Mist spread over the air, and in the center of Sea God Island, a tall and magnificent building loomed faintly in the clouds. On the plaque at the top, the three characters "Sea God Pavilion" could just be discerned.
Yan Shaozhe stood respectfully. Before him was a disheveled old man—Elder Xuan.
Elder Xuan sat cross-legged on a jagged rock at the cliff's edge, gnawing on a chicken leg while mumbling indistinctly.
"Killing a ten-thousand-year Man-Faced Demon Spider? Interesting. Looks like that kid's strength is even greater than I expected."
Somewhat puzzled, Yan Shaozhe asked:
"Elder Xuan, what confuses me is that his foundation is far too deep. His soul power is only rank forty-two, yet his total amount of soul power already surpasses that of an ordinary Soul King. Even Lexuan and Xiaotao, back when they were Soul Kings, had never reached that level."
"Mm." Elder Xuan took a swig from the gourd of fine wine at his side and said leisurely:
"That's not strange. That kid is a twin Martial Soul. It's only natural he has such a foundation."
"Twin Martial Souls?!" Yan Shaozhe was shocked, then quickly came to a realization.
"So that's it."
As the Dean of the Martial Soul Department, of course he knew about twin Martial Souls.
The conditions for the birth of twin Martial Souls were very harsh. Most importantly, the quality of the two Martial Souls had to be extremely close.
He had already heard Elder Xuan mention that Yu Tianhuang's Golden Eyes Martial Soul had achieved a Silver-level second awakening of the Body Martial Soul—undoubtedly one of the strongest Martial Souls in existence.
And what kind of Martial Soul could match the Golden Eyes in quality?
When Yu Tianhuang first made his debut, Yan Shaozhe had already learned of his origins through Du Weilun.
Reacting now, he asked instinctively:
"Elder Xuan, Yu Tianhuang's second Martial Soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon? And he also hails from the Heavenly Dragon Gate. Can someone like that really remain in the Academy in the future?"
Elder Xuan was silent for a while before slowly admonishing him:
"Shaozhe, your temperament still lacks broad-mindedness. Back then, Elder Mu was also born of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and yet he still became the Master of the Sea God Pavilion."
Ashamed, Yan Shaozhe lowered his head, knowing Elder Xuan was right.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have rushed here the moment Yu Tianhuang revealed his monstrous soul power foundation, seeking Elder Xuan's opinion.
Elder Xuan rose lazily to his feet, unwilling to continue the topic.
A person's character is hard to change. He and Elder Mu had already said and done what they needed to. In the end, it was still up to Yan Shaozhe himself.
"Go take a look at that kid. If his soul skill can really suppress Xiaotao's Evil Fire, then he may not be a bad match for her."
…
A gentle breeze rippled across the sapphire-like surface of the Sea God Lake. The rose-gold sunset scattered over it, reflecting dazzling halos of light.
On the west side of Sea God Island stood a row of wooden pavilions built along the lakeside. These were the residences of the inner court disciples.
In the top-floor room of a three-story pavilion near the lake, Xu Zihuang woke up on a comfortable wooden bed.
Opening his deep purple eyes, noble and imposing, he first saw an open-air balcony with a railing made entirely of wood. Beyond that lay the vast Sea God Lake. Even with his vision, he could only just make out the outlines of buildings on the far shore belonging to the Martial Soul Department.
The afterglow of the sunset shone in his eyes, and also upon two figures leaning against the balcony railing.
The two on the balcony noticed him waking and turned. One of them smiled warmly and walked over.
"Tianhuang, you're awake?"
"Senior Chu?" Xu Zihuang answered in surprise.
The other also came forward.
Both were familiar to him: Chu Qingtian and Ye Liu, with whom he had hunted soul beasts in the Star Dou Forest a few days ago.
Chu Qingtian casually pulled a chair over and sat backwards on it, resting his arms on the backrest.
"This is where the inner court disciples live. Ye Liu and I stay in this pavilion."
"And how did you get involved with Junior Sister Xiaotao again?" Ye Liu chuckled, though his eyes carried not envy but sympathy.
"Let me remind you first—Junior Sister Xiaotao may be beautiful and strong, but her temper isn't good. You've met Senior Sister Wu before, but Xiaotao's temper is even fiercer than hers. Together, the two of them are called the twin volcanoes of the inner court."
Xu Zihuang was left speechless.
Ye Liu didn't joke further. Together with Chu Qingtian, he explained what had happened earlier to Xu Zihuang.
In truth, Yan Shaozhe had only instructed them to look after Xu Zihuang, help him get familiar with Sea God Island once he woke, and then take him to the training ground after dark.
"Since you're awake, if you're feeling fine, let's head to the dining hall first. The inner court meals are quite decent." Chu Qingtian suggested with a smile.
Xu Zihuang's soul power had merely been overdrawn. By now it had fully recovered.
He didn't refuse and followed the two toward the dining hall for inner court disciples.
The three were on the west side of the island, while the dining hall was near the center. But Sea God Island was not large; within fifteen minutes, they reached the entrance.
Xu Zihuang had eaten at the dining halls of both the outer court Martial Soul and Soul Tool Departments. Compared to those, the inner court's dining hall was much smaller.
This was because inner court disciples were few—only about sixty resided long-term on Sea God Island.
At any given mealtime, even fewer ate together. Looking around, Xu Zihuang saw only a handful.
The dining hall was entirely free of charge. Dishes were laid out in sections, take as much as you want, but nothing could be wasted.
A glance showed Xu Zihuang that nearly every dish was made from thousand-year soul beasts.
According to his taste, he chose a portion of stewed tendon from a thousand-year Hornscale Horse, a bowl of creamy soup from a thousand-year Deep Sea Ribbonfish, and a large bowl of crystal-white jade corn rice. Then he sat with Chu Qingtian and Ye Liu, eating as they chatted.
As they talked, Chu Qingtian suddenly remembered something and took two purple-gold cards from his soul tool.
"By the way, Tianhuang, this is your share from selling the materials last time."
"Thank you, Senior Chu."
Xu Zihuang accepted them straightforwardly and stored them in his soul tool. It was rightfully his, no need to refuse.
Each purple-gold card held ten thousand gold soul coins. Two cards meant twenty thousand. The profit from soul beasts was enormous. Just materials alone were worth that much—it was no wonder some people risked everything for them.
Ye Liu laughed, patting Xu Zihuang's shoulder.
"No need to thank us. Honestly, we benefited from you."
Most inner court disciples were busy with their own cultivation. Even during meals, many seemed to be lost in thought about training. Thus, no one paid much attention to Xu Zihuang, who still wore the yellow uniform of the outer court.
After finishing dinner together, the three happily walked toward the training ground on the east side of Sea God Island.
The training ground was the place where Wu Ming and Chu Qingtian had sparred last time—a flattened mountaintop.
By now, the sky was dark. Along the rugged mountain path, soul tool lamps glowed at even intervals.
Chu Qingtian and Ye Liu stopped at the base of the path.
"Tianhuang, Dean Yan instructed that only you may go up."
"Understood. Senior Chu, Senior Ye, thank you for today." Xu Zihuang smiled and nodded to them, then strode up the mountain path.
The hill was only about a hundred meters tall. Soon he reached the flat top.
The wide training ground resembled a huge square. Under the bright illumination of several soul tool lamps, it was lit as bright as day.
Four figures were already waiting in the center.
Elder Xuan, Dean Yan Shaozhe, Senior Sister Zhang Lexuan, and dressed in red with a voluptuous figure—Ma Xiaotao.
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