On the arena, Yu Tianheng slowly withdrew his Martial Soul. Looking at Yu Liuguang lying on the ground, he said mildly, "Your strength isn't bad either, but it's still far from enough. I hope you'll keep working hard on your cultivation."
Yu Liuguang struggled to his feet, his eyes full of disappointment and dejection, but a spark of fighting spirit also flared in them. "Just you wait. Next time, I'll win it back!"
With that, he hurried toward the training grounds, intending to seize the time to cultivate so he could defeat Yu Tianheng.
"Ding! Congratulations, host, on defeating another opponent. You have received 10 Heavenly Mandate Points."
Yu Tianheng then fought four more matches in a row.
He won every one of them with ease.
He gained 40 Heavenly Mandate Points.
Yu Tianheng swept his gaze over the assembled Soul Masters, looking down on them all. "Who else intends to challenge me?"
The crowd below the arena fell silent.
No one dared step up to challenge him.
Although several Soul Masters present were still at level eighteen or nineteen, they had no confidence against Yu Tianheng, who had repeatedly defeated his opponents with ease.
If they went up and won, it would only be expected, since they were older than him and their cultivation was a full five levels above his. If they lost, they would become a laughingstock.
If word got out, people would say they couldn't even beat a six-year-old!
Yu Tianheng turned to Yu Tianxin. "Big brother, would you like to come up for a match?"
Yu Tianxin waved a hand. "Forget it. Maybe next time."
As he spoke, Yu Tianxin was also utterly shocked. He had thought that even though Yu Tianheng was an Innate Full Soul Power Soul Master with slightly greater talent than his own, talent was not the only thing that mattered in a Soul Master's cultivation; there were many other factors.
His own future accomplishments might not necessarily fall short of Yu Tianheng's.
But he had never imagined that Yu Tianheng would be so heaven-defying. He had only been cultivating for such a short time, yet he could already defeat so many opponents with ease. It seemed Yu Tianxin would have to work even harder from now on. Otherwise, it was only a matter of time before Tian Heng surpassed him.
With Yu Tianheng's refusal, Yu Tianheng successfully claimed first place in the monthly competition.
This also made the pressure on the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's younger generation multiply.
They cultivated more diligently in the years that followed.
Seeing this, Yu Tianheng cursed the people present inwardly for being cowards. He had only fought a few matches and they had already stopped coming, leaving him with only 60 Heavenly Mandate Points in the end.
Soon, news of Yu Tianheng taking first place in the monthly competition spread rapidly, giving the elders of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan their first look at his strength.
After finishing a day of cultivation, Yu Tianheng returned to his residence.
He opened the Heavenly Mandate System's status panel.
Name: Yu Tianheng Age: Six Affiliation: Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan Realm: Soul Master level: Level 14 Power Attack System Soul Master; Martial Dao realm: Seventh level of the Skin Refining Realm Mastered skills: Thunder Dragon Claw Mastered cultivation techniques: Innate Skill (second level), Tyrant Dragon Body Refining Art (beginner) Heavenly Mandate Points: 160 Inventory: One hundred Silver Soul Coins
Yu Tianheng smiled when he saw the Heavenly Mandate Points field.
After being busy for so long, he had finally obtained some Heavenly Mandate Points.
"Open the system shop!"
Yu Tianheng said without hesitation.
The system shop opened immediately, revealing four headings: cultivation manuals, cultivation resources, divine weapons, and wondrous items.
Yu Tianheng opened the cultivation manuals section first. The system interface shifted, and a vast number of cultivation techniques appeared before him.
Cultivation techniques were divided into four grades: heaven, earth, profound, and yellow. Heaven grade was the highest, and yellow grade the lowest. Yet even the lowest yellow-grade techniques cost around 100 Heavenly Mandate Points to exchange for, while heaven-grade techniques cost thousands or even tens of thousands.
They were quite expensive.
Although he currently lacked the Heavenly Mandate Points to exchange for a cultivation technique, that did not stop Yu Tianheng from looking through their descriptions.
Soul Masters with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul had three innate gifts: lightning control, a powerful body, and Dragon Transformation.
To suit his own constitution, Yu Tianheng first chose to look at lightning-attribute cultivation techniques.
He would skip the yellow and profound grades for now.
He started at Earth Rank.
Earth Rank cultivation technique, "Nine Heavens Rushing Thunder Art": this technique drew the power of the Nine Heavens' thunder into the body. During cultivation, lightning flashed around the practitioner, and thunder rumbled without cease. Once mastered, it could summon the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning, capable of destroying heaven and earth. Its power shook heaven and earth, and it could instantly level a small mountain. It was a top-tier lightning cultivation technique for power attacks. Practitioners had to comprehend the intent of thunder atop a high mountain during a thunderstorm, guiding lightning into their bodies to temper their meridians. The process was fraught with danger, but success brought a leap in strength.
It cost 1,800 Heavenly Mandate Points to exchange for.
Earth Rank cultivation technique, "Ten Thousand Thunders Shadow Transformation Technique": this was an exceptionally unusual lightning cultivation technique. The practitioner could transform into countless lightning shadows, capable of both attack and defense and impossible to predict. In battle, the lightning shadows could attack enemies from every direction, making them impossible to guard against. The shadows could also merge with one another to unleash greater power. Cultivation required soaking in a lightning pool and using its violent lightning power to temper the body, gradually mastering the art of lightning shadow clones. It was quite difficult to cultivate, but once mastered, its practitioner was an extremely troublesome presence on the battlefield.
It cost 1,500 Heavenly Mandate Points to exchange for.
Seeing the descriptions of these techniques and their prices in Heavenly Mandate Points, Yu Tianheng could not help baring his teeth.
They were far too expensive!
He could not afford them at all.
At the very least, he definitely could not afford them anytime soon.
It seemed he would have to do more of the tasks issued by the system.
Come to think of it, some of the yellow-grade techniques in the system shop were cheap, but Yu Tianheng already had the Innate Skill and did not think much of them, so naturally he could not be bothered to exchange for them.
With that, Yu Tianheng had no choice but to leave the cultivation manuals section for now and select cultivation resources.
Although some items cost a great many Heavenly Mandate Points, there was no shortage of cultivation resources that cost only a few.
For example, body-tempering liquid cost only 10 Heavenly Mandate Points per bottle.
Primordial stones: stones containing the primordial Qi of heaven and earth. They could be used by martial artists for cultivation and were also effective for Martial Soul cultivation. Each cost 10 Heavenly Mandate Points.
Qi recovery pills: quickly restored a low-level martial artist's true Qi or a Soul Master's Soul Power. Each cost 20 Heavenly Mandate Points.
Yu Tianheng currently had a total of 160 Heavenly Mandate Points, so he exchanged them for two bottles of body-tempering liquid and four primordial stones in the system shop. He used the remaining 100 Heavenly Mandate Points directly to raise the level of the Innate Skill.
The Innate Skill was currently at level two. When he circulated it, the speed at which he obtained innate power doubled.
Over the next few days, Yu Tianheng did not even go to the training grounds. Instead, he stayed in his residence and began absorbing these cultivation resources to improve his Martial Dao cultivation.
After absorbing all the resources, Yu Tianheng's Martial Dao cultivation advanced greatly, reaching the ninth level of the Skin Refining Realm. He was only one step away from the second realm, the Flesh Refining Realm, and could break through at any moment.
With his current strength, even without using his Martial Soul, he could defeat any Soul Master below level twenty through physical strength alone.