Douluo Continent.
Heaven Dou City.
Twenty kilometers from the city gate, there is a large mountain, with numerous buildings and facilities built within it: majestic teaching buildings, lush green back mountain forests, and a gently rippling lake at the foot of the mountain.
Everything in the mountain is beautiful, especially at sunset when the sky is filled with evening glow. Against the backdrop of the red western sky, whether it's the lake at the foot of the mountain, the lush mountain forests, or the thousand-meter-high mountain, everything gives one a feeling of being in a paradise.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy was built around this large mountain and is the Heaven Dou Empire's largest Advanced Soul Master Academy. The dean of the academy in every session has been the Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire.
At this moment, at the entrance of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
There was a bustling crowd and a clamor of voices.
People came and went, with loving parents seeing their children off or welcoming them.
Today was the day for enrollment and registration at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, so it was exceptionally lively both inside and outside the academy.
The people coming and going were all elegant individuals dressed in luxurious clothing, accompanied by two or three attendants, bringing their children to register.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy had two conditions for recruiting students.
The first condition was that students must have a noble title.
The second condition was that even commoners could join with the title of'Special Talent' if their Spirit talent was outstanding or unique.
Special Talent did not mean exceptionally excellent, but rather specially privileged. If a high-ranking leader of the academy took a liking to a commoner's Spirit talent, they would issue a certificate of'Special Talent' to that commoner.
Just five meters outside the academy gate, two tables were set up, with two teachers sitting at them respectively, handling the registration procedures for the students who came to sign up.
Two long lines had formed, consisting of noble children dressed in splendid clothes, whose conversations exuded an air of nobility and etiquette.
However, among them, a black-haired young man stood out from the noble crowd. Dressed in simple blue attire, he stood quietly in the middle of the two lines, hands in his pockets, exuding an air of heroism.
After gazing at the plaque above the academy entrance, which bore the six characters "Heaven Dou Royal Academy," for a few seconds, a faint smile appeared on the black-haired young man's handsome face.
"I finally found it. This is Heaven Dou Royal Academy, and it truly is built in the mountains, just as described in the original novel. I wonder if many interesting things will happen in the academy's small forest?"
As he thought, the black-haired young man's gaze shifted from the plaque at the entrance. His eyes scanned his surroundings. The lively atmosphere and the scene of numerous students arriving for registration couldn't help but remind him of his memories from when he first started university.
How could the young man have imagined that just a few months ago, his university life had just begun, when he suddenly transmigrated.
Suddenly disappearing from school, he wondered what kind of commotion it would cause, if there would be any big news, and if his parents would be sad and worried about his disappearance?
Alas.
Lü Buliang sighed dejectedly. He had once thought about transmigration, but when it actually happened to him, it was still somewhat difficult to accept.
After all, if he transmigrated to a new World, it meant that his original self in the original World had disappeared. The most heartbroken would undoubtedly be his family, right?
Sighing again, Lü Buliang put away the sadness on his face. Three months after transmigrating to the Douluo Continent, he had already tried various methods, but he simply couldn't find a way back to Blue Star.
Originally, a mobile phone had accompanied him to the Douluo Continent, and the phone had transformed into a magical system that could speak. Unexpectedly, that system suddenly malfunctioned and self-destructed right after giving him a New Player Gift Pack
Without the system that had turned into a mobile phone, it was equivalent to being completely cut off from Blue Star. To go back, unless he possessed the ability to freely traverse dimensional space, all worries and efforts would be in vain.
Instead of constantly thinking about how to return to Blue Star, it's better to accept the situation, become a Spirit Master in this World, cultivate diligently, and perhaps even become a god in the future, experiencing the joy of treating a World as one's own backyard.
He was familiar with the original novel's plot and the Newbie Gift Pack given by the system.
With these two conditions, it was not a pipe dream for Lü Buliang to cultivate to the realm of a god. What he needed was sufficient time to develop.
As a person from another World who transmigrated to the Douluo Continent, he not only retained his soul but also his original body. Lü Buliang was currently eighteen years old, and neither his age nor the energy contained in his body made it possible for him to awaken the power of the Douluo World.
Fortunately, before the system malfunctioned and self-destructed, it gave him a Newbie Gift Pack, which contained a Spirit Master package of a random level.
After using it, Lü Buliang obtained a Level 30 Spirit Elder package, which included a Level 30 spirit power pack, three spirit rings, and a Spirit Awakening Card.
After using the Spirit Awakening Card, it didn't awaken any incredibly powerful Spirit, because this item could only awaken a certain part of the body to become one's Spirit.
To Lü Buliang's regret, the body part awakened by the Spirit Awakening Card was not that stick, but his own Shadow. Otherwise, he would surely have pierced through Douluo with the name of Stick Douluo.
After awakening his Shadow to become his Spirit, Lü Buliang then used the Level 30 spirit power pack and the three spirit rings he got from the Newbie Gift Pack, advancing to a Level 35 Spirit Elder within a single day.
The three spirit rings were like god-bestowed spirit rings; after absorbing them, they would condense a spirit ring skill and spirit ring age most suitable for that Spirit Master.
Acquiring a Spirit, spirit rings, and spirit power was equivalent to giving birth to the power system of the Douluo World. His entire body was nourished by spirit power, and his physical strength became even more outstanding under the transformation of the spirit rings and Spirit.
Seizing the moment of inspiration, Lü Buliang hid in the outer area of the Star Dou Great Forest and cultivated for a full three months.
Initially, he had no combat skills and was unfamiliar with spirit ring skills and his Spirit. Whenever he encountered a low-level Spirit Beast, he would strike a Wing Chun pose to scare the Spirit Beast, only to be chased by it.
Fortunately, hard work pays off.
Drawing upon his understanding of shadow abilities from various films, television shows, and novels he had seen on Blue Star, along with three months of adaptation, Lü Buliang was now very proficient with his Shadow Spirit. He had a thorough understanding of the Spirit Abilities granted by the three spirit rings and a clear grasp of the advantages and disadvantages of his Shadow Spirit.
Firstly, the advantages of the Shadow Spirit were very obvious: it possessed infinite possibilities.
As long as there is light, any object can have a shadow. By controlling, attacking, or assisting the shadow of an object, one can affect any object. This is the infinite possibility of the Shadow Spirit; it can be cultivated towards the control system, support system, attack system, or any other Spirit Master development direction.
After cultivating to a higher level, the Shadow Spirit could even transform shadows into millions of shadow puppets, forming an army of one, creating something similar to the Black Shadow Legion from "Jackie Chan Adventures."
The disadvantage of the Shadow Spirit was equally obvious: light.
Generally, the stronger the light, the stronger the shadow.
Without the presence of light, shadows would not be born.
In a fantasy World, shadows belong to darkness, but they are not equivalent to darkness; rather, they have more of a superior-subordinate relationship. Under the effect of a Spirit Ability that blocks all light, leaving only darkness, the Shadow Spirit would be suppressed by the darkness, thereby becoming a useless Spirit that cannot be used.
Of course, darkness is the largest shadow. If the Shadow Spirit could evolve a darkness attribute, this disadvantage would be easily resolved.
While proficiently using his Shadow Spirit, Lü Buliang also paid attention to the current plot progression. There were still more than three years until the Pan-continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament mentioned in the original novel.
This meant that Tang San was currently only about eleven years old, had not yet graduated from Nuoding Academy, and the Immortal Herb opportunity was still available.
As Spirit Masters grow older, their cultivation becomes relatively slower. Transmigrating to the Douluo Continent with an eighteen-year-old body meant that Lü Buliang started cultivating at eighteen, while other Spirit Masters started cultivating at six. There was a full twelve-year gap in cultivation time between them.
Compared to any genius mentioned in the original novel, such talent was extremely poor.
If he could get the assistance of an Immortal Herb, his body would not only undergo great transformation, but his cultivation speed would also increase.
This would make up for the twelve-year cultivation time difference, and taking the Immortal Herb would bring countless benefits in the future.
Therefore, if conditions permitted, Lü Buliang did not want to give the Immortal Herb opportunity to others.
Coming to Heaven Dou Royal Academy was in preparation for acquiring the Immortal Herb.
The original novel mentioned that the Immortal Herb grew in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was in Dugu Bo's lair, somewhere in the Sunset Forest.
With his current reputation and strength, Lü Buliang simply couldn't meet Dugu Bo on his own, and naturally, he couldn't negotiate with Dugu Bo face-to-face.
Being new to a fantasy World and knowing nothing about its fantastical elements, he couldn't rashly enter the Sunset Forest to be besieged by Spirit Beasts, nor could he venture into the deadly Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well without any preparation.
Lü Buliang's idea was to first establish a good relationship with Dugu Bo's granddaughter, Dugu Yan. After gaining some understanding of the Sunset Forest and poisons, he would then use his relationship with Dugu Yan to get close to Dugu Bo. This would greatly increase the success rate and safety of obtaining the Immortal Herb.
Dugu Yan was a genius at Heaven Dou Royal Academy. The best way to approach her was, of course, to join Heaven Dou Royal Academy and become her teammate.