"Hmph! A mere mutated Martial Soul—what kind of waves can it possibly stir up!"
The Great Elder sneered, yet he still couldn't help but glance at the dark-red sword on the ground.
At the instant his gaze landed on it, it felt as if something had struck the depths of his soul, making him faintly dizzy.
Perhaps he hadn't rested well last night.
The Great Elder rubbed his eyes.
Facing Chi Xiu's provocation, he naturally wouldn't reveal his Martial Soul. Chi Xiu was, after all, a junior—how could he, the foremost of the five Great Elders of the Purple Star Sect, compare himself with a junior?
Thinking of this, he suddenly came up with a plan, and a sinister smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Since the young master is eager to prove himself, how about this—Chi Lai, reveal your Martial Soul and spar with the young master. Stop when it's enough."
"Yes, Great Elder!"
A response came from the crowd behind, and a boy of around ten years old stepped forward.
This boy was named Chi Lai, twelve years old this year. He was the Great Elder's legitimate grandson, and with innate soul power at level seven, he had become a gifted existence among the new generation of disciples of the Purple Star Sect.
If Chi Xiu truly awakened a useless Martial Soul this time, and the Sect Master was unwilling to remarry, the Great Elder planned to cultivate Chi Lai as the Sect Master's successor. When the two children were compared, the Sect Master would surely be crushed by public opinion and forced to make concessions.
Chi Xiu narrowed his eyes. How could he not understand the Great Elder's scheme?
Chi Lai was even taller than Chi Xiu, and his expression at this moment was extremely arrogant.
Of course, he believed he had the capital to be arrogant. With innate soul power at level seven, at only twelve years old, his strength was already approaching that of a Great Soul Master.
This was already genius-level.
"Improper!"
Suddenly, Sect Master Chi Yuan frowned and shouted.
"Eldest Uncle, Chi Xiu has just awakened his Martial Soul and has not even practiced swordsmanship yet. How can he spar with Chi Lai, who already has level 17 soul power? Not to mention that Chi Lai also possesses a soul skill!"
The Great Elder's expression remained unchanged. Stroking his beard, he smiled and said, "Stop when it's enough. Chi Lai, when sparring with the young master, you are not allowed to use soul skills, understood?"
"Yes! Great Elder!"
The expressions of this grandfather and grandson were equally disgusting.
Even the surrounding disciples felt it was unfair and began to discuss it, but after the Great Elder turned his head and glared at them, they no longer dared to speak.
"It's fine, just sparring, stop when it's enough."
Chi Xiu turned back and smiled at his father, then stepped forward and drew the Shura Divine Sword.
"Clang!"
The sword blade gleamed with cold light.
He held the sword in his hand and stared coldly at Chi Lai.
This time, I'll let you grandfather and grandson understand exactly what kind of trash you are!
"Young master, if you beg me, I might go a little easier on you."
Chi Lai laughed sinisterly. Fighting a six-year-old child was simply too easy.
He stretched out his right hand. "Sword, come!"
No response.
A leaf drifted across his palm, and apart from that, there wasn't even a shadow of a sword.
He froze for a moment, and the spectators were also shocked.
"W-wait."
Chi Lai nervously turned back to glance at the Great Elder and called again.
"Come out!"
"Sword, come!"
"Purple Star Treasure Sword!"
"By urgent command of the law!"
"Martial Soul, manifest!"
...
Every time he shouted a slogan, he stomped his foot, seemingly to increase his momentum.
But his palm remained empty.
The Great Elder behind him was stunned by his grandson's actions, so angry that his whole body trembled.
Seeing this, Chi Xiu yawned, his expression calm and indifferent, as if he had already expected it.
"Brother Lai, where's your sword? Are we fighting or not?"
"Fight! Fight!"
Chi Lai was sweating profusely, but the sword simply refused to appear no matter what!
What others couldn't see was that the Shura Divine Sword was currently emitting dark-red light, like blood flowing from hell.
"Fight?"
Chi Xiu raised his eyebrows and curled his lips. Holding the Shura Divine Sword, he took two or three steps forward, came directly in front of Chi Lai, and slapped Chi Lai's face with a single sword strike!
A scream rang out. Chi Lai's body spun three hundred and sixty degrees in midair before rolling to the Great Elder's feet!
Seeing his grandson's gradually swelling face, the Great Elder's eyes widened in shock.
Chi Yuan behind them was so shocked that his mouth fell open, his face full of exhilaration!
Yet he was somewhat puzzled: "When did my son become so strong?"
"No, he seemed to have used soul power just now, but that doesn't look like below level ten either..."
Chi Xiu smacked his lips.
"I already told you to first check whether your Martial Soul could even be released! I warned you, but you still wouldn't listen!"
"Xiu'er, don't be rude."
Chi Xiu turned back to glance at his old man, only to find that the smile on Chi Yuan's face was almost impossible to suppress.
The father and son exchanged a tacit glance. Chi Xiu nodded. "Yes, Dad."
The Great Elder was utterly confused. "What exactly is going on? Why can't the Martial Soul be released?!"
Hearing this, Chi Xiu turned back and calmly replied with six words.
"Martial Soul, absolute suppression."
"Impossible!"
The Great Elder turned around solemnly. "All disciples, heed my command! Reveal your Martial Souls!"
"Yes!"
Countless lights flashed at the scene.
But soon, one exclamation of shock after another rang out.
Sword Soul Masters with soul power in the teens or twenties couldn't even release their Martial Souls at all, staring at their hands in confusion...
"Where's my Martial Soul?"
"It's gone!"
"Mine too!"
"Hey! My Martial Soul came out!"
At this moment, a Soul Master at level thirty suddenly said excitedly.
Hearing this, Chi Xiu curled his lips. He placed his right palm on the hilt of the Shura Sword, and the dark-red light continued to spread outward.
Immediately afterward, a shocking scene appeared—the Purple Star Sword of that Soul Master actually softened, as if it had been melted by high temperature.
He was not the only one. All those who could release their Martial Souls showed the same phenomenon.
This was equivalent to directly stripping their Martial Souls of combat capability!
Chi Yuan: "Unbelievable..."
The Great Elder was furious. He frowned deeply and was about to release his own Martial Soul, but soon he realized that there was a force of laws suppressing him.
This… actually gave him a faint feeling that he couldn't release it either...
What he couldn't see was that Chi Xiu had at this moment directed all hostility toward the Great Elder, concentrating all suppression on him alone!
The Great Elder gasped for breath, looking at Chi Xiu in surprise. After thinking for a moment, he ultimately did not continue to release his Martial Soul. He could only wave his hand and, sweating, forcibly maintain an indifferent and calm appearance.
At this time, Chi Yuan quietly came behind Chi Xiu.
"Xiu'er, quickly retract whatever… whatever suppressive divine ability this is of yours. My Martial Soul has suddenly developed a particularly strong sense of fear. I'm afraid that if this continues, there will be long-term side effects. What if everyone's Martial Souls can't be released in the future!"
"Alright."
Chi Xiu nodded and put away the Shura Divine Sword.
In an instant, sounds of relief came one after another. The Martial Souls that couldn't be released were quickly released again, and the swords that had softened soon returned to normal.
Only then did everyone realize that Chi Xiu had just retracted his Martial Soul...
Now no one had anything to say.
"The young master's divine ability!"
Someone shouted loudly, and soon, it turned into a mountain-collapsing and sea-overturning chorus.
"The young master's divine ability!"
"The young master's divine ability!"
...
At this moment, the most excited person was still Chi Yuan. Chi Xiu's transformation was simply an enormous surprise to him.
He even exaggeratedly associated it with the hope of the Purple Star Sect competing for the position among the Upper Three Sects… uh, better stop the imagination first.
"Everyone quiet down. Chi Xiu is originally the only heir to my position as Sect Master. His extraordinary talent is the blessing of our Purple Star Sect. Everyone should also not delay your cultivation."
After hearing this, the Great Elder's face instantly turned ashen. His grandson at his feet was still twitching from time to time, foam at the mouth.
"Sect Master!"
At this moment, another aged voice came.
Chi Yuan was about to leave with Chi Xiu. After hearing the call, he turned back.
It was the Second Elder, one of the few people who supported Chi Xiu's succession as Sect Master.
"Second Uncle, what is it?"
The half-white-haired Second Elder walked up, first looking at Chi Xiu excitedly, then lowering his voice to Chi Yuan.
"Let the young master try to see whether he can cut the Meteorite Stone."
Chi Yuan was somewhat speechless. "How is that possible? He has just awakened his Martial Soul."
"Arrogance should also have limits. How could such a small child possibly cut open the Meteorite Stone?!"
The Great Elder's indignant voice came.
"Dad, what Meteorite Stone?"
Chi Yuan took a deep breath and explained:
"Thirty years ago, a fragment of a meteorite fell onto the Douluo Continent and shattered into more than ten pieces. Lou Gao of the Blacksmith Association in Soto City once evaluated that the material of this meteorite was formed from an extremely special metal, with hardness rare in the world. At that time, all methods were used, yet it was impossible to cut the meteorite, even..."
At this moment, the Great Elder interrupted loudly.
"Even Jian Douluo Chen Xin of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was helpless. He even used his strongest soul skill, yet he couldn't even leave a trace on the meteorite!"
"Chen Xin?!"
Chi Yuan nodded. "Senior Chen Xin is probably the strongest Sword Soul Master of the current era."
"And our Purple Star Sect, apart from being rich, still falls far behind other sects in terms of ability. So your grandfather directly spent money to buy a piece of meteorite, leaving it for future geniuses to practice with. Cutting it open is of course impossible—it's just giving everyone a hope of pursuing the strongest path."
Chi Xiu nodded and said in a childish voice, "Then I'll go cut it for fun."
Chi Yuan smiled and rubbed his head. "Don't brag. Your Martial Soul is indeed not bad, but if you talk about cutting that stone, you're still far from it."
The Great Elder had already lost all dignity before, so now he simply gave up entirely.
He pointed at the air with his finger, his words filled with indignation: "If you can cut that stone open, I'll pick up the stone scraps and brew tea with them! Cut it for fun? If you cut it open, Chen Xin and Lou Gao will both come over to swear brotherhood with you! They'll respectfully call you Big Brother!"
?? A big chapter of 2800 characters! Asking for recommendation votes!
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(End of Chapter)