He turned his gaze toward those below the platform. "Erlong."
Liu Erlong smiled faintly and walked slowly forward.
The next instant, eight Soul Rings rose one after another from beneath her feet!
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black!
The eight rings arrayed themselves in an imposing display, crimson flames surging around her and warping the surrounding air with their heat.
"A Soul Douluo!"
Everyone present was shocked once again!
"Liu Erlong, martial soul: Fire Dragon. Rank eighty-six, eight-ring Battle Soul Douluo."
"Rank eighty-six!"
"Hiss... doesn't that mean she has a chance of becoming a Titled Douluo someday?"
The entire gathering erupted once more.
Yu Xiaogang alone had already been shocking enough, yet now Liu Erlong was actually a Soul Douluo!
Once she broke through in the future, wouldn't the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan have two Douluos under one roof?
At that thought, recalling their previous treatment of Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong, many felt their faces burn and wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
The two strongest people in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan aside from its master had both once been unwelcome in the clan. How shameful...
"A Soul Douluo! Good, good, good!"
Yu Luomian laughed heartily. "Erlong, since you've broken through to Soul Douluo, you can also become an elder under the clan rules!"
He was truly happy.
His own son, who had been treated as useless for so many years, had risen in a single day. Upon taking the arena, even Yu Luomian had proved no match for him, and he had climbed straight to the position of the clan's second strongest!
Then, a moment later, Liu Erlong had revealed her strength as well, and she was already a rank eighty-six Soul Douluo.
How could he not rejoice?
After all, the current generation of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan faced a gap between the old guard and the new, with almost no powerful figures besides himself capable of upholding its standing.
Now they suddenly had two more. Liu Erlong had reached Soul Douluo at such a young age that she would very likely break through to Titled Douluo in the future; his own son's martial soul had even evolved into the legendary Golden Sacred Dragon, giving him no reason not to reach the level of Titled Douluo.
He himself was still in the prime of his life. When the time came, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan would have three Douluos under one roof, surpassing the world's second-ranked Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and perhaps even having a chance to contend for the position of the world's foremost sect!
The more Yu Yuanzhen thought about it, the more delighted he became. Unable to suppress his smile, he strode over to Yu Xiaogang, raised a hand to pat his shoulder, then paused in midair. In the end, he merely rested it gently on his shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze.
"Good lad."
"All these years... thank you for your hard work."
Yu Xiaogang smiled and shook his head. "I wouldn't call it hard work. Some things simply have to be done."
"Heh, I thought you were never coming back. Well, it's good that you're back. The Golden Sacred Dragon, hahahaha!"
The three did not linger in the arena. After all, the clan tournament still had to continue.
Under the complicated gazes of their many clansmen, Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong followed Yu Yuanzhen up to the dais and took seats beside the seat of honor.
As soon as Yu Yuanzhen sat down, he eagerly asked, "Tell your father what you've been doing all these years. Even your martial soul has evolved, and those Soul Rings of yours-five Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings! That's unheard of across the entire continent."
Yu Xiaogang smiled. "Father, my path cannot be replicated. Even if I told you, it would be of no use. I'd be better off giving you something practical."
As he spoke, he took a Jade Box from inside his robes, set it gently on the table, and pushed it toward Yu Yuanzhen.
"What is this?"
Yu Xiaogang opened the lid. A white orchid lay quietly inside, every petal exquisitely defined, its whole surface shimmering with a soft luster as it gave off a crisp, delicate medicinal fragrance.
Its eight petals overlapped in layers, like stars in bloom.
It was none other than the immortal-grade eight-petal immortal orchid.
Yu Xiaogang had initially been unsure which immortal herb to give his father. The eight-petal immortal orchid ranked among the finest immortal-grade medicinal herbs, with gentle properties that made it suitable for anyone to consume, so he had taken it out.
"Father, you're currently a rank ninety-five Titled Douluo. Taking this immortal herb may not let you break through to rank ninety-six immediately, but a future breakthrough will be no problem at all."
Yu Yuanzhen looked at the immortal herb in the box. "To think such a wondrous thing exists in this world!"
Knowledge of immortal herbs was not widespread on the Douluo Continent. In fact, the vast majority of people knew nothing about them.
Only a handful knew the secrets surrounding immortal herbs.
As far as Yu Xiaogang knew, aside from those in his own circle.
Only Chrysanthemum Douluo of Spirit Hall and Yang Wudi of the Breaking Clan understood them.
"Hehe, you'll know once you've absorbed it later. Erlong and I have both already taken one."
As Yu Xiaogang spoke, he turned to glance at Liu Erlong.
Liu Erlong nodded in agreement. "The effects truly are excellent."
Hearing this, Yu Yuanzhen stopped declining and carefully put away the Jade Box. "Good. Then your father will absorb and refine it later."
Yu Xiaogang paused, then spoke again. "By the way, Father, Erlong and I won't be staying in the clan for long this time."
The smile on Yu Yuanzhen's face faltered slightly. "What? Why?"
Yu Xiaogang explained, "We still have an academy in Heaven Dou City, and my disciple needs my instruction as well. I can't be away for too long."
In truth, there was another reason: neither Yu Xiaogang nor Liu Erlong particularly liked the atmosphere within the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Of course, some clansmen treated them differently, but overall, the clan's hidebound ways and arrogance made them uncomfortable staying there.
Now that they had revealed their strength, the clansmen's attitudes might change, but they still had no intention of staying long.
Yu Xiaogang would not say this outright, however. After all, Yu Yuanzhen had devoted his entire life to the clan. If he learned that its two most promising younger members both disliked it, he would likely take it badly.
He still decided to be more tactful.
Someone as clever as Yu Yuanzhen could probably guess some of it anyway.
But he would not spell it out either. He merely fell silent for a moment before finally nodding. "I see. Very well. As long as you remain members of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan."
After some thought, he added, "Blue Tyrant Academy, was it? The clan has provided some support over the years. There will be more of it in the future."
"All right."
Liu Erlong had been sitting quietly to the side all along without interrupting.
Originally, she had not wanted to acknowledge herself as a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, but her logic was simple: Yu Xiaogang was one, and she was his wife, so she was one too.
As for Yu Luomian, her father in name, she had never acknowledged him from beginning to end.
Yu Xiaogang actually thought little of Yu Luomian as well. He was nothing more than a petty man.
In the original story, this traitor to the clan deserved at least seventy percent of the credit for how easily the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had been destroyed.
Even if the clan faced a gap between the old guard and the new, betrayal was still betrayal. Yu Luomian was unworthy of being a dragon.
In Yu Xiaogang's heart, only Yu Yuanzhen, his own father, was the person most worthy of respect in the entire Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
In the original story's battle in which Spirit Hall destroyed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Yu Yuanzhen had fought one against six until the very last moment. Fusing with the True Dragon Nine Crowns, he had managed to kill four of Spirit Hall's Titled Douluos, trading his life for power to unleash a peak strike. Though he had ultimately failed to withstand Spirit Hall's assault, that was because Spirit Hall had simply been too powerful for any one of the Upper Three Sects to contend with, compounded by the presence of that traitor Yu Luomian.
In that battle, Yu Yuanzhen had truly fought with the unbending spirit befitting the world's foremost beast martial soul.
Yu Xiaogang admitted to himself that, should that moment truly come, he might not possess such determination to fight to the death.
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