Chen Xin's Secret Surveillance! Grandmaster's Victory in His Own Mind! Tang San Sees Through It and Runs!

While Ji Juechen sat down and focused on absorbing the Sky Azure Bull Python's Soul Ring, Li Chen and Kong Deming hurried to collect the Soul Bones scattered nearby.

The Level 8 Fixed-Installed Soul Tool Shell

had unleashed the power of a Level 8.5 shell here.

With the blast site at its center, everything within a three-kilometer radius had become a barren dead zone. Its effective killing range had reached a full seven-kilometer radius!

In other words,

just two such shells landing in Heaven Dou City could flatten the city in an instant.

"When productivity rises, production efficiency really does soar."

Li Chen counted with a smile. He had collected five Soul Bones in all, each from a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

Together with Er Ming's, that made six.

This was the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest,

and Kong Deming had collected another four or five on his side.

Li Chen did a quick calculation. A Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone generally sold at auction for around three million Gold Soul Coins.

The metal they had obtained from the Heaven Dou Empire had cost about that much to turn into this Level 8 Fixed-Installed Soul Tool Shell.

Which meant

a single shot had brought them more than ten times their investment.

That was only because the Heaven Dou Empire and the others had no idea what Rare Metals were worth and had handed them over to Li Chen's group for next to nothing.

Meanwhile,

Sword Douluo Chen Xin was leading a team through the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest, harvesting Soul Bones. He had more than twenty Soul Ancestors and several Soul Kings under his command.

The Thunder Hand Cannon was powerful enough to gravely wound a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. With one in every person's hands, they could kill any such beast they encountered in a single volley.

Chen Xin was halfway through his sweep

when he suddenly felt the earth shake.

Then he saw a mushroom cloud rise from the forest's core. The shock wave followed, sending a fierce wind across his face.

"Lord Sword Douluo, what happened?!"

"Could it be people from Spirit Hall?!"

Around Chen Xin,

the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect members cried out in fear.

Chen Xin frowned too.

The Star Dou Great Forest was not far from Spirit City, and ordinarily only Spirit Hall would mount a Soul Hunting Operation here.

He had brought his people to quietly obtain a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. He had never expected an explosion on this scale.

"I don't know yet."

Chen Xin flew into the sky and surveyed the distance.

A vast swath of forest had been wiped bare. Chen Xin's heart jolted. What could have done that?

With power like that,

he suspected even he might have died if he had been at the heart of the blast.

"No human Soul Master could have done this. Was it a Ferocious Beast?"

Chen Xin pondered.

If Spirit Hall had done it, they would have had no reason to destroy the forest. They should have hunted Soul Beasts one by one, just as he was doing.

"Either underground lava erupted and caused a natural disaster, or several Ferocious Beasts clashed and caused it."

Chen Xin settled on those possibilities.

He looked down at the others.

"Stay here. I'll be right back!"

Then Chen Xin flew straight toward the blast site!

His white-clad figure shot through the canopy without a sound, moving at astonishing speed.

What a chance! An explosion this big must have caught countless Soul Beasts in the blast. It might even have killed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. I should see if any suitable Soul Bones are left!

Anticipation lit Chen Xin's eyes.

Di Tian, who had just emerged from the Lake of Life, was heading in the same direction.

He had sensed the terrifying explosion too. It had been powerful enough to threaten even someone at his level!

Di Tian took human form and rushed over at once.

Barak Independent Kingdom.

Shrek Academy.

Zhao Wuji grimaced as he changed his bandages. As the first person of this era to be blasted by a Soul Tool, he still had not fully recovered, even after several months.

"This Sun Moon Sect is becoming a force to be reckoned with!"

Flender looked deeply worried.

"They even persuaded three major powers to build some sort of Soul Guide Train."

"I've also heard that Heaven Dou Empire, Star Luo Empire, and Spirit Hall are all frantically recruiting people to mine metal deposits. The Sun Moon Sect must have powerful connections."

Flender turned to Yu Xiaogang. "Xiaogang, I think we should stop provoking them. Let's move the school somewhere safer."

"Hmph!"

Yu Xiaogang snorted.

"What would a fence-sitter like you know?"

"The Sun Moon Sect is gold and jade on the outside, rotten cotton within! No matter how advanced Soul Tools become, can they defeat the strongest Soul Masters?"

"Did the Clear Sky Sect and Spirit Hall reach the summit of this continent through Soul Tools? Through sheer numbers? No! They did it through the power of the very strongest Peerless Douluos!"

Yu Xiaogang stood with his hands behind his back, his expression composed.

"Flender, you simply don't understand the basic principles of Martial Souls."

"The Sun Moon Sect may be riding high now, but this world belongs to the strongest Soul Masters!"

Flender and Zhao Wuji exchanged a glance and wiped away their sweat.

"The problem is... our students don't seem to measure up to the Sun Moon Sect's Li Chen and Huo Yuhao either."

Dai Mubai had returned to Shrek from Star Luo Empire. Ning Rongrong, Xiao Wu, and Tang San had also come back.

The Seven Monsters heard him, but none argued. They all lowered their heads instead.

It was true.

Li Chen was a fifteen-year-old Soul King, and Huo Yuhao was a sixteen-year-old Soul Emperor.

Shrek called itself Monster Academy, yet its requirement was merely for students to reach level forty and become Soul Ancestors before they turned twenty!

Even with that bar, only fourteen people had graduated in the decades since the academy's founding!

For Li Chen and Huo Yuhao, that requirement might as well not have existed.

Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang's face stiffened with embarrassment.

"The Sun Moon Sect rushed their growth! They must have taken some kind of medicine to force their levels up!"

"Xiao San, Xiao Wu, don't lose heart. Those two Sun Moon Sect boys have shaky cultivation. They're all show! My systematic teaching has given you a solid foundation, and your combat abilities far exceed what your levels suggest!"

"You may only be level thirty now, but your actual fighting strength rivals a Soul Ancestor's!"

"Li Chen and Huo Yuhao might look like they're levels fifty and sixty, but their real fighting strength is only around level forty. You're practically their equals!"

Grandmaster finished speaking and stroked his chin with a smile, looking utterly certain.

Xiao Wu immediately waved a fist in agreement.

"Grandmaster's right! Brother San, last time you were so anxious to find me that Huo Yuhao caught you off guard."

"Don't worry. I'm back now. Even if they're a Soul King and a Soul Emperor, we won't be afraid of them! We'll win!"

Dai Mubai and the others finally relaxed. Yes, Grandmaster was right. Those two had only looked frightening last time because they had used Soul Tools.

Take Soul Tools out of it, and the Seven Monsters were no worse than Huo Yuhao!

Only Tang San stared blankly at them and shook his head inwardly.

They're going to die.

Tang San had completely lost faith in Grandmaster.

If he had not fought Huo Yuhao himself, he might actually have believed Grandmaster's nonsense.

As if our level-thirty fighting strength is anywhere near Huo Yuhao's at level sixty!

If that were true,

how could Huo Yuhao have taken me down with a single gesture?!

Tang San made up his mind. He had to leave this rotten academy. Tang Hao had already told him to wait a few days; then father and son would return to the Clear Sky Sect!

Besides,

an old man calling himself the Asura God had recently appeared in Tang San's mind and offered to help him grow stronger.

Tang San did not know whether he could become strong enough to defeat Huo Yuhao. But if he kept following Yu Xiaogang, he was certain to end up dead.