Training Journey: Departure for Thunder Academy

Yu Yuanzhen learned that we had broken through after taking the immortal herbs, so he personally led the team and took the three of us to hunt soul rings.

Yu Xiaolou needed his second soul ring, Qing Luo needed her second soul ring, and I needed my third. Three people, three different tiers of soul ring requirements—it really was troublesome. Fortunately, Yu Luomian and Yu Jin were both in the clan, so there were enough hands to split up. In the end, Yu Yuanzhen decided to personally take me into the Star Dou Forest to hunt soul beasts, while Yu Luomian took Yu Xiaolou and Qing Luo to hunt soul beasts around the forest's outskirts. Splitting up would be more efficient.

The Star Dou Forest was far larger than Sunset Forest. Yu Yuanzhen led me deeper inside, ignoring every thousand-year soul beast we encountered along the way. Only when an Azure Horn Dragon Rhino with ten thousand years of cultivation entered his senses did he stop.

The creature was the size of a small mountain, with a green horn growing from its forehead. Every step it took made the ground tremble.

"An Azure Horn Dragon Rhino, roughly ten thousand years old. It possesses a faint dragon bloodline and is highly compatible with your martial soul's attributes."

Yu Yuanzhen glanced at me. "Ten thousand years. Are you sure?"

"Uncle Yu, my second soul ring was already five thousand years. If my third doesn't cross into the ten-thousand-year level, would that do justice to my talent?"

Yu Yuanzhen did not ask again. The aura of a level ninety-six Title Douluo burst forth without restraint, sending the soul beasts within several miles fleeing in all directions. He suppressed the Azure Horn Dragon Rhino to the ground with one hand, leaving it unable even to struggle. I summoned the Azure Dragon Halberd and drove it straight through its skull.

A black soul ring rose from the corpse, its glow subdued yet carrying a heart-palpitating pressure.

I sat cross-legged and began absorbing it.

The process was more perilous than the first two combined. The instant the torrent of ten-thousand-year Soul Power flooded into my meridians, I heard my bones creaking as though they were being crushed. The spiritual shock from a ten-thousand-year soul beast was indeed formidable, but my spiritual power was now comparable to a Soul Emperor's. This little spiritual assault was useless against me.

Before long, I completed the absorption.

My Soul Power jumped directly from level thirty to level thirty-three, and I gained the soul skill Azure Dragon Fury, an area-of-effect soul skill. It unleashed Azure Dragon's Fury upon a wide range of targets, inflicting slowing damage along with a brief suppressive intimidation effect. The intimidation did not last long, but it was enough to tear open an opening in a group battle.

On the other side, Yu Luomian sent word. Yu Xiaolou had successfully absorbed an eight-hundred-year Wind Thunder Fox. His second soul ring was eight hundred years, and his soul skill was Wind Thunder Thrust, a speed-based charging attack. Qing Luo had successfully absorbed a thousand-year Poison Vine Python. Her second soul ring was a thousand years, and her soul skill was Venom Python Constriction, a composite soul skill combining control with sustained poison damage.

After returning, Yu Xiaolou talked about the battle all the way from the carriage to the dining hall, then from the dining hall to the dormitory, his face animated with excitement. Though his martial soul was relatively weak, at level twenty-one with two hundred-year soul rings, he was already considered outstanding among his peers.

Qing Luo, on the other hand, remained calm. She merely gave me a detailed report on the effects of her new soul skill. Venom Python Constriction, combined with the poison of the Dragon Scale Tulip Vine, could restrain opponents for more than twice as long as plant-system soul masters of the same level.

After returning to the clan, I went to find Yu Yuanzhen.

"Uncle Yu, I want to travel and train across the continent."

Yu Yuanzhen was reviewing clan documents in his study. At those words, his brush froze in midair. He set it down, raised his head, and looked at me, his gaze as deep as a still pool.

"No."

"I need a reason."

"I answered, 'The reason is simple.'"

He rose to his feet, walked to the window, and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. "You are still too weak. Not only do you carry a mutated bloodline and a divine inheritance, but you also possess a cultivation method that could plunge the continent into bloody turmoil. Given all that, there is no way I will agree to let you go out and train."

"If you want training, you can do it within the clan. Thunder Pool and Thunder Canyon are both suitable places. There is no need to insist on going outside. With your talent, if you devote yourself to cultivation for ten or twenty years, you will surely become a Title Douluo. By then, no one on the continent will be able to threaten you."

Yu Tianlin frowned. He understood what Yu Yuanzhen meant. But he had reasons he could not ignore.

Time passed bit by bit. The two of them simply stared each other down, and the air in the study felt like compressed gunpowder, ready to explode at any moment.

After a long while, Yu Yuanzhen sat down again and tapped the tabletop three times with his fingers.

"A compromise. You graduated from Notting Academy a year ago. It is time for you to attend an intermediate Soul Master Academy."

"An academy? I just left one, and now you want me to go back?"

"Thunder Academy was jointly funded by my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the Thunder Clan. Its teaching staff ranks among the best of all academies. What you learn there will differ from what you would learn training outside, but it will be just as useful. Once you get to Thunder Academy, cultivate there until you reach level fifty, Soul King. Then, wherever you wish to train, the clan will not stop you. Before that, you are not allowed to leave the academy without permission."

A level-fifty Soul King. From level thirty-three to fifty, with my current cultivation speed, it could be considered fast or slow.

"I have conditions."

"Speak."

"First, I want to take Yu Xiaolou and Qing Luo with me. Second, once we arrive at Thunder Academy, I decide my own training methods. No one may interfere."

Yu Yuanzhen looked at me for two seconds, the corner of his mouth twitching as though he were holding back a laugh. "I understand the first condition. Yu Xiaolou is the brother you raised since childhood, while Qing Luo is the maid and companion you personally cultivated. You cannot bear to leave them behind. What does the second condition mean? Are you afraid I'll assign teachers to keep you in line?"

"It is not that I fear you assigning teachers. I fear the academy's teaching methods will not suit me. You know my circumstances. Conventional instruction is useless to me."

He pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. I agree to both conditions. But there is one condition of my own. Once you arrive at Thunder Academy, the academy will be responsible for your safety. If you encounter something you cannot handle, send word back to the clan immediately. Do not try to act tough."

"Understood."

"When will you leave?"

"Three days from now."

Yu Yuanzhen rose and walked over to me, lowering his head to meet my eyes. His palm landed on my shoulder, neither too hard nor too soft.

"Kid, you are the greatest hope the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has seen in three hundred years, surpassing even Tianxin and Tianheng. I have seen countless geniuses in my life, and more than half of them died before reaching their potential. It was not because they lacked talent, but because they were too impatient. You are smarter than all of them, which is why I set the limit at level fifty. The day you become a Soul King, I will no longer stop you."

"Thank you, Uncle Yu."

"Go. In three days, I'll have someone escort you to Thunder Academy."

When I returned to the courtyard, Qing Luo was packing our luggage. Her movements were quick and efficient, her clothes folded neatly, with all kinds of daily necessities arranged in the corner. Yu Xiaolou was there as well, stuffing things into his bundle with sweat all over his head. His father stood beside him, silently helping him pack.

"Brother Tianlin, what kind of place is Thunder Academy? Is it bigger than Notting Academy? Is the food in the dining hall good?" he asked, looking up at me while stuffing things into his bundle.

"It was jointly funded by my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the Thunder Clan. Its teaching staff ranks among the best of all academies."

"Then what are we going there for?"

"To cultivate until we become Soul Kings."

"Soul Kings?" The dried meat Yu Xiaolou was packing fell onto his bundle, and his mouth hung wide open. "I'm only level twenty-one now, but a Soul King is level fifty. How long will that take?"

"What are you panicking for? We'll have plenty of time once we get to Thunder Academy."

Qing Luo looked up at me, pursed her lips in a smile, and said nothing. She lowered her head and continued packing.

Three days later, a carriage carrying the three of us left the clan.

Yu Xiaolou leaned against the carriage window and waved outside. His father stood at the gate watching us depart, his figure growing smaller and smaller. Qing Luo sat across from me, her hands still properly placed on her knees, but her eyes no longer held the nervousness she had shown the first time she left home. Her gaze passed through the window toward the rolling mountain ranges in the distance, and a faint smile rested on her lips.

The carriage passed through Nuoding City, past the edge of Sunset Forest, and across stretches of farmland and villages. The road ahead grew wider, the sky more open, and Thunder Academy's grounds were already visible in the distance.