Chapter 24: The Growing Martial Soul
24 Chapter 24: The Growing Martial Soul
Divine Sword Academy, as the foremost of the four major academies in Divine Sea Country, was extremely imposing.
The gates were actually constructed from countless swords.
Countless swords were piled up upon one another, with sword Qi enveloping heaven and earth.
Yang Xiaotian immediately discerned the mystery of the gate; these swords were not merely stacked, but arranged into a Sword Array.
Seeing Yang Xiaotian staring at the gate, Chen Yuan said, "This is a Sword Array. The array was jointly set up by our academy's five great Elder Jians and is one of the strongest Sword Arrays in Divine Sea Country." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Yang Xiaotian nodded and started observing it carefully.
Yang Zhong saw Yang Xiaotian's earnest appearance and sneered, "There's no need to look anymore. So many talents in our Divine Sword Academy cannot comprehend this Sword Array, let alone you. Even if you had a hundred years, you wouldn't understand one ten-thousandth of it."
At this moment, in Yang Xiaotian's eyes, the swords in the gate seemed to come to life, constantly transforming.
Finally, they formed a Five Elements Sword Formation.
"Let's go," Chen Yuan interrupted Yang Xiaotian, "I'll take you to meet the Dean."
He was eager to find out what exactly Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul was.
Yang Xiaotian followed Chen Yuan and entered Divine Sword Academy.
Cheng Beibei and Yang Zhong also followed behind, both wanting to know the outcome.
After entering Divine Sword Academy and passing through an antechamber, they arrived at a plaza.
There stood a hundred huge Stone Swords on the plaza.
One hundred huge Stone Swords stood on both sides of the plaza, each ten meters tall, creating a profound visual impact.
"This is Hundred Swords Plaza."
"It is one of Divine Sword Academy's Sword Dao legacies."
"Each Stone Sword contains a powerful set of Swordsmanship."
"Many students often come here to contemplate the Sword Dao."
Chen Yuan casually explained to Yang Xiaotian.
"Has anyone ever fully comprehended all one hundred Stone Swords?" Yang Xiaotian asked curiously.
Upon hearing this, Cheng Beibei said, "You think these are Acquired martial techniques, that you can understand them if you want to? And comprehend all one hundred? With your talent, if you can comprehend any one of those Stone Swords, that would be your ancestors blessing you from beyond the grave."
Yet Yang Xiaotian gazed deeply at the one hundred huge Stone Swords for a moment.
After a while, Chen Yuan led Yang Xiaotian to the residence of Dean Lin Yong of Divine Sword Academy.
Lin Yong was correcting his disciple Hu Xing's Swordsmanship. Seeing Chen Yuan arrive, he stopped.
The two exchanged pleasantries, and Chen Yuan explained his visit.
"Oh, a Giant Tortoise Martial Soul that can transform?" Lin Yong looked at Yang Xiaotian in astonishment after hearing this.
It was also his first time hearing that a level two Giant Tortoise Martial Soul could change.
"Xiaotian, show your Martial Soul to Dean Lin," Chen Yuan said to Yang Xiaotian.
Yang Xiaotian nodded and summoned his Black Tortoise Martial Soul as instructed.
Suddenly, black light surged.
The space around them grew dark.
A giant tortoise entwined with a black snake appeared before everyone.
Compared to a few days earlier, the Black Tortoise and the black snake had changed again. The Black Tortoise's shell now had even more patterns, which emitted an unusual radiance.
The black scales of the Black Snake also displayed mysterious patterns.
Chen Yuan also noticed the changes in Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul over the last few days, and he was surprised once again.
Lin Yong looked at Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul with a surprised and puzzled expression and couldn't help but take a few steps closer to carefully observe Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul.
Everyone was silent.
A moment later, a giant eye appeared behind Lin Yong.
This eye was Lin Yong's Martial Soul, the Desolate Heaven Eye.
The Desolate Heaven Eye emitted strands of light that enveloped Yang Xiaotian's Black Tortoise Martial Soul.
Clearly, Lin Yong was using his Desolate Heaven Eye to assess Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul.
"Dean Lin, what do you think?" Chen Yuan asked eagerly.
Cheng Beibei, Lin Yong, and Hu Xing also looked at Lin Yong.
Lin Yong pondered for a moment and said, "His Martial Soul is indeed the Giant Tortoise Martial Soul."
Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul was certainly that of a giant tortoise.
Upon hearing this, Yang Zhong and Cheng Beibei both showed joy on their faces, and even Lin Yong's disciple Hu Xing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
The day before, students from the academy had said that Chen Yuan would bring someone named Yang Xiaotian back for his master to assess his Martial Soul.
They also said that this Yang Xiaotian had achieved a breakthrough to the fourth rank in just over a month, and his Martial Soul might even surpass Yang Zhong's.
Hu Xing, with the highest natural talent among the many students of Divine Sword Academy, naturally did not want another student with a higher talent than his own.
Chen Yuan, after hearing Lin Yong's answer, was very disappointed.
He had thought that Yang Xiaotian might bring him a surprise.
At that moment, Lin Yong added, "However, his Giant Tortoise Martial Soul is a growth-type Martial Soul."
"A growth-type?" Chen Yuan was startled, then delighted, "Does that mean his Martial Soul can continuously grow and advance?"
Lin Yong shook his head and said, "Not exactly. I read in an ancient book that such growth-type Martial Souls can only grow to a certain extent and there are innate limitations. For example, his Giant Tortoise Martial Soul is a second-rank Martial Soul, and it can at most grow to the sixth or seventh rank."
At most it can grow to the sixth or seventh rank? Upon hearing this, Chen Yuan immediately felt as though a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.
Yang Zhong, Cheng Beibei, and Hu Xing completely relaxed.
Lin Yong looked at Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul and said regretfully, "What a pity, growth-type Martial Souls are extremely rare, but his Martial Soul is unfortunately a second-rank Giant Tortoise Martial Soul."
If Yang Xiaotian's Martial Soul Awakening was at the tenth level, then it might have the potential to grow into a Supreme Martial Spirit.
Yang Xiaotian, hearing Lin Yong mention his growth-type Martial Soul, felt a stir in his heart. If his Martial Soul was of the growth type, did it mean his Supreme Martial Spirit could continue to grow?
"You were able to break through to the fourth rank so quickly because you consumed elixirs, right?" Lin Yong asked Yang Xiaotian.
Yang Xiaotian did not conceal the truth and replied, "Indeed, I have."
Now, the reason he could quickly break through to the third rank of the Innate was largely due to the supreme quality Foundation Building Spiritual Liquid and the Four Symbols Spirit Pill he had concocted.
Chen Yuan heard that Yang Xiaotian had consumed elixirs and shook his head inwardly, regretting his previous thought that the boy had achieved his breakthrough to the fourth rank through his own cultivation.
However, on second thought, it made sense. His disciple Yang Zhong couldn't have made such a quick breakthrough to the fourth rank, so how could this child achieve it through his own cultivation?
Chen Yuan thought for a moment, then said to Lin Yong, "Dean Lin, since Xiaotian's Martial Soul is of the growth type, is there a possibility that it could grow to the ninth rank in the future? Why don't we let him stay at Divine Sword Academy temporarily to observe him?"
Stay at Divine Sword Academy?
Lin Yong pondered and then said, "Well, let's keep the boy in the academy for a year. If he can break through to the seventh rank after one year, he can continue to stay at the academy."
Hu Xing frowned. He clearly did not want a student with a second-rank Martial Soul like Yang Xiaotian to stay at Divine Sword Academy.
Divine Sword Academy was the premier one among the four major academies of Divine Sea Country, and its recruiting standards required a Martial Soul to be at least at the ninth rank.
However, since his master had already spoken, he did not interject.