The golden pillar rising from the sect's forbidden grounds did not flare up like an ordinary burst of energy and then quickly disperse. Instead, it grew ever more solid and radiant, like a divine golden pillar that propped up heaven and earth as it pierced through clouds and sky.
For a time, its brilliance swept away the mist that had hung over the Body Sect's air, bathing the entire sect in a resplendent golden glow.
The air was filled with an indescribable oppression.
It wasn't the deliberate coercion of soul power—rather, it was a kind of nobility and might born from the very origin of life itself. Every soul master present, regardless of cultivation, felt their soul tremble with a pulsing awe from the depths of their being.
As everyone stared, transfixed by the heaven-piercing phenomenon, a blurred figure gradually became clear within the center of the dazzling golden beam.
He stood suspended in midair, as though invisible steps lay beneath his feet. Holy light, brilliant as something out of myth, wrapped his entire body—like a god descending from an ancient age.
The figure fully resolved.
It was Chu Shanhe, the current sect master of the Body Sect—after one full year of closed-door cultivation.
Chu Shanhe looked much the same as he had a year ago: black hair loose, dressed in simple, dark clothing.
And yet, merely by standing there in silence, he naturally became the center of the world.
An abyssal majesty—like something forged through countless calamities—settled over the surroundings.
His eyes were slightly closed, expression calm, but the fluctuations spreading from him were like an immeasurable sea of stars, quietly permeating every corner of the Body Sect's grounds.
In the next instant, under countless stunned gazes, Chu Shanhe suddenly lifted his head and roared toward the sky!
The whistle-like cry was clear and fervent. It wasn't ear-splitting at first, but it carried a unique rhythm that seemed to strike directly into the depths of one's soul.
At the same moment, the aura around him erupted as if a seal had shattered—bursting outward with a thunderous boom.
From beneath his feet, rings of radiant light rose one after another, slow and rhythmic, displaying his cultivation without the slightest hesitation:
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black… red!
Nine soul rings!
And especially the last—bright as blood, radiating a horrifying fluctuation—
A hundred-thousand-year soul ring!
After leaving seclusion, Chu Shanhe's ninth soul ring had successfully reached the hundred-thousand-year threshold. He had become a Titled Douluo possessing a hundred-thousand-year ninth ring.
That alone was enough to drive any soul master insane with envy.
But at this moment… it was merely the prelude.
The true vision that made the Body Sect's disciples burst into tears slowly unveiled itself—
Behind Chu Shanhe, a massive humanoid phantom appeared in the void, proportioned to match his body, towering and solemn.
It was an exquisitely complete human skeletal structure. Every joint and bone was clear to see: the manifestation of Chu Shanhe's Body Sect martial soul—Bone.
Yet it was utterly different from the former silver-white skeletal apparition.
What appeared now was a vivid, blazing gold—like an undying god cast from pure gold!
"Gold… it's gold!"
The Third Elder's voice shook, as if he were about to cry. He stared at the golden skeleton phantom, as though trying to carve the scene into the depths of his soul.
The Second Elder had tears streaming down his face as well. He clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his palms—yet he didn't even notice. He only kept muttering, over and over:
"Success… Sect Master… you really did it. The ancestors' deductions weren't wrong… there truly is a path beyond Silver!"
The Grand Elder did not explode with emotion like his two junior brothers, but his eyes—deep as the sea—were brimming with moisture, unable to contain his excitement.
No one knew better than they did the price the Body Sect had paid for this step—the terrible risks countless disciples had taken.
For a thousand years, the Silver-grade second awakening of Body-type martial souls had been the peak of Body Sect soul masters.
As for Gold-grade awakening—it existed only as a premise and conjecture in ancient sect records, a near-impossible dead end.
For eight hundred years, countless astonishing predecessors had fallen on this road, dying as martyrs.
And today—
Chu Shanhe had made it.
Not only had he broken through, he had used this radiant golden body to proclaim to the entire Body Sect:
Beyond Silver, there still lay a path.
He had become the first martial soul owner in Douluo Continent's history to achieve a Gold-grade Body-type martial soul!
This wasn't speculation. Not fantasy.
It was a true miracle unfolding before their eyes.
"It's real… beyond Silver, there truly is a way! Not a hypothesis—reality itself!"
The Grand Elder's voice was hoarse, but filled with incomparable firmness and pride.
Those words weren't only for the Second and Third Elders.
They were for every Body Sect disciple present, for every owner of a Body-type martial soul across the world, and even for the entire soul master community.
The terrifying aura rolling off Chu Shanhe was like the awakening of a colossal beast.
Ye Cien's face went pale. A fear he had never known before rose in his eyes.
As an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo and the head of the Nine Heart Begonia line, he had met many powerful figures—people like the Pope of Spirit Hall and several of its great worships.
But the oppression Chu Shanhe radiated at this moment was far greater than anything in his past experience.
It was an absolute gap at the level of life itself—a helplessness like standing before the might of heaven and earth.
Only one thought thundered through his mind:
Invincible.
This is unquestionably a world-suppressing, invincible existence… Only the legendary Ultimate Douluo could match him!
Yang Wudi and Yang Wushuang were equally shaken.
Yang Wudi stared at the golden figure in the sky, at the dazzling red hundred-thousand-year ring. His throat bobbed, and he cried out hoarsely:
"This… this pressure—this tyrannical power, like tearing the heavens apart with bare hands… It feels no different from Tang Chen back then!"
Clear Sky Douluo Tang Chen—a mythical figure in his understanding, a legend of the Clear Sky Sect, even of the entire continent.
And at this moment, Chu Shanhe gave him the very same sensation.
How could he not be shocked into blurting it out?
Yang Wushuang's internal shock was no less than his brother's. But the judgment and foresight tempered by his nature forced him to recover quickly.
Soon, an unspeakable excitement—burning hot—ignited in his eyes like wildfire, growing brighter and brighter.
The stronger the Body Sect was, the deeper its foundation, the more stable their future would be.
Two unfathomable powerhouses, and two formidable Douluo-level experts—this force alone was enough to stir storm-waves across the continent, and it would become the Breaking Clan's most solid pillar of support.
All the hesitation from before seemed to find its answer in this very moment.
In the distance, Chen Yi silently watched the figure in the air.
Like a golden war god.
His youthful face flushed slightly with excitement. He clenched his fists so hard they turned white, and yet the light flashing in his eyes was incomparably bright.
As a transmigrator, he had long known Gold-grade awakenings weren't a dead end in later generations—Gold-grade second awakenings existed, and not rarely.
But only those who lived in this era, only the Body Sect itself, truly understood how difficult this road was.
To carve it open required countless Body-type soul masters—like moths rushing into flame—so many it could drive one to despair.
"Success… Sect Master really succeeded!"
With a Gold-grade awakening and a Grand Elder reborn through peril, the Body Sect had now truly reached the pinnacle of the soul master world.
With this strength… we finally have the qualification to face Spirit Hall head-on—to wrestle with them directly!
Pride surged in Chen Yi's chest.
The pillar of golden light gradually began to subside, but the golden figure pouring radiance—and the majestic, sacred golden skeleton phantom behind him—was branded deep into the hearts of everyone present, never to be erased.
With Chu Shanhe's emergence from seclusion, the Body Sect's golden age officially began.
…