Flying

After arriving in Nuoding City, Xiaofei once again went to the Spirit Hall to register. This time, Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo was still the one who received him.

As the crystal stone lit up, Xiaofei's Soul Power Level was revealed to be Level 22. Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo invited Xiaofei again, but Xiaofei still politely declined. Xiaofei repeatedly said that he was doing well at school and would consider it only later. Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo wore an expression of regret.

After returning to the Blacksmith Shop, Xiaofei sat alone in the backyard that evening, deep in thought. Bare-chested, Xiaofei tried channeling his Soul Power toward the spine on his back. As expected, a sharp pain erupted from his back, followed by the sensation of something drilling through his skin.

As the pain intensified, a pair of wings gradually unfolded from his back. Upon closer inspection, they looked exactly like the wings of a Fire Phoenix. They were simply much smaller than those of a Fire Phoenix, fitting his build quite well. Fully spread, each wing was about two meters wide. Each wing was made up of six independent bones, making twelve wings in total.

After carefully controlling them with his Soul Power, he found that the wings could only slash forward like blades, and they had to slash along with the rotation of his body, just like a bird's wings. Although the wings were somewhat sharp, they could not stab at enemies like Tang San's Eight Spider Lances from the original story.

Compared with Tang San's Eight Spider Lances later on, their attack power and flexibility seemed slightly inferior, but their toughness and speed should be greater. Most importantly, the wings also had the ability to fly, which was their advantage over the Eight Spider Lances. Based on his estimates, their flight speed should be close to the maximum speed of a Soul Emperor.

Next came a review of the Soul Skill he had obtained this time: "Sparks Like Rain." It used the Fire Phoenix's feathers to launch a group attack. The exact attack strength was calculated according to his Soul Power. In other words, during a one-on-one fight, he could release a single feather to attack in order to conserve as much Soul Power as possible. It could also be considered a single-target attack.

Actually, before obtaining these wings, Xiaofei had been wondering how he could fly. Normally, a Fire Phoenix Martial Soul could fly once Martial Soul Possession was activated, but Xiaofei had never managed to master it.

For the next period of time, Xiaofei studied the characteristics of the Fire Phoenix Martial Soul on the rear mountain every morning. After obtaining his Second Soul Ring, Xiaofei clearly felt that his control over the Fire Phoenix's body and flames had improved, but he still did not know how to combine that with the movement of the Fire Phoenix Martial Soul's wings. As for the External Soul Bone, Xiaofei would not reveal it before he possessed overwhelming strength.

Another half a year passed. Xiaofei had gradually begun to master the Fire Phoenix's wings, but he was still far from being able to fly. At the same time, Xiaofei developed a Self-Created Soul Skill—a mutated version of his Second Soul Skill.

When using Sparks Like Rain, Xiaofei could continuously release small amounts of feathers to launch precise attacks at individual targets. This gave his Soul Skill a hint of the characteristics of a Tool Martial Soul. By maintaining the flames on the feathers, he could form a sword or a spear. However, they currently only possessed ordinary attack power and could not create sword qi or anything similar.

In the blink of an eye, Xiaofei had already spent five years at school. His Soul Power Level had reached Level 26, one level higher than Tang San's. Xiaofei was eleven years old at this point.

For Xiaofei, blacksmithing no longer improved his physical qualities very much. The Fire Element in the Blacksmith Shop was also no longer very effective for increasing his Soul Power. If he wanted to continue rapidly increasing his Soul Power, he needed a place with a much higher concentration of Fire Element.

After years of effort, Xiaofei could finally operate the wings behind the Fire Phoenix perfectly. Of course, the learning process had been filled with tears and hardship.

At first, just moving the wings required Xiaofei to consume a tremendous amount of Soul Power. Thus, in order to fly, Xiaofei secretly went into the wilderness and used the External Soul Bone to fly, then imitated its movement pattern with his wings. On one occasion, Xiaofei even jumped straight off a cliff and slowly sensed the movement of his wings in midair.

In the end, Xiaofei could finally use the Fire Phoenix's wings perfectly. He also realized that although the Fire Phoenix was primarily based on the Fire Element, it also controlled a certain amount of the Wind Element. Only then could the wings operate perfectly.

After initially mastering the Fire Phoenix's wings, Xiaofei consumed very little Soul Power if he merely hovered in the air. As long as he wished, he could fly for half a day without any problem. However, when flying quickly, his Soul Power consumption increased greatly, and his flight speed was directly proportional to the amount of Soul Power consumed.

With the External Soul Bone and wings, combined with Xiaofei's exceptional physical qualities, his ability to save his own life was first-rate. His speed could rival that of agility-attack-type Soul Masters. At the same time, thanks to his physical training and his powerful Phoenix Flame, he also possessed the imposing force of a power-attack-type Soul Master. With his Second Soul Skill, Xiaofei could use feathers to control the battlefield. The different feathers' speed, strength, distribution, and other properties when fired at enemies gave him some traits of a control-type Soul Master as well. Xiaofei shook his head. In the end, it still came down to controlling the elements and controlling the Fire Phoenix's body.

Regarding the Fire Phoenix Martial Soul, Xiaofei had always believed that there were three aspects to study: a powerful physique, an ultimate Fire Element, and the ability to be reborn from the flames. Xiaofei currently felt that he had only grasped the surface of it, so he still needed to speed up his studies.

The next morning, Xiaofei took the initiative to find the Principal and told him that he wanted to graduate. The Principal specifically asked Xiaofei whether he had any plans for the future.

Xiaofei said that he planned to return to his old home in Holy Soul Village to keep his grandfather company for a while, then travel outside for some time. Perhaps after one or two years, he would enter an Advanced Soul Master Academy directly.

Students at a primary Soul Master Academy could generally graduate once they reached Level 10. Xiaofei was already Level 26 and had long since met the graduation requirements. After offering him some words of encouragement, the Principal approved Xiaofei's graduation application.

As for which Advanced Soul Master Academy Xiaofei should attend in the future, the Principal gave him three suggestions: Spirit Hall Soul Master Academy, Heaven Dou Royal Academy, and Blazing Fire Advanced Soul Master Academy.

The first two had abundant resources. Blazing Fire Advanced Soul Master Academy was recommended mainly because Xiaofei's Martial Soul suited it well. It had the most suitable environment for cultivating Fire Element Martial Souls.

After careful consideration, Xiaofei decided to choose Blazing Fire Advanced Soul Master Academy. Of course, the Principal also wrote him a letter of recommendation to Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Not knowing whether the news had spread so quickly, Yu Xiaogang also came to find Xiaofei during those few days and recommended that he attend Shrek Academy, saying that it accepted only monsters and had an extremely powerful teaching staff.

Since Xiaofei had gotten along fairly well with Yu Xiaogang over the past few years, he told Yu Xiaogang his thoughts. Yu Xiaogang pondered for a moment and said, "Blazing Fire Advanced Soul Master Academy? That is also a good choice." In the end, he shook his head helplessly and left.

As for Xiaofei's attitude toward Yu Xiaogang, this book follows the original work: it does not vilify Tang San, nor does it blindly fawn over him. As for choosing Blazing Fire Advanced Soul Master Academy, that is simply because the author believes it is the most suitable place for the protagonist.