Chapter 100: Three Consecutive Breakthroughs? Shattering the Common Sense of the Soul Master World!
Inside the dark golden soul power barrier, Liu Yuan remained anchored in a deep, mysterious state of absolute tranquility.
The deafening clamor of the spectator stands, the venomous curses spat by Elder Xuan, and even the explosive, ground-shaking clashes of soul power echoing from the tournament arena—none of it could pierce the veil of absolute silence enveloping the youth.
His consciousness drifted in an ocean of unmatched clarity, detached from the mortal coil. He felt the surging soul power within his meridians undergoing a baptism, washed over by a sacred, primordial force.
As his immersion in the Unity of Heaven and Man deepened, the pure elemental energy drifting through the atmosphere answered his silent call. It whipped into a visible vortex, surging forward in an absolute frenzy. The energy phased right through the dark golden barrier like water through a sieve, pouring into his open pores and forcefully flooding his meridians.
This soul power, already purified to an extreme degree, underwent continuous compression and reorganization within his pathways. It flowed like a torrential river, ultimately converging upon the Origin Core of his Double Pupils.
Under the unblinking gaze of tens of thousands of spectators, the dark purple halo radiating from Liu Yuan's figure suddenly flared outward, expanding its radius.
In that very instant, a mighty shockwave of soul power erupted from his flesh. It was the unmistakable signature of a breakthrough.
"Rank 46." Du Busi, standing guard just outside the barrier, narrowed his eyes. The words slipped from his lips in a low, gravelly whisper.
The Body Sect Master could clearly sense the qualitative leap in the boy's soul power fluctuations. To break through a rank after less than an hour of meditation, entirely devoid of the aid of alchemical pills or external treasures, was a feat that would leave the vast majority of Soul Masters gasping for air.
Yet, this was merely the prelude.
Liu Yuan's rate of improvement showed zero signs of stagnating just because he had crossed the threshold of Rank 46. On the contrary, as his connection with the ambient energy of heaven and earth deepened, the suction force radiating from his body grew downright terrifying.
Within his inner vision, his meridians were forcibly widening under the high-intensity infusion of energy. Every beat of his heart, every pulsation of his soul power, echoed with a low, thunderous roar that shook his very bones.
Another half an hour ticked by.
Boom!
A dull, muffled explosion echoed from within the dark golden barrier.
Liu Yuan's aura spiked once more. The intensity of his soul power fluctuations stabilized, stepping firmly onto an entirely new plateau.
"Rank 47?!"
The murmurs in the spectator stands instantly detonated into a chaotic uproar.
If advancing a single rank could be chalked up to a rare epiphany recorded in ancient texts, then continuously crossing two ranks in such a minuscule timeframe, right in front of a massive crowd, completely shattered the foundational understanding of every Soul Master present.
"Is this how leveling up works now? This old man has cultivated for fifty bitter years and has never laid eyes on such a monster!" A team leader from a rival academy shot out of his seat, his voice cracking with sheer disbelief.
"Does he not need to stabilize his foundation? What about the process of soul power conversion? Does his body not reject the sudden influx?"
"Calling him a freak does not even cover it anymore." Another Soul Master dragged a trembling sleeve across his forehead, wiping away a layer of cold sweat. "This is an open mockery of the common sense governing the Soul Master world. The Unity of Heaven and Man... is it truly this outrageous?"
High up in the distant VIP seating, Elder Xuan slumped forward, his knuckles white as he gripped the armrests. His posture screamed of a man whose spirit had just been shattered.
He stared fixedly at the serene, undisturbed face of Liu Yuan inside the barrier. A loud, incessant buzzing noise filled the old man's ears, drowning out the crowd. He had convinced himself that the boy was merely lucky to stumble into a state of epiphany. He never expected to witness the youth's cultivation base skyrocket with the casual ease of drinking a glass of water.
"Is he really human?" Elder Xuan rasped. His hoarse voice dripped with a deep mixture of dread and absolute absurdity. "Even a hundred-thousand-year soul beast taking human form could not progress this fast during the Rank 40 bottleneck. This... this completely defies all logic!"
Just as the entire plaza plunged into a state of near-hypnotic shock, the raging torrent of soul power within Liu Yuan's body converged yet again.
As if sensing an excess of unrefined energy, the Origin Core of the Double Pupils emitted a crisp, ringing vibration that echoed through his bones.
Just as the dark purple halo showed signs of retracting, the aura surrounding Liu Yuan violently exploded outward for a third time.
Rank 48!
In a mere two hours, under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands, Liu Yuan had forcibly jumped three entire ranks. He had skyrocketed from Rank 45 straight to Rank 48!
Every single Soul Master in the venue lost the ability to speak. Jaws hung slack. Eyes bulged.
Even the two academy teams currently engaged in a brutal, high-stakes deathmatch on the central arena ground to a sudden halt. The referee forgot to enforce the rules. The audience forgot to cheer. The gazes of tens of thousands of people across the sprawling Star Luo Plaza were entirely magnetized to that three-meter radius of dark gold.
No one cared about the tournament anymore. When placed beside the miraculous, logic-defying promotion of Liu Yuan, the petty skirmish on the arena felt as dull and tasteless as chewed wax.
Finally, the dark purple halo surrounding Liu Yuan began to slowly retract. The deep rhythm that had aligned with the heavens and the earth gradually smoothed out, returning to a state of calm.
He exhaled a long, measured breath of turbid air and slowly opened his eyes. A crimson light flashed within his Double Pupils before vanishing into the depths of his irises, replaced by a highly condensed, abyssal dark gleam.
He tilted his head slightly, only to find that everyone in his immediate vicinity—including Du Busi and Long Aotian—was staring at him as if he had just crawled out of a grave.
Liu Yuan blinked, genuinely taken aback. He asked with a mild trace of confusion, "What is wrong? Why is everyone staring at me? Did the match end already?"
Du Busi waved a hand, withdrawing the dark golden barrier. He rolled his eyes at the boy, though the manic excitement burning in the depths of his gaze was impossible to conceal.
The towering Body Sect Master slapped a heavy hand onto Liu Yuan's shoulder. The sheer physical force behind the gesture caused the surrounding air to emit a dull, concussive thud.
"You little brat, you actually have the nerve to ask?" Du Busi barked, a wide grin splitting his face. "Do you have any idea that you just broke through three ranks in full view of the entire continent? You are already at Rank 48 soul power!"
Liu Yuan turned his attention inward, feeling the soul power channels in his body that had expanded to become as wide and surging as raging rivers. Yet, his eyes did not display the wild ecstasy everyone expected. Instead, his brow furrowed slightly. He let out a soft, disappointed sigh.
"What a pity. I felt the Origin force was still quite abundant just a moment ago. I originally intended to ride that momentum and directly impact Rank 49. In the end, I fell just a little bit short. The follow-up power was lacking."
The moment those words left his mouth, a suffocating, dead silence crashed over the entire venue.
A second later, countless Soul Masters experienced a deep, soul-deep wave of absolute speechlessness.
You jumped three entire ranks! You went from Rank 45 to Rank 48 in two hours, and you are actually standing there sighing because you failed to hit Rank 49?!
You still are not satisfied?! How are the rest of the Soul Masters in the world—people who might bleed and sweat for years just to advance a single rank—supposed to find the will to live after hearing that?!
Amidst this extremely absurd silence, every single Soul Master present formed a brand new, utterly subversive understanding of Liu Yuan's monstrous talent.
And immediately following that realization came a collective re-evaluation of Elder Xuan's sheer, unadulterated stupidity.
A peerless genius capable of jumping three ranks during a single epiphany. A twelve-year-old who had already reached Rank 48. A monster possessing a top-tier physical body and the legendary Double Pupils Martial Soul. How in the world did Shrek Academy manage to drive someone like this away?!
High above on the imperial city wall, Emperor Xu Jiawei leaned against the stone parapet, staring down at Elder Xuan's slumped, dejected back. His regal eyes brimmed with unfiltered mockery.
He leaned over, whispering to the high-ranking officials flanking him. "This Elder Xuan is truly the terminator of Shrek's ten-thousand-year glory. If this Liu Yuan were a subject of my Star Luo Empire, I would empty the national treasury and crown him a king before I ever allowed him to entertain a single thought of leaving. Shrek Academy... truly suffers from a severe illness of the mind."
Down below, Elder Xuan could feel the physical weight of those gazes. Questioning, mocking, and pitying looks poured in from all directions, treating him like the biggest fool to ever walk the earth.
Those stares felt like ten thousand blazing steel needles piercing his flesh, making every second he remained in his seat an agonizing torture.
He lowered his head. All color had drained from his aged, wrinkled face, leaving behind a sickly, ashen gray.
His jaw trembled. A biting, glacial chill clawed its way up from the very depths of his soul, freezing the blood in his veins.
He knew the reality of the situation all too well. The stronger Liu Yuan became, the more impossible it would be to justify his actions to Elder Mu.
Now, under the watchful eyes of the entire continent, he had been thoroughly reduced to a blind, arrogant clown.
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