For Nan Fusheng, right now, a thousand-year spirit herb was nearly worthless. A ten-thousand-year herb might be worth considering.
After all, he still had that huge reserve of energy collected from the Soul Guidance Train incident sitting inside him, waiting to be absorbed. That amount alone was enough to push him straight to the Soul King level.
Taking a thousand-year herb now wouldn't do him much good. If anything, he'd probably just have to waste time auctioning it off for money. Since that was the case, it was far more straightforward to have the academy just give him the Federation coins directly—cutting out the middleman entirely. With his recent performance, he figured the academy wouldn't be stingy about it.
"Alright," Long Hengxu said with a resigned look, "since you're so insistent, I'll speak to the academy. You should have the money by tomorrow afternoon."
"Mm. Thank you, Director Long."
"This is what you deserve," Long Hengxu replied. With that, he turned and left—he still needed to discuss things with the principal, not just about Nan Fusheng's matter, but also the upcoming Tianhai Alliance Tournament.
"Be ready for tomorrow's spar," Wu Zhangkong said before leaving as well. "I'll be using my soul skills."
"…Soul skills?" Xie Xie stammered, "Did I hear that right? Teacher Wu, using soul skills against us? Is he serious?"
Tang Wulin's facial muscles twitched. He'd seen Wu Zhangkong's soul skills in action—terrifyingly strong even when his cultivation was suppressed to their level. Just with Frost Mark and Frost Mist, he could completely dominate them. Frost Mark alone would be enough to crush them.
"It looks like we'll have to carefully work out our tactics," Nan Fusheng said seriously. He'd also used the Time Worm to peek at Wu Zhangkong's combat power. The difference between him using soul skills and not using them was like heaven and earth.
"Let's go. Back to plan." Xie Xie didn't hesitate.
Later, over lunch with Class Zero…
"Tianhai Alliance Tournament?"
"That's right. If nothing unexpected happens, I should be going with the Blacksmiths' Association. I'm not sure if that's a good thing, so I came to ask you all," Tang Wulin said.
At the mention of the tournament, Xie Xie's eyes lit up instantly.
"This is a good thing! The Federation has eighteen first-tier cities, split into five regions—east, west, south, north, and central.
Each region has several major cities. In the central region, there are only two first-tier cities—Tiandou City and Shrek City. Fewer in number, yes, but their influence is unmatched across the continent.
The eastern region, on the other hand, has the most first-tier cities—five in total. The so-called Tianhai Alliance is made up of these five coastal metropolises. Our Donghai City, the second-largest coastal city in the east, is one of them."
But as Xie Xie rambled on about background details without getting to the point, Nan Fusheng finally cut him off.
"The Tianhai Alliance Tournament is mainly for selecting outstanding talent, but it's also a stage for each city to showcase its heritage and development. It's a grand event held every three years.
Anyone who stands out there will have a bright future ahead of them. The most exceptional participants will even go on to represent the Tianhai Alliance in the Federation Grand Tournament, held every five years—that's the event for the entire continent."
"The Federation Grand Tournament is in Shrek City, right?" Xu Xiaoyan asked.
"Yep. Right in Shrek City. Though Shrek Academy doesn't participate—otherwise there'd be no suspense at all. Their status as the number one academy on the continent hasn't been challenged in ten thousand years," Xie Xie answered.
Xu Xiaoyan's eyes sparkled. "So does that mean we have a chance too?"
Xie Xie crushed her fantasy without hesitation. "Chance? What chance? Our ages are completely wrong for it. I calculated this ages ago—next year's the Grand Tournament, and we'll all be eleven.
For the youth division—ages ten to fifteen—being eleven is a huge disadvantage. You'd be facing the absolute top-tier geniuses from across the Federation.
And that's assuming we even qualify this year by entering the Tianhai Alliance Tournament and placing in the top six in our age bracket. Only then could we go to Shrek City.
As for the next Grand Tournament, we'd be sixteen—too old for the youth bracket. We'd have to fight in the sixteen-to-twenty division instead. Getting a good result there? Forget it. We were just born at the wrong time."
Gu Yue never let Xie Xie's pessimism go unchallenged. "So what if we're eleven? Who says eleven-year-olds can't be champions? If you don't have confidence in yourself, who else will? If you're going to do something, do it the best you can." With that, she stood up and went to wash her lunch tray.
Xie Xie pouted as he watched her leave. "She talks like we're all going to the Tianhai Tournament. Only Wulin's going, alright?"
Nan Fusheng gave him a mysterious smile. "You never know."
And with that, he ignored Xie Xie's questions and went back to eating. The food today was much better than usual—especially the giant sea cucumber. Not only did it taste amazing, but it left him feeling warm and comfortable all over.
That afternoon, the group gathered to discuss Wu Zhangkong's abilities and develop counter-strategies.
"Fusheng, that movement ability you used to carry Xiaoyan before—was that your second soul skill? Can it carry other people?" Tang Wulin asked.
Xie Xie and Gu Yue looked over curiously—they'd wanted to ask too, but hadn't gotten the chance.
"That's right," Nan Fusheng admitted. "I developed it by accident. I call it… Spiral Flash Ultra Wheel Dance Roar Type Three."
…What? Everyone was stunned by his naming sense.
"So, that Spiral… thing…" Tang Wulin tried to repeat the tongue-twister, but failed. "Uh, that space-movement ability—you can only take people with you by physically touching them?"
"No. I can also place my soul spirit on someone to bring them along. That way, there's a slight delay, and right now I can carry at most two people at once.
Also, as long as I have enough soul power, I can swap positions freely with either of them during that period.
If the name's too much of a mouthful, you can call it 'Heavenly Hand Force'… though I'd prefer you use its real name."
In truth, this ability was just an alternative application of the Door pathway—other than direct contact, he could place a "Star Worm" on a target to teleport them, albeit a bit slower.
During that link, he could also swap positions with them at will. Originally, he'd considered imitating Aoi Todo from Jujutsu Kaisen and calling it "Boogie Woogie"… but after thinking it over, Nan Fusheng decided against it.