After the conclusion of the entire preliminary competition, there was a full month of rest. Yu Xiaogang planned to organize intensive training for everyone. Strangely enough, everyone seemed to respect this plan, especially Yu Tianheng, who practically followed Yu Xiaogang's lead without question.
However, Yang Xiong directly asked Yu Xiaogang for a month's leave, stating that he had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation and wished to go into seclusion to train. Yu Xiaogang initially had some complaints, but since Tang San had already used the same reason to request leave earlier, he couldn't be biased. In the end, he had no choice but to agree.
The preliminary competition had been a huge blow to Tang San. He had originally believed himself to be extremely gifted, but his performance during the tournament was far from impressive.
Many people had studied Tang San's Blue Silver Grass and came up with several countermeasures. Especially when facing fire-attribute soul masters, the Blue Silver Grass would burn quickly upon contact with fire, completely disrupting their formation and tactics.
In short, the Shrek team stumbled their way through the preliminary rounds. Despite having the highest average soul power in the Heaven Dou region, they failed to gain any advantage in matchups against strong teams. Their crushing defeats at the hands of both the Divine Wind Academy and Tianshui Academy especially embarrassed Tang San.
Unlike Tang San, Yang Xiong had been contemplating various issues, especially those concerning his future development. So, he simply returned to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan for seclusion and training.
Another issue with the Shrek team was that they now had three members at the thirty-ninth level. It was possible that some of them would soon break through again, and their strength could significantly increase by the time the finals came around.
Originally, Yang Xiong had planned for all his spirit rings to be strength-oriented while incorporating the five elements, gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Later, he would add some high-tier attributes like space, light, or darkness.
But after revisiting the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, Yang Xiong realized he might have underestimated the potential of the five-element spirit rings, and also underestimated the power of his body martial soul.
Although he had now fully absorbed the two Silver-Horned Dragon external spirit bones and gained quite a few other rewards, he couldn't shake the feeling that this world was far more complex than he had imagined. His dual claws seemed to represent a certain type of power, especially after that subtle sensation he experienced in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
His body martial soul turned out to be even more mysterious than he had thought. Since the martial soul was his body itself, and the human body holds infinite potential, it was a completely different category from ordinary martial souls.
For example, changing the form of a normal martial soul was very difficult, and evolving it was even harder. But the body martial soul seemed to grow stronger every moment. From the time he awakened at age six to now at age fourteen, his previously weak martial soul had, through relentless physical training and intensive cultivation, already begun to rival top-tier martial souls.
The changes in his dragon claws alone demonstrated how terrifyingly adaptable a body martial soul could be. Even more amazing was that every part of the body, skin, blood, muscles, bones, bone marrow, pores, and even hair, was part of the martial soul. Each part seemed to have its own developmental and awakening potential.
In the future, body martial souls would become exceedingly rare and powerful, akin to divine blessings.
A body martial soul is also known as the martial soul with the highest compatibility with the body. In the entire Douluo world, only three Ultimate Douluo have ever perfectly fused their bodies with their martial souls. A body martial soul could achieve this state naturally, without any additional training, a miracle in itself.
Another great advantage of a full-body martial soul is that even the eyes and brain are part of it. With physical training and growth, one's spiritual power improves rapidly, far beyond that of soul masters at the same level.
During the following month, Yang Xiong secluded himself for meditation. He not only contemplated the development and transformation of his martial soul but also considered his next steps and long-term plans.
Given the current situation, it seemed inevitable that they would head to Spirit Hall City for the finals. But what role should he play? Should he allow Spirit Hall to win and use that momentum to dominate the world, or should he fight seriously?
After spending two years with the Shrek team, Yang Xiong had developed a certain bond with them. While he wasn't particularly close to Tang San, Xiao Wu, or Dai Mubai, and even found their flaws a bit off-putting, it hadn't reached the level of hatred.
Especially Tang San. While his behavior could be extreme at times and occasionally hypocritical, he was far from the repugnant figure he would become in the future. One could argue that power causes arrogance and distorts human nature, perhaps a reflection of the influence of martial arts worlds on human character.
Time flew by, and soon the month had passed, the advancement tournament was about to begin.
After a month in seclusion, Yang Xiong felt as though he had gained a new understanding of his body martial soul. His body and mind felt clearer than ever. Problems that had once seemed unsolvable now made perfect sense.
One of his greatest achievements during this time was finally reaching the peak of the "Subtle" realm in the Purple Demon Eye technique. In terms of spiritual power, he had now surpassed Tang San. However, he was still some way from the third realm, "Mustard Seed." Reaching that level would require a qualitative leap and the ability to project spiritual power externally. That kind of transformation typically required reaching the Soul Sage level, though acquiring a head spirit bone could potentially accelerate the process.
The Shrek team seemed to have undergone some changes during his absence. Liu Erlong and Xiao Wu appeared to have become closer. The biggest change, however, was in Tang San.
Tang San had broken through to the Soul Sect realm during the month, reaching level 41 and acquiring his fourth spirit ring.
According to Ning Rongrong, Tang San's fourth spirit ring came from a 6,000-year-old Human-Faced Demon Spider. This was an over-the-limit spirit ring absorption. The skill it gave him was called Spider Web Restraint, a solid control-type skill. It allowed Blue Silver Grass to form a giant web to trap opponents, suitable for both single-target and area control, depending on how he used it.
However, the Human-Faced Demon Spider did not yield any external spirit bone. Still, Tang San's Blue Silver Grass had become noticeably tougher, although its weaknesses remained obvious.
If the preliminary rounds were a test of team coordination, then the advancement tournament was a pure test of individual ability.
The tournament took place on a training field outside Heaven Dou City, surrounded by ten thousand troops. It was a fully closed competition. Apart from participants, only some of the empire's high-ranking officials and nobles could attend. The general public was not allowed in.
As usual, Tang San was in charge of team formation. It was clear Yu Xiaogang had gone to great lengths to nurture him, to the point of clear favoritism. At least, other control-type soul masters like Dugu Yan didn't receive such treatment.
Whether intentional or not, Yang Xiong was always placed as the seventh fighter in each match, the team's hidden ace. This ensured the team would never lose.
Compared to their rocky start in the preliminary round, the Shrek team performed exceptionally well in the advancement tournament, like a hot knife through butter.
With six Soul Sects, including powerhouses like Yu Tianheng, Dai Mubai, Dugu Yan, and Tang San, the team had overwhelming strength. Each of them was capable of fighting multiple opponents at once.
In just half a month, the tournament had passed uneventfully, with the Shrek team undisputedly ranking first. Both Yu Tianheng and Tang San were particularly outstanding.
Yang Xiong was indifferent about the match arrangements. He didn't care whether he fought or not. To him, the advancement tournament was just an event for nobles and sects to scout talent, it held no meaning for him.
While Yang Xiong never took the field, Tang San was undoubtedly the tournament's brightest star, often being placed first or third in the lineup.
There were a total of fifteen teams in the tournament. Aside from the five from the Heaven Dou region, the rest were relatively weak. Tang San and his teammates often pulled off 1v3 or 1v4 wins, stunning the audience with their power.
The highlight of the advancement tournament was the duel between Tang San and Feng Xiaotian. Despite going all out, Tang San ultimately lost, even after using his Mantis Leg external spirit bone.
The Blue Silver Grass was still too fragile, and the Clear Sky Hammer had no spirit rings.
After a hard-fought battle, Tang San's body eventually gave out. He was defeated by Feng Xiaotian's Wind Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Slash.
Tang San's confidence took another hit. However, his talent and potential drew the attention of people like Salas, the platinum bishop of Spirit Hall and one of the tournament's overseers.
From every angle, twin martial souls, external spirit bone, Tang San was likely to become Spirit Hall's number one enemy in the future.
But neither Tang San nor Yu Xiaogang seemed aware of the currents swirling beneath the surface. Yang Xiong, of course, didn't care.
Yang Xiong observed the fight closely. Tang San's Tang Sect techniques were indeed impressive, especially his Mysterious Jade Hand and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. The Mysterious Jade Hand let him block normal wind blades with bare hands, and the Ghost Shadow movement technique allowed him to match Feng Xiaotian's speed.
However, Yang Xiong also understood that all Tang Sect techniques were rooted in the Xuan Tian Technique. Without it, other skills would be much harder to learn, especially the Purple Demon Eye, which required the Xuan Tian Technique to reach higher levels.
Ning Rongrong had also been practicing the Purple Demon Eye for over a year and had reached the "Subtle" realm. But her progress had slowed significantly since then. She no longer displayed the talent and rapid advancement she showed at the beginning.
Yet Yang Xiong noticed that his Yin-Yang Meditation Technique seemed to complement the Purple Demon Eye well. Both it and the Xuan Tian Technique originated from Daoist traditions. From a certain perspective, the Yin-Yang Meditation Technique appeared even more profound, almost like the source of all such techniques.
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