Chapter Thirty-Seven: Entering the Spirit Pagoda Again

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About a minute later, Long Chen was defeated.

It had taken slightly longer than Xue Liushuang had expected.

Although the Radiant Holy Dragon Martial Soul was not renowned for its defensive power, as a top-tier True Dragon Martial Soul, its defense was still no weaker than that of an ordinary top-tier defensive Martial Soul.

The defensive strength granted by this True Dragon Martial Soul allowed Long Chen to hold out a little longer beneath the Moonlight Sword’s Light-Splitting Swordsmanship.

Still, although Long Chen had lost, he showed no excessive dejection.

At this stage, he possessed only one soul skill, Dragon’s Claw, whereas Xue Liushuang had both her first soul skill and the self-created Light-Splitting Swordsmanship, a technique that perfectly complemented her Martial Soul.

Every direct descendant of the Xue family began cultivating this sword technique, which had been passed down for thousands of years, from the age of three.

He had only mastered Dragon’s Claw for half a year. Being suppressed without the chance to fight back by an opponent who had specialized in Light-Splitting Swordsmanship for three years was hardly anything to be ashamed of.

Among the two provisional vice-class monitors, Long Chen was challenged by Xue Liushuang. Of the six remaining challengers, not a single one initiated a challenge against Xu Yucheng.

That outcome was largely thanks to the Dark Demon Scythe’s formidable reputation.

Even while suffering from backlash, a first-ring Soul Master already represented the Dark Demon Scythe’s strongest period. Now that the problem of Martial Soul backlash had been resolved, Xu Yucheng would only grow stronger. Naturally, no one was willing to challenge him.

Another half hour passed.

Of the six challengers, Weng Daimin stepped forward first, moving faster than anyone else and putting on a brilliant display by taking advantage of the challenge rules.

She first chose to challenge Xue Liushuang, then immediately conceded once the match began.

That meant Xue Liushuang had used up her one opportunity to be challenged, and her position as vice-class monitor was now fully secured.

Zhang Xuanfeng had nothing to say about it.

After all, making reasonable use of the rules was itself a demonstration of ability.

“For this challenge tournament, Xue Liushuang can no longer be challenged. As for Xu Zhao and Xu Yucheng, no one has challenged either of them for the time being.”

He looked toward the five remaining challengers and slowly said, “I will count down from ten. If none of you initiates a challenge, this month’s challenge tournament will come to an end.”

“Ten…”

“Nine…”

“Eight…”

“Seven…”

“Six…”

“Five…”

“Four…”

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“Three…”

“Two…”

“One…”

“The challenge tournament is over. The three class-monitor positions of Sun Class are as follows: Xu Zhao will serve as class monitor, while Xu Yucheng and Xue Liushuang will serve as vice-class monitors.”

…

Six months later.

Bright City Spirit Pagoda.

“Grandpa Yang, I heard that the soul spirits I wanted have been transferred here from the Spirit Pagoda headquarters.”

Xu Zhao sat comfortably on the sofa in the VIP room, looking at the black-robed old man before him with anticipation in his eyes.

“You little rascal. Your information is certainly well connected.”

Yang Wenkang teased him with a laugh. Then, noticing that Xu Zhao had come alone, he asked curiously, “Where is your grandfather? Why didn’t he accompany you?”

Given his understanding of Xu Minghuang, there had to be some important matter preventing him from getting away.

Otherwise, for something as important as choosing a soul spirit, the old man would never have failed to accompany his grandson.

“My grandfather?” Xu Zhao answered honestly. “He gained some insight a while ago and went into seclusion.”

“Into seclusion?” Yang Wenkang was stunned. A trace of envy then appeared on his face. “After all these years, is that old fellow finally about to break through to the Ultimate Douluo realm at level ninety-nine?”

“I told him long ago not to devote so much energy to mechas. Otherwise, with your grandfather’s talent and the resources of the Xu family, he would have become both an Ultimate Douluo and a four-word battle-armored master by now.”

“Unlike me. My talent is just a little lacking, so I’ve been stuck at the peak of level ninety-eight, unable to break through to the next level.”

Xu Zhao listened in silence.

Grandpa Yang was right.

There were quite a few battle-armored masters who also cultivated as mecha pilots, but most of them stopped after reaching the highest grade of black mecha.

That was because divine-grade red mechas consumed far too much mental energy and effort.

His teacher, Mu Ye, the sect master of the Body Sect, was the best example.

Although his grandfather had stopped in time after barely upgrading his mecha to the red grade, the resources and energy he had expended had still left his cultivation at the peak of level ninety-eight, while he remained a three-word battle-armored master.

Had Xu Zhao not used the power of his Mind Martial Soul to help his grandfather, no one knew how much longer it would have taken him to break through the bottleneck leading to the Ultimate Douluo realm.

Perhaps more than a decade.

Perhaps an entire lifetime.

Now…

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His grandfather’s soul power had broken through, and with the help of his teacher, his three-word battle armor could also be upgraded to four-word battle armor within the next few years.

Once that happened, the Xu family would finally possess a peak combatant of the present age.

As for his teacher, Mu Ye, Xu Zhao was powerless to help.

It was not that he was unwilling. Rather, Mu Ye had completely abandoned the cultivation of his own soul power and devoted all his mental energy to mechas.

The Mind Martial Soul was not omnipotent. Unless Mu Ye was willing to give up mechas altogether, Xu Zhao could only wish to help while lacking the strength to do so.

…

“Come, let’s take a look at the soul spirits you selected.”

Yang Wenkang gave a gentle wave of his hand, and eight clusters of soul-spirit light immediately appeared on the table in the VIP room.

“It really was clever of you to think of this—relying on your identity as the successor of a Divine Craftsman to make this old man transfer every soul spirit you took a fancy to here at the Bright City Spirit Pagoda.”

“Grandpa Yang,” Xu Zhao said solemnly, “the finest top-tier soul spirits in the Spirit Pagoda grow fewer with every one that is used. It is truly a case of the swift securing them while the slow go without. If I don’t obtain the soul spirits I favor in advance, what will I do if someone else takes a fancy to one and has it transferred away?”

Upon hearing this, Yang Wenkang immediately burst into cheerful laughter.

“Excellent, excellent! I like your way of doing things!”

“Your standards are frighteningly high, though. Even I had to go to considerable lengths to transfer these eight soul spirits from various Spirit Pagoda branches.”

“And among these eight soul spirits, fully four are Unyielding Soul Spirits—half of the total.”

Unyielding Soul Spirits were extraordinarily unique existences among soul spirits.

They possessed a pride—or, one might call it an indomitable arrogance—that other soul spirits could scarcely match.

Only a Soul Master who gained the recognition of an Unyielding Soul Spirit could successfully absorb it.

Otherwise, if a Soul Master attempted to forcibly absorb one against its will, the Soul Master’s life would certainly be endangered.

For that reason, Unyielding Soul Spirits were often among the most powerful of all soul spirits. Even those that appeared less formidable possessed special innate talents absent from other soul spirits.

Among all the Unyielding Soul Spirits, the one that had left the deepest impression on Xu Zhao was not the Tyrannosaurus Rex, but the Golden-haired Lion Mastiff.

The reason the Golden-haired Lion Mastiff could overpower the Tyrannosaurus Rex was that it had once displayed an utterly heaven-defying feat of combat prowess in a book:

In the form of a ten-thousand-year soul spirit, it had directly suppressed a ninety-third-ranked Titled Douluo surnamed Tang, a powerhouse renowned for his strength.

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