"Alright, let's go~"
Xuanzi waved his hand and left with Su Wen.
Zhang Yi clapped his hands together and made a few hand gestures, and the originally peaceful wooden house slowly disappeared underground.
Su Wen watched in amazement.
As expected of the inner court team, although they are usually quite loose, once they enter the battle preparation state, they can still show the appearance of elites.
Ma Xiaotao winked at Su Wen and happily joined the team.
If she were not at the peak of Soul Venerable and needed to obtain her fourth Soul Ring, she would not have followed this elite team whose strength was averaged at Soul Emperor.
Seeing everyone leave, Su Wen looked at Elder Xuan.
The latter rubbed his palms and chuckled, "Little Wen, do you want to eat bird eggs? In the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest, there is a kind of Fiery Bird, which is usually between three thousand and ten thousand years old. The eggs it lays taste so good."
"So we don't care about Sister Xiaotao and the others?" Su Wen said without changing his expression.
"Cough cough cough, they'll take care of themselves, don't worry.
Five Soul Saints, six Soul Emperors, and four Soul Kings, this team can practically roam this area unless they encounter a 100,000-year-old Soul Beast.
Even if they run into a 50,000- or 60,000-year-old Soul Beast, they'll be fine if they're careful."
Xuanzi stroked his chin.
"What if they do encounter one?" Su Wen frowned slightly.
His eyes were fixed on Elder Xuan: "You're willing to put the whole team at such a risk just to eat bird eggs? I suddenly feel like I agreed a couple of days ago too quickly.
Is such an unreliable academy even worth joining?"
"Ah this"
Xuanzi stammered.
His throat bobbed, and his face was somewhat embarrassed.
He hadn't expected this child to be so upright.
Moreover, he had already informed Elder Mu.
If Elder Mu found out that he had lost the child's trust in the academy because of "stealing bird eggs," he feared that this senior uncle, who had been confined to a wheelchair for decades, would be so angry that he would stand up and kill him.
"Hahaha, I was just joking, testing you. I didn't expect you to pass! Not bad, not bad, worthy of my trust." Xuanzi chuckled.
"You'd better be," Su Wen said with a light laugh.
Xuanzi blushed slightly. He clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking how hard it was to fool kids these days…
…
"Screech!"
A hawk's cry pierced the sky.
Its terrifying force shook the entire forest.
"As expected of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, its aura is terrifying. I wonder when Hurricane will grow to this level."
Su Wen stood on a thick ancient tree branch, watching the small black dot gradually disappear in the distance, a hint of envy flashing in his eyes.
"Given your talent, it's not far off, maybe ten years at most." Xuanzi lay to the side, rather bored, biting into a roasted chicken leg, his tone vague.
Su Wen nodded slightly.
Despite his words, he was quite confident in himself.
His gaze fell upon the hurricane beside him.
After half a month of cultivation, including the level increase from consuming the Marrow Cleansing Pill, he had gained approximately one to two levels.
This increase in strength was also manifested in the hurricane.
Its height had noticeably increased, to about 1.1 meters, and its arm muscles were more defined.
The base stats on its panel had increased from 0.14 to 0.22.
However, its skills remained unchanged; it seemed that advancement to the next form or a fortuitous encounter would bring about any changes.
The combination of meditation and the suitable internal energy cultivation technique (similar to the Mysterious Heaven Technique) given to him by Xuanzi made his cultivation speed quite fast; with a little effort, he could level up in two months.
Of course, the increase in soul power will gradually decrease, but even at its slowest, by the time he officially enters school at age twelve, his soul power should at least be above level thirty-five.
(Tang San had the Mysterious Heaven Skill and meditation, reaching level twenty-nine upon entering school; the numerical expansion in Dou Er occurred, but even top geniuses like Dai Huabin and Ning Tian only reached level thirty upon entering school).
Su Wen was pleased with this; only top-tier forces on the continent like Shrek Academy, Body Sect, and Star Luo Empire could afford such top-tier techniques.
Fortunately, he encountered the Shrek Academy team at this time.
He sat cross-legged; the Shrek Academy team was not far below.
He saw Ma Xiaotao idly fiddling with branches, Zhang Lexuan and Zhang Yi talking about something, and everyone having a small meeting.
In the past few days, Ma Xiaotao had acquired her fourth soul skill, which seemed to be a Fiery Ape, and the other team members had also made their own gains, leaving only the eldest sister and two other inner court disciples.
However, these three were all Soul Saints, requiring soul beasts over thirty or forty thousand years old, which were naturally difficult to find.
Unfortunately, they were too far away to hear clearly.
Su Wen shook his head.
Looking at the docile Hurricane beside him, Su Wen realized they were already in the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest.
In this place, thousand-year-old spirit beasts roamed freely, and ten-thousand-year-old ones were as common as dogs.
A mere ten-year-old spirit beast was practically a max-level village here; even the pressure alone was enough to shatter its soul.
Otherwise, he'd really like to find one or two spirit beasts of the same level to let Hurricane practice.
"Roar~"
Hurricane growled at a distant tree trunk, then looked pitifully at Su Wen.
The two, man and beast, were of one mind, and Su Wen instantly understood the latter's meaning.
"Want to go play?"
"Go if you want, but only under this tree. Don't wander off. My power isn't concealed; no spirit beasts will bother you."
Xuan Zi yawned and spoke leisurely.
Hurricane nodded in a human-like manner, its dark, lively eyes flashing with joy.
"You can understand human speech?" Su Wen raised an eyebrow, instantly realizing that with their minds connected, Hurricane could naturally understand Xuan Zi's meaning.
"Go on."
Su Wen waved his hand, sat cross-legged on the ancient tree, and began to cultivate.
Xuan Zi opened his sleepy eyes and grinned: "This kid is quite diligent. He's so diligent even with full innate soul power. His future is limitless!"
The cultivation technique he obtained from Elder Xuan was called the Spirit Pill Technique.
It involves circulating one's meridians to gather energy in one place, condensing a spirit pill, and then using the spirit pill to nourish the whole body.
This back and forth gradually increases soul power.
Su Wen felt the soul power around him increase slowly but noticeably, and couldn't help but smile.
Is this the joy of being a top student? Being able to get immediate feedback on progress, no wonder he loves learning.
And he could understand the many soul masters on the continent who were just giving up.
He was at the peak of his cultivation speed because he had all his buffs stacked up.
If a soul master was only at the first level of innate and could only meditate, their cultivation speed would probably be less than a tenth of his.
He didn't even want to think about how desperate they would be...
"Sigh, wait"
Just as Su Wen was happily cultivating, he suddenly paused.
The data panel for Hurricane refreshed instantly, and the several red numbers and the arrows indicating growth startled Su Wen.
What happened?
How could Hurricane's data have surged by 0.09?!
No!
It seems he also leveled up!
Su Wen opened his eyes and saw
Hurricane, carrying a bright red fruit in its mouth, transforming into a gust of wind and tumbling up from the lower level of the ancient tree, making faces at the giant python chasing closely behind.
(End of Chapter)