The final exams were divided into two parts. The first was a basic assessment that few people cared about. What drew everyone's attention was the tournament to decide who would come in first.
First place came with plenty of benefits. The teachers would pay more attention to you and direct resources your way, while your reputation and standing among your classmates would make things much easier for you later on.
Of course, those were future benefits. The most immediate rewards were material: gold coins and some mediocre Spirit Bones. Spirit Bones were valuable, but after so many years, a great many had accumulated.
Most of them were junk, though, and a poor fit for anyone. Many came from century-old Spirit Beasts.
These things were originally rare, but their sheer numbers meant that the quantity of century-old Spirit Bones had somehow grown comparable to that of millennium-old ones. Spirit Bones could also be passed down, and as they accumulated, their value fell. They were still expensive, though, and could help ease the financial burdens of certain students.
Of course, these Spirit Bones weren't meant to be absorbed. You were a Shrek student; your status alone could get you several Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones for free. All you had to do was ask, and plenty of people would rush to give them to you. But there was always a price. You could certainly afford what they gave you, and just as Bei Bei had Xu Sanshi help Huo Yuhao instead of helping him personally, money was no problem for them.
Still, it was best to earn things through your own efforts, and now they had the chance. Even if they couldn't use the bones themselves, they could sell them. Not everyone in the world was a genius. Many Soul Masters only reached level thirty or forty over a lifetime of cultivation. They had plenty of motivation and financial means to improve their strength, and most of them were the sole representatives of small families.
Their strength was the foundation their families stood on. They simply didn't have many ways to get Spirit Bones. Even though these ones weren't especially valuable, not just anyone could afford them. Most Spirit Bones were controlled by powerful clans and great families. The clearest example was Spirit Bones over fifty thousand years old, which were nowhere to be found on the open market.
When one did appear, it had usually already been spoken for. Only certain circumstances prevented a private transaction, forcing it onto the public market. And Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones needed no explanation: they were absolutely family heirlooms. Sometimes a newly established family would produce a Titled Douluo without having a suitable heir, yet happen to obtain a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. That was a case of a man being guilty of no crime except possessing a treasure.
In the end, after a series of legal and proper maneuvers, the bone would end up in the hands of some great family—and the original owner would still have to be grateful. Ordinary people had two ways to obtain Spirit Bones. One was to join one of the great clans; the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had the best reputation for this sort of thing. The other was the Advanced Spirit Master Tournament, which offered many chances to win a Spirit Bone.
They organized a series of events to trade Spirit Bones to promising young talents, winning their favor while improving their own results. If the country they represented benefited, even more rewards awaited them; if they lost and placed poorly, they received less. Either way, it was a necessary expense. The best-quality bones were sold at the auction held by the host country before the competition—but first, you had to get into that circle.
This final exam was the first step. If you didn't show everyone what you could do, how could you win their respect? If you stood out, you were sure to earn one of the preliminary spots for your year. Of course, you still had to contend with anyone from another year who might be vying for the same position. The two would be compared, and one would be chosen.
If someone could dominate their age and stand unrivaled for all time, then no matter how talented you were, you'd be no more than a stepping stone. There'd be no place for you. Back in the day, Spirit Hall had been full of geniuses, but in the end, the first generation of the Shrek Seven Devils had eclipsed them. The radiance of so many people becoming gods at once had been blinding. Even now, no one had caught up to that era.
Still, every generation had people secretly wondering if they could surpass it. This one was no exception. You couldn't look only at your own efforts; you also had to consider the course of history. Only in times of war and chaos, under the pressure of life and death, could people's potential be pushed to its limits. That was when their brilliance shone brightest.
And war cost money—a tremendous amount of it. Only a nation could afford to fund one. Wang Yi paid no attention to Huo Yuhao's incessant chatter. He stared at the Spirit Bone among the prizes, and a daring idea took shape in his mind. He glanced at Huo Yuhao and began figuring out how to get him to accept the proposal.
Huo Yuhao and the Silkworm Slough could conceal their auras, and there was the Spirit Bone, too. Connecting that to what he knew of history, Wang Yi slapped his thigh. "Meng De, what a hero! You've solved the urgent problem!"
"Yuhao, I have a very good proposal. It can solve your current lack of money, as well as the growing hole in your finances that we can already see coming. You'll just have to make a small sacrifice." Wang Yi looked at Huo Yuhao with ill intent.
Huo Yuhao felt uncomfortable under Wang Yi's gaze. He no longer trusted him unconditionally like before. They knew each other too well by now; anyone could tell that expression meant trouble. After spending a semester with Xu Sanshi, his hide had visibly thickened, but he still had a little way to go before reaching the standard Wang Yi hoped for.
"Ah, listen to your teacher's inspirational speech first." Wang Yi ducked back into the Sea of Spirit to figure out how to get Huo Yuhao to accept his proposal. Based on Huo Yuhao's past reactions, he certainly wouldn't agree. He had to break through his superstitions and untouchable idols. If Meng De could do it, and archaeologists could do it, why couldn't they?
They were all cut from the same cloth. So what if they dug up a grave? Ahem, that was called the sustainable use of resources. For the sake of green mountains and clear waters, and the sustainable development of Spirit Beasts, protecting the land and ecosystem was an urgent necessity. Wang Yi had convinced even himself by the time he finished explaining it.
All that remained were the steps and details. Wang Yi planned to set this ideological reeducation in motion after Huo Yuhao absorbed his Second Soul Ring, when he'd have the foundation to challenge this world. Which family should he start with? Wang Yi opened the Family Chronicle. The book recorded most of the continent's powerful families, and even when its accounts were vague, it could still provide some clues.
The less information there was, the more powerful the family—except for the very strongest ones.
Huo Yuhao still had no idea what Wang Yi was planning. The speech before him was simply too tiresome. During the once-a-semester summary, Yan Shaozhe had launched into a long-winded lecture, and the goodwill he'd earned by dropping some juicy revelations right at the start had completely evaporated. Why were all these leaders so talkative? It was as if their positions had some kind of magic—everyone who sat in one became a chatterbox.
At long last, the dean ran out of things to say and finally uttered the first useful words of the day.
"The final sparring matches begin now."
Huo Yuhao's heart stirred. Only then did it finally feel like the end of the term. Exams, huh? He'd run into that person again, wouldn't he? This time, he'd defeat him once and for all and make him understand that he could never surpass Huo Yuhao in this life.
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