Chapter 180: Tang San Unable to Break Through Rank 39
In the Hall of Worship of Spirit Hall, Qian Daoliu's expression held a trace of puzzlement. They had fought for so long, and logically Qian Xunji should have long since run out of spirit power. How could he still unleash this level of soul power?
In these three days of fighting, it had mostly been offense and defense. They hadn't really exchanged big collisions of power. With Qian Daoliu's Measurer's Sword and his mastery of the sword, he could suppress Qian Xunji in a straightforward fight. Yet if they stood their ground and clashed, relying purely on the power of Limit Douluo and the number of spirit rings, it might end in mutual injury—roughly a fifty-fifty outcome. So both had stuck to an offense-defense approach without large-scale direct collisions.
Boom—
Another wave of powerful energy rippled out. The more Qian Xunji fought, the stronger his spirit power seemed. His moves grew increasingly aggressive, whereas Qian Daoliu's swordwork started to unravel, leaving him feeling more and more powerless. Abruptly, Qian Xunji released a terrifying surge of soul power, his Angelic soul power forming a several-zhang-long golden Holy Sword that slashed toward Qian Daoliu.
Finally unable to hold out, Qian Daoliu was knocked from the sky, crashing into the mountain below, leaving a small crater behind. Observing from a distance, some of Spirit Hall's Elders and Titled Douluo were utterly astonished—this was too hard to comprehend.
"Big Brother lost…"
Before, over the last three days of battle, Qian Daoliu had always seemed to hold the absolute upper hand. Now, in a single moment, Qian Daoliu was defeated.
Covered in dust and breathing heavily in the crater, Qian Daoliu couldn't help asking, "What have you done? Why has your spirit power recovery been so fast?"
Qian Xunji smiled faintly. "I have the Snow Empress to thank for that."
"That six-hundred-thousand-year fierce beast… Did you learn some new cultivation method from her?"
"In a sense. Fierce beasts' cultivation can indeed be more advanced than ours. She possessed something beyond us—something called a soul core."
"A soul core?"
"A soul core is formed by compressing soul power in one's dantian until it's solidified. While it doesn't directly raise one's strength, it can operate automatically, continuously replenishing one's spirit power."
On hearing this, Qian Daoliu's eyes dimmed. If the soul core could raise actual combat strength, he might fight Tang Chen again. He had once lost to Tang Chen's ring detonation technique, and at that time Tang Chen hadn't even blown up his final hundred-thousand-year ring. But if a soul core only enhanced soul power recovery, it still wouldn't let him beat Tang Chen.
"Where's that fierce beast gone?"
"We completed our deal, so she returned to the Extreme North."
Qian Daoliu raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. He'd thought Qian Xunji wouldn't let that unbelievably beautiful fierce beast go—that using him to seal the Snow Empress's cultivation to learn something valuable would be a trick. It seemed Qian Xunji really had no malicious designs.
"All right, then. Are you making me concede?"
Qian Xunji rotated his wrists, ready to strike at any moment. "Concede? That word doesn't exist in Father's vocabulary."
There was no such word as "concede" in a knight's dictionary. Even if beaten into the ground, Qian Daoliu would never surrender. And he didn't think Qian Xunji dared inflict severe harm on him.
But Qian Daoliu's pupils widened as golden fists descended from the sky like a rainstorm, drowning him in light and dust. The mountain below wasn't significantly damaged—meaning those golden blows weren't too destructive, but they certainly hurt if they landed on someone. In the end, Qian Daoliu lost and had to be carried back to Spirit Hall.
—
Only a few days remained before the start of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament. Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Within a room, Flender, Yu Xiaogang, and the Shrek Seven gathered. All seven wore various expressions.
After an entire year and a half of Tang Hao's torturous training, they had indeed grown much stronger. But nobody knew how much damage Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ma Hongjun had sustained in the process.
At present, the Shrek Seven's strength was:
Dai Mubai, rank 41 assault-type Battle Soul Ancestor: two yellow, two purple rings. Four soul skills: White Tiger Barrier, White Tiger Light Wave, White Tiger Vajra Transformation, White Tiger Meteor Shower.
Oscar, rank 35 food-type Tool Soul Elder: two yellow, one purple rings. Three soul skills: Recovery Sausage, Detoxification Sausage, Swift-Flying Mushroom Sausage.
Tang San, rank 39 control-type Battle Soul Elder: two yellow, one purple rings. Three soul skills: Bind, Parasite, Spider Web Restraint.
Ma Hongjun, rank 36 assault-type Battle Soul Elder: two yellow, one purple rings. Three soul skills: Phoenix Fire Wire, Bathing Fire Phoenix, Phoenix Wing Ascension.
Xiao Wu, rank 41 assault-type Battle Soul Ancestor: two yellow, two purple rings. Four soul skills: Waist Bow, Charm, Teleport, Invincible Golden Body.
Ning Rongrong, rank 41 support-type Tool Soul Ancestor: two yellow, two purple rings. Four soul skills: Strength Boost, Agility Boost, Soul Power Boost, Defense Boost.
Zhu Zhuqing, rank 34 agility-type Battle Soul Elder: two yellow, one purple rings. Three soul skills: Nether Thrust, Nether Hundred Claws, Nether Slash.
Each wore a different expression—none seemed excited, making Yu Xiaogang frown. The reason was simple. Compared to their previous life, these ranks were far below expectations. Dai Mubai had dropped from an original rank 44 to 41, Oscar from 41 to 35, Tang San from 41 to 39, Ma Hongjun from 41 to 36, and Zhu Zhuqing from 41 to 34. Ning Rongrong's rank was unchanged, but she wasn't happy. Besides her concern for her teammates, she was disappointed that in this life, despite having the Eight Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and working even harder, she had seen no better results.
Xiao Wu, under Tang Hao's strict demands, cultivated diligently and didn't wait for Tang San to catch up. As a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, her rate of progress was terrifying, going from rank 37 to rank 41—a formidable four-level leap. She remained troubled on behalf of her Third Brother, whose face looked quite grim.
Tang San's brow was tightly knit. The difference of two levels from his past life wasn't enough to upset him so. What truly disturbed him was that ever since hitting rank 39 three months prior, he had found no way to move forward. No matter how he tried—how diligently he trained—his Mysterious Heaven Skill refused to advance, stuck stubbornly in place. He'd even wondered if there was a problem with his body, asking his father Tang Hao for advice, but got no solution. Asking Yu Xiaogang, the latter hypothesized that perhaps Tang San's Blue Silver Grass spirit had reached its limit—like his own Luo San Pao, which never broke past rank 29—and advised him to switch to his second spirit, the Clear Sky Hammer.
Tang San, of course, refused. He meant to keep trying to find a fix, for in his previous life he had trained the Blue Silver Grass all the way to Title Douluo. How could it suddenly stop before rank 39? If he couldn't break 39, then adding a first ring to the Clear Sky Hammer might only be a thousand-year ring. For him—reincarnated with godhood in his past life, famed for outlandishly powerful ring configurations—it was utterly humiliating.
"Cheer up, little monsters!" said Flender, attempting to raise their spirits. "Your performance is already the best of any class Shrek Academy has seen in twenty years!"
He was actually extremely satisfied. Tang Hao's training combined with Heaven Dou Royal Academy's resources had steadily advanced them at a rate of around three levels per year—something not even Qin Ming had matched. Moreover, thanks to the Shrek Seven's exceptional talent, skill levels, and the presence of three Soul Ancestors, they had been designated Team Two of Heaven Dou for the tournament. This delighted Flender no end, for it meant his "little monsters" would stand on the grand stage, representing Heaven Dou Royal Academy before nearly all major powers and countless soul masters, thereby glorifying Shrek Academy. As for them wearing Heaven Dou's uniforms, he felt no remorse. He and Yu Xiaogang had always planned to "borrow a chicken to lay eggs." So long as the children's hearts remained with Shrek, it was fine. After the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament, he'd bring them back to re-establish Shrek Academy.
(End of the chapter)
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