Su Chen's Seven-Person Team Assembled

The breakthrough came without any warning.

On the way back to camp, Su Chen's steps abruptly halted.

The spirit power that had been flowing steadily within him suddenly turned into a roaring torrent.

The Level 40 bottleneck failed to pose even the slightest real obstacle before it was shattered by the surging energy poured in by his fourth Spirit Ring.

His spirit power level began soaring wildly!

Level 41.

Level 42.

Level 43!

The qualitative transformation from Great Soul Master to Soul Venerable took only three breaths within Su Chen's body.

But the true storm was not happening to him.

"Roar!"

Iron Wall, the Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear, was the first to react.

It let out a roar mixed with pain and exhilaration, its enormous body suddenly grinding to a halt.

Crack—crack!

The indestructible dark golden scales covering its body began cracking and peeling away on their own, without any external force, exposing the crimson flesh beneath.

Then, brand-new scales savagely grew from the fissures in its flesh!

Thicker and denser!

Their dark golden hue deepened several times over, nearly black as ink, while the edge of every scale bore blurry, ancient, mysterious patterns.

Its body visibly swelled.

Its bones crackled and its flesh writhed as its shoulder height rose from thirty feet to nearly forty, the contours of its muscles as savage as mountain rock!

And it was not the only one.

"Roar—!"

The nine Fearclaw Bears behind it released roars from the same origin at the exact same moment, their bodies undergoing perfectly synchronized bloodline transformations!

Dark golden radiance burst from the gaps between every scale, illuminating the entire deep underground passage as brightly as day.

Little Gold had been dozing on Su Chen's shoulder when the sudden surge of power within it startled it awake, drawing a sharp whimper from its throat.

It clumsily slid off Su Chen's shoulder. Its rapidly enlarged body left it unable to adjust for a moment, and its four paws clawed wildly at the ground in confusion.

By the time it regained its footing, its entire body had grown a full size larger.

"Holy shit!"

A transforming Shadow Leopard forced Chu Yao to dodge awkwardly against the wall, and her pupils abruptly contracted.

The bodies of the ten Nether Shadow Leopards became increasingly slender and streamlined.

Their originally dark gray fur was transforming into pure black that seemed capable of swallowing light.

Even their shadows vanished.

They stood right there, their outlines clearly visible, yet they eerily "did not exist" to one's senses.

Their invisibility had evolved from an ability that required active activation into a passive state as instinctive as their bloodline!

A piercing eagle cry rang out from the top of the passage.

Ten Purple Lightning Thunder Eagles circled overhead, their wingspans expanding from twenty feet to thirty. The density and brightness of the electric arcs darting between their wings had more than doubled!

One Thunder Eagle swooped past.

The wind swept up beneath its wings alone carved a fresh mark into the hard stone wall, as though it had been cut by a sharp blade!

That was only the wind!

As for the ten newly summoned Ten-Thousand-Year Black Tortoises, the ancient patterns on their shells became clearer than ever amid this tide of evolution.

A layer of pale golden defensive radiance automatically emerged, its range expanding by thirty percent out of nowhere.

Forty spirit beasts evolved collectively at the same time!

Within the entire underground passage, lights of various attributes and violent energy fluctuations tangled and collided, like a miniature natural disaster erupting.

Jiang Tieyi leaned against the wall, using his remaining left hand to shield his face as he peered through the gaps between his fingers at this miraculous sight.

His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed with difficulty.

"...Boss, do you always make this much of a scene whenever you break through?"

Su Chen did not answer.

He closed his eyes, sensing the drastic changes within his Summoning Space.

The dimensional space that had originally only held thirty spirit beasts expanded to nearly twice its former size under the dual catalyst of his fourth Spirit Ring and major breakthrough!

The space was no longer empty nothingness.

Hills rose, streams wound through the land, and forests began to grow.

A miniature ecological world was slowly taking shape beneath the extension of his will.

He opened his eyes.

Four pitch-black Spirit Rings rotated quietly beneath his feet, their radiance more solid and weighty than before.

"Let's go."

The underground lake had already returned to calm.

Water from the subterranean river had flowed back in and the water level was rising again, but the terrifying aura of the Seventy-Thousand-Year Black Tortoise had completely vanished.

In its place, ten Ten-Thousand-Year Black Tortoises lay quietly by the lakeside like the most loyal guards.

The patterns on their shells emitted a soft yet resilient glow in the darkness.

A campfire was lit.

Only when the scent of roasting meat filled the air did Su Chen realize that everyone's injuries were more severe than he had imagined.

Jiang Tieyi's right arm, below the elbow, had already been burned to charcoal.

Chu Yao used three of her most precious ointments and wrapped it in two layers of bandages before barely stopping the injury from worsening. However, the fractures deep within the bone would require at least half a month of rest.

Yet he did not care in the slightest. He tore off a huge piece of roasted meat with his left hand and ate until his mouth was slick with grease.

"This is nothing," he chewed indistinctly around the meat. "Back in the Savage Hunting Grounds, a Thousand-Year Violent Ape smashed four of my ribs. I still went up the mountain to fight the bastard the next day! My right hand's ruined? Then I'll train my left!"

Mo Qianye sat across from the fire. Tonight, he had unusually taken off his hood.

The firelight traced his excessively delicate features, creating a stark contrast with the sinister aura brought by his Nether Phoenix martial soul.

His hands were wrapped in Chu Yao's specially made medicinal cloth like two dumplings. Unable to bend his fingers, he awkwardly held a water pouch between his wrists to drink.

Yan Wuji was suffering from the backlash of exhausting his spirit power—his body temperature had plummeted.

This ice-attribute soul master, who normally radiated chill from head to toe, was now wrapped in two thick beast-hide blankets and still shivering faintly.

He condensed several ice cups at his fingertips and placed one before each person, filling them with clear water from the subterranean river.

"Drink up. It's free."

After saying that, he pulled his blanket tighter around himself.

Only after treating the last person's wounds did Chu Yao lean against the stone wall and sit down, discovering that her own hands were trembling uncontrollably as well.

This battle had consumed over sixty percent of her medicinal supplies.

What remained was only enough to deal with ordinary minor injuries.

"We'll need to find a big city and restock later." She closed her eyes, though a tired yet satisfied curve appeared at the corner of her lips. "You people are more troublesome than the last."

Ye Linglong sat in the shadows farthest from the campfire.

Her nosebleed had stopped, but excessive mental exhaustion had drained every trace of color from her face.

Her emerald eyes had returned to their usual shade, and under the firelight, some of their cold sharpness had faded.

Ling Shuang said nothing.

She sat quietly three paces to Su Chen's right. Her fingers were likewise wrapped in medicinal cloth, and several freshly grown vines lay spread over her knees.

With those scarred hands, she was slowly and intently weaving something.

Su Chen's gaze fell upon her.

They were seven rings, woven from the most flexible thin vines and small unknown white flowers.

Sensing his gaze, Ling Shuang's movements paused for half a beat. Then she quickly lowered her eyes, while her fingers moved even faster.

The campfire crackled.

Iron Wall lay behind Su Chen, its enormous head resting on its front paws as an occasional satisfied snort rumbled from its throat.

Little Gold tried hard to curl itself into a ball, squeezing stubbornly against Su Chen's leg. Its evolved size had made that spot rather crowded, but it still insisted on burrowing toward the hollow of his knee.

Su Chen reached out and patted its fluffy head.

Little Gold rubbed comfortably against his palm, let out a soft grunt, and fell into a deep sleep.

Firelight illuminated seven people, one large bear, and one small bear.

Outside the cave stretched endless darkness—the Star Dou Great Forest, and countless terrifying spirit beasts wandering through the night.

Yet at this moment, the lakeside beneath the earth was so quiet that it seemed like another world.

Jiang Tieyi broke the silence.

"Boss, where do we go next?"

Su Chen did not answer immediately.

He took a letter folded several times from his clothes and unfolded it beside the fire.

The neat official lettering across the page, along with the bright red Spirit Hall seal at the lower right corner, looked especially striking in the flickering flames.

[Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament], to be held in the imperial capital of the Heaven Dou Empire three months from now.

Chu Yao opened her eyes and glanced over it, frowning slightly. "An academy elite tournament? We don't belong to any academy."

"That's why we need an identity."

Su Chen folded the letter again and tucked it back into his clothes, his tone as casual as though he were discussing what to eat that night.

"An identity that lets us stand openly and proudly on this continent."

Mo Qianye's voice came from behind the medicinal cloth, low but carrying a ripple of emotion. "You want to... build an academy?"

"It's not that I want to."

Su Chen said.

"I'm going to build one."

He casually picked up a charred stick and wrote two words on the ground before him.

Sky Abyss.

Jiang Tieyi leaned closer to take a look, then grinned.

"Sky Abyss Academy... sounds good, Boss! Then the seven of us are this academy's entire foundation?"

"It's enough." Su Chen tossed aside the stick.

Yan Wuji tilted his head beneath the blanket. "That tournament, if I remember right, is a seven-person format. Every academy selects its seven strongest students to represent them."

"Correct."

"We... happen to have exactly seven people." Yan Wuji paused, then added, "What a coincidence?"

Su Chen glanced at him but did not respond.

From the shadows, Ye Linglong spoke in a hoarse voice.

"You've been gathering this number from the very beginning."

It was not a question.

It was a statement.

Su Chen did not deny it.

Silence spread around the campfire for several seconds before a loud smack shattered it.

Jiang Tieyi set down the half-eaten roasted meat and slapped his thigh hard.

"Let's do it! Damn any elite tournament! I want to see what these so-called 'favored sons of heaven' on this continent are really made of!"

Mo Qianye said nothing, but his hands wrapped in medicinal cloth slowly clenched.

Chu Yao gave a derisive snort, though her earlier exhaustion had vanished from her words. "A group of wounded soldiers entering a tournament? Aren't you afraid people will laugh their teeth out?"

"Three months."

Su Chen rose to his feet.

"Enough."

His gaze crossed the campfire and pierced through the cave walls, as though it had seen through the entire Star Dou Great Forest and landed upon some extremely distant place.

The Heaven Dou Empire.

The imperial capital.

There stood the continent's finest soul master academies, along with the most outstanding young members of every great family.

And there was also an academy called Shrek.

Ling Shuang carefully put the seven finished flower crowns into her bag.

At the last one, her fingertips paused. She wrapped an extra circle of the toughest vine core around the flower crown meant for Su Chen, then carefully hid it in the inner compartment of his bag.

Su Chen withdrew his gaze.

"Rest for three days."

"Then depart."