Eight-Thousand-Year Dark Swan

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Chapter 31: Eight-Thousand-Year Dark Swan

The Golden Iron Triangle, who had once founded Shrek Academy, possessed a martial soul fusion skill that summoned the Golden Sacred Dragon. So when Tang Ya learned that Bei Bei's martial soul was the Radiant Sacred Dragon, she already understood everything.

Bei Bei had most likely been sent by the academy's leadership to approach her, but she had no need for that sort of charity.

As long as Ye Xixuan was by her side, Tang Ya had the courage to face anything.

Meanwhile, Xu Sanshi, a defense-type battle soul master, had been placed in the same class as Jiang Nannan, an agility attack system battle spirit master. However, determined to redeem himself in front of Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi threw himself wholeheartedly into cultivation and barely interacted with Jiang Nannan.

Every worldline seemed to have shifted.

Spring passed and winter came. In the blink of an eye, a year had gone by.

Whether it was Ye Xixuan cultivating on Sea God Island or Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and the others studying in the Outer Court, their lives gradually grew busier.

With the continuous nourishment of the evil energy within the origin of Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul, the ages of Ye Xixuan's first two soul rings increased by roughly another thousand years over the course of that year.

In turn, Ma Xiaotao was no longer plagued by evil fire, and her cultivation advanced a thousand miles a day. At only sixteen, she broke through to the Soul Emperor realm and might even overcome the level-seventy bottleneck within the next three years.

She would still be under twenty then, fully eligible to compete in the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament.

A contestant with Soul Saint cultivation had probably never appeared in the tournament's tens of thousands of years of history.

Even Mu En's soul power had only been at level sixty-nine when he competed. Of course, he had been just eighteen at the time, which made the timing rather unfortunate where the tournament's age limit was concerned.

The evil energy within the origin of Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul also accelerated Ye Xixuan's cultivation to a certain extent.

Another six months passed, and Ye Xixuan's soul power naturally reached Level 30, like water flowing into a completed channel. In other words, advancing from level twenty-three to Level 30 had taken him only a year and a half.

At just nine and a half years old, he only needed a suitable third soul ring to advance to the three-ring Soul Elder realm. He had already completely shattered the record Mu En once set.

However, while Ye Xixuan was cultivating in seclusion, a major incident occurred at the academy.

Xuan Zi led twelve Inner Court Disciples into the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt soul beasts, only to become separated from them unexpectedly. Those twelve disciples encountered a hundred-thousand-year soul beast head-on. Eight died in battle, while Zhang Lexuan was among the four survivors and ultimately obtained that soul beast's soul ring and soul bone.

Ye Xixuan had clearly warned Zhang Lexuan beforehand, but sadly, he still failed to prevent the tragedy.

After all, his current cultivation and strength left him unable to do anything substantial. And who could have imagined that something like this would happen with Xuan Zi, a level-ninety-eight Super Douluo, overseeing the expedition?

In the end, as the teacher leading the group, Xuan Zi could not escape responsibility. He began abandoning himself to despair and submitted a request to the Sea God Pavilion to resign as deputy commander of the Shrek Inspection Corps.

With such a tragedy having just occurred, an oppressive atmosphere hung over all of Sea God Island. Zhang Lexuan had also suffered a backlash from forcibly absorbing the hundred-thousand-year soul beast's soul ring and soul bone. She needed at least two years of quiet recuperation before she could use her martial soul's power again.

Thus, Mu En personally guided Ye Xixuan's cultivation during this period.

Early that morning, Ye Xixuan emerged from the Sea God Pavilion as usual and went to the clearing out front.

Mu En lay in his chair with his eyes closed, just as he always did, but there was now a peculiar soul beast beside him.

It was a graceful, delicate black swan, its entire body covered in thick black feathers, without the exaggeratedly massive physique of ordinary soul beasts. Invisible Darkness Attribute elements gathered around its individual feathers of their own accord, giving the surrounding air a faintly viscous texture. Its pitch-black halo visibly repelled the light surrounding the Golden Tree.

This seemed to be the black swan's unique innate ability. Even though it had long since lost consciousness, the ability continued functioning without interruption. More remarkably, the purity of the Darkness Attribute elements it gathered actually rivaled that of the Golden Tree's light.

Ye Xixuan withdrew his astonished gaze and, sensing something, bowed to Mu En.

"Elder Mu."

"This is a dark swan with eight thousand years of cultivation. I sought it out especially for your third soul ring." Mu En opened his eyes and spoke to Ye Xixuan with a kindly smile.

"In the world of soul beasts, swans have always been exceptionally proud creatures. Almost all swan-type soul beasts excel at healing and support abilities, as does the Emerald Swan among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts. Only black swans are an exception. They specialize in all manner of Darkness Attribute curses and long-range attacks, placing them at the very pinnacle of the soul beast pyramid. If a Dark Swan could reach the hundred-thousand-year realm, I have no doubt that its Darkness Attribute abilities might even reach the ultimate level, just like those of Beast God Di Tian."

"However, dark swans are physically very fragile, just like the Emerald Swan. They cannot possibly compare to a supreme true dragon such as the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King," Mu En added.

"I considered what kinds of soul skills you should acquire a long time ago. This dark swan should bring you a pleasant surprise."

"Yes, Elder Mu." Ye Xixuan firmly nodded, struggling to suppress the joy in his heart. He had never expected

Mu En to consider his needs so thoroughly, even personally finding such a suitable soul beast for his third soul ring.

He certainly could not let Mu En's kindness go to waste. He immediately sat cross-legged, condensed a Shadow Dagger, and severed the dark swan's proud, slender neck.

A deep purple soul ring tinged with black began to condense above the dark swan's body. Its dense soul power resonated with the surrounding space, producing a trembling hum.

Drawn by his soul power, the dark swan's soul ring slowly descended from above Ye Xixuan's head. The searing sensation of fusing with a soul ring instantly spread throughout his meridians. Still, everything remained within his control.

Mu En had already assessed Ye Xixuan's physical strength beforehand. Reassured, he closed his eyes again.

After the disaster during Xuan Zi's expedition, although Mu En had offered him words of comfort, how could he possibly have had no reservations? If an expedition could go wrong even under the leadership of a level-ninety-eight Super Douluo, he could no longer feel at ease letting anyone else take Ye Xixuan into the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain a soul ring.

He had simply taken matters into his own hands and personally found this soul beast for Ye Xixuan in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Mu En had placed great hopes in Ye Xixuan. More than anything, he hoped Ye Xixuan would inherit his mantle and become Shrek Academy's sea-steadying pillar.

The Grand Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult was really putting his back into it. Everyone, send over some recommendation votes and monthly votes! This little mouse was going to sprint with everything he had.

(End of chapter)