The sixth-year graduation assessment for the outer courtyard of Shrek Academy and the inner courtyard assessment arrived as scheduled.
Tang Ya successfully obtained her fourth soul ring, advancing to the Soul Ancestor level, so the outer courtyard assessment naturally posed no problem for her. Moreover, due to the activation of the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline within her, Shrek Academy indeed relaxed some requirements for her inner courtyard assessment.
With the enhancement of the ten-thousand-year Crimson Flame Thorn right arm bone, Tang Ya managed to pass the inner courtyard assessment without major issues, though not without some tense moments.
During the one-month vacation following the end of the semester, Ning Tian did not return to her sect. Instead, to keep up with Xu Zihuang's progress, she chose to stay in Shrek City's Nine Treasure Pavilion to cultivate.
In her occasional free time, she would stroll around Shrek City with Xu Zihuang.
During this period, Xu Zihuang happened to hear from Beibei and Tang Ya that Huo Yuhao's soul power had broken through to level 20. He ventured alone to the Star Dou Forest to hunt a soul beast. Although he returned in an extremely disheveled state, he successfully hunted a two-hundred-year-old Purple Spirit Wolf and absorbed its soul ring.
The Purple Spirit Wolf is a rare mental attribute soul beast. Its body resembles a wolf but is smaller than an ordinary wolf. Its forelimbs are particularly short, almost incapable of supporting its body. This means the soul beast's close-combat abilities are extremely weak.
As a mental attribute soul master himself, Huo Yuhao had considerable resistance to the Purple Spirit Wolf's innate soul skill, Mental Weakness. Additionally, his first soul skill, Fear, significantly countered the Purple Spirit Wolf's Mental Weakness. Through a series of fortunate coincidences, he used his first soul skill, Fear, and the White Tiger Dagger left to him by his mother to severely injure the two-hundred-year-old Purple Spirit Wolf. He then brought it outside the Star Dou Forest to complete the absorption.
The reason Huo Yuhao went to the Star Dou Forest alone was that Tang Ya was busy with her inner courtyard assessment at the time, and Beibei was accompanying her, leaving no time to pay attention to Huo Yuhao's situation.
It was only afterward that they learned about these events from Huo Yuhao himself.
It must be said that Huo Yuhao's luck this time was truly remarkable. If he had encountered any other hundred-year soul beast, he could have easily found himself in grave danger.
However, Xu Zihuang had no interest in delving into these matters. Instead, he focused his energy on continuing to carry out the Ultimate Soldier Plan alongside He Caitou.
The current Huo Yuhao was simply beneath his notice. Huo Yuhao was like this, and so was Dai Luoli. These two unfortunate brothers didn't even qualify to be his pawns at the moment.
During this vacation, a small incident occurred. Beibei learned that Xu Zihuang had obtained a right arm bone from a thirty-thousand-year-old Diamond Mammoth. This soul bone was highly compatible with the Mysterious Underworld Turtle Armor Shield, the inherited martial soul of Xu Sanshi's family. With Xu Zihuang's permission, Beibei shared this information with Xu Sanshi.
Of course, Xu Sanshi wouldn't directly inquire about it. Instead, he used subtle, indirect methods to gauge whether Xu Zihuang had any intention of parting with the soul bone. After all, bringing it up openly would change the nature of the matter.
Though their relationships were close, gifting such a high-grade soul bone for no reason would clearly be inappropriate.
Xu Zihuang was very willing to do this favor. Unlike the head soul bone from the Fear Demon Dragon in his possession, the thirty-thousand-year Diamond Mammoth right arm bone wasn't suitable for any member of the remnants of the Imperial Dragon Soul Mentor Legion under his command.
The Imperial Dragon Soul Mentor Legion, in pursuit of ultimate destructive power, never recruited defensive-type battle soul masters. They consisted almost entirely of strong attack and agile attack soul masters, paired with powerful soul tools, resulting in astonishing combat strength second only to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Mentor Legion.
The outcome satisfied both parties. An elder from Xu Sanshi's Mysterious Underworld Sect personally negotiated with Xu Zihuang, showing great sincerity. Not only did they offer to purchase the soul bone for eight million gold soul coins, but they also gifted Xu Zihuang three Mysterious Martial God Pills as an additional gesture.
The value of the Mysterious Martial God Pill far surpassed that of the Mysterious Water Pill by an unknown margin. The Mysterious Martial God Pill had two effects. The first was that it could stimulate a soul master's potential without side effects, allowing them to unleash greater combat power for a short period. However, this would inevitably lead to a period of weakness afterward. It was essentially an alternative to a bloodlust-type soul skill, though in pill form, with effects less potent than a true bloodlust soul skill.
The second effect was a significant enhancement of the body's physical condition. Even if internal organs were damaged or weakened, the pill could repair them, restoring them to perfect condition. It was truly a heaven-and-earth treasure-level pill.
Back then, Jiang Nannan had agreed to stay with Xu Sanshi precisely to obtain such a Mysterious Martial God Pill to cure her mother's heart condition.
This time, the Mysterious Underworld Sect directly offered three pills. Beyond demonstrating their sincerity, they also showed their intent to build a good relationship with Xu Zihuang.
This suited Xu Zihuang perfectly, and both sides parted on amicable terms.
As for the right arm bone from the thirty-thousand-year Diamond Mammoth, it ultimately ended up in Xu Sanshi's hands after some twists and turns.
Six months passed quietly, and Ning Tian advanced to the fourth year of the outer courtyard. Her soul power cultivation smoothly broke through two levels, reaching level 43. However, she chose not to participate in the inner courtyard assessment with Tang Ya. Instead, she decided to consolidate her foundation and prepare for the inner courtyard assessment at the end of her fourth year.
She was well aware that the academy's requirements for her would undoubtedly be much stricter than for Tang Ya.
To put it bluntly, Tang Ya's ability to enter the inner courtyard was largely due to the unique nature of her Blue Silver Emperor bloodline.
Xu Zihuang and Ning Tian's cohort was indeed filled with talented individuals. Dai Huabin, Xie Huanyue from Class Two, and Ning Tian herself were all highly likely to qualify for the inner courtyard by the end of their fourth year.
Another standout was Wu Feng. The quality of Wu Feng's Red Dragon martial soul was quite impressive, and her cultivation over the past few years had been exceptionally diligent. Her soul power cultivation was not far behind Ning Tian, Dai Huabin, and Xie Huanyue.
If Xu Zihuang was the unrivaled top tier among this batch of new students, the next tier consisted of Ning Tian, Dai Huabin, and Xie Huanyue. Wu Feng followed them, and after her came Zhou Sichen, Cao Jinxuan, Zhu Lu, and others.
As for Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, although their soul power cultivation lagged behind Ning Tian and the others, their potential was actually higher.
Tuoba Yu's White Armored Earth Dragon martial soul and his own talent, however, were somewhat inferior compared to these individuals.
Back then, he had stood out due to continuously taking Mysterious Water Pills and Soul Ascension Pills, as well as cultivating alongside Xu Zihuang in an environment with several times the usual concentration of heaven-and-earth energy. But as his cultivation progressed to later stages, the speed of his soul power improvement gradually slowed.
It's worth mentioning that Nanmen Yun'er, who teamed up with Xu Zihuang and Tuoba Yu, suddenly gained the attention of Shrek Academy's higher-ups for unknown reasons. She was directly promoted to a core disciple of the outer courtyard, and her cultivation progress was no slower than Wu Feng's. However, she kept a low profile, far less famous than Xu Zihuang, Ning Tian, Dai Huabin, Xie Huanyue, and Wu Feng.
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