Five Elements Academy

Over the past two years, no one had been idle. Lin Lan submitted an application to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family to establish a Spirit Master Academy. At first, Xue Ye had been reluctant to approve it. Both Lin Lan and Hua Jieyu were prodigy Spirit Masters of the Heaven Dou Empire, and they had already grown into powerful Spirit Masters. Once they established an academy, although they would still belong to the Heaven Dou Empire, they would no longer truly belong to the imperial family. Moreover, Xue Ye preferred for members of the Lin Family to study at Heaven Dou Royal Academy. That would both strengthen Heaven Dou Royal Academy and keep those talents firmly under the Empire's control.

It was only after Dugu Bo stepped forward and stated that he would serve as vice dean of the Lin Family's newly established Spirit Master Academy that Xue Ye's side finally moved the process forward.

The academy was officially named Five Elements Academy, with its site chosen within Sunset Forest, around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye. Lin Lan applied to Xue Ye to have his fief as a count relocated there. From then on, within the territory of the Heaven Dou Empire, the vast region centered on the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye and extending outward—an area no smaller than Heaven Dou Royal Academy—became the private property of the Lin Family. Calling it a region was one way to put it; calling it a city would not have been an exaggeration either.

Lin Feng had proposed the overall construction plan for Five Elements Academy, while Hua Jieyu drew the complete design blueprints. Lin Feng had not unlocked that particular skill in his previous life, so he could not draw architectural plans. The Defense Clan had been hired for the construction. Across the entire Douluo Continent, there truly was no clan more accomplished in construction than theirs.

At first, Lin Feng had only intended to establish an Advanced Spirit Master Academy. After reconsidering it time and again, however, he decided to divide the academy into a Junior Department, Intermediate Department, and Senior Department. Spirit Scholars would study in the Junior Department; upon reaching Rank 10 Soul Power and obtaining their First Spirit Ring, they would advance to the Intermediate Department; after reaching Rank 20 and absorbing their Second Spirit Ring, they would advance to the Senior Department.

After Rank 30, students could choose according to their own circumstances whether to continue studying at the academy or apply for graduation.

Furthermore, the Senior Department was divided into Outer Court Students, Inner Court Students, and Core Students. Outer Court Students were ordinary students cultivated in the same manner as those at conventional Advanced Spirit Master Academies.

Inner Court Students were talented students recruited from the Outer Court, as well as students whose strength had exceeded Rank 30.

As for Core Students, they were students whom the Lin Family considered one of their own, as well as students who had demonstrated absolute loyalty to the Lin Family. Yet even Outer Court Students would receive resources and instruction far beyond those offered by any Spirit Master Academy on the continent.

Lin Feng organized some of the training methods he had seen during his university military training in his previous life, including loaded cross-country runs, obstacle courses, strength training, and so on. He also brought over various training equipment, as well as things from martial arts worlds such as plum blossom stakes and bronze man formations. Based on the cultivation characteristics of Spirit Masters, he turned them into a training program suitable for Spirit Masters below Rank 40. Specialized medicinal bath formulas were also provided to prevent Spirit Masters from damaging their foundations through excessive training.

All academy students could undergo this training normally; the cost of the medicinal baths was simply included in the tuition. If commoner Spirit Masters could not afford the medicinal bath fees, they could apply to the academy for a "student loan" and repay it later. As for Outer Court Students' Spirit Rings, aside from those arranged by their own families, academy teachers would periodically organize hunts for Spirit Rings of suitable ages that matched the students' martial souls. Five Elements Academy would not permit white Spirit Rings or yellow Third Spirit Rings. The graduation standard for Outer Court Students was Rank 30.

In addition to enjoying tuition-free treatment—including medicinal bath expenses—Inner Court Students could regularly receive assistance from certain natural treasures, such as precious medicinal herbs rather than Immortal Grade herbs. The academy would also help Inner Court Students hunt Spirit Rings with an extremely high compatibility for their individual martial souls. The graduation standard for Inner Court Students was Rank 40.

There was no need to mention Core Students. The few people currently there were all Core Students: Lin Jian, Lin An, Lin Qing, and Dugu Yan. Lin Feng had spent heavily to cultivate them. Ye Lingling and Ning Rongrong had also basically been brought into the fold already. If they could later be completely accepted into their own camp, their treatment would not be lacking either.

Lin Feng split some of the basic martial arts from the Nine Yin Manual and placed them separately in the Outer Court, Inner Court, and Core area. The purely foundational portions were used as basic knowledge for students' practical combat classes, while the rest were rewards that could only be learned by students who displayed exceptional talent, diligence, and other qualities, as well as students who had contributed to the academy. However, for all "self-created spirit skills" taught by the academy, students had to swear upon their martial souls that they would never pass them on. The Junior Department and Intermediate Department focused on cultivation and body tempering, building a solid foundation for cultivation, and did not teach "self-created spirit skills."

Over the past two years, Lin Feng had also cultivated the Seven Star Begonia, one of the world's seven supreme poisons from the Divine Medicine King Chapter, at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye, the heart of the academy's core. He improved Dugu Bo's poison formation, and with the activation of Snowy Swan's Kiss, the poison formation around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye had become so deadly that even if a Titled Douluo came, let alone Bibi Dong arriving with her Death Spider Emperor martial soul activated, Lin Feng was fully confident he could poison her to death there.

A shocking event had also taken place in the Soul Master World. Poison Douluo Dugu Bo challenged his old rival, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan. He defeated Yue Guan with overwhelming force, then defeated Ghost Douluo Ghostly, who had come to assist him. He completely cast off his reputation as the weakest Titled Douluo and rose in one leap to become a powerful Titled Douluo.

Afterward, news emerged from Spirit Hall that Dugu Bo had achieved Martial Soul Evolution. He was no longer the Jade Serpent Emperor, but possessed the Earth Poison Dragon martial soul instead—a giant dragon martial soul with dual poison and earth attributes. Due to his Martial Soul Evolution, he had also become several decades younger, and his strength now surpassed even that of Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Yu Yuanzhen.

Before Dugu Bo set out, Lin Feng secretly gave him a Seven Star Begonia and a petal of Snowy Swan's Kiss as trump cards. If the people from Spirit Hall shamelessly ganged up on him, he was to use them to kill those people directly and let them know that poisoning Titled Douluo to death was not difficult. However, Spirit Hall did not make a move, so the outside world still did not know that Dugu Bo already possessed poison capable of killing Titled Douluo.

When the news spread, Dugu Bo cursed furiously. The people of Spirit Hall were truly shameless—they had actually wanted to provoke Yu Yuanzhen into taking action against him. Although he was indeed no longer afraid of Yu Yuanzhen, Dugu Bo was not someone who enjoyed fighting people for no reason. Fortunately, Yu Yuanzhen had not fallen for it either. Moreover, Dugu Bo had barely shown himself in public over the past two years. Most of his time was spent either in Heaven Dou City or at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye. With his current strength, as long as he did not travel too conspicuously, no one could follow or monitor him.

The matter of the Lin Family and Dugu Bo building an academy in Sunset Forest had also spread throughout the continent. Everyone was waiting to see what this newly constructed academy would be like. After all, neither the Heaven Dou Empire nor the Star Luo Empire had ever had an academy guarded by a Titled Douluo—especially Dugu Bo, whose martial soul had now evolved and whose strength had surged. Many people were already planning to come register once the academy was officially completed and began accepting students.

Lin Feng planned for the academy to hold its official opening ceremony and begin public enrollment once Hua Jieyu and Lin Lan both broke through and absorbed their Eighth Soul Rings.

Before that, Lin Feng asked Ning Fengzhi to arrange for the admission standards to be spread:

1. The academy imposed no restrictions on status; nobles and commoners alike could apply.

2. The academy did not have work-study student status. Students from poor families could first "borrow" from the academy to attend school, then repay the loan after graduation.

3. The Junior Department accepted only Spirit Scholars under ten years old; the Intermediate Department accepted only Spirit Masters under fifteen years old; the Senior Department accepted only Soul Grand Masters and above under twenty years old.

4. Tuition was expensive: 100 Gold Soul Coins per year for the Junior Department, 500 Gold Soul Coins per year for the Intermediate Department, and 2,000 Gold Soul Coins per year for the Senior Department.

5. The academy would hunt Spirit Rings for students free of charge and guaranteed that the First Spirit Ring would be no less than 200 years, while the Third Spirit Ring would be no less than 1,200 years.

6. The academy's Senior Department taught inheritable combat-type self-created spirit skills. Even Support System Spirit Masters could use them in battle, but students had to swear upon their martial souls never to pass them on.

The first four terms were not too bad. The most important were the last two. At present, many academies across the continent still charged students even to help them hunt Spirit Rings, and they did not guarantee the age of those Spirit Rings. Once Five Elements Academy announced this rule, it would likely make many enemies before anything else.

Yet compared with the sixth term, that was not even a major matter. Inheritable combat-type self-created spirit skills that Support System Spirit Masters could use—the implications contained in that piece of news were what could truly overturn the understanding of the entire continent.