Seven days later.
At the Tian Dou Grand Spirit Arena, the central competition platform was hosting Round 26 of the preliminaries.
"Whirlwind Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes!"
The attribute boosts from his support-type teammates still lingering, the super-sycophantic Feng Xiaotian unleashed a self-developed soul skill he had painstakingly researched over the years, even at the expense of neglecting his soul power cultivation.
Bang, bang, bang—
Feng Xiaotian's arms merged with the azure light wings formed by his third soul skill, Whirlwind Wings, transforming into a pair of sharp wing blades. Spinning like a top, his attacks grew stronger with each strike, delivering a barrage of slashes onto Xiao Bai's lion head.
With a soul power level of 44 and a top-tier variant martial soul, the Whirlwind Two-Headed Wolf, combined with the attribute boosts from his support teammates and his powerful self-created technique, Feng Xiaotian's strength at this moment could rival, or even surpass, that of a five-ring offensive-type Soul King.
Xiao Bai, being a support-type summoning beast, wasn't much stronger than an ordinary ten-thousand-year soul beast. After enduring thirty-five consecutive slashes from the Whirlwind Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes, Xiao Bai finally fell to Feng Xiaotian's thirty-sixth strike.
The next second, Xiao Bai's summoned body, composed of soul power, collapsed, dissipating into countless glowing points of soul energy on the competition platform.
Having expended a great deal of soul power to unleash his strongest trump card, Feng Xiaotian knelt on one knee, maintaining a cool pose. With a proud glance toward the stands where his beloved younger sister Huo Wu sat, he then turned to face Chu Chengzhou across the platform.
Feng Xiaotian couldn't help but feel smug. After all, this was the first time one of Chu Chengzhou's summoning beasts had been defeated on the battlefield.
"Not bad, Feng Xiaotian. I, Chu Chengzhou, acknowledge your strength! But now, I wonder how you plan to respond?"
Feng Xiaotian had used his "Simp's Thirty-Six Slashes" to take down Xiao Bai, but Chu Chengzhou wasn't upset. After all, summoning beasts were unafraid of death and would recover in no time. After offering a compliment, the third soul ring on Chu Chengzhou lit up, and a slender phoenix with a wingspan of over two zhang materialized in midair before him.
"A Fire Phoenix?!"
Staring at the noble figure that appeared on the platform, Feng Xiaotian's eyes widened in disbelief.
As an elite member of God Wind Academy, Feng Xiaotian naturally recognized the Fire Phoenix, a top-tier fire-attribute avian soul beast.
Moreover, this Fire Phoenix summoning beast was summoned through Chu Chengzhou's third soul skill. Since the third soul ring was older than the second, and considering that the Fire Phoenix was a top-tier offensive-type soul beast while the Light Lion was a non-top-tier support-type soul beast, the former would undoubtedly dominate the latter if their ages were the same.
In other words, Chu Chengzhou's Fire Phoenix summoning beast was far stronger than the Light Lion that Feng Xiaotian had just defeated.
Even though he was currently drained and unable to use the Whirlwind Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes again, Feng Xiaotian knew he wouldn't stand a chance against this Fire Phoenix summoning beast, even if he could.
Glancing at his six teammates who were hanging from the trees, Feng Xiaotian's face turned bitter. Sighing, he said, "I forfeit!"
Facing Chu Chengzhou's summoning beasts—a Sky Azure Tree summoning beast with a strength level exceeding 50, a stronger Fire Phoenix summoning beast, and a fourth summoning beast yet to be revealed—Feng Xiaotian saw no path to victory.
Since they were going to lose anyway, it was better to concede now. At least he wouldn't have to experience the humiliation of being hung from a tree.
"Feng Xiaotian, I heard you have innate full soul power. In my opinion, you should focus on cultivating your soul power rather than researching self-created soul skills.
Once you grow stronger and gain more experience, techniques like the Whirlwind Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes will come naturally."
Looking at the bitter-faced Feng Xiaotian, Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but offer some advice.
To be honest, Chu Chengzhou couldn't understand Feng Xiaotian's baffling choices.
Ignoring his low emotional intelligence and his decision to become a sycophant, Feng Xiaotian was one of the few people on the continent born with full innate soul power. Compared to someone like Hu Liena, who hadn't relied on any special advantages but broke through level 50 by age twenty, Feng Xiaotian was clearly lagging behind in terms of soul power cultivation.
Although Hu Liena was personally taught by the Pope of the Spirit Hall, the resources available to her during the early stages of her training weren't significantly better than those provided by God Wind Academy, one of the Five Elements Academies.
If Feng Xiaotian had focused on cultivating his soul power instead of tinkering with self-created soul skills, at his current age of 24, he could have at least reached the upper levels of a Soul King, and perhaps even had a chance to achieve the six-ring Soul Emperor rank.
One could say that Feng Xiaotian was a genius—or rather, a sycophant—whose potential had been wasted on self-created soul skills.
'Could it be... that I was wrong?'
After hearing Chu Chengzhou's words, Feng Xiaotian couldn't help but reflect inwardly.
At this moment, the referee stepped onto the platform and announced the result: "Preliminary Round 26, Lan Ba Academy versus God Wind Academy—Lan Ba Academy wins!"
Glancing at the contemplative Feng Xiaotian, Chu Chengzhou instructed Xiao Qing to release the God Wind team members who were hanging from the trees. After recalling his two summoning beasts, he led the Lan Ba team off the platform.
Leaving the Grand Spirit Arena and heading back to the academy.
"Good job, Chu lad! Your performance in the preliminaries has been very satisfying. As long as we defeat our final opponent tomorrow—Sky Water Academy—we'll secure first place in the Tian Dou Division preliminaries. I'm proud of you all!"
Looking at the ten young men and women walking beside her, Liu Erlong nodded in satisfaction, offering generous praise.
"Principal Liu, this is nothing. Our goal is the championship. First place in the preliminaries? That's just basic stuff. Don't get too excited!"
Chu Chengzhou waved his hand with a seemingly humble expression.
"..."
Liu Erlong was momentarily speechless.
On the surface, it sounded modest, but upon closer inspection, it seemed completely devoid of humility.
Meanwhile, in the hotel where Sky Water Academy was staying.
"Bing'er, our opponent in the final round of the preliminaries tomorrow is Lan Ba Academy. What do you plan to do?"
Shui Bing'er's direct aunt and principal of Sky Water Academy, Shui Wuyue, asked with a serious expression.
"Xue Wu, what about you guys?"
After pondering for a moment, Shui Bing'er didn't answer directly but instead looked at her teammates.
Xue Wu and the others exchanged glances and said, "Bing'er, although you're the youngest among us, you're our captain and leader. The decision is yours to make!"
"Alright!"
Nodding decisively, Shui Bing'er made up her mind and turned to Shui Wuyue: "Auntie, I plan to forfeit tomorrow's match.
Though we still have our Spirit Fusion Technique as a trump card, Chu Chengzhou's strength is unfathomable, and I'm not confident we can win. It's better to save our trump card for the finals, where we might surprise everyone and achieve better results.
Besides, even if we lose tomorrow, we've only lost to God Wind, Thunderbolt, and Blazing Fire Academies. We'll still secure one of the five advancement spots in the preliminaries."
Indeed, despite Canghui Academy's unexpected upset against Elephant Armor Academy, they were ultimately defeated by both Sky Water Academy and Blazing Fire Academy.
Their Spirit Fusion Technique had already been exposed, and with proper preparation, neither Sky Water nor Blazing Fire teams gave Canghui Academy a chance to unleash it on the battlefield.
The competition platform was only thirty meters in diameter. At the start of the match, Blazing Fire Academy's Huo Wu charged forward, followed by her third soul skill, Repulsive Fire Ring, disrupting Canghui Academy's formation and breaking their seven-man unified soul skill fusion technique.
As for Sky Water Academy, it was even simpler. Captain Shui Bing'er opened with a group ice-sealing soul skill, freezing Canghui Academy's captain Shen Xinshui and several other members. Without their soul skill fusion technique, how could Canghui Academy possibly stand against Sky Water Academy?
In fact, after today's matches, the situation in the Tian Dou Division preliminaries was already clear. Among tomorrow's matches, the only strong matchup would be between Lan Ba Academy and Sky Water Academy.
Regardless of the outcome of this match, the five advancement spots were already determined, and the result wouldn't affect the rankings of the five academies.
If Lan Ba Academy lost to Sky Water Academy, they'd still secure first place in the preliminaries, as no other academy could achieve a record of twenty-six wins and one loss out of twenty-seven matches.
And even if Sky Water Academy defeated Lan Ba Academy, their record would be twenty-four wins and three losses, which wouldn't surpass the shared second-place ranking of God Wind, Thunderbolt, and Blazing Fire Academies, whose records were tied at twenty-five wins and two losses due to triangular defeats.
Originally, based on strength, Blazing Fire Academy would only achieve twenty-four wins and three losses, losing to Lan Ba, Thunderbolt, and God Wind and ranking fourth. However, God Wind Academy's Feng Xiaotian was a big sycophant who surrendered his team to the goddess.
Early the next morning.
Before dawn, Chu Chengzhou was already meditating in the forest simulation training field behind the academy.
Although the forest simulation training field had low compatibility with his True Spirit Flag martial soul, the meditation benefits were minimal compared to nothing, so it was better than nothing. Besides, he planned to conduct an experiment there shortly.
Suddenly, a surge of information abruptly flooded into Chu Chengzhou's mind.
After a long while, having digested the influx of information, Chu Chengzhou opened his attribute panel.
[Attribute Panel]
[Host: Chu Chengzhou]
[Soul Power: Level 49 Soul Ancestor]
[Spirit Weapon: True Spirit Flag]
[Soul Rings: Black (10000), Black (10000), Black (10000), Black (22480)]
[First Soul Skill, Summon: Sky Azure Tree]
[Second Soul Skill, Summon: Light Lion]
[Third Soul Skill, Summon: Fire Phoenix]
[Fourth Soul Skill, Summon: Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear]
[Skills: Nine Breaths Qi Absorption (Red), Invincible Golden Body (Red), Eternal Thought (Red), Archery (Red), Agility (Black), Control (Black), Defense (Black), Forging (Black), Illusion (Black)]
[Achievements: 1. Archery (Red), 2. Agility (Black), 3. Nine Breaths Qi Absorption (Red), 4. Illusion (Black), 5. Fourth Soul Ring (Black)]
Three days ago, after advancing one level to become a Level 49 Soul Ancestor , the archery mastery skill that had been AFKing in the first slot for three hundred days finally upgraded to red tier.
Without hesitation, Chu Chengzhou renamed the archery skill to Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow."
In ancient mythology, when ten suns scorched the earth, a great deity named Yi wielded a divine bow and arrows, shooting down nine suns in succession to save humanity. The divine technique he used was none other than the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow.
Chu Chengzhou's expectations weren't high—he didn't aim to shoot down the sun like the legendary Hou Yi. He simply hoped that this skill would one day be capable of piercing even the strongest God King in the Douluo divine realm.
Tang Great God King: How dare you attempt to slay gods! You're courting death!
After upgrading his archery skill, Chu Chengzhou glanced at the agility mastery skill in the second AFK slot and noticed its progress wasn't slow either. After another twenty or so days, it would also upgrade to red tier.
As for the other Red-Tier skills like Nine Breaths Qi Absorption and Black-Tier skills like Illusion, as well as his twenty-thousand-year fourth soul ring, they were still far from undergoing qualitative changes—likely not before he advanced to the Soul King stage.
After some thought, Chu Chengzhou removed the upgraded Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow from the AFK slots, replacing it with the Control skill. Rising to his feet, he manifested his True Spirit Flag martial soul in hand, activated his fourth soul ring, and summoned Big Bear to prepare for testing the power of the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow.
"Big Bear, go stand far away. I want to test the power of the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow."
Pointing to a distant spot, Chu Chengzhou instructed Big Bear.
Big Bear: "..."
So you summoned me just to use me as a target? Why did I end up with such a heartless master?
Filled with resentment, Big Bear took reluctant steps backward, attempting to dissuade his ruthless master with a pitiful expression.
Unfortunately, Chu Chengzhou's heart was as black as coal, completely ignoring Big Bear's so-called pitiful—though actually terrifying—expression.
After all, Big Bear was a two-meter-tall Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear, whose appearance could scare the majority of soul masters on the continent, even when pretending to be pitiful.
Roar—
Not long after, standing a hundred meters away with his claws gripping a large tree trunk, Big Bear raised his rump in resignation and let out a low growl toward Chu Chengzhou.
Seeing this, golden soul power shimmered in Chu Chengzhou's hands, and in an instant, a magnificent golden bow composed entirely of soul power materialized.
Examining the golden bow in his left hand, Chu Chengzhou nodded in satisfaction.
After upgrading the Black-Tier archery skill to the Red-Tier Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow, not only did it introduce more advanced techniques for forming soul power arrows, but it also included methods for manifesting the bow itself.
Before today, he could form a pure soul power bow, but it was merely for show, vastly inferior in quality to bows forged from spirit metal.
But now, with advanced techniques for forming soul power bows, even without a spirit-forged bow, he could fully unleash the power of the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow.
Of course, compared to a spirit-forged titanium arrow-breaking bow, a soul power-formed bow would still be slightly inferior.
After all, a soul power-formed bow couldn't provide attribute boosts to the soul power arrows it fired.
It could be said that with the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow skill, he could break free from the limitations of physical bows. However, with a high-quality spirit-forged bow, the upper limit of his power would be even greater.
Next, a three-foot-long metallic soul power arrow materialized. Drawing the bowstring, Chu Chengzhou aimed at Big Bear a hundred meters away and released his grip.
Swish—!
A faint sound of air splitting echoed as the soul power arrow transformed into a streak of golden light, crossing the hundred-meter distance in an instant and striking Big Bear's raised rump.
Clang—
Instantly, a metallic clang resounded. The soul power arrow failed to penetrate Big Bear's resilient dark golden fur and fell to the ground, gradually dissipating into soul power particles.
While the Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear's massive claws were unmatched in offense, it didn't mean their defense was weak—it just wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful as their attack.
A twenty-thousand-year-old Dark Golden Terror Claw Bear's defensive capabilities alone could rival the six-ring defensive soul skills of an ordinary seven-ring defensive-type Soul Sage.
It was normal for a single soul power arrow to fail to break through its defenses, and this was within Chu Chengzhou's expectations.
However, although it didn't penetrate, Chu Chengzhou could sense the power of the soul power arrow.
Conservatively estimating, the power of this arrow surpassed the ten-thousand-year single-target offensive soul skills of an ordinary Soul King and could even rival the ten-thousand-year fifth single-target offensive soul skills of a newly minted six-ring Soul Emperor.
Compared to before, the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow's power had increased by a significant margin. Moreover, while soul power consumption had also increased, the rate of increase was smaller than the boost in power.
This meant that if Chu Chengzhou maintained the previous power level of his arrows, the soul power required to form them would drop significantly.
Of course, the effects of the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow mastery didn't end there.
Golden soul power shimmered again in Chu Chengzhou's right hand, and soon, four sharp soul power arrows were held between his fingers, excluding his thumb.
Drawing the bowstring, "Swish, swish, swish!" three streaks of golden light shot out in a triangular formation toward Big Bear.
Clang, clang, clang—
Big Bear felt a numbing sensation in his buttocks and hurriedly covered his sensitive areas with his short tail.
The next moment, Chu Chengzhou unleashed the fastest hand speed of his fifteen-year single life, firing a continuous barrage of soul power arrows. Big Bear's buttocks felt like they were being bombarded by a machine gun, with metallic clangs ringing out incessantly.
After a long while, sensing that his soul power was more than halfway depleted, Chu Chengzhou stopped his actions. Flipping his hand, he retrieved the spirit-forged titanium arrow-breaking bow.
Roar, roar, roar!
Seeing his heartless master pull out the titanium arrow-breaking bow, Big Bear immediately panicked and waved his claws while growling repeatedly.
Noticing Big Bear's resistance, Chu Chengzhou thought for a moment and decided to put away the titanium arrow-breaking bow.
With the Divine Sun-Shooting Arrow's upgrade, the titanium arrow-breaking bow's power had naturally improved as well.
Although its primary effect relied on the powerful armor-piercing ability of spirit-forged titanium infused with soul power, the increase in power wasn't as dramatic as that of soul power arrows. Still, if an arrow struck Big Bear's rump, it would inevitably leave a mark. Even as a heartless master, Chu Chengzhou couldn't bring himself to bully Big Bear this way.
Roar, roar—
Seeing his heartless master put away the deadly weapon, Big Bear hurried over, wagging his bear butt and waving his claws as if protesting something.
"Alright, alright, you're not injured, so why are you sulking? At most, I won't use you for experiments in the future!"
Patting Big Bear's leg, Chu Chengzhou consoled him.
"Roar?"
"Really!"
Chu Chengzhou nodded.
"Roar!"
Big Bear immediately brightened up, looking like a silly bear who had stolen honey without getting stung.
At the Tian Dou Grand Spirit Arena, in the competitors' rest area.
"What? You're saying the Sky Water Academy team forfeited early?"
Chu Chengzhou's eyes widened in astonishment as he questioned the tournament staff member before him.
Just moments after entering the rest area, a tournament official had informed them that their final preliminary round opponent, Sky Water Academy, had forfeited, automatically granting Lan Ba Academy the win and securing first place in the Tian Dou Division preliminaries with a perfect record.
"Yes, Sky Water Academy forfeited. This was personally communicated to the tournament committee by their principal, Shui Wuyue."
The notifying staff member nodded with a hint of regret.
Why the regret for a match unrelated to him? Well, that's a story for another time!
After confirming the news again, Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but feel speechless.
How could Sky Water Academy forfeit early? By silently conceding, how was he supposed to give the audience a display of his rope artistry?
What a pity, such a pity!
After all, the Sky Water Academy team consisted entirely of delicate young ladies!
Hanging opponents from trees was a tradition of his during the Soul Master Tournament, something the audience was well aware of.
With such expensive tickets, the stands were packed every day, and surely a significant portion of the audience came specifically to watch his "talent show," right?
Without this segment of the performance, wouldn't it be a disservice to the ticket price?
However, with Sky Water Academy forfeiting early, Chu Chengzhou couldn't force them to compete. All he could do was apologize to the fans who had always supported him.
"Hmph! None of you are good people!"
Seeing Chu Chengzhou, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, Tai Long, Jing Ling, and Huang Yuan all wearing expressions of regret, Xiao Wu snorted with disdain.
Clever and perceptive Xiao Wu, even using her toes to think, could easily deduce what the six of them were regretting.
"Cough, cough. Xiao Wu, don't misunderstand me. I'm just lamenting the loss of a worthy opponent."
Clearing his throat, Chu Chengzhou awkwardly explained.
"That's right, Xiao Wu. You can't think too poorly of us!"
Ma Hongjun quickly chimed in.
"Yeah, yeah, we're all pure!"
Oscar nodded solemnly.
"Pure? Pure my ass! The only ones in our team who aren't pure are you and Fatty!"
United in sisterhood, Ning Rongrong, as the second sister, followed in the footsteps of their leader Xiao Wu, launching a verbal assault with sharp words against Oscar and Ma Hongjun.
"Just me and Little Ao? Are you serious? Boss Chu, can you handle it?"
Seizing the key point, Ma Hongjun winked suggestively at Chu Chengzhou.
Chu Chengzhou: "..."
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