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"Hello? Uncle?" Xu Yuan was somewhat puzzled.
Why was his uncle calling at this time?
"Little Yuan, you should be coming to the Tianhai Alliance for the competition, right? Come home first when you arrive—there's a surprise waiting for you," Xu Shengqun's tone was relaxed, as if he were pleased about something.
Xu Yuan was perplexed.
Since when did his uncle start teasing him with suspense?
What could this "surprise" be?
Xu Yuan knew that anything his uncle considered a "surprise" would at least bring tremendous benefits to his cultivation.
Xu Shengqun's martial soul had undergone a mutation. Though it was incredibly powerful, it lacked a solid foundation.
Although Xu Zhi had helped plan his development, Xu Shengqun was more than ten years older than Xu Zhi. By the time Xu Zhi began planning for him, Xu Shengqun already had two spirit souls and four soul rings.
Fortunately, following Xu Zhi's advice, Xu Shengqun absorbed three more spirit souls, allowing him to better unlock the void-piercing characteristics of his martial soul.
In total, Xu Shengqun had five spirit souls, all of which had now been raised to the ten-thousand-year level.
As a Spirit Envoy, obtaining Ascension Platform qualifications was relatively convenient for him. He even had the privilege of directly absorbing raw spiritual energy as a resource.
The promotion of his first and second spirit souls to the ten-thousand-year level was also part of Xu Zhi's meticulous planning.
It could be said that apart from lacking innate soul power, Xu Zhi was practically a genius in research.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this that Xu Yuan inherited the genes for his brain martial soul?
The upgrades of his first and second spirit souls to the ten-thousand-year level involved minor mutations tailored to align with his Heavenly Saint Void-Piercing Spear. However, they weren't perfectly aligned, failing to fully unlock the potential of his void-piercing spear intent.
Thus, breaking through to become a Limit Douluo was extremely difficult for Xu Shengqun.
He had been stuck at level 96 for nearly a decade, finally breaking through just five years ago. Reaching level 98 seemed distant, let alone surpassing that limit.
Still, there was hope.
But Xu Shengqun didn't hold much hope for himself achieving Limit Douluo status. Instead, he placed his hopes on Xu Yuan, who showed greater promise.
Perhaps this was why his tone sounded so cheerful—because of this so-called "surprise"?
Xu Yuan pressed him several times, but Xu Shengqun evaded the question, speaking of unrelated matters. In the end, Xu Yuan had no choice but to hang up the soul-guided communication in frustration.
If you're not going to tell me, why bother calling me in advance?
"However…" Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly.
How did his uncle know he was going to participate in the Tianhai Alliance competition?
Did he see the schedule?
His uncle shouldn't be responsible for such matters, given that he was a Spirit Envoy, not an administrator.
Connecting this with his earlier doubts, Xu Yuan arrived at an answer.
"Uncle once mentioned having some connections with Zhuo Shi. Back then, he even wanted to take me to Donghai Academy to find Wu Changkong. So… did Zhuo Shi ask my uncle to look after Wu Changkong? And in return, my uncle asked Zhuo Shi to keep an eye on me?"
This explanation made sense to Xu Yuan.
But it frustrated him.
Over the past three years, he hadn't felt any special treatment.
On the contrary, every assessment seemed to target him specifically, with extremely high difficulty.
If it weren't for his monstrous talent and consistent significant progress—and his habit of not revealing his cultivation advancements—he doubted he'd have achieved perfect scores even once.
Still, the rewards for perfect scores were quite enticing.
Xu Yuan licked his lips.
If he remembered correctly, there were still three years before specially recruited inner court disciples were required to return to normal studies in the outer court. During these three years, there would be six more assessments, giving him opportunities to claim plenty of valuable rewards.
Xu Yuan's thoughts became clearer.
So, Shen Yi taking the three of them to the Tianhai Alliance competition was likely related to Wu Changkong. In the original storyline, she only took Xu Lizhi and Ye Xinglan; now, Xu Yuan was simply added to the group.
No, perhaps it wasn't just about visiting Wu Changkong.
It was possible that Wu Changkong, having taken in three excellent students, intended to entrust them to Shrek Academy. Zhuo Shi might already know about this. Thus, this trip wasn't just to check on Wu Changkong—it might also be to "inspect the goods."
As for how such information reached them in advance, Xu Yuan suspected his uncle was heavily involved.
Donghai City wasn't among the top-ranked cities in the Tianhai Alliance, and Donghai Academy's performance in competitions was consistently lackluster. Yet, Donghai Academy somehow managed to secure monthly Ascension Platform qualifications for its Zero Class, even obtaining tickets for riot-period Ascension Platforms each semester.
Moreover, Wu Changkong held significant influence over Zero Class teaching.
"Tsk, indeed. When traveling, connections are indispensable—whether actively showcasing oneself or passively accepting support."
Xu Yuan didn't dwell on this minor revelation. After confirming the departure time, he returned to his room to continue cultivation.
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Meditation Space
The Tianyuan Brush and Tianyuan Spear floated alongside his brain martial soul.
Technically, these should still be considered two martial souls. Xu Yuan's Tianyuan Spear wasn't yet an independent martial soul—it hadn't been separated from the Tianyuan Brush—but Xu Yuan already possessed the ability to split them.
Lacking a suitable replacement for the Five-Element Spear Spirit, Xu Yuan hadn't completed the separation. If he did, the Five-Element Spear Spirit would fully merge into the Tianyuan Spear and his bloodline energy, leaving the essence of the Tianyuan Brush damaged. The effects of his first soul skill would also be severely impacted.
This would significantly weaken Xu Yuan's overall strength.
For now, Xu Yuan had achieved the practical effect of splitting, but without formally granting them independent status.
Exiting meditation, Xu Yuan stood up and summoned the Tianyuan Five-Element Spear with a wave of his hand.
Intense bloodline energy surged from the Tianyuan Five-Element Spear.
At this point, it had essentially taken on the form of a new martial soul, one completely tied to his bloodline energy—or rather, with his bloodline energy as an integral part of it.
Two purple soul rings appeared around Xu Yuan's body.
These two soul rings belonged to the Tianyuan Five-Element Spear!
Using his bloodline energy to drive it, Xu Yuan began practicing spear techniques.
Five-Element Spear Technique!
As he trained, Xu Yuan's understanding of the Five-Element Spear Technique deepened. All his insights were integrated into this soul skill. Perhaps, when enough spiritual energy accumulated, the Five-Element Spear Spirit's rank would leap directly from a thousand-year spirit soul to a ten-thousand-year spirit soul.
Of course, this hadn't been realized yet. Xu Yuan could only speculate and hope it would come true.
After finishing his spear practice, Xu Yuan reabsorbed the Tianyuan Five-Element Spear into his body, circulating it along with his bloodline energy throughout his meridians.
With another wave of his hand, he summoned the Tianyuan Brush.
A single purple soul ring rose from beneath his feet.
This soul ring was granted to the Tianyuan Brush by the Five-Element Spear Spirit. Currently, it was the only soul skill associated with the Tianyuan Brush—a clear weakness of this martial soul.
Though Xu Yuan planned to find a perfect spirit soul to replace the Five-Element Spear Spirit—one with mastery over the five elements—his Tianyuan Brush martial soul's cultivation remained limited to just this one soul ring.
Therefore, his decision to split his martial soul hadn't gone unnoticed by the Sea God's Pavilion.
Over the past two and a half years, Xu Yuan had received six rewards. Apart from the first one, the remaining five were all rare heavenly treasures corresponding to the five elements, meant to compensate for the loss of essence when the Tianyuan Brush truly split.
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