184 An Explosion of Spiritual Power

Tang Wulin resolved to thoroughly investigate the results of the deepmeditation later. For now, he was certain that his soul power had increased toa stable rank 16 on the verge of breaking through to rank 17.

His growth rate wasn’t particularly outstanding when compared to Wang Jinxi,Zhang Yangzi, or Xie Xie, but his progress came as a wonderful surpriseconsidering that he wielded the Bluesilver Grass.

“I cultivated too much,” Tang Wulin sheepishly said.

Even as he said this, he felt a stare boring into him from the direction ofthe stage. Looking up, he met Long Hengxu’s glare and hastily straightened hisposture without another word.

Xu Xiaoyan furtively glanced his way. So it’s him!

She encountered Tang Wulin twice before—the first time in the spirit ascensionplatform and the second at the barbecue skewers restaurant with OuyangZixin—and on both occasions, he had left a lasting impression on her.

Of all the boys her age, Tang Wulin must be the most handsome one she had everseen. Long, delicate eyelashes framed his large eyes, and paired with hisrosy-white skin were his straight nose, supple lips, and rounded earlobes. Frombeneath his beautiful exterior, he also radiated a warm energy like that of thesun.

Clothed in the academy’s uniform, Tang Wulin seemed even brighter, and despitehis tardiness, he remained unruffled.This guy is so calm! Isn’t he afraid ofbeing criticized?

Like everyone else, Wu Zhangkong’s eyes were set on Tang Wulin but for anentirely different reason. He could distinctly see a luster in the depths ofTang Wulin’s eyes which signified a breakthrough, yet he noticed no majorchange in soul power.

From experience, he knew this to be the best outcome. For Soul Masters, if itwasn’t a breakthrough in soul power, then it had to be one in comprehension,which was absolutely vital in progressing further in cultivation. Although TangWulin’s innate talents didn’t amount to much, his extraordinary perceptionweighed far more heavily than even his mutated martial soul.

The ceremony continued without another hitch and after the customarymotivational speeches, it soon came to a close. Teachers led their charges backto the classroom where they gave their own words of wisdom and encouragementbefore dismissing the students until the next day when classes would officiallybegin.

Naturally, class zero had the simplest proceedings with only four studentsincluding the newly arrived Xu Xiaoyan.

“Introduce yourself,” Wu Zhangkong said to Xu Xiaoyan as soon as they enteredtheir classroom.

Facing Wu Zhangkong with her usual bashfulness, she stood and said, “Hello,everyone. I’m Xu Xiaoyan. I’m 10 years old and my martial soul is the StarwheelIce Staff. My soul power is at rank 17.”

The corner of Tang Wulin’s mouth began to twitch when he heard her lastsentence.

Noticing Xu Xiaoyan the moment he arrived, he originally thought, She’s a newstudent? A transfer student?He mistakenly assumed that with his recentprogress, his soul power would at least outrank the new student’s. He didn’texpect that instead, Xu Xiaoyan’s soul power surpassed his.

Wu Zhangkong nodded. “Over the next month, you need to prove your strength andadaptability with class zero. At the end, I will decide whether or not you willstay.”

“Yes,” Xu Xiaoyan cutely answered.

Wu Zhangkong turned to the other three. “You’ve had a month to rest, so I needto test your bodies again as well as run another combat test. You have half anhour to meditate and prepare.” He turned back to Xu Xiaoyan. “Same for you.”  

Considering Tang Wulin’s recent near explosion from absorbing an excess ofspirit energy, Wu Zhangkong was curious about the other children’s progress;only with accurate data could he properly plan out their curriculum. Since heknew that they wouldn’t be so lucky every time, he wanted to avoid anothersimilar problem cropping up in the future.

In the results that followed, however, his usual calm bearing was breached.

There weren’t any major changes in their physical strengths. Only Tang Wulin’snumber observed a slight increase, but it was nothing of note except to XuXiaoyan who was left stupefied.

She wanted to turn to Xie Xie and ask, Is this guy even human? Are you sure heisn’t a soul beast?

Xu Xiaoyan’s body strength was feeble to the point of being tragic, nodifferent from an ordinary person’s.

What shocked Wu Zhangkong instead were the results of the spiritual power test.

The first to take the test was Xie Xie.

His spiritual power had surprisingly broken past 50 and was now at 59. Finallyprogressing from the Spirit Origin realm to the Spirit Connection realm, hecould now upgrade his spirit soul to the thousand-year level.

The second to go according to Wu Zhangkong’s plan was the newcomer, XuXiaoyan. He believed that since the academy allowed such a physically weak girlto join class zero, her special strength must lie in a combination of spiritualpower and her ice-attribute trait.

Contrary to his expectations, however, Xu Xiaoyan’s spiritual power was at 61points, placing her in the Spirit Connection realm. Strangely enough, she onlyjust barely eclipsed Xie Xie in this respect yet it seemed to be her strongestpoint.

Tang Wulin went next; his results left Wu Zhangkong and his classmates utterlyflabbergasted.

“212 points?” Xie Xie read out the displayed number, incomprehension clear inhis voice.

“Teacher Wu, are you sure there’s no problem with the machine?” Xie Xieblankly stared at Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin was also shocked. 212 points? My spiritual power went straight fromthe elementary level to the intermediate level of Spirit Connection?

The threshold for the intermediate level was 150 points while the advancedlevel was 350 points. Once it reached 500 points, he would enter the Spirit Searealm, marking a major breakthrough in his strength that would increase byleaps and bounds. Then he would join the vast number of powerful experts at theSpirit Sea realm.

His mediocre spiritual power had surpassed Gu Yue’s first monstrous resultnow. A spiritual power of 212 points was enough to make the hearts of geniusestremble.

Xu Xiaoyan finally understood why Tang Wulin was the captain. Isn’t this toomonstrous? He’s only ten years old and has 212 points of spiritual power?Herbafflement deepened further when she considered spiritual power’s trend ofrapid growth until twenty years of age before its growth would slow to a crawl.

Having over 200 points at ten-years-old meant that even if he halted allcultivation, his spiritual power was still guaranteed to reach the Spirit Searealm. He would then have the foundation of spiritual power to become apowerful figure!

“Heavens! Boss, what elixir did you drink this last month? How did yourspiritual power increase by over one hundred?” Xie Xie stared at Tang Wulin,his expression disbelieving.

Tang Wulin understood the reason behind his monstrous results since he hadabsorbed the spirit energy of the Three-Eyed Demon Ape. The ape’s energychanged his spiritual power in a method that was wrought with danger, yet hesucceeded and made a breakthrough in his spiritual power.

“Gu Yue, your turn.” Wu Zhangkong’s momentary astonishment vanished, returninghis expression to normal shortly after. Similar to Tang Wulin, he presumed thecause of the tremendous growth could only be attributed to the Three-Eyed DemonApe.

“T-two-hundred-seventy-eight?” Once more, they were stunned, but this time byGu Yue’s number.

Gu Yue clipped her chin towards Tang Wulin as if to say, ‘I’m still betterthan you!’

A trace of a smile crept onto Wu Zhangkong’s lips. These two brats are reallystarting to look like monsters.