[Ding, congratulations, Host. Huo Yuhao's recognition of Spirit Hall has greatly increased!] [Current mission progress: 1/1. Academy Construction Card has been issued.] [Reward has been deposited into the System Space. Please check and claim it.]
A smile curled at Shen Zhou's lips.
The first step had finally been taken.
Next...
He would rebuild Spirit Hall's glory here on Douluo Continent II!
Inside the woodshed, the candlelight flickered.
Huo Yun'er leaned against her son's chest. Though her face was still pale, her breathing had steadied considerably.
Qian Daoliu's Angel Holy Light had not only healed her visible ailments, but also nourished the meridians that had been depleted for years.
With proper care, it would only be a matter of time before she fully recovered.
Huo Yuhao held his mother tightly, tears blurring his vision. He had never imagined that his mother would one day be able to sit up again.
"Thank you, my lord... Thank you, esteemed lords..."
The boy released his mother and turned to kneel.
Shen Zhou reached out to support him and gently shook his head.
"No need for that. Spirit Hall never asks others to kneel in thanks."
"Spirit... Hall?"
Huo Yuhao looked up, his eyes filled with confusion.
He had never heard that name before.
Shen Zhou did not rush to explain. Instead, he took a handkerchief from his robes and handed it over.
"Wipe your tears. I have something to tell you."
Huo Yuhao accepted the handkerchief, roughly wiped his face, and looked at Shen Zhou with reddened eyes.
This lord gave him a strange feeling.
He was clearly someone high above him, yet he spoke like an elder brother from next door.
As for those standing behind him, every one of them gave off a pressure so immense that Huo Yuhao could barely breathe. Especially the blond middle-aged man who had saved his mother just now—he was practically like a deity.
"I plan to establish an academy."
Shen Zhou went straight to the point.
Huo Yuhao froze.
"An academy?"
"That's right." Shen Zhou nodded. "An academy open to all commoners."
"It will awaken Martial Souls for free and teach cultivation methods for free. Outstanding students will even receive rewards such as Soul Rings, Soul Bones, and even Soul Tools."
The moment those words came out, not only did Huo Yuhao go blank, but even Huo Yun'er, leaning against the headboard, widened her eyes.
In this era, Martial Soul awakenings were tightly controlled by nobles and sects.
If commoners wanted to awaken their Martial Souls, they either had to pay exorbitant fees or sell themselves into servitude as noble retainers.
As for cultivation resources, they could forget about them.
Just look at Jiang Nannan, a genius with Innate Full Soul Power. If she had been born ten thousand years ago, would she have needed to suffer like this?
But now, this lord was saying... it would be free?
"My lord, is what you said... true?"
Huo Yuhao's voice trembled.
"Absolutely true." Shen Zhou smiled faintly. "And I have already chosen the academy's name: Martial Soul Academy."
"But before that..."
He paused, curled his right hand slightly, and a long spear appeared out of thin air in his palm.
It was an exceptionally peculiar spear—the tip split into three prongs, shaped like three points and two blades, its edges glinting with a cold, chilling light.
The shaft was silver-white throughout, engraved with dense and mysterious patterns that flowed slowly like a living creature.
The entire spear radiated an incomparably sharp aura. Merely holding it made the air in the woodshed seem as though it had been sliced into fragments.
At the same time, nine Soul Rings rose from beneath Shen Zhou's feet and slowly revolved around his body.
One yellow, two purple, four black, and two red!
The instant those two red Soul Rings appeared, the entire woodshed was dyed with an eerie blood-red glow.
Huo Yuhao's pupils contracted sharply, his mouth wide enough to fit an egg.
Two... Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings?!
Though he had not officially become a Soul Master yet, he had grown up in the Duke Mansion and knew what the colors of Soul Rings represented.
Yellow meant a hundred years, purple meant a thousand years, black meant ten thousand years, and red...
That was a Soul Ring possessed only by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!
Across the entire continent, there were only a handful of Titled Douluo with red Soul Rings.
Yet this young man before him, who looked barely over twenty, had two of them!
More terrifyingly, those two red Soul Rings were not the lowest-grade Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings. Their color was as deep as blood, with faint golden light flowing within them. They were clearly beyond the two-hundred-thousand-year level.
"This is your master's Martial Soul, the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear."
Shen Zhou spoke calmly. With a gentle turn of his right hand, the spear hummed, and all three blades at its tip flashed with cold light.
"Nine rings, Titled Douluo. My Soul Ring configuration includes hundred-year, thousand-year, ten-thousand-year, and hundred-thousand-year rings."
Huo Yuhao's legs gave out. This time, he truly could not hold himself up and collapsed onto the floor.
Not from fear, but from shock.
A nine-ringed Titled Douluo!
And one with the most elite Soul Ring configuration possible!
He had never seen such a powerful Soul Master. Even the strongest guest elder of the White Tiger Duke Mansion was only a Soul Douluo, with an ordinary Soul Ring configuration.
"Master, please accept this disciple's bow!"
Without another word, Huo Yuhao dropped to his knees and knocked his head against the floor three times.
He did not know why this lord wanted to accept him as a disciple, but he knew that this was the greatest opportunity of his life.
Shen Zhou did not stop him. Only after he had finished kowtowing did Shen Zhou reach out and pull him up.
"You're quite clever. I hadn't even said I would take you as my disciple, yet you already bowed to me first."
Huo Yuhao scratched his head and grinned foolishly.
"However..."
Shen Zhou changed the subject. "Aren't you afraid that I might be a bad person?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head and looked toward his mother on the bed.
"My lord saved my mother and even gave me Gold Soul Coins to buy medicine. How could you possibly be a bad person?"
"And besides..."
He secretly glanced at the extraordinary group behind Shen Zhou and muttered softly, "Bad people wouldn't have so many powerful big brothers."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Guangling Douluo was the first to laugh aloud. He walked over and patted Huo Yuhao on the head.
"This kid has good judgment!"
Qian Daoliu also gave a slight nod, a trace of approval appearing in his eyes.
Shen Zhou put away his Martial Soul, and the nine Soul Rings faded. The pressure within the woodshed vanished with them.
"Yu Hao, your master possesses Twin Martial Souls. The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear is my first Martial Soul, and I have already cultivated it to the level of a Titled Douluo."
"My second Martial Soul is called the Heavenly Eye."
A golden light suddenly flared on his forehead.
The golden light was not dazzling, yet it carried a profound sensation of seeing through all things.
Huo Yuhao instinctively looked toward that eye and felt as though his soul was about to be drawn into it.
Heavenly Eye, open!
A golden vertical mark slowly emerged on Shen Zhou's forehead, then split apart on both sides, revealing a brilliant golden vertical pupil.
Within that vertical pupil seemed to lie a sea of stars, vast and mysterious.
Yet unlike the Three-Pointed Double-Edged Spear, no Soul Rings surrounded the Heavenly Eye Martial Soul.
"My Heavenly Eye Martial Soul has not yet been attached with any Soul Rings."
Shen Zhou explained, "Because I have been waiting—waiting for the right moment, and for the right Soul Beast."
"There are countless Martial Souls in the world, but eye-type Martial Souls are exceedingly rare. Your Spirit Eye shares the same origin as my Heavenly Eye."
"That is why I want to take you as my disciple and teach you cultivation methods. Once you have grown strong, master and disciple will join forces and become invincible in this age."
Huo Yuhao's blood boiled as he listened, and he nodded firmly.
"This disciple will certainly cultivate diligently and never disappoint Master's expectations!"
Shen Zhou nodded in satisfaction and turned to Qian Daoliu.
"Big Brother, I'll take this child as my disciple."
Qian Daoliu gave a quiet grunt and said nothing more.
He could naturally see Huo Yuhao's extraordinary potential, and he understood that Shen Zhou was laying the groundwork for Spirit Hall's future.
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