Heaven Dou Academy, Fierce Beast Competition

The morning sunlight struck Yu Hengqing's face.

"Hmm? It's already the second morning?!"

Yu Hengqing reached out to shield his eyes from the glare.

"Xiao Qing, your cultivation speed has now recovered to one-fifth of an ordinary person's."

Leiyi's voice echoed in Yu Hengqing's mind, and Yu Hengqing stood up with an excited jolt.

He wasn't just happy that his cultivation speed had partially recovered; now that Leiyi was awake, he could attempt to create his own soul skills.

With Leiyi's guidance, Yu Hengqing could fully utilize his martial soul to simulate Leiyi's abilities.

Yu Hengqing asked curiously if this were true, then with the rewards from the God Trials, he would be able to return to a normal cultivation speed.

"Leiyi, have you completely refined the Cangming Lightning? My strength is insufficient right now, so I can only refine one-third."

"Yes. With the assistance of the refined Cangming Lightning, I can continue to refine the Seven-Colored Lightning without needing to fall into a slumber."

Just as Yu Hengqing was about to tell Leiyi about replicating his skills, Yu Yuanzhen's voice sounded from outside the door.

"Xiao Qing, time to get up and eat! Today I'm taking you to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. You took a half-year leave of absence to consume Whale Glue and temper your body, so it's time to go."

"Alright, Dad! I'm getting up now."

Yu Hengqing jumped off the bed, put on his clothes, and opened the door, meeting Yu Yuanzhen's gaze.

Half a year ago, Yu Yuanzhen had considered that Yu Hengqing's Leiyi martial soul was one he had never seen before.

Rather than keeping him in a clan that lacked experience in nurturing such a soul, it was better to send him to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. After all, the students there possessed all sorts of strange martial souls, and there would surely be a cultivation method suitable for Yu Hengqing.

After finishing his meal, Yu Hengqing packed the items needed for school into his storage soul tool and boarded the carriage to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

As soon as he arrived at the gates of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Yu Hengqing couldn't help but gasp, stepping forward to pat the massive gate carved from white marble.

As expected of a royal academy; even this gate is more luxurious than our clan's entrance!

Yu Hengqing stepped into the academy, his eyes met with extremely extravagant decorations, from the expensive flowers in the flowerbeds to the exquisite soul beast statues lining the paths.

Because time was short, Yu Hengqing didn't linger for long; he still needed to report to the academic affairs office and pick up the course schedule for a Heavenly Micro Grade student for this semester.

Although students at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy were free to choose their lectures and cultivation, there were attendance requirements for practical courses and fixed cultivation sessions.

Yu Hengqing needed to find the classrooms where teachers were lecturing based on his schedule.

Before he could even knock on the door of the academic affairs office, Yu Hengqing heard the sound of idle chatter from within.

"I heard our academy will no longer be recruiting genius commoners from the capital and its surrounding areas? Just because the annual funding is too high?"

"It seems to be a suggestion from the First Prince. He recently discovered that some officials were using this to embezzle a large sum of money, so he suggested to His Majesty that the project be terminated."

"Did the three Education Commissioners not object? If this continues, the overall strength of our academy will surely decline!"

"What's the use of objecting? There are too many people supporting the First Prince. They say the Empire already gives money to Spirit Hall every year to subsidize low-level soul masters, which is already a great favor; there is no need to keep the academy doors open to commoners at the bottom."

After hearing the content of their discussion, Yu Hengqing was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Qian Renxue to start building her own political base so soon!

Only when the voices inside had completely faded did Yu Hengqing knock on the door of the academic affairs office.

Holding the schedule in his hand, Yu Hengqing recalled what he had just heard, and a good idea suddenly sprouted in his heart.

The Heaven Dou Royal Academy wouldn't take in genius commoners, but Lanba Academy would!

He didn't believe his second uncle wasn't secretly funding his own illegitimate daughter, who was a Soul Douluo; otherwise, Lanba Academy couldn't have been established in the capital.

If they took in more geniuses, even if the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan were crippled by Spirit Hall in the future, they could rebuild using these commoner geniuses.

However, how to implement this specifically would require Yu Hengqing to discuss it with his father when he returned.

Yu Hengqing glanced at the schedule in his hand and, finding that there was a lecture on soul beast species coming up shortly, he jogged off to find the classroom.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was time to eat.

Just as Yu Hengqing was walking toward the cafeteria, a woman with long, ink-green hair suddenly appeared before him, blocking his path.

Looking at the person blocking his way, Yu Hengqing wondered to himself if he had ever provoked her.

"Senior, is there something you need? If not, please move aside; I'm in a hurry to eat."

With that, just as Yu Hengqing was about to lift his foot to leave, Dugu Yan smiled and said, "Junior, could I trouble you with something?"

Hearing this, Yu Hengqing's mind was full of question marks. Is this Dugu Yan sick? She's targeting me on my very first day of school.

However, considering that Yu Tianheng had once looked after him, Yu Hengqing suppressed his impatience and prepared to hear what Dugu Yan wanted.

"Junior, I've been wanting to improve my practical combat skills lately and need a sparring partner. I wonder if you would be willing to help me train?"

Hearing this, the confusion in Yu Hengqing's heart deepened.

He remembered that Yu Tianheng was already teammates with Dugu Yan! Why would she come to him if she wanted to practice combat?

"Senior, my strength is certainly not as great as yours. I'm afraid it wouldn't be appropriate for me to help you train."

Seeing Yu Hengqing's reluctance, Dugu Yan immediately took a wooden box from the storage soul tool at her waist.

"There is nothing inappropriate about it, Junior. I won't let you suffer a loss; this box contains a Century-Old Purple Vein Ginseng, enough for you to cultivate for a while!"

Glancing at the Century-Old Purple Vein Ginseng in Dugu Yan's hand, Yu Hengqing realized that Dugu Yan had him cornered.

The Century-Old Purple Vein Ginseng was a rare treasure, whether used to cultivate and increase soul power or to treat illnesses and save lives.

Furthermore, Yu Hengqing's current cultivation speed was only one-fifth that of an ordinary person; if he wanted to avoid falling behind, he would certainly require a massive amount of cultivation resources.

Inside the Life Lake of the Star Dou Forest.

Ever since Di Tian had been awakened by the Silver Dragon King, the other Great Beasts had also been waking up from their slumber one after another.

Therefore, when Bi Ji stated that the Thunder God's divine artifact had fallen into the hands of two soul masters, the already awakened Great Beasts—especially Xiong Jun—reacted most violently.

"Di Tian, let us go out right now and kill those two soul masters! The artifact of Lord Thunder God must absolutely not fall into the hands of humans!"

"I feel that is somewhat inappropriate; we cannot yet confirm whether one of them has inherited the divine position of Lord Thunder God."

Bi Ji did not like senseless slaughter, and furthermore, they had not even clarified the situation yet.

Seeing that Bi Ji disagreed, the naturally hot-tempered Xiong Jun immediately glared at her in displeasure.

"You and I both know that Lord Thunder God's divine position was shattered by the Asura God. Without a divine position, how can one speak of inheriting it?"

"Xiong Jun, divine positions can be repaired! Besides, we are all currently nursing injuries; venturing out now carries too great a risk."

Bi Ji met Xiong Jun's gaze and retorted aloud.

"Even if it were repaired, so what? Soul masters will never stand on our side. Rather than letting the God Realm gain another god to deal with us, it is better to retrieve the artifact early!"

At this moment, Di Tian, who had remained silent until now, spoke up, putting an end to the conversation that was gradually veering off course.

"Calm down, Xiong Jun. Lord Silver Dragon King has already instructed us to invite them back politely; we need only follow those orders."

"Back then, the Thunder God used the power of a single god to kill several first-class and second-class gods; the gods of the God Realm would certainly not want to see another Thunder God emerge!"

"In the event that the intended successor is a disciple of that god, the grudge of destroying one's divine position is something no one could afford to bear."