The Glory of the Sun and Moon in the Peerless Tang Sect

Xu Zihuang and the others were resting, and Zhou Ye, who was protecting Dai Luoli, naturally wouldn't disturb them rashly. He even deliberately avoided looking at them to avoid offending them.

Although Dai Luoli was only a son of a concubine, he was still the son of Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger Clan. Ever since he awakened his martial spirit at the age of six, the Duchess had never withheld his share of cultivation resources.

It should be said that no smart person would do something that would invite gossip and criticism.

Compared to Huo Yuhao, Dai Luoli received much better treatment as a child, at least in terms of adequate nutrition. In addition, the strong physique brought to him by the mutated White Tiger Martial Soul allowed him to successfully fuse with the soul ring of the giant pawed black tiger in just over an hour.

Of course, this was also because the giant black tiger had been severely injured by Xu Zihuang, and its resentment before death was mostly directed at Xu Zihuang. This resulted in Dai Luoli hardly experiencing the backlash of the soul resentment within the soul ring's power when fusing with this soul ring.

Soul resentment is a weakened version of soul vibration.

The resentment of a soul exists within any soul ring.

When a soul beast with a cultivation level of ten thousand years or more dies, the resentment within its soul ring will sublimate into a soul shock. Generally speaking, absorbing the soul ring of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast requires at least level fifty of soul power. Reaching level fifty means that a soul master's various functions have reached a certain level, and their mental strength has also grown to a certain extent. Only then can they withstand the soul shock.

A bright yellow spirit ring pulsed up and down on Dai Luoli's body before suddenly freezing.

Dai Luo opened his eyes and stood up, his second spirit ring surging with yellow light as he swung his right hand. Instantly, a phantom white tiger claw appeared in mid-air. The tiger claw shimmered with intense white light, and the fluctuations of spiritual power became even more pronounced. It even caused the space around the tiger claw to appear distorted.

It then slammed its fist onto the ground with a deafening roar. A large, dented tiger claw mark also appeared in front of it.

The second soul skill that Dai Luoli acquired was the Black Tiger Giant Spirit Claw, the innate soul skill of the Giant Paw Black Tiger. However, after combining with his White Tiger Martial Soul, it became the White Tiger Giant Spirit Palm.

The White Tiger Giant Spirit Palm incorporates elements of mental attacks.

Even Bei Bei noticed the special nature of Dai Luoli's martial soul this time. He had also inherited Elder Mu's "Dominating the World" battle technique, which combined soul power and spiritual power. He could sense that Dai Luoli's second soul skill, the White Tiger Giant Palm, clearly showed the initial rudimentary form of the fusion of soul power and spiritual power.

That's truly incredible.

Dai Luoli clenched his fists excitedly; his second soul skill was far more powerful than the White Tiger's Blazing Light Wave. And all of this was thanks to Yu Tianhuang.

If it weren't for Yu Tianhuang, he wouldn't have been able to obtain the top-grade soul ring from that giant black tiger.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at Xu Zihuang with gratitude and deep respect.

"Let's leave the Star Dou Great Forest first."

Xu Zihuang simply nodded slightly to him, then got up and walked out of the Star Dou Great Forest with Bei Bei, who was carrying Tang Ya, and Ning Tian.

"Yes."

Dai Luoli subconsciously responded, and then she and Zhou Ye quickly followed.

He was by nature the kind of person who was insecure and timid. Although he wanted to talk to Xu Zihuang along the way, he never dared to speak.

Xu Zihuang took the initiative to talk to him for a few minutes, which made him very happy.

But this was ultimately only their first meeting, and it ended there.

After leaving the Star Dou Great Forest, the two sides parted ways.

Chapter 243 Huo Yuhao's Last Hope

This trip to the Starry Sky Forest has now come to a successful conclusion.

Not only did Ning Tian and Tang Ya obtain top-quality soul rings that suited them, but Tang Ya's Blue Silver Emperor bloodline was also activated.

When Tang Ya regained consciousness, she was pleasantly surprised to find that her soul power had broken through three levels, reaching level forty-three. This was definitely an unexpected delight for her.

Generally speaking, those at Shrek Academy who are confident in participating in the inner court assessment are elite outer court students whose soul power cultivation has reached at least level 45 during their six years of study.

For example, Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei both took the inner court assessment after their soul power broke through to level 45.

This is only because their martial spirits are exceptionally powerful and their foundations are profound. For an ordinary outer court student, at least a late-stage Soul Master level cultivation would be needed to successfully pass through the inner court.

The internal examinations are extremely rigorous.

But Tang Ya is already in sixth grade. Unlike Bei Bei, who took the inner academy exam in fifth grade, she doesn't have any buffer time. She only has this one and only chance to take the inner academy exam. If she fails, it means she will have to leave Shrek Academy, where she has lived for six years.

In order to gain admission to the inner academy and remain by Bei Bei's side, she spent the next period of time frantically cultivating and engaging in combat to improve herself, all under Bei Bei's guidance.

During this time, Beibei also obtained a soul bone for Tang Ya.

Although Elder Mu is Bei Bei's great-grandfather, Shrek Academy is not their private property. Searching for a suitable soul bone for Tang Ya from the academy's collection is clearly inappropriate.

Moreover, Beibei never had such thoughts.

He obtained that soul bone through Ning Tian's request, using the power of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School. Of course, Xu Zihuang was the person who handled all the handover in the process.

The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School commands numerous Nine Treasure Pavilions, originally belonging to the three major empires of the Douluo Continent, which collect all sorts of treasures from across the continent. Soul bones frequently appear in their year-end auctions of rare items.

Especially the Nine Treasures Pavilion auctions in the three imperial capitals of Tiandou City, Lingdou City, and Xingluo City, as well as Shrek City.

Tang Ya's soul bone was taken from the Nine Treasures Pavilion's inventory in Star Luo City. Ning Tian was happy to do Bei Bei and Tang Ya a favor, and at her instruction, he sold it to Bei Bei at the auction's reserve price.

This is arguably the most appropriate approach. If it were given to Beibei for free, she definitely wouldn't accept it.

This way, she not only saves face but also forces Beibei to accept the favor without causing any resentment.

Although the soul bone wasn't of exceptionally high quality, it was still a decent ten-thousand-year-old soul bone. It was a right arm bone taken from the Crimson Flame Thorn, a plant-type soul beast with fifteen thousand years of cultivation.

Xu Zihuang and He Caitou had encountered a Crimson Flame Thorn with nearly ten thousand years of cultivation in the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest. The Crimson Flame Thorn was a rather powerful fire-attribute plant-type soul beast, and its innate soul skills were quite troublesome. However, He Caitou used the Super Energy Concentration Soul Guidance Cannon to instantly kill it, preventing it from fully displaying its abilities.

Strictly speaking, Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass martial soul is not suitable for fusing with the Crimson Flame Thorns soul ring. While doing so would increase his Blue Silver Grass's resistance to fire and frost, the resulting soul ring skills would be less powerful.

However, if it involves fusing soul bones, the situation is different.

Soul bones are abilities independent of martial souls and soul rings.

As long as it's not completely opposite to or conflicting with one's own martial soul attribute, theoretically, fusion can be successful. Regardless of the strength of the soul skill attached to the soul bone, it will enhance the soul master's abilities to some extent.

By fusing with the ten-thousand-year-old Crimson Thorn right arm bone, Tang Ya not only gained considerable ice and fire resistance for her Blue Silver Grass martial soul, but also acquired a wide-range attack soul skill. This greatly compensated for her current shortcomings.

The starting bid for the right arm bone of the Ten-Thousand-Year Crimson Thorn was 1.5 million gold soul coins. To raise this money, Bei Bei borrowed from many familiar inner court students. The first one she approached was Xu Sanshi.

Don't let their bickering fool you; these two are a real match when it comes to a fight. Unfortunately, despite being the second young master of the Xuanming Sect, Xu Sanshi, like Bei Bei, only has a few hundred thousand gold soul coins at most. Most of that comes from the one million gold soul coins he won in the previous Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament.

This one million gold soul coins, unlike the three soul bones, were distributed among the eleven members of the main team and reserve team according to their contributions.

Considering the relationship between Yu Tianhuang and Ning Tian, ​​Bei Bei couldn't very well ask Yu Tianhuang for money again. In the end, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to Zhang Lexuan, the senior sister of the inner courtyard.

However, what greatly relaxed and surprised him was that Zhang Lexuan was now exceptionally calm when facing him.

In the past, Zhang Lexuan always had a hint of melancholy between her brows, but this time, Bei Bei found that the Lexuan he remembered had undergone a complete transformation in her demeanor. When she handed him the gold card worth a million gold soul coins, her pretty face radiated a sunny smile.

After parting ways with Zhang Lexuan, Beibei felt much more relaxed. He was genuinely happy for the change that had occurred in Zhang Lexuan.

Xu Zihuang resumed his studies as usual. However, he consistently exceeded the goals set for him by Elder Mu and Fan Yu, so he didn't seem to feel any sense of urgency.

In this fulfilling life, the academic year at Shrek Academy was quickly coming to an end.

The students of the Foreign Languages ​​Department all felt a sense of urgency and worked hard to cultivate and study.

The only exceptions are those students who are confident they can pass next year's entrance exam, or those who feel they cannot pass and give up on themselves.

Winter nights can be a bit chilly, but the area outside Shrek Academy's east gate remains bustling with activity.

Street vendors gather here, and the aroma of various local snacks fills the air. The streetlights lining both sides of the wide main road illuminate this area brightly.

In a corner by the roadside, Huo Yuhao sat by his grill, silently roasting fish over charcoal.

With his head bowed, his medium-length black hair obscured his eyes, giving him a gloomy air. He would occasionally raise his head to look in the direction of Shrek Academy, his deep blue eyes filled with a hint of obsession and the last glimmer of hope amidst despair.

There are only two days left in this semester, but his soul power cultivation is still stuck at level nineteen. He estimates that at his current cultivation speed, this month-long holiday definitely won't be enough to break through the level twenty bottleneck. Not to mention, he also needs to successfully acquire a soul ring during this time to advance to the Great Soul Master level in order to pass the fourth-year entrance exam for the Soul Guidance Department.

In his despair, Huo Yuhao thought of the Profound Water Pill that Bei Bei had given him. He had personally experienced its effects. The transformation brought about by just one Profound Water Pill had more than doubled his cultivation speed compared to the beginning, and it had also directly increased his soul power by nearly three levels. If he could obtain another Profound Water Pill, he was confident that he could break through to level 20 in a short time.

Therefore, during this period, he set up a stall outside the East Gate almost every day, hoping to earn money to buy Xuan Shui Dan (a type of medicinal pill).

However, when he overheard a senior from the Soul Guidance Department mentioning the price of the Profound Water Pill, which was over ten thousand gold soul coins, he was plunged into despair once again.

That's ten thousand gold soul coins! For an ordinary soul master like him with no background, that's an astronomical figure.

Then, when the senior mentioned a female student named Ying Ke'er from Class 4 of the third year of the Martial Soul Department, whose soul skill had an effect similar to the Xuan Shui Dan, his hope was rekindled.

Huo Yuhao has always had a good memory, and he clearly remembered that a female student who often came to his grilled fish shop to buy grilled fish was named Ying Ke'er.

So he arrived at the East Gate early today to set up his stall.

Not long after, the person he had been waiting for finally arrived.

Several female students dressed in yellow uniforms from the Martial Soul Department walked out of the gate of Shrek Academy. These female students looked to be around thirteen or fourteen years old, and judging from their yellow uniforms and age, they were clearly third-year students.

While these female trainees weren't as beautiful as Ning Tian and Tang Ya, they were still quite charming and attractive. Their lively presence instantly drew many eyes.

Leading the way was a girl with shoulder-length cherry-red short hair, none other than Ying Ke'er, the class monitor of Class 4, Grade 3, who was in the same grade as Xu Zihuang.

Following Ying Ke'er's gaze, the girls behind her also looked in Huo Yuhao's direction and walked over.

One of the girls stood in front of Huo Yuhao's grilled fish stall, wrinkled her nose, and stared wide-eyed in surprise.

"It smells so good! Ke'er, so what you said was true. How come we never noticed before?"

"He used to only set up his stall on weekend mornings. Think about what you guys were doing back then," Sakura teased with a grin.

The other girls blushed and exchanged embarrassed glances. They were either support-type, healing-type, or food-type Soul Masters, and their academic workload wasn't as heavy as that of battle-type Soul Masters. At that time, they were either sleeping or meditating. They would always stay in bed until a certain amount of time before finally getting up.

In terms of effort in cultivation, they are far inferior to Ning Tian and Ying Ke'er. An excellent Soul Master cannot succeed solely based on their innate talent; hard work after birth is equally important.

Even Xu Zihuang never slacked off in his cultivation.

The girl who spoke first was the first to calm down and said regretfully in a soft voice, "It's a pity that Sister Tian'er is currently preparing for the inner court assessment and doesn't have much free time, otherwise I really should have brought her to try it too."

“There will always be opportunities in the future.” Ying Ke’er replied with a smile that did not diminish, and then said to Huo Yuhao, “Give us two grilled mandarin fish each.”

Huo Yuhao, who had been eagerly waiting, nodded quickly, flipped the grilled fish that was almost done grilling a few more times, sprinkled on the seasoning, and handed it to everyone.

To earn more money, he upgraded his grill. Now the large grill can grill eight fish at once, just enough for the four people in Ying Ke'er's group.

Everyone eagerly took a bite of the grilled fish, savoring the crispy, oily skin and the tender, garlic-like fish meat beneath. The texture was distinctly layered. Both the cooking time and the flavor were impeccable.

"Ke'er, this tastes absolutely amazing."

"I knew it." Ying Ke'er puffed out her little chest proudly, but her gaze inadvertently glanced at Huo Yuhao.

Although she seemed a bit carefree, she was actually quite sharp. On the contrary, because she came from a prominent family of Soul Masters, she was smarter than many of her peers. She only acted that way purely out of a quirky sense of humor. How could she not notice the strange look in Huo Yuhao's eyes?

However, she did not expose Huo Yuhao to his face. Instead, she took out eight silver soul coins from her soul tool and placed them on the grill.

She wanted to see what kind of gourd Huo Yuhao was selling today.

"I...I don't want money." Huo Yuhao's expression changed, and he stammered.

Both Huo Yuhao and Dai Luoli felt inferior, but compared to Dai Luoli, Huo Yuhao was even more stubborn, clinging to his last shred of self-respect. If it weren't for the need to continue studying at Shrek Academy, he would never have bothered to ask for help.

"Then what do you want?" Ying Ke'er frowned slightly and asked subconsciously. The other three female students beside her also looked at Huo Yuhao curiously.