After Tang San finished communicating with Tang Xiao and Tang Hao, he returned to his room alone and began to think.
Tang San years old and Soul Power Level 66, which is similar to his Soul Power Level in the original novel. (The difference is due to the Soul Power increase from Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring Soul Bone that are 100,000 years younger.)
Tang San carefully considered his growth over the years. Now, Tang San's Soul Power is stronger than that of other people his age. His biggest advantage is his Innate Full Soul Power, plus the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng he used back then. However, Tang San is now close to becoming Soul Saint, and he has almost completely absorbed the effects of the Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng. His cultivation speed will probably slow down in the future.
Tang San couldn't help but recall the Earth Essence Fruit that Yang Wudi had taken out, and he also remembered that Yang Podi had mentioned taking the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum during the Soul Competition. According to Tang San's own guess, the immortal Immortal Herb that appeared in the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record have now appeared in several plants on the Douluo Continent.
The Breaking Clan, in particular, has produced five Titled Douluo in just twenty years. Yang Podi, Titled Douluo who is only twenty-four years old, is a prime example. This suggests that the Breaking Clan has likely obtained a considerable amount of immortal Immortal Herb.
It's worth noting that Tai Tan and Bai He, who were once on par with Yang Wudi and Niu Gao in terms of talent and status, are now only at the Soul Douluo level, and their Soul Power has not increased in recent years, meaning their potential has been exhausted.
After much deliberation, Tang San decided to sneak into the Heavenly Pursuit Academy Heavenly Pursuit Academy night to find out what secrets it held. Even if he were discovered, with the high-level combat power of the Upper Three Sects, nothing would happen to him. He could even use this opportunity to force the Breaking Clan.
Tang San himself always felt that the people from the Heavenly Pursuit Academy should have been affiliated families of the Clear Sky Sect, and should have been part of his own power. Although the Clear Sky Sect was wrong back then, without the Clear Sky Sect, where would they be today?
Moreover, among the four major single-attribute clans that were abandoned back then, the Speed Clan and the Strength Clan have returned to the Clear Sky Sect, so the Breaking Clan and the Defense Clan should also return. (In the original novel Tang San probably had this in mind when recruiting the Breaking Clan and the Defense Clan; otherwise, why didn't Tang San recruit other Soul Douluo clans?)
After tidying himself up, Tang San made an excuse to leave Monai City, changed into a set of black clothes, and quietly slipped into the night.
Monai City is very close to the Heavenly Pursuit Academy. In less than half an hour, Tang San had already arrived at the foot of the mountain.
At the foot of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy is just an ordinary Soul Master Academy, with relatively lax management, making it very easy for Soul Emperor like Tang San to evade it.
In particular, Tang San's Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass. Although he did not Second Awakening, he can still sense ordinary Blue Silver Grass from a very far distance and can detect relevant personnel and dangers.
After avoiding various sentry posts, Tang San arrived at the mountainside, which was also the main activity area of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy. Apart from a few core disciples and some high-ranking members, the members of the four major families basically lived on the mountainside, making the entire mountainside resemble a small town.
The defenses on the mountainside are much tighter, with a single city wall exceeding thirty meters in length. The wall is patrolled by various Soul Master and even equipped with various defensive weapons.
Taking advantage of the darkness and the detection capabilities of the Blue Silver Grass, especially his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, Tang San could appear and disappear without a trace. Moreover, Tang San had cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Skill to a high level, allowing him to conceal his Soul Power, making it difficult for even ordinary Soul Saint to detect him.
When Tang San arrived at the city wall, he looked at the defensive structures on it and was immediately filled with curiosity.
Logically speaking, since the blueprints for Hidden Weapon were leaked, all the major sects and forces have tried to build many Godly Zhuge Crossbow, which are excellent for both defense and surprise attacks. However, Heavenly Pursuit Academy did not build these things. Instead, they built other things, including ballistae and crossbow carts, which are much larger than the Godly Zhuge Crossbow. Some of the larger ballistae are even as big as half a room.
However, Tang San was very knowledgeable about the crafting of Hidden Weapon and immediately recognized the purpose of these ballistae and crossbow carts. Perhaps they lacked concealment and mobility and could not be used by hand, but they were more suitable for defending cities because these ballistae and crossbow carts were much more powerful than the Godly Zhuge Crossbow. In particular, the crossbow carts were made on a principle that was even somewhat similar to the Godly Zhuge Crossbow, but with stronger attack power and lower cost. The materials used for the crossbow carts were very simple and did not require any precious metals.
After carefully observing these defensive devices, Tang San's heart sank. It seemed that the Heavenly Pursuit Academy was more complex than he had imagined. They probably also had the blueprints for the Godly Zhuge Crossbow and could even improve upon it and invent new equipment.
Tang San wandered around the mountainside of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy for half a day without making any significant discoveries.
The overall strength of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy was much greater than he had imagined. Two Soul Douluo were even discovered halfway up the mountain, and there were even more Soul Saint. Based on this strength, the mid-level strength of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy was even much stronger than that of the current Clear Sky Sect and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
In particular, some of the training methods at the Heavenly Pursuit Academy seem to be more sophisticated and effective than those set up by Yang Podi at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
For example, the obstacle course at the Heavenly Pursuit Academy is designed with greater precision, has more events, and is suitable for Soul Master of various levels.
Not to mention, there were many training equipment that Tang San had never seen before, which almost refreshed Tang San worldview. After all, many of these devices were designed by Yang Podi based on fitness methods from later generations, and ancient martial arts sects did not have them.
In particular, Heavenly Pursuit Academy has designed a large number of medicinal bath facilities, and the students are managed on a large scale. This saves both teaching staff and resources, making it seem less like a sect and more like a workshop that manufactured the Zhuge Repeating Crossbow.
Tang San also discovered a large number of simulated environments on the mountainside, which were very suitable for the cultivation of all kinds of Soul Master. Moreover, the simulated environments had been processed in various ways to maximize the utilization of resources.
Through his analysis of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy, Tang San concluded that it was nothing like an academy, but more like a military-style training base, especially since it was a place specifically for training Soul Master.
According to Tang San's estimation, Heavenly Pursuit Academy has several particularly distinctive characteristics.
First of all, Heavenly Pursuit Academy is very wealthy. Even ordinary Soul Master use very good medicinal baths, which are probably only enjoyed by the core disciples of major sects.
Furthermore, Heavenly Pursuit Academy possesses a vast array of simulated environments, indicating a significant investment in their creation—perhaps even surpassing that of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy. It's worth noting that Heaven Dou Royal Academy was built with the resources of the entire royal family. Could it be that Heavenly Pursuit Academy's wealth is now comparable to that of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family?
Secondly, Heavenly Pursuit Academy has a very standardized education system and advanced facilities. If this trend continues, in another twenty or thirty years, Heavenly Pursuit Academy will likely see an explosive growth in mid-to-high-level Soul Master. At that time, its overall strength may truly be able to crush the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect at their peak.
Tang San originally estimated that Heavenly Pursuit Academy would have around 1,500 Soul Master, most of whom would be low-level Soul Master. However, given Heavenly Pursuit Academy's training and development methods, these 1,500 Soul Master would likely become experts above the Soul King level, and there might even be a large number of Soul Saint and Soul Douluo. Their strength would be terrifying then.
Tang San was genuinely puzzled. Although the Breaking Clan was the largest pill-making family on the Douluo Continent, they shouldn't be making this much money. Even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, which was known as the richest in the world, wouldn't be so reckless in training a large number of ordinary disciples.
Of course, the most important point is that everyone in the entire Heavenly Pursuit Academy seems to be cultivating very diligently. Even in the middle of the night, the simulated environment is still crowded with people, completely unlike the arrogant and leisurely atmosphere of other major sects.
What Tang San didn't know was that all of this was thanks to Yang Podi, who, after acquiring a large number of treasures from the two major families, provided numerous rewards to the Heavenly Pursuit Academy. He even established various rankings within the academy, allowing those who could break through quickly or whose combat power ranked high in the entire academy to receive relatively more resources.
Yang Podi even established various reward and punishment systems within the academy. The most outstanding students in the academy were even rewarded with spiritual medicines and Soul Bone, which were treasures that Soul Master sought after.
After Tang San explored the entire mountainside of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy Heavenly Pursuit Academy, he valued it even more. With such formidable overall strength and so much wealth, if it were used to develop Clear Sky Sect and Tang Sect, wouldn't Clear Sky Sect be able to quickly return to its position as the number one sect in the world?
At this moment, Tang San became even more interested in the core area of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy at the top of the mountain. If there were so many surprises at the mountainside, the top of the mountain must be even more terrifying and unexpected.
However, Tang San was also very clear that the mountaintop location would be extremely difficult to explore, since there were five Titled Douluo there, and there would probably be even more Soul Douluo and Soul Saint. If he wasn't careful, he might be captured.
However, Tang San was highly skilled and daring, or perhaps he was more interested in and excited about exploring the sect's secrets.
In the original novel, it's almost unbelievable that Tang San, as a Tang Sect, was able to discover the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record of the Tang Sect. After arriving in the Douluo Continent, he also explored Gengxin City and the Star Dou Great Forest, and even once infiltrated the Spirit Hall's hunting team to kill Xiao Wu, and once followed the Spirit Hall to hunt down Da Ming and Er Ming, and each time he gained a great deal.
Tang San seemed unusually excited, but he eventually calmed down and secretly sneaked towards the core area of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy at the top of the mountain.
However, as soon as Tang San entered the core area of the Heavenly Pursuit Academy, Yang Podi noticed the anomaly. As a Level 98 Titled Douluo, he could sense even an insect entering the mountaintop.
Especially since Tang San deliberately concealed his aura, but in terms of the Mysterious Heaven Skill, Yang Podi's cultivation level was far higher than Tang San's. How could he possibly fail to detect the exploration of a mere Soul Emperor?
Let alone Tang San, even Ghost Douluo's hiding place was not discovered by Sword Douluo and Tang Xiao. It was Yang Podi who easily discovered it.
However, Yang Podi did not make a sound for the time being. He wanted to see what Tang San was up to and how well the family's defenses were doing. If they couldn't find Tang San and let Tang San leave safely, then the academy would probably need to undergo major reforms, otherwise it would be easy for the enemy to wipe them all out.
After Tang San entered the mountaintop, he became particularly cautious, especially since he mainly stayed in areas where Blue Silver Grass grew, using the Blue Silver Grass to conceal his presence.
Throughout the original novel, one should not doubt Tang San 'Tang San ability to infiltrate; his act of stealing is also consistent with his character.