"Exactly!"
Beside him, a burly man carrying an enormous soul guidance sword on his back laughed so hard he slapped his thigh:
"And that fellow called Yu Xiaogang-he calls himself a master of Martial Soul Theory, yet he actually said His Third Highness was courting death by absorbing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring above his rank?
What the hell does he know about a god-level Xuanwu Martial Soul!
What the hell does he know about tempering the body, Qi, and blood!"
"Exactly!
His Third Highness has soaked in true dragon blood and consumed ten-thousand-year whale glue since childhood. His body is tougher than level 9 adamantine, and a divine statue of the Ancestor presides over his sea of divine consciousness.
The lingering soul and resentment of a mere hundred-thousand-year Sea Soul Beast actually dreamed of turning on His Third Highness?
It really didn't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth!"
"A level 84 Soul Douluo, bearing a hundred-thousand-year eighth ring!
Mighty is His Third Highness!"
"Victory upon victory to the Xuanwu Empire!
May the Ancestor bless us!"
Throughout the city's streets and alleys, in its great restaurants and soul guidance academies, cheers and exclamations of admiration rang out everywhere.
To the people of the Xuanwu Empire, absorbing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring above one's rank was rare, but still a routine feat for the Imperial Family and the most outstanding prodigies.
Instead, the provincial ignorance of those people from the Douluo Continent on the Sky Screen had become the greatest laughingstock of Xuanwu City's citizens over tea and after meals.
The Ye Family Residence, in the heart of Xuanwu City.
As one of the Xuanwu Empire's foremost noble families, the Bright Phoenix Ye Family enjoyed immense prestige within the empire.
Members of the Ye Family held numerous key positions in the three Ninth-Level Soul Guidance Legions under the reigning emperor, Lu Ye.
At this moment, dozens of core Ye Family members had gathered in the vast courtyard before the magnificent Ye Family Council Hall.
On the Sky Screen, the scene of Lu Wudao completing his Soul Ring absorption and Ye Shaozhe calmly ordering a full-speed advance was projected before them without missing a single frame.
"Elder Shaozhe's Phoenix True Fire has grown ever more refined!"
A Ye Family elder stroked his beard and said with a proud smile:
"Severely wounding a hundred-thousand-year overlord of the deep sea in a single strike-with such might, he would rank among the foremost even in the empire's Worship Hall."
"Naturally!
Elder Shaozhe is now level 95, a Power Attack System Super Douluo, and he has a level 9 fixed Soul Tool to protect him.
An ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is nothing more than a clay pellet he can crush at will."
The younger disciples in the courtyard were flushed with excitement, their eyes filled with fervent admiration for Ye Shaozhe.
At the very top of the steps, a woman in plain white court attire sat upright on a Divine Phoenix Jade Chair.
Her face was coldly beautiful, exuding nobility and authority, and the noise throughout the courtyard instantly subsided wherever her gaze swept.
She was the current head of the Bright Phoenix family: Ye Xishui!
An apex expert whose strength had long since reached the pinnacle of level 99, only a hair's breadth from demigodhood!
Ye Xishui possessed the same Twin Martial Souls and aptitude as Ye Xishui from Peerless Tang Sect.
But on the Xuanwu Continent, Ye Xishui could cultivate both her Death God Demon Puppet and Bright Phoenix Martial Souls without concern.
After entering the Titled Douluo realm, Ye Xishui had rapidly increased her strength by cultivating her Second Martial Soul, Bright Phoenix.
Watching the spirited figure of her younger brother Ye Shaozhe on the Sky Screen, Ye Xishui smiled faintly and gave a slight nod:
"That boy Shaozhe finally managed not to disgrace the Ye Family.
The force behind that Sacred Radiance Skylight Lock was reasonably precise.
It crushed the Evil Orca King's ability to resist while preserving the complete Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and Soul Bone."
A silver-robed old man standing beside Ye Xishui bowed and said with a smile:
"Family Head, Elder Shaozhe followed His Third Highness as the vanguard commander this time and claimed the first success. Not only did he secure the urgently needed Eighth Soul Ring for His Third Highness, but he also displayed our Ye Family's might before the Sky Screen.
Many people on the Douluo Continent are now asking about our Ye Family's name on the Sky Screen."
"A name is empty fame. It scarcely merits mention."
Ye Xishui lifted her teacup and took a gentle sip, her voice calm yet carrying the composure of someone commanding the entire situation:
"The Douluo Continent is nothing but a collection of backward natives imprisoned by their own conventions.
For countless years, they have blindly obeyed their so-called age limits for Martial Souls, knowing nothing of unlocking the body's hidden treasures or using soul guidance technology to aid Martial Soul cultivation.
They don't even have a single respectable Level 9 Soul Engineer. How laughable."
"You are absolutely right, Family Head."
The old man nodded in agreement, then asked quietly:
"But, Family Head, according to what His Third Highness said on the Sky Screen, Sea God Island lies three thousand li ahead of the fleet.
This old servant has heard that Bo Saixi, the high priestess of Sea God Island, is one of the Douluo Continent's three great Peerless Douluos, said to be invincible at sea, with Soul Power as high as level 99.
Would Elder Shaozhe and His Third Highness be overreaching by advancing with only the Sea-Breaker fleet?"
"Overreaching?"
Ye Xishui gave a cold laugh, a trace of disdain flashing through her eyes:
"Ten thousand years ago, a level 99 Peerless Douluo borrowing Sea God Divine Power could indeed have stirred up wind and waves upon the ocean.
But now, times have changed."
Ye Xishui set down her teacup and rose, looking toward the passage to the Ancestor Altar in the deepest reaches of the imperial palace:
"The Sea-Breaker carries the empire's latest Level 9 Superconducting Energy-Gathering Main Cannon. Three rounds of saturation salvos would blast even an ordinary Peerless Douluo's divine-power shield to pieces.
And this is merely a vanguard patrol cruiser."
"Behind the Sea-Breaker are the three Ninth-Level Soul Guidance Legions led personally by His Majesty, with dozens of Titled Douluos from the Worship Hall overseeing them!
Most importantly...
His Majesty Ancestor Changqing has awakened from his slumber."
At the mention of "Ancestor Changqing," every Ye Family member in the courtyard grew solemn, boundless devotion and fervor immediately welling up in their eyes.
Fifty thousand years ago, the Xuanwu Divine Beast had descended and laid the foundations of the Xuanwu Empire!
He was a truly living Ancestor who transcended the Divine Realm!
"If Bo Saixi knows what's good for her, she will submit to the empire and surrender Sea God Island. Then her lineage may still be preserved."
Ye Xishui's voice was icy as frost:
"If she dares use that meager remnant of the Sea God's worship-fueled divine power to raise a mantis's arms against a chariot and obstruct the empire's advancing blades...
The Ancestor will not need to act. Our Xuanwu Empire's soul guidance army alone can sink all of Sea God Island into the depths of the ocean!"
"Pass down my orders. All Ye Family Soul Guidance Military Workshops are to operate at full capacity. Accelerate production of the second batch of High-Tier Charged Milk Bottles and Level 9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells.
Once the empire's continent and the Douluo Continent fully meet, it will be time for our Ye Family's elite forces to launch an all-out offensive!"
"As you command, Family Head!"
Everyone in the courtyard thundered their acknowledgment, their momentum surging like a rainbow.
In the Sky Screen Livestream, the atmosphere had become completely lopsided after Lu Wudao successfully absorbed the Soul Ring and advanced to level 84.
Watching one ridiculous scrolling comment after another in the Douluo Continent section, the Soul Masters and citizens of Xuanwu City who had previously not bothered to speak finally could not hold back and flooded into the Sky Screen chat!
[Xuanwu section · Instructor at Xuanwu City Royal Soul Guidance Academy]:
"Pfft!
That so-called Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang from the Douluo Continent, weren't you just declaring with absolute certainty that His Third Highness would die?
Come out and take a few steps!
His Third Highness is not only alive and kicking, but he also gained four levels in one go and broke through to level 84 Soul Douluo. Why aren't you barking anymore?"
[Xuanwu section · Ministry of Works Level 7 Soul Engineer]:
"A thousand-year second ring is impossible?
A hundred-thousand-year eighth ring is impossible?
Truly a frog at the bottom of a well, looking at the sky from its depths!
You don't even know the methods of using heavenly treasures from childhood to cleanse the marrow and temper the bones, widen the meridians, and nourish the body with Soul Power, yet you have the gall to call yourself a 'master of Martial Soul Theory'?
I'd say you're not even as good as the beginner children at our Xuanwu City's Junior Soul Guidance Academy!"