Three Months Later! Six Years Old, Level Twenty!

"What should I do, then?"

Tang San's voice dropped, carrying a trace of confusion.

Yun Tian looked at him and fell silent for a few breaths.

"Rather than thinking about using other soul beasts to make up for Blue Silver Grass's shortcomings, you should think about how Blue Silver Grass itself can carve out its own path."

"Vitality has more lasting potential than poison, and resilience matters more than meeting force with force."

"I'll make a suggestion. Just hear me out. When you obtain your next soul ring, try finding a plant-type soul beast that is also known for its vitality."

"Something like Vajra Vine."

"If you can find Blue Silver Grass that's over seven hundred years old, absorbing it would be good too. Since it shares the same origin, there might be an unexpected result."

Tang San froze for a moment. "That works too?"

In truth, he did not really understand the pairing of soul rings and martial souls.

After all, he was not from this world.

Even after attending classes, he still did not truly understand.

How to properly develop a martial soul.

"Of course."

Yun Tian yawned and offered no further explanation. "Enough, I'm sleepy. Go to bed."

He lay down, turned over to face away from Tang San, and soon stopped speaking.

Tang San sat alone in the darkness, staring at the Blue Silver Grass in his palm, its leaves entwined with dark green poisonous patterns. His gaze was calm yet complicated.

Vitality...?

He lowered his head to look at the blades of grass swaying faintly in the moonlight. Suddenly, he felt Yun Tian's words were like a seed falling into some corner of his heart that had never been touched.

Perhaps... Teacher wasn't necessarily right about everything.

After the battle at the back mountain that day, the structure of Nuoding Academy changed completely.

The nobles' arrogance and the work-study students' silent endurance seemed to have been wiped away by an invisible hand.

After Yun Tian stepped on Xiao Chenyu, that local tyrant, the entire noble circle settled down.

Not only did no one dare bully the work-study students anymore, but one could occasionally even see noble students helping work-study students carry things.

Of course, that was when Yun Tian was around.

To maintain this hard-won order, Yun Tian established rules in the Seventh Dorm: the work-study students and nobles would each send several people to form a campus guard team responsible for handling disputes of all sizes within the academy.

Yun Tian appointed Tang San, Xiao Wu, Xiao Chenyu, and Chen Lang as deputy bosses, each in charge of a different area.

Tang San handled matters involving first-year students, Xiao Wu oversaw the girls' dormitories, Xiao Chenyu managed the noble students, while Chen Lang was responsible for daily patrols and reports.

Though the four of them stumbled a little at first, after three months, they had grown fairly accustomed to working together.

Those three months passed peacefully.

Yun Tian attended class and meditated during the day, then cultivated the power of the Earth Shadow Stone alone at night.

Unlike other soul masters, he did not rely on soul rings or hunting soul beasts to increase his strength.

The Earth Tiger Armor's path of growth was completely independent of Soul Land's mainstream soul master system.

Every soul ring was formed by the Earth Shadow Stone itself after absorbing the power of the earth—pure, stable, and perfectly suited to him.

His soul power steadily climbed.

It took half a month to go from level fifteen to sixteen, then another half month to go from seventeen to eighteen.

By the third month, the soul power within him had already filled to its critical point.

The swollen sensation of an imminent breakthrough surged up from the depths of his dantian, clearly telling him that the threshold of level twenty was right before his eyes.

But he did not announce it.

He did not even tell anyone.

Tang San and Xiao Wu would challenge him from time to time, and both had improved considerably.

Tang San's Blue Silver Entanglement became increasingly proficient, while his fighting style combined with hidden weapons also improved day by day.

Xiao Wu was noticeably faster than she had been three months ago, and her use of the Waist Bow had become more flexible as well.

Although neither of them could still break through Yun Tian's defenses, every sparring match at least brought him some fresh experiences.

Meanwhile, Yun Tian always used that first soul skill, Earth Tiger Armor, to deal with everything.

No one knew that he had long since reached the critical point where he could condense his second soul ring.

One morning, before the sky had fully brightened, Yun Tian rose from bed without a sound.

After dressing, he glanced at the sleeping Tang San and Xiao Wu, then turned and pushed open the door to leave the Seventh Dorm.

The morning mist had yet to disperse, and Nuoding Academy's stone paths were damp. He crossed the training ground with light steps and left the academy through the rear gate.

The place he needed to go could not be too close.

Although there were plenty of wilderness areas around Notting City, Tang Hao lived in the blacksmith shop outside the city.

That Titled Douluo might spend all day drunk, but Yun Tian did not dare gamble on the Haotian Douluo's senses.

Condensing a soul ring right under Tang Hao's nose would be too troublesome to explain if his aura was noticed.

Yun Tian followed the main road for nearly two hours before finally leaving Notting City's outskirts completely behind and turning into the depths of a remote forest.

The trees here blotted out the sky, while the ground was covered in thick fallen leaves and moss. The air was damp and quiet, with only the occasional birdsong breaking the silence.

He chose an open clearing in the forest and stopped.

"This will do."

Yun Tian took a deep breath and sat cross-legged in the center of the clearing.

His hands rested flat on his knees, palms facing upward. The Earth Shadow Stone slowly circulated within him, and an earthy yellow glow emerged from the surface of his skin, resonating with the ground beneath his feet.

He began to break through the level twenty bottleneck.

The soul power within him was like a river blocked by a dam. The strength accumulated over three months surged toward that invisible barrier all at once.

Again and again, it crashed against the barrier, shaking it each time. His meridians swelled with faint pain, yet Yun Tian's expression remained unchanged. He guided the power of the earth endlessly into his body from beneath his feet, providing inexhaustible support for his breakthrough.

Finally, after the seventh full-force impact.

With a soft pop, something seemed to shatter within his body.

The river of soul power broke through the dam and poured into a far broader dantian.

Dense energy surged and circulated through his body, filling his limbs and bones with a new power that left them faintly numb.

Level twenty. He had broken through.

A six-year-old level twenty Grand Soul Master.

Across the entire continent, only Qian Renxue could compare.

Yun Tian opened his eyes, his gaze calm.

He did not rush to take the next step. Instead, he closed his eyes again and regulated his breathing for several more breaths, allowing the suddenly surging soul power within him to settle completely.

Only after his breathing became even and his soul power flowed smoothly did he slowly raise his right hand.

The Earth Shadow Stone appeared in his palm.

"Come."

Yun Tian muttered softly, sinking his consciousness deep into the Earth Shadow Stone.

The earth-element power within the stone churned wildly under the pull of the earth veins, and the ground beneath his feet began to tremble.

The fallen leaves shook violently, and the branches of the surrounding trees rustled.

A vast energy was drawn up from deep underground, gathering within the Earth Shadow Stone along Yun Tian's meridians.

The Earth Shadow Stone began to glow.

Countless fine golden patterns emerged across the surface of the brown stone, as though the veins of the earth itself were flowing.

The energy compressed, condensed, and took shape within the stone, transforming into the phantom of a new soul ring that slowly emerged.

The phantom gradually solidified. Its color shifted from transparent to pale yellow, then from pale yellow to a rich, bright yellow.

The standard color of a hundred-year soul ring.

Yun Tian let out a low shout. The brand-new yellow soul ring rose from beneath his feet, hovering at his waist beside the first one.

The light of the two hundred-year soul rings reflected off each other, bathing the entire forest clearing in a warm, heavy glow.