Chapter 95: Sacred Soul Academy

  Just as He Lian and Lan Youzhu were frolicking together, Zhang Fang, who had quietly slipped away, came to a dark corner and looked at the giant willow tree in the wall corner. He said softly: "Jiu, how's it going?"

  As soon as Zhang Fang's words fell, the dense willow branches suddenly swayed slightly, and in the blink of an eye, a black-clad masked man stood silently behind Zhang Fang. After cautiously scanning his surroundings, he said in a low voice: "Elder, because Ling Xiao fell into the river and couldn't find any body, we didn't find any conclusive clues either. But all signs indicate that Ling Xiao was indeed a member of that organization, and I estimate that his position within the organization won't be too low!" The man's voice was sharp and sinister, sounding quite jarring to the ear.

  He gently bent down a willow branch and held it in front of his eyes, carefully examining it for a long time before saying in a low voice: "The tentacles of that organization are indeed long enough, they even have members in this remote small city. My hidden purpose for coming to Meteorite City was to investigate the relationship between the Blood Refining Tower and that organization. Perhaps the discipline of that organization is too strict, so far there has been no substantial gain. I finally found some clues on Ling Xiao's body, but he fell into the river and died, not even leaving behind a corpse. Now we have to start searching from scratch again!" Zhang Fang's expression was quite disappointed, clearly dissatisfied with his own efficiency.

  "Elder, don't worry too much. That organization is usually very low-key and secretive, so it's not easy to get to the bottom of things. However, I have some good news to report to you, Elder. The matter you previously ordered Fox to handle has made some progress. This is what Fox had me pass on to you!" The owl's stiff eyes flickered slightly as he pulled out a white scroll from his sleeve and handed it over.

  "Hmm? This fox guy never disappoints me! ", Zhang Fang's heart moved upon hearing this, and he smiled as he carefully took over the scroll. After a long while, he slowly closed the scroll, although he didn't say anything, but the pleasant expression on his face already indicated that the content of the scroll was definitely extremely good news.

  That night, He Lianuo was summoned to Zhang Fang's room. Before that, he was once again "enthusiastically" forced by Lan Youzhu to drink a large bowl of chicken soup. Although Lan Youzhu's cooking skills were quite good, He Lianuo's stomach had almost no room for anything else after drinking soup all day.

  Holding the ball, he walked into Zhang Fang's room. He casually found a chair and sat down, putting the ball on the table and happily teasing it. Jiubao didn't know where the ball had been thrown again, but Helianuo was already somewhat used to it.

  Zhang Fang held a volume of old yellowed books under the lamp, carefully reading and occasionally picking up his pen to make some annotations. After a long time, he finally closed the book in his hand, walked to the table, poured a cup of hot tea, and gently placed it in front of He Lianuo.

  Before Helian could act, the ball had already rushed to the front of the teacup and, without fear of scalding, directly plunged its head into the teacup and started drinking in big gulps.

  He Lianuo smiled helplessly at Zhang Fang, who didn't mind and poured another cup for He Lianuo. Then he pulled over a chair and sat down in front of He Lianuo, not saying a word, just staring straight at him.

  He Lian was stared at and felt a bit hairy, he scratched his head awkwardly and couldn't help but ask: "Old Man Zhang, did Yōu Zhú say you wanted to see me about something?"

  "Ah, yes!", Zhang Fan suddenly realized and patted his own head, saying regretfully: "Look at my memory, as people get older, it's easy to forget things! I called you here because there are some things I want to ask you, Helian, what level is your cultivation at now?"

  He Lian'nuo gently placed the ball aside, indicating that it was playing by itself. Although he didn't know why Zhang Fang suddenly asked this, he still replied honestly: "Before in the Blood Refining Tower, I was a Soul Servant of the fifth stage. Later, after being hit by Ling Xiao's Ice Fire Flowing Star and falling into the river, the bottleneck that had not been broken through for a long time seemed to have suddenly broken through as well. Now, I should be a Soul Servant of the sixth stage!"

  "Has the soul servant reached the sixth rank?" Zhang Fan nodded in satisfaction. For a ten-year-old like He Lian, having a soul servant at the sixth rank was quite an impressive achievement!

  "Although my cultivation is only at the sixth stage of Soul Servant, if I include all my hidden combat powers from both my soul techniques and martial arts, I should have the strength to fight against a ninth-stage Soul Servant. Even if I don't gain the upper hand, I can at least hold my own!" Helianthus added confidently. Indeed, repeated battles had already shown that his three ancient martial arts could often play an unexpected role at certain moments. His human-level soul technique, "Mystic Ice Palm", was soft yet powerful; his earth-level soul technique, "Diving Wind and Thunder Slash", was fierce and unmatched; although he hadn't fully mastered his earth-level soul technique, "Slashing Moon Whirlwind", its power would undoubtedly be astonishing. With several times more soul power stored than an average person, Helianthus's actual combat strength was indeed enough to challenge Soul Servants one or two levels higher than him.

  Zhang Fang nodded, in fact he had already learned from the intelligence gathered by his subordinates that Helian Nuo could often exert unexpected combat power during battles. Looking at Helian Nuo's complacent face, Zhang Fang stood up and walked to the bookshelf to take out a white scroll, saying softly: "Helian, do you know the concept of Soul Realm?"

  "Soul Realm? I've heard of it before, the Soul Realm isn't an independent space, but rather a place where souls tend to gather. Generally speaking, powerful souls won't easily leave the Soul Realm, this is an unspoken rule among souls!" Helianuo recalled Gong Sunjian's description of the Soul Realm and replied honestly.

  Indeed, as you said, the Soul Realm is a place where souls are more concentrated. Due to the immense destructive power of souls, some powerful forces within the Soul Realm have established rules to prevent souls from harming ordinary people. Unless there are extraordinary circumstances, souls are not allowed to leave the Soul Realm at will. This is why, as a mere Soul Servant Sixth Stage, you were unable to defeat me in the Blood Refining Tower.

  In fact, people divide souls into two categories: one type is the orthodox soul cultivators who grew up in the Soul Realm, and the other type is like Ling Xiao, who relied on their own opportunities and cultivation to embark on the path of soul refinement. These wandering souls are referred to as "Wild Souls" by the orthodox soul cultivators.

  Zhang Fang took a sip of tea, moistening his throat.

  "Am I a wild soul? It seems that I am also one of them!", He Lianuo thought to himself, his face revealing a hint of gloominess. To him, "wild soul" and "piglet" seemed to be derogatory terms.

  No change was seen on Helian's expression, and Zhang Fang put down his tea bowl to continue: "Helian, do you know why the Orthodox Soul Masters have always looked down on the Idle Soul Masters? Because from ancient times to the present, the strength of the Idle Soul Masters has never been able to catch up with that of the Orthodox Soul Masters. The reason for this is probably due to the accumulation of hundreds of years of foundation and more effective cultivation methods by the Orthodox Soul Masters! You have already reached the sixth rank of Soul Servant at such a young age, which is indeed astonishing, but as far as I know, in the Soul Realm, there are definitely not a few people like you who can be called cultivation geniuses!"

  He Lian Nu's body shook as he heard the words, just as Zhang Fang had expected. He was indeed feeling a bit complacent about his current achievements. After all, there was no one around him who could be mentioned in the same breath as him. Thinking about it, Ling Xiao was already in his thirties, but his cultivation was only at the eighth stage of Soul Servant. Lei Shuo was several years older than He Lian Nu, but his cultivation was only at the first stage of Soul Servant. Sang Xiao was even less accomplished, and hadn't even reached the level of Soul Servant. In this situation, He Lian Nu's mind, which had not yet fully matured, would naturally feel that he was the most excellent one.

  Although Helianuo was not a high-profile person, he had always been ahead of his peers and inevitably developed some self-satisfaction. At this moment, when he heard Zhang Fang's words, he couldn't help but feel a little unbelievable. What kind of existence was the Soul Realm? Was it true that soul cultivators who relied on their own efforts would never be able to surpass those orthodox soul cultivators in the Soul Realm? Helianuo fell into confusion for a moment.

  Noticing Helian's curiosity had been successfully piqued, Zhang couldn't help but sneak a smug smile to himself. His original intention was to get Helian interested in the Soul Realm, and now that his goal had been achieved, it was time to move on to the main topic.

  He slowly opened the white scroll in his hand, pretending to be nonchalant and said: "You should know that the main power in the Soul Realm is those big families and schools that have been passed down for thousands of years. The He Lian family was also a famous family in the Soul Realm, but after that big war hundreds of years ago, He Lian Yuan was seriously injured and withdrew from the historical stage. With your background, it's impossible to enter those big families! However, those schools are not easy to get into either. Without the corresponding qualifications, they won't even give you a chance to take the test. But once you're accepted by one of those famous schools, your future development in soul cultivation will be limitless! As it happens, I have a testing qualification for a school here, but looking at your confident appearance, He Lian, I suppose you're not interested at all!" Zhang Fang sneaked a glance at He Lian Nuo and pretended to put the scroll away.

  "Slow down, Grandfather Zhang, who said I wasn't interested?" He Lianuo suddenly reacted and snatched the scroll over, seeing Zhang Fang's smiling face he finally realized that everything before was probably his plan!

  "People all say that old guys are the most cunning, and indeed they are. The despicable Gong Sun is like this, but I didn't expect that this seemingly loyal Zhang Fang is also a thorough old fox! ", He Lianuo muttered to himself in his heart, and then carefully opened the scroll, only to see that on the white scroll's title page, four big black characters were written: Sheng Hun Academy!

  "Alright, kiddo, I've done all I can for you. Now it's up to your own abilities whether or not you'll be able to enter the Soul Realm smoothly!", Zhang Fan stretched his waist, indicating that Helianuo could leave now.

  Taking a glance at Zhang Fang's white hair, He Lian Nu felt warmth in his heart. He knew that although the other party spoke lightly, since this Sacred Soul Academy existed within the realm of souls, its testing qualifications wouldn't be easily obtained by just anyone. Zhang Fang must have made great efforts to secure this qualification for him.

  He walked out of Zhang Fang's room quietly, and Helian Nao took the scroll to think about whether he should participate in the test. At this time, Gong Sun's old voice suddenly sounded in his mind: "Foolish boy, why hesitate at such a good opportunity? Hurry up and prepare, if you miss it, there will be no chance!"