Joy

The moment the little red sword appeared, the old man found himself involuntarily recalling the carefree days of his youth. The gloom in his heart briefly melted away, and long-forgotten cheerfulness filled him.

Under the influence of the little red sword, the old man's entire body relaxed considerably. Even a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

Sensing the abnormality in his emotions, the old man immediately mobilized his spiritual power and cut off the spiritual power emanating from the little red sword. The inexplicable joy gradually faded, and only then did he return to normal.

Realizing that everything just now had been the work of the red little sword beside Jiang Yue, the old man's expression became rather complicated.

With his cultivation, even if he did not actively mobilize his spiritual power, even if he was not particularly skilled in spiritual power, he should not have been affected by a six-year-old child.

For a moment, the old man did not know what to say. He was deeply surprised that the red little sword could mildly affect him. Though he had indeed underestimated Jiang Yue because he was a child, it was still enough to prove the extraordinary nature of the Passionate Sword.

Only at this point did the old man finally become certain that Jiang Yue's Passionate Sword was absolutely of a higher quality than the legendary Seven Kill Sword—or rather, the Seven Kill Sword was simply unworthy of comparison with the Passionate Sword.

It could already affect him slightly now. What kind of sight would it be once Jiang Yue grew into a Titled Douluo, a Super Douluo, or even an Ultimate Douluo?

Seeing the old man's expression, Jiang Yue examined the red little sword circling him and nodded thoughtfully.

The red little sword beside him had been created by one of the Passionate Sword's innate abilities. That ability was called the Emotion-Transforming Sword!

The Passionate Sword contained the power to influence the emotions of other living beings. Humans had seven emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, contemplation, grief, fear, and shock.

The red little sword before them represented joy among the seven emotions.

Jiang Yue felt that the Joy Sword beside him was connected to him by countless invisible threads. Even without looking, he could sense its existence. This was only natural, since the Joy Sword before him was a product of his spiritual power.

Holding the Joy Sword in his hand, Jiang Yue continuously examined the differences between it and the Passionate Sword. Yet no matter how he looked, they only differed somewhat in color and size.

Jiang Yue had no idea how shocking the sight of him holding the Joy Sword was to the old man.

"Th-this... could this be... spiritual power materialization?!"

Spiritual power was formless and intangible. Top-tier powerhouses could merge their spiritual power into their soul skills, greatly increasing their power and even creating self-invented soul skills unique to themselves.

For example, Sovereign's Descent, created by Dragon God Douluo Mu En.

What shocked the old man was that this sword was a tangible entity that could actually be held. Skills that transformed one's own power into solid weapons had another name: weapon-type soul skills.

Compared with other types of soul skills, weapon-type soul skills were rarer and more powerful. They could fundamentally change a Soul Master's overall combat style.

Though weapon-type soul skills were rare, given the enormous number of Soul Masters, there were still quite a few examples. The old man had naturally seen many of them. But this was the first time he had seen a skill that transformed spiritual power into a weapon.

The old man was knowledgeable and experienced. Combining this with the change in his emotions when the Joy Sword had appeared, he immediately understood the value of Jiang Yue's skill.

Emotions sounded insignificant, but they were special things that could truly affect a battle—and even life itself.

Different degrees of emotion could lead to entirely different consequences. Simply put, a moderate amount of anger could stir up greater fighting strength, but excessive anger would expose one's weaknesses.

At the same time, the old man understood something else: Jiang Yue's claim of becoming a control-type Soul Master was not impossible. Or rather, if Jiang Yue could transform his other emotions into tangible weapons like the Joy Sword in the future and thereby influence other people's emotions, then perhaps a control-type Soul Master would truly suit him better than an assault-type Soul Master.

Recalling the sight of the Joy Sword floating beside Jiang Yue, the old man suddenly thought of a rather serious issue.

"Will this ability of yours require you to control several swords at once in the future?"

"Most likely. After all, joy isn't the only emotion."

"If it truly is as you say, then you may need to find a way to learn the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's Distraction Control Technique."

The old man pondered for a while before finally giving this answer.

After hearing him, Jiang Yue understood what he meant. Without question, this ability would definitely become one of Jiang Yue's important sources of power in the future. To master it perfectly, if his spiritual power was insufficient, it would be best to learn a skill.

That skill was the Distraction Control Technique. Within the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, anyone who awakened the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul had to learn it. It had no other purpose than allowing one to divide one's attention, thereby reducing soul power consumption while using enhancement-type soul skills.

For members of the Ning family, this skill could help them conserve soul power and notice dangers around them in complicated situations.

For Jiang Yue, if other emotions became tangible sword blades in the future, this skill would allow him to control several swords at once before his spiritual power had grown strong enough. It would also be crucial to improving his combat strength.

Even when his spiritual power was sufficient, the Distraction Control Technique could help him save some spiritual power. Not to mention the enormous boost it would give Jiang Yue if he mastered it early on.

"The Distraction Control Technique belongs to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. It probably won't be easy for me to obtain it, will it?"

Jiang Yue understood the old man's meaning, but he could not help asking.

"Don't be so pessimistic. Perhaps some girl from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will take a fancy to you someday, insist that she'll marry no one but you, and give you the chance to learn the Distraction Control Technique?"

"Heh, are you telling me to daydream?"

Meeting a disciple of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect whose martial soul was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, who also happened to be an unattached member of the opposite sex—how was that any different from winning the lottery in the vast world of Soul Masters?

"If the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is not an option, perhaps Shrek Academy has the Distraction Control Technique as well."

The old man looked serious. He was not joking.

Shrek Academy had a deep relationship with the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the Distraction Control Technique was not a truly top-secret technique like ring detonation.

It was merely a skill that was less useful to other Soul Masters than it was to Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Soul Masters. Shrek Academy might genuinely have records of it.

Of course, even if it did, it certainly would not be in the outer academy.

"Shrek Academy?"

Jiang Yue fell into thought. He had no plans for the future. He was alone now, with not even the slightest lingering concern, but that did not mean he would throw his life away for no reason.

The Sun Moon Empire was home to the dens of Evil Soul Masters. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Evil Soul Masters were everywhere there. Moreover, Jiang Yue had no intention of wasting his talent learning soul tools. He was not from the Sun Moon Empire either, so unless there were special circumstances, it definitely would not be his first choice.

Since he had to choose among the original three Douluo nations, Shrek Academy would naturally take priority. Otherwise, his advantage of foreknowledge would be wasted.

Going to Shrek Academy was an option, but there was one prerequisite: Jiang Yue had to be about the same age as Huo Yuhao. The age gap could not be too large, or he might as well choose another academy.

There was also an unavoidable issue with attending Shrek Academy: a city lord-level letter of recommendation. Without one, it was impossible to enter Shrek Academy. If they encountered a good city lord, obtaining one would be easy enough. If they encountered a bad one, there was no need to say what would happen.

It was not as though there were no other methods. The simplest was to stand at Shrek Academy's entrance and shout, "I'm an unaffiliated orphan with innate full soul power!" After verifying his identity, Shrek Academy would absolutely take him in.

In fact, this method would work for most factions across the continent.

But those were matters for the future. They could wait until later.

Casting aside his tangled thoughts, Jiang Yue put away the two swords in his hands and his soul ring, then followed behind the old man toward the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest.

Maple Leaf City stood at the border between the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Sun Moon Empire, though it was still within Heavenly Soul Empire territory. From the highest point here, one could gaze toward the Sun Moon Empire and vaguely make out its distant scenery.

At the same time, this was the city that governed the village where Jiang Yue had lived, although that village lay at the very edge of its jurisdiction.

Before coming here, Jiang Yue had never known that he was from the Heavenly Soul Empire. He had not even known the name of the main city, Maple Leaf City.

Jiang Yue had previously found it strange. Although evil soul masters existed during the era of Unrivaled Tang Sect, even if the village had been massacred by evil soul masters, surely someone should have discovered it after more than a month.

But now that Jiang Yue knew he was in Heavenly Soul Empire territory, and that this was the first nation in the original work to be destroyed by the Sun Moon Empire—the one that could not even take part in Boom Beach—nothing seemed strange anymore.

The Heavenly Soul Empire was that useless. It had virtually no authority over the various sects and factions within its territory, and it was shortsighted as well. If Du Busi and the Body Sect had not become the nation-protecting Douluo and nation-protecting sect, the Heavenly Soul Empire would only have fallen even faster.

The old man brought Jiang Yue to the soul master academy in Maple Leaf City's central district. Although Jiang Yue and the old man had nothing to prove their identities, once Jiang Yue displayed his yellow hundred-year soul ring, the headmaster of this junior soul master academy gladly accepted him.

The headmaster was extremely curious about the identities of this grandfather-grandson pair who had suddenly appeared, but he was clearly a smart man. He knew the old man before him was not someone a mere junior academy headmaster could afford to provoke, so he did not ask further.

To this headmaster, having Jiang Yue enroll in the junior academy was like a pie falling from the sky.

Shrek Academy's current admission requirement was to reach Rank 15 soul power before the age of twelve. A genius who already possessed his first soul ring at the age of six was practically guaranteed a place at Shrek Academy.

Even if he did not wish to attend Shrek Academy, it would not matter. In the future, he could easily enter any of the continent's top advanced soul master academies!

Either way, he would be a living advertisement they could proudly promote!

Maple Leaf City's lord would not interfere either. After all, having a genius enter one of those academies was one of the city lord's most impressive achievements! It could be reported upward in exchange for rewards!

If Jiang Yue graduated from an advanced soul master academy in the future and chose to pledge loyalty to the Heavenly Soul Empire's government, the benefits Maple Leaf City could receive from the empire would be beyond imagination.

After seeing the headmaster agree so readily to let Jiang Yue enroll, even thoughtfully waiving six years of tuition, the old man brought Jiang Yue to an unoccupied place nearby.

Looking at the academy before him, the old man seemed to recall events from his own youth. He stood there without moving.

Seeing the old man like this, Jiang Yue had no intention of disturbing him. He simply stood quietly at the old man's side, keeping him company.

After waiting for about fifteen minutes, the old man finally emerged from his memories. He took a bracelet from his storage soul tool and handed it to Jiang Yue.

"Since I'm helping you, I might as well help you all the way. Consider the items in this storage soul tool a little assistance from this old man. From now on, you'll have to live on your own, so be careful in all things."

"Take this as well. If you truly go to Shrek Academy in the future and encounter something you cannot resolve, take this out. I hope you never need to use it."

"Alright. We've spent quite a while together. It's time for this old man to leave. I hope that when we meet again, you'll already be a powerful soul master."

The moment Jiang Yue accepted the bracelet and the unusually shaped jade pendant, the old man vanished before his eyes as though he had never been there.

Jiang Yue came back to his senses and tried to find the old man, but he could not discover the slightest trace of him. Nothing around him had changed either.

Once he knew the old man had truly left, Jiang Yue sent his soul power into the bracelet the old man had left behind and saw everything within at a glance.

The bracelet's storage space was not small, roughly five cubic meters. In one corner lay several small cloth bags. Jiang Yue took one out and weighed it in his hand, hearing the clinking of metal inside. When he opened it, the bag was packed full of gold soul coins—not a single silver or copper coin was in sight.

At the sight of such a quantity of gold soul coins, Jiang Yue's heart skipped a beat. He immediately put the bag back into the bracelet, then hurried toward the dormitory the headmaster had just assigned him.

The dormitory assigned to Jiang Yue was the best single room in the entire academy. The residents of this dormitory building were mostly wealthy and influential noble children.

After all, in this era, if commoners lived far from a main city, deep in the mountains and forests, they might not even know what their martial soul was.

Even commoners who lived in main cities had an extremely small chance of awakening a decent martial soul, possessing innate soul power, and qualifying to embark on the path of soul master cultivation.

After all, martial souls were the ultimate product of bloodline theory. The chance of a beneficial martial soul mutation was even lower than winning the lottery.

With all these factors combined, although there were still some commoners in most soul master academies, their numbers were exceedingly small.

The family backgrounds of the vast majority of students able to enter soul master academies were not poor.

Therefore, when the others in Jiang Yue's dormitory building saw a newcomer, they merely cast curious looks his way. There was no cliché scene where some villainous noble blocked his path, only for Jiang Yue to show off and slap them in the face.

In the early-maturing world of Douluo Continent, children were very good at judging whom they could offend, especially noble-born children like these.

Not everyone was Dai Huabin. How could they all be that brainless?

Only after entering his private dormitory did Jiang Yue take the bag out of the bracelet again, pour out all the gold soul coins, and carefully count them.

One hundred... three hundred... five hundred!

This small bag alone contained a full five hundred gold soul coins, and there were nineteen more such bags in the bracelet the old man had given Jiang Yue. That made a total of ten thousand gold soul coins—an outrageous fortune for Jiang Yue at his current stage.

Even though the cost of living for ordinary people had risen with the passage of time, ten thousand gold soul coins were still enough to support an ordinary family for decades.

However, the most valuable items in the bracelet were not these gold soul coins, but the two golden crystals, each the size of two adult fists.

Whale glue!