao Mengkai had no choice but to believe him.

Could that boy truly be doomed to die?

Liao Mengkai's heart filled with regret.

Just then, Ye Yulin raised a brow and suddenly spoke.

"I've found the boy!"

Every gaze in the hall immediately converged on him.

Even Kong Deming looked up.

After learning that Xu Yan was trapped in a fatal predicament and had no value as a prospect, he had long since abandoned the boy.

But their discussion had stirred his interest.

He, too, wanted to see for himself what fate ultimately awaited this genius caught in a hopeless situation.

Ye Yulin tossed out a special, fist-sized soul tool.

The soul tool hovered in midair, its components instantly unfolding into a rectangular screen of light.

As he continued feeding it soul power, a clear, live image soon appeared on the screen.

This was the High-Altitude Linked Detection Soul Tool.

It could connect to the aerial detection devices throughout Mingdu and transmit real-time images of the ground.

In the image, Xu Yan and his three companions stood beside a broken sewer pipe.

Dilapidated shanties crowded the surrounding slum.

Water gushed from the broken pipe, flooding the ground and leaving pools everywhere.

Opposite the four of them, five masked figures in black stood silently, their auras chilling.

One Soul Ancestor and four Soul Elders exerted layer upon layer of pressure.

Recognizing their attire, one elder immediately spoke.

"They're assassins from the Aodu Chamber of Commerce.

Judging by the terrain, they're currently in the southern slums."

Yun Jin's gaze swept over the broken pipe, and she chuckled.

"They certainly know how to run.

The city gate lies just beyond this slum. They probably intended to escape Mingdu through the underground pipe network.

Unfortunately, they were a step too late. There's no chance of escape now."

"Three Soul Grandmasters and one Soul Elder against four Soul Elders and one Soul Ancestor.

The disparity in cultivation is enormous. There's simply no chance of turning this around."

Another elder shook his head and pronounced his verdict.

Liao Mengkai's brows knitted tightly, worry filling his heart.

He knew Xu Yan could fight opponents above his own level.

But the gulf between Soul Ancestor and Soul Elder was not something ordinary methods could bridge.

On the eastern horizon, a crimson morning sun slowly rose.

Golden rays spilled down, gilding the entire slum in warm gold.

"The sun's up..."

Xu Yan glanced up at the dazzling morning light and murmured to himself.

Then his gaze slowly settled on the scarred, masked assassin leading the group ahead.

His tone was indifferent. "I already spared you once. Why come back to throw your life away?"

The man before him was one of the three assassins who had fled in panic earlier.

He had a vicious scar across his face.

It was highly distinctive and had left a deep impression on Xu Yan.

Xu Yan simply hadn't expected the fellow to return, let alone bring four Soul Elders to help him.

The scarred man bared his teeth in a savage grin, his expression vicious.

"Second Prince, I'll admit you're a little clever, but I'm not one of those fools.

I watched every ruthless, decisive move you made earlier.

If you had the chance, would you really be kind enough to spare an enemy?"

"Oh?"

Xu Yan raised a brow, understanding at once. "So you retreated first because you wanted to keep the whole prize for yourself."

"Heh, you're wrong about that. Keeping the whole feast to yourself is a bad habit."

The scarred man did not fall into the trap in Xu Yan's words.

He sneered. "With the price on your head, killing you will be enough to feed me and all my brothers.

Today, even if you sprout wings, you won't escape!"

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