Chapter Six: A New Mission

Where there is demand, there will be a market. As the largest primitive soul beast forest on the continent, the Star Dou Great Forest naturally attracts soul masters seeking soul rings. To cater to their needs, small towns gradually sprang up a hundred miles from the forest, formed by shops and inns specializing in goods essential to soul masters.

After arriving at one such nameless town, Miao and Xiao Yu found a decent-looking inn and settled in. Xiao Yu enjoyed a refreshing bath, washing away days of travel, and sprawled contentedly on the large bed.

“Ding. Congratulations, host, for slaying and absorbing the soul ring of a century-old soul beast solo. Black-level mission complete. Host is rewarded with one black-level character summon card and one hundred diamonds.”

Just then, the system’s prompt sounded slowly.

“System, your response is really slow. It’s been ages since I absorbed the ring, and only now do you react.” Xiao Yu complained, then immediately decided to use the newly acquired black character card—his strength was still too weak, and having more powerful companions was always better.

“Ding. Black-level character selection complete. Congratulations, host, for obtaining Underworld Warrior Huihuo of the Heavenly Storm Star. Martial soul: Bennu Bird. Innate soul power: level 9. Current soul power level: 85.”

“As expected, it’s the Underworld Domain System,” Xiao Yu muttered, though he was satisfied with the result. Huihuo was an Underworld Warrior from the LC era, formidable in strength, reputed to rival the three giants of the underworld, and a nemesis to Libra’s Golden Saint Dou Tiger.

With a Soul Douluo and a Soul Saint as protectors, Xiao Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. So long as he avoided provoking top powers like the Spirit Hall, Clear Sky Clan, and Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect—those with Title Douluo—he could traverse the continent without fear.

“Ding. Host has broken through level ten and reached the soul master realm. New missions are now issued as follows:”

“Mission One: Enroll in a primary soul master academy. Mission level corresponds to the academy, as per the following details:”

In an instant, a full map of the continent appeared before Xiao Yu, dotted with icons representing primary soul master academies. He tapped a glowing circle, and a detailed profile of the academy popped up—name, scale, address, headmaster’s cultivation, average teacher level, and finally, the academy’s associated mission level.

After about twenty minutes, Xiao Yu had browsed through all the primary academies, gaining a basic grasp of their information. Among them, three academies had the highest mission level—black—namely: Spirit Hall Primary Academy, Heaven Dou Royal Primary Soul Master Academy, and Star Luo Royal Primary Soul Master Academy.

With his aptitude, admission to any of these would not be difficult. However, it was obvious from their names which factions operated them. Having witnessed Xiao Yu’s potential, these powers would scarcely let him slip away unless they were mad.

Even without forcibly recruiting him, spending six years at such academies would inevitably mean using their resources—an unspoken debt of gratitude, the hardest to repay.

Below these stood a dozen or so academies at the purple level. Out of curiosity, Xiao Yu checked the ranking of Notting Academy. With a Soul Sect-level headmaster, Notting Academy offered a yellow-level reward.

But Tang San was only a year old, and by the time he and Xiao Wu enrolled, Xiao Yu would nearly graduate—unlikely to even cross paths. As for intercepting Xiao Wu or snuffing Tang San out in the cradle, the risks were far too high. Besides, let’s not forget, they had someone with a hammer guarding them.

“Let’s find a suitable one among these purple-tier academies,” Xiao Yu murmured, scrolling through the map suspended before him, reviewing each candidate.

For most soul masters, joining an academy backed by a powerful sect was ideal. Many such academies named themselves plainly to attract students, and Xiao Yu could often guess the supporting faction just from the name.

Eliminating several obviously unsuitable choices, Xiao Yu’s gaze settled on an academy called Bright Mirror Primary Soul Master Academy. Its headmaster was a fifty-seventh level Soul King, with teachers averaging Soul Elder level. Located in the Kaise Province beside the Kingdom of Sylvia, far from Spirit City, Heaven Dou City, and Star Luo City, it perfectly suited Xiao Yu’s needs.

After closing the academy map interface, Xiao Yu saw several more missions issued below the enrollment task:

“Mission Two: Become top student within one year. Mission level corresponds to academy’s mission level.”

“Mission Three: Become top student within three years. Mission level decreases one tier from academy’s mission level. If enrolled in a white-tier academy, this mission is void.”

“Mission Four: Graduate successfully from primary soul master academy. Mission level corresponds to academy’s mission level.”

“Mission Five, red-level mission: Break through to Soul Elder within one year.”

“Mission Six, black-level mission: Break through to Soul Elder within three years.”

“Mission Seven, purple-level mission: Break through to Soul Elder before graduation.”

“Becoming top student mainly tests combat ability. Graduation seems almost like a freebie—given my current aptitude, unless the academy loses its mind, there’s no way I wouldn’t graduate after admission,” Xiao Yu muttered. “The last three missions push my cultivation. The lowest, purple-level, requires breakthrough to level thirty before graduation. I recall Tang San and Xiao Wu graduated Notting at level twenty-nine, and soon after joining Shrek, both broke through to thirty. So the system’s minimum requirement is to keep pace with those two.”

Why call it a minimum? Xiao Yu guessed it was because Tang San, upon graduating from Notting, hadn’t yet consumed the immortal herb, so his cultivation speed hadn’t peaked, and he also spent much time forging for money. As for Xiao Wu, being a soul beast reborn, she should have been the fastest cultivator among the Shrek Seven Devils. During the Soul Master Tournament, the other six took immortal herbs and broke through to Soul Sect, while Xiao Wu lagged behind since she hadn’t consumed the similar herb; yet she caught up and broke through forty on the way to Spirit City for the finals, reaching the same realm as the others.

Thus, if Xiao Wu failed to break thirty before graduating, it was likely because this mischievous rabbit spent too much time on food, fun, and causing trouble.