Journey to Heaven Dou

With his trip to Heaven Dou already set in stone, Su Chen found a moment to call over the three members of the Golden Generation and Oscar.

He announced that he would be going to study in the Heaven Dou Empire.

"What? You're going to a school in the Heaven Dou Empire?"

The moment Hu Liena learned the news, she grabbed Su Chen's wrist.

"Why not stay at Spirit Hall Academy? The resources of the Element Academies are nowhere near comparable to those of Spirit Hall Academy."

"This is the High Priest's arrangement."

Su Chen raised a hand and gently stroked Hu Liena's head, smiling warmly.

"The High Priest?"

Hu Liena fell silent at once. Having grown up with Bibi Dong, she naturally knew that the High Priest's status was no lower than Bibi Dong's.

"Then can I go with you?"

Seeing that this was Qiandao Liu's demand and knowing the trip was unavoidable, Hu Liena could only try to settle for the next best thing.

"There's no need. This is my trial, after all."

Although, according to Qiandao Liu, Spirit Hall would still provide him with the resources he needed for cultivation through other channels.

There was still a difference between that and cultivating directly within Spirit Hall.

Hu Liena and the others were not lacking in cultivation talent, but by the highest standards, they still had obvious shortcomings.

There was no need to slow their cultivation for his sake.

"Boss, when will you be back?"

The moment Oscar learned of this, he immediately asked Su Chen when he would return.

"Under normal circumstances, I'll be able to graduate in three years."

Su Chen ruffled Oscar's hair and smiled reassuringly.

"By then, I'll even make it back in time for your entrance ceremony at Spirit Hall Academy."

"Damn it... When you come back, I'll prove that I'm stronger than you."

"Then you'd better work hard. Even if I'm going to study in the Heaven Dou Empire, I won't neglect my cultivation."

Patting Yan on the shoulder, Su Chen rose and walked out the door.

"Xie Yue, until I return, I'll have to ask you to take good care of them."

Ever since awakening his martial soul, the consecutive, drastic changes had caught Su Chen completely off guard.

He never could have imagined that his unmeasurable martial soul and Innate Full Soul Power would draw the Pope Bibi Dong herself to come see him.

After that, events had already slipped beyond his control.

From that perspective, going to the Four Element Academies in the Heaven Dou Empire was not necessarily a bad thing.

"Time to set off, Su Chen!"

Chrysanthemum Douluo's androgynous voice came from outside the door.

"If we don't leave now, we won't make it by the scheduled time."

"I'm coming."

After hurriedly saying goodbye to everyone, Su Chen boarded the carriage with Chrysanthemum Douluo.

"Senior Chrysanthemum, has my destination been decided?"

Once inside the carriage, Su Chen rested his arm against the window and looked back at Spirit City, where he had lived for more than a month.

Though he had gone through several twists and turns over the past month, he had also gained much.

Whether it was his senior sister Hu Liena, his teacher Bibi Dong, who had taken great care of him, Xie Yue, or even Yan, that little brat with his baffling confidence, every one of them had given Su Chen unforgettable memories.

"Yes, it has. This is your cover identity. Memorize it well."

With his fingers pinched in a delicate gesture, Chrysanthemum Douluo took out a sheet of paper from his robes.

"My name and age haven't changed. My martial soul is... Netherworld Yellow Springs?"

Seeing the rather cringe-worthy name of the martial soul on the document, Su Chen could not help giving him a skeptical look.

"Senior Chrysanthemum, does a martial soul like that really exist?"

"Of course not. How could there possibly be a martial soul like that?"

Chrysanthemum Douluo chuckled.

"But we're Spirit Hall. If we say it exists, then it exists."

"What do you mean?"

For a moment, Su Chen did not quite understand.

"It's nothing. We found a few experts who study ancient texts. They'll prove that it's a lost ancient martial soul."

"As expected of the continent's strongest power. You can practically cover the sky with one hand."

Su Chen smiled knowingly and lay back in his seat.

The "horses" pulling this carriage were actually soul beasts that resembled horses in form.

Under Spirit Hall's careful feeding, the two horse-like soul beasts, which were only around thirty years old, had already cultivated for nearly a hundred years.

In order to expand its power, Spirit Hall had truly stopped at nothing over the years.

Recruiting soul masters, nurturing newcomers, assassinating enemies...

Among these was a special experiment: soul beast cultivation.

For this era, it was a mad decision.

Fortunately, the research had progressed extremely slowly. So far, even the strongest ten-year soul beasts had only reached one or two hundred years of cultivation.

"It can't cover the sky with one hand yet, but perhaps it will someday. With people of your generation around, there may truly be hope."

Chrysanthemum Douluo looked at Su Chen with a complicated expression.

"Do you know why Your Holiness the Pope thinks so highly of you?"

"I don't."

Su Chen shook his head seriously.

"Your Soul Power is very special. Ghost, do you remember him? The Titled Douluo who's often with me."

"Ghost Douluo? I know him, but I don't know much about him."

Su Chen rested his chin on his hand and thought for a long while. He truly seemed to have had no real contact with Ghost Douluo.

"Your martial soul suppresses his."

Yue Guan said it casually.

"Isn't that normal? I remember the instructor saying that higher-ranked martial souls of the same type suppress lower-ranked ones."

Su Chen scratched his head, still not realizing where the problem lay.

"But there's a difference of more than seventy levels between you."

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan's voice remained calm.

His fingers remained pinched in a delicate gesture as he propped his chin against his wrist.

"Ordinary martial soul suppression, even with top-tier martial souls—say, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon suppressing ordinary earth dragon-type martial souls—can only take effect within a range of ten levels at most."

"I remember Senior Ghost's martial soul is called Ghost..."

Hearing this, Su Chen was startled as well.

He tried to find a reasonable explanation for the anomaly in himself.

"Mhm."

Yue Guan nodded. There was still more than an hour before they reached their destination, more than enough time for conversation.

"It doesn't sound all that impressive. Does it have something to do with that?"

"You're underestimating Ghost. His Innate Soul Power was eight and a half levels. He was absolutely a genius. And his martial soul was a successful mutation, so its quality certainly isn't low."

"Then what you mean is..."

With things having reached this point, Su Chen had already guessed what Chrysanthemum Douluo meant.

"Your martial soul is of a very high rank, definitely no lower than Your Holiness the Pope's. It may even be no lower than the High Priest's."

When he mentioned the High Priest, Yue Guan deliberately glanced at Su Chen.

"I see."

Remembering how his Soul Power had previously devoured the Angel Soul Power emitted by Qiandao Liu, Su Chen finally understood.