Chapter 276 Xuanzi's Assassination Attempt? Arrested?
The muffled murmurs and the surging cheers of Liu Yuan's name gradually merged, lingering in the air above Mingdu Grand Square for a long time.
The atmosphere in front of the Shrek team's preparation area was as cold as a block of raw iron.
Bei Bei, Wang Dong, and the other five had already been carried back on stretchers by their supervising teacher and medical soul master, and were lying flat on the benches one by one. Although their complexions had regained some color under the nourishment of soul power, they were still in a deep coma with their eyes tightly closed due to the excessive depletion of their spiritual sea.
Huo Yuhao lowered his head, his cold gaze fixed on the ground, and remained silent.
Xuanzi stood at the very front of the group, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. His old fists, hidden in the long sleeves of his gray robe, were clenched so tightly that his palms were even trembling slightly from the excessive force.
Looking at the lingering spiritual remnants on the stage, and then at the six core disciples lying haphazardly on the bench, completely oblivious, the earthy yellow light flashing in Xuanzi's narrowed eyes instantly transformed into an extremely sinister and icy killing intent.
At this moment, deep in Xuanzi's heart, there was only one extremely strong and firm thought—that is, to find an opportunity to kill Liu Yuan directly.
He now saw it all. Through the two matches over the past two days, Liu Yuan's displayed purity of mental power and his unfathomable control had reached a terrifying level completely surpassing his peers. As long as this kid named Liu Yuan remained in the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy's team, their Shrek Academy team would absolutely be no match for him in the subsequent matches. No matter what tactics they devised, they would be nothing but a useless piece of paper in the face of such absolute mental crushing power capable of instantly annihilating a six-ring Soul Emperor.
However, their Shrek team has reached a point where they absolutely cannot afford to lose.
Five years ago, at the All-Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament in Star Luo City, the Shrek Academy team lost to the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy in the finals, abruptly ending their ten-thousand-year undefeated myth. After that battle, Shrek Academy's reputation and prestige plummeted across the entire Douluo Continent, countless doubts flooded in from all directions, and even the quality of its recruited students was severely affected. For the past five years, every time that battle is mentioned, it remains an indelible humiliation for Shrek's leadership.
Although not long ago, Xuanzi's cultivation finally broke through the final bottleneck and successfully reached the level of a level 99 Limit Douluo, filling the gap left by Mu En's fall in terms of high-end combat power and giving Shrek Academy the confidence to once again intimidate the continent.
However, the core essence of an academy ultimately lies in the quality of its teaching and the strength of its future generations. If, in this tournament held in Mingdu, the Shrek Academy team ultimately loses and fails to reclaim the championship trophy that belongs to the First Academy, then no matter how much spirit power Xuanzi displays in the outside world, or how many evil spirit masters he slays at the North Gate, it will be useless. All the sects and empires across the continent will believe that Shrek Academy's younger generation has completely failed, and the title of First Academy will forever be a thing of the past.
Such consequences are something Xuanzi absolutely cannot accept, and something the entire Shrek Academy cannot afford.
Therefore, Xuanzi, standing in place at this moment, had secretly made up his mind in his old eyes hidden in the shadows. For the sake of Shrek Academy's reputation for ten thousand years, and to prevent the teaching strength from being questioned by the entire continent, this Liu Yuan must die. Moreover, he must be completely eliminated during the competition, before the round-robin tournament is completely over, without anyone noticing.
Forcibly suppressing the thick, viscous killing intent and rage within him, Xuanzi loosened his tightly clenched fists and stiffly turned around. He glanced at the unconscious people on the bench, then at Huo Yuhao, whose emotions were extremely low, and tried his best to make his voice sound calm and composed.
"Alright, Yuhao, lift your head." Xuanzi stepped forward, gently patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder with his rough hand, and said in a deep voice, "Victory and defeat are common in war. This is just the first match of the round-robin tournament. We will have plenty of opportunities later. You both played very well today, there is no problem."
Huo Yuhao slightly raised his head, his bright eyes filled with complex emotions as he looked at Xuanzi, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Elder Xuan, is it Senior Brother and the others..."
"Don't worry, I just checked with my soul power. Bei Bei and the other six only fainted temporarily due to excessive mental energy consumption. Their bodies haven't suffered any substantial soul energy damage." Xuan Zi waved his hand, interrupting Huo Yuhao's next words, and continued calmly, "The team leader has already gone to prepare medicine to regulate their mental energy. The rest of the matches today are irrelevant to us. Listen to me, let's go back to the hotel with everyone and let them rest well. As long as they recover their mental energy, we can still win the remaining matches."
Hearing Xuanzi's words, Huo Yuhao, though still filled with worry about Liu Yuan's strength, understood that there was no better choice under the current circumstances. He could only silently respond and, along with the other accompanying teachers who had caught up, escorted Bei Bei and the others on the bench along the main road towards the exit of the venue.
Soon, amidst the intertwined thoughts of all parties, time began to slip away.
As the sun gradually set behind the western mountains on the outskirts of Mingdu, the magnificent sunset was quickly swallowed up by the rising night. The clamor around the main square gradually subsided as all the matches of the first day of the round-robin tournament came to an end, and the representative teams from various sects and academies returned to their respective lodgings under the cover of night.
By that evening, the entire city of Mingdu was completely enveloped in a dazzling yet cold array of soul-guided neon lights.
On a quiet street not far from the Mingdu Imperial City, outside the luxury hotel where the Tianhun Royal Academy was located, a thin layer of night mist quietly permeated the cold wind.
rustle.
A faint sound, so subtle that it could not even be compared to a falling leaf, flashed by in the dark alley across from the hotel.
Xuanzi was dressed in a large gray robe, his head completely hidden in the shadow of the huge hood. He perfectly concealed all fluctuations of his soul power, even forcibly suppressing his heartbeat and breathing to the lowest point using the mental domain of a level 99 Limit Douluo. In this way, like a lifeless ghost, he silently lurked in the shadows outside the hotel without disturbing any high-altitude detection soul tools.
Across a long street and through transparent reinforced glass, Xuanzi's squinting eyes were fixed on the location of the second-floor restaurant in the shadows.
He secretly observed Liu Yuan and the others' every move.
In sight, seven students from the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy sat around a wide round table. Long Aotian, Chen Lu, Wang Yanfeng, and the others all appeared extremely relaxed, chatting and picking at their food. The white-robed youth, Liu Yuan, sitting at the front, remained calm and composed. He held a bowl of clear soup, occasionally taking a leisurely sip. His every move revealed no fatigue from the battle, nor any pride in his one-hit kill earlier that day.
Seeing Liu Yuan's composed demeanor, Xuan Zi, who was lurking in the shadows, couldn't help but twitch his lips slightly, and the cold glint in his eyes became even more piercing.
"Eat up, this meal will be your last in this world." Xuanzi coldly stared at Liu Yuan's face in the depths of his heart, silently calculating the passage of time.
About half an hour later, dinner in the second-floor restaurant finally ended.
Under Xuanzi's watchful gaze, Liu Yuan put down the soup bowl in his hand, straightened his slightly disheveled white sleeves, and then stood up. Long Aotian, Chen Lu, and the others spontaneously followed behind. The seven of them exchanged a few words at the top of the stairs, then turned around and went back to their own rooms to rest along different corridors.
As he watched the faint light appear on the window of the second-floor room representing Liu Yuan, Xuanzi, lurking in the dark alley, was filled with smugness.
No matter how tight the defenses of the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy are, no matter how arrogantly Poison Undying of the Body Sect mocks during the day, in the face of absolute covert escapades, a twenty-year-old is ultimately just an inexperienced youth. Once night falls, at the moment when the opponent is most exhausted and relaxed, this level 99 Limit Douluo can instantly eliminate a junior without leaving any clues or traces.
The night grew deeper and deeper.
The number of pedestrians and soul-guided vehicles on the streets of Mingdu City had dwindled considerably. The faint light inside the window of Liu Yuan's room at the far end of the second floor of the luxury hotel went out with a snap around midnight, plunging the entire building into a somber silence.
Right now.
In the darkness, Xuanzi's squinty eyes suddenly flashed with a chilling, earthy-yellow light.
His figure moved without making a sound or whistling through the air, transforming directly into a gray shadow that was invisible to the naked eye. As if traversing space, he passed through the hotel's outer security fence in a flash, and with extreme precision and without making a sound, he floated silently into Liu Yuan's room through the gap in the window that was not completely locked.
The room was dimly lit, with only a faint ray of light reflecting from the distant neon streetlights outside the window, casting a slanting glow on the cold carpet.
Xuanzi stood steadily a few meters away from the bed, staring intently down at the slightly raised blankets on the bed. With the keen intuition of a level 99 Limit Douluo, he could clearly sense that a steady, even breathing sound was coming from under the blankets.
"Go to hell, you brat! Blame it on being born into the wrong sect, blocking the path of Shrek Academy!"
A twisted sense of pleasure rose within Xuanzi. Without any hesitation, his right hand, hidden in the long sleeves of his gray robe, shot forward with lightning speed.
Although he did not release his Gluttonous Divine Ox Martial Soul or reveal any trace of his Soul Ring in order not to alert the Sun Moon Empire's military in Mingdu City or the nearby Poison Undying, he did not do so.
However, in the instant his right hand reached out, the pure physical power of a level 99 Limit Douluo, combined with the refined soul power that had been condensed to a tangible form, transformed at his fingertips into an extremely subtle yet powerful earth-yellow stream of light capable of piercing through the body of a Title Douluo. It pressed straight and ruthlessly down onto Liu Yuan's neck on the bed.
In Xuanzi's view, at such close range, facing a sudden and violent attack from a Limit Douluo without any warning, Liu Yuan on the bed, no matter how talented or how strange his mental power was, would have absolutely no chance of survival.
However, in that one-millionth of a second, when the terrifying yellowish-brown light from Xuanzi's fingertip was less than half a foot away from the bed,...
A sudden change occurred.
Buzz—!
Without any warning, the space inside the previously dimly lit room suddenly distorted violently. Then, a layer of pure, crystal-clear, ultra-green ice crystals, as pure as a mirror, spontaneously condensed and formed in mid-air in front of the bed.
boom.
A deep, resounding impact, completely isolated within the confines of the room, suddenly echoed.
The moment Xuanzi's earth-yellow right finger, imbued with a deadly intent, touched the layer of emerald-green ice crystal, he felt as if he had been struck by a massive hammer. His formidable level ninety-nine ultimate soul power not only failed to pierce the thin layer of ice crystal, but was also instantly melted and dissipated before the terrifyingly cold law that was so frigid it almost froze his very bones.
Ta-da!
The powerful recoil caused the unsuspecting Xuanzi to sway violently, and his feet uncontrollably staggered back three steps on the hard carpet before he managed to regain his footing.
"What...what's going on?!"
Xuanzi's smugness instantly turned into extreme shock, his squinting eyes fixed on the solid ice wall in front of the bed that shimmered with emerald light.
Behind the layer of ice crystals, a strange halo flickered slightly. Then, a petite and charming figure silently appeared out of thin air in a way that exuded an overwhelming aura.
She was a little girl with long, flowing hair and exquisitely beautiful features, but the chill emanating from her carried an arrogance and coldness that seemed to transcend all things in the world.
Those eyes, gleaming with a deep emerald green light, coldly locked onto Xuanzi. The extreme cold law fluctuations unique to the ultimate ice that spontaneously emanated from his body even caused the walls and carpet of the entire room to be covered with a fine layer of white frost in an instant.
The Ice Emperor suddenly appeared. With only a portion of her own ice crystal defense, she easily blocked Xuanzi's seemingly inevitable attack.
Meanwhile, on the bed behind Hyotei.
The raised blankets were slowly lifted by a pair of fair right hands. Liu Yuan, dressed in spotless white robes, calmly and leisurely sat up from the bed.
The neon lights shining through the window, which had been tightly closed, perfectly outlined the handsome and aloof features of Liu Yuan.
Liu Yuan straightened up by the bedside and straightened his slightly disheveled long sleeves. Although his usually closed double pupils remained closed at this moment, a cold, mocking, and sarcastic smile undisguisedly appeared on the corners of his delicate lips.
He turned his head slightly, his closed pupils radiating a tangible sense of superiority as they fell directly on Xuanzi, whose face was deathly pale.
Liu Yuan spoke calmly, his voice soft, yet the sarcasm in it caused the temperature in the room to plummet several degrees again:
"Elder Xuan, why did you leave the comfortable couch at Shrek Inn in the middle of the night and come uninvited to my room at the Heavenly Soul Royal Academy? What, did you think you were about to succeed?"
(End of chapter)