With his Soul Power Vortex Tide Transformation method nearing completion, Jiang Yu followed his usual routine for another fortnight, then simply asked Mu Jin for an extended leave.
After they advanced to first year, the original ten classes were reduced to four.
Class One comprised Power Attack and Control Soul Masters, Class Two comprised Defense and Agility Attack Soul Masters, Class Three comprised Support System Soul Masters, and Class Four covered a host of less common categories, including Food Soul Masters.
Each class had two homeroom teachers. Jiang Yu was in Class Two, whose lead homeroom teacher was Mu Jin, who had earned a senior professional rank through the previous freshman assessment.
Once his leave was approved, Jiang Yu headed straight to the Nine Treasure Pavilion in Shrek City.
Much like the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, the Nine Treasure Pavilion was a large, comprehensive Soul Master store directly operated by the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
In plain language, it sold just about everything.
Fully equipped secluded cultivation chambers had been built beneath it. With Ghost Blade Douluo stationed there as well, Jiang Yu did not have to worry about anyone disturbing him.
Once the heavy stone door descended, every sound from the outside world was shut out. The Heart of Space floated silently in the center of the chamber, and Jiang Yu sat cross-legged directly beneath it, calming his mind as he absorbed its supremely pure energy.
The Soul Power Vortex within his dantian spun faster and faster, yet once its speed reached a certain point, it gave the opposite impression, seeming to become still.
This was precisely the sign that Tide Transformation was about to occur.
Jiang Yu understood the principle behind the method.
Long ago, Ning Rongrong and Oscar, ancestors of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, had tempered their bodies with the power of natural tides on the First Generation Sea God's island, forging physiques every bit as formidable as those of Battle Soul Masters.
To benefit future generations, the two had created this Tide Transformation method at Ning Fengzhi's request before ascending.
The Tide Transformation method dispensed with the stringent requirement for natural tidal power. Instead, it required a Soul Master to accumulate their own soul power and the power of heaven and earth, triggering a qualitative change that produced an unending, wave-like force within the body to temper it.
It was, after all, a method created by deities. According to predecessors of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect who had mastered it, completing the method would raise one's physique to that of a true dragon in human form, with a foundation no less solid than Sea God Tang San's.
Of course, Jiang Yu had yet to discover its exact effects, but the improvements it could offer were all things he urgently needed.
Leaving aside his need for twice as many high-grade spirit rings as an ordinary person, merely drawing upon the Space-Time Dragon's power imposed extremely demanding requirements on his physique, even if they were far less severe than those placed on his spiritual power.
For a full fortnight, Jiang Yu showed no sign of emerging from seclusion.
With Jiang Yu's leave about to expire, Ghost Blade Douluo had no choice but to send a message to Ning Tian, asking her to extend it for him.
Another week or so passed. When a powerful surge of soul power spread out from the chamber, delight appeared on Ghost Blade's face as he kept watch outside.
At last, this old man's twenty-odd days of standing guard like a wife turned to stone waiting for her husband haven't been wasted. The brat finally succeeded!
Before long, the stone door opened, and Jiang Yu emerged, taller and straighter than before.
The fluctuations of soul power radiating from him unmistakably belonged to the Soul Ancestor realm.
Before the delighted smile on Ghost Blade Douluo's face could fully blossom, Jiang Yu said:
"Everything went smoothly. Grandpa Ghost Blade, sorry for the trouble, but I'll need you to take me to the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain the spirit rings I need."
At those words, Ghost Blade Douluo's smile froze on his face, then turned aggrieved.
Compared with standing guard, what Ghost Blade Douluo truly dreaded was hunting spirit beasts for Jiang Yu.
The reason was simple: the soul beasts Jiang Yu needed were far too rare.
Every time Jiang Yu broke through, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had to dispatch powerful experts in advance to comb the Star Dou Great Forest for suitable soul beasts, before Titled Douluo like him stepped in to kill them.
Such was the bitter lot of a working man-never a moment's rest.
Ghost Blade Douluo waved a hand and said nothing more.
After obtaining his spirit rings in the Star Dou Great Forest and successfully breaking through to Soul Ancestor, Jiang Yu was riding high. Upon returning to Shrek Academy, he also earned an aggrieved look from Wu Feng.
We were all steadily building our foundations in the Soul Elder realm, but you disappeared for a month and went straight to Soul Ancestor, becoming stronger than even those fifth- and sixth-year students. Isn't this ridiculous?
Jiang Yu merely smiled faintly in response.
The improvements from the Tide Transformation method, compounded by two Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings, had now raised Jiang Yu's soul power to rank forty-five. Its quality and total reserves utterly surpassed those of an ordinary high-level Soul King, while his physique had risen to a truly terrifying level.
Just as Wu Feng had said, his current strength already qualified him to enter the Inner Court.
Eight months passed in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Yu officially turned eleven, and he, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng completed their one-year "prison sentence" in first year.
Their month-long vacation arrived, and the three could finally leave Shrek Academy, with its dubious accommodations, and return to their own "doghouses."
They had also settled on their plans for the future.
Jiang Yu's cultivation had advanced to the upper levels of Soul Ancestor, and he planned to take the assessment and enter the Inner Court as soon as school resumed.
Ning Tian and Wu Feng now had higher cultivation than Tang Ya, who was in third year, so both girls intended to skip second and third year and advance directly to fourth year.
While the three happily rode home in a luxurious carriage, elsewhere, Huo Yuhao had said goodbye to Wang Dong and finally broken through to two spirit rings. Under the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's guidance, he headed north.
Over the better part of the past year, he had changed considerably.
His defeat in the freshman assessment had left him dejected and dispirited for a long time, but with encouragement from Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, Huo Yuhao had successfully emerged from that shadow.
Yet just as everything was getting back on track, another bolt struck from a clear sky.
Their original homeroom teacher, Zhou Yi, suddenly announced her resignation. While Huo Yuhao was still utterly bewildered, he actually caught sight of her in the cafeteria where he worked part-time.
Reunited with his teacher in the cafeteria, Huo Yuhao was both excited and confused. Under his persistent questioning, Zhou Yi slowly explained her wager with Mu Jin and the others, while also revealing her relationship with Fan Yu and the reason she had been allowed to remain employed at Shrek Academy.
Huo Yuhao trembled in both heart and mind upon hearing it, filled with regret and resentment.
So that was it. So that was it... It was our failure to measure up that cost Teacher Zhou her job. That was why her husband had been forced to offer a precious soul bone as a bargaining chip and humbly beg others, just so she could remain working at the academy.
For a moment, an indescribable hatred welled up within Huo Yuhao, whose feelings toward Jiang Yu and the others had already been complicated.
In his eyes, although Zhou Yi seemed overbearing and unreasonable, she truly was a gifted, excellent teacher who could guide every one of her students into becoming a powerful expert.
Yet such a fine teacher, who had bent her back in tireless service to the academy and poured her heart's blood into her students, had been dragged into the private grudges between him, Jiang Yu, and the others on the opposing side. Even when her husband had lowered himself and taken the initiative to compromise, the other side remained impervious to every appeal, leaving the students' beloved Teacher Zhou reduced to managing a cafeteria.
A good teacher like Zhou Yi ought to stand at the lectern, boldly guiding her students and nurturing generation after generation of geniuses for Shrek Academy.
At that thought, Huo Yuhao made up his mind. After this journey to the Far North, he would find an opportunity to win justice for Teacher Zhou and put her back behind the lectern.
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