Chapter 33 – The Hidden Sun and the Sunset Forest
Heaven Dou City
In the quiet, opulent chambers of the "Crown Prince" Xue Qinghe, Qian Renxue read the report from the Elder's Hall for the tenth time. Beside her, the high-tier Body Strengthening Elixirs sat untouched.
"Innate Level 20... Rank 54 at eleven years old... Self-Created Skills that rival the Clear Sky Sect," she whispered, her voice trembling—not with fear, but with a boiling, righteous frustration.
She looked at her hands. Here she was, the daughter of the heavens, playing "dress-up" as a mediocre prince, mired in the slow, disgusting politics of a decaying empire. While she was poisoning old men and faking smiles, Lakan was rewriting the laws of the world and creating God-level techniques.
"Young Mistress," the Snake Spear Douluo whispered from the shadows, sensing her agitation. "The Great Priest says the Holy Son's Eight-Gate Overdrive is... revolutionary. He urges you to begin training immediately."
"I know!" Renxue snapped, slamming the scroll onto the mahogany desk. The desk cracked under the pressure of her leaked soul power. "He's a commoner from a village in the North, yet he acts more like a King than I do. He's taking all the glory while I sit in this golden cage."
She stood up, her eyes flashing with the golden light of the Seraphim. "And this Shui Bing'er... the 'Ice Queen' of his heart? Hmph. He thinks he can settle for a common frost-bird when he hasn't even seen the Sun. I don't care about their public 'bond.' Lakan Diwa is the only one worthy of standing beside me. I will make him mine—not as a Holy Son, but as my Sovereign."
The Porcupine Douluo exchanged a look with Snake Spear. They had never seen her this competitive. "Should we send word to him?"
"No," Renxue said, her expression turning icy and determined. "I will wait. I'll master his Overdrive, and when we finally meet, I will show him that a Seraphim's fire is the only thing that won't melt under his gaze."
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Deep within the Sunset Forest, the sky has turned a sickly, corrosive green. Dugu Bo, the Jade Phosphor Serpent Douluo, isn't holding back. His Ninth Spirit Ring—a deep, obsidian black—flares with terrifying light.
"Ninth Spirit Skill: Jade Phosphor Divine Light!"
A beam of concentrated toxic energy erupts from the phantom serpent's mouth, wide enough to swallow a palace. It incinerates everything in its path, turning the forest floor into a bubbling lake of acid.
Yue Guan stands his ground, his eyes glowing with a crimson heat. "Old Poison, you're still stuck in the past. Witness the power of the Sovereign's gift! Eight-Gate Overdrive: x5 Surge!"
The air around the Chrysanthemum Douluo doesn't just vibrate; it screams. The pressure of his soul power becomes so dense that it creates a vacuum. He doesn't use a flashy skill. He simply executes a Pitik (Whiplash Snap) with his golden Velvet Sky-Reached Chrysanthemum.
The petal cuts through the Jade Light like a hot wire through silk. The resulting shockwave hits a mountain range three miles behind Dugu Bo. Three peaks are instantly sheared off, their summits sliding down the slopes in a thunderous roar of stone and dust.
"Impossible..." Dugu Bo gasps, his green hair whipping in the violent wind. "A single parry destroyed the mountain line? What kind of monster did you become, Yue Guan?!"
Lakan walks through the settling dust, his Batong-Pilak skin shimmering. He stops ten paces from the trembling Poison Douluo.
"Elder Yue, enough. We didn't come here to flatten the forest," Lakan says, his voice carrying an effortless authority. He looks at Dugu Bo, his Adarna's Gaze scanning the toxic mist. "Old Poison, you're dying. Every time you use that Ninth Skill, you're just inviting the venom to feast on your internal organs. I can see the rot in your core. And if it's in your blood... then any family you have, anyone who inherited your martial soul... they are already walking ghosts."
Dugu Bo's eyes go wide with a primal fear. "My... my granddaughter. Yan'er. You're saying it's not just me?"
Lakan tilts his head, his narcissism shining through. "I am a Sovereign of the Flow. I don't guess; I know. Your lineage is a tragedy of beautiful poison. However, I can rewrite that tragedy. But for that, I need a place where the world's energy is at its most extreme—a natural 'Banga-Pilak' to refine your family's fate."
Dugu Bo grips his chest, his pride utterly gone. "I have such a place. A valley of 'Ice and Fire' that even I cannot fully enter. If you can truly save her... I will lead you there."
They reach the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. The sight is a sensory overload: a swirling vortex of crimson and icy blue water.
Yue Guan, the master of plants, lets out a choked sob. He falls to his knees at the edge of the valley. "The Velvet Sky-Reached Chrysanthemum... my martial soul's origin... it's actually here. And the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid... the Infernal Apricot..." He looks like he's having a religious experience. "Lakan... this place is a dream made of dirt and water."
Lakan ignores the scenery for a moment, walking toward a single, brilliant flower that seems to beat like a heart. "Yearning Heartbroken Red," Lakan whispers. "The King of Immortal Herbs. It can only be picked by one who possesses absolute, selfless love."
He looks at Shui Bing'er. "Bing'er, come here. This flower will protect your heart and elevate your ice spirit beyond the reach of any mortal flame."
Bing'er approaches, her hand trembling. She thinks of her journey from the North, the way Lakan saved her family, and the quiet moments they shared. She spits a drop of blood onto the flower. The Yearning Heartbroken Red glows with a blinding light and detaches itself, floating into her hands.
Lakan then turns to Ling Yue, the Golden Kite Douluo. He pulls out a jar of his Gamat-Mutya essence and combines it with a rare herb he just plucked—the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower.
"Ling Yue, you've guarded me since I was a child," Lakan says, his tone uncharacteristically warm. "Your Golden Kite spirit is sharp, but it lacks the 'True Fire' of a Sovereign's vanguard. Take this. I'm giving you the blood of the sun."
Ling Yue swallows the elixir and the herb. Her soul power explodes. Her Golden Kite spirit manifests, but its feathers begin to melt and reform into brilliant, eternal flames. It lets out a cry that shakes the valley—the Sun-Crested War Phoenix.
Gasping for air, the Titled Douluo looks at her glowing hands, then at Lakan. In a moment of pure emotion, she leans down and kisses his cheek, her eyes soft with an affection that makes Bing'er's eyes flash with a jealous frost.
"Thank you, my Sovereign," Ling Yue whispers.
Lakan smirks at the tension between his two protectors, then turns back to the well. He begins gathering the Octagonal Black Ice Grass and the Infernal Apricot.
"Old Poison, watch the perimeter," Lakan commands, his voice dropping to a low, resonant frequency. "Elder Yue, Ling Yue—don't let anything breathe within a mile of this valley. I'm going to evolve. And the process won't be pretty."
He stands at the edge of the Yin-Yang Eye, the herbs clutched in his hands. He is ready to turn his Adarna's Gaze into the Eyes of the Origin God.