Thank you to our new Patrons: Charlie Puente-Duany, Anime fan123456, DeathClan1980, Leroy, Drake Blazer, Mridk, Jose, Destin Woods and Isaiah! Your support means the world to me <3 We are up to Chapter 295: A New Worker on Patreon!
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)
I've also recently started a new translation, please check it out and show your support! It's called 'Douluo: Martial Soul White Tiger, I Am the White Emperor of Heaven!' As always, Patrons will have unrestricted access to all of my stories including futures ones!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you encounter a suitable soul beast, go ahead and hunt it. I still need to absorb a lot more spirit energy," Xu Yuan said to Luo Guixing, Xu Lizhi, and the student named Xiaotian.
Since they had regrouped, there was no need for them to worry about who would absorb the spirit energy after the four students committed suicide.
With his spiritual power at the Lingyuan Realm, Xu Yuan could support up to five soul spirits under 100,000 years of cultivation, with the upper limit being five black ten-thousand-year soul spirits.
Currently, Xu Yuan had four soul spirits. Among them, only Huanxing and Jue had reached the ten-thousand-year level. Huanxing was originally a ten-thousand-year soul spirit, while Jue achieved this level through a body transformation. It had fused with the spirit-infused Jade Silver alloy that Xu Yuan had forged using the Heaven and Earth Furnace Method. Additionally, the vast life force injected by the Golden Ancient Tree had caused the formation of Life Gold, achieving a perfect fusion and reaching the ten-thousand-year level.
(Explanation from the author regarding previous inconsistencies and world-building adjustments—please read.)
Neither of these two ten-thousand-year soul spirits had followed the conventional route to ascend to the ten-thousand-year level.
Now, Xu Yuan had two other soul spirits: Paper Spirit and Yao Yao. Each of these provided him with three soul rings. Previously, Xu Yuan had boosted Yao Yao to nine thousand years, while Paper Spirit was at eight thousand years.
Even just raising them to the limit of a thousand-year soul spirit required nine thousand years of spirit energy.
Moreover, Xu Yuan wasn't only focused on boosting these two soul spirits. His two ten-thousand-year soul spirits could also absorb spirit energy to improve, though the cost-to-benefit ratio wasn't as significant.
For ten-thousand-year soul spirits, it was best to gain spirit energy by hunting ten-thousand-year soul beasts in the Spirit Ascension Platform, as this allowed them to benefit from the platform's efficient spirit energy absorption. Using spirit energy obtained from hunting thousand-year soul beasts to boost ten-thousand-year soul spirits would result in some inefficiencies.
However, this didn't mean Xu Yuan couldn't use that spirit energy to boost his ten-thousand-year soul spirits at all.
After all, wasting it wouldn't do.
With Xu Yuan's assurance, the four students who had already reached their absorption limits were overjoyed.
If Xu Yuan absorbed more spirit energy, it meant they could stay longer before exiting. The later they exited, the higher their scores would be.
Of course, staying longer also required action. Simply hiding somewhere in the Spirit Ascension Platform for two days wouldn't guarantee high scores for everyone.
That was what Wu Zhangkong and Shen Yi were responsible for monitoring outside.
Still, it couldn't be denied that the longer one stayed in the Spirit Ascension Platform, the more opportunities they had to showcase their abilities and secure higher scores.
Gradually, the other students in the class began to gather together.
In the end, most of them converged around Xu Yuan, Tang Wulin, and Gu Yue. Only a few unlucky students who hadn't encountered the main group had to exit prematurely—but they still passed the assessment.
Thus, five days passed in the blink of an eye.
"Class President, we should start considering gradual eliminations."
Wu Siduo reminded Xu Yuan.
After five days of relentless hunting, Xu Yuan had absorbed a tremendous amount of spirit energy.
Aside from Xu Yuan, Wu Siduo and the others had also pushed their soul spirits to their current limits during this process.
"Alright."
Xu Yuan didn't insist on continuing.
The reason he had persisted for so long was that even after five days of hunting, the density of soul beasts in the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform hadn't noticeably decreased, and the age distribution of the soul beasts remained unchanged.
This was the Spirit Ascension Platform at the headquarters of Shrek City's Spirit Pagoda!
Reminded by Wu Siduo, Xu Yuan came to his senses and began hunting two- to three-thousand-year soul beasts. He handed the final blow to the students who needed to be eliminated, then eliminated them, while the spirit energy still went to Xu Yuan.
Thus, a day later.
All the students except Xu Yuan had logged off.
After glancing around, Xu Yuan decided not to continue hunting.
The amount of spirit energy he had absorbed was overwhelming. Both Yao Yao and Paper Spirit had reached 9,999 years, just one year shy of the ten-thousand-year mark. Once the right opportunity arose, breaking through this barrier would elevate them to the ten-thousand-year level.
Additionally, a large amount of spirit energy had been used to boost his two ten-thousand-year soul spirits, but the cost-to-benefit ratio was too low, so he decided not to continue enhancing them further.
Leaving the Spirit Ascension Platform, Xu Yuan rose from the equipment pod.
"Teacher Wu, you can head back first. I have something to take care of," Xu Yuan said to Wu Zhangkong.
Wu Zhangkong glanced at Xu Yuan but didn't ask any questions, leading the last batch of students out.
Xu Yuan headed to the room where Feng Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu had previously contacted him.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
Xu Yuan opened the door and stepped inside.
Leng Yaozhu sat behind a desk, pausing her work as she looked up and saw Xu Yuan.
"Xu Yuan."
"Heavenly Phoenix Douluo."
"No need to be so formal. Your father, Xu Zhi, was once the deputy director of the Spirit Pagoda's main research institute. You can call me Aunt Leng."
"I wouldn't dare. My father was a traitor of the Spirit Pagoda," Xu Yuan replied.
Leng Yaozhu let out a bitter smile.
"What happened to Xu Zhi back then was an accident. I don't know exactly what he uncovered that made Qiangu Dongfeng act so recklessly, but I'm certain your father wasn't at fault."
Xu Yuan stared at Leng Yaozhu.
"So, the problem lies with Tower Master Qiangu Dongfeng?"
Leng Yaozhu didn't get angry at Xu Yuan's impoliteness but instead nodded seriously.
"That's correct. Qiangu Dongfeng has issues. However, as the vice-tower master of the Spirit Pagoda, I can't conduct a substantive investigation against him or take any proactive actions. But some of his actions have already begun to subtly corrupt the Spirit Pagoda."
Leng Yaozhu sighed deeply.
She had harbored these thoughts for a long time.
But Qiangu Dongfeng was the tower master, with numerous supporters, and the Qiangu family had deeply entrenched roots in the Spirit Pagoda over three generations. It wasn't easy to shake them.
In the past, she had simply endured, hoping that the situation wouldn't escalate into a disaster before a new tower master could take over and resolve the damage caused by Qiangu Dongfeng.
Her disciple, Gu Yue, was one of her hopes.
Now, seeing Xu Yuan, she had another prospect to place her bets on.
"Xu Yuan, you're more outstanding than your father. I watched your performance over these five days. The achievements you've accomplished at the age of fourteen are things your teacher never achieved."
"What does Heavenly Phoenix Douluo need me to do?" Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes, his expression cold and unreadable.
"You don't need to do anything. Just continue doing what you're supposed to do. Find out why your father was killed, and that will be enough," Leng Yaozhu said softly.
"Doesn't the Douluo (Leng Yaozhu) know why my father was killed?"
Leng Yaozhu paused.
"I know some things, but they're just rumors circulating before your father's incident. As for what he discovered when he actually got into trouble, I haven't been able to uncover anything."
Taking a deep breath, Leng Yaozhu shared what she knew with Xu Yuan.
"What your father investigated back then was related to evil soul masters."
---
Author's Note:
Let me explain and clarify some world-building details.
Regarding the Jade Silver with a 99% fusion rate mentioned before the protagonist's martial soul split—it wasn't carefully explained or described at the time. Upon reviewing it, I realized the phrasing was unclear. The intended meaning was that the protagonist believed it had reached 99% fusion, but in reality, it was only a perfect fusion of spirituality, reaching the level of a perfect alloy. However, it lacked the rebirth of essence after destruction, so strictly speaking, it wasn't a true perfect alloy. For the soul spirit Jue, however, achieving spiritual perfection was sufficient, and treating it as a perfect alloy isn't incorrect.
I've also added explanations for the chapters before and after the protagonist's trip to Tiandou City. For those who've been following along, feel free to ignore this if everything seems fine.
------------------------------------------------------
Support my writing journey: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
40+ Chapters Ahead Guaranteed.