The year after the Skysea Alliance Tournament came the All-Federation Tournament.
The All-Federation Tournament was held in Shrek City, but Shrek Academy did not take part.
Otherwise, the results of the tournament each year would probably have held no suspense at all.
The status of the continent's number one academy had remained unshaken for ten thousand years.
Though it had indeed been shaken during the Skysea Alliance Tournament.
Seven Shrek students, the oldest fifteen and the youngest ten, had been instantly defeated by a ten-year-old boy fighting alone against all seven.
Led by Qiangu Dongfeng, the Spirit Pagoda's tower master, those who disliked Shrek Academy seized on this to make a huge fuss.
The headlines in various reports were also quite bold, showing no regard whatsoever for Shrek's feelings.
For example: "Shrek Students Get Brutally Beaten by Ten-Year-Old After Seven-on-One Fight."
Headlines like that grabbed people's attention and drew widespread interest.
Reports like these sprang up like mushrooms after rain. They were everywhere, and each headline was harsher than the last.
"Seven-on-One, Yet Beaten by a Ten-Year-Old. Is This All Shrek Can Do?"
"The Continent's Number One Academy: All Hype, No Substance."
"Just How Much Is the Continent's Number One Academy Really Worth?"
The uproar caused by this battle was so enormous that it was no exaggeration to say it had sent the entire Federation into an "earthquake."
So Shrek Academy decided to take part in the All-Federation Tournament.
They were obviously planning to restore their reputation at the All-Federation Tournament.
Unfortunately, Mu Han did not participate.
According to the rules of the Skysea Alliance Tournament, a team had to reach the top six to represent the alliance in the All-Federation Tournament.
Mu Han had only competed in an exhibition match; he had never actually taken part in the Skysea Alliance Tournament.
It was not as if he could not have entered if he had insisted.
But Mu Han truly had no interest in the so-called All-Federation Tournament.
Ever since returning from the War God Temple, he had been working on something major.
After nearly a year of effort, the project had finally reached its preliminary completion.
For the people of Douluo Continent, there were two insurmountable barriers.
The first was whether a person possessed Innate Soul Power upon awakening their Martial Soul at age six. That determined whether they had any chance of becoming a Soul Master.
Setting aside those born into Soul Master families or descended from Soul Masters,
for ordinary people to have a child with ordinary people who possessed Innate Soul Power was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
In some remote, superstitious regions, there was even a saying that one had to accumulate good karma for ten lifetimes just to be born with one rank of Innate Soul Power.
But if someone had accumulated good karma for ten lifetimes, why would they be reborn into a commoner's family?
The second barrier was age twenty.
A Soul Master's achievements before turning twenty determined their future prospects.
Only at the Soul Elder level, with three Soul Rings, could someone be considered an intermediate Soul Master, and reaching level thirty was a major hurdle.
If they crossed it before turning twenty, their prospects would be limitless.
If they could not cross it by twenty, then they would basically never be able to cross it at all.
Even those exceptional cases who managed to advance had mostly done so by consuming some kind of rare natural treasure.
Mu Han wanted to break this barrier.
He gathered a large number of Soul Grandmasters stuck at the level twenty-nine bottleneck, unable to advance.
These Soul Grandmasters ranged in age from twenty-one to those on the brink of death.
But every single one of them had a Beast Martial Soul.
Mu Han's method was actually very simple: his three-in-one Martial Soul fusion skill, "World"!
Through that "world," created by layering Martial Soul skills together, he forcibly altered the laws of heaven and earth.
Then, using a piece of Spirit Alloy, he merged the Soul Grandmaster's Martial Soul with their Soul Spirit.
Soul Masters who had reached level twenty-nine generally had decent compatibility between their Soul Spirits and Martial Souls.
Many of them had Hundred-Year Soul Spirits, which provided two Hundred-Year Soul Rings.
Some had received a Ten-Year Soul Ring from a Ten-Year Soul Spirit as their First Soul Ring, while their Second Soul Ring came from a Hundred-Year Soul Spirit.
The worst off had two Ten-Year Soul Spirits.
But their compatibility was still quite good, at the very least preventing any conflict during the fusion.
And the result of the fusion was that the level-thirty bottleneck had been broken.
When the major powers first heard this news, they all scoffed at it.
With the advancement of Soul Guidance Technology, ordinary people could already use Soul Tools.
In fact, many civilian Soul Tools no longer required Soul Power at all.
Soul Masters still held a lofty status, but technology had long since narrowed the gap between them and ordinary people.
Just as ordinary people could also operate Soul Mechas.
A Soul Elder with three Soul Rings was considered an intermediate Soul Master, but in reality, they were only a little stronger.
The gap between them and others depended more on their Soul Tools and mechas.
What use was it to gain tens of thousands of Soul Elders with three Soul Rings this way?
This secret method was sure to be expensive, too! Its cost-effectiveness was pitifully low.
But when the powerful factions' leaders saw the finished results, every one of them was left gaping in shock.
Every Soul Ring was purple—a Thousand-Year Soul Ring!
These Soul Elders with three Soul Rings actually had three Thousand-Year Soul Rings each?
The last person to possess three Thousand-Year Soul Rings had been Mu Han, who had crushed Shrek in a one-against-seven fight.
It wasn't that having three Thousand-Year Soul Rings made someone invincible among their peers.
And while having a Thousand-Year Soul Spirit as one's First Soul Spirit might seem rare, it wasn't unique.
What truly shocked them was the Martial Souls of these Soul Elders with three Soul Rings!
Every one of these people had originally possessed a Beast Martial Soul! Yet now, they had all become Weapon Martial Souls?
One of them had been a two-ring Soul Grandmaster with a Wind Tiger Martial Soul. Now, his Martial Soul had become a Long-handled Bone Blade.
Another had possessed a Great Strength Water Buffalo Martial Soul, but now his Martial Soul had become a Great Hammer.
It was true that Beast Martial Souls had the advantage over Weapon Martial Souls in the early stages of cultivation.
But this was still a Martial Soul Second Awakening!
And every Beast Martial Soul had successfully mutated into a Weapon Martial Soul.
This meant the mutation was controllable!
What's more, their power was clearly greater than that of their original Beast Martial Souls. This was a beneficial Martial Soul Second Awakening!
Under certain specific circumstances, a Martial Soul could undergo a Second Awakening.
Mutations could be good or bad, but their effects were always very clear.
If a Martial Soul could undergo a Second Awakening, it would bring a tremendous increase in strength.
However, throughout history, the chance of a Second Awakening had been higher only for families with especially deep foundations,
or rather, Martial Souls with ancient lineages.
It was said that the Body Sect had a way to stimulate a Martial Soul Second Awakening, and that the awakening was guaranteed to be beneficial.
But such a secret method must have had severe side effects, or else its requirements for use were extremely strict.
Not everyone could use this method to stimulate their own Martial Soul.
Otherwise, the Body Sect would have long since ruled the Soul Master World.
But Mu Han's research had clearly surpassed the Body Sect's legacy.
Mu Han's name thus shone across the Soul Master World,
making him the equal of Thousand-Hand Asura Tang San, who had led the two great empires against Spirit Hall twenty thousand years ago,
and Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, who had founded the Spirit Pagoda ten thousand years ago,
becoming the only "god" in the Soul Master World who had not ascended.
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