Chapter 31: The Eight-Thousand-Year Dark Swan

The Golden Iron Triangle, founders of Shrek Academy, once possessed a martial soul fusion skill capable of summoning the Golden Holy Dragon. Thus, when Tang Ya learned that Bei Bei’s martial soul was the Bright Holy Dragon, she understood everything.

Bei Bei was likely sent by the academy’s leadership to approach her, but she had no need for such charity. As long as Ye Xixuan was by her side, Tang Ya possessed the courage to face anything.

Meanwhile, Xu Sanshi, a defensive battle soul master, and Jiang Nannan, an agility-attack battle soul master, were placed in the same class. However, obsessed with finding an opportunity to settle the score with Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi threw himself entirely into cultivation, having almost no interaction with Jiang Nannan.

All the threads of fate seemed to have diverged.

Spring turned to winter, and a year passed in the blink of an eye. Whether it was Ye Xixuan cultivating on Sea God Island, or Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi studying in the Outer Courtyard, life gradually became busy.

With the continuous nourishment from the evil aura within the origin of Ma Xiaotao’s Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul, Ye Xixuan’s first two soul rings increased in age by about a thousand years over the past year. Correspondingly, Ma Xiaotao was no longer troubled by the evil fire, and her cultivation speed improved by leaps and bounds. At only sixteen, she reached the Soul Emperor realm and stood a chance to break through the seventy-level bottleneck within the next three years.

By then, she would be under twenty, fully eligible to participate in the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. In the tens of thousands of years of the tournament’s history, no contestant with the cultivation of a Soul Saint had ever appeared. When Elder Mu competed in his day, his soul power was only at level sixty-nine; though, at eighteen, he had just missed the age limit for that particular competition.

The evil aura within Ma Xiaotao’s martial soul also bolstered Ye Xixuan’s cultivation speed. Half a year later, his soul power naturally reached level thirty. In other words, it took him only a year and a half to progress from level twenty-three to level thirty.

At just nine and a half years old, once he obtained a suitable third soul ring, he would successfully advance to the rank of a three-ring Soul Venerable. This completely shattered the record previously set by Elder Mu.

However, while Ye Xixuan was in seclusion, a major incident occurred within the academy. Elder Xuan had led twelve Inner Courtyard disciples into the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt soul beasts, only for the group to be unexpectedly separated. Those twelve disciples encountered a hundred-thousand-year soul beast head-on. Eight perished, and of the four survivors, Zhang Lexuan was one, having ultimately obtained the soul ring and soul bone of that hundred-thousand-year beast.

Ye Xixuan had warned Zhang Lexuan in advance, but unfortunately, he could not prevent the tragedy. Given his current cultivation and strength, there was little he could do. Who could have imagined that such a disaster would occur with Elder Xuan, a level 98 Super Douluo, in command?

Ultimately, Elder Xuan, as the team leader, could not absolve himself of blame. He began to wallow in despair, requesting the Sea God Pavilion to relieve him of his position as Vice Commander of the Shrek Inspectorate.

Following such a tragedy, the atmosphere on Sea God Island was extremely somber. Zhang Lexuan, having forcibly absorbed the hundred-thousand-year soul ring and bone, suffered a backlash that required at least two years of quiet recovery before she could utilize her martial soul again. Consequently, during this period, Elder Mu personally guided Ye Xixuan’s cultivation.

Early this morning, Ye Xixuan emerged from the Sea God Pavilion as usual and walked to the clearing in front. Elder Mu was lying on his chair with his eyes closed as always, but beside him sat a strange soul beast.

It was an elegant, light-footed black swan, covered in dense black feathers, lacking the exaggerated, massive size of typical soul beasts. Invisible dark-attribute elements gathered spontaneously toward its feathers, giving the surrounding air a thick, viscous quality. The pitch-black halo clearly repelled the bright aura of the Golden Tree. This appeared to be a unique innate ability of the black swan; even though it had long since lost consciousness, the ability continued to function. More remarkably, the purity of the dark-attribute elements it condensed rivaled the light aura of the Golden Tree.

Ye Xixuan withdrew his gaze in astonishment and bowed to Elder Mu with a sense of realization. "Elder Mu."

"This is an eight-thousand-year-old Dark Swan, which I sought out specifically to be your third soul ring," Elder Mu said, opening his eyes and smiling kindly at Ye Xixuan.

"In the world of soul beasts, swans are incredibly proud creatures. Almost all swan-type soul beasts excel in healing and support abilities, such as the Emerald Swan among the Ten Great Fierce Beasts. Only the black swan is the exception; they specialize in various dark-attribute curses and long-range attacks, standing at the pinnacle of the soul beast hierarchy. If a black swan were to cultivate to the hundred-thousand-year realm, I have no doubt their dark-attribute abilities could rival the ultimate darkness of the Beast God Di Tian."

"However, the physical body of a Dark Swan, like that of the Emerald Swan, is quite fragile and cannot compare to the top-tier true dragons like the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King," Elder Mu added. "I have considered the direction of your soul skills for a long time. This Dark Swan should bring you quite a pleasant surprise."

"Yes, Elder Mu." Ye Xixuan suppressed his excitement and nodded solemnly. He had not expected Elder Mu to be so thorough, even personally finding him such a suitable soul beast for his third ring.

He could not let down Elder Mu’s kindness. He immediately sat cross-legged, condensed a shadow dagger, and severed the proud, slender neck of the Dark Swan. A deep, purple-black soul ring began to coalesce above the beast's body, the rich soul energy resonating with the surrounding space and emitting a low, trembling hum.

Guided by his soul power, the Dark Swan’s soul ring slowly descended onto Ye Xixuan’s head. The searing heat of the fusion spread through his meridians, but everything remained within a controllable range.

Elder Mu, having previously assessed Ye Xixuan’s physical endurance, closed his eyes again with a look of satisfaction. After the tragedy under Elder Xuan’s leadership, although he had consoled him, he could not help but be troubled. If a level 98 Super Douluo could not prevent such a disaster, he was not about to entrust anyone else to take Ye Xixuan into the Star Dou Great Forest for a soul ring.

He had simply taken matters into his own hands and brought this beast back from the forest himself. Elder Mu held high hopes for Ye Xixuan, wishing for him to inherit his legacy and become the pillar of stability for Shrek Academy in the future.