In the blink of an eye, six months had passed since Dugu Chen and the others returned from their last soul hunt in Star Dou.
Dugu Chen and his group trained together daily, leaving no chance for other students to join them.
Just look at who they were: either they had a Titled Douluo backing them, or they were direct daughters of the Top Three Sects, or they were top-tier Martial Soul geniuses. Heaven Dou Royal Academy's finest were all gathered there. No one else was qualified to enter their little circle.
That day, Dugu Chen came to the Education Committee. It was his first time here since enrolling.
Six people sat in the hall: the Three Education Commissioners, Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, Liu Ze, the homeroom teacher of Heaven Dou Class One, and a black-clad young man Dugu Chen had never met.
Dugu Chen bowed to the commissioners, then went to sit beside Xue Qinghe. He saw the other man wink at him, leaving Dugu Chen completely baffled.
After Dugu Chen sat down, Chief Meng Shenji spoke. "We called you here because the academy is preparing to form this year's Heaven Dou Royal Team for the Continental Soul Master Tournament. You are this year's top student, so we wanted to hear your opinion."
Dugu Chen froze upon hearing that. They were asking whether he wanted to participate!
Since its founding, Heaven Dou Royal Academy had never won the Soul Master Tournament championship. This had left Xue Ye, who served as the academy's headmaster, rather embarrassed.
The academy's ranking in the previous tournament had shown no breakthrough either. Even before the results were announced, court officials had urged Xue Ye to appoint another member of the royal family to oversee Heaven Dou Academy.
On top of that, Crown Prince Xue Qinghe had a good relationship with Dugu Bo, and Dugu Bo's disciple was a genius renowned throughout Heaven Dou City. Xue Ye also wanted to take action and reorganize the academy. After all, Heaven Dou Academy was an important cradle for the empire's cultivation of Soul Masters.
Xue Ye made up his mind. Coupled with Xue Qinghe's performance over the past few years, which had truly satisfied him, Xue Qinghe's appointment as vice headmaster naturally followed.
From then on, the power in Xue Qinghe's hands grew ever stronger. With Xue Xing lying low, and with only military authority remaining in Xue Ye's own hands, Xue Qinghe could be said to be half the empire's master.
The first thing Xue Qinghe did after becoming vice headmaster was come to the academy, organize this meeting, and summon Dugu Chen for discussion.
He did not particularly care whether they could win the championship. But he had heard that Spirit Hall's Golden Generation for this tournament included Spirit Hall's Saintess, and that made Xue Qinghe unhappy.
What, I'm not even dead yet, and someone is already trying to steal my position!
Therefore, Xue Qinghe planned to make that old woman suffer a crushing defeat in this Soul Master Tournament. The key to it all was Dugu Chen.
As long as Dugu Chen and his senior sister participated, it would be enough to give Spirit Hall a serious headache.
After learning the full story, Dugu Chen looked at Xue Qinghe with great satisfaction. It felt like he had personally helped support an emperor, even if his contribution had not been particularly significant.
Xue Qinghe got goosebumps from Dugu Chen's stare. He coughed and said, "As your elder brother, I am the academy's vice headmaster. If our results do not improve by then, people may start talking. Chen, you wouldn't refuse to help your elder brother, would you?"
Dugu Chen said to Xue Qinghe, "Since Brother Xue has personally invited me, how could I refuse? But I will choose the team members myself."
Hearing Dugu Chen's words, the Three Education Commissioners breathed a sigh of relief. They were not afraid of him setting conditions; they were afraid that he would refuse and apply to graduate.
Students whose Soul Power Level had reached level forty could apply to graduate. Once approved, they could leave Heaven Dou Academy. If Dugu Chen applied, how would they dare hold him back? Besides, he would not care whether they approved it or not.
With graduation from Heaven Dou Royal Academy as one's background, one could at least become the lord of a small city.
Although Dugu Chen would not become a city lord, there was no telling when someone might grow tired of staying in one place and decide to travel.
Now that they had heard him agree, even though he wanted to choose the team members himself, they assumed he would select the people he usually spent time with. The commissioners had already looked into those people. They were all among the academy's most gifted students, so naturally they had no objections.
Combat experience could be gained through battle, and theoretical knowledge could be improved through study. But talent was something one was born with, something difficult to change.
Choosing geniuses to cultivate was far simpler. This was an ironclad rule in a world of extraordinary power: talent determined everything here.
Moreover, the students Dugu Chen selected were people who got along well in daily life. After several years of training together, they would surely make the Heaven Dou Team exceptionally coordinated. Coordination was especially important in team battles. At times, a team could even fight above its level through sheer understanding.
Xue Qinghe nodded. "I believe Chen will bring back the championship as a congratulatory gift for Brother Xue, right?"
Looking at Xue Qinghe's smiling eyes, Dugu Chen felt somewhat awkward, but he nodded.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Dugu Chen left together with Liu Ze and the black-clad young man.
On the way, Dugu Chen looked at the two of them and asked Liu Ze, "Teacher, this is—"
Liu Ze looked at the black-clad young man and said, "The Heaven Dou Royal Team has two teams. You will naturally be the First Team. I will step down as Heaven Dou Class One's homeroom teacher and become your team leader, while Instructor Qin Ming here will be my assistant."
Qin Ming was someone with a name and reputation after graduating from Shrek. He was known as the continent's second-youngest Soul Emperor, though no one knew how much truth there was in that claim.
Still, it proved that Qin Ming had talent. Otherwise, who would praise someone with neither strength nor talent?
It was only that Qin Ming had been held back by Shrek in his early years. Without the cultivation boost of a simulated environment or all sorts of training resources, his ability to break through to the Soul Emperor realm before the age of thirty already marked him as an exceptionally outstanding genius.
Even at the Five Element Academies, he would have been a seeded contestant on an Advanced Soul Master Tournament team.
Over the many years Shrek had existed, how many geniuses had it ruined? Qin Ming probably possessed at least innate level-seven Soul Power. Whichever faction he joined would have valued him highly.
For some unknown reason, his fifth Soul Ring was only a thousand-year one. Given his relationship with Shrek, would it not have been simple to ask the two headmasters to help him acquire a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring?
Yet the reality was that his fifth Soul Ring had not reached ten thousand years. On a genius of his level, that was something of a waste of talent.
Dugu Chen nodded to Qin Ming, neither warm nor cold in his manner. Then he turned to Liu Ze and said, "Teacher, I'll bring the people I've chosen to our usual training grounds. Please wait for us there first."
Liu Ze naturally had no objection. He still needed to return and organize some materials. As for Heaven Dou Class One's lessons, the Education Committee would make arrangements.
When Dugu Chen returned to the classroom, it happened to be break time. He called Dugu Yan and the other five away, then went to the Heavenly Micro Level to pick up Ning Rongrong.
The students still in the classroom watched the group leave in confusion and began discussing it among themselves. Why had they all skipped class together?
When they reached the back mountain, Dugu Chen looked at the six people beside him and nodded in satisfaction. Although the team had three support-type Soul Masters and no agility-attack type, which did not fit a normal team composition, Dugu Chen could fill that role himself. It was just that his agility-attack type had a tiny bit too much attack and defense!
Dugu Chen explained the matter of the Heaven Dou Team, and naturally none of them had any objections to him becoming captain.
In the world of Soul Masters, strength was supreme. During their time training alongside Dugu Chen, they had all become very clear on his strength, so no one objected.
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