Advancement assessment

After returning to his dormitory, Chen Tianyuan immediately took out the Soul Ascension Pill and swallowed it.

He sat cross-legged on his bed, absorbing its medicinal power.

Before long, an immense surge of soul power appeared within him. Chen Tianyuan circulated his own soul power, bringing it together with this new power and merging the two.

The immense soul power flowed continuously through his body, surging through his extraordinary meridians. His previously stagnant soul power level began to rise slowly.

The peak of level 37, level 38...

As he continued absorbing and assimilating the soul power, Chen Tianyuan's soul power level finally stopped at the peak of level 38.

The long-awaited breakthrough felt wonderfully satisfying, like someone who had been constipated for weeks suddenly using an enema and letting loose a massive load...

Today was the first day of Shrek Academy's new academic year, as well as the day of the advancement assessment.

Some rejoiced while others worried. Many students whose soul power had not broken through level 30 simply did not return to the academy, which naturally struck them from its rolls. Shrek Academy's advancement system was that ruthless, with virtually no room for personal consideration.

Chen Tianyuan, Bei Bei, and Tang Ya were in the same class, with Wang Yan as their homeroom teacher.

Wang Yan's martial soul was a Coiling Dragon Staff without a dragon soul. His innate soul power had not been high either, and even now, his cultivation was only at the Soul King rank.

He devoted most of his energy to martial soul theory and research. In that field, few in all of Shrek Academy could surpass him.

The first stage of the advancement assessment was a soul power test.

Wang Yan stood at the podium. On the teacher's desk beside him sat a crystal ball capable of measuring soul power below level 50.

The classroom, which had originally held forty or fifty students, now had many empty seats. Wang Yan gave it a cursory glance before crossing out the names of the absent students.

Then came the soul power test. Tang Ya was level 31, Bei Bei was level 38, and Chen Tianyuan was also level 38.

Bei Bei was somewhat surprised by this result. He looked at Chen Tianyuan. "When did you break through?"

Chen Tianyuan chuckled. "Take a guess."

The soul power test was followed by the practical combat assessment, held in the Beast Arena. This stage was where the real difficulty lay.

Apart from students with support-type martial souls, students of the power attack system, agility attack system, and control system had to last at least ten minutes against a thousand-year soul beast and land effective attacks to pass.

Lasting ten minutes was not difficult. The hard part was landing effective attacks. Once, a control system student had drawn a soul beast with exceptionally strong defenses and failed to inflict any damage despite fighting it for ages. In the end, the academy gave him a chance to retake the assessment. Of course, he still failed...

A thousand-year soul beast was equivalent to a human Soul Elder and was usually somewhat stronger.

Chen Tianyuan belonged to Class One of his year, so naturally, his class was the first to take the advancement assessment.

At that moment, the student being assessed in the Beast Arena was Tang Ya. A hundred meters across from her, an iron gate slowly rose, and a pitch-black, cheetah-like soul beast emerged with slow, graceful steps.

With his solid theoretical knowledge, Chen Tianyuan naturally recognized the soul beast at a glance. It was a thousand-year Ghost Shadow Leopard, a soul beast with incredible speed but rather unimpressive attack power.

Tang Ya could also be considered lucky. The Tang Sect's Purple Demon Eye was perfectly suited to countering this kind of soul beast. She predicted the Ghost Shadow Leopard's path and planted Blue Silver Grass in advance, binding it firmly the instant it passed through. She cleared the assessment with ease.

Bei Bei went next. His strength was already very close to that of a Soul Ancestor, and the soul beast he drew was a Dragon Wolf with a mixed bloodline. Naturally, he passed the assessment easily as well.

Then it was Chen Tianyuan's turn.

Chen Tianyuan leaped into the Beast Arena. A red-haired old man stood at its edge. He was Gong Changlong, the Beast Arena's manager and a Titled Douluo-level powerhouse.

Gong Changlong naturally knew Chen Tianyuan. With his Ultimate Lightning and his status as Mu En's great-great-grandson, it would have been difficult not to know him.

He looked at Chen Tianyuan and asked, "Well, lad? Are you choosing a thousand-year soul beast too?"

Chen Tianyuan shook his head. "I want to see where my limits lie. I choose a ten-thousand-year soul beast."

His words sent shock through everyone present.

Shrek Academy's Beast Arena did indeed keep ten-thousand-year soul beasts, but those were for Inner Court students to practice against.

Moreover, there had never been a precedent in Soul Master history for a Soul Elder challenging a ten-thousand-year soul beast. Even a soul beast that had only just reached ten thousand years was far stronger than a human Soul King, its corresponding rank. A soul beast's intelligence also increased after it reached ten thousand years.

Generally speaking, dealing with a ten-thousand-year soul beast required a five-person soul hunting team whose members were all Soul Kings or higher...

Gong Changlong's expression darkened. "Lad, don't go making fun of this old man. That's a ten-thousand-year soul beast. Even with Ultimate Lightning, you couldn't last a minute."

To everyone else, even if Chen Tianyuan was the Outer Court's Number One and had defeated a high-ranking Soul Ancestor, there was no way he could match a ten-thousand-year soul beast. Its terrifying pressure might crush him to the ground the moment they faced each other.

But Chen Tianyuan had not requested this challenge out of arrogance. In truth, no one his age had ever forced him to use his full strength, not even the senior student who had been a high-ranking Soul Ancestor a year ago.

Chen Tianyuan looked at Elder Gong and said, "Elder Gong, how about we make a bet?"

Gong Changlong replied irritably, "On whether a ten-thousand-year soul beast will slap you dead?"

Chen Tianyuan gave a light cough and said, "Let's bet on whether I can last a minute against a ten-thousand-year soul beast."

"If I win, you give me full marks for the practical combat assessment and help me obtain my fourth soul ring. How does that sound?"

Gong Changlong snorted at that. "Fine. But if you lose, you'll have to clean up soul beast dung for me for a month."

"All right, it's a deal!" Chen Tianyuan said confidently.

In an instant, dozens of gazes converged on Chen Tianyuan, waiting to see him make a fool of himself.

The sturdy steel gate slowly rose.

Heavy footfalls sounded from within the dark passage, growing steadily clearer.

A pair of eerie, dark-green eyes appeared before everyone first.

Then an enormous gray wolf, as large as an ox and covered in fur like steel needles, emerged from the passage. It was none other than a ten-thousand-year soul beast, the Silver-Mane Wolf King.

Gong Changlong dared not stray too far, so he could intervene immediately if necessary.

The Silver-Mane Wolf King fixed its ghostly eyes on Chen Tianyuan. Less than a hundred meters separated them, and with its speed, it could launch an attack at any moment.

Chen Tianyuan dared not relax in the slightest. Lightning flickered over his entire body as he completed Martial Soul Possession.

As though enraged by this action, the Silver-Mane Wolf King attacked instantly.

As a ten-thousand-year soul beast, it moved so quickly that it even left afterimages.

In the blink of an eye, it was already in front of Chen Tianyuan.

Chen Tianyuan was inwardly shocked. So fast! As expected of a ten-thousand-year soul beast.

At the same time, his second soul ring lit up beneath him, and he pulled away from the Silver-Mane Wolf King at tremendous speed.

To Tang Ya and the others with relatively low cultivation, Chen Tianyuan appeared to have instantly shifted some distance away. But Gong Changlong, a Titled Douluo, saw it perfectly clearly. It was not an instantaneous shift-Chen Tianyuan had simply become faster.