Testing

"Three-Legged Golden Toad blood essence?" Gu Yue furrowed her brow.

It was still vacation, and Wu Zhangkong had taken Tang Wulin to Heaven Dou City.

Gu Yue had originally planned to visit the Spirit Pagoda.

But when she heard Mu Han had emerged from seclusion, she came over with Xu Xiaoyan.

Then she heard that Mu Han was searching for this sort of thing.

She knew Mu Han's first Soul Spirit was the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad.

But hadn't the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad already absorbed the blood essence of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, Di Tian, and gained dragon bloodline?

"You don't really think dragon bloodline makes you invincible, do you?" Mu Han said, exasperated.

The Dragon God was the strongest divine beast.

But the dragon race was not necessarily the strongest species.

The Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear's species ranking was no lower than that of true dragons.

What was more, his Dragon Phoenix Golden Toad didn't absorb dragon bloodline very well.

It could only be considered a Soul Beast with dragon bloodline.

If it were a snake-type Soul Spirit, a single drop of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian's blood essence would be enough to evolve it into a lesser dragon.

Besides, he wasn't interested in lesser dragons.

Ordinary lesser dragons really couldn't compare to his Dragon Phoenix Golden Toad.

What he wanted was true evolution.

Mu Han had never been to the Spirit Ascension Platform.

That was because the Dragon Phoenix Golden Toad was already a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit.

Although the Dragon Phoenix Golden Toad had the foundation to advance to ten thousand years,

with Mu Han's strength, all it would take was a trip to the Spirit Ascension Platform to complete the final step.

But he wouldn't do that.

Ten thousand years of cultivation was an enormous threshold in a Soul Beast's cultivation.

Once a Soul Beast crossed the ten-thousand-year mark, its strength would surge.

Some Soul Beasts underwent mutations when they broke through to ten thousand years.

Those with top-tier bloodlines could even shed their beast forms and develop true intelligence.

Just like the Three-Eyed Golden Lion from ten thousand years ago.

Perhaps the Three-Eyed Golden Lion was an exception.

But there were also many ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts with powerful bloodlines and intelligence no less than that of humans.

Those with mediocre bloodlines might grow more intelligent, but at the end of the day, they were still beasts.

But was it really so easy to change one's bloodline?

The bloodlines the Vermilion Clear Ice Toad had devoured before had only strengthened its body,

and the so-called "Dragon Phoenix Golden Toad" hadn't changed its bloodline at its very roots.

They belonged to different species. Dragons or phoenixes were both external forces as far as a toad was concerned.

If it wanted to change its bloodline completely, it had to devour the bloodline of a pure amphibious Soul Beast.

There weren't many amphibious Soul Beasts in the original story to begin with, and the strongest seemed to be the Three-Legged Golden Toad.

After all, it was a divine beast bloodline mentioned in the original story.

Unfortunately, Mu Han had searched for a long time without finding one.

Since Gu Yue had come to see him, Mu Han asked her to search for one.

He had plenty of information at his disposal, so he could certainly afford to pay her for the job.

This time, he had come to see Gu Yue solely to challenge Tianhai Academy.

The Skysea Alliance Tournament would be held next semester.

In the original story, the Skysea Alliance had spent a fortune to invite powerful fighters from Shrek Academy.

They wanted to put on a so-called exhibition match.

Their opponents would be the previous generation's seven-person team champions from the Skysea Alliance.

Given Shrek's strength, the exchange match would pit teams from different age brackets against each other.

The Skysea Alliance's youth division's seven-person champions would challenge Shrek's junior division's seven-person team.

The team representing the Skysea Alliance would be the previous year's youth division champions.

This year, they were all over twenty and could only compete in the adult division.

That was an age gap of more than five years!

And yet they still suffered a crushing defeat.

In the original story, they didn't even last a minute.

It was practically a massacre.

Mu Han had now asked Mu Chen to put in a good word for him, so he could try to secure a spot in the exhibition match.

He would challenge those people from Shrek Academy himself.

The Skysea Alliance's previous youth division champions were seven students from Tianhai Academy.

So he brought Gu Yue and Xu Xiaoyan to Skysea City.

In front of a huge crowd, the three of them took on all seven and defeated them in an instant, claiming the exhibition match spot.

The senior staff of Tianhai Academy looked grim, but all they could do was privately regret their carelessness.

They hadn't thought there was any chance they'd lose, so they'd granted Mu Chen the favor.

Now it looked like they'd taken a huge loss!

Although the Skysea Alliance was paying for the exhibition match together, Tianhai Academy had ultimately contributed the most.

And now Eastsea Academy had ended up benefiting from it.

It was common knowledge that within the Skysea Alliance, Eastsea City had always been seen as an "economic powerhouse."

In truth, Eastsea City's position in the Skysea Alliance was much like the Skysea Alliance's position in the Federation.

Put simply, it made money, but lacked Soul Master talent.

How had two monsters like these come out of nowhere?

Gu Yue probably wasn't a local from Eastsea City, right? At the very least, she wasn't from a local Soul Master family.

But Mu Han and Xu Xiaoyan were both well-known figures.

Mu Han was the adopted son of Mu Chen, president of the Blacksmith Association in Eastsea City.

Xu Xiaoyan was the daughter of Eastsea City's financial director.

After securing the exhibition match spot, Mu Han offered to treat everyone to a meal.

"Mu Han." Just then, an unfamiliar voice called out, drawing everyone's attention.

Mu Han turned to look and saw a white-haired old man, hale and hearty, approaching him.

He was tall and powerfully built. His hands looked especially broad and thick.

"Hello, were you looking for me?" Mu Han had an idea who this was, but still put on a bewildered expression.

"I'm Duan Xuan, president of the Tianhai Blacksmith Association. You can call me Elder Duan." The silver-haired old man stopped in front of him.

"Hello, Elder Duan," Mu Han replied respectfully, as propriety demanded.

Duan Xuan smiled faintly. "Here's the thing. We have a number of talent recruitment programs underway in Skysea City."

"I think you have a lot of potential. Would you consider developing your career here in Skysea City?"

Skysea City outranked Eastsea City both politically and economically.

It outclassed it in every respect—in a word, it was just a larger version of Eastsea City.

"The Tianhai Blacksmith Association can guarantee that the association will cover all the costs of your forging studies as you strive to become a Saint Craftsman."

This was an offer that would be difficult for any blacksmith to refuse, but Mu Han barely reacted. "Sorry, I can't."

He remembered that Mu Chen had tested Tang Wulin this way in the original story.

He hadn't expected Mu Chen to test him like this now, too.

He didn't blame his adoptive father.

Whether a disciple could inherit their master's mantle wasn't the most important thing.

What mattered most was that their character remained sound.

If their skills surpassed their master's but their character was rotten, they would only bring disaster.

In principle, Mu Chen had done nothing wrong.

But Mu Chen's place in Mu Han's heart had shifted a little.

It wasn't that Mu Han wanted to rebel; after all, Mu Chen had done him a kindness.

He didn't wield a halberd, and he had no desire to become a servant to three masters.

Still, Mu Chen's test had hurt him a little.

In the original story, Mu Chen had tested his disciple.

And now Mu Chen was testing his own adopted son?

"Good lad. Mu Chen really is lucky." Duan Xuan reached out and patted Mu Han's head, then turned and strode away.

He clearly hadn't noticed that Mu Han's mood had changed.

In any case, the test was over, and he wasn't going to keep pressing the matter in front of a crowd.