Level Thirty Achieved, Hunting the Third Spirit Ring (Seeking Follow-ups)

A month passed.

During that time, the students of every academy threw themselves into a frenzied grind.

For pride, for the fiery passion of youth, for revenge, for love, for glory!

Everyone gave it their all, bearing pressure beyond their limits!

The principals of several academies were moved by their students' determination, and the hot blood in their own bodies began to burn as well.

To help their students achieve their goals, they too began sparing no effort in teaching them and improving their strength!

The three instructors of Heaven Dou Royal Academy had already prepared an arena and had even hired referees.

They sent invitations to the principals of every academy, ready to begin the student exchange tournament.

Yet none of the Five Element Academies came. They merely sent letters instead.

The letters stated that their prizes were not yet ready and requested a postponement, proposing that the competition be held three months later.

"Old Meng, what do you think those five academies are up to?"

Bai Baoshan looked at the letters from the five academies and stroked his chin, sensing that something was off.

"Hmph, what else could they be doing?"

"Those old geezers are stalling for time. They must be putting their students through hellish training right now!"

"They're really going all out just to beat us. They probably weren't even this diligent for the Advanced Soul Master Tournament."

Zhi Lin sighed. Sure enough, motivation born within children themselves was far stronger than motivation handed down by adults!

Just because Qin Qi had beaten them up, just to take revenge and compete for superiority, those kids were working incredibly hard!

"If they work hard, then so will we!"

"Old Bai, your martial soul is defense-type. From now on, you'll personally train the Shi Mo brothers."

"Before the competition begins, make sure those two develop a martial soul fusion skill of their own!"

"Zhi Lin, you have a plant-type martial soul and are a control-system soul master. You'll give Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan special training!"

"As for little Qin Qi and Yu Tianheng, leave those two boys to me for special training!"

Meng Shenji stroked his beard. Bring on the grind. He had dominated the soul master world and the field of soul master theory for so many years—who had he ever feared?

He wanted to see who could out-grind whom!

Over the following days, Qin Qi and the others split up for targeted training. Meng Shenji was responsible for teaching Qin Qi.

"Yu Tianheng, your martial soul's strength and your cultivation speed are already quite good."

"But your coordination in team battles is a complete mess. Next, I'll use my martial soul to pull you into a dream."

"In the dream, I'll set ten trials for you. All ten will be team battles."

"You must learn how to fight as part of a team. Only then will you be able to pass the trials I set."

After Meng Shenji finished speaking, he summoned his martial soul, Black Demon. It was said that this martial soul could pull people into endless dreams.

Once someone fell victim to it, they would basically have no chance of escaping. They would remain forever immersed in the dream until they could no longer distinguish reality from illusion.

"Grandpa Meng, your trial is great, but I still need to cultivate and eat."

"I can't just lie around sleeping every day."

Qin Qi spoke up from the side.

"Little Qin Qi, you... honestly, you could be considered outstanding in every aspect."

"Combat theory, soul master theory, team battle command, personal cultivation—you're exceptionally well-rounded."

"For the moment, I don't even know how to improve your strength in a targeted way."

"Still, you can enter the dream to think of ways to improve yourself. One hour outside is one day in the dream."

"Furthermore, everything in the dream is nearly identical to the outside world. The only drawback is that cultivation in the dream grants only experience."

"It can't actually increase your soul power or physical fitness. It can only help you think and accumulate experience."

Meng Shenji had also spent a long time considering how to help Qin Qi cultivate, but in the end, he found no answer.

He decided to let Qin Qi find his own path of cultivation. He would only be responsible for providing the opportunity.

"That amazing?"

"Grandpa Meng, you had something this powerful and didn't bring it out sooner? Fine, I'm going to sleep first. Please wake me up in three hours so I can eat."

Qin Qi directly found a patch of shade, lay down, and prepared to sleep. He did not need to work hard at cultivation himself.

But developing strength-based killer moves required his own effort, and developing them in a dream was an excellent method.

After all, one hour outside was a whole day in the dream.

"Ah, this child."

Meng Shenji looked at Qin Qi, who had fallen asleep as soon as he lay down, and could not help shaking his head. Youth really was wonderful—he could fall asleep the moment his head hit the ground.

He reached out and dragged Qin Qi directly into the dream, then sat outside drinking tea.

In the blink of an eye, more than two months passed, and Qin Qi officially turned nine.

With the aid of the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu and immortal herbs, his soul power had risen to level thirty, while Yu Tianheng and the others had reached around level twenty-nine.

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling were slightly behind, with both of their soul power reaching level twenty-eight.

Just as Qin Ming was about to set off with Qin Qi once again to hunt for his third soul ring—

"How did you manage it, kid? You reached level thirty in such a short time!"

Dugu Yan looked at Qin Qi with a face full of suspicion. This rate of soul power growth was far too fast.

At most, only a little over half a year—perhaps close to a year—had passed since he last absorbed a soul ring, yet Qin Qi had already reached level thirty.

That was outrageous!

"It's not that outrageous. First of all, when I hunted my soul ring before breaking through, I had already accumulated several months' worth of soul power."

"And I absorbed a thousand-year soul ring, which gave a huge boost to my soul power. After absorbing it, I reached level twenty-five."

"After that, I cultivated diligently. Reaching level thirty now is simply the result of my hard work and talent."

Qin Qi felt that his cultivation speed still was not fast enough. It might have been acceptable in Douluo Continent 2 or 3.

But this was Douluo Continent 1, a place overflowing with talent. All he could say was that he still had to keep training!

(It's a meme. There are lots of Douluo Continent 1 fanfics, so there are lots of monsters too. It's like Bilibili—you can be strong, but you still have to keep grinding.)

"Alright, we need to set off. We should try to get back before the Soul Master Tournament exchange."

Qin Ming spoke from the side.

"Alright then, while I'm gone, you all need to work hard. Try your best to keep up with me."

Qin Qi bid everyone farewell, but as soon as he finished speaking, Dugu Yan threw something at him.

"You really are annoying."

Dugu Yan spoke irritably. Qin Qi's smug little upstart attitude was truly irritating. No, she had to cultivate harder.

Otherwise, once Qin Qi became a Soul Elder, who knew how much he would mock them.

"You shrew..."

Qin Qi caught what Dugu Yan had thrown over. Opening it, he found a whole bag stuffed full of dried soul beast meat.

"Sis Yan, you really do care about me. Good brother, same bed!"

Qin Qi was somewhat touched as he looked at the food. He swore that after he returned, he would hold back a little when mocking Dugu Yan.

"You're really that practical. You were calling me a shrew just now, but the moment you saw food, you started calling me Sis Yan."

Dugu Yan sneered.

"Alright, enough nonsense. I'm off."

Qin Qi put away the dried meat, then set out with Qin Ming. It was time for another forest adventure.

Let me give everyone a preview of what the third soul ring will bring.

Ever-changing, yet the heart remains as before; why should a man conceal his looks?

Only a totem reveals true masculine beauty; a cape befits a dashing man!

Next to appear is the supreme grandmaster of the strength path, transformation path, and handsome path!