Chapter 32: Qilin Precious Technique! Du Busi's Shock!
Inside the quiet confines of Tingtao Pavilion, the air hummed with a heavy, invisible pressure.
Liu Yuan sat cross-legged on the wooden floor. Within his meridians, Level 30 soul power surged and crashed like a torrential river, carrying a dense, tyrannical vitality. He slowly opened his eyes, the dual pupils within them overlapping with a deep, ancient light. He did not immediately rise to push open the doors and announce his breakthrough. Instead, he remained seated, his mind sinking into deep contemplation.
The third soul ring was a critical watershed for any Soul Master, but for Liu Yuan, it represented something far more ambitious. He understood his reality with absolute clarity. The Double Pupils Martial Soul was an anomaly, a supreme existence that defied the conventional laws of the Douluo Continent. Following the traditional path, blindly hunting beasts and hoping for a favorable permutation of soul skills, was a waste of his potential. He was destined to walk a path entirely divorced from the mediocre masses.
Why grope around in the dark, relying on the continent's flawed system of trial and error, when he already knew the ultimate answer? He didn't need to experiment. He just needed to copy perfection. And in his mind, the most flawless answer was a legendary art from his past life's memories: the Qilin Precious Technique.
'Use the Double Pupils to judge the world, use the Qilin Step to tread upon it.'
Liu Yuan's dual pupils narrowed, gleaming with a cold, calculating light. That phrase was no mere slogan. In the depths of his transmigration memories, he recalled a peerless, invincible figure who had fused the Double Pupils with the Qilin Step to the absolute apex. It was a movement technique so deep, so devastatingly unpredictable, that a single step could shatter mountains and reverse the flow of rivers.
He analyzed his current combat system with ruthless pragmatism. His first soul skill provided devastating long-range destruction. His second soul skill guaranteed terrifying survival and endurance. What he lacked was the bridge between the two: instantaneous displacement and explosive close-quarters burst damage.
If he could acquire a soul skill that mimicked the Qilin Precious Technique, the final piece of the puzzle would snap into place. It would grant him the speed to cross a chaotic battlefield in a fraction of a second. More, it would allow him to channel the monstrous qi and blood he had tempered through the Body Secret Method directly into his footwork, unleashing catastrophic kinetic force in extreme close-quarters combat.
'However...'Liu Yuan's brow furrowed slightly, casting a shadow over his sharp features.'The fundamental flaw in this plan is the source. Do Qilin soul beasts even exist on the Douluo Continent?'
The continent boasted a legacy spanning tens of thousands of years. Dragon-type soul beasts were practically ubiquitous among the high-tier ecosystems. Yet, the legendary auspicious beast known as the Qilin was a ghost in the historical records. During his time suffering the hypocritical teachings of Shrek Academy, he had scoured the outer courtyard's public library. Not a single scroll or text had mentioned the creature.
But he was no longer a discarded outer courtyard student. He now stood at the core of the Body Sect, a secluded, top-tier faction with an ancient, unbroken legacy. The accumulated knowledge hidden within their vaults made Shrek's public archives look like children's picture books.
With a flick of his wrist, a heavy tome materialized from his storage ring. The cover was bound in dark gold animal hide, rough to the touch and radiating a faint, ancient pressure. It was the Body Sect Soul Beast Secret Canon. Du Busi had personally handed this to him before his seclusion. It was a compendium of countless ultra-rare soul beasts, creatures the outside world had long declared extinct, or had never even known existed.
Liu Yuan opened the heavy cover, the scent of aged parchment and dried blood wafting into the air. His fingertips traced the dense calligraphy, frantically flipping through page after page. He saw records of bizarre body-type soul beasts, grotesque mutations, and ancient apex predators. Yet, the word Qilin eluded him. He didn't let frustration take root. He simply adjusted his posture, stabilized his breathing, and patiently continued to search.
The sun set, casting long shadows across Tingtao Pavilion, and rose again. Days bled into one another in a silent blur of turning pages.
It wasn't until the dead of night on the third day, with only the flickering light of a single oil lamp illuminating the room, that his hand suddenly stopped.
Liu Yuan's dual pupils violently constricted.
He was currently reading the chapter titled: Far North Soul Beasts.
There, beside a slightly faded ink rubbing that seemed to exude a faint, sacred chill right off the page, were three bold characters.
Ice Qilin!
[Ice Qilin: Rumored to possess the remnant bloodline of an ancient Divine Beast. It inhabits the absolute depths of the Great Snow Mountain within the core region of the Far North.]
[Its form resembles a stag, crowned with a solitary crystalline horn. Its entire body is armored in ice-blue dragon scales, and it treads upon a perpetual domain of freezing mist.]
[This species of soul beast is exceptionally rare. Its physical body strength reaches a terrifying extreme, and it possesses a highly aloof, solitary nature.]
[, the ambient temperature in its territory within the Far North's core is catastrophically low. Even high-tier soul beasts find it impossible to survive in this domain.]
"Found it." Liu Yuan snapped the heavy tome shut. A sharp, predatory glint flashed across his eyes, cutting through the dim light of the pavilion.
The elemental affinity of Ice was secondary. What mattered were the core traits: a terrifyingly powerful physical body and the innate ability to tread upon mist and air. It was the absolute perfect carrier for the Qilin Step.
If he could hunt an Ice Qilin of the precise cultivation age, he could use the origin power of his Double Pupils to dissect, simulate, and imprint the beast's innate essence. By absorbing the physical laws of how it shattered ice and stepped through the void, the probability of successfully manifesting the Qilin Precious Technique was astronomically high.
Yet, the cold reality of the situation immediately tempered his rising blood.
The core region of the Far North was a literal forbidden zone of life. It was a frozen hellscape where even ordinary Soul Douluos dared not tread lightly. Setting aside the elusive, apocalyptic threat of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, the environment itself was lethal. The catastrophic low temperatures could freeze a person's soul directly within their body. For a newly advanced Level 30 Soul Elder like himself, stepping into that core zone was tantamount to suicide.
'Relying on my own strength? I'd be a frozen corpse long before I even caught a glimpse of a Qilin scale, let alone hunted one.' Liu Yuan slowly rubbed his chin, his mind spinning through a dozen different tactical approaches.
The solution presented itself almost immediately. Brute force was off the table. He was a pragmatist, not one of those arrogant, brain-dead fools who believed they could break into a forbidden death zone alone and survive on luck.
Why else had he traveled thousands of miles, handled countless dangers to join the Body Sect, and deliberately exposed his monstrous talent to Du Busi? It was precisely for moments like this.
A faint, calculating smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. 'Master, oh Master. Your precious disciple's third soul ring is going to require a bit of heavy lifting on your part.'
Liu Yuan stood, the joints in his body popping with explosive, suppressed energy. He smoothed out the creases in his dark robes, pushed open the heavy wooden doors of Tingtao Pavilion, and strode directly toward the Sect Master's Main Hall.
...
Meanwhile, inside the sprawling expanse of the Sect Master's Main Hall, the atmosphere was thick and solemn.
Du Busi slouched casually in the high seat of honor, his massive frame exuding an invisible, suffocating pressure despite his relaxed posture. Flanking him were two sect elders, their auras deep and entirely restrained, like dormant volcanoes.
Standing at attention in the center of the hall were Long Aotian, Chen Lu, and Wang Yanfeng. Their clothes bore the faint scent of dried blood and ozone, indicating they had just returned from a high-intensity external clearing mission. They stood with their hands respectfully at their sides, delivering their post-action report.
"...The bandit coalition roaming the western border has been completely eradicated," Long Aotian reported, his voice low and steady. "However, the leading Evil Soul Master proved exceptionally cunning. He detonated half his own meridians to trigger a Blood Escape Technique, allowing him to slip through our encirclement by a hair's breadth."
Long Aotian's jaw tightened, a flash of deep self-reproach crossing his sharp features. To him, anything less than absolute perfection was a failure.
Du Busi gave a slow, dismissive nod. He opened his mouth to speak, likely to tell his chief disciple not to sweat the small fry, but he suddenly paused. His thick eyebrows twitched upward. His deep green eyes shifted, locking onto the heavy stone archway at the entrance of the hall.
"Those footsteps..." Du Busi muttered, a sudden spark of interest lighting up his rugged face. "Is that little monster finally out of seclusion?"
The moment the words left his mouth, a figure stepped through the archway. Liu Yuan's frame was still slightly thin, a trait of his youth, but his posture was ramrod straight. His aura was incredibly condensed, radiating a sharp, vibrant vitality that immediately drew the eyes of everyone in the room.
"Greetings, Master. Greetings, Elders. Greetings, Senior Brothers." Liu Yuan offered a crisp, measured bow. His tone was perfectly balanced, respectful, yet entirely devoid of subservience.
Long Aotian, Chen Lu, and Wang Yanfeng turned. A flash of genuine surprise flickered in their eyes, quickly melting into warm camaraderie and deep concern.
Chen Lu grinned, unable to hold back a quiet tease. "Junior Brother Liu Yuan, you've been locked in that pavilion for nearly two months. We originally planned to drag you along on this border mission to stretch your legs, but the Sect Master threatened to break our legs if we disturbed you. So? Did you manage to squeeze out another breakthrough?"
Du Busi completely ignored Chen Lu's banter. The Super Douluo leaned forward, his massive hands gripping the armrests of his chair. His deep green eyes locked onto Liu Yuan, piercing through the boy's physical form to scan the density of the soul power flowing through his meridians.
For a split second, the hall was dead silent.
Then, Du Busi's usually dignified, overbearing expression shattered, replaced by a look of absolute, thunderous ecstasy.
"Good! Hahaha, good lad!"
Boom!
Du Busi vanished from the high seat. The air in the hall violently compressed as he materialized directly in front of Liu Yuan. The massive Sect Master slammed his heavy hand down onto Liu Yuan's shoulder. The sheer physical force of the congratulatory pat caused the ambient air to hum and vibrate.
"You entered seclusion at Level 27," Du Busi roared, his voice echoing off the stone pillars. "And in just over a month... you little freak, did you actually shatter the bottleneck and reach Level 30?!"
The words hit the rest of the hall like a physical shockwave. Long Aotian, Chen Lu, and Wang Yanfeng stiffened, feeling as though a literal thunderclap had detonated inside their skulls. They whipped their heads around, their eyes widening to comical proportions as they stared at Liu Yuan. They looked at him not as a junior brother, but as an absolute monster wearing human skin.
"Holy crap! You actually leveled up again?!" Chen Lu blurted out, his jaw dropping.
"Straight to Level 30?" Wang Yanfeng gasped, his usual composure crumbling.
Even Long Aotian, the stoic chief disciple, felt his breath hitch in his throat. "Level 30..."
"Junior Brother, isn't this cultivation speed a bit too demonic?" Long Aotian muttered, shaking his head in disbelief, a wry, admiring smile forming on his lips. "At this rate, it won't be long before the title of the strongest in the Body Sect's younger generation violently changes hands!"
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