"After this exchange event ends, I'll speak to my teacher about this matter. You need to prepare in advance," Xu Yuan told Yuanen Yehui.
Yuanen Yehui lowered her head and nodded slightly.
If the Pavilion Master of the Sea God's Pavilion were to intervene, perhaps her martial soul issue could be completely resolved?
Yuanen Yehui's strongest asset had always been her second martial soul, the Fallen Angel.
There was no helping it—the essence of the Fallen Angel martial soul wasn't inferior to that of the Titan Ape. Moreover, its uniqueness allowed it to generate soul rings independently, boasting three black soul rings, providing her with enhancements far surpassing the four soul rings of the Titan Ape.
And that was just the most basic aspect.
More importantly, she was simply more suited to the Fallen Angel martial soul.
As a girl possessing two martial souls, it was obvious which one was better suited for her.
If the drawbacks of the Fallen Angel martial soul could be resolved, eliminating the threat of the Demon Plane entirely, she would be free to cultivate this martial soul without reservation.
Cultivating freely meant she could fully harness this martial soul, which was on par with Xu Yuan's Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear!
As fellow Soul Emperors, she was already far weaker than Xu Yuan. Now, as his junior—three years younger than her—he had already reached the Soul King stage ahead of her.
This widened the gap even further.
It wasn't just Xu Yuan; there was also Wu Siduo.
Yuanen Yehui understood Wu Siduo's terrifying potential better than anyone else. She often trained against her, and although her Titan Ape allowed her to compete with the Netherworld White Tiger in terms of raw strength, she was still at an absolute disadvantage.
No matter how top-tier a martial soul was or how powerful it was in terms of strength, it couldn't compare to someone wielding a Spirit Fusion Technique.
And this was still the case because Wu Siduo primarily cultivated the Netherworld Spirit Cat.
If Wu Siduo focused on her White Tiger martial soul and activated the Spirit Fusion Technique, the power of the Netherworld White Tiger would undoubtedly rise to another level.
Despite being three years younger than her, both Xu Yuan and Wu Siduo were surpassing her. Even Tang Wulin and Gu Yue displayed extraordinary talent, putting unprecedented pressure on Yuanen Yehui.
With dual martial souls and two top-tier ones at that, she had her own pride.
Reflecting on the past few years, Yuanen Yehui realized she had grown complacent.
Currently, among the second-year students, she was the strongest. Moreover, Le Zhengyu, who was at her level, had taken a three-year leave and hadn't appeared at the academy, solidifying her position as number one, unchallenged by anyone. As a result, her cultivation inevitably slackened.
Over these two years as a second-year student, Yuanen Yehui's progress was nowhere near the level it had been during her first three years as a first-year.
This was the pressure of competition.
But it was also the benefit of competition.
The reason Shrek Academy remained perpetually strong was twofold: firstly, the quality of its students was among the best on the continent, and secondly, these top-tier geniuses competed fiercely with each other, like nurturing a swarm of venomous creatures, pushing themselves to their limits and nearly fully unlocking their potential.
Educational philosophy?
There was nothing particularly advanced or innovative about it.
---
After seeing off Yuanen Yehui, Xu Yuan became somewhat lost in thought.
The Abyss…
"The Abyss is currently the greatest threat to the Douluo Plane. Whether it can be devoured will determine the future of the Douluo Plane. Similarly, whether I have the ability to devour it will determine how much I can gain from the process."
The evolution of planes always benefited some more than others.
In the original storyline, Tang Wulin benefited the most—not only because he was the grandson of the plane, but also because he served as the medium through which the Douluo Plane devoured the Abyss. Almost all the energy passed through him as a filter.
This might also be the reason he was later able to withstand more of the Golden Dragon King's seals.
It laid the foundation for him, enhancing his innate power and enabling him to control the Golden Dragon King's strength.
Of course, it also helped that he slept for ten thousand years.
"The nature of the Abyss plane is unique. Its essence is pure energy, making it harder to devour. However, the Demon Plane is different—it's a material plane like the Douluo Plane. Its energy, once refined, should be portable."
Even so, the energy of the Demon Plane was still foreign plane energy to Xu Yuan.
Thus, he planned to use it as a stepping stone to study the intricacies of devouring foreign plane energy.
But that wasn't all.
In his cultivation of the Seven Forbidden Techniques, Xu Yuan couldn't claim to match the pace of Yun Ming, the founder, but he had already surpassed his fastest period of progress.
Now, his mastery of the Seven Forbidden Techniques over the natural world relied solely on the passage of time.
Yes, time.
Xu Yuan believed that his teacher, Yun Ming, was the same.
By deepening his understanding of the natural world and the laws governing it, he could further integrate his essence, energy, and spirit into the control of the world through the Seven Forbidden Techniques.
"There shouldn't be a plane master in the Demon Plane, right?"
Xu Yuan speculated and hoped it was true.
Aside from the Seven Forbidden Techniques, the process of transforming the ethereal into reality within his dreamscape had hit a bottleneck.
Although Xu Yuan had assigned tasks to Yaoyao, it didn't mean he was leaving everything up to her.
On the contrary, most of the work was still done by Xu Yuan himself. If he relied solely on Yaoyao's efficiency, who knew when it would be completed?
Xu Yuan deeply understood the difficulty of transforming the ethereal into reality—it was much harder than anticipated. This made him suspect whether it was an issue specific to the current Douluo Plane.
Another reason for planning to experiment with the Demon Plane through Yuanen Yehui's Fallen Angel martial soul was to explore this possibility.
After Yuanen Yehui left, Xu Yuan began his own cultivation.
"Now, I must accelerate the progress of my Devouring Power cultivation."
Xu Yuan already possessed the Devouring Heaven and Earth Technique, and had a profound understanding of the concept of devouring. After his innate martial soul's second awakening, the five-element power of the Heaven Origin Five Elements Spear had gained a certain devouring effect.
This gave him a natural advantage in cultivating devouring techniques.
There was less than a year left before returning to the mainland. If he waited until after returning to Shrek to plan for the Demon Plane, he wouldn't have much time left.
---
Time passed
Three days later
"Brother Xu, are you really confident about facing Long Yue?" Tang Wulin asked worriedly.
He had fought both Xu Yuan and Long Yue.
His clear judgment was that Xu Yuan's oppressive force was weaker than Long Yue's.
This made him very concerned.
"I do have some confidence," Xu Yuan said calmly, exuding self-assurance.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the next battle is the one everyone has been waiting for! Although it's not the final match of the individual battles in this Star Luo Continent Youth Soul Master Competition, it is nonetheless a decisive battle in another sense!"
As the announcer spoke, the other two semifinalists felt a bit awkward.
But they didn't object.
Even without direct confrontation, they were well aware that Xu Yuan and Long Yue were insurmountable peaks for them.
In this semifinal, whoever won between Xu Yuan and Long Yue would be crowned the champion!
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