Wu Zhangkong's Comfort, Tang Sect?

Inside the Spirit Ascension Platform access room, blinding white light flashed in succession, accompanied by cold mechanical prompts that echoed repeatedly through the sealed space.

Wang Jinxi, Zhang Yangzi, Xie Xie, and Xu Xiaoyan were forcibly teleported out one after another, stumbling onto the cold metal floor.

Every one of them was pale as paper, their Soul Power utterly depleted. They could barely stand, and their eyes were filled with bone-deep shock and lingering terror, as if what they had experienced in the Spirit Ascension Platform had not been a final exam, but a life-and-death ordeal before an abyss.

Xie Xie had to brace himself against the wall just to stand steadily, his hands still trembling uncontrollably.

Wang Jinxi and Zhang Yangzi helped each other to their feet. Their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Dark Eagle Dragon, was their greatest trump card, a killing move capable of contending against thousand-year Soul Beasts. Yet before those three mysterious youths, they had not even found the courage to activate it.

That absolute suppression from the depths of their bloodlines had made their Martial Souls tremble. Even now, the Soul Power within them remained sluggish and difficult to circulate.

The four had only just managed to steady themselves when they heard a soft hiss. The hatch of the access pod in the center slowly popped open.

Tang Wulin lay unconscious in the nutrient fluid with his eyes tightly shut. His face was as pale as paper, his breathing so weak it was almost imperceptible. He had fallen into a deep coma.

"Wulin!"

The four of them blanched, instantly forgetting their own discomfort as they rushed over.

Xie Xie carefully helped Tang Wulin out of the access pod, while Wang Jinxi reached out to check his breathing. Only then did he breathe a slight sigh of relief. Yet no matter how the four called his name, Tang Wulin kept his eyes shut and gave no response.

Just then, a series of cool, measured footsteps approached from afar, and a tall figure dressed in white strode in.

He seemed to be surrounded by frost that had never melted for ten thousand years, his presence as cold as ice. It was Wu Zhangkong, the first-year homeroom teacher of Eastsea Academy, known as the Ice Sky Frost Sword.

He had been monitoring the five students' examination data on the surveillance screens outside the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Wu Zhangkong quickly walked over to Tang Wulin, dropped to one knee, and placed his long fingers on Tang Wulin's wrist.

Cold Soul Power slowly flowed from his fingertips into the boy's body as he carefully examined his condition. A moment later, his faintly furrowed brows gradually relaxed, and the worry in his heart finally faded.

"His soul suffered only a minor shock, and the backlash from the bloodline seal in his body put him into a coma. His origin has not been damaged. A few days of rest will be enough for him to recover."

Wu Zhangkong spoke calmly and raised his hand again, sending a gentle stream of ice-element Soul Power into Tang Wulin's body to slowly nourish his damaged soul origin and ensure that no lasting effects remained.

Only after finishing this did he slowly rise to his feet, his cold gaze sweeping over the four students hanging their heads, their eyes full of defeat and self-doubt.

The sealed access room was deathly silent, filled only by the four's suppressed breathing.

"Teacher..." Xie Xie was the first to break the silence. His voice was terribly hoarse, his eyes red with the grievance and unwillingness that young people could not hide. "In the Spirit Ascension Platform, we encountered three youths about our age... They were too strong. The five of us joined forces, but we couldn't even withstand one move from that girl in white. And that boy in black casually killed three thousand-year Soul Beasts. That golden aura that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth couldn't even last a second before him before it vanished completely..."

The five of them had originally been the finest geniuses of Eastsea Academy's first year, the most dazzling rising stars among everyone their age in Eastsea City.

But today's encounter in the Spirit Ascension Platform had been like a basin of ice water poured over them from head to toe, utterly shattering their pride.

They had fallen into profound self-doubt and despondency, even beginning to deny the effort and talent they had always possessed.

As Wu Zhangkong watched the four dispirited children before him, a trace of softness flashed deep within his icy eyes, so faint it was nearly impossible to detect.

He did not harshly rebuke them, nor did he offer those empty, useless platitudes. He simply spoke slowly, his voice still cold as ice yet carrying a steadfast power that could soothe the heart.

"Losing to them is nothing shameful."

Those simple seven words made the four abruptly lift their heads and look at Wu Zhangkong, their eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.

"At twelve years old, they could suppress your Martial Soul Fusion Skill with nothing more than a trace of bloodline pressure and casually kill thousand-year Soul Beasts. People like that are absolutely not ordinary academy students, much less as simple as the 'peers' you describe."

Wu Zhangkong's gaze slowly passed over the four as he continued, emphasizing each word. "They must be core heirs personally cultivated by the continent's greatest powers, such as the Spirit Pagoda and War God Temple. From the moment their Martial Souls awakened, those powers would have poured resources from across the continent into them and spent countless efforts tailoring cultivation plans specifically for them."

"You only saw the strength with which they crushed you, but you did not see the Title Douluo-level experts personally guiding their cultivation behind them, the ten-thousand-year and hundred-thousand-year treasures they consumed as food, the continent's most dangerous secret realms opened for their training, or the foundation of entire powers invested in just a few of them."

"Across all of Douluo Continent, there are very few people of the same age who can reach that level—no more than ten. The people you lost to are peers standing at the peak of the continent's pyramid, heaven-blessed geniuses raised by the greatest powers. You did not lose because you failed to work hard, nor because you are not outstanding enough."

Wu Zhangkong's words were like a key that instantly untied the knot in the four's hearts.

They had always believed they had been crushed by their peers because they had not worked hard enough or because their talents were too poor. They had never considered that, from the very beginning, the platforms they stood upon and the resources available to them had been worlds apart.

Seeing the confusion in their eyes gradually fade, Wu Zhangkong paused before changing the subject, his tone becoming more solemn.

"Your greatest gain today was not completing the final examination, nor was it killing thousand-year Soul Beasts. It was seeing in advance just how terrifying the foundation of the continent's top powers truly is. The path of a Soul Master has never been a solitary fight. No matter how talented one person may be, without sufficient resources, systematic training, and supreme inheritances, their ultimate limit will always be finite."

"What Eastsea Academy can give you is already the best this city has to offer, but viewed across the entire continent, it is insignificant."

At this point, Wu Zhangkong's gaze became increasingly profound. Looking at the four students before him, whose eyes were full of expectation, he fell silent for a moment before finally making his decision.

"Originally, I intended to wait until you completed this semester's final assessment and confirm that your temperament, will, and resilience met the standard before introducing you to the world that truly belongs to the uppermost circle of Soul Masters. But what happened today let you see in advance how top powers support their geniuses, and it made you understand the importance of one's platform. There is no need for me to keep hiding it any longer."

The four held their breath and stared intently at Wu Zhangkong, not daring to make a sound.

"You have all heard of the Tang Sect." Wu Zhangkong spoke slowly, his voice carrying an indescribable weight. "Twenty thousand years ago, it was founded by Tang Sect ancestor Tang San. It has existed alongside Shrek Academy, enduring for ten thousand years without decline, and it is one of the greatest powers on Douluo Continent."

"The Tang Sect possesses the continent's finest Soul Master cultivation techniques, its most vital soul-tool technology, its rarest treasures, as well as intelligence networks and trial secret realms spread across the entire continent. Over the past ten thousand years, countless Soul Masters who stood at the peak of the continent came from the Tang Sect, while nearly every generation of core disciples from Shrek Academy became the backbone of the Tang Sect."

Just then, Tang Wulin let out a low groan. His eyelashes fluttered lightly as he slowly opened his eyes.

The moment he regained consciousness, he heard Wu Zhangkong's words. The confusion in his eyes instantly cleared, and a blazing light ignited within them.

He struggled to sit up, ignoring the weakness in his body as he fixed his gaze on Wu Zhangkong. His voice was slightly hoarse, yet incomparably firm. "Teacher, do you mean... we also have a chance to join the Tang Sect and obtain resources equal to those top geniuses?"

Wu Zhangkong turned to look at Tang Wulin's burning eyes. A nearly imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his cold lips. He nodded, his tone solemn. "That is correct. You do not need to envy the geniuses cultivated by the War God Temple and Spirit Pagoda. You, too, have a chance to step onto the continent's highest platform."

"As long as your resolve is firm enough, you work hard enough, and you can pass the Tang Sect's assessment, then the Tang Sect and Shrek will give you resources, inheritances, and support inferior to no one's. Your limits have never been confined to Eastsea Academy or the Skysea Alliance. Your journey is the entirety of Douluo Continent."

Wu Zhangkong's words were like a bolt of lightning that split apart the gloom in the five's hearts, and like a flame that instantly reignited their extinguished fighting spirit and hope.

Wu Zhangkong looked at the five students whose fighting spirit had been rekindled, satisfaction flashing through his eyes. He knew that today's experience in the Spirit Ascension Platform had not crushed them. Instead, it would become one of the most important stepping stones on their path as Soul Masters.

Meanwhile, in the deepest part of the Spirit Ascension Platform illusion, Li Chen, Gu Yue, and Na'er had already followed the guidance of the purple token and arrived at the secret realm node.

Li Chen embedded the Phoenix Token in his hand into a groove in the stone wall. Gentle purple light instantly bloomed, and a hidden spatial rift slowly opened, revealing the private secret realm Leng Yaozhu had prepared for them. The three slowly entered, and extraordinarily dense heaven-and-earth spiritual energy immediately enveloped them. It was so concentrated it had nearly condensed into liquid; with a single breath, every pore on their bodies seemed to open.

Three exquisite rosewood brocade boxes rested quietly atop the white jade platform at the center of the secret realm. They were the New Year gifts Leng Yaozhu had prepared for them. Each box was engraved with its owner's unique spiritual pattern, ensuring that no one else could open it.

Li Chen was the first to approach the platform and open his own box. Inside lay a fist-sized crystal, entirely black. Within it, an endless Styx seemed to churn, radiating an incomparably pure aura of darkness and death. It was the Underworld's most vital treasure—the Styx Origin Crystal.

This crystal could perfectly nourish his Pluto Martial Soul. It deeply resonated with the Death God Divine Position within his soul, helping him fully control the power of that divine position and preventing another stress-induced outburst like before.

Inside the box Gu Yue opened lay round jewels of different colors, corresponding respectively to the nine great elements of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, light, and darkness. Every jewel emitted the aura of its corresponding elemental origin. These nine jewels could perfectly merge into her elemental body, greatly strengthening her control over the elements and nourishing their origins, allowing her to freely combine all nine elements and unleash twice their power.

Inside Na'er's box lay a half-foot-long dragon marrow, white and lustrous as jade. It was surrounded by an ancient Dragon God aura so dense it seemed impossible to disperse. It was the treasured Ancient Dragon God Marrow collected by the Spirit Pagoda. (At least, that was what the Spirit Pagoda believed. They could never actually have obtained it.)

This dragon marrow could greatly awaken her Silver Dragon Bloodline.

At the bottom of every box were New Year items personally prepared by Leng Yaozhu: exquisite, well-fitting New Year clothes; defensive soul-tool accessories suited for youths; and even many specialty pastries from old-established shops in Ming Capital. Every detail carried an elder's care and warmth.

"Refine them first and stabilize our cultivation." Li Chen held the Styx Origin Crystal in his hand, sensing the power within it that resonated with the Death God Divine Position. He spoke in a low voice, "There are still two months until the exhibition match with Shrek. We must bring our strength to its best condition."

Gu Yue and Na'er nodded together, fighting spirit blazing in their eyes.

The three did not delay for even a moment. They each sat cross-legged beside one of the three spiritual springs where the energy was most concentrated, closed their eyes, and began refining the New Year gifts Leng Yaozhu had carefully prepared for them.

Li Chen slowly closed his eyes, placed the Styx Origin Crystal before him, and activated the power of the Death God Divine Position within his body.

Three days and three nights later, Li Chen suddenly opened his eyes. A vast, boundless aura of Reincarnation instantly swept through the entire secret realm, as if the whole place had become a miniature Underworld. Yet in the next second, he drew that terrifying aura back into his body without the slightest leak, as though it had never appeared.

Taking this opportunity, he successfully broke through to the Soul Ancestor realm. He was only one more Soul Spirit away from becoming a true Soul Ancestor. Gu Yue and Na'er also broke through within the Soul Elder realm, only half a step away from Soul Ancestor.

After refining these resources, their strength underwent a qualitative leap. They were now absolutely confident about the exhibition match against Shrek Academy two months later.

Seeing this, Li Chen raised his hand and put away the Phoenix Token in the secret realm. He spoke calmly, his voice carrying an unquestionable decisiveness. "It is time to leave. Next, we should go to Eastsea Academy and see our new identities."

The sea breeze of Eastsea City still swept along the coastline, carrying its salty dampness. On one side, Eastsea Academy's five youths had found their own paths and direction, striving toward the gates of the Tang Sect and Shrek; on the other, Li Chen and the other two carried the determination of Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy and the expectations of the Spirit Pagoda, their strength growing ever more formidable.