"Welcome!"
As soon as Jiang Yi stepped into the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, the maid waiting at the entrance immediately came forward and offered a professionally polite smile.
The Treasure Gathering Pavilion was the largest shop for Soul Masters in Shrek City, dealing in all kinds of goods related to Soul Masters and Soul Engineers.
From a distance, the Treasure Gathering Pavilion stood more than twenty meters tall. Its exterior was resplendent with gold and jade, like a treasure basin.
"Esteemed guest, what can I help you find?"
The maid moved gently, her voice soft and warm, making people feel as if they were bathed in a spring breeze.
"I'd like to buy some beast blood. Sorry for the trouble."
Jiang Yi nodded slightly.
The Treasure Gathering Pavilion was, in fact, an enterprise owned by Shrek Academy. Though the goods were expensive, it had plenty of fine items.
Students of the academy in particular received more or less a discount.
"Please follow me."
The maid led the way.
Jiang Yi followed behind her, glancing over the surrounding counters.
There was quite a lot on display. Most of the goods on this floor were either special metals or low-grade spirit herbs and medicines.
"Are these all Soul Tools?"
Jiang Yi stopped in front of a row of cabinets and raised an eyebrow as he looked at the various weapons inside.
"That's right! These were all produced by Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Academy. Their quality is absolutely among the finest on the continent..."
Seeing Jiang Yi stop, the maid showed no displeasure. Instead, she enthusiastically began introducing the goods to him.
The maids earned a commission on the items customers bought. In the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, Soul Tools were the most valuable goods after Soul Bones and high-grade pills.
"It's fine. Let's keep going."
Jiang Yi shook his head and looked away.
These Soul Tools seemed a little overpriced. Their prices started at over a thousand Gold Soul Coins, far beyond what Soul Masters of the same rank could afford.
But the first thing that came to mind was Huo Yutong's White Tiger Dagger. That was a Level Five Soul Tool.
At the prices here, it would have to be worth at least ten thousand Gold Soul Coins. That little girl was a secret rich girl.
"Very well. This way, please."
The maid nodded and continued ahead.
Soon, the two of them arrived at the section devoted to Soul Beast materials.
Beast blood, bones, claws, hides... They had it all, with every item clearly labeled with its age and origin.
Jiang Yi lingered at the counter and carefully examined the selection. In the end, he picked out two types of thousand-year beast blood with wind and thunder attributes.
"This one...and this one. One of each."
"Of course. Esteemed guest, please follow me to the front counter to pay."
The maid swiftly took out jade bottles, packed them up, and led him to the counter at the front.
"That'll be two thousand five hundred Gold Soul Coins in total."
"Mm."
Jiang Yi paid without hesitation, put the jade bottles in his Soul Tool, then turned and left the Treasure Gathering Pavilion.
As night deepened, the new students finally finished their first day of classes.
The entire dormitory building was brightly lit, with the din rising and falling as the students got their first taste of Shrek Academy's insane teaching methods.
That evening, the academy had also privately organized a social gathering, but after a tiring day, not many new students took part.
Dormitory 110.
"Click!"
The door shut softly. Jiang Yi looked at the empty dormitory before him, long since used to it.
He'd been lucky: no one had been assigned to his room, so he lived there alone without a roommate.
It was certainly more convenient this way.
"Xiao Lan, come on out!"
Jiang Yi held out his hand, and a purple Master Ball appeared in his palm. The next moment, a streak of blue light flew out.
"Chirp~"
The Gale Thunder Falcon appeared and gave Jiang Yi an affectionate cry, rubbing its fluffy head against his shoulder.
But the dormitory was so cramped that Xiao Lan took up nearly half the room just by standing there.
"Sorry you have to put up with this. After a while, I'll see if I can find you somewhere bigger..."
Jiang Yi rubbed its feathers helplessly.
The Gale Thunder Falcon might not be among the strongest, but it was his first pet, and he felt a special bond with it.
Tian Meng was different. She had a complete mind and understanding; she was more like a person than a pet.
"Chirp~"
Xiao Lan gave a cheerful reply.
Though it couldn't understand its master's words, it could sense his emotions through their contract.
The warmth, the trust, and a trace of apology.
"Drink this!"
Jiang Yi took two jade bottles out of his Soul Tool. They held beast blood of different colors.
One was verdant as the wind, the other blue-purple as thunder.
These two essences came from two different thousand-year Soul Beasts. The Treasure Gathering Pavilion had refined them, and they were usually used to make pills.
But for Jiang Yi, they were perfect for purifying the Gale Thunder Falcon's bloodline.
After years of experimenting, he had discovered a few of the peculiar traits of the Soul Beasts on Douluo Continent.
Their greatest trait was that their strength naturally increased as they grew older.
Put simply, Soul Beasts had no bloodline bottlenecks. Once they reached a certain age, their strength rose accordingly.
A hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor might not have lived for a hundred thousand years, but any Blue Silver Grass that lived for a hundred thousand years would become a hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor.
That was why Soul Beast cultivation was usually measured in years.
For Soul Beasts, bloodline talent mostly improved their combat prowess and cultivation speed.
Jiang Yi guessed that this might have been a benefit left behind by the fall of the Dragon Clan: all Soul Beasts carried at least some of its bloodline.
But he had no intention of digging into the matter. The absence of bloodline bottlenecks was a huge boon to him either way.
"Gulp~"
The Gale Thunder Falcon opened its beak, took the jade bottles, and swallowed them whole.
The next moment, two surging streams of bloodline energy rose from its belly and coursed through its body along its meridians.
It spread its wings. A faint glow rose from its feathers, wrapping tightly around it like a blue cocoon in the process of forming.
While the Gale Thunder Falcon absorbed the essence, Jiang Yi didn't waste any time either. He sat cross-legged nearby.
A stream of Bloodline Power welled up in his dantian as well.
That was what made the Master Ball Martial Soul special: when a pet grew stronger, some of that growth fed back to Jiang Yi.
There was some loss in the process, but it still gave Jiang Yi an external cultivation accelerator.
The more pets he had, the faster his cultivation would become.
However, this could bring a new hidden danger: Jiang Yi's physical constitution might not keep up with the growth of his cultivation.
Tian Meng was the best example—
She had a million years of cultivation, but because Jiang Yi's body was too weak, she could only seal her source and merge with him bit by bit.
If Jiang Yi had a divine body, she could have raised him to the Limit Douluo level in a short time.
Even so, Tian Meng alone was enough to put Jiang Yi on par with the top geniuses who possessed Innate Full Soul Power.
That was one of the reasons he'd gone to such lengths to get to Tian Meng first.
Below the dormitory building.
Mu En was resting with his eyes closed on a rocking chair.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes slightly and glanced toward a certain spot on the first floor with his cloudy gaze.
"Interesting! What a peculiar Martial Soul... A fine prospect."
Mu En murmured to himself, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
That boy's aura was actually growing in sync with the Soul Beast he'd raised. How interesting.
A captured Soul Beast could grow stronger again... In that case, there was nothing strange about the boy's thousand-year Soul Ring.
He narrowed his eyes as he recalled the boy's file, his gaze thoughtful.
"What a lively batch of students."
Mu En smiled in satisfaction and leaned back in his chair.
He didn't usually probe the students' dormitories. He had simply been drawn to that unusual aura a moment ago.
But then, as if he'd remembered something, he rubbed his temple with a troubled look and turned toward a certain spot on the third floor.
"Ah, what a tangled fate! I shouldn't have let that little fellow join the Tang Sect. Now they're entangled with each other..."
Bei Bei was the most outstanding of his descendants, but now he was trapped by matters of the heart.
Jiang Yi was also a student of Shrek Academy. As the master of the Sea God Pavilion, Mu En naturally couldn't interfere too much.
"Forget it. Children make their own way..."
Mu En shook his head and put the matter out of his mind.
He didn't have many years left himself. He could trust the wisdom of the next generation. Hadn't he gone through the same thing back then?
Before you continue