Under Xiao Wu's disdainful gaze, Flender removed his glasses and wiped the lenses, his eyelids twitching slightly. "Hongjun, since you're so filial, as your teacher, I can't stop you from striving. So here's the deal—you'll repay 250,000 gold spirit coins within ten years, or you can pay it back to the academy instead."
"Alright, Teacher. Thank you."
Ma Hongjun was on the verge of tears. The massive debt weighing heavily on his shoulders had brought his regret to its peak.
This was partly Flender's intention. He wouldn't blindly shield someone who made mistakes. Tian Dou City wasn't like Suotuo City—he couldn't cover up Ma Hongjun's blunders indefinitely.
Gu La and the others watched silently as the teacher and student discussed the division of debts, with no one interrupting.
Several days later, the finals of the Soul Masters Tournament were held as scheduled.
Tickets for the Tian Dou Grand Soul Arena were nearly impossible to obtain. Flender found the prices too steep and didn't take anyone to watch.
Afterward, they only heard that the Spirit Hall team, equipped with four Mega Evolution devices, had defeated the Tian Dou Imperial Academy team to claim the championship.
"Four Mega Evolution devices—how can other academies even compete after this? In my opinion, the use of Mega Evolution devices should be banned in the Soul Masters Tournament."
Flender vented his frustration. He had originally planned to have Gu La and the others participate in the next tournament, but the emergence of Mega Evolution devices had made the prospects for commoner soul masters increasingly bleak.
He still didn't know that, aside from Zhu Zhuqing, Gu La and the others already possessed Mega Evolution devices.
Since the tournament, many commoner soul masters who had been following the matches felt lost, believing that no matter how hard they worked, they could never match those born into privilege.
Gu La pondered silently. When he had first developed the Mega Evolution device, he hadn't anticipated such a significant impact.
He had assumed that soul masters would be more resistant to new innovations. Who would have thought their pursuit of strength would be so insatiable?
"The monopolization of cultivation resources by the upper echelons is not the outcome I wanted. While I don't expect everyone to become dragons, we can't let lower-tier soul masters lose their drive. They are the backbone of faith and influence."
"I need to publish my visualization technique thesis soon. With enough effort in visualization and participation in plane consciousness, these techniques can promote the evolution of martial souls."
"The eighteen types of visualization diagrams cover most martial soul attributes. Even auxiliary martial souls can meditate on the attribute-less White Lotus Diagram to nourish their soul origins through the laws of heaven and earth."
"When the time comes, they won't be able to blame me for not giving them a chance."
Lost in thought about his thesis, Gu La followed the crowd toward the front of the Tian Dou Imperial Palace, where the title-bestowing ceremony would be held today.
"So many people."
Xiao Wu sighed in amazement.
"They all want to see the spectacle. A title-bestowing ceremony is far rarer than a soul arena match," Dai Mubai responded. His father was only a Soul Douluo, younger than Emperor Xue Ye, and unlikely to break through to the Title Douluo level.
They squeezed their way to the central square, which was restricted to soul masters only, finally easing the congestion.
A grand stage had been erected in the expansive square. The emperor would perform ancestral rites and offer sacrifices to heaven, proclaiming his legitimacy to stabilize public sentiment.
A glint of sharpness flashed in Gu La's eyes. Such rituals, if the emperor was popular, would undoubtedly generate substantial faith power.
However, even ninety-nine-level Absolute Douluos couldn't sense faith power—it required at least demi-god-level cultivation. The two great empires had naturally advantageous conditions, but their lack of cultivation talent meant they couldn't seize such opportunities.
"If publishing my thesis doesn't yield enough faith power, maybe unifying the continent and becoming an emperor isn't a bad idea."
Gu La's random musings sent a chill down Emperor Xue Ye's spine as he prepared to ascend the stage.
On Xue Ye's nine-star ceremonial robe, the Xue family's millennium-old white swan martial soul was embroidered, woven from the soft fur of a ten-thousand-year-old swan spirit beast, keeping him warm in spring and cool in summer. Yet at this moment, Emperor Xue Ye felt uneasy, a deep-seated fear welling up within him.
He turned to Ning Fengzhi: "Ning, I'll trouble you and Elder Chen Xin to guard against any troublemakers who might disrupt the ceremony."
"The Tian Dou Empire and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect share a common destiny. This is something I, Ning, should do."
Ning Fengzhi responded with a smile, but the discomfort in his heart was known only to himself.
He had helped conceal the news of Emperor Xue Ye's breakthrough, only to discover that Xue Ye hadn't sought assistance from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect at all. Instead, he had completed his soul hunting independently.
Moreover, during the recent tournament, Emperor Xue Ye had granted the Yishou Sect a plot of land near Tian Dou City to establish an academy. This move made the ever-suspicious Ning Fengzhi suspect that Xue Ye was seeking to counterbalance his influence.
Ning Fengzhi understood Xue Ye's concerns. If he were emperor, he wouldn't allow any sect within the empire to grow too powerful either. But they were an auxiliary sect! For years, they had helped suppress the various duchies and maintained the Xue family's rule.
Ning Fengzhi felt that Xue Ye's actions were somewhat disheartening.
Still, Ning Fengzhi maintained his outward appearance of elegance and warmth, indistinguishable from before, leaving no room for criticism.
Emperor Xue Ye inherently held the moral high ground. No sect could oppose the empire, especially since the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's martial soul inheritance was unstable and relied on external soul masters to supplement their ranks. No matter how frustrated Ning Fengzhi felt, as long as he didn't want to rebel, he had no choice but to endure.
This was the confidence behind Emperor Xue Ye's bold actions. Before his breakthrough, his life had been nearing its end, allowing the crown prince and nobles to usurp his authority. But now, having broken through to Title Douluo, the balance of power had shifted.
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Inside the Spirit Hall.
Officially attending the ceremony were Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ling Yuan Douluo. As for Ghost Douluo, whose appearance was less presentable, he remained hidden, ready to handle any unexpected situations.
Yue Guan held a secret letter covered in cryptic intelligence scrawls. With a wave of his hand, golden light flashed as he shredded the letter into pieces.
"Someone has spotted members of the Star Crown Sect emerging."
Ghost Douluo spoke from the shadows: "The Star Crown Sect? I remember one of our past elders was from the Star Crown Sect. Even now, their elder tokens still bear the emblem of the Star Crown martial soul."
Ling Yuan Douluo, clad in a fiery red battle skirt, her fair skin and delicate features striking, crossed her arms and said: "That was then. That elder, whose cultivation once surpassed the world, has long since passed away and is buried on Spirit Mountain."
"The Star Crown Sect's reappearance likely means they've grown restless, just like us. They probably want to find Oak and recruit him for their own purposes."
Yue Guan nodded. "It was once rumored that there was an issue with the Star Crown Sect's inherited martial soul. Two consecutive generations failed to awaken the Star Crown martial soul, forcing them to retreat into seclusion."
"This time, their emergence is likely to seek out Oak to help resolve the instability in their martial soul inheritance."
Soul master families also had their own troubles. Take the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family, for example. Their powerful martial soul allowed them to confidently seek mates, and their descendants were highly likely to awaken the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul. Rare cases like Liu Erlong, whose martial soul mutated, still resulted in other dragon-type martial souls.
But the Star Crown martial soul was a rare star-attribute martial soul. Its inheritance was influenced by the time of conception and even celestial phenomena. Combined with the scarcity of star-attribute martial souls, they couldn't even guarantee compatible spouses. Over generations, their bloodline diluted, making the awakening of the Star Crown martial soul increasingly difficult.
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