Phase One Complete, Terrifying Rewards

Li Yuan looked at her reddened eyes, reached out, and gently patted the top of her head. He smiled and said nothing more.

"All right. Hurry and absorb it."

Shui Bing'er nodded hard, sat down cross-legged, and drew the cluster of dark-gold light into her body.

The phantom of the Ice Phoenix spread its wings behind her, and cold air billowed out, shrouding the entire courtyard.

Half an hour later.

Shui Bing'er slowly opened her eyes. The ice-blue gleam in them had grown even brighter, and the soul power around her was dense and solid.

A fourth soul ring steadily appeared beneath her feet. Within its dark purple was a faint black glow, infinitely close to ten-thousand-year quality.

She had broken through to rank forty-three.

Compared with Shui Bing'er at the same point in the original story, she was many times stronger.

Li Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "From today onward, the Third Worship, Yue Yao, will personally guide your cultivation."

Yue Yao walked over gracefully from the side and smiled faintly at Shui Bing'er. "Little Sister Bing'er, I'll be counting on your guidance from now on."

Shui Bing'er hurriedly rose and returned the courtesy. "Sister Yue, you're too kind. Bing'er is the one who should be learning from you."

For the next two days, Li Yuan went nowhere and stayed in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array in Nibelungen to cultivate.

The concentration of soul power within the array was several times higher than outside. With every breath, soul power poured endlessly into his meridians, requiring no deliberate guidance at all.

In two days, he climbed from rank twenty-seven to rank thirty.

The instant he broke through, a surge of brand-new information flowed into his mind, like a boulder sunk in deep water slowly rising to the surface.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, and dark-gold vertical pupils flashed briefly deep within them before vanishing.

"Devour."

He slowly uttered those two words, the corners of his mouth gradually curving upward.

Origin talent: he could devour soul beast soul rings to increase the age of his own soul rings, and could also directly raise his soul power rank by devouring soul beast soul rings.

Li Yuan sat in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array and fell silent for several seconds.

This thing... was basically a copy of Nidhogg devouring the roots of the World Tree.

Devour all things for his own use, take destruction as nourishment—the more he ate, the stronger he became, and the stronger he became, the more he could eat.

With this ability, did he still need painstaking cultivation?

He could just take a stroll through a soul beast forest, devour whatever he saw, and level up while lying down.

"Interesting."

Li Yuan stood, loosened his muscles and bones, and a hint of eagerness shone in his eyes.

He already could not wait to go out and find a soul beast to test it on.

Just then.

"Ding! Congratulations, Master, on completing the first-stage mission of establishing the academy. The academy has received dual certification from the Heaven Dou Empire authorities and the Spirit Hall branch. Reward: Super Cultivation Resource Gift Pack x1."

Li Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

Dugu Bo was quite efficient. He had said two days, yet finished it in a day and a half.

With a thought, a brocade box glowing with golden light appeared in his palm.

"Open."

The golden light dispersed, and the brocade box turned into a streak of light that entered the system space. Immediately afterward, a large amount of information poured into his mind, and one reward after another appeared clearly in his awareness.

Li Yuan scanned through them one by one, the curve of his lips deepening more and more.

"Congratulations, Master, you have obtained: 50 million gold soul coins."

Fifty million gold soul coins. Forget renovating one academy—even building three more would be more than enough.

"Top-tier Mimicry Cultivation Field x3."

"Can simulate any environment: ice plains, volcanoes, deep seas, high altitudes, dense forests. Suitable for the cultivation needs of all attribute martial souls, with an additional doubling of cultivation efficiency."

"Top-tier Gravity Control Room x3."

"Gravity adjustment range: 1 to 50 times. Can specifically strengthen physique and resistance to pressure, and comes with an auxiliary self-healing function for injuries."

"Top-tier Soul Gathering Array x1."

"Coverage range encompasses the entire Black Dragon Academy. Soul power concentration increases fivefold. All teachers and students in the academy continuously enjoy cultivation bonuses. Can link with the Spirit Gathering Array at Nibelungen headquarters, stacking effects."

"Top-tier Defensive Core Grand Array x1."

"With the academy as the center, deploys an all-around defensive barrier. Can withstand full-power attacks from Titled Douluo below rank ninety-five for fifteen minutes. After the grand array activates, all personnel inside automatically receive a defensive boost."

"Top-tier Random Martial Soul Draw Ticket x3."

"Can randomly draw martial souls of top-tier quality or below, for use in a second awakening for those without martial souls or with crippled martial souls."

"Ten-thousand-year Soul Bone Random Treasure Chest x10."

"Opening a chest randomly grants a soul bone from one to one hundred thousand years. Part, attribute, and soul skill are all completely random."

"Soul Power Pill x10."

"God-Bestowed Spirit Ring x10."

"Black Dragon Academy exclusive uniforms x100."

"Comes with a basic defense bonus and optimized soul power circulation. Wearing them into battle can slightly improve combat endurance."

"Professional teaching team x1."

"Contains ten senior teachers, ranging from level sixty-one to level eighty, covering the full spectrum of assault, defense, control, agility attack, support, and healing, with rich teaching experience. Ready to take up their posts immediately."

"Awakening Stones x3, Soul Power Testing Stones x3, and a number of supporting basic teaching instruments."

Li Yuan slowly let out a breath.

The value of this super cultivation resource gift pack had far exceeded his expectations.

Fifty million gold soul coins were only the spare change. What was truly valuable were those arrays, fields, and the teaching team.

With the Soul Gathering Array paired with the Mimicry Cultivation Field, Black Dragon Academy's environment could directly rival the continent's top academies.

The Defensive Grand Array had raised the safety baseline to the limit. Even a Titled Douluo below level ninety-five could attack it for fifteen minutes without breaking through. Across the entire Heaven Dou Empire, this counted as top-tier security.

And that teaching team, with ten senior teachers from level sixty to eighty holding the fort, could serve as backbone faculty even in Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Li Yuan looked at the long list of entries on the system panel and silently did the math.

With this hardware and teaching staff as its foundation, Black Dragon Academy, from the very first day of its founding, stood at a height countless old academies might not reach even after pouring in decades of resources.

He put away the system panel and stepped out of the Spirit Gathering Array.

Li Yuan stood beneath the corridor with his hands behind his back, glancing at the clouds spreading across the horizon.

"It's time to go see that academy."

Night was deep.

Dark clouds pressed down over Soto City, and snakes of lightning shuttled and churned within them. Muffled thunder rolled across the sky one peal after another, shaking the window lattices until they buzzed.

In the branch hall of Spirit Hall, the council chamber was brightly lit.

Cardinal Krofu sat in the main seat, a freshly delivered approval document spread out beside his hand. The ink had already dried, and two seals were stamped upon it: one from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and one from the Spirit Hall branch.

His gaze fell on the four large characters in the middle of the document—"Black Dragon Academy."

He was silent for a long time.

His fingertips tapped lightly twice on the armrest. Krofu leaned back into his chair, narrowed his eyes, and murmured to himself, "Black Dragon Academy..."

He picked up the approval document and read it again, his brows knitting tighter and tighter. "That old poison Dugu Bo has always acted alone. He might not even give Spirit Hall face, yet now he's willing to run errands for someone... The person behind this is no simple figure."

Krofu set the approval document down, rapped his knuckles on the table, and his expression turned grave. "If this is the Heaven Dou Empire using the name of a new academy to secretly cultivate its own power... No. This matter must be reported to His Holiness the Pope."

He had just opened his mouth to call someone when he suddenly remembered something.

Zhou Hu, the black-clothed deacon he had sent two days ago to investigate that estate, had still not sent back any news.

Not even a single message had returned.

Krofu's fingers stopped midair, and his brow furrowed even deeper.

Logically speaking, with Zhou Hu's cultivation as a level sixty-one Soul Emperor, investigating a place near Soto City should have been nothing more than a casual task. How could he vanish for two days?

He shook his head and sighed, rubbing his swollen temples.

For some reason, an indescribable unease rose from the bottom of his heart, as if something major was about to happen.

"Someone!"

The words had barely fallen.

The hall suddenly dimmed for an instant.

The candle flames leapt violently, and all light retreated to either side at the same moment, as though something had squeezed out of the void and forcibly occupied the very center of the space.

Every hair on Krofu's body stood on end, and he snapped his head up.

A godlike figure appeared silently in the center of the council chamber.

His whole body was shrouded in a hazy golden halo, his face impossible to make out. Only the vague outline of a luxurious robe could be seen, fluttering gently though there was no wind.

That aura could not be described with words. It was as if the one standing before him was not a person at all, but a wisp of divine will that had descended from the highest heavens.

The air throughout the council chamber was pressed into stillness.

Krofu sat in his chair, the blood in his body seeming to freeze. He could not move so much as a finger.

He opened his mouth, but only a dry rasp escaped his throat. He could not force out a single word.

That figure tilted his head slightly, as if sizing him up.

The next moment!

He raised a finger slightly.

A will from a higher plane pressed down, pinning Krofu in place.

"By my lord's command, I shall pull the weeds out by the roots."