Heaven Dou Royal Academy

Heaven Dou Royal Academy

To transmigrators, Heaven Dou Royal Academy, located within the Heaven Dou Empire, could not be considered a true top-tier power. But to Chen Shijie and Chen Tianyun, it was already the highest-ranking and most reliable force they could possibly reach.

At this point in time, Titled Douluo had not yet become as commonplace as they were in the later installments. Every Titled Douluo was a great figure who appeared and vanished like a divine dragon, while Soul Douluo were also top experts renowned across the continent.

In their eyes, three Soul Douluo-level Education Committee Members, combined with the backing of the Heaven Dou Empire's royal family, were more than enough to suppress anyone harboring ill intentions toward Chen Ming.

Chen Ming considered it carefully as well and realized that joining Heaven Dou Royal Academy truly was the best choice available to him right now.

The only force on Douluo Continent that surpassed Heaven Dou Royal Academy was Spirit Hall, while its equal was the Star Luo Empire's royal academy.

With his background, joining Spirit Hall would not be a problem. But entering Spirit Hall did not mean catching the attention of its higher-ups, nor did it mean receiving the best possible training.

Even if Chen Ming needed only five years to join the Martial Soul Hall Golden Generation and receive the corresponding training, those first five years would still have been wasted.

Besides, Chen Ming could not possibly spend five obedient years under Spirit Hall's watchful eyes, waiting to be recognized. He had coveted Immortal Herbs for a long time. If he waited a few more years, Tang San would have dug up even the roots.

That simply would not be worth it.

Heaven Dou Royal Academy might not compare to a ten-thousand-year-old power like Spirit Hall, one that even had gods above, in terms of knowledge and heritage. But it certainly possessed everything one would normally expect. Moreover, since it had no Titled Douluo and was a noble academy, he would still have some personal privacy. If he wanted to stir up trouble, he would not be watched so closely that he could not get away with anything.

There was another point as well. Heaven Dou Royal Academy had Dugu Bo's granddaughter, Dugu Yan. Dugu Bo himself was not only one of Douluo Continent's greatest masters of poison, but also possessed the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, a supreme treasure ground that ran through all four parts of the Douluo series.

To Chen Ming, the entire Dugu family was treasure. Their value even surpassed that of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Thinking it over, Heaven Dou Royal Academy really was quite a good place.

Thus, Chen Ming agreed to Chen Shijie's request. After the three returned to the Chen Family, they packed their belongings, waited another two months for Heaven Dou Royal Academy's new student enrollment, then immediately took Chen Ming by carriage toward Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Because he was worried about Chen Ming, Chen Shijie emptied out his own Storage Soul Tool Ring and handed it to him. Chen Tianyun spent several days considering every possible situation Chen Ming might encounter and stuffed the seven- or eight-cubic-meter Storage Soul Tool full to the brim.

The enrollment process at Heaven Dou Royal Academy went smoothly, and no one raised any issues.

The Chen Family was a hereditary count's family. Though it did not have much presence, its title had existed for centuries, so there was nothing questionable about it no matter how closely it was investigated.

When barons and viscounts wanted to send their children into Heaven Dou Royal Academy, those children still had to undergo some testing. If their talent was truly too poor, the academy would refuse them. But when a count sent someone in, they only needed to register basic details such as age, name, Martial Soul, and Soul Power before entering the academy directly.

Though it sounded full of vermin—and truly was full of vermin—this was Heaven Dou Royal Academy, the Heaven Dou Empire's highest institution of learning, primarily intended for the empire's nobility. It was both an academy and a place for nobles to build connections. That was why it seemed so strange.

Only at the very end, when everything was nearly settled, did the inspection that should have come first finally appear.

"Hello, I'm Qin Ming, an instructor at Heaven Dou Royal Academy. I'm an Agility Attack System Battle Soul King, entrusted by the three Education Committee Members to verify whether the new students' Martial Souls and Soul Power are accurately reported."

In a dim, enclosed little room, a plainly dressed middle-aged man looked at Chen Ming gently, a professional smile on his face. Behind his glasses, however, his eyes carried a trace of helplessness and exhaustion.

Douluo Continent was rich in love-struck fools and idiots. They usually seemed nowhere to be found, but every now and then, some extraordinary specimen would appear and pull off a spectacular stunt.

Even during something as important as enrollment at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, there were no shortage of people every year—no one knew whether they were products of inbreeding or not—who caused all sorts of trouble at this stage.

For example, someone with a little loach Martial Soul registering it as a black dragon; a Soul Master insisting he was a Soul Grandmaster who had not absorbed his Second Soul Ring; or someone already fifteen or sixteen stubbornly claiming to be eleven or twelve...

In short, there were all kinds of freaks, a glittering galaxy of humanoids. Yet because these people were either rich or noble, even the three Education Committee Members could not simply reject them outright. They could only arrange for trustworthy people to inspect, one by one, the children sent by families of count rank or above during the final stage each year.

Before coming to see Chen Ming, Qin Ming had already examined more than a dozen children. If at least half of every ten claims were false, that was already considered honest.

There were those whose Martial Souls were orange cats but who stubbornly insisted they were little tigers; those of noble birth who, for some unknown reason, still had two white Soul Rings; those with Assault System Martial Souls who claimed to be Support System; male Soul Masters who claimed to be female because they wanted to live in the girls' dormitory...

As for those who looked down on others or thought highly of themselves, claiming that with Innate Soul Power rank seven they were certain to become Titled Douluo renowned across the continent in the future, they were everywhere.

Really, Qin Ming had an exceptionally good temper. But after being subjected to that glittering galaxy of humanoids for so long, he was truly exhausted to the point that he did not even want to breathe. He desperately wanted to use Martial Soul Possession and a Fifth Soul Skill to burn all those humanoid creatures to ashes.

Chen Ming's registered information read: eleven years old, male, rank twenty-three Soul Grandmaster, Jade Scorpion Martial Soul, Control System, one yellow and one purple Soul Ring.

If that was true, then he was undoubtedly a peerless genius. But considering the nobles' usual behavior, Qin Ming did not believe a word of it.

In Qin Ming's mind, forget Chen Ming being a Soul Grandmaster with a thousand-year Second Soul Ring—even whether he had a Second Soul Ring at all was questionable.

"Student, release your Martial Soul." Without waiting for Chen Ming to speak, Qin Ming waved his hand and said with awkward but polite courtesy.

"Alright..." Looking at this character from the original story standing before him, Chen Ming could not quite understand what he was thinking, but he still released his Martial Soul and Soul Rings.

His body rapidly expanded, and his scorpion tail extended. The moment the aura of his rank twenty-three Soul Grandmaster cultivation spread out, Qin Ming, who had been absentminded, abruptly raised his head, his heart filled with astonishment. When Chen Ming's one yellow and one purple Soul Rings appeared, Qin Ming immediately leaped up, tossed the notebook in his hand aside, and hurried over to inspect Chen Ming carefully from head to toe.

"Chen Ming?" Qin Ming's voice carried a hint of hesitation.

"Yes."

"Eleven years old, rank twenty-three Soul Grandmaster?" Qin Ming pressed on.

"Yes."

"One yellow and one purple Soul Ring?!" At this point, Qin Ming's voice rose sharply, reaching an intensity uncomfortable to hear.

"Teacher, didn't you read the information I submitted during registration?" Facing Qin Ming, who seemed almost possessed, Chen Ming stepped back, furrowed his brow, and his voice wavered slightly.

"No... I... I just..." Qin Ming waved his hands, wanting to explain, only to realize that it was difficult for someone as young as him to describe that galaxy of humanoids who seemed born of inbreeding. Nor did he want to pollute this genius youth's ears with those people's stories. After stammering for a long time, he finally managed to force out a complete sentence.

"I just can't believe that I've actually encountered such an outstanding genius."

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