"Come in!"
In Heavenly Spirit City, a young man around 20 years old looked at Yu Longheng and Ning Yue a few meters away, speaking coldly, "Fighting is prohibited within a kilometer of the Spirit Pagoda. If you dare, come in! I'll fight you!"
He had just come to the Spirit Pagoda to obtain a spirit soul, but unexpectedly encountered a battle maniac who wanted to fight at the drop of a hat. Whose brat was this?
As a support-type soul master, even if he were a Soul King, he had little combat ability. What was there to fight about?
If he hadn't been close to the Spirit Pagoda's protective range and rushed in, he might have been beaten up.
Yu Longheng looked at the young man with a dark expression, wanting to charge over but also worried about the Spirit Pagoda's law enforcement team.
"Big brother, we just want to spar with you," Ning Yue said from the side. "We just left the academy and are itching for a fight. Could you please cooperate?"
"You say fight and we fight? What's in it for me? Fighting two kids, whether I win or lose, it doesn't sound good," the young man snorted without explaining that he was a support-type. "If you dare, come in! See if the Spirit Pagoda's law enforcement team will arrest you and throw you back to the academy."
Where did they think they were?
This was the Spirit Pagoda's territory, which took great care of civilian soul masters. Try breaking the rules here!
"This..." Ning Yue looked troubled, glancing at Yu Longheng.
"...Let's go, to the Soul Master Academy," Yu Longheng glanced at the soul masters and spirit souls gathering around to watch the spectacle, took a deep breath, and turned to leave.
This one didn't seem to work. On to the next.
Later, Yu Longheng and his companion had better luck, defeating a level 42 soul master near a Soul Master Academy.
Then, they successfully cornered a suitable female soul master, around seventeen years old, a four-ring Soul Ancestor, who was no match for them.
Just as they thought their challenge mission in Heavenly Spirit City was about to be completed, an unexpected turn of events occurred.
The girl... called for reinforcements.
Beaten to a pulp and flushed with anger, the girl pulled out a red and white ball, causing Yu Longheng and Ning Yue's faces to turn green.
They of course recognized the spirit soul ball, as they had one too, though they hadn't brought it to the academy.
"Let's go!" Yu Longheng urgently called out, trying to pull Ning Yue away, but it was already too late.
The girl threw the red and white ball in her hand, gritting her teeth, "Frost Ancestor, they're the ones who attacked me for no reason!"
A ten-meter-long spirit beast covered in icy crystal scales suddenly appeared, blocking Yu Longheng and Ning Yue's path.
A ten-thousand-year spirit soul, Frost Dragon Python!
Yu Longheng's expression turned ugly.
You bring your ten-thousand-year spirit soul ancestor to academy?
Are you insane!
"Longheng, I think I know why the academy set the final location at the Skysea Alliance," Ning Yue said with a bitter smile.
"Because in those second-tier cities, there are fewer families with ten-thousand-year spirit souls, reducing the variables we might encounter."
Some soul masters like to bond with unabsorbed spirit souls and carry them around in spirit soul balls.
At the thousand-year level, it's manageable, but no matter how strong they were, as Soul Elders, facing a powerful ten-thousand-year spirit soul and a soul master five levels above them was not a fight they could win!
Shen Yi, who witnessed everything, frowned, lamenting their bad luck.
Even if they could escape now, they'd have to start over.
'If the number of high-level spirit soul holders continues to rise, the difficulty of completing the assessment will only increase. Should the assessment system be changed?'
The Frost Dragon Python glanced at the girl's disheveled state, then turned its icy gaze to Yu Longheng and Ning Yue, letting out a deafening roar.
"Roar, "
An overwhelming pressure accompanied by a blizzard swept towards the two, making Yu Longheng and Ning Yue's hearts sink.
This was not going to end well.
...Several days had passed at the East Sea Spirit Pagoda. Discovering that Huo Yuhao's tolerance for the world's heaven and earth energy far exceeded expectations, Mu Ye fell into complete silence.
Indeed... a freak.
In the simulated training ground, Huo Yuhao was surrounded by a vast amount of heaven and earth energy, which continuously surged into his body. He guided it along the pathways of his innate technique, tempering his body and comprehending the power of the world.
This heaven and earth energy was not only drawn by Mu Ye but also by Huo Yuhao himself.
After all, his spiritual power had reached the Spirit Abyss realm, allowing him to attempt to mobilize external heaven and earth energy.
Additionally, Huo Yuhao had inscribed a siphon inscription array on himself, further enhancing efficiency.
"At this rate, progress might be even faster than I imagined," Mu Ye clicked his tongue.
After understanding more during this period, he found that Huo Yuhao's blood energy vortex was different from what was recorded in their Body Sect.
The Body Sect's blood energy core, condensed from the blood energy vortex, was merely a condensed form of blood energy, only enhancing blood energy cultivation and not stacking effects with a soul core.
But if Huo Yuhao's blood energy vortex fully formed, it could be called a blood energy soul core, capable of not only enhancing blood energy cultivation but also functioning as a soul core.
After all, condensing a soul core was typically something only Soul Sages could achieve!
This was a theory proposed by the first pagoda master of the Spirit Pagoda, developed step by step over ten thousand years. Ten thousand years ago, the first soul core was condensed at level 90.
Even the soul power vortex now only begins to condense in the late stages of becoming a Soul Emperor. Huo Yuhao already possessed one, indicating that he had been compressing his soul power during regular cultivation, improving its quality. In Mu Ye's eyes, even the soul power quality of a typical Soul King might not match Huo Yuhao's.
'However, the current soul power quality still can't compare to a Soul Sage. Fully forming this soul core, which contains both blood energy and soul power, is highly challenging. It might not be possible until around level 50.'
Mu Ye's eyes shone.
That was still impressive. The blood energy vortex continuously accumulated and compressed soul power and blood energy. Once the soul core fully formed, it could compensate for Huo Yuhao's attributes beyond spiritual power.
By then, Huo Yuhao's physical strength, soul power quality, spiritual power, and other foundational attributes wouldn't be inferior to a true Soul Sage, and might even surpass them in some aspects.
This didn't even account for Huo Yuhao's future secondary awakening and techniques. By then, fighting across tiers might become as easy as eating and drinking for him.
The younger generation is truly formidable.
...
Exhaling a long breath, Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes, a flash of silver and gray light passing through them. A powerful aura emanated from his body, causing Mu Ye to raise an eyebrow.
Having initially mastered blood energy, the various bloodline powers hidden within Huo Yuhao's body could now be mobilized at will, even manifesting as an aura that could affect others.
But what kind of bloodline powers were these?
They were too dominant. If unleashed, bloodline powers of the same type would likely be utterly suppressed in their presence.
On the other hand, Huo Yuhao frowned slightly, lifting his hand to look at the silver and white radiance formed from soul power and blood energy.
This was a power naturally understood after fully mastering the blood energy vortex, resulting from the fusion of soul power and blood energy.
"If I can balance blood energy, spiritual power, and soul power, further fusion should be possible," Huo Yuhao thought to himself.
At this moment, seeing Huo Yuhao stop, Mu Ye approached, "You've mastered the basics of the innate technique. The bloodline powers within your body are highly attuned to elemental energies, making the tempering effect of various primordial energies on your body exceptionally good. I don't need to guide you much further."
"Now that your innate qi and various bloodline powers have been nourished, it's the perfect time for a secondary awakening. Tomorrow, I'll take you for your martial soul's secondary awakening. Prepare yourself; it won't be as easy this time."
Huo Yuhao's expression shifted slightly.
Secondary awakening... Deep-sea survival?