Ye Qiong took out another snow-white pill and turned to Cerydra.
Cerydra stood ramrod straight, her gaze fixed on the pill, her expression utterly unmoved.
Ye Qiong walked up to her and held out the pill.
"This was refined from Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid. It strengthens your foundation, nourishes your vitality, and purges impurities. Your Soul Power foundation is already solid, Your Highness, so this should help refine it further."
Cerydra reached out and took the pill. She gave it a glance, asked no questions, and swallowed it immediately.
Ye Qiong turned and walked over to Wang Sheng, taking a scarlet pill from his bag.
"This was refined from Infernal Delicate Apricot. Your Battle Tiger Martial Soul doesn't have a strong enough foundation. This will bring out the ferocity in your tiger spirit. After your Martial Soul evolves, you won't be an ordinary Battle Tiger anymore."
Wang Sheng took it in both hands, tears of excitement streaming down his face.
"I knew Teacher treated me the best!"
He swallowed it in one gulp. Before he could even savor it, a wave of heat surged up from his belly, making him bare his teeth and grimace.
Ye Qiong patted his shoulder, then went over to Jiang Zhu.
He took out a purple pill and handed it to her.
"This was refined from Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma. It strengthens your foundation, nourishes your energy, and boosts your cultivation. With the foundation of your support-type Martial Soul firmly established, your healing ability will have a higher ceiling."
Jiang Zhu took the pill, nodded solemnly, and swallowed it.
Ye Qiong took out two more pills and handed one each to Jing Ling and Huang Yuan.
"Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew. Your Skeleton Martial Soul can develop toward a mental-type agility attacker. Better eyesight won't hurt someone as fast as you."
"Dragon Ganoderma Leaf. Your Lone Wolf Martial Soul has an edge in prolonged battles. This will improve your recovery speed and Soul Power endurance. Its evolution path is the Berserk Wolf."
At last, Ye Qiong walked over to Bai Chenxiang.
Bai Chenxiang was already on her feet, her eyes shining as she looked at him.
Ye Qiong fished the last pill out from the bottom of his bag.
"This was refined from Aromatic Silk Beauty. It can't directly make you faster, but after you take it, your Martial Soul will undergo a mutation. You'll be able to fly through all kinds of environments, including poisonous miasma and fog, as if your body had gained poison immunity. That'll give you much more freedom in actual combat."
Bai Chenxiang took the pill and smiled as she swallowed it.
Once all seven had taken their pills, Ye Qiong stepped back.
"Sit down and absorb the medicinal power. Teacher Tribbie and I will keep watch over you."
The seven said nothing and sat down where they were, closing their eyes to regulate their breathing.
The square fell silent.
Tribbie stood beside Ye Qiong, who watched quietly with his hands behind his back.
Half an hour later,
Ye Qiong looked at the students still seated on the ground, absorbing the pills, and opened the system panel again.
A string of information appeared:
[Name: Wang Sheng. Martial Soul: Fire-Patterned Battle Tiger. Power Attack System. Level: 30.] [Name: Jiang Zhu. Martial Soul: Healing Scepter (Enhanced). Support System. Level: 30.] [Name: Jing Ling. Martial Soul: Skeleton (Mutation · White Bone Spirit Pupil). Agility Attack System. Level: 30.] [Name: Huang Yuan. Martial Soul: Berserk Wolf. Power Attack System. Level: 30.] [Name: Bai Chenxiang. Martial Soul: Sharp-Tailed Swift (Mutation). Agility Attack System. Level: 30 (residual medicinal power not yet fully absorbed).] [Name: Phainon. Martial Soul: Khaslana. Power Attack System. Level: 33 (physical strength increased).] [Name: Cerydra (Caesar). Martial Soul: Scales of Justice. Support System. Level: 34 (Soul Power refinement complete).]
After reading the information, Ye Qiong withdrew his gaze with satisfaction.
Wang Sheng and the others had all broken through to Level 30. Bai Chenxiang still had some medicinal power left to absorb, so when she absorbed a Soul Ring in the future, she could climb another level or two.
Cerydra had gained one level. It wasn't much, but the quality of her Soul Power was indeed far more refined than before.
Phainon had also gained a level, and his physical strength had improved as well.
Just then, a system notification sounded in his mind.
[Enhance Students' Aptitudes quest complete. Stellar Jades reward: 10,000 (base) + 1,000 (city-grade aptitude bonus). One special card has been sent to your inventory.] [Current Stellar Jades balance: 12,000.]
Ye Qiong's heart leaped with delight.
He'd had a thousand Stellar Jades left. Add these eleven thousand, and he had exactly twelve thousand.
He suppressed the grin tugging at his lips and was about to open his inventory when the system displayed two more new messages.
[Long-term quests unlocked.] [Quest 1: Training Check-ins (available until the Spirit Master Tournament). Each student who successfully checks in for daily training earns 10 Stellar Jades. Rewards can stack.] [Quest 2: Soul Fighting Rank Promotion (available until the Spirit Master Tournament). Each student earns the corresponding reward upon reaching the listed rank: Bronze—1,000 Stellar Jades. Silver—5,000 Stellar Jades. Gold—10,000 Stellar Jades. Purple-Gold...] [Special note: Long-term quests do not prevent the host from accepting other quests.]
Ye Qiong's eyes lit up.
With seven students, their daily check-ins would earn seventy Stellar Jades altogether. That was 2,100 a month!
The Soul Fighting ranks were even more outrageous. Just getting one student to Gold rank would earn him 10,000 Stellar Jades.
And that wasn't all. Once he pulled a few more Chrysos Heirs, the rewards would become even more staggering.
The system had just handed him a ceaseless Stellar Jade production line!
At the thought, Ye Qiong tamped down his elation, took a deep breath, and turned to Tribbie.
"I have some important matters to attend to. Keep an eye on them here. Once they've fully absorbed the medicinal power, tell them I have a new training plan to assign this afternoon."
Tribbie nodded.
"Okay."
As soon as he returned to his office, Ye Qiong locked the door.
Then he washed his hands, dug three incense sticks out of his drawer, and bowed three times to the Statue of Fuli Lian hanging on the wall.
"Cyrene, bless me. Cyrene, bless me..."
After the ritual, he sat back in his chair and opened the Warp interface.
His heart raced, his hands trembled.
He paused above the "Warp x10" button for a second, then pressed it hard.
The Astral Express rolled into view. Pom-Pom appeared, and the train doors opened.
Purple light.
Skip.
Again!
After that, he rapidly clicked through each pull, skipping the animations.
When he'd spent all twelve thousand Stellar Jades in one go,
he finally leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.
"That was awesome!"
After closing the Warp interface,
Ye Qiong opened his pull history,
and froze.
After a long silence, he let out a piercing scream.
"Ah! WCNB!"
He'd pulled three Chrysos Heirs!
Suotuo City, a craftsman's shop.
A twelve-year-old boy with green hair sat on a wooden stool by the entrance.
He held a small carving knife, carefully shaping a piece of wood.
A black eyepatch covered his left eye.
At that moment, two middle-aged men sat at the tea stall across the street,
sipping tea as they chatted.
"Hey, have you heard? A new academy opened in Suotuo City. It's called Amphoreus."
"Seriously? Is this academy even more famous than Shrek?"
"Who'd go to that dump, Shrek? They can't even afford the registration fee!"
At those words, the carving knife in the green-haired boy's hand suddenly stopped.
Amphoreus...
The name made something in his heart quiver, like a string plucked ever so gently.
He put the carving knife back in his toolbox, stood up, and walked into the shop.
At the same time, in Haagen-Dazs City and Sylvis City of the Heaven Dou Empire,
two figures raised their heads in unison, their gazes turning toward distant Suotuo City.