The Status of Theoretical Scholars (Please Add to Favorites!!!)

"Entering Heaven Dou Royal Academy?" Salas frowned, staring at Su Wen, his gaze flickering.

Knowing many truths, he could analyze the benefits of Su Wen going to Heaven Dou Royal Academy from the overall perspective.

But Su Wen did not know that.

What was he going to Heaven Dou Royal Academy for?

"Why go to Heaven Dou Royal Academy? Spirit Hall's nurturing won't be worse than theirs."

Other Advanced Soul Master Academies were one thing, but Heaven Dou Royal Academy was a nest of nobles. To put it unpleasantly, it was a place for gilding one's reputation, and its performance in the Soul Master Competition had always been very poor.

Of course, an academy filled with noble children did indeed have the best facilities, but the resources awarded would not be much more, because many nobles brought their own resources.

In short, given Su Wen's current circumstances, there was no reason for him to want to enter Heaven Dou Royal Academy unless there were some other cause.

"Hall Master, Xiao Zhan, the person with the highest-ranked book-type martial soul on the continent, teaches at Heaven Dou Royal Academy." Su Wen had long since prepared his answer.

"Fire Demon Xiao Zhan?" Salas's brows relaxed, then tightened again. "You still want to walk the path of a battle soul master?"

"Yes." Su Wen did not avoid it in the slightest and said firmly, "In this world, the strong are ultimately respected. Strength is the foundation."

Strength was the foundation of everything.

Without strength, no matter how many theories you grasped, it was all nonsense.

No one would take you seriously.

"Well said!" Admiration appeared on Salas's face, but it vanished in a flash. Only then did he stare at Su Wen and ask again, "Are you truly certain? Do you know your own talent in theoretical research?"

An eleven-year-old boy had proposed the Meridians theory, put forward the idea of the Higher-Level Soul Ring Absorption Theory, and even verified it all by himself.

Whether in terms of confidence or ideas, he was extremely suited to walk the theoretical path.

"Do you know Grandmaster?" Salas said.

Su Wen nodded.

Of course he knew him. Back when he was at Junior Soul Master Academy, he had even tried to take him as a teacher, only to be rejected.

"Mm. Don't let him influence you." Salas organized his words. "Grandmaster has a decent reputation among ordinary soul masters in the Soul Master World, but soul masters above the Soul Ancestor level basically scoff at him."

This was the current situation.

Salas thought Su Wen had been influenced by Grandmaster's current state and believed people who studied theory would be looked down upon.

"Theoretical Scholars do not have a low status in the eyes of high-level soul masters either. Grandmaster is entirely an opportunist."

Most of the publicly announced Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul were also made at others' expense. They contained no knowledge he had truly summarized himself, and the theories he proposed had not solved the problems of soul master development either.

The so-called title of Grandmaster was nothing more than compiling every attempt into the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul, then announcing them to all soul masters under Spirit Hall's name.

"High-level soul masters don't need those things of his, because anyone who can cultivate to Soul King or above, even if they groped their way up by themselves, can basically summarize that set with the help of a few friends.

"Grandmaster's theories are of no use to them whatsoever, so naturally no one will worship him.

"As for those who truly work on theory, they can always benefit high-level soul masters in some way. Take your Higher-Level Soul Ring Absorption Theory, for example. Even if high-level soul masters themselves can no longer use it, they can still prepare for their descendants with your theory."

Su Wen blinked, in the mood of someone watching drama unfold. He could sense that Salas seemed to look down on Grandmaster quite a bit.

This was already very clearly stepping on him.

Listening to Salas complain about Grandmaster felt inexplicably satisfying.

"Hall Master, please rest assured. Everything I have now also comes from my understanding of knowledge. Knowledge is Power. On my path of pursuing strength, I will inevitably study theory first, then transform theory into power."

Su Wen hurriedly stated that he would not waste his talent for theoretical research just because he was pursuing strength.

I want to pursue strength, but the way I pursue strength is by researching theory, then transforming theoretical knowledge into my own power.

Hearing this, sure enough, Salas's expression eased considerably.

To be honest, Su Wen's Higher-Level Soul Ring Absorption Theory was beneficial to the vast majority of experts above Soul Saint within Spirit Hall.

Who did not have descendants?

Whose descendants were guaranteed to have extraordinary talent?

Equipping their children with the best soul ring configuration was already the greatest effort they could make, but within the limit of the maximum age, no matter how optimal the soul ring configuration was, it was still hard to widen the gap much.

Some who doted on their children even felt that the growth environment they provided for the second generation was instead not good enough.

Now that the direction of higher-level soul ring absorption had appeared, there would absolutely be a group of experts who lacked neither money nor resources smashing resources onto their own children. A Thousand-Year Second Soul Ring might be too much to say, but at the very least, a nine-hundred-year second ring could definitely be forced out.

Deep down, Salas was willing to accept Su Wen's proposal to enter Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

This meant Su Wen would transition under his command and count as his direct subordinate. Now that he had also received Su Wen's promise not to abandon theoretical research, Salas was satisfied from the bottom of his heart.

As for whether Su Wen could truly remain in Heaven Dou City, obtain the Pope's approval, and join Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Salas, who knew many great secrets, said—no problem!

Heaven Dou Royal Academy was precisely the Crown Prince's faction. Letting Su Wen join it, then having the Crown Prince win him over, would naturally add a great source of support to the Crown Prince.

This was practically a matter of course.

"Lucky boy. I just wonder whether he'll be shocked when he learns these truths." Salas thought to himself.

"I will report your application truthfully to the Pope. The specific arrangements will still depend on His Holiness's decision."

"Thank you, Hall Master."

"Fire Demon Xiao Zhan truly had the highest attainments in cultivating combat-type Book Martial Souls. In fact, he was also a member of my Martial Soul Holy Hall in Heaven Dou City, and he had close ties with Bai Yuan of the Holy Hall Scholar faction."

"Bai Yuan was also a Theoretical Scholar, and his Martial Soul was a Book Martial Soul. It was just that he had taken the functional path, using his Book Martial Soul to assist his theoretical research. I can introduce you to him in a moment."

"Thank you, Hall Master."

"Mm."

Salas took Su Wen to meet Bai Yuan and the senior Deacon of the library, then left Su Wen to converse with them while he himself began arranging the Holy Hall's affairs, preparing to personally head to Spirit City and report Su Wen's situation.

"That boy wasn't just absorbing Soul Rings above his level." Recalling what he had observed of Su Wen's Martial Soul at the time, Salas was very certain. "The Soul Rings his Martial Soul absorbed were probably also extremely compatible with him."

There was no doubt about that.

Those who researched theory were the best at matching Martial Souls with Soul Rings.

If there was anything off, there really was—such as Su Wen's cultivation speed, and the coincidence in his records that he had twice been stuck for quite some time at the levels where he needed to obtain a Soul Ring.

"Let's see how His Holiness handles it."

A quick warning.

This chapter took a shot at Grandmaster, but note that it was Salas doing it. It was an opinion with his own personal bias, so don't argue with me about it.