Apertures Reach the Divine, Nurturing Divine Abilities Within!

"Mm, I was delayed for a bit."

Su Fan opened his eyes, specks of starlight seeming to flash through them.

His Soul Power steadily rose until it finally halted at a critical threshold.

Within his body, Apertures lit up one after another like stars, each gleaming with its own unique radiance.

All the Heavenly Circuit Apertures were shining, but the light from thirty-six of them was distinctly different.

If the other Apertures were like lifeless objects, emitting light without any spirituality, then these thirty-six Apertures were exceptionally vibrant.

Something profoundly mysterious was reflected within them.

That was the power of Soul Apertures.

At this moment, Su Fan had completed the resonance between thirty-six pairs of Soul Apertures and Body Apertures.

With the resonance of those thirty-six pairs of Apertures, his Soul Power finally shattered through the bottleneck that had troubled him for half a year.

Level fifty, broken through!

"I'm falling behind again."

Reaching level fifty in half a year was fast—among the fastest in the Soul Master world.

But to Su Fan, it was slow.

For a full half year, his Soul Power had not made any tangible breakthrough. It had been agonizing.

Su Fan did not permit his cultivation to be this slow.

It would have been one thing if he had reached a complete ten-level threshold. The Soul Power he cultivated simply would not show itself yet; once he obtained a Soul Ring, it would naturally be revealed.

But he had been stuck at level forty-nine. If his Soul Power did not advance, then it simply had not advanced.

It was not accumulating somewhere inside his body.

"There are only two months left until the tournament. There isn't enough time."

Su Fan sighed.

He glanced in the direction of the Far North.

Over there, Huo Yuhao should have obtained the Ice Empress as his Second Martial Soul by now.

"Unfortunately, I have no way to stop it. I can only do my best to look after myself."

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was no longer something Dou Ling Royal Academy could support.

Su Fan had already made his plans.

Once the Soul Master Tournament began, he would display his talent and join the Body Sect. Then, he could rely on the Body Sect's strength to hunt for Souls.

After reaching five rings, it would indeed be time to start preparing for his Second Awakening.

Everything had fallen into place perfectly.

The Body Sect had no fixed residence, and Su Fan did not want to join them too early.

The time before the first tournament was a rare period for growth, and he did not want to waste it.

After the tournament, the continent would begin to descend into turmoil. He needed a place that could shelter him.

Su Fan was no great saint who considered others in everything he did.

He would only consider himself as much as possible.

He had yet to join the Body Sect and felt no attachment to it. Right now, he would only consider what benefits joining the Body Sect could bring him.

There was nothing wrong with that.

That was how normal people ought to think.

After breaking through level fifty, Su Fan did not announce it.

He steadily refined his realm.

With Electrolux's help, his method of cultivating Apertures had been further developed.

The resonance between Soul Apertures and Body Apertures was merely the beginning.

The Body Apertures provided the Core Array for Soul Power circulation, while the Soul Apertures provided the artistic conception. That had only been the second step.

Now, he had taken the third step.

"Apertures Reach the Divine, nurturing Divine Abilities within!"

Su Fan's gaze burned brightly, streams of light seeming to flicker in his eyes.

That was no illusion.

It was a genuine streak of light.

The so-called Apertures Reach the Divine referred to using the power of Soul Apertures to temper Body Apertures to a certain extent, excavating the innate potential that the fleshly body should have possessed.

Under the influence of spiritual power, the potential the body could unleash was beyond imagination.

The first thing Su Fan attempted was the Nine Apertures. These were the Apertures that resonated most intensely with the Soul Apertures within the Sea of Consciousness: the two eyes, two ears, nose, mouth, Ancestral Aperture between the brows, Baihui at the crown of the head, and Dantian.

Among them, Su Fan treated the Dantian as an Aperture for cultivation, condensing an Aperture within it.

His eye Apertures had now undergone a new change.

By nurturing his eyes with spiritual power, Su Fan felt that his eyes had developed a peculiar spirituality.

Perhaps the effects of Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew had been further stimulated. At this moment, Su Fan had the illusion that his eyes had become a Martial Soul.

Of course, he had not transformed his eyes into a Martial Soul.

His Martial Soul was Apertures. At most, the Apertures in the region of his eyes were part of his Martial Soul.

After his eyes developed their peculiar spirituality and his vision became extraordinarily sharp, Su Fan gradually soaked his other Nine Apertures in spiritual power as well, strengthening their original functions.

In the blink of an eye, another two months passed.

The Soul Master Tournament began.

Star Luo City.

A sea of people filled the area.

When Su Fan looked out, he could not see a single complete person—only heads.

It was like countless cabbages bobbing up and down.

The tournament was held at Star Luo Plaza outside the imperial city.

The plaza was not large. To save space, all spectators had to stand while watching.

As a competitor, Su Fan had a separate preparation area with seats.

Xu Jiawei, the Star Luo Emperor, delivered a speech from atop the imperial city walls.

After a passionate and stirring address, the opening ceremony began as well.

"Next, let us welcome the champions of the previous Soul Master Tournament—the legendary Shrek Academy team!"

The host's voice carried a trace of fervor as he lavished praise upon Shrek Academy.

Su Fan looked toward the arena.

The Shrek Team had their own private floor at the hotel, so Su Fan had not encountered them there.

This was his first time seeing the Shrek group.

Seeing the familiar lineup, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Xiao Fan, don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Director Chi had led the team here for the tournament.

Seeing the determination in Su Fan's eyes, he could not help patting him on the shoulder.

"Your time to shine is five years from now. You don't need to pressure yourself in this tournament."

Su Fan silently nodded.

The next tournament?

He had nearly forgotten.

Five years... what level would he reach in five years?

Soul Saint?

Two major realms in five years.

In the early stages, he had indeed achieved that.

He had even done remarkably well, breaking through four major realms—from innate level-one Soul Power to over level forty.

But once he reached level fifty, a Soul Master's cultivation speed would slow dramatically.

Could he continue gaining four levels per year?

"If I can't reach Soul Saint or even a higher realm by the next tournament, then I might as well fight to make a name for myself in this one."

Without a dazzling performance, he would not deserve to be remembered.

If he stepped onto the stage five years later as merely a Soul Emperor, would that not make him no different from Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng?

Oh, he would be seventeen by then, while Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng were twenty now.

But so what?

His performance at the tournament would show that he was ultimately only a Soul Emperor.

"Director, I want to make a push in this tournament too."

Su Fan did not hide anything and directly voiced his thoughts.

Upon hearing that, Guzhu Jian, seated nearby, pressed his lips together.

He had originally been the team captain.

But Su Fan's talent was too astonishing, so the captaincy had been given to Su Fan.

Of course, while his talent was astonishing, Su Fan was also extremely powerful.

A Fifty-Thousand-Year Soul Ring was no joke.

Guzhu Jian was inferior in strength, so he naturally accepted handing over the captain's position.

Hearing that Su Fan intended to contend for the championship, he could not help listening carefully.

Director Chi frowned.

"Xiao Fan, you don't understand Shrek's strength."

His expression was extremely serious.

"Let me put it this way. Over the past few centuries, Shrek Team has always had at least one Soul Emperor among its competitors."

At least one Soul Emperor standing guard—what kind of strength was that?

Based on the age limit of twenty, that meant raising one's Soul Power by at least fifty levels in fourteen years.

An average of three Soul Power levels per year.

And that included the two long, miserable bottlenecks from level forty-nine to fifty and level fifty-nine to sixty, each of which took at least more than a year.

In short, no one could maintain such rapid cultivation speed indefinitely.

Gaining three levels a year before four rings was manageable.

But after four rings, or even five rings, it became difficult.

Even two levels a year marked a genius.