Soul Land IV (Douluo Dalu) : Ultimate Fighting

Chapter 1369: Chapter 1369: Layered Arrangements

Bai Xiuxiu did not inquire further; just a glance was enough for her to understand Lan Xuanyu’s intentions. The tacit understanding between them was unparalleled.

Supporting Lan Xuanyu, the two returned to their residence within the Sky Horse Manor. Between now and the afternoon meeting, there were three hours of rest time.

Back at the residence, they locked the door and activated the isolation barrier within the room. Only then did Lan Xuanyu finally let out a small sigh of relief.

“How are you? Are you okay?” Bai Xiuxiu asked via transmitted voice.

Lan Xuanyu gently shook his head and leaned close to her, speaking in a low transmitted voice, “The Eight-armed Demon Prince isn’t much of a problem. The real difficulty is deceiving those astute old foxes.”

Indeed, the pressure Lan Xuanyu truly faced wasn’t from his opponent earlier. After the Eight-armed Demon Prince’s God Demon Form was broken, he posed no threat to Lan Xuanyu anymore. The issue was that while the prince had been defeated, Lan Xuanyu still had to craft a favorable enough scenario to ensure tomorrow’s match could continue—creating opportunities to win more Heavenly Nurtured Crystals.

Thus, at that moment, Lan Xuanyu chose the path of strategic adaptation.

He certainly had the ability to deliver the final blow to the Eight-armed Demon Prince, but during the battle, Lan Xuanyu had realized that the prince carried an abundance of valuable treasures. Killing him outright would be exceedingly difficult, especially on the arena stage—it wasn’t feasible.

While eliminating the Eight-armed Demon Prince would undoubtedly be advantageous, potentially escalating tensions between the Dragon Clan and the Eight-armed Demon God Clan, it would make the subsequent matches far more complicated. With such a significant incident occurring, it was uncertain whether the competition would proceed at all. In the absence of certainty in killing the prince, it would be far better to exploit him strategically.

Under the scrutiny of so many Ultra Divine level powerhouses, concealing everything entirely was naturally impossible. Hence, Lan Xuanyu deployed multiple layers of barriers to obscure his true self and genuine intentions. Or rather, what every observer perceived was exactly what he wanted them to see—only pieces of the bigger picture he wished to reveal.

The illusions conjured by the Treasure Hunting Beast—could they be unraveled so easily? Certainly not; otherwise, Lan Xuanyu’s female form would have been exposed long ago. It was a matter of precision; he intentionally instructed the Treasure Hunting Beast to moderate the illusion, such that it would appear clearly discernible to True God-level cultivators and above, while remaining incomprehensible to ordinary individuals.

Thus, the Eight-armed Demon Prince naturally failed to perceive the reality and was intimidated as predicted, perfectly aligning with Lan Xuanyu’s expectations. On the other hand, Ultra Divine level powerhouses saw through it with clarity, leading figures like the Sky Horse Sect Leader and the Eight-armed Demon God King to believe Lan Xuanyu was barely holding on. They assumed the illusion resolved the predicament, securing a seemingly fortuitous victory in the final match.

This created a unique situation—a lingering sense of dissatisfaction.

Would the Eight-armed Demon God Clan find this acceptable? Absolutely not! Their efforts narrowly failed—they’d lost so many clansmen, spent significant amounts of Heavenly Nurtured Crystals—only to end in vain. Tomorrow, Lan Xuanyu’s new opponents would primarily stem from the extra Heavenly Nurtured Crystals he had collected today, while the Eight-armed Demon God Clan, no matter their strength, would be relegated further down the list.

The Sky Horse Clan would undoubtedly harbor thoughts about “her” as well. Opportunities still needed to be orchestrated for them.

The situation earlier was even concealed from the two Dragon Knights. Lan Xuanyu devoted his true illusion abilities entirely to maintaining his female form and aura, effectively preventing others from discerning his true cultivation or the exact circumstances during the battle.

Until he returned to the Sky Horse Manor, even someone like Huang Liangwei failed to immediately grasp his intentions. However, Lan Xuanyu was confident that with Dawn Dragon Knight Zhong Zhichang’s formidable divine consciousness, the manipulation would become apparent.

As expected, Zhong Zhichang recognized that Lan Xuanyu was guiding Destruction power to suppress his cultivation, making it harder for him to break through.

Was this the truth? Of course it was. When leading others’ thoughts, sometimes it was necessary to show them an actual piece of reality—albeit a carefully controlled reality that ultimately benefited oneself.

First and foremost, Lan Xuanyu intended for Zhong Zhichang to affirm his talent and acknowledge his steady accumulation of strength. This recognition would lay the groundwork for seeking permission from the Dragon Knights for his future breakthrough atop the Ascending Dragon Platform.

Secondly, he was indeed using Destruction power to suppress his cultivation—there was no falsity in that detail.

Today’s battle brought immense gains to Lan Xuanyu, especially within this series of confrontations against the Eight-armed Demon God Clan, which yielded tremendous harvests.

These benefits extended beyond the acquisition of Heavenly Nurtured Crystals; more importantly, it was the Destruction energy from the Eight-armed Demon God Clan that allowed Lan Xuanyu to experience an unprecedentedly dense aura of destruction.

This immense Destruction power enlightened him on the nature of forces he would likely need to master in the future.

Although the Destruction energy of the Eight-armed Demon God Clan wasn’t the purest form found in the universe, it had undoubtedly reached the pinnacle achievable by ordinary organic beings. Particularly, the final instance of the Eight-armed Demon Prince’s Destruction power was far more refined compared to his peers; otherwise, it wouldn’t have posed such challenges to Lan Xuanyu.

Throughout the successive battles, Lan Xuanyu found himself subtly affected by these Destruction energies, his body gradually invaded.

He discovered that neutralizing these Destruction energies required the convergence of all seven of his attributes. In terms of intensity, only the Light and Dark Divine Thunder surpassed them.

Based on Lan Xuanyu’s assessments, with regular cultivation and breakthroughs, he might fully comprehend the mysteries of Destruction energy upon achieving the eight-ring Soul Ring level. That is to say, this might be a type of power he would likely control in the future.

Currently, his scales bore a seven-colored radiance. Whether it was the presence in the core of his bloodline that he sensed, or the revelations from his parents, he knew that the true Dragon God controlled nine attributes—including Destruction and Creation.

For the seventh Soul Ring, he would gain mastery over the Dark attribute, thus completing the assembly of seven major attributes. Looking ahead, the eighth attribute would be Destruction, and upon breaking through to God Rank, he might encounter and master Destruction energies. Therefore, an early encounter with the traits of Destruction would undoubtedly be immensely beneficial for him, whether for body refining or cultivation.

Because of this, Lan Xuanyu took risks at the climax of the battle, enduring potential harm, to absorb the Eight-armed Demon Prince’s Destruction energy into his body. He allowed these energies to precipitate within him, suppressing his cultivation, while utilizing his attributes to counterbalance them. He even permitted a portion of Destruction energy to infiltrate his meridians, corroding and destroying them—only to repair them repeatedly afterward.

As it turned out, the Destruction energy was indeed domineering; despite Lan Xuanyu’s exceptional self-healing capabilities, repairing his meridians after introducing the Destruction energy proved exceedingly challenging! Yet he didn’t cease his efforts. Instead, he persisted, continuing this process—only by doing so could he uncover the true essence of the Destruction force and use it to suppress his cultivation.

The arrival of the Heavenly Nurtured Crystal added a divine touch to all of this.

Nine attributes—only Creation was missing. The life energy within the Heavenly Nurtured Crystal contained a faint trace of Creation Aura.

Of course, this level of creation wasn’t yet on par with true Creation power. Otherwise, the Dragon and Sky Horse planets would have ascended to become a true Divine Realm long ago. Nonetheless, it matched the level of the Eight-armed Demon God Clan’s Destruction energy—their strata were remarkably similar.

This gave rise to an intriguing phenomenon. As the energy within the Heavenly Nurtured Crystal was swiftly absorbed by Lan Xuanyu, the Destruction aura was naturally drawn out. This included the Destruction energies that had previously infiltrated Lan Xuanyu’s meridians now converging with the Creation aura contained in the Heavenly Nurtured Crystal, colliding fiercely within him.

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