Reaching the pinnacle from Doupo

Chapter 569 Soul Palace Movements, Breaking Through the Barrier
In the Western Regions of Central China, at the Heavenly Palace, the atmosphere was heavy and somber.

The deputy hall master sat high on the throne in the main hall, his fingertips lightly tapping the skull on the armrest of the throne. His cold eyes looked indifferently ahead, and where his gaze fell, a black jade scroll was already unfurled, quietly floating in the void in front of him.

Beneath the throne, numerous figures knelt respectfully, each exuding an aura no less powerful than a five-star Dou Zun... all were Heavenly Venerables of the Soul Palace.

For a moment, the deputy hall master's gaze shifted from the scroll, and his tapping on the armrest ceased.

"Jie Jie—"

He gave a sinister laugh, his deep voice echoing throughout the hall: "In less than half a year, eighteen branch halls were destroyed, and over a hundred old protectors were killed... Good, very good, extremely good!"

A violent aura, intertwined with a voice brimming with barely concealed rage, echoed through the solemn hall, causing the very space to tremble.

"Dare to attack my Soul Palace? Have you lost your mind?!"

Under this terrifying aura, even the powerful figures known as the Heavenly Venerables of the Soul Palace—who are considered important figures in the outside world—were trembling in fear, not daring to even breathe loudly.

A moment later, a black jade scroll fell from above and landed with a "thud" in front of a blood-red figure.

The crisp sound rang out particularly loudly in the spacious hall.

Looking at the four Heavenly Venerables prostrate below, the Deputy Hall Master's eyes narrowed slightly, and his unquestionable command rang out in the hall.

"Blood River, you, Prisoner Land, and Demon Rain, take fifteen Dou Zun to the borderlands and find those scoundrels who destroyed my Soul Palace branch and killed those in my Soul Palace. Kill them in the most cruel way, bring their souls back, and torture them for eternity with the Soul Devouring Punishment..."

Although his voice had returned to calm, the killing intent it contained was exceptionally strong, making everyone feel somewhat terrified.

No wonder, since its founding, the Soul Palace has never suffered such a huge loss!

Since half a year ago, the border branch temples have been attacked repeatedly, and so far eighteen branch temples, twenty-six venerable ones, and two hundred and thirty Dharma protectors have been lost...

Even for the Soul Hall, such a loss is quite painful.

After all, although the Soul Palace belongs to the Soul Clan, it is not the Soul Clan after all, and cannot achieve the level of "Battle Venerables are everywhere, and Battle Masters are not as good as dogs".

What's even more infuriating is that despite suffering such enormous losses, the Vice Hall Master still doesn't know who made the move... You have to understand, even in the long war with the Pill Tower, the Soul Hall has mostly been the one to gain an advantage, and has never suffered such a loss in silence!
Having suffered such losses, and having instigated a war between various empires on the borderlands in order to collect a large number of souls... this plan has had to be shelved!
This strategy is simply impossible to execute when a powerful enemy is secretly lurking in the shadows.

To continue this plan, we must first eliminate these enemies; otherwise, the Soul Palace's operations outside Zhongzhou will deteriorate at an alarming rate.

However, the other side was clearly well-prepared this time, and their actions were extremely meticulous. They never confronted the enemy directly, but focused on targeting the branch halls outside of Zhongzhou. Moreover, each time they made a move, they would first seal off the space and then wipe them out without leaving any survivors.

This strike hit the Soul Palace's Achilles' heel—although the Soul Palace had many powerful figures, they were still somewhat insufficient compared to the vast Dou Qi Continent.

The Central Plains are too far from the borderlands, and the high-end combat forces gathered there are simply not able to provide support in time.

Even the branch halls of the Soul Palace in the Central Plains cannot send too many powerful individuals to the border regions.

After all, the high-ranking Dou Zun in the hall all have the responsibility of guarding important branch halls, and the Saint Realm has to guard the three Heavenly Gang Halls... they simply cannot leave!

Zhongzhou is the center of the Soul Clan's plans, where all the important strongholds are gathered. There are also many and strong enemies here. If too much power is withdrawn, creating a gap and resulting in the loss of the Zhongzhou branch, it would be a complete loss!

The deployment of three of the nine Heavenly Venerables—the fourth, eighth, and ninth—along with fifteen Battle Venerables, to the border region to handle this matter represents the current limit of combat power mobilization.

The fact that the Soul Palace didn't get involved in the affairs of the Four Directions Pavilion was partly due to this factor.

With our high-end combat power currently tied up by the Dan Tower, and this incident occurring on the border, it's not advisable to confront the currently unstoppable Four Directions Pavilion.

On the other side, the three Heavenly Venerables, upon hearing the Deputy Palace Master's order, naturally dared not raise any objections.

"Yes, Lord Hall Master, we will tear them to pieces!" Feeling the Vice Hall Master's gaze lowered, the three bowed respectfully and accepted the order.

"Select personnel and depart immediately." The deputy hall master waved his hand, his gaze lingering on the three for a moment before he said calmly, "While handling this matter, also bring back the soul essence collected from the borderlands. From now on, the soul essence from the borderlands will be sent once a year!"

"Deal with these rats and retrieve the soul's essence... If the mission fails, you all know the rules... I hope you won't disappoint me, and don't keep me waiting too long..."

Upon hearing this, the three Heavenly Venerables' expressions changed immediately, and a hint of fear flashed in their eyes.

The Soul Palace has always adopted a high-pressure rule, focusing only on results and not on the means. However, if a mission fails, even a Celestial Venerable will be severely punished.

The pain of that punishment was in no way inferior to the pain of death.

"Yes, I understand!" After letting out a light breath, Blood River Celestial Venerable responded in a deep voice and then said no more. He bowed deeply once more, picked up the black jade scroll in front of him, and led Prisoner and Demon Rain out of the main hall.

On the other side, the deputy hall master shifted his gaze slightly, landing on the old ghost Zhaixing beside him: "Zhaixing, has Hunyuan not contacted you during this time?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have not received any contact," said Old Ghost Zhaixing respectfully.

"The last time I received a message from Lord Hunyuan was half a year ago. He said he was going into seclusion to break through to a higher realm and asked me to handle all matters related to the Twenty-Three Palaces."

"We haven't been in contact since then."

"Seclusion to break through to a higher realm?" The deputy hall master narrowed his eyes slightly, then flicked his finger, and a black jade slip flew to the old ghost Zhaixing. "After reconnecting with him, give him this jade slip. This is a plan devised by that master."

He paused, then added, "Besides that, have him help investigate whether the Pill Tower is behind this attack on the border branch."

The old ghost who picks stars took the jade slip and said respectfully, "Don't worry, Lord Palace Master, I will contact Lord Soul Abyss as soon as possible and convey your orders to him."

The deputy hall master remained noncommittal, his gaze sweeping across the entire room: "All of you, step down!"

"Although the current target is the branch hall outside Zhongzhou, the branch halls in all regions of Zhongzhou also need to be on high alert to prevent it from being a diversionary tactic by the enemy... If anything goes wrong with the Zhongzhou branch hall, this hall will not let it off lightly..."

Upon hearing this, everyone's hearts tightened, and they quickly responded in unison, "Yes, Lord Palace Master!" Then they all stood up and carefully left the hall.

Before long, only the deputy hall master remained in the main hall.

He leaned lazily against the throne, his fingertips rhythmically tapping on the armrests, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.

"With the Palace Master in seclusion, it is not advisable to have a direct conflict with the Pill Tower."

“We need to continue the plan. The power of the Soul Hall is not enough to be mobilized flexibly! It seems that I should go back to the clan and mobilize some clan members to strengthen the Soul Hall’s power. If we can bring out a Dou Sheng, that would be even better…” With his mind settled, he no longer hesitated and got up to walk into the space ripples that suddenly appeared.

An hour later, dozens of figures flew out from the Heavenly Gang Palace, transforming into wisps of cold black mist that surged and sped toward the distant horizon.
-
Ancient Dragon Island, in front of the cave near the dragon vein.

Elder Qingshan sat cross-legged on a blue stone with his eyes closed, his body exuding a powerful aura as vast as the sea.

Compared to when he saw Lin Yuan go into seclusion a few months ago, the aura emanating from him had improved significantly—after absorbing the Reverse Scale Blood bestowed by Zi Yan, he finally successfully crossed that threshold and raised his cultivation to the late stage of a three-star Dou Sheng.

On Dragon Island today, Elder Qingshan's strength is only weaker than Zi Yan and the two four-star Dou Sheng.

"boom--"

In a split second, a deafening thunderclap suddenly exploded in the sky.

"Hmm, what is this energy fluctuation?!"

On the blue stone platform, Elder Qingshan, who had been awakened, opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the cave. Then he raised his head and looked up at the sky.

Above the cloudless sky, heavy dark clouds surged in from all directions and gathered above the cave.

At the same time, the power of the entire world surged forth, and a familiar yet powerful energy rapidly brewed. Before long, the vast, heavy clouds in the sky, as the energy within them condensed, transformed into a deep, dark hue.

And this world suddenly turned dark.

"Hmm? Black Demon Lightning?!" Elder Qingshan raised an eyebrow, his eyes filled with doubt. "Wasn't he in seclusion inside, breaking through to a higher level? How did he attract Black Demon Lightning?"

As he wondered, the energy in the clouds had already fully condensed.

Immediately afterwards, two thunderous roars resounded, and a black lightning bolt as thick as a water bucket struck down from the clouds like divine punishment.

Seeing this, Elder Qingshan was about to intervene when a purple-black beam of light suddenly burst through the mountain and spread out like lightning above the cave, transforming into a mirror-like purple-black light screen that blocked the falling black lightning.

The black lightning and the light barrier collided with a deafening roar, without any violent energy storm; instead, there was only the brutal engulfment that followed the impact.

The two bolts of black lightning that struck down in succession dimmed at a visible speed as they were swallowed by the purplish-black light curtain.

As for the purplish-black light curtain, although it rippled with energy, its indestructible state remained unshaken... It was completely different from before Lin Yuan went into seclusion.

A few minutes later, the menacing black lightning was finally completely swallowed up by the light screen.

Immediately, the purplish-black light curtain trembled slightly, then shrank into a fist-sized ball of pitch-black flame, enveloping the devoured Black Demon Lightning energy, and flew back into the cave below. The pitch-black thunderclouds in the sky then dissipated.

The warm sunlight once again poured down from the sky, illuminating this valley.

Seeing the thunderclouds dissipate, Elder Qingshan breathed a sigh of relief. His gaze then fell down to the closed stone door, as if trying to penetrate it and see what was inside.

"Although it was only for a moment, that aura was definitely that of a Dou Sheng... He really broke through?!"

Elder Qingshan muttered to himself, a hint of anticipation flashing in his eyes.

Just then, the stone door of the cave creaked softly and then slowly opened.

Just then, a gentle breeze blew by, and a pleasant blend of medicinal fragrance wafted out from the opened stone door.

Although Elder Qingshan had already taken a ninth-grade pill, the fragrance of this strange pill was different from that of the previous Thunder Tribulation Pill. It was purer, richer, and more wondrous... Just smelling it made his soul power more active.

What's even more special is that there's a faint, supreme bloodline pressure within the fragrance of the pill, causing Elder Qingshan's ancient dragon bloodline to slightly boil.

"Da da--"

A steady and unhurried sound of footsteps came from the stone gate, growing louder as it approached, and the strange fragrance of elixir grew stronger.

However, Lin Yuan's figure walked out of the stone gate and slowly stepped into the sunlight.

At this moment, he was dressed in an elegant sky-blue robe, his eyes were deep and unfathomable, and a gentle smile appeared on his slightly upturned lips. He exuded a peaceful and natural aura, and seemed to blend into the world around him.

Elder Qingshan was very familiar with this state; it was the state of oneness with heaven and man that a Dou Sheng powerhouse possessed.

Lin Yuan nodded slightly to Elder Qingshan, then his eyes sharpened, and a powerful aura filled with intense pressure spread out like lightning!
In just a few blinks of an eye, this mysterious and terrifying aura swept across the entire Ancient Dragon Island.

"This aura is so powerful... Who is it?"

"Another Battle Saint? But this aura... it doesn't seem to be the aura of our Ancient Dragon Clan..."

"This aura... is it from an elder alchemist?!"

"Elder Dan Shi, he's broken through to Dou Sheng? My god, how old is he... I'm one of the younger generation in the clan, but he's not even a fraction of my age..."

"A Battle Saint in his early twenties, as expected of the Dragon Emperor's husband, is truly extraordinary."

Feeling this majestic and overwhelming aura, the entire Ancient Dragon Island was in an uproar, with incredulous exclamations and sighs echoing throughout the island.

Having declared his presence and strength, Lin Yuan then subtly withdrew his powerful aura.

"Elder Qingshan, I am grateful for your protection during my seclusion." He took a deep breath, smiled at Elder Qingshan, and said meaningfully, "As a token of my gratitude, I will present you with a gift in a few days; I'm sure you will like it..."

Upon hearing this, Elder Qingshan was overjoyed and quickly replied, "Hehe, Your Highness is too kind. It is my honor and my duty."

Having guessed what the other person meant by "gift," he did not feign reluctance to refuse.

There's no need for me to offer verbal thanks; what I should do is be grateful and serve Her Majesty Ziyan and Prince Linyuan wholeheartedly from now on.

Such kindness and recognition must be repaid!
Having made up his mind, Elder Qingshan gave Lin Yuan a deep look, a strange light flashing in his eyes. He exclaimed in surprise, "Speaking of which, Your Highness, your aura doesn't seem like that of someone who has just broken through to Dou Sheng... it doesn't seem like the level of a one-star Dou Sheng in the early stage!"

(End of this chapter)