Faced with Xu Yuan's silent question, the members of the Heavenly Kings team let out a collective sigh.
Exchanging glances, the six members, including Dai Yueyan, dispelled their martial soul attachments.
It wasn't that they lacked the will to fight—it was just that the gap between them and Xu Yuan was so vast that it felt utterly hopeless.
At this moment, even the audience didn't criticize their decision to step down.
To the spectators, Xu Yuan had already become an insurmountable mountain. Even the six Heavenly Kings from Monster Academy, the top institution of Star Luo Continent, were powerless against him.
This was the aura Xu Yuan had established during his individual battles.
The consensus among everyone now was simple: aside from Long Yue, no one could possibly withstand Xu Yuan.
But Long Yue had been defeated in an instant.
Compared to the lack of resistance shown by the six Heavenly Kings, the audience's greatest dissatisfaction was directed at Long Yue.
Even though there had been prior warnings, when the same scene unfolded during the finals of the team battle, some spectators couldn't help but shout accusations of match-fixing.
This situation gave En Ci the biggest headache.
In reality, the damage to Monster Academy's reputation from this competition wasn't severe. After all, their opponents were from Shrek Academy, and Xu Yuan's performance had been overwhelmingly monstrous. The disparity in strength was evident to everyone during the matches.
However, the real problem lay in those two brief moments when Xu Yuan instantly defeated Long Yue.
Those two moments had caused too many spectators to question whether Monster Academy had truly fought with all their might.
If this issue continued to ferment, Monster Academy's credibility wouldn't be damaged because they lost the match—it would be damaged because of these two moments.
Losing could be understood.
Xu Yuan's performance had been dazzling.
But the manner of their defeat was hard for people to accept.
Xu Yuan, however, paid no attention to the chaos among Star Luo officials.
By now, he had already claimed the champion rewards for all three matches.
The rewards for this youth soul master competition hosted by Star Luo Continent were quite generous. The grand prize for the individual battles was a piece of soul bone—though seemingly useless to Xu Yuan, it still held significant value. Despite the fact that soul bones could be passed down through generations, the total number of surviving soul bones had been steadily increasing over time, yet it was still far from being abundant enough for every soul master to possess one. Top-tier soul bones were especially rare, and almost every peak soul master of the era possessed a set of exceptional soul bones. As long as these masters didn't die, their soul bones wouldn't return to circulation, making high-quality unclaimed soul bones exceedingly rare.
"A right arm bone from a ten-thousand-year-old Stellar Dragon Beast. Not bad. Its overall quality ranks among the upper tier of ten-thousand-year soul bones. If absorbed before reaching the Soul Sage level, its benefits could last all the way to the pinnacle of cultivation. However, if absorbed after reaching Soul Sage, the cost-to-benefit ratio diminishes significantly."
Naturally, the effects of a soul bone of the same quality varied depending on the stage of the soul master's development.
A soul master's cultivation was essentially the growth of their martial soul. The more mature the martial soul, the less likely it was to be influenced by a soul bone.
Thus, absorbing a soul bone at an earlier, weaker stage increased the likelihood of the martial soul undergoing beneficial mutations. Even if no immediate mutation occurred, the energy from the soul bone would slowly enhance the soul master's martial soul as it circulated within their body.
Unless, of course, the martial soul was already a super martial soul of the highest caliber.
Xu Yuan stored away the soul bone, not immediately deciding what to do with it.
The reward for the doubles match was a ten-thousand-year spirit material, while the reward for the team match was a piece of soul-forged metal for each participant. To Xu Yuan, these were trivial, but not entirely worthless.
"You're planning to act alone?" Wu Zhangkong showed no surprise, as if he'd been forewarned.
However, after Xu Yuan announced his intention to act independently, Tang Wulin also stepped forward.
"Teacher Wu, I also need to act alone for a while."
"You too?" Wu Zhangkong furrowed his brow but quickly seemed to understand something and nodded.
"Alright. If you need to regroup, just call me via soul communicator."
Xu Yuan and Tang Wulin left Shrek Academy's group, heading off in separate directions toward the Tang Sect.
Tang Wulin entered the Spirit Battle Hall, while Xu Yuan went to the Tang Sect's headquarters in Star Luo City to find Hu Jie.
---
Star Luo Grand Hotel
"Master, we've detected spatial fluctuations and confirmed that it's the ancient dragon race's ancestral land. There are traces of the Dragon God's presence."
Di Tian knelt on one knee, his voice trembling with excitement as he delivered the report.
He had sensed the presence of the Dragon God!
That so-called Dragon Valley contained the inheritance left behind by the Dragon God!
"Good!" Gu Yue's eyes narrowed, flashing with a bright gleam.
"However…" Di Tian hesitated. "Master, the spatial strength in that area is extremely weak. If we all enter at once, it could destabilize the space. To achieve our goal, we'll need to stabilize the area and create a secure passage first."
"No rush. You have half a month." Gu Yue calmed herself and spoke indifferently.
"Yes!"
---
Tang Sect Headquarters
"Senior Uncle."
Xu Yuan entered Hu Jie's office to find his teacher, Mu Ye, already present.
Mu Ye wore a carefree smile, while Hu Jie appeared stern—even forcing a strained smile upon Xu Yuan's arrival.
"Little Yuan, thank your Senior Uncle."
Mu Ye's words left Xu Yuan puzzled, but he followed the instruction and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you, Senior Uncle."
Afterward, Xu Yuan looked at Mu Ye quizzically, waiting for an explanation.
"Do you know what your Senior Uncle's greatest achievement is?" Mu Ye asked.
Xu Yuan paused thoughtfully, his gaze reflecting deep contemplation.
Before he could figure it out, Mu Ye spoke.
"Martial soul fusion through innate cultivation."
"Martial soul fusion through innate cultivation?" Xu Yuan nodded in understanding.
From Mu Ye's perspective, Hu Jie's greatest accomplishment was indeed deeply tied to his mastery of innate martial soul cultivation.
Hu Jie possessed twin martial souls: his stomach and buttocks. Both martial souls had successfully undergone second awakenings, and he had managed to cultivate them into a single True Body.
His seventh soul skill, the True Body, simultaneously fused both innate martial souls.
This could be considered an acquired martial soul fusion skill. Of course, the fusion only took effect when the True Body was unleashed—only then could it replicate the effects of a martial soul fusion skill.
"All of your Senior Uncle's cultivation experiences have been meticulously documented and added to the sect's secret teachings," Mu Ye said with a chuckle.
Being added to the sect's secret teachings meant that Xu Yuan could access and study them at any time.
And would this knowledge be useful to Xu Yuan?
Yes!
Extremely useful!
"Enough, let's get to business." Hu Jie grunted, changing the subject.
"Little Yuan, prepare yourself. I'm going to seal your soul power."
With that, he briskly exited the office, practically sprinting toward the elevator.
Xu Yuan and Mu Ye calmly followed behind.
------------------------------------------------------
Thank you to our new Patrons: bwuooq, Mike Foster and miney laster! Your support means the world to me <3 We are up to 'Chapter 355: Goal Achieved' on Patreon!
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)
Support my writing journey: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
40+ Chapters Ahead Guaranteed.