Due to the advancement test being cancelled, Cla.s.s 1 and Cla.s.s 2’s students had to return to their respective cla.s.srooms to take lessons.
After a short discussion, w.a.n.g Yan and Zhou Yi called Huo Yuhao over to ask him a few questions. Afterwards, they finally began their afternoon cla.s.s. However, Huo Yuhao didn’t return to his seat. Instead, he was told go to and stand on a nearby platform. Then, Zhou Yi was called over by the teachers of the Teaching Department, as Director Du Weilun was holding a meeting.
“Due to special circ.u.mstances, the advancement test will be delayed for two to three days,” w.a.n.g Yan told the students of Cla.s.s 1, “This will give you a bit more time to train. Today, you all saw the battle between Yuhao and the Wind Spiritwolf. Soul beasts are not affected by emotions, and the first thing you need to do to fight them is maintain your composure. You must display everything you’ve learned. Soul beasts aren’t scary. Most of the time, they only fight by relying on their natural instincts. Firstly, you’ll have to overcome that psychological block in your mind, as fear will weaken your combat strength by a large amount. Let go of your hesitation. Only then will you be able to give it your all.” He glanced at the students. “Ask yourselves, were you scared when that Wind Spiritwolf appeared?”
A large number of students immediately lowered their heads in shame.
w.a.n.g Yan continued, “It didn’t happen because you were weak; it happened because you don’t have any experience fighting soul beasts. If you were to fight against a fellow cla.s.smate with the same strength, would you still be afraid? Of course you wouldn’t. That’s because you believe that your fellow cla.s.smates won’t actually hurt you. Then, do you think soul beasts or we soul masters are stronger? I can give you a definite answer to this. Under a situation in which both parties have identical cultivations, we soul masters will definitely come out on top.”
He raised his hand and pointed toward his head. “That’s because we human beings possess wisdom. You fear soul beasts because they have low intelligence. Furthermore, they won’t think twice before killing. However, just wait till you get used to the fighting style of those soul beasts. At that point, you’ll discover that the ones that are truly formidable are us soul masters. We can use our martial souls and soul skills to come up with many different kinds of tactics. But you have to remember this: no matter how outstanding the tactic, or how powerful the soul skill, only those who have courage will be able to show their true power. This advancement test will decide if you’ll be able to keep studying at the academy. In a certain way, you can say that it will also decide your future. Today, we’ll have a last minute lesson to improve your courage. Yuhao has the ability to change the color and aura of his soul rings. I ask everyone to not unconsciously release your martial souls. No matter how strong the pressure you’re feeling is, try to keep your calm. Yuhao, you can start.”
Huo Yuhao nodded, and a golden light flickered in his eyes. At the same time, two white soul rings slowly emerged from under his feet. They seemed to be ten year soul rings.
Just now, when w.a.n.g Yan had pulled him aside to ask him a few questions, it was about this; whether he was willing to use this method to help the other students. Huo Yuhao had already briefly explained how his soul skill worked. Otherwise, w.a.n.g Yan wouldn’t have asked him something like this. Huo Yuhao didn’t hesitate, and immediately complied. He was the cla.s.s leader, after all. Thus, he was willing to help his fellow cla.s.smates. Moreover, at this point, he was unable to conceal his imitation skill. Thus, there was no need to hold back. He had managed to scare many soul beasts to death by relying on the Skydream Iceworm’s instructions. In addition, this had allowed Huo Yuhao to experience some of the myriad possible variations of this skill.
These white ten year soul rings weren’t going to have a great effect on the nearby students. Their color quickly changed from white to yellow.
Looking at the soul rings that had suddenly changed color, the students of Cla.s.s 1 were astonished; this skill was really mysterious! It really could change the color of Huo Yuhao’s soul rings at will.
w.a.n.g Yan said in grave tone, “The white color represents a ten year soul ring. It’s the lowest ranked soul ring that we soul masters can fuse with. The yellow color represents a hundred year soul ring. The color of a soul ring will change according to its age, do you know why that is? Because there is a great amount of energy compressed inside it. And every soul skill will use this energy in a different way. Therefore, it’s not a given that a lower ranked soul ring will definitely have a bad effect.”
The yellow soul rings then changed into purple ones. As these purple thousand year soul rings each made their appearance. Huo Yuhao’s body started to emit an invisible pressure, making the Cla.s.s 1 students somewhat nervous. After all, the only one that was known to possess a thousand year soul ring in the cla.s.s was w.a.n.g Dong.
“Everyone, be careful.” Huo Yuhao said loudly. The two thousand year soul rings on his body transformed once again, the purple color suddenly becoming darker, until it slowly changed to black.
This cla.s.sroom wasn’t as big as the great Beast Dueling Arena. The appearance of two ten thousand year soul rings immediately created a heavy oppressive feeling that spread everywhere from Huo Yuhao’s body. At this time, Huo Yuhao was drawing support from the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s aura. It was a very ferocious soul beast, and when Huo Yuhao suddenly channeled its aura through those two ten thousand year soul rings in such tight quarters, its tyrannical aura gave the students the feeling of being crushed into smithereens.
Immediately, the students with a weak cultivation base felt their soul rings come out of their bodies. Even their appearances became pale.
w.a.n.g Yan furrowed his brows as he told Huo Yuhao, “No need to increase the output further. Just keep this level of intensity.” He had the feeling that all these students would wet themselves if Huo Yuhao were to release the power of a hundred thousand year soul ring in this small and narrow place. And he absolutely didn’t want that; keeping the level of intensity at ten thousand years was the best thing for the students.
“After cultivating for ten thousand years, soul beasts will experience a qualitative leap. Generally speaking, if a human being wants to deal with a ten thousand year soul beast alone, he will need the strength of at least six rings. If he wants to deal with a thirty thousand year soul beast, he will need the strength of seven or more rings; and even then it would only be something he could try after obtaining a martial soul true body. Earlier, I said that soul masters would generally be stronger than soul beasts of the same rank. However, in the history of our Douluo Continent, there is only once instance of the strongest soul master surpa.s.sing the strongest soul beast. That happened when the first generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters was still around. The best example among them is exactly the founder of the Tang Sect, the Asura Tang San. Except for that period of time where our human race was stronger than the soul beasts, we have always been unable to contend with the strongest soul beasts.”
“As for soul beasts that have cultivated for a hundred thousand years, even a t.i.tled Douluo would find it hard to fight against them alone. That’s because soul beasts who are able to cultivate for a hundred thousand years will definitely have a powerful inherited bloodline. And to suppress a hundred thousand year soul beast, one will need to be at least a t.i.tled Douluo of the 95th rank or possess a sufficient number of soul bones.”
“A tide of soul beasts once emerged from the Great Star Dou Forest, attacking our Shrek Academy. That time, the academy suffered severe losses. Inside the Great Star Dou Forest were some soul beasts who had even exceeded the hundred thousand year rank. The hundred thousand year rank isn’t actually the limit for soul beasts. There are some soul beasts that are particularly gifted by the heavens, and by relying on their cultivation, they can break through the limit of the hundred thousand year rank, reaching a completely new realm. These soul beasts that can surpa.s.s the hundred thousand year rank are called transcendent soul beasts. I can guarantee you that the Great Star Dou Forest still hides some transcendent soul beasts. For us soul masters, a hundred thousand year soul beast is a first-cla.s.s treasure. It will give us a hundred thousand year soul ring and a soul bone, totalling four soul skills. However, transcendent soul beasts are akin to a calamity. Even if we pay a huge price to kill them, it will be very difficult to obtain something valuable from their bodies. This is because the soul ring produced by a transcendent soul beast is not something we can absorb so easily. The body of the soul master that tries might be unable to withstand its power.”
Zhou Sichen couldn’t help but ask, “Teacher w.a.n.g, even t.i.tled Douluo can’t absorb it? Didn’t you say that after surpa.s.sing the 90th rank and becoming a t.i.tled Douluo, one’s body will undergo a qualitative leap?”
After he finished his sentence, his expression changed, and he paled slightly. Huo Yuhao was continuously releasing the oppressive aura of a ten thousand year soul beast, and this aura was incessantly attacking the minds of the students. They needed to keep their concentration up; only then they would be able to suppress the fear in their hearts.
w.a.n.g Yan replied ill-humoredly, “You are going against common sense with these questions. Had this been the advancement test, they would have sent you home already. Tell me, how many rings does a t.i.tled Douluo have?”
Zhou Sichen promptly replied, “Nine rings! Ah…” After speaking, he finally understood.
Exactly, a t.i.tled Douluo already had nine rings. They were existences of the highest level. How could they have another soul ring?
w.a.n.g Yan said with faint smile, “You finally understand your mistake. If you do your best and manage to resist this fear inside your hearts, teacher will tell you a secret. This secret is about the top-ranked soul ring.”
The students were attracted by w.a.n.g Yan’s words, and the fear inside their hearts diminished a bit. The students that had already released their martial souls also made an effort to withdraw them.
w.a.n.g Yan said in a grave tone, “What Zhou Sichen said just now was against common sense. However, I’ll tell you this: in the history of our Douluo Continent, it’s not like there haven’t been soul masters with ten rings. This secret piece of information was recorded in our Shrek Academy.”
Ten ring? After hearing those words, all the students were shocked. The fear in their hearts was also reduced a little more.
w.a.n.g Yan said, “The main subjects of my research are martial souls and soul rings. After doing a lot of research, I can guarantee you that it is possible to have ten rings, and having ten soul rings almost equates to becoming a G.o.d. In the records of our academy, there was some information about a person possessing ten soul rings; a G.o.d-ranked powerhouse. And this person is exactly the one I mentioned a while ago, the founder of the Tang Sect–Ancestor Tang San. Among his twin martial souls, his main martial soul, the Blue Silver Emperor, possessed ten soul rings. Researchers from later generations decided to call it a G.o.d-ranked soul ring.”