In this period, with a large number of corruption points successfully cleared, the landscape of the soul master world underwent significant changes. Some previously unknown soul masters, relying on rare treasures obtained from these corruption points, saw their strength advance by leaps and bounds. New Titled Douluo even emerged, completely altering their destinies and the power distribution among some factions in the soul master world.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was a typical example. By successfully clearing several corruption points, they fortunately acquired a few soul tools. Obtaining these soul tools significantly enhanced the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's overall strength. Having tasted the sweetness of success, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect deeply understood the importance of soul tools for their sect's development and thus actively invested in soul tool research. However, the field of soul tool research was profound and complex, with numerous difficulties in getting started. Despite their considerable efforts, they had not yet made significant progress in this area.
Nevertheless, given the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's situation, it was unlikely they would give up easily. After all, they knew they couldn't always rely on clearing corruption points to acquire soul tools. On one hand, the appearance of corruption points was unpredictable and couldn't be sought out at will. On the other hand, corruption points didn't guarantee a soul tool drop; other types of treasures could appear.
While these treasures were equally precious, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect believed that soul tools were more aligned with their sect's characteristic of primarily relying on support-type soul masters, capable of maximizing the sect's combat power. Therefore, soul tool research was imperative.
The capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou City, had been bustling recently. This was because the preliminary rounds of the five-yearly Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, for the Heaven Dou Empire region, were about to be grandly held there. This grandest event in the soul master world attracted attention far beyond just the soul master community. From high-ranking imperial nobility to common civilians, every resident of Heaven Dou City regarded this tournament as the grandest festival of the year, eagerly awaiting its commencement.
The venue for the Soul Master Tournament was the largest Grand Soul Fighting Arena in the Heaven Dou Empire—the Heaven Dou Grand Soul Fighting Arena. This magnificent structure boasted an astonishing capacity, able to accommodate eighty thousand spectators.
When the time came, it was bound to become an ocean of passion. Meanwhile, advanced soul master academies from all corners of the Heaven Dou Empire embarked on their journeys, successively heading towards Heaven Dou City to prepare for the upcoming Soul Master Tournament preliminaries. Although there was still a full month until the official start of the competition, many soul master academies chose to arrive in Heaven Dou City early to better adapt to the environment and adjust their state.
Heavenwater Academy, as one of the renowned Five Great Element Academies of the Heaven Dou Empire, had a dean who was a powerful Soul Douluo-level expert. Although this level of strength might not be top-tier on the Douluo Continent, it was enough to make Heavenwater Academy famous and highly regarded. At this moment, Heavenwater Academy's competition team had already departed from Heavenwater City a month in advance. After a long journey, they finally arrived within the territory of Heaven Dou City.
"Sister, look what's that?"
Among the Heavenwater Academy team, a delicate-looking, lively, and mischievous blue-haired girl suddenly pointed her finger in surprise towards a mountain range in the distance. The one she called out to was also a stunning blue-haired girl, the captain of the Heavenwater team, Shui Bing'er. And the playful girl who had just exclaimed was her half-sister, Shui Yue'er. Not just Shui Bing'er, but the other members of Heavenwater Academy also looked in the direction Shui Yue'er pointed.
"This is...?" They saw wisps of black mist slowly emanating from a small mountain range in the distance. With the soul masters' vision, far surpassing that of ordinary people, they clearly saw the black mist slowly spreading outwards. Wherever it passed, the originally lush trees instantly withered and decayed, and the vibrant earth quickly became dry and desolate, as if all its vitality had been drained. At the same time, the surrounding animals and birds seemed to sense some fatal threat, fleeing in panic, desperately escaping from the terrifying area shrouded in black mist.
"It's actually a corruption point! This place isn't far from Heaven Dou City. Why wasn't it discovered and cleared before? Could it be a newly formed corruption point?" The leading teacher of Heavenwater Academy was Shui Ming'er, the academy's director of education. She was also Shui Bing'er and Shui Yue'er's aunt, with her own strength reaching Level 76. She was a control-type Soul Saint, holding a crucial position in Heavenwater Academy.
"Our luck is really good. It's a newly formed corruption point. The monsters born inside shouldn't be too strong. Judging by its scale, the strongest is probably only at the Soul Emperor level." Shui Ming'er, a beautiful woman who also possessed long blue hair and appeared to be in her twenties, revealed unconcealed joy in her eyes. After all, clearing corruption points often yielded extremely generous benefits. Moreover, this was a newly formed corruption point, with relatively lower danger, and she could handle it with her strength. Shui Ming'er subconsciously looked back at Shui Bing'er.
As the most talented student in Heavenwater Academy's history, Heavenwater Academy placed extremely high hopes on Shui Bing'er. Most of the numerous benefits previously obtained from clearing corruption points were preferentially used on Shui Bing'er. It was precisely because of this that Shui Bing'er's current soul power cultivation had reached Level 49, just a step away from breaking through to become a Soul King.
If she could obtain treasures that boost soul power cultivation from this corruption point, Shui Bing'er was highly likely to successfully break through her bottleneck and advance to Soul King before the official start of the Soul Master Tournament.
Once Shui Bing'er broke through to the Soul King realm, with her top-tier beast martial soul, the Ice Phoenix, Heavenwater Academy would hardly have any rivals in this Soul Master Tournament, aside from the deeply formidable Spirit Hall. Of course, Shui Ming'er also knew that Heavenwater Academy wasn't the only one benefiting from clearing corruption points. Other academies might also use corruption points to obtain precious treasures that help students improve their cultivation.
Especially Spirit Hall, as the most powerful organization on the Douluo Continent, its control over the continental situation was unmatched, and it had a vast number of soul masters spread throughout the continent. Almost every city on the Douluo Continent had a branch of Spirit Hall. Such a widespread distribution of power created an incredibly powerful intelligence system.
Under these circumstances, Spirit Hall was often able to discover corruption points first and clear them at the fastest speed, naturally gaining the most abundant benefits. Therefore, even if Shui Bing'er could successfully break through to become a Soul King, Shui Ming'er did not hope that Heavenwater Academy would win the championship this time. She only hoped that the academy's performance could surpass the other major Element Academies.
Although the Five Great Element Academies were originally united, in recent years, Elephant Armored Academy and Thunder Academy gradually developed disagreements with the alliance and withdrew from it. This was mainly because Elephant Armored Academy was backed by the Elephant Armored Sect, and Thunder Academy was backed by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
In contrast, only Heavenwater Academy, Blazing Fire Academy, and Kamikaze Academy had no powerful sect support behind them, being purely academies. Therefore, the relationship between Heavenwater, Blazing Fire, and Kamikaze Academies became increasingly close, while a rift formed with Elephant Armored Academy and Thunder Academy.
Of course, closeness was closeness, but for Heavenwater Academy, if they could surpass their allies in strength, it would undoubtedly be a good thing, allowing them to take the initiative within the alliance.
So, with almost no hesitation, Shui Ming'er decisively led the team to change their route and head towards the distant corruption point. With her powerful Soul Saint level strength, she felt confident. Even if she couldn't completely clear this corruption point, leading the team to retreat safely was more than enough.
Soul masters moved extremely fast. Among the Heavenwater Academy group, the weakest had reached the Soul Sect level, and everyone's speed was considerable. Before long, they arrived at the outskirts of the corruption point.
"Quickly! This place isn't far from Heaven Dou City, and it will probably be discovered by others soon. Bing'er, you command the team," Shui Ming'er decisively ordered.
"Okay, everyone follow me closely," Shui Bing'er nodded steadily. Although she was relatively young in the Heavenwater Academy team, only a month older than the youngest, Shui Yue'er, and all other team members were older than her, no one looked down on her because of this. On the contrary, the other members obeyed her commands implicitly.
Although the corruption point had not appeared for long, Shui Bing'er and the others had previously followed strong experts from the academy to clear them. They knew very well that a large number of strangely shaped monsters would be born within the corruption point. These monsters had no intelligence whatsoever; they were purely killing machines with extremely strong combat power.
Once these monsters were killed, their bodies would dissipate, leaving behind various treasures. To completely clear this corruption point, they had to successfully kill the core monster within it, which was also the most powerful existence in the corruption point. Shui Bing'er and the others' main task was to clear the smaller monsters, gaining ample time and space for Shui Ming'er to kill the core monster. After all, only the treasures dropped by the core monster were the most precious and rare.
Soon, Shui Bing'er and the others stepped into the black, eerie corruption point. Instantly, a nauseating, uncomfortable sensation washed over them like a tide. This was the terrifying aspect of corruption points: anyone who stepped into them would be constantly eroded by negative energy, and at the same time, various negative emotions would flood their minds. Once affected by negative emotions, soul masters would become irritable and prone to anger, and in severe cases, they would even lose their sanity and turn their blades on their teammates.