Six years have passed in the blink of an eye, silently slipping away amidst the rapid growth and fierce competition of the younger generation on the Douluo Continent.
Inside the exclusive Mimicry Cultivation Ground of the Tianxing Academy inner court, seven figures crisscrossed like lightning, the roar of colliding Soul Skills and the explosive blasts of air waves ringing out incessantly. After six years of near-brutal tempering and bitter cultivation, the once-immature Seed Team had undergone a transformative change.
Captain Gao Mingxuan, eighteen, wielded his Death Scythe with gray-black death energy trailing like a shadow; his attack trajectories were tricky and bizarre, and his cultivation had reached Level 56 Soul King! Wherever his blade passed, it seemed to sever life force, sending chills down one's spine.
Control System Soul Master Dugu Yan, eighteen, had mastered her Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Martial Soul to perfection. Her poisonous mist domain was wider, her toxins more unpredictable, and she could often dismantle an opponent's offensive in total silence, with a cultivation of Level 55 Soul King. The pale green miasma swirling around her was as beautiful as it was deadly.
Brothers Shi Mo and Shi Mo, nineteen, possessed the Black Tortoise Turtle Martial Soul, which boasted the strongest defense of their tier. The defensive formation they set up together was like an iron wall. Both brothers had their cultivation stabilized at Level 55 Soul King, and their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, "Black Tortoise Barrier," was the team's most reliable protection.
Healing core Ye Lingling, seventeen, saw the radiance of her Nine Heart Begonia become even purer and more holy, with her healing range and effectiveness significantly increased. At Level 55 Soul King, she remained as cold and aloof as ever, yet when she looked at her teammates, a hint of imperceptible warmth appeared in her eyes.
Power Attack System's Tang Chuan, only sixteen, wielded his Clear Sky Hammer with increasing dominance and ferocity. His Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer had reached the realm of perfection, and at Level 54 Soul King, his fighting spirit was the highest in the team. He was the sharpest spear in their arsenal, and he seemed to possess hidden methods as well.
Yet, the most dazzling member of the team was undoubtedly the fourteen-year-old Yu Tianquan! Six years had passed, and he had grown much taller. Although his face still carried the youthful innocence of a boy, the composure and confidence in his heterochromia eyes had become increasingly deep.
The instincts inherent to his Silver Dragon Martial Soul, combined with his own hard work, had brought his control over ice and lightning elements to a staggering level, with every gesture containing the might of heaven and earth. His cultivation had shockingly reached Level 61 Soul Emperor.
His two purple Soul Rings, which had exceeded the limits, remained brilliant and had even evolved; he had achieved the terrifying configuration of an all-ten-thousand-year Soul Ring set—black, black, black, black, black, black. Such a foundation could only be described as unfathomable!
His combat power could no longer be measured by ordinary Soul Emperor standards. A year ago, the other six members, excluding Yu Tianquan, had joined forces to withstand and successfully defeat a Level 78 Soul Sage instructor from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan who had activated his Martial Soul True Body at full power.
Yu Tianquan, however, had fought one-on-one against another Level 79 Soul Sage instructor from the Clear Sky Sect. He directly activated his True Dragon Undying Body in a full dragon-transformation state, and with powerful elemental bursts, he went head-to-head with that instructor, never losing ground, and ultimately achieving victory.
Two years ago, the All-Continent High-Level Soul Master Elite Tournament was held as scheduled. At the time, the Tianxing Team, with an average cultivation of Level 45 or 46, participated as a substitute team. After one of their main members was severely injured in a bitter battle, the twelve-year-old Yu Tianquan, then at Level 49 Soul Power, was ordered to step in for the individual matches.
His opponent was a Level 64 Power Attack System Soul Emperor from the Martial Soul Team who possessed a top-tier Martial Soul! Because Yu Tianquan was a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the audience recognized his talent and combat power, so everyone tried to overestimate his strength, believing this would be an evenly matched and exciting contest.
However, Yu Tianquan used his strength to leave the entire arena in stunned silence! With his Silver Dragon possessed and ice and lightning intertwined, he used exquisite elemental control, formidable physical strength, and combat wisdom that defied logic to easily suppress his opponent from the very start.
No matter how the opponent bombarded him with Soul Skills, Yu Tianquan remained calm and composed, integrating offense and defense to firmly control the rhythm of the battle. After more than ten rounds, a "Silver Dragon Sky-Splitting Break," which fused the ultimate ice and the destruction of lightning, shattered the opponent's defense and secured an easy victory!
At that moment, the entire arena erupted! The name "Silver Dragon Emperor" echoed throughout the stadium! As a Soul Ancestor, he had defeated a Soul Emperor, and the talent and combat power he displayed shocked the entire Soul Master World!
However, the Tianxing Team ultimately failed to win the championship. Standing in their way was the sun-like captain of the Martial Soul Team—Qian Renxue!
Twenty years old, Level 72 Soul Sage! The successor of the Six-winged Angel Martial Soul and the granddaughter of the Angel God Qian Daoliu! Her strength was completely different from that of Qian Xunji.
Qian Xunji had learned from his own lessons, ensuring that Qian Renxue did not overly rely on the early-stage dividends of her Godly Lineage. Her Soul Power growth, aside from her innate ten levels, was built step by step through her own bitter cultivation and the assistance of top-tier foundation-stabilizing resources.
Qian Xunji's demands on his daughter were extremely strict, never allowing any behavior that would force growth. Qian Daoliu even "equivalently" exchanged the ten levels of Soul Power gifted by the Angel family to their gods for a massive amount of pure Angel Divine Power, sealing it within his granddaughter's body to be released slowly as she grew. This ensured her foundation was flawless while providing infinite potential.
This meant that although Qian Renxue was only twenty, her understanding of the Six-winged Angel Martial Soul had reached the realm of perfection, and her foundation was far deeper than her peers.
Her true combat power was enough to contend with a Super Douluo for a short time without being defeated! She had even begun to attempt to condense the legendary "Perfect Soul Core" at the Soul Sage realm—a technique that encompassed essence, energy, and spirit, and one that only the core descendants of the Yu, Qian, and Tang families knew the complete method for.
It must be known that the current method of condensing a Soul Core is not the same as the one in the original story. Yu Yuanchen, Qian Daoliu, and Tang Chen had worked together in their youth to pool their family's resources and study a method that encompassed essence, energy, and spirit. While one could lean toward one aspect, all three were indispensable. After the three of them became gods, they even optimized the Soul Core condensation method again with a high-level perspective.
Although the version passed down to the world was an abridged one, given Qian Renxue's status and talent, she naturally practiced the complete version. The complete version was not something one could achieve just by having high talent; in fact, the higher the talent, the greater the difficulty.
The most important thing was to integrate all the abilities of one's own Martial Soul based on a solid foundation, making a certain transformation and development.
If the Martial Soul were ordinary, it might have been easier, but for top-tier Martial Souls like the Clear Sky Hammer or the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, it was much harder. Even for dual-star geniuses with deep foundations like Qian Xunji and Tang Hao, they only successfully condensed a Soul Core when breaking through to the Titled Douluo realm.
In the final match, facing Qian Renxue, who was firing on all cylinders with her Angel Domain enveloping the entire arena, even with the Tianxing Team's main force out in full and Yu Tianquan unleashing his full strength, their defeat was inevitable. Qian Renxue's power was like the blazing sun—magnificent, upright, yet invincible. It was an absolute crushing of realms and accumulation.
At the moment of defeat, Yu Tianquan knelt on one knee, gasping for breath. Yet, there was no frustration in his heterochromia eyes; instead, they burned with an even more intense fighting spirit. He looked up at Qian Renxue, who was wreathed in holy light in the air like a goddess descended to earth, his voice clearly reaching across the arena: "Sister Qian, four years from now, at the next tournament, the Tianxing Team will surely wash away this shame! When that time comes, you and I shall fight again!"
Qian Renxue dispersed her Martial Soul True Body, a gentle and slightly doting smile appearing on her beautiful face. She had known Yu Tianquan since childhood and was close to him, always treating him as a little brother who needed looking after. She fluttered down, walked up to Yu Tianquan, and reached out to ruffle his soft silver hair (a gesture that made Ye Lingling in the VIP seats pout slightly): "Alright, little Tianquan, sister promises you. Four years from now, I will wait for you to challenge me."
This exchange pushed the atmosphere of the tournament to a climax. The agreement between the two peerless geniuses of the Yu Clan and the Qian Clan became a hot topic in the Soul Master World long after the tournament ended.
Now, two years have passed. Yu Tianquan's cultivation has reached Level 61 Soul Emperor, and his strength has improved further. Gao Mingxuan, Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, Tang Chuan, and others have also successively broken through to the Soul King realm. Under the occasional guidance of Yu Yunting and the academy's all-out cultivation, the entire team's strength has advanced by leaps and bounds. They are holding back a surge of energy, training day and night, just for the rematch against the Martial Soul Team and Qian Renxue in four years!
(The reason these people's Soul Power improved so quickly is that the development of pills and medicinal herbs on the Douluo Continent has greatly advanced. Although geniuses rarely take pills that directly increase cultivation due to their foundations, they do take many pills that assist in cultivation, allowing their speed to not be limited to slow, bitter training below the Soul Sage level, and preventing their cultivation speed from slowing down in the middle stages.)
Just as the Tianxing Team was charging forward under the spotlight, the story in Nuoding City, on the southwestern edge of the continent, was unfolding in relative flatness and undercurrents.
In six years, Tang San, under the alias "Tang Chi," had his Soul Power raised to Level 32 Soul Grand Master, driven by hatred and the profoundness of the Mysterious Heaven Skill. He remained low-key and patient, spending most of his time training alone in the dense forest behind the mountain, combining Tang Sect ultimate skills with his Martial Soul abilities with increasing proficiency.
The sinister and ruthless nature of his Man Faced Demon Spider Martial Soul complemented his skills like the Mysterious Jade Hand, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, and Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, making his actual combat ability far exceed his peers.
Xiao Wu's cultivation had also reached Level 32. The two had forged a deep "revolutionary friendship" during their previous "battles" against students from small Soul Master families.
Xiao Wu was naturally lively and sharp-tongued, while Tang San was steady and patient. The two, with their vastly different personalities, had developed a unique tacit understanding after long periods of fighting side by side.
From some point on, Xiao Wu's address for Tang San changed from "Sister Xiao Wu" to "Brother," and Tang San's seemingly cold but affection-starved heart also developed a sense of care and protection—or perhaps... possessiveness—for this seemingly simple and loyal "rabbit."
A bond transcending friendship, similar to family, quietly took root between them. They became the "brother-sister duo" that no one dared to provoke among the work-study students at Nuoding Academy.
However, beneath the calm, danger was never far away. Huyan Lian was not stupid; after investigating for a long time without finding any information on Tang San, she naturally guessed the possibility of "hiding in plain sight." During this time, she had also sent out eyes and ears, lurking in the dark like a viper, searching for Tang San's trail in Nuoding City.
Several seemingly accidental "conflicts" and "traps" were handled by the alert Tang San using Tang Sect methods and his increasingly keen intuition, with the help of a guardian at the Soul Emperor level sent by his father, Tuoba Xi. But he knew clearly that a greater storm was yet to come.
One day, Tang San received a secret letter from his "father," Tuoba Xi.
In the letter, Tuoba Xi mentioned with concern that Huyan Lian had secretly borrowed forces from her maiden family and was preparing to head to Nuoding City. Although he had secretly sent some trusted aides to intercept them, this undoubtedly indicated that Tang San's identity had been exposed. For his safety, he suggested that he leave Nuoding City and head to "Shrek Academy" in Suotuo City, Bala Ke Province, to continue his studies.
In the letter, Tuoba Xi recommended the dean of Shrek Academy, Flender, claiming that he was a decent person with good teaching methods, and most importantly, that he had an old connection with him (in reality, it was because he had been tricked by Flender during his training in his youth without realizing it, and later went to settle the score, only to see that Flender's strength was decent and he wanted to recruit him, thus "making friends through fighting"). He could ensure his safety.
Tang San held the letter, his eyes flickering. Poisoned by feudal thinking, he naturally believed that Tuoba Xi was doing this entirely for his safety. Moreover, Flender's strength was quite good, and Tuoba Xi must have intended to use Flender's power to restrain the Huyan Family, thereby protecting him.
Furthermore, leaving the increasingly dangerous whirlpool of Nuoding City for a broader platform to gain more resources and opportunities to become stronger was also in his interest. Besides, with a Soul Douluo dean like Flender sitting in charge, the safety would indeed be higher.
He informed Xiao Wu of the matter. Upon hearing that they could leave this "small place" and go to a bigger, more bustling city, Xiao Wu immediately clapped her hands in joy, clamoring to go with her "brother."
A few days later, Tang San and Xiao Wu completed their withdrawal procedures and quietly left Nuoding City, where they had lived for six years, embarking on the journey to Suotuo City. Tang San looked back at the small city that held his mother's blood and tears and his own six years of patience, his eyes filled with coldness. Huyan Lian, the Tuoba Family... just wait, I, Tang San, will definitely return.
Suotuo City, Bala Ke Province. As a major town in the kingdom, its prosperity was far beyond that of the small city of Nuoding.
Following the address, Tang San and Xiao Wu arrived before a sprawling complex of buildings in the west of the city. High walls and an imposing gate stood before them, with a plaque featuring gold-leaf lettering hanging above: Shrek High-Level Soul Master Academy.
Unlike the "backyard academy" located in a village with simple conditions from the original story, the Shrek Academy before them was a high-level soul master academy officially approved by the Department of Education under the Federal Martial Soul Hall.
After the Federal Unity, the soul master education system underwent strict standardization. Every academy had to meet specific operational criteria, and the chaotic management style of the original story—where Flender would recruit students at will, refuse tuition refunds, and preach that "those who dare not cause trouble are mediocre"—was strictly prohibited.
Dean Flender, that level 82 Agility Attack System Soul Douluo, could not shake his stingy nature or his penchant for calculation, but under the supervision of federal regulations and the current Department of Education of the Martial Soul Hall, he had no choice but to run the academy properly.
He joined forces with his old brothers, including Li Yusong (Dragon Patterned Stick Soul Emperor), Lu Qibin (Star Luo Chess Soul Emperor), and Zhao Wuji (Immovable Ming King Soul Sage), investing the majority of their savings to finally build Shrek Academy into the respectable institution it was today. The academy offered various soul master courses, hired certified teachers, and maintained strict management, earning it a modest reputation within Bala Ke Province.
Of course, Flender's "profiteer" nature remained unchanged; he was always looking to "generate revenue" within the limits allowed by the rules, such as setting tuition fees on the higher side or charging premium prices for on-campus amenities, but he never dared to cross the red lines drawn by the Federation.
Tang San and Xiao Wu paid the hefty tuition and completed their enrollment procedures. They were received by an elderly soul master named Li Yusong, who was responsible for new student registration and preliminary assessments.
"Release your martial souls and test your soul power," Li Yusong said in a businesslike tone.
Tang San and Xiao Wu exchanged a glance and released their martial souls simultaneously. Behind Tang San, the phantom of a Man Faced Demon Spider emerged, filling the air with a chilling aura; at Xiao Wu's feet, the phantom of a Soft Bone Rabbit leaped, agile and cute.
"Level 32 Soul Grand Master, martial soul Man Faced Demon Spider."
"Level 32 Soul Grand Master, martial soul Soft Bone Rabbit."
A flash of surprise crossed Li Yusong's eyes. A level 32 at twelve years old was considered a top-tier genius here in Suotuo City. He finished recording their details and handed them their dormitory keys and a student handbook: "Good talent. Go settle into your dorms, remember the school rules, and cultivate diligently."
Walking along the academy's tree-lined path, Xiao Wu looked around curiously: "Brother, this academy looks pretty good! It's much better than Nuoding Academy!"
Tang San nodded slightly, though his gaze scanned the surroundings with sharpness. He could sense that there were quite a few formidable auras hidden within the academy. That legendary Dean Flender, in particular, made him feel vigilant. He knew that new challenges were about to begin. Here, he had to become stronger faster to cope with the bloody storms of the future.
Meanwhile, far away at Tianxing Academy in Dragon City, Yu Tianquan finished a day of grueling training. He stood alone by the edge of the training field, gazing at the sunset on the western horizon, his heterochromia reflecting a brilliant light.
"Sister Qianqian, two more years... wait for me."
Across the east and west of the continent, the two stars of light and shadow continued their journeys and transformations in their respective new environments. The All-Continent High-Level Soul Master Elite Tournament four years later was destined to become the brilliant stage where their fates would intersect.
And the maneuvering and schemes of the various factions, hidden beneath the surface of calm, entered a new phase as the younger generation grew. A storm was gathering in the distant future, accumulating energy capable of destroying the world.
───────────────
Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: GodKun-Chan