The Amazing Spirit Hall Academy

"The entire academy is divided into four classes: the Beginner Class, the Advanced Class, the Advanced Studies Class, and the Elite Class! The Beginner Class is mainly for Soul Masters below the Soul Grandmaster level. Anyone who fails to become a Soul Grandmaster before the age of thirteen will be forced to graduate and expelled."

"The Advanced Class is mainly for Soul Grandmasters. Anyone who fails to become a Soul Elder before the age of sixteen will be forced to graduate and expelled. The Advanced Studies Class, meanwhile, is mainly for Soul Elders. Anyone who fails to become a Soul Ancestor before the age of nineteen will be forced to graduate and expelled."

"Finally, the Elite Class is mainly for Soul Ancestors. It even has a few Spirit Kings. In other words, the students who remain are basically the elite of the elite."

"The students who remain in the Elite Class must still undergo one final, ultimate assessment. Only those who pass are qualified to represent Spirit Hall Academy in the largest grand event for Soul Masters on the Douluo Continent: the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament! They're also the only ones qualified to receive a personal audience with the Pope and the elders of Spirit Hall, and might even be chosen as disciples!"

"The most outstanding students might even be named the Holy Son or Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, becoming the designated successor to the papacy!" As Hu Liena spoke, her eyes clearly shone with anticipation. Although she had been chosen as a disciple by Pope Bibi Dong, she still wasn't the Holy Maiden. She had been able to become Bibi Dong's disciple only because she and her brother were orphans raised by Bibi Dong! And once Hu Liena had grown up, her talent had proved astonishing, which was what finally persuaded Bibi Dong to take her as a disciple.

However, quite a few elders in the Elder Hall disapproved. They believed that the Pope should only select a disciple from among the Elite Class's most outstanding students after the ultimate assessment. Yet Bibi Dong had stubbornly insisted on taking Hu Liena as her disciple, even going so far as to get into a heated argument with a group of elders!

In the end, the elders had abandoned their plans to make Bibi Dong choose a different disciple, out of consideration for her strength and her contributions to Spirit Hall. But Bibi Dong had also been made to promise that Hu Liena would enter the Elite Class and pass the ultimate assessment. Otherwise, Bibi Dong would have to publicly apologize to the elders and strip Hu Liena of her title as the Pope's disciple!

As Bibi Dong's adopted daughter and disciple, Hu Liena knew that the elders of Spirit Hall opposed her not only out of conservatism, but also because they wanted Bibi Dong to choose one of their descendants as her disciple. That way, their own descendants would have a chance to succeed Bibi Dong and become the next Pope!

And in their eyes, she was nothing but some wild, flaxen-haired girl who had come out of nowhere! How dare she steal the place meant for their descendants? Many of the elders simply couldn't tolerate it!

Hu Liena knew perfectly well just how much pressure Bibi Dong had endured to protect her. That was why she had always trained hard and pushed herself to the limit, all so she could pass the ultimate assessment! Then she could become Bibi Dong's undisputed disciple—or even the Holy Maiden—and help her teacher hold her head high!

Xu Mochen listened quietly to Hu Liena's story. He said nothing, but all the while he watched the resolute gleam in her eyes. He thought back to how some of the elders had suddenly shown hostility toward Hu Liena at the Pope Palace earlier. Taking that together with what he knew of the original story and the information he had gathered about Spirit Hall, he could already piece together most of her current predicament.

So even Spirit Hall, which looked powerful from the outside, wasn't united within! Still, Hu Liena had it tough. Though she enjoyed a life of luxury at such a young age, she also bore burdens that no one her age should have had to carry.

Hu Liena was a strong-willed girl, and she and Xu Mochen weren't close enough for her to share the pressure and burdens she carried in her heart. Instead, she continued as if nothing were wrong. "But these rules aren't set in stone. Some students with exceptional talent can move up a class before they reach the required level."

"Take me, for example. I'm a student in the Elite Class, but I'm clearly not a Soul Ancestor yet. I'm only a level-thirty-eight Soul Elder, and I've already made it into the Elite Class! I was able to enter early through a special channel."

"The rule for advancing early is actually very simple. You just have to choose and defeat a Battle Soul Master from the Elite Class, and then you're qualified to try for early admission. Last year, when I was level thirty-six, I defeated a Battle Soul Ancestor who had just reached level forty-one. That was how I earned a special place in the Elite Class!"

"I heard that you're only level twenty-four, yet you defeated Dai Weisi, who's a level-thirty-nine Soul Elder! I have to say, your combat strength is truly formidable. As far as I know, Dai Weisi received rigorous training from the Star Luo Empire. He hasn't become the crown prince yet, but he's already the clear favorite to inherit the position!"

"With his level-thirty-nine Soul Elder cultivation and top-tier White Tiger Martial Soul, even weaker Soul Ancestors at level forty-one or forty-two might not be his match! Yet you managed to defeat him. That shows you're probably about as strong as an average early-stage Soul Ancestor."

At this point, even Hu Liena couldn't help feeling secretly astonished! According to the information she had, her little brother's Martial Soul was a top-tier Beast Martial Soul called the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon! Its quality seemed to surpass even that of ordinary top-tier Martial Souls, bringing it incredibly close to a divine-level Martial Soul!

On top of that, he might even possess a powerful, age-unknown Soul Bone in his right arm! His two Hundred-Year Soul Rings looked fairly ordinary, but for some reason, the power unleashed by his Soul Skills was nearly on par with thousand-year Soul Skills! If this little brother really became a Soul Elder, most students in the higher classes would probably have to bow their heads before him!

Xu Mochen, however, only modestly replied, "You flatter me, Sister Nana. His Highness Dai Weisi was careless and underestimated me in that match. I was just lucky enough to take advantage of it! If we'd fought seriously, I couldn't guarantee I would have beaten him!"

Hu Liena only smiled at his words and let them pass. She didn't believe for a second that Xu Mochen had beaten Dai Weisi through sheer luck. The terrifying ability he had displayed in the reports—the power to seal a Soul Master's Soul Rings—was more than enough to make her take him extremely seriously. As far as she knew, no one in Spirit Hall had this ability. Even her teacher, Bibi Dong, lacked such an astonishing power!

As the two chatted, their carriage arrived at the gates of Spirit Hall Academy. The academy was undeniably impressive. The beautiful Hundred Flower Garden and enormous Angel Statue before its entrance, the towering walls surrounding the campus that stood fifty or sixty meters high, the gifted young Soul Masters coming and going in white uniforms with gold trim, and the academy guards at the gate, clad in armor and bristling with weapons, Soul Power rippling from their bodies—all of it constantly displayed the academy's formidable resources!

When several guards saw the approaching carriage, they were about to stop it. But after Hu Liena leaned out and gave a few instructions, they recognized her. They asked a few perfunctory questions, then waved the carriage through. It sped along the road and eventually reached the dormitory area of Spirit Hall Academy.

Spirit Hall Academy really was loaded! Calling this area a dormitory district didn't do it justice. It was more like a forest that someone had fenced off. Thick trees, each with a trunk about twenty meters across, stood in orderly rows along both sides of the road. They were only twenty or thirty meters tall, but their crowns were lush with emerald-green leaves! More importantly, just like Cang Ming's research institute beside Tantu Forest, each tree was hollowed out into a treehouse. And every one had two floors!

Even Xu Mochen couldn't help marveling at the academy's formidable resources. There were more than a hundred of these two-story treehouses in the dormitory area alone! Just how much manpower and material had it taken to build them all?

Of course, Hu Liena explained that there were only this many treehouses in the entire academy, and not everyone was qualified to live in one. Under normal circumstances, only students in the Elite Class could stay here, with each student occupying one floor. Each floor had an area of about one hundred and ten square meters, and the outer side of the second floor even had a small wooden balcony. The trees themselves were sturdy and fireproof, so Soul Masters didn't have to worry about causing trouble when they cultivated indoors.

Hu Liena took Xu Mochen to a tree with a large wooden sign bearing the number "34," then handed him a gold key with an angel design on its end. "This is the key to your room. You'll be staying upstairs, and I'm in the room below. If you need anything, come find me downstairs. See these wooden steps winding around the tree? Follow them up and they'll take you to your floor."

"Oh, and these treehouses are very well soundproofed, so you don't need to worry that making noise upstairs will disturb me. I need to get a few things ready, too. Go upstairs, put away your luggage, and get settled. Then come back down and I'll show you around the other parts of the academy. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me." With that, she didn't even look back. She took out her own key, unlocked the door, stepped inside, and shut it behind her, leaving Xu Mochen standing there with a thoughtful look.

"It looks like life's about to get more and more interesting," Xu Mochen thought with a quiet laugh. He went upstairs and unlocked his room. Inside, he found the furnishings quite decent: a bed, table and chairs, bookcase, wardrobe, kerosene lamp, and even his own bathtub and toilet.

Compared with the standard of living in the Sun Moon Empire, these accommodations weren't all that good; in fact, they were a little crude. But across the entire Douluo Continent, they already counted as luxurious. Xu Mochen then took off the various Storage Soul Tools he had been wearing: two Soul Tool bracelets, a Soul Tool belt, four Soul Tool Rings, and a Soul Tool necklace.

If he hadn't brought so many personal belongings, and if Storage Soul Tools could be stacked despite their conflicting magnetic fields—and if large-capacity Storage Soul Tool technology weren't still immature and prohibitively expensive—he wouldn't have needed to go to so much trouble.

Half an hour later, Xu Mochen had finally finished putting everything away. He placed some important personal belongings in his Storage Soul Tools and carried them with him, then went downstairs. Hu Liena had already been waiting nearby for some time.

"Sorry for the wait. I had a lot of things, so it took me a while to get them sorted out." Xu Mochen apologized. Hu Liena said she understood, then continued, "Next, I need to take you to the administration office and complete all your enrollment procedures. After that, I'll give you a general tour of the campus. It's afternoon now, and the other students are still in class, so the dormitory area is quiet. But once they get out, you should be able to meet them."