Soul Power Level 10

Two years and three months later.

Early one morning, Yang Yunhai woke up early as usual and got up to dress.

Suddenly, he froze, then broke into a delighted smile.

"Breakthrough!?"

He naturally sensed that the soul power within him was full and abundant, as though he had touched some sort of bottleneck.

Closing his eyes to examine it carefully, it really was true.

Without a doubt, his soul power had broken through to Level 10.

Counting the time, from awakening his martial soul to breaking through to Level 10, he had spent a little over two and a half years in total.

It was neither slow nor fast. He should have been a little faster than Yu Xiaogang had been in his youth, even with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's resources supporting him.

Why did he say that?

During the battle between the Shrek Seven Devils of Suotuo City and Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Yu Tianheng had met with Yu Xiaogang and spoken with him. The former had explicitly mentioned that Yu Xiaogang had held him when he was old enough to remember, and that Yu Xiaogang had given him a relatively happy childhood. That was why he had always respected Yu Xiaogang.

The age at which humans began forming memories was around three. Few people could remember anything from before they were three.

Judging by Dugu Yan being nearly twenty when Yu Tianheng first appeared, even if Yu Tianheng had not yet been twenty, he had to have been eighteen or nineteen, right? Added together, that was at least twenty-one years.

In other words, Yu Xiaogang had still been living with the clan in his twenties, and he had obtained his first two Spirit Rings with the clan's help. That was also why his first two Spirit Rings had been of the optimal age. As for when Yu Xiaogang had left the clan, Yang Yunhai guessed it had been after he reached Level 29, encountered a bottleneck, and remained unable to break through. If he could have broken through, with a father who was the clan leader protecting him and an abundance of resources supplied to him, why would Yu Xiaogang leave? Even if people gossiped about him, he could at least continue cultivating, couldn't he?

The most likely reason he had ultimately chosen to leave was that he had been unable to break through to Level 30 for too long.

As long as he could still improve, there was still hope. Yu Xiaogang might have been able to endure the disdain of his clansmen. But if he remained unable to break through, the psychological pressure as time passed was easy to imagine.

Combined with what Yu Xiaogang had told Tang San, Level 30 was a threshold. If one could not break through to Level 30 before the age of twenty, it would become much harder to cross afterward. Yu Xiaogang probably had not said that solely based on the conclusions of his soul master theory research.

It was also his own experience.

In other words, Yu Xiaogang had most likely reached Level 29 before turning twenty, only to encounter a bottleneck afterward.

Then, he had endured criticism from his clansmen for years, until he could no longer bear it and left the clan.

After that, he went to Spirit City, likely hoping to use Spirit Hall's soul master records to find a way to break through his bottleneck. But he failed. During that time, he met Bibi Dong, though they eventually separated. Later, while traveling, he met Flender and Liu Erlong in turn, but ultimately went their separate ways with Liu Erlong as well. Afterward, Flender founded Shrek Academy, while Liu Erlong founded Blue Tyrant Academy.

As everyone knew, Shrek Academy had existed for twenty years by the time Tang San joined.

By that calculation, Yu Xiaogang had spent more than twenty years in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Shrek Academy had existed for twenty years, and then there was the time he spent in Spirit City and other scattered periods. Altogether, that came to at least forty years.

That happened to match Yu Xiaogang's age when he first appeared.

This, in turn, supported the speculation that Yu Xiaogang had remained in the clan for more than twenty years and reached Level 29 before turning twenty.

From 0.5 Innate Soul Power to Level 29 was a difference of 28.5 levels. He had awakened his martial soul at six and spent less than fourteen years cultivating, averaging a little over two levels per year.

And the higher one's soul power became, the harder it was to improve. The first ten levels were the easiest. So, converting that into Level 0 to 10, Level 10 to 20, Level 20 to 29... it seemed that, damn it, his speed really was not much better than Yu Xiaogang's!

Yu Xiaogang had the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan providing cultivation resources, while he could cultivate by drawing lightning.

The only thing he surpassed him in was probably that he cultivated more diligently.

Fine! I'm still a loser.

After settling his somewhat excited emotions, he got dressed, got out of bed, washed up, and completed the whole routine in one go.

Leaving the dormitory, he finished breakfast and dashed toward the Dean's Office.

Not long after, inside the Dean's Office.

"Blue Silver Grass cultivation can be this fast too?" Upon hearing Yang Yunhai say he wanted to take leave to go out and obtain a Spirit Ring, the Dean was astonished.

If someone from a great clan, with 0.5 Innate Soul Power, could cultivate to Level 10 in just two and a half years, he could believe it. After all, cultivation below Level 10 was the easiest for soul masters.

But Yang Yunhai was merely a commoner soul master!

In this utterly ordinary little place, with no cultivation resources supporting him whatsoever, he had risen to Level 10 in such a short time. The Dean truly found it somewhat unbelievable.

Since Tang San and Xiao Wu, both work-study students, had set such a remarkable example these past two days, he had learned something about Dorm Seven's situation. He knew that Yang Yunhai cultivated diligently, running to the Back Mountain covered in Blue Silver Grass every day and staying there all afternoon. He also cultivated for a long time at night, practically a cultivation fanatic.

Still, he had never expected his cultivation speed to be so fast, especially when his martial soul was Blue Silver Grass.

What a pity—Blue Silver Grass. The Dean looked Yang Yunhai up and down, sighing inwardly before speaking.

"Student Yang Yunhai, I approve your request for leave."

"However, I must especially remind you to carefully consider joining Spirit Hall." Yang Yunhai came from Lonely Grass Village, and Lonely Grass Village's Village Chief was a retired Spirit Hall Deacon. His son and grandson were also Spirit Hall soul masters. Yang Yunhai was asking for leave to go out this time rather than applying to the academy for a teacher to lead a team and help him. He presumably intended to return to the village and ask the Village Chief for help obtaining a better hundred-year Spirit Ring.

As for going alone to the Soul Hunting Forest to form a team and hunt one down, with a Useless Martial Soul like Blue Silver Grass, the Dean believed Yang Yunhai would definitely be unable to find a team.

Therefore, the only possibility was returning to ask the Village Chief for help. That was not difficult to guess.

"It isn't just Spirit Hall. The same goes for other sect forces. Joining a Soul Master Force may be good, but it also means losing your freedom. Besides, with your martial soul and aptitude, even if you join one, you likely will not receive much attention or training. Instead, one careless mistake could cost you your life." Perhaps because he recognized and appreciated the results Yang Yunhai had earned through hard work, the Dean spoke more than usual.

"Forget it. You're still young, so you may not understand what I'm saying." He shook his head and continued.

"In short, before you have decided what you want to do when you grow up, it is best not to rashly join any Soul Master Force."

Finding a small academy and becoming an ordinary instructor, collecting the soul master stipend every month—that's quite comfortable, he thought to himself.

Even Yu Xiaogang, who called himself a theoretical Grandmaster, had failed to break through Level 30. He did not believe Yang Yunhai could break through Level 30 in this lifetime.

"Mm, I'll consider it carefully. Thank you for the reminder." Yang Yunhai nodded and replied politely.

Seeing that Yang Yunhai had taken it in, the Dean smiled slightly and added, "All right, you may go now. I wish you success on this trip—and that you find one suited to you."

Before he had even finished speaking, there came a knock at the door. Then, with a creak, it was pushed open.

The two of them looked over instinctively. It was Yu Xiaogang.

"Director Su, I've come to collect this year's students' martial soul records." His voice arrived before he reached the desk.

"Grandmaster, it's you." Director Su stood with a smile. Glancing at Yang Yunhai, who had yet to leave, he said with a grin, "Grandmaster, your timing is perfect. This child's Soul Power has broken through to level 10. Give him some advice!"

"What kind of soul beast should this child hunt?"

PS: The timeline here is fine according to the descriptions in the early and middle parts of the original work. But it becomes problematic later, when Qian Renxue appears, because her established age is older than Yu Tianheng's, which throws the timeline into disorder. I suspect the author never considered the timeline issue when writing it. There's no need to dwell on it too much—the original work is full of bugs. This is also a reasonable inference I made based on Yu Xiaogang's earlier related plotlines.