Qin Shuang had only been with the team for a few days, but her exceptional diligence and remarkable cultivation talent were gradually earning recognition from everyone around her.
Zhao Wuji, in particular, seemed to value this young woman very highly, especially since she possessed the same martial soul as him. The fact that Qin Shuang was an orphan whose parents had died resonated deeply with Zhao Wuji, who had himself endured many personal setbacks and hardships throughout his life.
Although Yu Xiaogang harbored some reservations about Flender's decision to add more people to their carefully selected team, he acknowledged that Flender's reasoning made considerable sense—the team would indeed require substitute members for future competitions. Ultimately, he chose to voice no objections to the arrangement.
However, compared to the positive impact of Qin Shuang's arrival, the situation for several other team members had become increasingly problematic and concerning.
Ma Hongjun, in particular, although still maintaining his training schedule punctually, clearly had his mind focused elsewhere entirely. According to widespread rumors, he had already formed a romantic relationship with a certain noblewoman from the academy, displaying a strong tendency toward becoming a live-in son-in-law in the future rather than focusing on his cultivation path.
While the other team members continued their diligent cultivation efforts, it was becoming obvious that they were expending tremendous mental energy dealing with constant romantic distractions.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy maintained no shortage of handsome men and beautiful women, and all students possessed decent talent levels, since those with insufficient ability would never gain admission to such a prestigious advanced soul master academy.
The Shrek Team members, with their outstanding natural talent and already secured positions on the competition team, had become exceptionally prominent and attractive figures throughout the entire academy.
This elevated status led to the girls receiving large numbers of love letters every single day, while the boys might even receive direct confessions from beautiful female students simply by walking around campus. Even when Yang Xiong strolled through the academy grounds with Ning Rongrong, beautiful girls would shyly approach to hand him romantic letters, only to be chased away by Ning Rongrong's fierce protective instincts.
As for the numerous boys who dared to pursue Ning Rongrong romantically, each of them experienced the little devil girl's formidable methods firsthand, usually resulting in swift and decisive rejection.
Escalating Competition
Heaven Dou Royal Academy maintained two distinct teams, and since these teams shared living facilities, they essentially engaged in practice battles every two or three days to test their relative strengths.
As both sides became increasingly familiar with each other's fighting styles and tactical approaches, it grew progressively more difficult for the Shrek Team to achieve victory. The gap in soul power between the two groups was becoming problematic—the lowest level member of the Royal Fight Team had reached level thirty-five, while their highest had achieved level thirty-nine. Initially, this soul power disadvantage could be compensated through superior skill, teamwork, and tactical coordination.
However, as time progressed and both teams became more familiar with each other's strategies and individual capabilities, the fundamental weaknesses of the Shrek Team became increasingly apparent and difficult to overcome.
Tang San faced particular challenges in these encounters. The Royal Fight Team had recently added a level thirty-four fire-attribute soul master to their roster, creating a severe tactical disadvantage for Tang San's Blue Silver Grass martial soul. Although Tang San's personal combat abilities remained formidable, the intense flames severely weakened his Blue Silver Grass control techniques, reducing their effectiveness dramatically.
Dugu Yan of the Royal Fight Team also appeared to have learned valuable lessons from her previous defeats, becoming significantly more cautious and strategic in her poison control and application. Sometimes, she demonstrated even better utilization of her Jade Phosphor Serpent martial soul's inherent characteristics during combat situations.
The Stone Brothers had adapted their tactics as well, never daring to rush aggressively into battle anymore. Instead, they consistently maintained tight defensive positions around Ye Lingling, specifically to prevent Yang Xiong from executing his signature surprise attacks against their healer.
Yu Tianheng, in particular, possessed combat talent that was far from weak, and his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul was exceptionally powerful. He had proven superior to Dai Mubai in virtually all measurable aspects of combat ability. If not for Yang Xiong's consistently formidable combat power and tactical contributions, the Shrek Team would probably have already suffered decisive defeats against the Royal Fight Team.
Skill Exchange and Strategic Decisions
Based on the obvious weakness of Tang San's martial soul being consistently countered by fire-based attacks, Yu Xiaogang suggested that Ning Rongrong teach Tang San the Heart Separation Control technique of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. However, Ning Rongrong politely declined this request, citing strict sect regulations that prohibited sharing such techniques with outsiders.
Tang San himself refused to become discouraged by this setback and directly expressed his strong desire to learn Heart Separation Control when negotiating his hidden weapon deal with Ning Fengzhi.
Ning Fengzhi proved remarkably generous in his response, readily agreeing to Tang San's request and personally arranging for Ning Rongrong to provide instruction in the technique. However, according to Ning Fengzhi's specific limitations, Ning Rongrong would only teach up to the Five Aperture Scattered Heart level and would not impart the final two advanced layers of the technique.
Nevertheless, this partial instruction proved sufficient for Tang San's immediate needs. After cultivating Heart Separation Control to the fifth level, Five Aperture Scattered Heart, he could essentially achieve five separate mental processes simultaneously. His control over Blue Silver Grass became significantly stronger and more precise. Unfortunately, due to Blue Silver Grass's inherent vulnerability to fire damage and sharp cutting attacks, its offensive power did not experience any qualitative improvement despite the enhanced control.
On this particular day, while Yang Xiong was engaged in deep meditation within his dormitory, Tang San unexpectedly arrived for an unscheduled visit.
Yang Xiong felt somewhat puzzled by the unexpected interruption. "Tang San, at this time of day, shouldn't you be attending Grandmaster's theoretical lessons? Why do you suddenly have time to seek me out?"
Tang San spoke with an unusually solemn and serious expression. "Yang Xiong, I'm prepared to exchange my Purple Demon Eye technique for your Rasengan. What are your thoughts on this proposal?"
Yang Xiong smiled knowingly. "Actually, I believe you should have approached me much sooner with this offer. Our two self-created soul skills can genuinely complement each other's fundamental shortcomings."
Tang San sighed heavily. "These recent soul fights and intensive cultivation sessions have made me increasingly aware that Blue Silver Grass is limiting my potential more and more severely. The Rasengan technique is indeed very suitable for my fighting style and can provide me with sufficient explosive power when I need it most."
"However, I do have one specific condition: my Purple Demon Eye technique can only be cultivated by you personally, and cannot be taught to any other individuals."
Yang Xiong shook his head firmly. "Tang San, I understand your reasoning and concerns. With your exceptional strength and natural talent, you should achieve remarkable things in the future and definitely won't remain alone—you should eventually establish your own organizational force."
"Exchanging self-created soul skills is perfectly acceptable, but both sides should receive equal treatment in this arrangement. I will teach you the Rasengan, and you will teach me Purple Demon Eye, but the instruction cannot be limited to just my personal use. I will teach it to the core disciples of my sect in the future, and you can also teach it to the core disciples of whatever organization you eventually establish. This way, neither side suffers any disadvantage."
"Of course, these types of self-created soul skills cannot be taught to complete outsiders, as this involves the sensitive privacy and security of proprietary techniques."
Tang San remained silent for several long moments before speaking. "I am still completely alone at this point in my life. Wouldn't accepting this arrangement be somewhat too disadvantageous for my position?"
Yang Xiong laughed with understanding. "Tang San, there are certain things I cannot state directly or explicitly. However, Sect Master Ning and Grandmaster have undoubtedly already informed you of relevant details. You are not truly alone—you actually have a tremendously powerful force supporting you from behind the scenes. Neither of us are ordinary independent cultivators without backing."
Tang San's expression grew notably darker and more guarded. "Yang Xiong, what exactly do you know about my background? Do you possess other confidential information concerning me?"
Yang Xiong shook his head diplomatically. "Tang San, although we might not necessarily develop into close personal friends, at least from our respective backgrounds and current positions, our enemies are fundamentally the same. While I do possess some relevant information, certain details need to be explained to you personally by your own relatives."
Tang San remained silent for an extended period before finally speaking his decision. "I understand your position. The Purple Demon Eye can be exchanged under these terms, but within the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, it can only be taught to direct disciples and cannot be passed on to others. If it is transmitted without proper permission, I will take action to reclaim it."
Yang Xiong nodded in agreement. "Those terms are acceptable."
Both young men retrieved detailed instruction manuals from their respective storage soul tools. Yang Xiong's manual was considerably thick and comprehensive—it contained every step of how he had originally designed and cultivated the Rasengan technique. Tang San's contribution was the complete cultivation manual for the Purple Demon Eye.
After exchanging their precious manuals, both immediately stored them away without immediate examination, demonstrating the level of trust that existed between teammates, despite their complex relationship.
However, before Tang San prepared to leave, Yang Xiong suddenly spoke up with an additional concern.
"Tang San, regarding the Rasengan technique, there's one more important detail I want to clarify for you. This information is not included within the scope of our formal transaction."
Tang San asked with evident confusion. "Yang Xiong, could it be that this Rasengan possesses some significant flaw or limitation?"
Yang Xiong shook his head reassuringly. "The Rasengan was developed entirely by me, and I remain satisfied with its power and effectiveness in all measurable aspects. However, the cultivation difficulty is somewhat high—one must achieve at least the Five Aperture Scattered Heart level of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's Heart Separation Control technique. Since you have already successfully learned Heart Separation Control, cultivating the Rasengan should not present major problems."
"But I want to state something clearly: this Rasengan represents what I have developed at my current stage of advancement. I am presently only a Spirit Grand Master, and I consistently feel that my soul power remains somewhat limited for the technique's full potential. I should be able to develop it further in the future. If there is a second developmental phase in the future, it will not be included within the scope of this current transaction."
Tang San nodded with understanding. "Thank you for the important reminder. I also want to warn you that the early-stage cultivation of Purple Demon Eye is exceptionally difficult and requires extremely high mental force talent. I have been cultivating it since early childhood to reach my current level of mastery. I hope you also pay careful attention to this challenge. Moreover, you are older than I was when I began, and if you haven't been exposed to similar cultivation before, the process might prove even more difficult."
New Cultivation Challenges
After Tang San departed from his dormitory, a satisfied smile finally appeared at the corner of Yang Xiong's mouth.
Actually, Yang Xiong had anticipated this negotiation for quite some time. The fundamental limitations of Tang San's Blue Silver Grass martial soul were simply too restrictive, especially without the benefits of Ice and Fire Body Tempering. Blue Silver Grass itself remained very fragile, extremely vulnerable to ice and fire attacks, and even susceptible to various corrosive poisons.
The recent continuous battles against the Royal Fight Team had highlighted these weaknesses, with Tang San's performance becoming somewhat unsatisfactory and repeatedly being countered by opponents. Moreover, hidden weapons could not be utilized in formal soul fight competitions, which further limited his tactical options.
After all, compared to the original timeline, Tang San at this stage lacked the guidance of Dugu Bo, a Titled Douluo. Even if Dugu Bo's raw strength was relatively weaker among Titled Douluos, his vast combat experience and deep understanding of martial souls far exceeded what ordinary instructors could provide.
Compared to the theoretical knowledge that Dugu Bo could offer, although Yu Xiaogang possessed extensive spirit knowledge, he lacked experience with martial soul evolution and had limited practical combat experience. He simply couldn't provide Tang San with the advanced guidance he desperately needed.
In Yu Xiaogang's perspective, Tang San's martial soul was merely ordinary Blue Silver Grass. Even if he exhausted his theoretical knowledge, he couldn't enable Tang San to master martial soul transformation or evolution. This represented the crucial difference between academic theory and practical experience.
To compensate for Tang San's current shortcomings, he would either need to begin cultivating his second martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, or find a method to trigger his martial soul's second awakening earlier than naturally expected. However, he couldn't accomplish either of these goals, nor did he even understand that Blue Silver Grass possessed the potential for second awakening. Ultimately, he had no choice but to approach Yang Xiong for this skill exchange, which represented the simplest and most accessible solution to his immediate problems.
Yang Xiong himself had envied the Purple Demon Eye technique for an extremely long time.
The Purple Demon Eye was an exceptionally rare mental force cultivation method in the entire soul master world, and it represented one of the fundamental sources of Tang San's true power and combat effectiveness.
The Purple Demon Eye was divided into four distinct realms from lowest to highest mastery: Detailed, Microscopic, Mustard Seed, and Boundless. It provided ultimate observation abilities and could inflict direct mental damage on enemies during combat.
Tang San's three major breakthroughs with the Purple Demon Eye were achieved by absorbing the Look Through Autumn Water Dew, absorbing a head spirit bone, and undergoing Tidal Body Refinement on Sea God Island.
However, the original records were somewhat unclear about specific details. Normally, Tang San absorbed the Look Through Autumn Water Dew at level forty. Regardless of his exceptional mental force strength, it shouldn't have reached Titled Douluo levels at that point. Yet, he was able to see through Xiao Wu's true form at this cultivation level. One must consider that even Dugu Bo hadn't discovered her secret. Could it be that Tang San's mental force was actually stronger than Dugu Bo's at that time? Dugu Bo also possessed a top-grade head spirit bone to enhance his capabilities.
From this day forward, Yang Xiong would wake Ning Rongrong early every morning to begin cultivating the Purple Demon Eye technique together. Originally, Ning Rongrong preferred to meditate late at night and enjoyed sleeping in during the morning hours, but she was consistently pulled from her comfortable bed for early training. For this disruption to her preferred schedule, the little devil girl threw quite a few dramatic tantrums.
However, this little devil girl's cultivation talent proved genuinely remarkable. Her progress with Purple Demon Eye cultivation was significantly faster than Yang Xiong's initial attempts.
According to Tang San's documented cultivation progress, he had managed to enter the second realm, Microscopic, at just six years of age. Yang Xiong, in contrast, had cultivated diligently for half a month with virtually no noticeable reaction or improvement, while Ning Rongrong could already sense the purple energy after just a few sessions. This disparity made Yang Xiong feel as though he simply wasn't naturally suited for mental force cultivation techniques.
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