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"We absolutely cannot sit idly by!" Lin Lao's tone was unwavering.
She rarely spoke and held great respect for Mu Lao. Normally, in his presence, she would never behave so unreservedly.
Yet today, during the Sea God Pavilion meeting, she openly voiced her decision without waiting for Mu En's input.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
The wristwatch on Qian Duoduo's wrist, responsible for receiving intelligence reports, began to vibrate.
Everyone's attention was drawn to him.
Even Qian Duoduo himself felt his heart leap to his throat.
Could it be news about Lin'er?
He quickly checked the code linked to the vibration, converted it into text, and felt a wave of disappointment wash over him.
At the same time, shock spread through him as he absorbed the content of the intelligence.
"The Sun Moon Empire's Royal Dragon Soul Mentor Regiment has launched an eighth-level fixed-installation soul-guided cannon shell. It struck the Heavenly Soul Legion, which suffered heavy casualties."
He shared the report, and silence fell over the Sea God Pavilion once more.
Today's Sea God Pavilion was destined to be a silent one.
"Your Majesty, the Duke of White Tiger has sent word. The front line is in a critical state; the Sun Moon Empire's Fire Phoenix Soul Mentor Regiment has launched multiple attacks, even deploying three seventh-level fixed-installation soul-guided cannon shells."
Xu Jiawei fumed, "Has the Sun Moon Empire gone mad? Are they trying to provoke an all-out war?"
"If I recall correctly, don't we have a seventh-level fixed-installation soul-guided cannon shell available on the front line?"
The intelligence minister hesitated.
"Speak!"
"Your Majesty, the Duke of White Tiger ordered the soul mentors in the army to fire that seventh-level fixed-installation soul-guided cannon shell."
"And what was the result?"
Xu Jiawei felt his heart sink at the intelligence minister's expression, but he had no choice but to ask.
"The Fire Phoenix Soul Mentor Regiment intercepted it with a ninth-level soul tool."
Xu Jiawei slumped back into his throne.
At that moment, Xu Jiulong spoke up. "We still have a seventh-level fixed-installation soul-guided cannon shell in our armory. We should send it to the front lines. How many ninth-level soul tools could the Sun Moon Empire possibly have to intercept fixed-installation soul-guided shells?"
However, the intelligence minister's expression did not brighten.
"Princess, intelligence just came from the Heavenly Soul Empire. The Sun Moon Empire's Royal Dragon Soul Mentor Regiment has used an eighth-level fixed-installation soul-guided cannon shell, targeting the Heavenly Soul Legion."
"…"
Is this a threat?
This is a threat!
A blatant threat!
Mingdu, Sun Moon Empire.
Kong Deming, eager to study rune techniques, handed Su Yu over to Jing Hongchen and hurried off to seclude himself.
"Xiao Yu, you've really stirred things up this time."
Jing Hongchen had also heard about the upheaval along the border of the Star Luo Empire.
He couldn't have missed it; the incident was no small matter. It involved a Super Douluo and affected the relations between major factions.
"It's all thanks to Teacher's breakthrough and formidable strength that he was able to suppress two Super Douluo."
Jing Hongchen shot Su Yu a look.
"No need to keep up appearances with me. I know very well what happened. That Martial God Douluo is currently locked up in Sun-Moon Hall."
Few people knew this, but as the head of Sun-Moon Hall, there was no way Jing Hongchen could be unaware.
"In a while, I'll be making a trip to Shrek Academy."
"Huh?"
As Jing Hongchen spoke, Su Yu, Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Huo Yuhao were taken aback.
During the Soul Battle Tournament, Jing Hongchen had taken the opportunity to build a strong rapport with Huo Yuhao. After learning about Huo Yuhao's second martial soul, he wasted no time, adopting an indirect approach by offering guidance in soul master cultivation as a pretext to have Huo Yuhao apprentice under him.
In other words, Fan Yu was Huo Yuhao's soul tool instructor, while Jing Hongchen was now his martial soul cultivation mentor.
"Hall Master, isn't it too risky for you to go to Shrek Academy personally?" Su Yu asked with a frown.
Why is he still so eager to visit Shrek? Doesn't he realize that we've just captured the Martial God Douluo?
Although only a few people know about it and most assume Martial God Douluo is dead, you're the Hall Master of Sun-Moon Hall. If Shrek seeks revenge, they might just try to keep you there.
We may have misled them during our operations, but that doesn't mean they'll play fair or gather evidence meticulously.
Most of the time, fair play isn't expected in these situations. Who needs a reason for vengeance?
Would Martial God Douluo have even been injured if not for you? That's excuse enough.
We're already on the edge of retaliation, and if you walk right into it, Shrek's resolve might harden to the point where they simply won't hold back.
"Alas, there's no choice. You and Yuhao both possess ultimate attributes."
Historically, Shrek Academy is the most knowledgeable institution when it comes to nurturing soul masters with ultimate attributes.
Your cultivation is going well enough, so I hadn't thought this was necessary. But Yuhao's situation is a bit more challenging—his Ultimate Ice is progressing even more slowly than your attribute training.
Even with abundant resources, I fear complications may arise when he reaches levels forty or fifty."
Previously, with only Su Yu as an ultimate attribute soul master who didn't seem to suffer from any major impacts and whose cultivation pace hadn't noticeably slowed, Jing Hongchen hadn't worried too much. Besides, Kong Deming could deal with it if necessary.
But now that Jing Hongchen had accepted Huo Yuhao as his apprentice, he had to start worrying too.
Especially since Huo Yuhao's training pace was indeed slow.
Even with substantial resources provided, in order not to overstimulate potential or damage his foundation, his cultivation speed remained quite average.
At most, he was progressing by five ranks per year.
And Yuhao hadn't yet reached the prime phase for ultimate martial souls.
Once he hits rank thirty, that rate will likely drop by half—two levels a year, if he's lucky.
It will only get slower after rank forty.
This is why Jing Hongchen was concerned.
"Hall Master, cultivating an ultimate martial soul isn't actually that challenging; the slow pace is just a result of passive compression of soul power, which takes more time," Su Yu explained, having gained insights from his long practice.
He simply hadn't found the right moment to mention it before.
"Oh? Do you have a solution?" Jing Hongchen's eyes brightened.
If Su Yu already had a way to resolve the slow cultivation speed for ultimate martial souls, there'd be no need to risk a trip to Shrek.
"Exactly. When it comes to condensing soul power, most soul masters rely on instinct. The quality of their soul power depends greatly on the grade of soul rings they absorb.
In cultivation, there's no active method to compress soul power—it's merely a slow, passive buildup that results in some compression over time.
An ultimate martial soul just requires soul power to meet a higher quality threshold, which makes cultivation slower compared to other soul masters.
The primary drain comes from the slow condensing process under the martial soul's influence.
However, the soul master isn't actively working to aid this process.
The solution, therefore, is actually quite simple: by using specific cultivation techniques or runic methods."
Su Yu speculated that the few ultimate martial soul users Shrek had nurtured over time were probably also disciples of the Tang Sect and had practiced the Mysterious Heaven Method.
"In that case, there's no need for this old man to make the trip to Shrek Academy after all."
He turned to Huo Yuhao and said, "Yuhao, train with Xiao Yu for a while and see how it works."
"All right."
(End of Chapter)