Chapter 78: Four Soul Ancestors
The failure of the two capable students immediately stirred murmurs of discussion among those in the crowd behind them.
"My god… is that light wall really that hard to break? It doesn't look like something with such powerful defense!"
"Hmph, I bet Lin Beiya never intended for us to pass. He must've set the difficulty this high on purpose."
"Exactly, exactly! As long as no one gets through, he can just hand the main team slots to his own connections. What a scheme!"
"..."
These malicious speculations quickly drifted up to the arena. Ye Lüsuo glanced worriedly at Lin Beiya. He knew Shi Nuo's strength far better than these people did. He was nothing like the baseless accusations being whispered below—certainly not some undeserving beneficiary of "connections."
But Lin Beiya didn't take the gossip to heart at all. He spoke at the same casual, unhurried pace as before:
"Selection continues. Anyone else who wishes to challenge, step forward."
"If not, then disperse. For the next three years, as long as someone can break through this crystal wall, they may enter the next stage of selection."
The noisy chatter instantly fell silent. The moment Lin Beiya's gaze swept across them, those who had tried to stir trouble immediately lowered their heads. Strength was the only true authority in this world. They could whisper behind his back, but actually standing against Lin Beiya head-on? Impossible.
The crowd remained quiet for a long time before a sharp-eyed young man finally stepped forward.
Ye Lüsuo recognized him at once. He leaned toward Lin Beiya and quietly introduced:
"That's Wei Xu—Dean Wei's grandson."
"His martial soul is also the Dragon-Roaring Spear."
Lin Beiya nodded. He had a feeling this one would be strong.
Sure enough, his intuition proved correct. A deep, resonant dragon cry echoed as a bright silver spear formed in Wei Xu's hand. Four soul rings—two yellow and two purple—rose beneath his feet.
A Soul Ancestor, equipped with a powerful offensive martial soul. A simplified crystal wall like this stood no chance against him.
"Splitting incoming impact across the entire surface… not bad for a defensive soul skill."
"But its flaw is equally obvious. It's terrible against highly concentrated, single-point explosive attacks."
As he spoke, Wei Xu assumed his spear stance. His third soul ring lit up at once.
"Third Soul Skill — Torrential Dragon Fury!"
A faint azure glow rippled across his body as Wei Xu fused with his Dragon-Roaring Spear, transforming into a streak of blue light that shot straight toward the crystal wall.
A violent tremor rippled through the wall. Spiderweb-like cracks spread across its surface.
The next second—boom!
The wall shattered completely and dissolved into sparkling motes of light at the arena entrance. Wei Xu dismissed his martial soul and stepped calmly onto the stage.
"Senior Wei, impressive attack power."
"Hardly. I'm only a few years older. If possible, I'd like to challenge you, Junior Brother."
Wei Xu clearly inherited his grandfather's personality—neither of them was very expressive. He merely gave Lin Beiya a serious nod, then directly stated his desire to challenge him.
He had previously fought Ye Lüsuo in the academy. His martial soul sharply countered his close-range fighting style, and with their soul power being similar, he usually lost more often than he won. Now, facing Lin Beiya—the person who had defeated Ye Lüsuo with ease—issuing a challenge was not unreasonable.
Lin Beiya didn't refuse. He nodded, signaling Wei Xu to wait for the moment.
"Of course, Senior Wei. Once the preliminary selection is done, the next segment will be the challenge matches. If you wish to challenge me, wait until then."
"Very well."
Hearing the acceptance, Wei Xu actually revealed a rare, faint smile. He then took two steps back and stood beside Ye Lüsuo, lowering his voice to ask:
"He's really that strong?"
Wei Xu had not witnessed the battle between Lin Beiya and Ye Lüsuo back then. All he had heard were rumors and secondhand descriptions, so he wanted to hear the truth directly from the one who experienced it.
"Absolutely. I didn't have even the slightest chance. And honestly… I feel the captain was holding back."
"That whole 'evenly matched' thing was just him giving me face."
Hearing this, Wei Xu's eyes widened. He had already believed he was overestimating Lin Beiya, but clearly, he had still underestimated him. Even so, his desire to challenge Lin Beiya did not weaken. If anything, the shock only intensified the fighting spirit burning in his eyes.
Ignoring their whispered conversation, Lin Beiya once again summoned a crystal wall at the entrance of the arena.
"As long as your strength is sufficient, you can break through the wall. By now, you should all understand that."
"The assessment continues. Any senior with the strength may step forward and try again."
Wei Xu's success immediately shattered all the conspiracy theories. There was only one explanation left for those who failed to break the wall: you're weak—go back and train!
With Lin Beiya's announcement that the test continued, most students began shaking their heads and sighing.
Their strength wasn't even on par with the Saber-Toothed Tiger or Wild Bull seniors who had failed earlier. Naturally, none of them wanted to make a fool of themselves by stepping up again.
But of course, not everyone backed off.
There were still others who attempted the challenge. Their strength generally fell somewhere between the Saber-Toothed Tiger senior and Wei Xu. Many failed; only a very small number succeeded.
By the end of the entire day, only four people—including Wei Xu—managed to break through the crystal wall. All four were Soul Ancestors, exactly the individuals Wei Ming had marked as key talents in the information he provided.
They were:
- Qian Yu – possessed the Silverback Gorilla martial soul
- Li Si – possessed a spider-type martial soul
- Qiu Tete – the only girl among them, wielding the Demon-Breaking Bow martial soul
Qiu Tete's method of breaking the wall was quite similar to Wei Xu's—both relied on single-point piercing attacks to shatter the surface.
While the students below were groaning, lamenting, and planning to go home and train harder, Lin Beiya glanced at the somewhat panicked support-type soul masters and said:
"Tomorrow, support-type soul masters may choose to cooperate with those seniors who failed to break the crystal wall today. As long as the two of you together can break the wall, both will be considered to have passed the assessment."
This was effectively a special assessment tailored for support-type soul masters. After all, even a Soul Ancestor–level support soul master could not break the wall alone. If the rule only required personal strength, it would be extremely unfair to them.
As expected, upon hearing this rule, many auxiliary soul masters immediately brightened. They had thought they were merely here to "accompany the event."
But now that they learned they too could enter the next round by assisting someone else in breaking the wall, they instantly began scanning the crowd for potential partners for tomorrow's challenge.
As the crowd slowly dispersed, Lin Beiya turned toward the four students who had passed the assessment.
"You may also head back. Senior Wei Ming, if you want to challenge me, you can do it now."
"No. I'll wait until tomorrow's challenge round."
Even knowing he had almost no chance of winning against Lin Beiya, Wei Xu did not intend to hide or avoid the battle. Losing wasn't a big deal—he could always train harder and win next time.
He wanted to challenge Lin Beiya openly, and tomorrow's post-selection challenge tournament was the perfect place.
Lin Beiya nodded slightly, clearly appreciating the young man's character. At the very least, he wasn't the type to scheme or hide his intentions.
"Very well. Then I'll see you tomorrow."
As Lin Beiya and his group left, Li Si—the student with the spider martial soul—looked at Wei Xu with disbelief.
"Are you insane? The challenge round is obviously designed for us to face those so-called 'connections.' If you pick Lin Beiya, aren't you afraid you'll lose your chance to join the team?"
"So what if I do? I don't need to join the team just to build a name for myself. Fighting strong opponents of my generation is far more interesting. If I lose, I lose. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
—
End of Chapter