Chapter 64: The Heavenly Path Academy: Conclusion
The final test, the Combat Assessment, concluded as Ye Wen had anticipated. The top three spots went to two noble students and one commoner. With the advantages of high quality education and nutrition, nobles naturally outperformed most ordinary soul masters. As for the commoner in the top three, he was an exceptionally promising talent.
"Lin Ping," Ye Wen thought to himself, "Martial Soul: Flaming Spear, a top tier weapon martial soul with innate level seven power. Its tip can be enveloped in searing flames, able to burn anyone who comes too close. He's also trained well in a family spear technique. When he's about to graduate, I'll see if we can bring him on as a teacher. With such talent, he should reach the Soul Sage level."
Ye Wen kept his word, providing each of the top three students with a tailored training plan and advising them on critical points in their cultivation. Additionally, he granted them permission to cultivate in the core of the Blue Silver Forest for one year.
However, the current heart of the forest no longer housed the old 85,000 year old Blue Silver King. During the academy's construction, Ye Wen and Ah Yin had scouted the Star Dou Forest's mixed zone and found three regular Blue Silver Kings that had reached 10,000 years. This was all they could find in the entire Star Dou Forest. Though these new Blue Silver Kings were highly intelligent, they could not yet speak as the old Blue Silver King had. For communication, they relied on Ah Yin.
The old Blue Silver King was now stored in Ye Wen's Martial Soul space. This was in preparation for a trip to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. At its current level of 85,000 years, the Blue Silver King was on the verge of becoming a 100,000 year old Blue Silver Emperor. All it lacked was time and nourishment. Planting it in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well would accelerate this transformation, allowing it to reach emperor status in just over a century. In addition, the Blue Silver King's strength, equivalent to that of a Title Douluo, would serve as a deterrent, protecting this treasured land from unwanted intruders.
After making arrangements for the academy, Ye Wen felt confident leaving it in the capable hands of Dugu Bo, serving as acting headmaster, and Chief Instructor Lu Feng. Together, these two powerful Soul Saints, bolstered by Ye Wen's reputation, provided ample deterrence against potential threats.
During this time, Tang Yuehua also visited Ye Wen to consult him on her martial soul's congenital limitations. Tang Yuehua's martial soul was a mutated version of the Clear Sky Hammer, known as the Harmonious Ring. How her Clear Sky Hammer had mutated into a ring was anyone's guess. Because of this mutation, her spirit power had been stunted at level nine, forever preventing her from becoming a full fledged soul master. Despite this limitation, she enjoyed the pampered life of the Clear Sky Sect's beloved "Little Princess." But Tang Yuehua refused to be the sect's sole disappointment. Even if the rest of the clan didn't bear ill will toward her, her own sense of inferiority gnawed at her.
When she learned that Ye Wen had helped resolve the issues with Yu Xiaogang's equally flawed martial soul, she was inspired, realizing her own martial soul might also be a failed mutation. Had the mutation succeeded, her Harmonious Ring could have matched the Clear Sky Hammer in potential. After all, her father was a Title Douluo, and her mother, also highly cultivated, had died during childbirth. She had even had an unusually strong appetite as a child a sign she later learned was typical of failed mutations.
However, unlike Yu Xiaogang, who had progressed past level ten and acquired spirit rings, Tang Yuehua remained stuck at level nine. Nevertheless, her Harmonious Ring had a unique innate domain, which helped calm people's minds, making it more respected within the sect. Such a domain was rare, typically appearing only among high level Title Douluo, and was almost unheard of among average soul masters. This background knowledge reassured Tang Yuehua, instilling her with hope that Ye Wen could guide her to break the limits of her failed mutation.
She was confident that her Clear Sky Sect lineage would be enough to secure Ye Wen's cooperation.
Ye Wen indeed wouldn't risk offending the Clear Sky Sect, a sect renowned for its pride and ruthlessness, typifying a "might makes right" mentality. Ye Wen's soul attribute detector revealed her Harmonious Ring contained a spatial attribute a rarity that confirmed her spirit power should have been above level five from the outset.
Tang Yuehua, Tang Hao's sister, was undoubtedly refined and elegant, her very presence captivating. But Ye Wen was wary of close association with the Clear Sky Sect. Thus, he instructed her to seek out spirit beasts with spatial attributes and make medicinal baths from their blood to strengthen her constitution. There was a chance, he said, she might break through to Soul Master level by doing so, and after that, she could follow Yu Xiaogang's method.
Of course, this was entirely wrong advice, since Yu Xiaogang's path was suited to beast martial souls, not tool type martial souls like Tang Yuehua's. But Ye Wen had no interest in helping her for free, especially when she had come without any offerings a clear attempt to "catch the wolf without a net." The entitled attitude of the Clear Sky Sect's members, it seemed, extended to basic manners.
Tang Yuehua, however, left quite satisfied, grateful to learn about her martial soul's attribute. While the detector's design had been widely circulated, spatial attributes had only recently been added, thanks to Ye Wen's discovery of a metal with heightened sensitivity to space. As he watched her walk away, Ye Wen's mind drifted to a student he'd once read about in Douluo Dalu II. Although the name escaped him, the student had a martial soul that granted a battlefield wide support ability. As his cultivation grew, so did his range, eventually allowing him to bolster thousands of warriors at once.
The effects were modest on an individual level, but across such vast numbers, it was enough to inspire dread. The martial soul's abilities taxed his soul power minimally, operating more as a rule based power. If Tang Yuehua's Harmonious Ring hadn't failed to mutate, it might have become an ability of that caliber. After all, no mutated form of the Clear Sky Hammer would be inherently weak. And with a natural domain as well, a successful mutation could have been formidable.
The Clear Sky Sect, Ye Wen thought, seemed destined for tragedy. If they weren't constantly sabotaging themselves, they might have been his ally. However, with their fatal pride, they were bound to provoke even stronger enemies in the near future. Best to keep his distance.
(End of Chapter)
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