The Competition Begins

Three days later, the Advanced Soul Master Academy Competition began as scheduled.

As a top-tier event renowned across the continent, the competition brought together the finest young Soul Masters under the age of twenty-five.

Each era produced its own talented people, as a new generation replaced the old.

Perhaps, in the eyes of the upper echelons, these young Soul Masters still seemed a little immature.

But as time went by, they would all grow into towering trees, stirring up the winds and clouds across the continent.

At its core, the competition was a political stage where various factions could show off their strength, recruit talent, and secretly vie with one another.

The outcome of every match could affect the empire's prestige, the sects' reputations, and the redistribution of resources.

Behind the outward prosperity and harmony, countless undercurrents were surely surging.

But those were matters for the adults to worry about. To most people in Heaven Dou City, the competition was simply a lively grand event.

Even before the opening ceremony, the area around the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena, the designated venue, had already been packed with people. Hotels throughout Heaven Dou City were full, and some had even put up tents outside the city as they waited for the competition to begin.

On the day of the opening ceremony, everyone who had gathered in Heaven Dou City, whether inside or outside its walls, poured into the city streets and headed toward the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.

Inside the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena, in the staging area.

All the competing academy teams were waiting there, preparing for the introduction ceremony.

Among the many teams, one stood out in particular. Their outfits caught the eyes of teachers and students from the surrounding academies, who turned to look and burst into laughter.

Naturally, it was the group from Shrek Academy. Thanks to Dean Flender's careful design, every competing student was wearing an ugly, eye-catching shade of dung green.

Yu Xiaogang had tried to persuade Flender to choose another color, but Flender had stubbornly refused. He had picked dung green specifically so Shrek Academy would stand out among the many competing academies.

Once they achieved good results, they could make Shrek Academy's name known and help the academy's future development.

They had certainly stood out, but as things stood, this was probably going to do more harm than good to the academy's development.

Yu Xiaogang turned to Flender beside him. Seeing the constipated look on Flender's face, he couldn't help shaking his head.

There was still some time before the ceremony began, and several teams that had arrived late were filing into the staging area.

Just then, a team that had recently entered the staging area suddenly got into a dispute with the Shrek Academy students.

Yu Xiaogang immediately looked over. The opposing team wore white uniforms edged in silver. Just from their appearance, they looked far more impressive than Shrek Academy.

"Canghui Academy."

Seeing the two characters "Canghui" embroidered on their shoulders, Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up slightly. He immediately began searching their ranks for someone in particular.

Sure enough, at the back of the Canghui Academy team, he spotted an elderly man around sixty years old. He wore a long, moon-white robe embroidered with golden patterns.

"Shi Nian..."

As Yu Xiaogang looked at him, memories of the past came to mind.

He was an old acquaintance. Back when Yu Xiaogang, Flender, and Liu Erlong had formed the Golden Iron Triangle and traveled the continent, they had crossed paths with him.

It had been in a settlement on the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest. Because it was located on the outskirts of the Heaven Dou Empire, beyond the reach of the empire's administration, the settlement's underground Black Market was much larger—and far more sinister. It had even trafficked in people.

To gather information about some ruins, Yu Xiaogang and the others had entered the Black Market together. The one selling information there had been Shi Nian.

Shi Nian had set two conditions in exchange for the information.

The first was to pay ten thousand Gold Soul Coins. The second was to answer a question about his cultivation.

Yu Xiaogang and the others didn't have enough Gold Soul Coins between them. And since Yu Xiaogang was confident in his knowledge of Martial Souls, they chose the second condition: answering Shi Nian's question about cultivation.

Shi Nian had described the characteristics of the Remnant Dream Martial Soul in detail and explained the problem he had encountered while cultivating.

During Meditation Cultivation, the Remnant Dream Martial Soul would sometimes affect Shi Nian and trap him in an Illusion Realm woven by the Martial Soul.

In the Illusion Realm, Shi Nian possessed the formidable strength of a Titled Douluo. Whenever this happened, his Meditation Cultivation would be interrupted, and his Soul Power would rapidly drain away.

He would only wake from the Illusion Realm after his Soul Power had been completely depleted, then have to spend a great deal of time gathering it again. As a result, his cultivation progress had stagnated.

As soon as Yu Xiaogang heard the description, he recognized Shi Nian.

Yu Xiaogang had only recently left Spirit Hall, so he still remembered some of its secrets quite clearly.

He had once heard Klay mention that a Spirit Hall deacon had left the organization without permission after failing to resolve a problem with his Martial Soul cultivation, then vanished without a trace.

Klay had described the deacon's problem in detail. It was exactly the same as the one Shi Nian had described. Yu Xiaogang had found the problem fascinating at the time and had continued to ponder it in private.

Since he had now happened to meet the man himself, he naturally shared the solution he had been mulling over for years.

The method Yu Xiaogang had come up with was fairly simple: set a goal for someone else, then keep reinforcing it.

Yu Xiaogang reasoned that Shi Nian fell into the Illusion Realm during Meditation Cultivation because he wanted too badly to become a Titled Douluo.

That desire was centered on himself. And when he meditated, his concentrated thoughts triggered the Remnant Dream Martial Soul's special ability, trapping him in an Illusion Realm where he was a Titled Douluo.

To solve the problem, all he had to do was change the focus of that desire—in other words, replace the person he imagined in his mind with someone else.

In short, don't fantasize about yourself. Fantasize about someone else.

And if he later helped that person achieve their goal, it would also trigger the Remnant Dream Martial Soul's special ability, which would instead benefit his own cultivation.

Thinking of this, Yu Xiaogang lifted his eyes to Shi Nian, gaining a little more understanding.

"Looks like my method really worked. Back then, he was only a Soul Emperor in the sixties. Now he's reached the Soul Saint Realm."

"And now he's leading Canghui Academy. He must have set his goal on these competing students."

"He wants to get this group of students into the finals, doesn't he? According to the story, Canghui Academy will face Shrek Academy in the final round of the qualifiers. That's why the old rascal Shi Nian will target Tang San."

Yu Xiaogang watched Shi Nian's retreating figure, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

The information Shi Nian had sold back then had actually been a trap, designed to lure Soul Masters below the Soul Emperor level to the ruins. Then, using the mental attacks of his Remnant Dream Martial Soul, he would slaughter the Soul Masters inside and plunder their belongings.

Yu Xiaogang and the others had fallen into the trap too, but in the end, they had driven Shi Nian back with their Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

"It's time to settle that score."