《Way to the heavens》


 1 A disappointing start.

    In the small victory village, the young Wang Wei wakes up at sunrise. He is a boy that is absolutely beautiful with long eyelashes and deep brown eyes and brown hair. His mother always tells him "when you grow up you will be a handsome young man but don''t forget about your mother okay?" He lives in a small house with his parents. They don''t have a lifestyle that is worth bragging about in fact they''re pretty poor. His father makes enough money for three small meals a day. However, they''re a happy family.


    Since Wang Wei just turned five so he is able to discover his soul form. As he walks to the town center with his father he can''t contain his excitement. "Dad, do you think I will get a strong soul form?" He asked. "No matter what soul form you''ll get your mom and I are really proud of you and we will always love you." His father said in return


    "Dad, what if I will be able to cultivate soul energy won''t that be amazing as soon as I will reach the level of chi apprentice our family''s situation will significantly improve and we can eat in luxury when something good happens."


    "Soul energy or not it doesn''t matter as long as you will still be my son." His father said with a smile on his face. The moment his father smiled all the women around him stopped for a second to take in this moment. His father was a very handsome man with a muscular build and beautiful brown eyes.


    The discovery of one''s soul form is a process that is executed by a chi legend. There are nine levels of cultivation in this world: the first being chi apprentice after that you have chi fighter, chi master, chi legend, soul fighter, soul warrior, soul king, soul legend and eventually the level that everyone wants to achieve to become a powerhouse in this world: heavenly god.


    As Wang Wei and his father wait in line to begin the process they see people leave with different expressions on their faces. They see people leave satisfied which indicates they have a pretty good soul form. They also see people leave who are disappointed at their soul form and then every so often there is someone who is ecstatic because they can cultivate soul energy.


    "It''s finally my turn!" Wang Wei said with an excited look on his face.


    He went in and ended up in a room that was beautifully decorated and even displayed the tale of how the world was created. This world was created by the first god who came into existence the same time the universe was created. He first summoned giant mountain beasts to take shape and thus the continents were created. He then summoned water serpents to fill the space between the mountain beasts and that is how the oceans were created. He then split himself into three parts two human one male and one female and one that transformed into a soul beast. The soul beast went on to summon all kind of soul beasts that inhabit the planet. The human parts started reproducing and that was how the humans started populating the holy world.


    By the time he saw everything, there was to see in the room the chi legend walked in and introduced himself.


    "Hello I''m Li Qiang I will be helping you discover your soul form. First, let''s sit down." There were two cushions lying on the ground they both went to sit on one of the cushions with their legs crossed. "okay focus all your attention on your body I will infuse your body with some of my soul energy. That will open your inner world and you will be able to see your soul form."


    Li Qiang put his hand on Wang Wei'' back and started infusing soul power. ''It''s warm but it feels nice. Is this what soul energy feels like? First thing is first let''s go see my inner world''


    Wang Wei ended up in a place that was filled with vegetation. He heard something move in the bushes behind him. He went to see what it was and it was¡­.


    It was a red snake. One of the weakest and most common soul forms. When Wang Wei found this out he returned to the normal world.


    "It seems your martial soul is the red snake that is a bit disappointing but there is a silver lining here. You possess the ability to cultivate soul energy so don''t give up." These were the words that came out of Li Qiang'' mouth.


    Due to being able to cultivate soul energy Wang Wei'' soul form wasn''t totally useless. But Wang Wei didn''t care about that he was too disappointed with his soul form.


    "Cheer up now you will be able to go to the school for soul experts your mom and I couldn''t be more proud of you." These were the words that came out of his father'' mouth.


    In the end, Wang Wei decided to dedicate himself to cultivating to the level of heavenly title god and show the world that even with a weak soul form someone can still become a heavenly god.

 2 The first day of the school starts

    Wang Wei'' academy lessons finally started, when he came to the gates he ran into another boy that was around his age. "Hello my name is Wang Wei what is yours?" he said with a great smile on his face. "Long Yue the boy replied" he had a slim build and was also pretty handsome just like Wang Wei.


    After talking for a while Long Yue asked: "So what is your soul form, mine is the holy leopard." As Wang Wei stood in astonishment of the amazing soul form he said "Mine is the red snake" while he hid his face because he felt ashamed.


    "Really? My father used to say that no matter the soul form ones potential wasn''t bound to it." Long Yue replied with a gentle smile on his face.


    "But it is known by everyone that it is one of the weakest soul forms. The only thing good about me is that I can cultivate soul energy."


    "So what. Who knows what lies ahead in your life. Come on let''s go class is about to start" Long Yue said as he walked to the academy building.


    .............................................¡­.


    "Welcome to your first day in the academy I''m your teacher Li Yun I will teach you until you graduate from this academy." The teacher of the class was a woman who was in her mid 30''s but because of her beauty, one would easily mistake her for 20 years old.


    "Okay let''s begin with soul jewels. A soul jewel is a jewel that a soul beast drops when it is killed. A soul expert can choose to absorb the soul jewel and with that gain a special ability that will help them in combat. If you kill a holy beast you will get a light jewel the lighter a jewel the stronger it is. When you kill an unholy beast you will get a dark jewel the darker a jewel the stronger it is. Whether you are suited for hunting holy or unholy beasts depend on your soul form. Wang Wei, for example, has the red snake as soul form it is not as strong as normal ones but he can choose which one he wants to hunt. But Long Yue, for example, has the holy leopard which gives him no choice but to hunt holy beasts."


    "Teacher you say hunt holy beasts but isn''t that a sin according to their name?"


    "No, it isn''t a sin. They were called holy beasts because they give light soul jewels and unholy beasts give dark soul jewels. It is just a name these beasts don''t have any powers. Also a person that has nine soul jewels but has an unholy soul form will still be called a heavenly god. Now that I have explained that let me tell you about the requirements of getting an approval letter for your next academy. You will attend this academy for seven years if you can achieve the level of chi apprentice then you will get an approval letter for your next academy. So I advise you to cultivate with all your might. Okay, let me tell you the technique to meditating."


    .............................................¡­.


    "Hey, Wang Wei!" Wang Wei turned around and saw it was Long Yue who said these words. "Hey what''s up?" he said in return.


    "I wanted to invite you to my place and practice martial arts together. My father teaches martial arts at our dojo so I wanted to invite you to practice together with me."


    "Martial arts? Why would I practice that? Isn''t my time better spend cultivating?"


    "Don''t you know? In the world of soul experts, you can incorporate martial arts into your fighting technique. There are a whole lot of different martial arts I practice jong martial arts it''s a combination of multiple martial arts but there is also boxing, kung fu and all sorts of martial arts. There are also body enhancements in special martial arts ."


    "Really? Okay, I''ll come with you but I still need a lot of time to cultivate soul energy. We need to reach 10 levels to reach chi apprentice and since I have a weak soul form my progress will be slower than yours."


    "I know don''t worry about that while practicing a martial arts you are also training your meridians a little bit so cultivating will go easier."


    .............................................¡­.


    They arrived at a dojo which had written on the door: Long family dojo.


    "Father I''m home I brought a friend who is interested in learning martial arts!"


    "Really you''ll have to introduce me then." A large bald muscular man walked into the room.


    "Hello, my name is Long Chen. I''m Long Yue'' father and I teach martial arts here. It is a tough sport do you think you''re ready for it?"


    "I think so." Wang Wei replied.


    .............................................¡­.


    "Welcome home." As Wang Wei returned his mother greeted him with a big smile and a nice meal.


    After training with Long Yue Wang Wei was absolutely exhausted so a nice warm meal was exactly what he needed. When he finished eating he went to his room to start cultivating. He used the method that his teacher taught him and his class. As to be expected his progress was pretty slow but he still felt the level of soul energy in his body rising. Although it wasn''t much it was still something.


    ''It will be very difficult to reach chi apprentice before I graduate'' Wang Wei thought to himself. But he refused to give up.

 3 Martial arts training

    It was a warm Sunday morning and the sun just rose but at the Long family dojo, you could already hear a lot of noise.


    "Again!! If you can''t even master this how will you become a powerhouse cultivator, again!" Long Chen roared.


    "Yes, teacher" A boy with long eyelashes and brown eyes was panting on the floor. It was Wang Wei. He got up and jumped in the air he then did a triple turn and ended it with a kick but the second he came tot he ground he fell.


    "Come on again! This is your first holiday I want you to be able to master all the techniques I give you by the end of this holiday!"


    "Yes Teacher" Wang Wei got up to do the routine again and was able to maintain his balance for a second longer.


    ........................¡­.


    The sun was setting in Victory Village and Wang Wei lay on the ground with a satisfied look on his face. ''I''m finally able to execute the triple twist technique.''


    As he was heading home he ran into Long Yue. "Hey, Wang Wei how''s it going I hope the training isn''t too hard. I know how my dad can be. After all, he is my father. Haha"


    "No, no, not at all, in fact, I learned the triple twist technique today and I can execute it almost perfectly. This training is really good I already feel that this is gonna be good for my meridians."


    "Really? The triple twist technique. It took me one and a half years to be able to even execute it poorly but you just practiced it for a few months and you can already execute it nearly perfect. You must be a martial arts prodigy."


    "No, you''re just saying that to be nice I still have a long way to go. Anyway, I gotta go home now my mom is waiting for me. Bye."


    When Wang Wei got home he had a nice meal with his parents and told them about his day and after that, he went to his room to cultivate.


    While cultivating he sank into a black hole. When he resurfaced he was faced with a gigantic beast, it was so big he couldn''t even see the outlines of the beast so he couldn''t see what it was.


    "Well well well. So my possible future possessor is practicing Jong martial arts."


    "Possible future possessor? What do you mean, what are you?" Wang Wei asked.


    "What I am is something you will have to find out for yourself the only thing that I can tell you is that you have to become strong and only then will I reveal myself to you. For now, I suggest you study soul forms and evolutions."


    "Evolutions? Do you mean soul form evolutions?! That isn''t real right I mean I heard about it in tales that came from ancient times but any documents of it are long lost and some people even say that it is just a fairy tale and that it doesn''t exist."


    "I can assure you that it exists. But for now, just focus on getting stronger." As the mysterious silhouette said this is was starting to fade away into nothingness.


    When Wang Wei woke up the next morning he felt a change in his body and came to the discovery that he was at soul energy level 1.


    ''So fast but how is that possible? My soul form is weak so cultivation should be slow. Anyway, there is no point in thinking about this I should go to the dojo.''


    The other days went by without any issues and Wang Wei didn''t meat the silhouette again. Before he knew it, it was the last day of the holiday.


    At the entrance of the Long Yue family dojo:


    "Hey, Wang Wei. I heard you broke through to soul energy level 1. That''s amazing especially with your soul form of the red snake. I just hope you reach rank ten before we graduate because then you get a recommendation letter from the school. By the way, I am a level 5 cultivator already so try your best to catch up to me. Hehe."


    "Just you wait Long Yue. Even if you have the holy leopard as soul form I will cultivate even harder from now on and one day I will overtake you and be stronger than you and one day I will be the strongest in this world!"


    "Okay, I''m gonna hold you to that okay."


    Just then Long Chen walked around the corner and stood face to face with his disciples.


    "Long Yue, Wang Wei. I want you guys to lightly spar with each other."


    "What?! Teacher you got to be making a joke right? Long Yue has been practicing Martial arts his whole life I just started a few months ago." Wang Wei said with a terrified expression on his face.


    "You are actually a martial arts prodigy. I didn''t want to tell you this because I was scared you would slack off but I saw that you needed confidence so I decided to tell you anyway. Besides Long Yue knows what sparring means so there won''t be any serious injuries."


    "Okay, let''s do this." Wang Wei then said real pumped


    -In the sparring arena-


    "The use of soul forms is allowed but if you inflict heavy damage to the other person I will no longer consider you a disciple of mine."


    "Yes, teacher!" Both of them said in unison.


    "Alright, you have 5 minutes to prepare yourself."


    -five minutes later-


    "Okay, begin!" Long Chen roared.

 4 Snake claws

    When Long Chen announced the beginning of the sparring session Long Yue pounced forward towards Wang Wei. Wang Wei directly shot into defense mode. And Long Yue made a Long lasting kicking combination when he stopped Wang Wei was a little worn out but was far from going down.


    "That was a pretty good attack," Wang Wei said while he ran toward Long Yue


    When he arrived before Long Yue, Long Yue was already moving to get away but to his surprise, Wang Wei'' body twisted and he was hit by a kick directly to the gut.


    ''How is this possible?'' Long Yue thought to himself.


    "My martial soul is the red snake and just like your holy leopard make you faster my red snake makes me more flexible that''s why I was able to hit you if I didn''t have the red snake I would never have been able to hit you like that. Hahaha"


    Long Chen looked to the sparring while he was extremely satisfied because the boys before him were fighting very profound and with almost perfect technique. While they were only five and a half years old!


    This is only possible because they are soul experts. Soul experts have a greater growth rate and that''s why they are able to fight with great technique at this age.


    What Long Chen was surprised about most was the technique displayed by Wang Wei. ''That boy is amazing he only has been training for a few months and already is trading blows with Long Yue on equal footing, a true prodigy''


    Wang Wei was not done yet. He jumped into the sky and twisted his body three times and as he finished his last twist his leg extended and was directed at Long Yue.


    ''A perfect triple twist?!'' these were the only words Long Chen could think to himself.


    Just as Long Chen, Long Yue was also very surprised at the technique displayed by Wang Wei.


    Long Yue changed his position to block but just as Wang Wei''leg was about to hit the block put up by Long Yue his body twisted and turned the other way around and hit Long Yue in the stomach again


    .


    "You really know how to incorporate your soul form in battle. Then let me show you what I can do."


    As Long Yue finished his sentence he disappeared and arrived before Wang Wei in a flash. Before Wang Wei could do anything he was hit by a fist and was sent flying.


    Since Wang Wei had the red snake soul form his body wasn''t really strong so he was sent flying at least for 10 meters. When he landed he found his balance very quickly though.


    Just as he thought Long Yue was done he saw that his hands transformed into claws. Leopard claws to be exact. And he pounced towards Wang Wei. This time however it played out differently since Wang Wei knew how he would attack he could evade the attack.


    "What was that we don''t have any soul jewels so a soul technique isn''t possible." Wang Wei said. "Unless you reached rank 10 and became a chi apprentice.?"


    "This is an individual technique. You can create other techniques next to soul techniques as for me I used the claws of my soul form to manifest on my hand and use them to fight I call it the holy claws technique. I''m sure you can create your own technique. Once you know what kind of technique you want to make you can start working on it. For example the time between when I first thought of what I wanted for a technique and when I first used it was only a few days. Of course, it took Longer to perfect it but it was still pretty fast. So I''m sure you can do it as fast if not faster than me." Long Yue replied.


    After Long Yue'' explanation, Wang Wei asked Long Chen if he could get a three-hour break and then after that continue with the sparring session.


    Three hours later Long Chen announced that the sparring session continued he did not know what happened in the break because Wang Wei disappeared but he seemed to be brimming with confidence so he thought Wang Wei made a breakthrough to rank two soul expert.


    This time from the beginning Wang Wei stood on equal footing with Long Yue. But then suddenly a smile appeared on his face.


    "Long Yue I want to thank you for explaining what an individual technique is. I will show you what I understood from that."


    The next moment his eyes transformed into snake eyes and his fingers became more pointy and round. The next second his fingers were completely transformed into snake fangs.


    His eyes narrowed as he pounced toward Long Yue and pointed his fang-like arms toward Long Yue. He stopped right before he slashed his face.


    In Long Yue'' eyes, there was a flash of fear but he was more impressed than scared. "That is an amazing technique and you learned that in just under three hours? Amazing!" Long Yue exclaimed.


    Long Chen was also very surprised. After a second of astonishment, he regained his posture. "Okay, the winner of this sparring session is Wang Wei. Great job."


    "Thank you, master," Wang Wei said and bowed


    "Wow that was an amazing technique what are you going to call it?"


    "I was thinking of snake claws or snake fangers instead of fang fingers. What do you think Long Yue?"


    "I like the name snake claws since normal snakes don''t have any claws so let''s go with that."


    "From today on you, two will train together, eat the same thing and always be by each other''s side at the academy." Long Chen said. "Only this way will you be an amazing duo that can understand each other on a deeper level."


    "Okay" the boys replied in unison.

 5 Final year

    After six years of cultivating and training martial arts. Wang Wei and Long Yue are finally attending their seventh year in the academy.


    Two pretty boys walked through the gates of the school one slightly more pretty than the other, he had beautiful brown eyes with long eyelashes and beautiful brown hair. It was Wang Wei and next to him was Long Yue. They were famous in the entire academy for their flawless teamwork in battles that they''ve shown in the past six years on top of that they were the prettiest boys.


    "Wang Wei, we''re starting our last year in the academy do you think you''ll catch up to me this year and cultivate to rank ten and become a chi apprentice?" Long Yue said.


    "I don''t know. Will you be able to catch up and defeat me in a sparring session, hehe." Wang Wei calmly replied.


    As they walked into the classroom they were greeted by their teacher Li Yun. "Hello, boys I have some great news for the two of you." She said with a warm smile on her face. "Hello teacher, what are you talking about?" Wang Wei asked.


    Li Yun had a big smile on her face and started explaining. "I have signed you two up for the inter-academy soul expert competition. You do have a chance to fight older soul experts however this is a great opportunity for you guys. You can get scouted by major advanced academy''s. This competition will take place in six months and Long Yue since you have already reached rank 10 I am planning to escort you to the holy valley south of town so you can hunt for a soul beast to obtain your first soul jewel. I will take you and the few others that have reached rank 10 in three months." She then turned to Wang Wei. "I know you are at the bottleneck of rank nine. That alone is amazing since your soul form is the red snake. It is less easy to cultivate and yet you are only one step behind the top tier soul forms in our class. If only you had a powerful soul form, who knows what rank you would be at. If you manage to cultivate to rank 10 before we go to the holy valley you can come of course. But because you have the red snake soul form you can also choose the expedition to the unholy caverns or the monster valley which is home to both holy and unholy soul beasts. But that is only if you reach rank ten."


    "Yes, teacher they both replied as they walked towards their seats.


    ........................¡­.


    After classes as they headed straight for the dojo to continue practicing their martial arts and individual techniques. Wang Wei had already perfected his snake claws and already has some ideas as to how he will make his snake claws even more powerful. If he can create a little bit of immobilizing poison at the tip of his claws it will be much stronger but his soul form the red snake isn''t poisonous so it is no use to think about that. However, since he perfected his snake claws he is now working on a different technique which he calls defensive scales. It is a technique that covers his arms with red snake scales and makes them much sturdier. This way he has a way of defending instead of always evading and running away. Long Yue also perfected his holy claws and he expanded his technique instead of creating a new one. He could now transform his feet into claws which didn''t increase his attack power but instead raised his speed he was now much faster than before. Ordinary people would now have a lot of trouble keeping track of Long Yue if he used his ultimate speed.


    Not only did their individual techniques improve but their martial art skills also improved by leaps and bounds. They could now occasionally defeat an ordinary person that was an expert in Jong martial arts without using their soul forms or individual skills.


    And because this happened occasionally of course word would get out and by now after six years. They are the superstars of victory village. Everyone holds the two in high regards and respects them because they are most likely to reach a high rank in the world of soul experts.


    ........................¡­.


    At the end of the day, Wang Wei returned home and started cultivating in his room. But he couldn''t concentrate over there so he went and searched for a quiet place somewhere outside of his house eventually he found a little forest that was not too big. He remembered that his teacher told him that certain habitats could enhance the speed of cultivation for certain soul forms, for example, a soul expert with a soul form that is related to the ocean would cultivate soul energy faster at the seashore than he would if he was in a forest. He went to the small forest next to his neighbourhood. He could feel his soul relax so he decided to sit down and start cultivating.


    The next morning he woke up and felt different he felt as if he was a step closer to rank ten. He was still far away from it but cultivating in the forest definitely helped. He decided that from now on he would cultivate in this forest every night since his soul energy would increase like never before.


    As he decided this he continued on with his morning routine. He then went to school and in the afternoon he practiced martial arts. In the evening he would return to the forest to cultivate and each time he did that he could feel that he was getting closer and closer to rank ten and the title of chi apprentice.


    Before he knew it almost three months passed and it was the night before the expedition.

 6 Chi apprentice!

    Wang Wei sat down to cultivate. ''This is the last night before the expedition if I don''t break through rank ten I''ll really fall behind.''


    It was quiet and peaceful all night but then suddenly in the middle of a pitch black forest, a bright glowing light could be seen.


    .............................................¡­.


    "Long Yue have you seen Wang Wei?" the person that asked this question was a beautiful woman it was, in fact, teacher Li Yun. "No, I haven''t seen him. He''s probably too embarrassed to show his face today since I will be leaving him in the dust. Hehe," Long Yue replied with a bright smile on his face. All the girls that were going on the trip were mesmerized by him for a moment but only for a moment because his big smile disappeared as he saw Wang Wei. "Hey, Long Yue what happened to your smile?" Wang Wei snickered.


    "Wang Wei, what are you doing here? Did you come to wish me good luck? That is so sweet of you. I promise that I will share the tales of my experiences when I come back." Long Yue said in a teasing tone. "Actually I came to join the expedition to the holy valley since I wanted a holy soul jewel to be my first soul jewel." Wang Wei said with a great smile. "Does that mean you¡­.?" "Yes, I broke through to rank ten. I am now also a chi apprentice. I won''t allow you to get that far ahead."


    Ling Yun stood next to the two as she followed the conversation. "Wang Wei are you serious? Reaching rank ten with the red snake soul form in only six years and three months you are someone who defies logic. Anyway nice to have you on board we''re departing in a few minutes go and gather with the rest."


    "Yes, teacher." Wang Wei answered. He then joined his peers together with Long Yue. If one would look at the group of eleven-year-olds one could immediately see who were the more powerful children as the others would line up behind those. And of course, everyone in the group that would depart to the holy valley would stand behind Wang Wei and Long Yue as they were the two strongest students in the entire academy and possibly the entire city amongst their peers. Behind Wang Wei and Long Yue, everyone was almost equally strong so you wouldn''t really see who would be the strongest after Long Yue and Wang Wei.


    "Okay class this expedition will last for three days if you haven''t killed a soul beast and obtained a soul jewel by then, better luck next time. We will make no exceptions. When we leave, we all leave. Understood?" Li Yun said. "Understood!" the group of children said.


    They then all got on a carriage and their travel started.


    "Hey, Wang Wei." A boy called out. "Yes?" As Wang Wei turned around it turned out to be Lee Zheng. "We are supposed to kill a soul beast ourselves because otherwise, we aren''t able to integrate the soul jewel. Aren''t you a bit nervous?" he asked. "No, not really." Wang Wei replied. "I am not worried because I have my individual skills snake claws and defensive scale. That is why I am fairly confident in myself. I am actually hoping to get a yellow soul jewel."


    Everyone on his carriage heard this and all cried out "yellow soul jewel?!"


    "You do know that a beast that drops a yellow soul jewel is at least a thousand years old right? They are really powerful. I know you are powerful as well but shouldn''t you go for an orange soul jewel. Those soul beasts are only a hundred years old and you''ll still have a better soul jewel than most of us since we''ll only go for the fifty-year-old soul beast and we will probably get a red soul jewel."


    "I know what that means but I am aiming for the top of the world together with Long Yue and if I don''t want to fall behind I will go for a yellow soul jewel because I know he will too. We will also be participating in the inter-academy soul expert competition and if we want to be noticed by prestigious academy we will have to stand out the most."


    "I get that but a yellow soul jewel. Isn''t that overkill? What if your spirit power is too little? I mean your spirit power is probably still in the spirit plains I mean there''s no way your spirit powers are on the spirit country level right?"


    "No we''re not on that level yet but we are approaching it so our spirit domains are probably able to handle a yellow soul jewel." Wang Wei calmly replied. "By the way, I think you will probably be able to handle a light orange soul jewel. I don''t know for sure but I get a certain feeling when I''m talking with you that you are halfway to the spirit country domain so I think you should try at least and if it is too much just try again another time. If you don''t push yourself how do you hope to improve yourself?"


    "You are pretty wise. How come I didn''t notice it until now?" Lee Zheng said.


    "Well, that''s because I don''t really talk to people. I only cultivate and practice martial arts. This right now is the longest time I have gone without any training since I started at the academy. I think it''s the same for Long Yue. That''s probably why."


    "Everyone get off the carriages we''re here!" Li Yun shouted.


    As the kids got off all the carriages everyone found their friends pretty quick.


    "Alright, everyone listen up." Li Yun said "You have the option of staying with me and the other teachers and we will help you get your first soul jewel or you can go out and explore for yourselves. I must say if you do this you can go further into the valley and you''ll find stronger soul beasts. However, if you choose to go out yourselves we won''t be able to help you." After she announced this the group of children split up the biggest part of the children stayed with the teachers and others were ready to leave there were I total thirty children who came along on the expedition and twenty-three choose to stay with the teacher among the seven who chose to explore on their own were of course Wang Wei and Long Yue.

 7 Holy Valley

    In a peaceful forest in the holy valley. Two figures flew past the trees.


    "Hey, Wang Wei! Try to keep up okay? Hahaha."


    "Don''t you worry about me, Long Yue. Just watch in front of you so you won''t run into a tree."


    The two figures were Wang Wei and Long Yue. They were traveling deeper and deeper into the valley in search of a strong holy spirit beast that was at least a thousand years old. They were in search of a solid yellow spirit stone because that was all they could handle if they were to go for a lighter yellow stone they would die or get hurt real bad trying to integrate with it.


    "What kind of spirit beast are you looking for Long Yue?" Wang Wei asked.


    "I am looking for a predator type soul beast because I have the holy leopard as soul form I am looking for a predator soul beast that will give me a strong attacking soul technique. If I get a strong attack I will defeat you for sure. Also, we will be able to dominate the inter-academy soul expert competition. I think I won''t even need you if I get my hands on a strong attacking soul technique."


    "Are you sure about that? What if I also get a strong attacking technique." Wang Wei replied calmly.


    "You don''t need one. You already have snake claws and defensive scales. Even if an individual technique is a little inferior to a soul technique you have perfected yours so I think your individual technique is actually as strong as a soul technique. My individual technique helps me with speed but I still lack attacking power. I don''t need defense as long as I have my speed for now so I don''t really focus on that. I think you should go for a soul technique that will grant you speed, stealth or control."


    "Yeah, you''re probably right but I don''t think I have perfected my individual techniques it still takes two seconds for the claws and scales to manifest. I will train until they manifest within a heartbeat. Only then will I think of them as perfect it''s not that I don''t think my individual techniques are bad. It''s just that I don''t think there is always a way to improve."


    "Okay sure but I think you should go for a more cunning soul beast like the thunderstrike snake. It''s strong and it has a lightning elemental attribute so it''s definitely a strong opponent and it won''t be that hard to find one that is a thousand years old. But since we are hunting for thousand-year-old spirit beasts I think that we have to help each other killing them. Of course, the final strike will go to the person that wants the soul jewel of the beast but that is pretty obvious."


    "Okay, I think I will go for that one then. If I listen to what you want I think you should go for a crimson lion. You may not have the same attribute but since it is a holy spirit beast and you have the holy attribute you won''t have the elemental attribute problem. As for me, I have the red snake soul form. The red snake is like a white canvas. It doesn''t have an elemental attribute so I don''t really have that problem either. As for working together on killing the soul beasts, it will not only increase our chances of obtaining a soul jewel it will also help with our coordination in battle I know we have trained together for all those years and sparred against strong opponents but as I just said those were just sparring battles. In the upcoming competition, it won''t be a sparring battle they will come after us with all they''ve got. The soul beasts will do the same so it will help us with quick decisions in dire situations. Because out here it could mean life or death especially since we are going after thousand-year-old soul beasts."


    "You''re right. We can''t see any of the upcoming battles as all of our previous battles not here and not at the competition. I suggest that when we get out of here we will train our hardest and master our soul technique as best as we can in three months."


    .......................................................................................¡­.


    Back at the base camp


    ''I wonder how those two are doing'' Li Yun thought to herself.


    "Teacher Li Yun?" Lee Zheng called out. "We are ready to set out and go hunt for soul beasts the other teachers told me to come and get you... Were you thinking about Wang Wei and Long Yue? I have also been thinking about them but I don''t think they will encounter any trouble as long as they''re together. They will have a bit of trouble actually getting the soul jewel they desire since they are going for a yellow one but if they work together I think they will be able to accomplish their goal." He said with a bitter smile on his face. ''Why can''t I be as strong as they are.'' he thought to himself.


    Li Yun couldn''t believe what she heard. ''Two students are going for a yellow soul jewel the first time they are hunting soul beasts! This has never happened before. I am interested to see if they will accomplish what they set out to do.''


    "Yes, I think they will be able to do it." Li Yun answered to Lee Zheng. "Let''s go. Your soul jewel isn''t going to come to you out of free will. You will also have to fight for it. But you''re in luck since we are going quite deep into the valley so even if you won''t get a yellow soul jewel you will be able to get one that is light orange if you can handle that."


    "Yes, teacher!" Lee Zheng said in return with a hopeful look in his eyes.

 8 Soul jewel

    It is night time in the holy valley and a few lights could be seen. Some were from campfires, others were from light attribute soul beasts.


    "I know we are pretty deep in the valley but tomorrow I want to go even further and look for strong soul beasts. What about you Wang Wei?" It was Long Yue who said this as he stuffed his face with food.


    "I think that it is reckless but then again big risks mean big rewards. For now, let''s just make sure we get through the night. The teachers even told us it would be safer if we would stay with them because the soul beasts that become active at night are really dangerous. That is because you only see them when it''s too late."


    "Yeah, yeah, I know it''s dangerous out here. But we are dangerous to the soul beasts especially when we get our soul jewels."


    "I don''t know about that at our level there is always someone or something that is stronger. Good night."


    "Good night."


    .............................................¡­.


    The first light of dawn hit the holy valley as Wang Wei and Long Yue woke up.


    "Okay, it''s morning let''s go." Long Yue said.


    "Okay let''s go this direction." Wang Wei replied.


    As he finished his sentence the two moved at high speed in the direction Wang Wei suggested.


    2 hours later.


    "I''ll distract it and then you can hit it." It was Wang Wei who shouted this to Long Yue.


    At the moment they were in a fight with a crimson lion.


    "Okay, just protect yourself." Long Yue replied.


    Wang Wei'' Snake claws and defensive scales appeared and he swung his right arm at the crimson lion'' face and right after that, he swung his left arm. The second the crimson lion focused on Wang Wei, Long Yue'' holy claws appeared and slashed at the crimson lion'' body. It only left a wound that was a couple of centimeters deep which indicated that it was at least a thousand five hundred years old crimson lion. The crimson lion roared furiously as he pounced toward Long Yue. A smile appeared on Long Yue'' face. The next second the crimson lion slashed at Long Yue but there was no blood. The crimson lion had hit an after image of Long Yue. His speed increased greatly when he used his holy claws. The moment the crimson turned around it was greeted with a spinning back kick in the face from Wang Wei. The crimson lion stumbled and fell to the ground it was still alive. Wang Wei just knocked out a crimson lion that was a thousand five hundred years old.


    "I knocked it out! I don''t believe it." Wang Wei exclaimed.


    "That spinning back kick was flawless and it hit the crimson lion'' temple perfectly. That doesn''t happen very often not even with the best martial artists. Congrats Wang Wei, and thank you for this opportunity." Long Yue said as he walked over to the unconscious crimson lion as his holy claws shone in the morning sun.


    The next moment his holy claws impaled and slashed all over the crimson lion'' body. The next moment a bright yellow light shone from the crimson lion'' corpse. After the light dimmed down a yellow soul jewel rose up from the crimson lion'' body. Long Yue walked over and grabbed it. He then sat down cross-legged and was ready to begin integrating with it.


    "Wang Wei, will you keep me safe while I try to integrate with this soul jewel?"


    "Yeah, sure. Just stop if it gets too much okay?"


    "I know, I know. Don''t worry I got this." Long Yue said with a great smile on his face.


    While Long Yue was meditating and trying to integrate with the yellow soul jewel Wang Wei decided to train his spirit powers because the higher his spirit power would be the easier it would be to integrate with a yellow soul jewel. Long Yue'' spirit power was at the bottleneck of the spirit plains so it wouldn''t be easy for him but it wouldn''t be hard a well it would be doable but for Wang Wei, it was different he just reached rank ten and Long Yue was already rank thirteen.


    As he sat down he felt even more relaxed than when he would cultivate in the forest back home. Before he knew it, it was already night time. He had cultivated all day when he opened his eyes he was more aware of the changes in a twelve-meter radius from him. ''I broke through! I broke through to the spirit country level!'' Wang Wei thought to himself. He then turned to look if everything was alright with Long Yue and he was also awakening from his meditation.


    "And? Did you integrate with the soul jewel?" Wang Wei asked.


    Long Yue didn''t say anything he just raised his hand. And with a big smile on his, he turned his hand around so that the back of his hand faced Wang Wei. A solid yellow jewel could be seen on his right hand below his index finger'' knuckle.


    "Haha, how do you like that I am getting further and further away from you." Long Yue said with a smirk on his face.


    "Are you sure about that?" Wang Wei replied. "I just broke through to the spirit country level. I can get an even lighter soul jewel than you."


    "What?! Spirit country? How? You have a trash soul form you cultivated to spirit country before me. That is amazing! Wang Wei teach me how you did it I need to know so that you won''t get ahead."


    "I don''t know either. I just started cultivating and when I awakened I had reached the spirit country level. But that doesn''t matter right now. What soul technique did you acquire is it an attacking technique?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yes, and it is awesome let me show you." The next moment his soul jewel on the back of his hand lit up and a white leopard claw manifested but the nails were a crimson red color. He then slashed at a boulder that was only a few steps further. In the air, five streaks of red flames could be seen and the boulder was slashed apart. "I''ll call it crimson slash."


    "That''s amazing Long Yue. Tomorrow let''s look for a soul jewel for me." Wang Wei said.

 9 Thunderstrike snake

    After a good night''s rest Wang Wei set out to find a soul jewel. He had to hurry it up since it was the last day.


    "Come on it''s the last day and I don''t have my soul jewel yet so we got to hurry it up."


    "I know but we can take it easy since we have to be at base camp before dark and since we started at sunrise we have at least twelve hours it''s gonna be okay and since your spirit power broke through to the spirit country level your integration with a thousand-year-old soul jewel shouldn''t be so hard."


    "Yeah, you''re probably right." Wang Wei said.


    The two were traveling at high speed looking for a compatible soul beast for Wang Wei. Any beast would do but Wang Wei wanted the perfect beast for him because he wanted to be the best at the inter-academy soul expert competition.


    "There it is!" Long Yue exclaimed while he pointed at a tree. Around the tree was a bright yellow snake coiled.


    When the snake saw Long Yue and Wang Wei preparing, it slowly slithered down the tree. When the snake began to move, lighting bolts started forming around the snake.


    "It really is a thunderstrike snake and look at its length it is at least five thousand years old. How amazing is that? I can''t wait for it to become my first soul jewel. I wonder what kind of soul technique I will gain." Wang Wei said while he manifested his snake claws and defensive scales.


    When the snake saw Wang Wei'' snake technique it pounced towards him but it didn''t open its mouth instead it swung its tail aiming for Wang Wei and Long Yue. The two just managed to avoid its tail but they were at a slight disadvantage because they were crouched on the ground. The two jumped up as soon as they could but when they found their balance they were greeted with a bolt of lightning heading straight for them. Long Yue managed to avoid it but Wang Wei was too slow and could do nothing but cross his arms and let his defensive scales take the hit. When the lightning bolt struck, Wang Wei let out a muffled groan. But other than a few scratches he was fine. But when he uncrossed his arms he saw something that he thought he would never. The explosion attracted another crimson lion it was truly the worst situation. Wang Wei and Long Yue only managed to defeat their first crimson lion with luck but now there was another one and there was a thunderstrike snake with an age of five thousand years.


    "Leave the crimson lion to me I''ll deal with it really quick so I can help you." The moment Long Yue said this his first soul jewel glowed up and he slashed in the air following his slash five streaks of red flames flew toward the crimson lion. It could not evade the attack and had to shoot a fireball at the five streaks. However, the fireball only canceled out four flames the fifth his the lion at his leg there was a deep wound but the lion still pounced toward Long Yue.


    At the same moment, Wang Wei pounced toward the thunderstrike snake with his snake claws in a position to swing at the snake. But right before he hit the snake he turned and kicked the snake directly to the head. The snake wobbled for a second but regained its balance.


    On the other side a loud roar could be heard even at the base camp they could hear the roar.


    "Teacher Li Yun what was that?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "Oh, Lee Zheng. You integrated with your soul jewel I see. That probably was the roar of a thousand-year-old crimson lion dying or being killed. To kill a crimson lion one must have immense strength."


    Li Yun said while looking toward the direction which the lion'' roar came from.


    And it was exactly like she said. The crimson lion that attacked Wang Wei and Long Yue was slashed into five parts while its fur was still burning. Long Yue didn''t come out unscathed. He had a wound that ran from his elbow to his wrist. It wasn''t serious but he couldn''t use that arm without any treatment.


    "Wang Wei. I''m sorry I can only use one more crimson slash after that I can''t do anything more. My soul energy will be depleted."


    "it''s okay. Just one is all I need if you can make it focus on you I can kill it." Wang Wei replied.


    "Okay. Let''s do this. Let''s kill a five-thousand-year-old soul beast." The next moment Long Yue roared as his Holy Claws manifested. Because he has his soul technique crimson slash his nails were still a crimson red. The thunderstrike snake turned it''s head to look at Long Yue. When it saw the wound on his arm his eyes showed that he was rejecting to fight him but that changed when he saw the five flaming streaks heading for it. The snake reacted by shooting five lightning bolts at the five flames. When the two attacks met there was an explosion that left behind a smoke screen. When the smoke dissipated Wang Wei was nowhere to be seen. The snake thought he fled and was slowly slithering to Long Yue who was out of energy and just barely conscious. When it was in front of Long Yue it opened its mouth and he could see the fangs which reflected the light that fell upon them just when it was about to strike a stream of blood flowed down its back. A deafening screech could be heard after that it was dead silent. The next moment Wang Wei stood next to the snake with blood on his claws.


    He killed the snake with his own hands, he crushed its skull and killed it.


    "Man you came just in time. I thought I was going to die. I couldn''t see you anymore" Long Yue said.


    "Of course. I had to hide so that the snake would focus on you. I would never abandon you. Just meditate for now and restore your power I will integrate with the soul jewel." As Wang Wei pointed at the snake a soul jewel could be seen. This soul jewel was different from Long Yue'' soul jewel the yellow color was less intense and it was lighter.


    "Okay just be sure to finish before sundown otherwise we have to find our own way home." Long Yue reminded him.


    "Yeah, yeah. You just focus on restoring your energy I will integrate with the soul jewel and we''ll be back at base camp before dark." Wang Wei replied.

 10 Yellow soul jewels?!

    "Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight. We are missing two students! Does anyone know who is missing?" Li Yun counted all of the kids three times and every time she came up two kids short.


    "Teacher! Wang Wei and Long Yue are missing." It was Lee Zheng who called out. He was worried because it was already dark and he still didn''t see them.


    "Yeah, where are they? They couldn''t have been killed right? No of course not we''re talking about Wang Wei and Long Yue they wouldn''t be killed by some soul beasts. But they travelled alone what is the travelled to deep and encountered a soul beast that even those two couldn''t defeat." And just like that everyone was shouting and screaming and in panic.


    "Hey! Why is everyone shouting did something happen?" Someone called out from the forest.


    Everyone turned their heads to the mysterious voice. Right then two silhouettes walked out of the trees and towards the group. When they came closer someone called out. "It''s Wang Wei and Long Yue. I told you they wouldn''t die!"


    "Whoah, someone said that we could''ve died. Who do you think we are? If we work together not a single soul beast could stop us." Long Yue said while Wang Wei had a satisfied look on his face.


    "Okay, okay. Enough with the bragging, I need you to tell me what colour soul jewels you have for registration purpose." It was Li Yun who said this. "If you want you can even demonstrate the soul technique you have learned."


    "Okay, I''ll go first" It was Long Yue who stepped forward. "Teacher Zhou Feng will you please help me demonstrate? My soul technique is an attack technique and since you specialize in defence I hope you could help me bring out its full potential." He said.


    "Okay, why not." Zhou Feng said.


    "You might want to use a soul technique or use your soul form." Long Yue said.


    After Long Yue said that a solid yellow soul jewel manifested on his hand and started to glow all the students then shouted in surprise "Yellow soul jewel?!" He then slashed the air and five streaks of red fire flew towards Zhou Feng. Zhou Feng was surprised and used his third soul technique water shell. His soul form was the water tortoise so he could block it easily but he still needed to seriously use it in order to render Long Yue'' attack useless.


    "How''s that?" Long Yue said.


    "Very impressive Long Yue, I needed to focus to block that attack." Zhou Feng said.


    "Teacher you are giving me to much praise you are a soul brawler with five soul rings. You could''ve easily stopped my attack." Long Yue replied but Zhou Feng then told him that for his first soul technique Long Yue had a powerful technique. Next, it was the turn to Wang Wei.


    "Do you think he also has a thousand-year-old soul jewel? What? Of course not. You know how difficult those are to get only Long Yue would be able to kill a thousand-year-old soul beast." This kind of conversations went through the crowd.


    "Teacher Li Yun. Could you help me demonstrate the soul technique I acquired? I got a controlling soul jewel so I can''t really demonstrate on my own." Wang Wei said as he stepped forward.


    "Sure I''ll help you. What do you need me to do?" Li Yun asked.


    "I need you to release you nine-tailed firefox and attack me." Wang Wei said calmly.


    "What?! Attack? But teacher Li Yun is a soul warrior she has six soul jewels she''ll probably kill him if she would hit him with all her strength." Again the crowd started talking amongst themselves.


    "Okay, if that is what you want, prepare yourself." Li Yun said.


    The next moment a transparent yellow soul ring could be seen on Wang Wei'' it hand wasn''t solid yellow but it wasn''t really light yellow you could still see that it was yellow but it was lighter than Long Yue'' soul jewel. "What!!" everyone cried out.


    The next moment Li Yun pounced toward Wang Wei ready to strike but then suddenly Wang Wei'' pupils turned into lightning symbols and his eyes turned yellow the next moment Li Yun was paralyzed, Wang Wei, a chi apprentice paralyzed a soul warrior. The paralysis lasted for a whole second before Li Yun could move again. After that Wang Wei'' eyes turned normal.


    "You were able to paralyze me for an entire second what soul beast did you kill?" Li Yun asked in astonishment.


    "A five-thousand-year-old thunderstrike snake." Wang Wei calmly answered.


    "Huh!!! A five-thousand-year-old thunderstrike snake!" Everyone even the teachers yelled.


    "Yeah, I couldn''t have done it without Long Yue. In total, we took down two, thousand-year-old crimson lions and one five-thousand-year-old thunderstrike snake." He said.


    "I was right to choose you two for the competition. I have high hopes for you." Li Yun said.


    "Thank you, teacher." Wang Wei and Long Yue said.


    After everyone calmed down they returned home on the way home Wang Wei had another conversation with Lee Zheng.


    "So you have a five-thousand-year-old soul jewel. That is so cool! What do you call your soul technique?" Lee Zheng asked Wang Wei. "My soul technique is called paralysis eyes and Long Yue'' soul technique is called crimson slash. Even though I have an older soul jewel we are still equal to each other in terms of strength. By the way what soul jewel did you get?"


    Lee Zheng held out his hand and a transparent orange soul jewel manifested it was a very faint orange glow. "My soul jewel is from a nine-hundred-year-old flying tiger. I have the snow white eagle soul form. The soul technique I got is called wing slash it gives my wing feathers a sharp edge and when I slash it a blade sharp streak of air forms and flies towards my opponent I can also use it to directly attack my opponent with my wings it is really helpful in both long distance and close combat battles. Also because I have the snow white eagle soul form I can fly for now I can only fly for ten minutes but if I am able to cultivate high enough I could fly all day long if I wanted. Hehe"


    "Wow, a transparent orange soul jewel you must be close to the spirit country level." Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah I''m pretty close I think I could''ve integrated with a thousand-year-old soul jewel but that would be too wasteful I had a perfect soul jewel for me ready so I integrated with it. By the way, you said you had a five-thousand-year-old soul jewel that isn''t possible right?"


    "Normally no. But while I was in the valley I broke through to the spirit country level that''s why."


    "Spirit country level! That is amazing. But it''s getting late we should arrive by morning. Good night Wang Wei."


    "Goodnight Lee Zheng."

 11 Tournament training

    "Long Yue, Wang Wei I want you to meet your new teammate." Li Yun suddenly said while Long Yue and Wang Wei were busy training.


    "Huh? New teammate but we are the two strongest students in this academy and what competitions will we participate in?" Long Yue said.


    "Well, if it''s just one person I guess we''ll also enter the trio tournament. For now, we only focussed on the solo and duo competitions." Wang Wei said calmly. "As for who it is I think I already know."


    "Really? Who do you think will join us"


    "It will probably be Lee Zheng he has a pretty good soul form as for his soul jewel he has a nine-hundred-year-old soul ring. That''s why I think it will be Lee Zheng who joins us. Or will it be someone else?"


    "No you''re correct for the next three months Lee Zheng will be joining you to train for the trio competition I don''t know if he will join the solo competition that is up to him but he is also a reserve if one of you gets heavily injured and can''t fight any longer in the duo competition." Li Yun replied.


    "Do you think he''ll be able to keep up? I mean hearing all this I get why but he didn''t really stand out before to me and how will we train for the trio competition? Duo fights are still doable in my family dojo but trio fights will be too much." Long Yue said.


    "Don''t worry he''ll be able to keep up. His soul form is the snow white eagle and he is a level 14 chi apprentice the same as you Long Yue. As for training, I was thinking about letting you use the school sparring grounds and let you spar against classmates that also obtained their first soul jewel. Not only will you benefit from it so will they." Li Yun said. "I will be waiting for you tomorrow after school at the sparring grounds."


    .............................................¡­.


    "Wang Wei, how do you feel about working with Lee Zheng how do you think he is?"


    "I spoke with him on the trip to the hoy valley he is a pretty nice guy. As for his fighting ability, I have no idea he stayed at base camp so only the teachers and the others who stayed at base camp could''ve seen it. As for my abilities, I was able to paralyze teacher Li Yun for a second so I think I will be able to paralyze our classmates for ten seconds if I have to." Wang Wei said in return.


    "Amazing, but let''s keep that hidden."


    "Huh? Why wouldn''t it be better to show our power to all our classmates?"


    "I agree. But what if there are spies from the other academies. I mean word must have gotten out that we both have a thousand-year-old soul jewel so they''ll probably investigate us." Long Yue explained.


    "Ah, I see. That''s pretty smart. Okay, let''s do that I will only reveal my true abilities in the tournament."


    "Alright, let''s enter and start training."


    Inside the sparring arena


    "Hey, Wang Wei how''s it going. So cool that I get to join you guys for the competition."


    "Hey, Lee Zheng. Yeah, that''s pretty great. If you could tell us all of your abilities we will be better at working together we will also tell you what we can do and after that let''s start our training."


    After a few minutes of talking to each other Wang Wei and Long Yue had a deeper understanding of Lee Zheng and vice versa.


    "Okay both sides get ready I will be the referee for this match." Li Yun announced. "You are not allowed to inflict any severe injuries to the other party. Understood?"


    "Understood!" Wang Wei, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng replied but their opponents were dead silent they were looking at the trio as if they wanted to harm them.


    The other three were the three people in the academy that worked very hard to be able to compete in the competition but that opportunity was taken away from them by these three so of course, they were angry.


    The trio that stood across from them were Xiao Dai with a void sword as soul form, Zhao Wei she was the most popular girl in the academy her soul form was the jade rabbit she was also the fastest in the academy after Long Yue. The last one was the leader of the trio Lei Huo whose soul form was the lightning tiger.


    They each were level sixteen. They were true geniuses. This would be a hard battle for anyone who just got their first soul jewel but for Long Yue and Wang Wei it wouldn''t be very difficult since they have their martial art foundation. Lee Zheng was the only one that was really nervous.


    "Begin!"


    As soon as Li Yun announced the beginning of the fight the crowd that was there started cheering for Xiao Dai, Zhao Wei, and Lei Huo who each unleased their soul form. A pitch black sword that seemed to suck in all light formed in Xiao Dai'' hands. As for Zhao Wei, she grew a pair of jade green bunny ears and a fluffy green bunny tail on her lower back. The most impressive person was Lei Huo electricity crackled around his body and only his silhouette could be seen when the lightning disappeared he appeared to be a humanoid tiger with a lightning yellow fur.


    As for Lee Zheng, Wang Wei and Long Yue only Lee Zheng unleashed his soul form as a pair of pure, snow white wings grew out of his back. He floated in the air for a few seconds and then descended. Long Yue and Wang Wei however just stood there. Their opponents couldn''t waste such an opening but then something unbelievable happened. Long Yue unleashed his holy claws and Wang Wei unleashed his snake claws. The next moment Wang Wei'' soul jewel lit up and his opponents couldn''t move for a second but that one second was everything the next moment Long Yue stood with his claws at the throat of Xiao Dai, Lee Zheng had his sharp feathers which he pulled out and used as daggers at Zhao Wei'' throat and Wang Wei had his snake claws at Lei Huo'' throat.


    The three were so shocked that they immediately surrendered. When Wang Wei, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng pulled back the three collapsed and fell to the ground they fainted from the fear each of them felt.


    The crowd that was there and cheered for the three earlier were dead silent. They were completely annihilated. This was the power of the academy representatives.

 12 Strongest in the academy

    The battle only lasted for a few seconds but in those few seconds, Wang Wei and his friends absolutely annihilated their opponents. With this victory, everybody now knows that they are the three strongest in the academy.


    "Wang Wei, can I speak with you for a minute?" It was Li Yun who asked this.


    "Sure." Wang Wei said as he walked over.


    "Not here follow me."


    After following Li Yun for a few minutes Wang Wei found himself in a green forest closed off from the rest of the world.


    "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about teacher?"


    "What is up with only being able to use your paralysis eyes for one second. You were even able to paralyze me! A soul warrior. For a whole second and you''re telling me you can''t even paralyze three chi apprentices longer than that. How is that possible?"


    "It''s not that I can''t it''s that I choose not to. Long Yue and I thought about it and we are only going to train what people already know about us in public. Our soul techniques are the only things that we will train in secret so that we can surprise everyone at the tournament. That way no-one has any information about our soul techniques and have to deal with them on the spot." Wang Wei calmly replied.


    "I see. That is actually a pretty good idea. And also I know you have two individual techniques that are on par with soul techniques. Given that information could you maybe help Lee Zheng create some individual techniques?"


    "I''m sorry teacher but individual techniques can only be created by oneself. I can, however, give him some information as for how to create one but the rest is up to him. I am not even sure he can perfect his individual technique before the tournament. I mean I created mine in a few hours and perfected it to where it is now in a few years. It took Long Yue days to even create one and he is an extraordinary soul expert. I think it will take Lee Zheng a month or so to even create one let alone perfect it. It would be awesome and handy if he could use it by the time the tournament started, but I highly doubt he will be able to."


    "Don''t you worry about that I''m pretty sure he will pull through if you just tell him what to do I think it''ll be just fine."


    "Okay, teacher."


    For the next three months Wang Wei, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng trained like crazy. They would attend school together and after that run over to Long Yue'' family dojo and train martial arts and their individual and soul techniques. At night they would each cultivate on their own. This was the only time the three were apart.


    After three grueling months of training, the three were finally getting ready to depart to the tournament. They were gathered at the school gates together with Li Yun who would be in charge of the three young prodigies.


    "Are you all ready?" Li Yun asked the three as she boarded the carriage which would take them to the tournament.


    "Yes!" the three boys said in unison.


    "Let''s go to duskshore city!" Wang Wei roared.


    "Yeah!" Long Yue and Lee Zheng cried out.


    They left early in the morning and the entire academy was there to see them off. The ride to duskshore city took about ten hours but with the few breaks they took, they arrived at dusk.


    "Wow, so this is duskshore city. It''s beautiful." Wang Wei said.


    "Yes, it is." Li Yun replied. "This city''s most beautiful feature is the seashore at dusk. Hence the name duskshore city. Do you see that colosseum? That is the place where the tournament will be held. Only the strongest of each academy will be participating. This might discourage you but you three are three little geniuses so I expect you will at least achieve top eight in each tournament round. Lee Zheng won''t be participating in the solo tournament so that is one rival less. I am really interested in seeing you and Long Yue fight each other. You will be in different brackets so the only way you get to face each other is if you both get to the finals which I think you will be able to."


    "Thanks, but won''t there be other geniuses from other schools as well. I think it won''t be so easy." Wang Wei said.


    "Of course there are other geniuses but you three are something else. Two of you have soul jewels older than a thousand year and one of you has a nine-hundred-years-old soul jewel. On top of that, you each have amazing individual techniques and you have had so many practice matches in the last three months your combat experience is much higher than that of ordinary people your age."


    "Thanks, teacher. Talking to you like this has put my heart at ease. Let''s find a hotel we can stay in and sleep because tomorrow is the big day."


    "You''re right. You three should get a good nights rest."


    As the group arrived in duskshore city they went to the hotel nearest to the coliseum. That way they could go right to the coliseum when they woke up.


    "Hey, Wang Wei. You couldn''t sleep either?" It was Long Yue who said this. They were both in the lobby downstairs.


    "No. Do you realize? We''re at a tournament with the best of the best. Who would''ve thought? Remember way back when we first sparred each other and both showed our individual technique. How far we have come." Wang Wei said while staring out of a window looking at the night sky.


    "Yeah, I still remember that was the day I decided I was going to be your best friend forever. We really have come a long way huh. Anyway let''s go back to the room and at least try and get some rest. Tomorrow we have three fights. One in each category."


    "Yeah, you''re right. See you tomorrow."

 13 Tournament begins

    It was early in the morning but duskshore city was bustling with activity. It''s not every day that it is this busy in the early morning in the city, today was an exception because the beginning of the inter-academy soul expert tournament was about to begin. Even people without soul energy were excited about this kind of events.


    "Okay boys, today is the beginning of the tournament there first will be an opening ceremony first and after that, the first round of the solo tournament will begin. It will be a knock out round so if you lose you''re out I expect that you will get through the first round. In the afternoon the duo tournament will begin and in the evening the trio tournament. Of course, I expect that for each tournament you will get the first round. But don''t expect a warm welcome. We are one of the worst elementary academies on this continent. Everyone will ridicule you if you win the first round the high ranking people will probably say that you cheated. Don''t mind them just go up there fight your fight and come down. We will show them all that victory academy isn''t that weak academy anymore."


    "Yes teacher!" the three boys said in unison.


    On the way to the opening ceremony


    "Wang Wei. Did you know our academy was one of the weakest ones on the continent?" Long Yue asked.


    "No. I didn''t but it doesn''t matter since we''re going to dominate this tournament. Right? Lee Zheng."


    "Of course we''re going to dominate. We''re talking about us three. We are the best in all of victory village amongst our peers. We are going to shut all those high ranking people up."


    "That''s the spirit." It was Li Yun who said this she overheard everything the boys said.


    "Oh is that right? Some lowlife trash is going to shut us up?"


    "Who dares to call us trash?" Wang Wei was furious. Long Yue and Lee Zheng have never seen Wang Wei mad. He was already terrifying in a battle when he was in a good mood how horrifying would he be if he was angry in a battle.


    "It was I Long Sha. Do you have a problem with that?"


    "Yes, I have a problem with that. What gives you the right to call us trash?"


    "I am a member of Glory academy the strongest academy on the entire continent. These are my teammates Zhang Xinyu and Wenxuan Xie." He said that as he pointed at two girls behind him.


    The girls didn''t do anything they just stared at Wang Wei, mesmerized by his beauty. The next moment Wang Wei walked over to them and the two girls started to blush. And then Wang Wei asked with a sweet voice "Do you also think that we''re trash?"


    "No!" the two girls said.


    "Okay then. I hope we can become good friends." Wang Wei said with a big smile.


    When he was smiling it was almost enough to make the girls faint. Long Sha, on the other hand, was looking at Wang Wei as if he could kill him any moment.


    "How dare you ignore me! I am Long Sha I have the feared shadow dragon soul form I am a level nineteen chi apprentice. You should kneel before me." The moment he said that orange light was glowing on the back of his hand.


    "You don''t have to do this you know. You are from the famous glory academy what would they think of the way you present yourself. If you really want to fight me you have to either get lucky and beat my friend in the semi-final or be in the same bracket as me. My name is Wang Wei, don''t forget it."


    As he said his last sentence he was walking away.


    There wasn''t any crowd or anything. These kinds of arguments were considered normal at this tournament.


    "Wang Wei amazing how you kept your cool if it was me I would''ve beaten him to a pulp." It was Long Yue he was furious because of the way Long Sha treated their academy.


    "It''s okay one of us will get the chance to take revenge and maybe we will meet them in the trio competition."


    "Yeah, you''re right but there are sixty-four academies participating the chances won''t be that big we''ll meet them in the beginning."


    "That doesn''t matter we will win this whole thing so it doesn''t matter if we fight them in the beginning, in the end, or not even at all." It was Lee Zheng who said these words.


    "Haha, I like the way you think. Of course, we''re gonna win this whole thing."


    "If you boys win this you will get some nice rewards." Li Yun said.


    "Huh? We are getting prices. I thought this was just a way of getting scouted."


    "Oh Wang Wei, don''t you know anything besides cultivating and practicing martial arts? Of course, we''re going to get prices. The first place in the solo competition gets 500.000 gold coins, a heavenly special technique and soul beast resources which you can sell or use to help you cultivate. The second place wins 250.000 gold coins and an earthly special technique. Soul beast cultivation resources are really valuable so only the best genius amongst the younger generation can get them. And third place wins 100.000 gold coins and an uncommon special technique." Long Yue explained.


    "Really? Well then. Let''s go get those two top places." Wang Wei said.


    "Yes, also the duo competition gives the duo a hundred thousand gold coins. And the trio that wins will each get fifty thousand gold coins." Li Yun further explained.


    ''If I win the solo competition and we also win the other tournaments my family won''t have any money troubles again for the next ten years.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    After the ceremony ended the first round of the solo competition started.


    Wang Wei had to fight Liu Feng from duskshore academy. That''s right he fought someone on their home turf.


    ''This is gonna be a hard fight.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.

 14 First round

    "The first contestants of today are Liu Feng from our own duskshore academy and Wang Wei from victory academy." The announcer said.


    "My name is Wang Wei, rank fourteen chi apprentice, red snake soul form."


    "Hmpf, I''m up against some trash? Liu Feng, rank eighteen chi apprentice, golden thunder sword soul form." Liu Feng said. "Trash like you is not even qualified to be in this tournament so I will take it upon myself to send you home."


    "Begin!"


    When the battle began Liu Feng immediately summoned his sword and pounced towards Wang Wei as a red gem started sparkling on his hand.


    "Thunderstrike!" When Liu Feng used his first soul technique a thunderbolt was unleashed and was heading for Wang Wei who just stood there with his eyes closed.


    He slowly opened his eyes as he said. "Defensive scales, snake claws." As he crossed his arms in front of him.


    The next scene stunned everyone in the audience. Wang Wei just took the lightning bolt as if it were nothing and pounced towards Liu Feng with his claws brandished. He swung his claws and stopped just before Liu Feng'' eyes.


    "I surrender! I surrender!" Liu Feng cried out.


    "Hmpf, I guess it is you who is the trash." Wang Wei calmly said as he walked off the stage.


    Next was Long Yue'' battle which also ended in total domination.


    Back in the resting area


    "Wang Wei don''t get too confident I''m coming for you, you better not lose your next fight!" it was Long Sha. He was placed in the same bracket as Wang Wei. In total there were one hundred-twenty eight students participating in the solo competition. If Wang Wei won his next fight he would be in the top thirty-two, and he would face Long Sha.


    "You just focus on your own fights. I will make sure to win." Wang Wei replied. "Long Yue, come. We have to prepare for the duo competition."


    A few hours later in the afternoon, the first solo round had ended and sixty-four participants were knocked out of the solo tournament. After a few fights ended it was the turn to Wang Wei and Long Yue to participate in the duo tournament. They were up against a brother-sister duo.


    "I''m Wang Wei a rank fourteen chi apprentice and I have a red snake soul form. This is Long Yue, rank sixteen chi apprentice. His soul form is the holy leopard."


    "I''m Shen Hong a rank sixteen chi apprentice, flaming axe soul form. This is my sister Shen Yue. She is also rank sixteen her soul form is the water fan."


    As soon as the start of the battle was announced Long Yue brandished his holy claws which had a red glow now. Wang Wei summoned his defensive scales and also brandished his snake claws.


    "Water wave!" as Shen Yue said this she revealed her first soul technique. An orange light shone on the hand she held the fan with and she waved with her fan. As she did this an enormous wave formed in front of her. It swallowed both Wang Wei and Long Yue.


    They eventually got through the wave but then right after that Shen Hong stood there with a flaming axe in his hands and swung at the two. Long Yue used his holy claws'' speed to avoid and Wang Wei relied on his flexibility to avoid.


    "I''ll take the girl, you take the brother." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay!" Long Yue replied.


    The next moment Long Yue appeared before Shen Hong in a flash. He pointed his claws at his neck.


    "Surrender!" he roared.


    "Let my brother go!" Shen Yue cried out. Her soul ring lit up again.


    "Are you sure you want to do that?"


    It was Wang Wei! He touched the back of her neck with his snake claw. The brother-sister team surrendered and the two advanced to the top thirty-two of the duo competition.


    Next was the trio competition. Because Wang Wei and Long Yue already fought two battles today they were only meditating and eating before the fight. But then they were called up to the fighting grounds. They found out that their opponents were almost the same to the people they fought against in the academy the first time the three fought together. So they dealt with them almost the same way. This time instead of using their soul techniques they used their individual techniques to quickly end their fight. The audience was most surprised by Lee Zheng his individual soul skill he used multiple feathers to form a snow white feather sword which he used to suppress his opponent.


    They won the first day without using their soul techniques so their exhaustion wasn''t that great.


    "Okay let''s win again tomorrow and after that this whole tournament!" Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, let''s win this thing." Long Yue and Lee Zheng said in unison.


    In the personal box of the colosseum, a person with a powerful aura stood there looking at the fights.


    "Those youngsters from victory academy are really strong. To win their first day without using any individual techniques. They would be perfect for our academy right?" He asked as he looked towards the woman by his side.


    "They are indeed strong but I don''t know if they are strong enough to join our jade academy, especially that Wang Wei with a martial soul as his how will he ever become strong."


    "Don''t worry about that. I can help him with that issue. How about this? If they manage to be in the final eight of all competitions they will be given the opportunity to enter our jade academy."


    "Okay you have got yourself a deal but only if they enter the final eight of each competition."

 15 The second day of the tournamen

    It was early in the morning and the sun hasn''t risen yet but there was already one person jogging. It was Wang Wei.


    ''I can''t relax on my training I have to keep working hard. Especially with my martial soul which is one of the weakest ones I have to be physically strong.''


    "Hello, there little boy." It was a man who wore a white cloak. He had a face that was average but Wang Wei could feel that this man was a powerful soul expert.


    "Hello senior." Wang Wei said while he bowed before this elder.


    "I have seen you fight in the competition yesterday and you were very impressive. Your friends also have a lot of talent. The reason I am standing here right now is to tell you that I have a proposition for you." The mysterious elder said.


    "Oh, what kind of proposition is elder talking about."


    "I am from the jade academy. We are a small advanced academy not many people know of but our power is no joke. I am here to tell you that if you are able to enter the top eight in each competition you and your friends are able to enroll in our academy."


    "I have never heard of jade academy don''t try to trick me, how can I believe you?"


    "Good, never trust a random person you meet on the streets I see that you are very wise. But I have a way of showing how serious I am."


    "And how will you show that then?"


    The next moment Wang Wei was dead silent. The man before him had soul jewels forming on his right hand. The first one was a light orange jewel after that appeared a dark blue! a one-hundred-year-old unholy Soul jewel.


    ''This man has a neutral soul form?!'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    But then a yellow soul jewel after that appeared a violet a thousand year old unholy soul jewel, two ice blue ten-thousand-year-old holy soul jewels! And two dark purple ten-thousand-year-old unholy soul jewels! But after that a bright light appeared on the man'' chest it was a white soul jewel! A one-hundred-thousand-year-old holy soul jewel. He was a heavenly god powerhouse with a one-hundred-thousand-year-old soul jewel


    "Senior you are amazing to have a neutral soul form and to have this many powerful soul jewels!"


    Wang Wei exclaimed. "What is your soul form?"


    "My soul form is the millennial tortoise. It is a strong neutral defensive type of soul form. However, I started out as a normal tortoise but thanks to a special technique I have improved my soul form. If you want I can also help you evolve your red snake. And since a snake has a little bit of the dragon bloodline your soul form will probably evolve into a dragon. However, I can''t help you if you won''t become part of our jade academy and next to that you need to be at least at the level of chi fighter and have two soul jewels."


    "Okay, I will enter the top eight in each competition and enter your jade academy."


    "I will follow your process in the tournament, don''t disappoint me."


    As the senior walked away the sun was already up and people made their way to the colosseum.


    "Wang Wei, where have you been. We have been looking all over for you!" Li Yun said with a worried tone.


    "It''s okay teacher, I now have even more determination to win this tournament."


    "What happened?"


    "I can''t tell you about it but just trust me when I say that we will at least enter the top eight."


    The second round of the solo competition began.


    Wang Wei'' fight was second he was up against Lu Kang who had the summoners staff soul form.


    "Begin!" the announcer said.


    As soon as the start was announced Lu Kang'' first soul jewel lit up a light brown light could be seen.


    ''An ten-year-old unholy soul jewel'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    As he saw the unholy soul jewel he thought about this morning when he met the heavenly god who invited him to join the jade academy. As he thought about this he was getting more and more fired up. By the time he was done thinking about this morning, his opponent had already summoned a low-level demon.


    Wang Wei brandished his snake claws and pounced towards the demon. Without fear, he swung at the demon. But to his surprise, the demon could withstand his attack.


    "Even though my demon is only ten years old it is a defensive type of demon. He can even withstand attacks from a chi fighter. You have no chance of winning!"


    "We''ll see about that." Wang Wei said as he moved towards the demon he again swung at the demon but right before he came into contact he pulled away and disappeared.


    He stepped around the demon and slashed at the neck of the demon and hit!


    The demon turned into a ball of energy and dispersed.


    "I won." Wang Wei said. His opponent gave up and Wang Wei advanced to the top thirty-two in the solo competition. So did Long Yue.


    In the afternoon the duo tournament started.


    Long Yue and Wang Wei were first their opponents were twins who were two years older than them they had the same type of hammer soul form.


    It was the earth hammer.


    They both were level seventeen chi apprentices and were very strong. They also both had a light orange soul jewel.


    "I take the one on the left, you take the one on the right." Wang Wei said.


    Just as they wanted to move the soul jewels of the brothers lit up and they swung at the ground with their hammers. The ground shook and a huge crack started to form between Wang Wei and Long Yue.


    "So they want to take us on one on one." Long Yue said. "Fine by me." he said as he pounced towards his opponent.


    His opponent was overwhelmed by his speed and Long Yue ended it with a kick to the head which knocked his opponent out.


    At the same time, Wang Wei punched the other brother in the guts and he also collapsed.


    They just won against opponents who were older than them without using any soul energy.


    They advanced to the top sixteen with ease.


    The trio competition was also easy. Wang Wei and Long Yue were a bit tired after their two fights and the fights they fought the day before so they entered the arena and just sat down to cultivate.


    The crowd was very surprised at this site. "They are letting their teammate fight their opponents on his own. How despicable!"


    But the next moment the crowd was in silence as Lee Zheng formed his snow-white feather sword. He swung his sword once and white feathers shot out each one as sharp as his sword.


    They hit the opponents and they were no longer able to fight.


    Lee Zheng finished this three on one match with one move!


    The three youngsters from victory academy were the tournament favorites right now.


    They were ridiculed in the previous round but now everyone knew not to mess with them. They advanced to the third day for each competition without using any soul techniques.


    "If they are this strong without using soul techniques how strong will they be once they use their soul techniques." All kind of these conversations were going around the spectators.


    The boys from victory village were definitely a big mystery.

 16 Rank 20

    After the second round was over the squad from victory village returned to their hotel.


    "That was amazing Lee Zheng! You took care of all three of them in one go." It was Wang Wei who complimented him.


    "It''s nothing. I just broke through to rank eighteen so it was fairly easy. Also now that I''m rank eighteen I believe I am the strongest."


    "That might not be true Lee Zheng." It was teacher, Li Yun. "You two lied about your rank in the first round, didn''t you?"


    "I''m sorry teacher. The truth is that we have already both broken through to rank nineteen." Wang Wei said.


    "What? Rank nineteen. I would have expected from Long Yue, but you as well Wang Wei? That is unbelievable you have the red snake soul form how did you do it?"


    "I don''t know. First I found a habitat that helped me cultivate so that was a big help but also in the time we had before the tournament I understood something. The red snake isn''t trash it''s the people that believe it''s trash who are trash. The red snake soul form is really common but almost no one has soul energy when they have the red snake. Those who do don''t progress well but that is because they lack the resolve to train hard since they think it is no use. So if you motivate yourself and train with all you might you can do great things. Because the red snake is neutral and can integrate with both holy and unholy soul jewels it is like a white canvas waiting to be painted on. When I understood this my cultivation has been soaring. But since I hit level eighteen and I was on the threshold of level nineteen my cultivation returned to its normal pace. I did reach level nineteen and I am close to level twenty but I still have a long road ahead of me."


    "My cultivation has been soaring as well I am only a step away from level nineteen. It shouldn''t take long before I reach rank twenty." Long Yue said.


    As it was late the boys went back to their rooms to meditate.


    Deep in the night, a bright light shone in Long Yue'' room.


    The next morning.


    "Wang Wei, good morning."


    "Oh, good morning Lee Zheng."


    The two boys sat down at the dining table ready for breakfast. Teacher Li Yun was already eating.


    The table was filled with lots of delicious kinds of food.


    "Woooooooo!"


    "What was that?" Wang Wei asked.


    "I don''t know."


    Long Yue was running towards the dining room full of energy and excitement.


    "What''s wrong with you? Today is our day off, take it easy will ya." It was Wang Wei and he wasn''t very happy since he just woke up.


    "I''m sorry Wang Wei but I have the best possible announcement to make. Teacher, Lee Zheng, Wang Wei. I Long Yue have broken through to rank twenty I am ready to go hunt for my second soul jewel."


    "What!" everyone said in unison.


    "Yeah. It happened last night while I was cultivating."


    "That''s amazing!" Wang Wei said. "Since we have the day off we could try and look for a soul beast that you can get a soul jewel from."


    "Yeah, sure. I would like to get a second soul jewel so that way I can surprise everyone at the tournament that I have two soul jewel."


    "What kind of soul beast are you looking for or what type of soul technique do you want?" Li Yun asked.


    "I don''t know but I think I should go for a defense type soul technique. Because I already have speed from my holy claws and attacking power from my first soul technique I think I should go for a defense type soul technique this time."


    "If you want a defense technique I think you should go and hunt for a boneclaw bear." Lee Zheng said. "And as long as it is a holy beast you can integrate with it."


    "Yeah, that''s a pretty good idea. For now, let''s have breakfast and after that let''s get ready and set out for the holy forest next to this city and hope I can find a nice soul jewel."


    "Okay." Li Yun said. "I will stay here and wait for you three to return. This will be a nice practice and will help you with your coordination in battle and since you three are skilled soul experts I think you have nothing to worry about and you can easily defeat any kind of soul beast that resides in the forest next to this city. However, don''t go too far. This forest is connected to the nature realm."


    "Nature realm? What is that." Wang Wei asked.


    "Let me explain." Li Yun said. "The world we live in is seen as the main world. There are subsidiary world which we call realms. The one I spoke of, the nature realm, is a realm in which the strongest soul beasts live. There are even one-hundred-thousand-year-old soul beasts that live in the nature realm. Apart from the nature realm, there are a limitless amount of realms. There is even a legend that speaks of a realm which is only accessible by the strongest and those with the most potential. It has no name. That''s why it is referred to as the mystery realm. The only thing we know is that the strongest soul beasts to have ever existed reside in that realm. There are no humans there which is why we don''t know anything about it."


    "Oh. Well, then we will be careful to not wander off into the nature realm." Long Yue said.


    "It''s okay, you can''t just wander into the nature realm. There is a special cave or circle which needs soul energy to activate. I am telling you all this to prevent you from exploring those caves or circles with inscriptions and accidentally going into the nature realm and getting killed by a strong soul beast. So you are not allowed to go anywhere near those spots. Understood?"


    "Yes, teacher." The three boys said.

 17 Boneclaw bear

    "You ready?" Wang Wei asked Lee Zheng and Long Yue


    "Yeah. Let''s go get me a second soul jewel." Long Yue said.


    The three boys traveled to the forest just outside of dukshore city. Since they only had one day this was the only option they had and had to rely on their luck to find a suitable soul beast for Long Yue.


    "Let''s hurry it up and get to the forest before noon so that we have more time to hunt for soul beasts." Long Yue said.


    "We could also use this opportunity to gather soul beast materials and special cultivation resources. For me killing a snow or bird type soul beast and getting their blood essence it would help me with my cultivation. As for you Long Yue it doesn''t really matter as long as it is a holy beast it will help you. For Wang Wei, I think high-grade snake soul beasts will help you a lot and if you can get your hands on a high ranking snake type soul beast'' blood essence I think you will be able to reach rank twenty in no time. That way we will all be rank twenty soul experts by the time we will enter an advanced academy." Lee Zheng said.


    "About entering advanced academies I already know which one I will join and I hope you two will follow me." Wang Wei said.


    "Really? Which one?" Long Yue replied as they were traveling through the streets of duskshore city.


    "I will enter jade academy."


    "Jade academy? I have never heard of it why would you go to a no-name academy when you are as strong as you are?" Lee Zheng said.


    "It all happened on the second day of the tournament. I was approached by a man who invited me to his academy. At first I didn''t think about entering but then I suddenly changed my mind. Why? Because he was a heavenly god with a neutral soul form and even a one-hundred-thousand-year-old soul jewel. He was the first powerhouse heavenly god I have seen in my life. He said that if I could make it into the top eight of each competition I would be allowed to enter their academy. And since a heavenly god personally asked me I don''t see a reason to decline."


    "A heavely god?! A heavenly god asked you to join their academy?" Long Yue said.


    "Yeah, I think you two will also be allowed to enter because you have also shown outstanding skills."


    "Okay, I will follow you." Lee Zheng said.


    "Me too." Long Yue hastily said.


    By the time they ended their conversation they already reached the forest and made their way in. At first they didn''t encounter any soul beasts but later on, they started encountering ten to ninety-year-old soul beasts. Long Yue tried to kill them but was stopped by Wang Wei.


    "If you kill soul beasts indiscriminately they will probably cease to exist one day. If they do then how will soul experts get their soul jewels? Not only that but the balance of nature will be distorted and places where soul beasts once reigned will become places people will fight over. If that happens there will be threats of war and the peace of the world will also cease to exist. In order to prevent that we need to stop killing soul beasts that will not help us with our cultivation and let them live their lives." Wang Wei said.


    "But if we let them live they could cultivate to ten-thousand-years old. They could start attacking humans and kill them." Long Yue said.


    "That may be true but if that happens a strong enough soul expert will come and kill the beast. This way the world will stay the same and it will always be in harmony."


    "Okay, you''re right." Long Yue replied. "Let''s continue."


    The trio traveled for another four hours and decided to take a break around noon.


    "I can''t believe we ran into a five-hundred-year-old snow white eagle." Lee Zheng said as he looked at a small vial filled with a red, scarlet like substance. It was the blood essence of the snow white eagle. "This will help me with my cultivation. I think I will finally be able to catch up with you guys now that I have this!"


    "Is it really that helpful?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Of course! The results I would normally see after a whole month of cultivation I will now see in a few days as long as I have this blood essence. But since use consume it, it will run out eventually and your cultivation speed will become what it once was. But I have more than enough to overtake you guys." Lee Zheng said.


    "Really? So this will also help me." Wang Wei said as he held up a vial of his own.


    "Yes, you were really lucky by the way. To run into a thousand-year-old nirvana snake. Although you have a snake soul form your progress will be only a bit faster than usual because you have a low tier soul form. But that doesn''t matter what matters is finding a suitable soul jewel for Long Yue after we have our lunch." Lee Zheng said.


    After the three boys had their lunch they started searching the forest again for a suitable soul beast for Long Yue.


    "I found it!" Lee Zheng yelled.


    "What, what did you find?" Long Yue asked as he hurried over to Lee Zheng.


    Lee Zheng said nothing he only pointed to scratch marks on a tree.


    "What is this. They are just scratch marks." Long Yue said.


    "Wait up a second." Wang Wei said. "If I am correct these are scratch marks from a boneclaw bear. They use these scratch marks on trees to mark their territory. I may not know that much about things like tournaments and other things but when it comes to Jong martial arts or cultivating or soul beasts I am pretty confident in my knowledge."


    "Really let''s go then. I am able to get my second soul jewel." Long Yue excitedly said.


    The boys ventured into the boneclaw bear'' territory and within a few minutes, they already encountered the owner of the territory.


    "Well, you''re in luck Long Yue." Wang Wei said. "This boneclaw bear is at least one-thousand-years old."


    "Really? Then I can''t let this opportunity slip." Long Yue said as he brandished his holy claws.

 18 Monsters

    The boneclaw bear started attacking as soon as it saw the three boys in its territory. It began running towards the three.


    "Watch out!" Wang Wei yelled. "A thousand-year-old boneclaw bear can weigh up to ten-thousand kilograms."


    The three jumped out of the way but then the boneclaw started glowing. It was a dim white glow. After the glow had disappeared bone-like spikes started growing out of its back and slowly started to form a shell. Eventually, it looked like the bear had a giant turtle shell made of bones.


    "It has just finished its preparations. It grows a shell made of bones and after that, it just attacks without any concern because the shell is something you can''t easily break." Wang Wei explained.


    "Oh yeah? I''d like to see that." Long Yue said as his first soul jewel started to glow up. He then swung his claw and five flaming streaks appeared in the air heading for the shell on the back of the boneclaw bear. When it hit a dust cloud arose. When the dust cloud settled there was nothing, not even a scratch on the shell.


    "What?! How is that possible?" Long Yue said in disbelieve. "Lee Zheng come help me. Let''s both use our soul technique at the same time."


    "Okay." Lee Zheng said as his soul jewel began to glow.


    The next moment five crimson flame streaks flew through the air accompanied by countless off sharp streaks of air. But the result was the same as last time.


    "It''s no use. We can''t defeat it." Lee Zheng said.


    "That''s not true." Wang Wei said. "It''s true that the boneclaw bear has a strong defense but it only had an impenetrable on it''s back. That doesn''t mean that the areas the shell doesn''t cover are weak but they are certainly weaker than its shell. It''s biggest weakness is its throat. I can paralyze it, I don''t know for how long but I think I should be able to at least paralyze it for four seconds. That is all I can give you."


    "Four seconds is more than enough." Long Yue said.


    "Okay get ready. I''m gonna begin." Wang Wei said as his light yellow soul jewel began to glow up. After that his pupils changed shape and formed lightning symbols, his eyes turned yellow.


    "Now!" He shouted.


    Long Yue disappeared and then reappeared a moment later in front of the boneclaw bear. The bear was at least three meters tall so Long Yue has to jump up to reach its throat.


    Long Yue jumped up and his soul jewel began to glow again. He then slashed at the neck of the boneclaw bear. Five flaming red streaks flew towards its neck. The bear could do nothing but meet its fate. The next moment Long Yue came down. As the bear still stood there Wang Wei released his paralysis eyes. Then the bear'' head started to slide to the side and fell off.


    "Long Yue you just beheaded a thousand-year-old defense type soul beast. That''s amazing." Lee Zheng said.


    "It''s was all thanks to the help I got from you guys." Long Yue said.


    Then slowly a soul jewel rose up from the bear'' dead body. It was lighter than his first soul jewel but not as light as Wang Wei''


    "It is probably a three-thousand-year-old soul jewel." Wang Wei said. "You think you can integrate with it?"


    "Of course I already cultivated to the spirit country domain. This should not be a problem for me."


    The next moment Long Yue walked over to the headless bear. He then sat next to a tree and used his soul energy to move the soul jewel towards him. He was in deep meditation, trying to integrate with the soul jewel.


    "Let us also cultivate." Wang Wei said to Lee Zheng. "I mean, we have blood essence of soul beasts that will help us with our cultivation maybe we can also level up."


    "Yeah, that is a greatidea." Lee Zheng said in return.


    And like that six hours passed.


    Long Yue was the first to wake up. When he woke up he felt something strange coming from Wang Wei but he decided to not pay any attention to it. The next moment he felt the same sensation coming from Lee Zheng.


    ''What is going on with those two.'' He thought to himself


    Another hour later and Wang Wei and Lee Zheng also awakened.


    "I broke through again!" Lee Zheng said excitedly. "I am only a step away from rank twenty and I still have some blood essence left."


    "I used all of mine." Wang Wei said.


    "That''s a shame. It is really hard to get the right blood essence for a soul expert." Lee Zheng said


    "Why is it a shame? I had to use it all if I wanted to break through to rank twenty."


    "Wait. Does that mean?" Long Yue said.


    "Yes, I am now also a chi fighter. Do you think I''ll let you go ahead? I will always catch up to you. But enough about that. What soul technique did you get?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, I wanna know too." Lee Zheng said.


    Long Yue'' second soul jewel began to glow. It was a light yellow glow. Not that light but certainly lighter than his first. The next moment on his forearms bone-like greaves appeared.


    "Lee Zheng attack me with your feather sword." Long Yue said.


    "Okay."


    Lee Zheng formed his feather sword and swung at Long Yue'' new formed greaves. He did hit Long Yue'' arms but he couldn''t penetrate the bone-like armor on his forearms.


    "That is amazing. What are you calling it."


    "I don''t know I was thinking of boneclaw armor."


    "That is amazing." Wang Wei said. "Let''s go back to the hotel. It is already starting to become dark. If we don''t leave now we won''t get enough sleep."


    Back at the hotel.


    "How did it go?" Li Yun asked the boys.


    Long Yue showed his second soul technique and Wang Wei and Lee Zheng told her about their breakthroughs.


    "You are little monsters! If you don''t win this whole tournament you would have to meet chi masters. Anyway, go to sleep and get ready for the third day." Li Yun said.


    "Yes, teacher." The boys said in unison.

 19 Long Sha

    It was finally time for the final thirty-two of the solo round to begin. As Wang Wei was getting ready he had a terrifying expression on his face. He was still angry about the way Long Sha treated them on the first day of the tournament. He was determined to put him through hell for looking down on them.


    "Hey, are you okay?" Long Yue asked.


    "Yeah. I can''t wait to shut his arrogant mouth up."


    "It won''t be that hard I guess" Lee Zheng said. "I mean, you reached rank twenty and he said that he was rank nineteen at the beginning of the competition. So I think you can win even though his soul form is the shadow dragon."


    "I don''t think I can win. I know I can win." Wang Wei said. "I have to win if I want to get into the jade academy that senior talked about."


    "Okay. Do your best!" Teacher Li Yun said.


    The spectators in the colosseum were going wild. That was because the first match of the day was between a student from glory academy and the miraculous Wang Wei who made it this far despite having a trash soul form. But then all of a sudden it turned silent as everyone''s gazes turned to the combatant''s entrances.


    "The first person to make their way to the arena is... Long Sha!! From glory academy. He is a rank nineteen chi apprentice and has the shadow dragon soul form." The announcer said. As the crowd went wild. The next moment their gazes turned to the other side. "From the other side, Wang Wei has also made his entrance into the arena! Wang Wei comes from the fast-rising victory academy they were unheard of before this year'' tournament but they made their way all the way here with their amazing three disciples: Wang Wei, Lee Zheng, and Long Yue. Wang Wei who will be fighting today is a rank fourteen chi apprentice and has the red snake soul form. But don''t let that fool you as this little guy has amazing individual techniques."


    "I can''t believe trash like you actually made it this far." Long Sha said.


    "After today when you think about calling someone trash you will think off me and tremble. I will beat you so bad you''ll never be able to utter the word trash again." Wang Wei said.


    "Both sides get ready!" The announcer said.


    As both of them started getting ready a blue soul jewel could be seen on Long Sha'' hand.


    "You have a hundred-year-old soul jewel?" Wang Wei asked in disbelief.


    "It actually is a five-hundred-year-old soul jewel." Long Sha said. "What do you think. Wanna give up?"


    "I could ask you the same thing." Wang Wei said as a light yellow soul jewel formed on his hand.


    "What!!!!! A thousand-year-old holy soul jewel?!" Everyone shouted at once.


    "How are you able to have a thousand-year-old soul jewel? En me with my connections couldn''t integrate with one." Long Sha said.


    "Well first, you need talent. And you got none. The only reason you''re rank nineteen is because of the resources you got from your family. The think the announcer said about me being rank fourteen is actually incorrect. I am a rank twenty chi fighter. I am a whole league above you. Next, to that, you have to have resolve." Wang Wei said.


    "Nonsense! you may have a thousand-year-old soul jewel but with your trash soul form. It will never be of any use." Long Sha said as his soul jewel glew up.


    The next moment his body grew to be three meters tall. And he swung his fist toward Wang Wei.


    He was too fast for Wang Wei to evade so he summoned his defensive scaled. When he was hit Wang Wei was sent flying for five meters before he could find his stability again.


    But when he was getting ready for the counter Long Sha was already before him. This time he kicked at Wang Wei.


    Wang Wei jumped over the kick as he was trained at martial arts. The next moment Wang Wei touched the ground Long Sha released his soul technique.


    "People will say I am bullying you if I defeat you this was. Hehe." Long Sha said. "Come at me with all you''ve got!"


    "Okay!" Wang Wei said as he jumped in the air.


    The next moment his body started twisting and turning all over the place as he moved toward Long Sha. He then kicked at Long Sha but missed.


    "Ha trash, you can''t even land a kick did you really make it.."


    "Bang" A loud bang could be heard as Wang Wei hit Long Sha'' head.


    "I missed on purpose. You throw one kick that misses and then you spin again and land the second kick. This is the martial arts I''ve been practicing since a young age. Don''t you ever call me trash since you will never defeat me." Wang Wei said.


    Long Sha stood up. The next moment and wanted to use his soul technique again but that same moment Wang Wei used his soul technique. His pupils had become lightning symbols and his eyes became yellow.


    He slowly walked over to the paralyzed Long Sha and started pounding him for three seconds. He could''ve gone on for even longer but he decided not to.


    "You dare hit me while I''m paralyzed. You sure have got guts, trash!" Long Sha yelled.


    "I told you not to call me that." Wang Wei said. As his soul jewel lit up again. And the same thing started again. He pounded on Long Sha for three second and the last moment he cut him with his snake claws.


    As blood started to drip down his arm Long Sha decided not to wait any longer and use his soul form the moment the paralysis was over.


    "Let''s see you evade this!" Long Sha said as he ran over to Wang Wei.

 20 Individual skills

    The next moment Long Sha disappeared and all that could be seen was a shadow streak moving along the ground.


    Long Sha reappeared behind Wang Wei and kicked him.


    "How do you like that?" Long Sha said. "Do you really think you and your friends are the only ones with individual skills? I admit they are very difficult to produce but for a genius like me, it is not that hard. I am impressed that trash like you and your friends could produce individual skills. Hehehe."


    "I told you not to call us trash." Wang Wei said as he brandished his snake claws. At the same time, he let his defensive scales appear.


    "It is only the third round but this is a fight one would see in the finals. Who would have believed that Long Sha with the shadow dragon soul form would have a hard time defeating someone with the red snake soul form?" the announcer said.


    ''How can I not defeat this guy? Me, Long Sha with the shadow dragon soul form and shadow growth soul technique." Long Sha thought to himself.


    The next moment Wang Wei ran toward Long Sha as he was getting ready to hit him. He arrived before Long Sha and turned to do a spinning heel kick but right before he hit he stopped and turned the opposite direction and swung his claws at Long Sha.


    "Aaaargh!"


    Long Sha was hit! He had blood flowing down his arms and his chest now. He had a big cut from his left shoulder to his right ribs.


    "You will pay for that!" Long Sha said as he released his soul technique once again.


    Once he grew to the size of three meters he swung at Wang Wei. It was to fast for Wang Wei. He was hit in the guts. As he flew back he spat out a mouthful of blood.


    "This is the first time we have seen Wang Wei wounded!" the announcer said.


    "Heh, not bad." Wang Wei said. "But it is not enough for you to defeat me."


    He pounced at Long Sha and cut both his legs. His claws weren''t sharp enough to cut through Long Sha'' legs but they were sharp enough to leave a two-centimeter cut. The next thing that happened was Long Sha falling down to the ground.


    "So, do you still think I''m trash?" Wang Wei asked as he kicked Long Sha in the face.


    Long Sha was unconscious.


    "The winner is Wang Wei! There is no-one who can stop him now! He might go on and win this whole tournament!" the announcer said.


    "That was amazing! You really shut him up." Lee Zheng said.


    "Don''t you dare lose before you face me in the finals." Long Yue said.


    "I won''t but I don''t think I can really fight anymore today. So I''m counting on the both of you for the upcoming fights today." Wang Wei said.


    "Of course you can leave it to us." Long Yue said. "Well, I gotta go now my fight is starting soon."


    "Good luck." Wang Wei said as he got ready to start cultivating.


    Long Yue'' fight was over very fast. For the duo tournament, Lee Zheng was substituted for Wang Wei. And the trio competition was done while Wang Wei was cultivating. His fight with Long Sha cost him a lot of soul power.


    Back at the hotel.


    "Wang Wei, Long Yue, Lee Zheng." Teacher Li Yun called.


    "Yes?" the three boys replied.


    "I just heard from the people who organize the tournament that from today on we have one resting day between competition days. So now that we know this, Wang Wei, you can go and search for your second soul jewel. I am really interested as to how old your second soul jewel will be." Li Yun said.


    "I don''t know but it won''t be a ten-thousand-year-old one because my body can''t handle that. It was even a surprise that I was able to handle a five-thousand-year-old soul jewel. I think the only way I and Long Yue were able to handle it was because of the martial arts that we practice and it made us even stronger. Even you Lee Zheng I am still quite boggled that you were able to integrate with a nine-hundred-year-old soul jewel."


    "I know right. I will explain." Lee Zheng said. "My family is not the most powerful family in victory village but my mother is a descendant of a powerful family. That is why I was able to cultivate this fast. My mother'' family got me resources so that I could obtain a strong body and cultivate very fast."


    "Oh, so that is how you were able to suddenly rise up." Long Yue said.


    "That''s right if it wasn''t for my mother her heritage I wouldn''t be where I am today."


    "It''s getting late. You boys should go to sleep. That way you will be well rested tomorrow." Li Yun said.


    The next morning after the three boys had breakfast they went to the forest again in search for Wang Wei'' second soul jewel.


    "Imagine how surprised everyone will be when we show our two soul jewels in competition." Long Yue said.


    "Yeah, about that I think it would be best to try and avoid using our soul jewels during the competition. What if someone with bad intentions will capture us and use us for some evil deeds?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, you''re right." Long Yue said in response.


    "What kind of soul beast do you want to kill now? Will it be a holy or an unholy soul beast?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "I think I will go for a black emperor snake. It is an unholy soul beast that will only show up if you venture deep into this forest. The youngest ones you can find are at least one-thousand-years-old. It will be perfect for me as they are the most poisonous type of soul beast. Even a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast would think twice before attacking one."


    "Okay, let''s go then." Long Yue said.

 21 Soul eggs

    As the three boys made their way into the forest they encountered various soul beasts. The deeper they went the stronger the soul beasts became. At one point they came across a thousand-year-old snow white eagle. It was definitely stronger than the other soul beasts.`


    "How can it be this strong?" Long Yue asked.


    "I don''t know. All I know is that we have to kill it as soon as possible or we won''t have enough time to find me a soul jewel." Wang Wei said.


    "Hey, guys! Isn''t it suspicious as to how this soul beast is fighting it''s like it''s leading the battle away from where we started." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yeah, you''re right." Long Yue said.


    "Okay, guys. Let''s find out why. I think you are also done playing around right?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah. Let''s find out why." Long Yue said as he brandished his holy claws.


    At the same time, Lee Zheng and Wang Wei their soul jewels began to light up. Wang Wei paralyzed the bird and Lee Zheng used his wing slash soul technique to send knife sharp streaks of air to the bird and slice of its wings. As the bird fell to the ground it was still alive but not for long as Long Yue swung at the falling bird. The next moment the bird was decapitated.


    "Okay, let''s go and search for the reason this bird wanted to lure us away from this place." Wang Wei said while they arrived at the place where they first encountered the snow white eagle.


    After searching for fifteen minutes Lee Zheng suddenly called out. "Hey, guys! I think I found it." He said while he descended back to the ground. He was using his soul form to fly and search the trees while Wang Wei and Long Yue were searching the ground.


    "Really? What did you find?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Hold on I will get it." Lee Zheng said as he ascended once more.


    "What do you think it is?" Long Yue asked Wang Wei.


    "I don''t know but it''ll probably be something good if it let a holy falcon fight so hard for it." Wang Wei replied.


    A few minutes later Lee Zheng came back down with something behind his back.


    "Well? Show us what you got." Long Yue said.


    "Okay, okay, calm down." Lee Zheng said.


    He showed what he was holding behind his back.


    "These are soul eggs!" Wang Wei exclaimed.


    Lee Zheng was holding three soul eggs with a big smile on his face.


    "How awesome is this? Three snow white eagle soul eggs we''re rich one for each. We can each choose what to do. For me, I think I will hold on to it and give it to my clan. The snow-white eagle soul form is a soul form that has been passed down for generations. If we are able to tame the snow white eagle that will hatch from this we can use it as our clan guardian." Lee Zheng said.


    "That is amazing." Long Yue said. "You probably already know this but the holy leopard soul form is a high-grade soul form that has also been passed down in my clan. But even though the snow white eagle is a strong soul form your clan doesn''t have that much influence. That is because it doesn''t have much to offer. If I remember correctly only you and your grandfather are soul experts. Right?"


    "Yeah." Lee Zheng answered.


    "In my clan, there are a lot of soul experts and even those that can''t cultivate soul energy are skilled martial artists." Long Yue continued. "This is why my clan has a lot of influence in our village. My clan even has some influence in our region. This is because I come from a powerful clan. One of the main reasons we became so powerful is because of our guardian. It is a ten-thousand-year-old holy leopard. It has helped my clan when it was under attack. If you can tame that snow white eagle your clan will probably gain more influence in the village and region. You will have more time to get children that can cultivate soul energy. That way your clan will become even stronger."


    "Yeah!" Lee Zheng said with a determined look on his face. "What are you gonna do with your egg?" He then asked Wang Wei.


    "I think I will sell it that way my clan won''t have any troubles for the next year since these go for a lot of money. I mean if I win this tournament I can also help my clan out. Since I am from a fairly small clan we don''t have a lot of expenses. The clan head will be very happy if I won this. Next, to the clan head, I am one of few in my clan to be able to cultivate soul energy that is why they already are proud of me. I want to give them a good life. If I manage to be able to cultivate to a high level all the worries my clan might have right now will disappear all at once."


    "Come to think of it. I don''t even know which clan you are from." Long Yue said. "I mean I know Lee Zheng comes from the snow white eagle clan and I come from the holy leopard clan. But I still don''t know which clan you''re from."


    "Yeah, me neither." Lee Zheng said.


    "I am from the red fire-dragon clan. It is named that way because my ancestor who founded our clan was a strong soul expert with a red fire-dragon soul form. And every one-thousand years there is one person born into our clan with the red fire-dragon soul form and bring glory to our clan for a few centuries but after that, it will fall back down to the ground. I am able to cultivate soul energy even though I have the red snake soul form. I am going to take this opportunity to show my clan that even the weak can become strong." Wang Wei said.


    "I heard of that clan in ancient tales." Long Yue said. "It is said that your clan once was one of the strongest on the planet but when it was hit by a catastrophe it became one of the weakest. I don''t know what catastrophe though."


    "They were attacked by demons. At least that is what my clan head says." Wang Wei said. "He told me they were demons from the hell dimension. And it was our family that sealed off the hell dimension but it came at a terrible price. Almost all of the soul-experts in the clan were killed by the demons. And we still have to live with the consequences to this day."


    "Wow. I never knew such an amazing clan lived in our victory village." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yeah well, what''s in the past is in the past. For now, I can only look toward the future and try to make the best out of it." Wang Wei said.


    "And you, Long Yue. What are you gonna do with your egg?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "I don''t know. I think I will give it to my family and let them decide what to do with it." Long Yue replied.


    "We should go back and give these to teacher Li Yun so that there is no chance we lose them." Wang Wei said.


    "That''s not a problem." Long Yue said as he brought out a storage bracelet.


    "Wow. Only the richest clans can afford those." Lee Zheng said.


    "I know but my family gives one to all the direct descendants when they go on an adventure." Long Yue said as he stored the eggs away.


    "Let''s keep going." He told Wang Wei.


    "Okay, let''s go get me a second soul jewel." Wang Wei said.

 22 Black Emperor

    After walking around for another few hours it was already noon as the boys sat down for a lunch break.


    "When are we gonna find a soul beast that you want?" Long Yue asked Wang Wei.


    "Don''t worry we''re almost there." Wang Wei said. "The most common place for a black emperor snake to appear is in the caves deep in this forest. Around the caves are soul beasts with cultivation bases of at least five-hundred-years. It is not that much considering that if we were in the nature realm the lowest cultivation bases we would find would be at least one-thousand-years. For now, entering the caves won''t be a problem but once we are inside the caves the soul beasts are going to keep getting stronger. Eventually, we will find a strong black emperor snake. Let''s just hope it is sooner rather than later."


    "Okay, let''s finish our lunch as fast as we can and go to those caves." Lee Zheng said.


    After ten minutes the three boys set out to the caves. On their way, they encountered a few soul beasts but nothing they couldn''t handle. Eventually, they made their way inside the cave. To their surprise the cave was empty and they couldn''t find any soul beasts even if they tried.


    "What is going on here I thought you said there would be a lot of soul beasts here." Long Yue said to Wang Wei.


    "There should be." Wang Wei replied. "What could have happened for all the soul beasts to leave this place. Let''s go further in and search for any clues." Wang Wei said.


    After a while, they came into a large open space.


    "I didn''t find anything except for soul beast skeletons." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yeah, me neither." Long Yue added. "Maybe soul experts killed all of these creatures."


    "I don''t think so. There were also a lot of freshly killed soul beasts lying around but there were no traces of humans. I think this was caused by a soul beast."


    "But what soul beast could be so powerful. There shouldn''t be any ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts around here." Lee Zheng said.


    "I know there aren''t but the strongest I saw that was killed had a cultivation base of five-thousand years. It was a four-clawed bat. I don''t know what could''ve caused this but it must be strong." Wang Wei said.


    Right at that moment, they heard something sliding over the ground. However, they couldn''t see very well as it was inside a cave and the only light source was a small gap in the cave ceiling that led outside.


    "What is that?" Long Yue said.


    "I don''t know." Wang Wei answered. "It probably is the thing that killed all the other soul beasts. Light up some torches and throw them around the cave so that way we have more light and we can see a bit better."


    Long Yue and Lee Zheng lit up some torches and scattered them around the cave once they could see a little better they were surprised and Wang Wei was extremely happy.


    "It is a black emperor snake! Not only that but it is a seven-thousand-year-old one. It must be the strongest soul beast here and the reason for the disappearance of all the other soul beasts." He said as he pointed at a pitch black snake that was at least twelve meters long and one meter in width.


    "How are we going to defeat it?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "Simple just as we defeated all the other snake type soul beasts we encountered on our way here." Wang Wei said."I will keep it in place for a few seconds and you attack it."


    "Okay!" Long Yue and Lee Zheng said.


    The next moment Wang Wei'' soul jewel lit up. His eyes turned yellow and his pupils took the shape of lightning symbols. The moment the snake was paralyzed Long Yue and Lee Zheng their soul jewels lit up. The next moment blade sharp streaks of air and five flaming streaks flew towards the snake.


    "Boom!"


    The attacks landed but to their surprise, the snake was still ful of energy.


    "What happened?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "It is probably its scales." Wang Wei said. "This is a seven-thousand-year-old black emperor snake. We could have expected it to have insanely high defense. However, the scaled on its belly and under its jaw are really weak."


    Wang Wei was about to use his soul technique again but this time he also summoned his snake claws and defensive scales. He walked over to the beast'' mouth, which was bigger than himself. The fangs the snake had were just a bit shorter than Wang Wei. The snake was getting ready to attack as it opened its mouth. But right that moment Wang Wei used his soul technique and entered the beast'' mouth.


    "What are you doing? Are you crazy!" Long Yue yelled.


    "Just trust me." Wang Wei replied.


    The next moment he thrust his snake claws at the top part of the snake'' palate.


    "Don''t you know how dangerous it is what you are doing?" Lee Zheng said.


    "I know." Wang Wei said. "But this is the fastest way to kill it." Wang Wei said as he pulled back his hand.


    After that, he quickly escaped the beast'' mouth. He then stopped using his soul technique. The next moment blood started to pour into the snake'' mouth. It started to squirm around and made intricate knots as life slowly disappeared out of its eyes.


    "You killed a seven-thousand-year-old soul beast all by yourself!" Long Yue exclaimed.


    "Yeah, I know. It is all thanks to my first soul technique but it will only be effective for a little while longer. As I keep encountering stronger soul beasts and soul experts its effects will become less and less as the opponents keep getting stronger. I think that eventually, the effects will only last for a second if I use it on a soul beast with a cultivation base of twenty-thousand-years or higher or if I use it on a soul king. By then soul experts are strong enough to be able to deal with a soul technique like this." Wang Wei said.


    After he said all this the snake was done squirming and twisting and it lay there on the ground. Not moving even a millimeter. It was dead. The next moment a pretty dark violet soul jewel rose up from the snake'' body.


    "A seven-thousand-year-old unholy soul jewel." Lee Zheng said in awe.


    "Okay, I will integrate with it. Keep me safe during the process. Okay?" Wang Wei said.


    "Okay!" Long Yue and Lee Zheng replied.

 23 Poisonous Wang Wei

    After some time Wang Wei opened his eyes again.


    "Hey, man. It''s been a few hours, did you succeed?" Long Yue asked.


    Wang Wei smiled as he showed his hand he had two light yellow soul jewels. On a little lighter than the other one.


    "Yeah, it worked. I am now officially a chi fighter." Wang Wei said with a big smile on his face.


    "Well show us what your new soul technique is." Lee Zheng said.


    "Okay, let''s go outside and find a soul beast on which I can use it. We can use its corpse for cultivation or sell the items we get from it." Wang Wei said.


    The three boys went outside. They soon ran into a soul beast it was a three-hundred-year-old sun raccoon.


    "Okay, you ready?" Wang Wei said as his second soul jewel began to glow up.


    "Come on. Show us." Long Yue said.


    The next moment a purple mist shot out from Wang Wei'' mouth. When it hit the sun raccoon it immediately started to turn purple and then it fell down. It was dead.


    "Wow, what do you call that technique?" Long Yue asked.


    "I think I''ll call it poison breath. I also have another idea for it." Wang Wei said.


    "Really? What are you thinking of?" Lee Zheng asked with a curious look in his eyes.


    "Well, what if I first used my snake claws and after that used it on the tips of my snake claws. Then the tips would be poisoned. If that happened, even the smallest scratch could take out an opponent." Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, that may be but it would take you a long time to prepare. And I don''t think you can walk on stage with your snake claws. You aren''t allowed to do anything before the competition that improves your chances of winning. And I don''t even know if it will work. What if the poison is just gas and will not stick." Long Yue said. "I think it''s best to play it safe and just keep everything it is now and after the tournament experiment."


    "Yeah, you''re probably right." Wang Wei said. "Let''s go back. It is almost dinner time and we need to go back through the entire forest."


    "Yeah. Let''s go." Lee Zheng said.


    The boys arrived just before dinner and they were famished. They ate as if their lives depended on it. After they had their dinner they went back to their rooms to cultivate and go to sleep. As dawn arrived Wang Wei was already running the normal route he ran every morning since they arrived at duskshore city.


    "Hello boy." He heard.


    "Who is that?" Wang Wei asked.


    Then a man came out of the shadows. This person looked very familiar to Wang Wei. It was ¡­


    "Senior! What are you doing here so early in the morning?" Wang Wei asked.


    "I could ask you the same thing. Hahaha." The old man said. "I am here because I have something to talk about with you since you broke through to the chi fighter rank."


    "How do you know that? I only told my friends and teacher and that jerk Long Sha to intimidate him."


    "I can sense it. I am a heavenly god. Remember?" The old man responded.


    "Oh yeah, right. What did you wanna talk about, senior?" Wang Wei asked.


    "It is about your soul form. I can help you with your problem. I know your soul form is the red snake and everyone know that the red snake soul form is pretty trash. But I can help you overcome that problem."


    "Yeah, I remember. You talked about evolving my soul form. I still don''t really believe you. But since you are a heavenly god I trust you so I will definitely make it in the top eight and enroll in jade academy."


    "I am looking forward to that. From what I know you only need one more win for both the duo and trio competition and two more wins for the solo competition. I''ll be rooting for you." The elder said.


    "Thank you, senior. I appreciate that." Wang Wei said.


    A few hours later Wang Wei stood on the competition stage once again.


    "And this battle is won once again by Wang Wei. It was over in an instant, his opponent didn''t even have time to react. I think the only person who may be able to stop him is his teammate in the duo tournament: Long Yue who also advances to the final sixteen in the solo competition. These boys from victory village are real monsters the came this far with only using their soul jewels once." The announcer said.


    The duo competition also started.


    "On this side, we have the opponents of the duo coming from Vulcan academy. Wang Wei and Long Yue." The announcer said. And the crowd went wild. It was obvious that these two were the tournament favorites.


    The duo coming from Vulcan academy consisted of a boy and a girl. The boy had the black emperor snake soul form and the girl had the eight-clawed bat soul form. They were a strong team but Wang Wei and Long Yue defeated them without ease.


    The trio competition was also over within a few moments. After the tournament, the boys were stopped by a reporter on their way home.


    "Hey boys. I have a few questions is it okay if I ask them?" The reporter said.


    "What kind of reporter are you?" Wang Wei asked.


    "I work for soul expert daily in the prodigy section, I keep an eye on rising talents."


    "Okay then, ask away." Long Yue said.


    "Okay, the first question is for all of you. How is it that you are so in sync and your teamwork is flawless, what kind of training do you do?"


    "Well, I and Long Yue have been practicing martial arts together since we were five and even though Lee Zheng only joined us three months ago he is really good at adapting to us." Wang Wei answered.


    "Okay, second question. How come you guys are so strong? I mean you never seem like you are in a tough situation during the competition."


    "Well, we have already fought against a lot of soul beasts so that could be a lot of help. And compared to three-thousand-year-old soul beasts these opponents are nothing." Long Yue said.


    After that, the reporter asked a few more questions and the boys went back to their hotel. The next competition days all went down the same. Easy victories for the three. Then came the finals for the duo and the trio competition. They both were against glory academy. The three were more fired up than ever.

 24 The final duo

    The finals of the duo tournament were held today. Wang Wei and Long Yue were up against Zang Xinyu and Wenxuan Xie. The two beauties originating from glory academy.


    "Ladies and gentlemen. Today we have the final round of the duo tournament. It is Wang Wei and Long Yue against Zhang Xinyu and Wenxuan Xie. Wang Wei and Long Yue have the red snake soul form and the holy leopard soul form. While their opponents have the crystal flute and the holy swan soul forms. Both top tier soul forms you can see why they got into glory academy." The commentator said.


    "Hey girls, long time no see." Wang Wei said with a big smile on his face.


    As the girls started to blush Zhang Xinyu stepped forward. She was a pretty girl who had fair skin and beautiful long black hair down her back. "You may be handsome but we will not give up so easily as we also want to win this competition."


    "Good we wouldn''t want it any different way." Long Yue said.


    "Competitors get ready!" the commentator said.


    As the starting signal was given for the fight the two girls immediately summoned their martial souls and Zhang Xinyu used her first soul technique. It was an orange soul jewel it was at least three hundred years old judging by how clear it was. The soul technique was called: strengthening melody. As she played her flute Wenxuan Xie was getting a strength boost. She was stronger by twenty percent.


    "So you''re a support type soul expert. That will be a little inconvenient but in the end, we will win." Wang Wei said.


    "Don''t be so sure of that!" Wenxuan Xie said as her soul jewel also started to glow.


    The next moment she started running towards the duo from victory academy and jumped in the air. She then used her soul technique dazzling swan. She started to glow brighter and brighter until it would hurt one''s eyes when they looked at her. Wang Wei and Long Yue looked away and that is when they were hit. Wang Wei was hit on the head with something hard and thin and Long Yue was hit in the stomach. When they could see again they knew what happened by the way the girls returned to their positions. Wang Wei was hit with the flute and Long Yue was kicked.


    "Looks like we have to put in a little effort don''t you think Wang Wei?" Long Yue said.


    "Yeah, they are strong and worthy opponents, not to mention that they are doing even better than that bastard Long Sha." Wang Wei replied.


    "Don''t you call him that!" Wenxuan Xie said as she pounced on Wang Wei and threw a punch.


    "Ahw is he your boyfriend." Wang Wei said teasingly while blocking her punch.


    "That is none of your business!" She said as she threw another punch.


    This time Wang Wei used his defensive scales to block the attacks. On the other side of the arena, Long Yue was being attacked by the crystal flute which Zhang Xinyu used like a dagger. She was quite skilled at it but not fast enough as Long Yue continuously dodged her attacks. After a while, the two duos returned to their starting positions.


    "Look at them. They are exhausted." Long Yue said to Wang Wei as he pointed towards the two girls who were heavily panting. "You think it is time to finish this?"


    "No, let''s have some more fun. Shall we?" Wang Wei said.


    The next instant the girls ran towards the boys again but this time Wenxuan Xie attacked Long Yue and Zhang Xinyu attacked Wang Wei. This was a strategy that worked better because Wang Wei was not as fast as Long Yue. However, Long Yue was just as strong as Wang Wei in terms of strength so to attack him the same way Wenxuan Xie attacked Wang Wei was just wasting energy. But then Wenxuan Xie launched her soul technique again. As Long Yue was blinded he received a kick to the face. He then was sent flying for a few meters. As Wang Wei saw this he was distracted and was hit by Zhang Xinyu. She didn''t use her flute this time she kicked him in the face as well. Wang Wei was also sent flying only not as far because the strengthening melody did not work on Zhang Xinyu herself.


    "Just use your soul techniques. You can''t defeat us if you don''t use them. Hehe." Zhang Xinyu said.


    "Yeah, even though Wang Wei has a thousand-year-old soul jewel it is just one. You don''t have what it takes to defeat two glory academy students without using soul techniques!" Wenxuan Xie added.


    "I think it has been enough. Don''t you think Long Yue?" Wang Wei said.


    "I''ve been waiting for you to say that." Long Yue said as he got up.


    "Wait." Wang Wei said. He then proceeded to whisper something in Long Yue'' ear. "Just stick to the individual technique and martial arts. We will use our soul techniques in the trio finals. It will shock them so bad that they will lose focus. So for now just stick with individual techniques."


    "Hmpf, fine!" Long Yue said with a bitter smile on his face.


    The next moment Long Yue walked towards the girls as his holy claws appeared. He stopped when he was twenty meters away from them. After that Wang Wei joined him with his snake claws brandished and his defensive scales out.


    "So you think you can beat us without using your soul techniques? That is just wishful thinking." Wenxuan Xie said with a grin on her face. "I will make you pay for what you did to Long Sha."


    But the next moment the grin on her face disappeared as Long Yue appeared before her in an instant and hit her in the guts. She then flew away and went out of bounds. Which meant she couldn''t fight anymore today. He then returned to Wang Wei'' side.


    "Good job. You didn''t injure her too much right? She can still fight tomorrow?" Wang Wei said.


    "Of course. I''m not a monster." Long Yue said. "Anyways, I will be waiting for you." He said as he exited the stage.


    Now only Wang Wei and Zhang Xinyu stood on the stage.


    Zhang Xinyu was the first to make a move as she ran towards Wang Wei. He then took one step back and then threw out a spinning back kick which sent Zhang Xinyu flying.


    "The winners are Wang Wei and Long Yue from victory village. If this isn''t even their strongest I don''t think they will be beaten in the trio competition either." The commentator said as the crowd went wild.

 25 Trio finals

    It was the day of the trio finals. And in the morning the three boys were in one hotel room together discussing their tactics for the fight.


    "Okay, you know what to do right?" Wang Wei asked Long Yue and Lee Zheng.


    "Reveal our soul jewels during the trio finals right?" Lee Zheng said.


    "Yes, that way we will have an easy victory and we can speed up with the solo competition. And since only me and Long Yue are in the solo competition and are participating today we can request that they move the semi-finals to today." Wang Wei said.


    A few hours later it was already noon.


    "Ladies and gentlemen. This is glory academy vs. victory academy III. This is the first time everyone from both academies will be participating. Long Sha probably wants to have his revenge the most. Let''s see how this will play out." The commentator said.


    "Hmpf, I can''t believe I have to fight this trash again." Long Sha said.


    "Who are you calling trash? Don''t forget who got beat up a few days ago." Wang Wei said while he glared at Long Sha.


    "That was just a fluke. I possess the shadow dragon soul form. I can''t lose to the likes of you and since you also have only one soul jewel I am ready for you now."


    "Sure, whatever you say."


    As the start of the fight was announced the trio from glory academy immediately sprung into acting as Zhang Xinyu used her first soul technique strengthening melody Long Sha used his individual technique and Wenxuan Xie ascended to the air using her fair swan wings.


    The next moment Long Yue was hit by Long Sha. Long Sha was furious.


    "Are you ready boys?" Wang Wei said as he noticed that his teammates were getting angrier by the second.


    "Of course!" Long Yue and Lee Zheng said in unison.


    In the next moment, it was dead silent. Even a pin drop could be heard. This silence was caused by the appearance of the soul jewel the boys possessed. Wang Wei with two light yellow soul jewels, one slightly lighter than the other. And Long Yue with a solid yellow soul jewel and a light yellow soul jewel. And if that wasn''t enough Lee Zheng also had a light orange soul jewel, his was even lighter than Long Sha'' soul jewel. This was a display of overbearing power.


    "T-t-t two chi fighter and a genius chi apprentice." The commentator said while he couldn''t hide his excitement any longer.


    In a private room, the senior that Wang Wei encountered before sat with a woman beside him.


    "Didn''t I tell you that it was the right choice to invite them to our jade academy?" The senior said.


    "Yeah, you were right this time." The woman beside him said. "Especially this Wang Wei kid. He has a trash soul form but is already a chi fighter with TWO! Light yellow soul jewels. Your intu?tion was correct this time around."


    "Okay, guys. I will do the honors and start us off." Long Yue said as both his soul jewel lit up and he rushed towards Zhang Xinyu.


    By the time he arrived before her he already had his boneclaw armor summoned. He then proceeded to swing his claws at her and five streaks of fire formed he used his flame claws soul technique. Aiming for the girl.


    Long Sha caught the attack as he had to protect the support-type soul expert as they don''t have that much fighting abilities.


    Long Yue returned and it was Wang Wei'' turn first he used his poison breath aiming for Long Sha. He then saw that Wenxuan Xie wanted to get rid of the poison by flapping her wings hard enough. As he saw this he used his paralysis eyes on her and the poison breath hit Long Sha. Who now was in a sorry state as he dropped to the ground. After this Lee Zheng ascended using his snow-white eagle soul form and used his soul technique to eliminate Wenxuan Xie. After she was eliminated Long Yue used his flame claws once again to eliminate her as well.


    This all happened in a matter of seconds.


    "The winners are the trio from victory academy." The commentator announced as the crowd went wild and as paramedics rushed to the stage to help the three kids from glory academy. These weren''t just any kids, these kids all came from strong and powerful families. Glory academy only accepts noble family descendants. "The trio from victory academy dealt with them as if it was a kids game. They didn''t even have to move that much. Especially Wang Wei who hasn''t even moved from his original position. Huh? What''s this? ¡­" As there were some inaudible murmurs the audience was waiting in silence to maybe hear a little bit of what was said. But then the commentator continued. "Ladies and gentlemen I just got word that the semi-finals of the solo competitions won''t be held as the opponents of Wang Wei and Long Yue just withdrew from the competition and will fight for third place. So I am pleased to announce that the solo competition finals will be held between Long Yue and Wang Wei in two days."


    "Wooooooo!" the crowd went wild.


    "Good luck Wang Wei!" It was mostly women and girls who cheered for Wang Wei for he was very good looking.


    "You can do it, Long Yue! Show that pretty boy who is boss!" these cheers were mostly from man as Long Yue looked very masculine for his age. A tiny man if you would say.


    "Good luck Wang Wei. Hehe. You sure you want to do this?" Long Yue said teasingly.


    "You just worry about being able to stand after our fight. I will make sure I win the first place." Wang Wei said. "I mean we already are qualified to enter jade academy but I won''t give up on first place. It will help my family a lot. But I don''t want you to go easy."


    "Don''t you worry I also am going for first place." Long Yue replied.


    "Well, good luck to both of you." Lee Zheng said with a satisfactory smile.

 26 Wang Wei vs. Long Yue

    "Ladies and gentleman. Today is the day you have all been waiting for. Today the final fight of the solo competition will be held." The commentator said while the crowd went wild.


    Down in the waiting room for competitors, Long Yue and Wang Wei were just eating a bit before the fight.


    "Nervous?" Long Yue asked.


    "Not really. You?" Wang Wei asked in return.


    "No, not really. I mean I have sparred against you a lot so I don''t think this will be a whole lot different. The only difference is that this time we are allowed to use our soul techniques." Long Yue said.


    "Okay boys, it''s time. Are you ready?" Teacher Li Yun said.


    "Yeah." The boys said in unison.


    "I am taking the stage first." Long Yue said.


    "Ladies and gentlemen please give a warm welcome for the first competitor to make his way to the stage¡­. Long Yue!"the commentator said.


    "Woohoo! You can do it, Long Yue!" The crowd roared.


    "Okay, okay calm down. Because now it is time for the second competitor to also make his way to the stage. Can I get another warm welcome? For Wang Wei!"


    "Woooo! Come on Wang Wei!" Was said as the crowd went wild.


    "Alright, competitors get ready."


    "You sure Wang Wei? You can still get out." Long Yue said with a teasing tone.


    "Yeah I''m sure. Are you?" Wang Wei said back.


    "Begin!"


    As soon as the beginning was announced both Wang Wei and Long Yue ran towards each other. They kicked at the same time and their legs collided mid-air. A loud bang was heard and a gust of wind came from the stage. The crowd roared in excitement.


    "This fight is already very exciting from the first move. I wonder who will win this tournament." The commentator said.


    Up in the private box, the senior from jade academy sat again with the woman next to him.


    "So this is their full capabilities." The woman said. "They probably started practicing martial arts since a young age."


    "Yeah, they started at the age of five. They are now experts in Jongh martial arts and chi fighters with both two soul jewels of at least one-thousand-years. They will be able to help our academy out a lot. Wang Wei is from the red fire-dragon family. It is a small family with no real power. Long Yue comes from the holy leopard family which has a bit of power. Their friend Lee Zheng is almost a chi fighter with a nine-hundred-year-old soul jewel and comes from the snow-white eagle family. Their families are not that powerful but with them around their families are destined to rise to power." The senior said.


    "Red fire-dragon family you say?!" the woman said with shock.


    "Yeah, why."


    "You know of the hell dimension right?"


    "Yeah, of course." The senior said.


    "A long time ago the demons broke out of their dimension. It was the red fire-dragon family who sealed them back in the hell dimension. They did this at a great price as almost all of their soul experts were killed. Only a few survived but the red fire-dragon soul form was no more. Only once every thousand years is a person born with that soul form. The other times their soul forms are mostly red snakes. This Wang Wei kid has the potential to become a great person." The woman said. "We must have him join our academy so that we can help him. Get his teacher Li Yun to come as well."


    "I will." The senior said as he bowed down to the old woman.


    Meanwhile down on the competition stage, a fierce battle was fought.


    "Amazing. The battle is already this intense and they haven''t used their soul jewels yet. They have only used individual techniques which are already impressive to produce one but these are as strong as soul techniques." The commentator said.


    "Are you ready?" Long Yue said.


    His first soul jewel began to glow up. As he was about to release his fire claws Wang Wei used his paralysis eyes. But to his surprise on Wang Wei, it only worked for a small moment.


    "What was that? Why did his paralysis eyes only work so short?" Lee Zheng asked teacher Li Yun.


    "Probably because Long Yue has a strong soul form. I only found out recently but if the opponent has a strong soul form the effect won''t be as strong. It worked very well on Long Sha however but that was because he didn''t really expect it and didn''t know Wang Wei. Long Yue does and that is why it won''t last that long on him. I know it is a powerful technique if the opponent doesn''t know about it but when they do and have a stronger soul form its effects won''t last that long." Li Yun explained.


    Long Yue used his flame claws again and this time succeeded. But Wang Wei dodged it thanks to his flexibility. He then pounced towards Long Yue and kicked towards his head.


    Long Yue'' second soul jewel started to shine and grieves formed on his arms which he used to catch the blow.


    "They are evenly matched!" the commentator said.


    "You have improved." Long Yue said.


    "You''re not so bad yourself." Wang Wei said.


    The next moment his second soul jewel began to glow up and he used his poison breath. He thought he would win with this move but what happened next was something Wang Wei never expected. Instead of running away from the poisonous gas Long Yue ran towards it as his first soul jewel began to glow up.


    Instead of five streaks this time he released ten streaks from both of his claws. When the fire came into contact with the poisonous gas a big explosion formed. Smoke was everywhere. When the smoke cleared up both of them were still standing.


    "I never expected you to handle my poison breath so well. But with this, you must''ve used a lot of soul energy." Wang Wei said.


    "I might''ve used a fair amount of soul energy but to release that much poison must have cost a lot of soul energy as well." Long Yue said.


    "It might have." Wang Wei said.


    "Enough talking for now, come at me!" Long Yue said as he pounced at Wang Wei.

 27 The victor

    When Long Yue arrived before Wang Wei he gave Wang Wei a low kick which caused Wang Wei to stumble a bit. But the next thing that happened was a counter from Wang Wei he threw out a spinning back kick which threw Long Yue back. They then ran towards each other and started trading blows as they had not much soul energy left.


    "The two boys from victory village are trading blows in the center of the battlefield. How blood pumping, adrenaline-inducing, mind-blowing can a battle be!" The commentator said. "The people from victory academy already dominated the other competitions I wonder who will win this final battle of the solo competition."


    The crowd was going wild. This fight already lasted for five minutes. That time is already longer than each of the participants fought before if you added all their times together. So it was only natural that the crowd went wild.


    Wang Wei'' soul jewel lit up and Long Yue stopped for a moment. Wang Wei took this opportunity to give a liver-punch and he gave a front kick which caused Long Yue to fly away.


    "Face it! You can''t beat me as long as I am a control soul expert and you''re an attack soul expert." Wang Wei said.


    "You never know that until the fight is over!" Long Yue said.


    "I admit that when we spar without soul techniques you are the better fighter but today we are using them so you will probably lose." Wang Wei said.


    "Shut up!" Long Yue said as his holy claws appeared.


    He pounced towards Wang Wei and swung towards his torso. Wang Wei summoned his defensive scales and blocked Long Yue'' attack and as a counter, he summoned his snake claws. But Long Yue already saw this coming as his second soul jewel lit up and he caught the blow with his boneclaw armor. The next moment Wang Wei'' second soul jewel also lit up and he used his poison breath. Long Yue quickly distanced himself as he used his first soul technique to get rid of the poisonous gas again.


    "You must be running low on soul energy." Wang Wei said.


    "You really think that? Just watch me pull through." Long Yue replied.


    The next moment he used his boneclaw armor and used it to hit Wang Wei. Who flew back a few meters as he spat out a mouthful of blood.


    "So, you''re finally getting serious?" Wang Wei said. "Well then, allow me to do the same."


    The pride in Long Yue'' eyes from his previous strike turned into slight fear. He never fought Wang Wei in a serious battle.


    "Come at me. Let me see how big the difference is between you and me." He said.


    Wang Wei then ran towards Wang Wei and closed the gap of ten meters within a second.


    "Wha.. how?" Long Yue exclaimed.


    Before he could get out another word he was hit in the stomach and was sent flying. He spat out a mouthful of blood and he was left with a trail of blood on the corners of his mouth. But before he could counter he was pressured to go into defense as Wang Wei was already before him. Wang Wei, however, was hitting him form all possible angles. Long Yue threw out a desperate counter which connected. It was now Long Yue'' turn to attack. Wang Wei then used his paralysis eyes and threw out a BIG uppercut! It hit Long Yue on the chin. Which caused him to stumble and fall over.


    "The fight is over! The winner is Wang Wei!" the commentator said as Long Yue laid on the ground, knocked out.


    Wang Wei requested a glass of water and splashed it in Long Yue'' face which made him wake up.


    "Wha, what happened?" Long Yue asked in a daze.


    "You lost, buddy." Wang Wei said.


    "Damn. Again? Why can''t I win? Whenever we use soul techniques I can''t seem to win." Long Yue said.


    "Because I am a control-type soul expert. If I can control the pace of the battle you have already lost." Wang Wei said.


    "Come on we have to go to the award ceremony we have dominated the entire tournament." Wang Wei said.


    After the award ceremony and they got all their prices Wang Wei was asked to give a speech.


    "Uhm, I am really bad at these kinds of things but still here I am. All that I have to say is that you have to believe in yourself no matter what. I mean look at me, I have a trash soul form but I still won the entire solo tournament. I defeated opponents who all had better soul forms than me, but I still won. I dominated Long Sha from glory academy which was supposed to be very prestigious but in reality, only relies on money and cultivation resources from the rich families who sent their children there. What I am trying to say that it doesn''t matter how strong or weak your soul form, your family or your origin is. Of course, it helps if all of those are strong but it isn''t the factor that will decide your future. I''ve worked hard to get where I am now. If you work hard enough and do everything for your goal you can achieve pretty much everything that can be achieved." Wang Wei said.


    As he walked down the stage he got big applause from everyone present.


    "Wang Wei, come over here." It was the senior from jade academy who called him over.


    "Hello senior. I will be joining your jade academy next year. No matter what other academy offers us a place in their academy. Even if they are a big name academy." Wang Wei said.


    "Well, I''m glad to hear that. I will visit you in your hotel later with the headmaster after the ceremony is over." The senior said. "Just so you know and you aren''t taken by surprise."


    "Okay senior, I will tell my teacher and friends so that they are also ready." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, now go back to the hotel and eat something. I and the headmaster will come over shortly."

 28 Jade academy

    It was in the evening and dinnertime just passed. As two figures stood before the door to a hotel. The two figures walked in and asked for some directions. They then went up the stairs and halted before one of the doors.


    "Knock, knock, knock."


    "Coming" Was heard from inside the room.


    A small eleven-year-old boy opened the door for the two people.


    "Senior!" the boy said. It was Wang Wei who opened the door.


    "Hello Wang Wei. Is everyone here?" The senior asked.


    "Yeah, everyone including teacher Li Yun." Wang Wei answered.


    "May we come in if that is the case then?" the woman beside the man asked.


    "Yes, of course." Wang Wei said.


    When the duo walked in Li Yun was very shocked.


    "Teacher! What are you doing here?" She said.


    "Teacher?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yes, let me introduce myself." The woman said. "My name is Wen Xin I have the bloodthirst civet soul form. I am a level ninety-six heavenly god. The man you have been addressing as senior is Shen Teng you already know he is a heavenly god right?"


    "Wow, you are amazing!" Long Yue said. "But that still doesn''t explain the teacher part. Even though you are TWO heavenly gods in this small town even though there are only like sixty heavenly gods I still can''t figure out why our teacher called you her teacher."


    "Well, that is because little Yun graduated from jade academy." Shen Teng said.


    "What!" Lee Zheng said.


    "It''s true. I could''ve stayed here but I decided to go teach in my home town. I even got offers from glory academy but I couldn''t leave my home town behind. That is why the school has a few powerful teachers. They all followed me in search of talent in the less fortunate parts of the continent." Li Yun said.


    "Yes, that is why we also asked Wang Wei to bring you. We want you to come back to the academy and teach the kids that will come to our academy next year which hopefully will also be these three." Shen Teng


    "Really? I mean I have thought about going back to the academy but I never had a reason to. There are so many experts there. Why would you want me to train these kids?" Li Yun said.


    "Because glory academy has been snatching our students from us and our teachers they only managed to get the soul warrior teachers the soul king teacher is still there so, for now, it is just us there. The soul king, me and Shen Teng." Wen Xin said.


    "We want to have your students and you join us at the academy. They won''t have to take any entrance exams since they won this competition." Shen Teng said.


    "Are you sure that would be okay? There will be kids that will say that it''s unfair." Li Yun said.


    "Well, if that will happen we just have to show them why we got in without any entrance exams right?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah!" Long Yue and Lee Zheng said.


    After discussing for a long time it was already late in the night and the boys were tired. When the seniors from jade academy left they immediately went to sleep as they had a long journey the next day back home.


    The three people from victory village left early in the morning and didn''t take any breaks during the journey. They just wanted to be home as soon as possible.


    They arrived at the rice fields that were on the outskirts of victory village in the afternoon.


    "We are finally home." Long Yue said.


    The first to get dropped of was Lee Zheng as he was the one who lived closest to duskshore city. A little while later both Long Yue and Li Yun got off as they lived in the center of the town. Right now it was only Wang Wei in the carriage. Wang Wei'' red fire-dragon family had a small piece of land that was pretty run down. There was only one nice house. That was the family hall. The family didn''t have much soul experts or wealth so there wasn''t really a reason to have a family hall as they didn''t have anything to discuss but they kept it as it was something left behind by the first patriarch of the family.


    Eventually, Wang Wei arrived at the land owned by the family. It wasn''t that big but they did have a small forest that they owned. They didn''t cut it down as it was a place where they collected fruit from the trees but other than that they didn''t have that much land. Wang Wei directly walked toward the family hall to greet the elders of the family.


    "Greetings elders, I have returned."


    "Ah if it isn''t Wang Wei." The patriarch said with a proud face.


    "Greetings patriarch Wang Longwei." Wang Wei said while he bowed down.


    "Tell us how the tournament went." Wang Longwei said.


    "I placed first in the trio competition with my friends." Wang Wei said.


    "That is great. I heard you get a good reward for that." Wang Shen the second elder said.


    "I''m sorry but I am not done." Wang Wei said. "I also placed first in the duo tournament. And most amazing of all I placed first in the solo competition."


    "Wang Wei, are you gonna keep that money yourself or do you intend to help the family?" The patriarch asked.


    "I am planning to keep a small amount but donate almost all of it to the family." Wang Wei said.


    The entire family hall was in high spirits. This was more than enough money to supply the family for another two years.


    "I also broke through to the chi fighter rank. Next, to that I also have a snow white eagle soul egg which we can sell." Wang Wei announced.


    "Everyone prepare a big feast tonight for the little boy which contributed more to the family than anyone has done in the past years." The patriarch said.

 29 Big feast.

    As everyone was about to prepare for a big feast a messenger came running in.`


    "Attention! Attention! I come from the holy leopard family. I am here because our patriarch Long Chen has invited the red fire-dragon family to a banquet to celebrate the victory the three young geniuses of the town achieved at the young soul expert competition in duskshore city."


    "If that is the case we don''t want to be rude and decline." The patriarch said. "Everyone we''re going over to the holy leopard family."


    This was an evening which would go down in the history books as the first time the three great families came together.


    That night the holy leopard family was hosting, when the red fire-dragon family arrived Long Yue asked Wang Wei when the rest would arrive as there were only a couple hundred people who came in.


    "This is everyone. I really meant it when I said we were a small family." Wang Wei said.


    "Hey Long Yue, Wang Wei!" was suddenly heard.


    "Hey, Lee Zheng!" Long Yue shouted back.


    When the three were together they walked to an empty space on the grounds that were owned by the holy leopard family.


    "So how did it go with you guys when you returned?" Long Yue asked.


    "My family was very proud of me and also wanted to throw a feast in my honor but just as they wanted to make the preparations a messenger came with the message that we were invited by the holy leopard family. I immediately knew it was you who asked if we could come, Long Yue." Wang Wei said.


    "Actually. My father said he wanted to throw a feast in the honor of us three. He said that without you guys I would never have made it this far and he isn''t wrong." Long Yue said. "How about you Lee Zheng?"


    "My situation was the same as the one of Wang Wei. My family wanted to throw me a feast not only for winning the tournament but also for bringing a snow-white eagle soul egg. They were really excited to finally have a guardian beast. They immediately hatched it and right now it is back at the family'' grounds. It has a few people looking after it. The family patriarch already tamed it. What did you guys do with your soul egg?" Lee Zheng said.


    "My family is going to put it up for auction. It will probably bring in a lot of money that is also a big reason my family is in such high spirits. If we do everything right we don''t have to worry about money problems for the next couple of years." Wang Wei said.


    "My family put it in the family'' treasury. Our treasury now already has dozens of soul eggs some beasts are really weak but there are also pretty strong beast eggs. The snow-white eagle egg is one of the stronger ones. So we still have to count ourselves lucky we came across them." Long Yue said.


    "My family also has a treasury but there are not many things that we have that is very interesting. Almost all of the useful or valuable things that were once in our treasury were sold just so that the family could survive. I don''t know what exactly lies in our treasury however I do know that the most powerful and valuable things were sold. So if you want to find those things you have to be somewhere else." Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, same here." Lee Zheng said. "Although we still have a few valuable things that are like godsend treasure to my family. Like the snow-white crystal. It is a crystal that will improve the cultivation speed of a person with a snow-white soul form. However, it is a very rare crystal only found once in a hundred years. If you consume it, it will help your cultivation soar for a few weeks but that is it."


    "Let''s go back to the feast. They probably want us to be there." Long Yue said.


    "Okay." Wang Wei and Lee Zheng said.


    When the boys came back they saw the patriarchs of each family drinking together. The patriarch of the holy leopard family was Long Chen he was a rank sixty-two soul warrior who had the holy leopard soul form. The patriarch of the snow-white eagle family had the snow-white falcon soul form. He had a variant soul form which helped him with speed. He was a rank sixty soul warrior. And the patriarch of the red fire-dragon family was a rank sixty-four soul warrior with the red fire-dragon soul form. He was the person chosen by the gods this millennium to inherit the red fire-dragon soul form. But a family could not rely on one person. That is why even though they have a strong expert within the family they are still very poor.


    "Will the three geniuses make their way to the front please?" The patriarch of the holy leopard clan asked.


    As Wang Wei, Long Yue and Lee Zheng walked towards the middle of the great hall in which the feast was held everyone looked at them with looks of approval.


    "I am sure everyone is interested in one thing now." The patriarch said. "Which advanced academy are you going to chose. I know that you have gotten some offers during the tournament so I am really curious as to which academy you will choose."


    "We will all go to jade academy. It is an unknown academy as of now but there are teachers there, of the soul king level there are even two heavenly gods." Wang Wei said.


    Then someone in the crowd shouted.


    "Yeah, right. Two heavenly gods in one academy. Why haven''t we heard about it then? The mighty glory academy has three heavenly gods at the top of the academy. Everyone knows that."


    "Who over here is calling glory academy mighty?" Wang Wei said. "If they are so mighty, why did we defeat them with ease in the trio and duo tournament. I Wang Wei beat Long Sha'' ass without breaking a sweat he is a weak arrogant jerk."


    "I did." A boy said as he stepped forward.

 30 The challenge

    It was Lei Huo. One of the persons the beat for the spots in the tournament.


    "What are you doing here? Were you even invited?" Long Yue said.


    "We are here to challenge you now that you are back." Lei Huo said.


    As he said this Xiao Dai and Zhao Wei walked out.


    "So you want to get beaten again?" Wang Wei said in a mocking tone.


    "We have been training. We are now chi fighters. We won''t lose to you three now. We broke through two days ago. We will show no mercy." Xiao Dai said as the revealed their soul jewels. They each had two soul jewels one red and one orange.


    "Lee Zheng, can you handle it?" Wang Wei whispered.


    "Yeah, I forgot to tell you guys but I also broke through my family immediately took me into the forest to get me a second soul jewel. This one is two thousand years old." Lee Zheng whispered back.


    "Wait you broke through to the spirit country domain?" Long Yue asked in a low voice.


    "Yes, I am rank twenty-one. We can take them. Right? What rank are you guys?" Lee Zheng asked. "You must be higher than twenty right?"


    "I am rank twenty-two." Long Yue said.


    "I am still rank twenty." Wang Wei said.


    "It''s okay since we are getting higher and higher our progress will keep getting slower. The only reason we got to rank twenty this fast was because of the essences of the soul beasts we hunted in our time before the tournament right?" Lee Zheng said.


    "Shhh. No one is supposed to know about that." Wang Wei said.


    Then Wang Wei spoke up again. "Okay, we accept your challenge but what will be the price for the winners. We aren''t fighting for anything so why should we."


    "The winners will get to go to the losers their families and get whatever they want. No high ranking position but only something materialistic." Zhao Wei said.


    "Okay, it''s a deal." Long Yue said.


    "Psst. Wang Wei." Patriarch Wang Longwei called out.


    "Yeah?"


    "Are you sure about this? Our family doesn''t have much if we lose anything more the family will probably disappear. They are each from a big family so they probably have been training with experts since you were gone. They will probably ask for parts of land or something from the treasuries of our families if they win."


    "Don''t worry patriarch, I will expand our families wealth and land." Wang Wei said.


    He then turned to Lei Huo.


    "How about this. The winners will go to all three of the losers'' families and will each get to pick one thing they want?" Wang Wei said.


    Lei Huo then turned to his sacred moon family'' patriarch who nodded in acceptance.


    "Okay. If you want us to absolutely ravage all of your families it is a deal." Lei Huo said while laughing maniacally.


    As Lei Huo was laughing Wang Wei was busy thinking about what he should request from each family.


    ''The sacred moon family has a lot of land so I will probably ask some of their land for my own family. Xiao Dai'' void family has a lot of rice fields but they also possess some of the mines in the mountains of the south side of the town. If I remember correctly their mines are all really rich in minerals and they even find cultivation resources. I think I will ask for a mine from them. Now lastly Zhao Wei she is a direct descendant from the jade family. They have a lot of power in this town as they own most of the farms and rice fields around town. I will ask for some farms and cattle since the meat will earn a lot of money on the market.''


    As Wang Wei was deep in thought all of the attendants made their way to a fighting ground on the holy leopard family'' land. It was actually a little stadium as the holy leopard family would often organize and host martial arts tournaments.


    There was enough place for everyone that attended the feast. The patriarchs of the six families involved each had a big chair. The red fire-dragon, holy leopard and snow-white eagle family sat on one side of the arena while the other patriarchs sat on the other side. All of the patriarchs were looking very confident except for the patriarch of the red fire-dragon family. He was not worried or anything. He was sleeping!


    He was then woke up by Long Chen.


    "Why are you sleeping? Are you nuts? One of the most important battles of your family will be fought in a few minutes." Long Chen said.


    "You have trained both Wang Wei and Long Yue since they were young. They also won the soul expert tournament with students from glory academy. I don''t think we have to worry." Wang Longwei said.


    "Yeah, the boys are strong. But their opponents wouldn''t challenge them if they wouldn''t have confidence in themselves. I mean you heard what they said. They are all chi fighters." Long Chen said.


    "Wait, you don''t know?" Wang Longwei said.


    "What?" Long Chen said.


    "Wang Wei, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng are also each chi fighters. I know Wang Wei. He would never fight a battle which he couldn''t win willingly." Wang Longwei said.


    After this conversation, the three patriarchs started laughing out loud and after that starting drinking and talking as if the fight was just for fun.


    The patriarch of the void family turned to the patriarch of the sacred moon family.


    "Are you sure about this fight? The other patriarch is drinking and laughing as if they already won." He said.


    "Don''t worry they won''t be defeated not even if their opponents were chi fighters they trained with the best experts in our families. It is impossible for them to lose. And when we win we can finally dominate this town." The patriarch of the sacred moon family said.

 31 Rematch

    As everyone was getting ready for the fight Long Yue, Wang Wei and Lee Zheng were casually chatting.


    "We could really use this opportunity to improve our fighting skills." Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, I think I could use this opportunity to improve my co?rdination with both of you. Even though we already have a pretty good co?rdination." Lee Zheng said. "I also really want to try using my new soul technique."


    "Yeah, what is your new soul technique?" Long Yue asked.


    "You''ll find out in a few minutes." Lee Zheng replied with a smile on his face.


    Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, the challengers were not so cheerful they all had a very serious look on their face.


    "What do we do if we don''t win this?" Xiao Dai asked Lei Huo.


    "We will have to live in shame for the rest of our lives. To challenge the same opponents twice and lose twice. That would be the most shameful moment in a person''s life." Lei Huo said.


    "Yeah, but there is no way my lovely Lei Huo will lose right?" Zhao Wei said.


    Zhao Wei and Lei Huo were a couple now. In the time they were training they got closer and closer. In victory village, they are known as a power couple. Literally, they defeated all other opponents in town. Xiao Dai is their best friend and supports them no matter what decision they make.


    "Everyone get ready!" Teacher Li Yun said. She was also invited to the feast. Seen as she is a soul warrior she could easily stop the battle if someone''s life was in danger. The patriarchs were also strong enough but they didn''t trust the opposite side so that is why they let teacher Li Yun be the referee this match.


    "Children get ready." She said.


    The six, twelve-year-olds all released their soul forms.


    In Xiao Dai'' hand, a pitch black sword took shape on his hands, two soul jewels were visible. One brown and one blue. He could not integrate with holy soul jewels because of his soul form. That is why he had unholy soul jewels.


    Zhao Wei slowly turned into a humanoid rabbit as two jade green ears started growing on her head and a fluffy jade green tail formed on her lower back. On her hand, you could also see two soul jewels. One red and one orange.


    However, the most impressive one was Lei Huo. Electricity crackled all around his body and he turned into a humanoid tiger with electricity crackling all around him. He also had two soul jewels but his were two orange soul jewels.


    "How do you like that? I am the most powerful out of us three. Even if you are able to defeat the other two there is no way you can beat me." Lei Huo said with an evil grin on his face.


    "Don''t show your soul jewels." Wang Wei said. "Only use them if you have no other choice."


    "Okay." Long Yue replied.


    "But if that is the case then I can''t show off my second soul technique." Lee Zheng said.


    "I''m sorry. But I want to annihilate them so bad that they will never dare to challenge our families." Wang Wei said. "If It is that important to you then after this you two can have a two on one fight with me and you can show you second soul technique. Okay?"


    "Okay." Lee Zheng said.


    The did release their soul forms but they didn''t show their soul jewels. Lee Zheng now had snow white wings on his back and his feather sword. Long Yue had his holy claws out. On both his hands and his feet which would grant him enormous speed. Wang Wei now had his snake claws out and he had summoned his defensive scales.


    "Hmpf, what fools. To respond to our challenge while being like this. They underestimate us too much." The patriarch of the sacred moon family said.


    "But doesn''t it show us that we need to be careful as well? I mean they even have individual skills. We don''t have those. We are all soul brawlers but the rest of the people in our families peak at chi master." The patriarch of the jade family said.


    "Yeah, these kids that we have sent out there are the only ones with the potential to be great. They already are chi fighters. Even though soul experts are not that common and even powerhouses as us patriarchs are rare to find the world of soul experts is full of chi fighters." The patriarch of the void family said.


    "It''s okay our three families combine our powers our victory village will be a power to be reckoned with. Especially since there are a few powerhouses here. The only reason we are settled here is because of the individual strength of our families aren''t that strong. The three we send out will most definitely achieve victory for our families. If they do that we can destroy the red fire-dragon family and we can strip away some power of the other families." The patriarch the sacred moon family said. "The stakes are high but if we win we will reign over this town. Seen as each of the contestants can request something from each family we can strengthen our families while weakening them."


    As this was going on the patriarchs of the other families were still happily drinking.


    "Begin!" Li Yun said.


    When the beginning was announced Lei Huo pounced toward Wang Wei and swung at him with his claws. Zhao Wei sped toward Long Yue and Xiao Dai pounced toward Lee Zheng. They each were matched up with the person who is their best match in a battle. Wang Wei blocked Lei Huo'' attack by relying on his defensive scales. He just stood there not moving in the slightest. Xiao Dai swung his void sword at Lee Zheng, who used his feather sword to deflect the attack. Zhao Wei kicked towards Long Yue'' head, who dodged the attack.


    "So you''re at least that powerful." Lei Huo said. "See the thing is. In our last battle, we couldn''t really use our soul techniques because you took us by surprise. This time is different!"


    As he said that the first soul jewels on their hands all lit up.

 32 The strongest in victory village

    Xiao Dai slashed and a black slash that seemed to be sucking in all the light flew towards Lee Zheng. Zhao Wei suddenly got a speed boost and sped for Long Yue. Lei Huo'' orange soul jewel lit up and an illusory lightning tiger head appeared above him which let out a deafening roar.


    When the roar subsided the trio had a strength boost of twenty percent.


    "These are only our first soul techniques how will you deal with them." Lei Huo said while laughing like an evil maniac.


    However, his laughter stopped the next second. On one side of the arena, Lee Zheng swung his feather sword and snow white feathers shot out to counter the black void which was coming for him.


    On the other side of the arena, Long Yue also sped up to match Zhao Wei her speed.


    In the middle. There he stood. Together with Wang Wei.


    "What do you think?" Wang Wei said. "Our individual techniques are as strong as one-hundred-year-old soul techniques. You will never be able to defeat us with these weak soul techniques."


    "That is impossible. I knew you were able to create individual techniques which even I can''t create but no matter who they are never on par with soul techniques. How is this possible?" Lei Huo said.


    "This is how it is going to go." Wang Wei said. "You three will fight us and think you are doing good when in reality we haven''t even started. We are in a whole other league from you guys."


    "This fight is not decided!" Lei Huo shouted as his second soul jewel lit up.


    The moment Xiao Dai and Zhao Wei saw this their second soul jewel also lit up.


    The next moment a lightning bolt struck Lei Huo but he didn''t collapse instead he let the lightning course through his body and he redirected it towards Wang Wei. Wang Wei quickly dodged this lightning bolt but it wasn''t over yet. Lei Huo'' second soul jewel was still lit up.


    On the other side of the arena Zhao Wei her second soul jewel lit up and she kicked towards Long Yue he blocked the first three blows but the forth blow had a ridiculous amount of power behind it. It send him flying for five meters.


    "How do you like my hip blow soul technique?" Zhao Wei said.


    "It''s pretty good." Long Yue said as he got back up.


    Xiao Dai'' second soul jewel lit up and an uncountable number of black shards appeared. He then commanded all these shards to fly toward Lee Zheng.


    Lee Zheng swung his feather sword and feather came out to stop the black shards which sucked away all the light but there weren''t enough feathers. Lee Zheng was hit and wounded in the leg.


    "That was a pretty good soul technique." Lee Zheng said.


    As soon as Wang Wei saw that their opponents were preparing for another round he shouted some instructions.


    "Everyone. Use your soul techniques! Let''s crush these inexperienced little kids."


    "Thank god! I wasn''t that far from using it without your approval." Long Yue said.


    "Finally!" Lee Zheng said. "Do not use yours yet let me use my new one first." Lee Zheng said as his soul jewels formed. And his second soul jewel lit up.


    "A light orange soul jewel and a yellow soul jewel?!" Everyone in attendance screamed out. But as soon as Long Yue and Wang Wei their soul jewels formed they couldn''t keep in their excitement. "Each of them has two yellow soul jewels?! What kind of monsters are these kids?!"


    The patriarchs of the challenging families facial expressions all turned very sour.


    "How could you have agreed to the terms they set?" the patriarch of the void family said to the patriarch of the sacred moon family. "They wouldn''t have set these terms if they weren''t confident. Now we will all lose an important part of the family."


    "I didn''t think they would be this strong." The patriarch of the sacred moon family said with a helpless look on his face.


    Lee Zheng'' second soul jewel lit up and he used his second soul jewel. All of a sudden their opponent''s movements slowed down.


    "What happened?" Long Yue said.


    "This is my second soul technique I call it eagle vision it lets whoever I choose to use it on increasing their eyesight and in battle let them see every little detail. That is why it looks like it is going in slow motion for you. You can''t move any faster than them, however. It only helps you with placing your blows or evading. It won''t work on opponents who are a lot stronger and you won''t be able to evade every blow but it will help." Lee Zheng said.


    "Wow, that is really helpful." Wang Wei said.


    The next moment their opponents'' attacks all missed but it still wasn''t over. Lei Huo wanted to release another lightning bolt but this time he was stopped by Wang Wei'' paralysis eyes. Lee Zheng used his wing slash to create sharp streaks of air to fly toward Xiao Dai and Long Yue used his flame claws. In the next second, both Zhao Wei and Xiao Dai were blown off the competition stage. After that Lee Zheng and Long Yue also stepped down.


    "What are you doing?!" Wang Longwei said.


    "Don''t worry patriarch I got this." Wang Wei said.


    "I would like to see that." Lei Huo said. "That soul technique must cost a lot of soul energy I wonder how many times you can use it again."


    "As much as I need to." Wang Wei replied as he used his soul technique again.


    This time he only used his defensive scales on his knuckles to strengthen them.


    "Crack!"


    One of Lei Huo'' ribs was broken.


    "I heard you used your family to give mine a hard time because I defeated you and took your place in the tournament. But guess what? After this, my family will be one of the most powerful families in this town. Eventually the world." Wang Wei said as he struck Lei Huo again.


    "Crack!" another rib broke.


    "That is enough!" The sacred moon patriarch said.


    "How is this enough?" Wang Wei said. "You let my family starve in the past. You let us go through so many hardships. Now that I am taking revenge and turning the tables you are saying it''s too much? What a coward."


    "You should know not to mess with the adults, young boy." The patriarch said as he formed his soul jewels.


    "Are you sure about this?" Wang Longwei said. "If you involve yourself in this battle it will be seen as surrendering. And if you lay a hand on my precious family member I will kill you." When he said this a sharp killing intent made its way to the sacred moon patriarch.


    "I won''t involve myself or hurt Wang Wei if you command him to stop."


    "Okay." Wang Longwei said.


    The sacred moon patriarch was relieved but that feeling soon disappeared.


    "Wang Wei! One more blow and after that it is done."


    "Okay!" Wang Wei said.


    The next moment he used his defensive scales to strengthen his elbow and thrust his elbow toward Lei Huo'' torso.


    "Crack!" An even louder breaking sound could be heard.


    Wang Wei just broke Lei Huo'' solar plexus.


    "His cultivation will be a lot slower when he recovers from this. He can''t terrorize people anymore." Wang Wei said. "Sacred moon patriarch I ask you to leave for now. We will come in a few days to give you our request."

 33 The sweet taste of victory.

    A few days after the fight in the family hall of the sacred moon family.


    "Outrageous! You want three square kilometers of land?! I Know victory village is on the brink of becoming a big city but that is too much." The patriarch of the sacred moon family said.


    "If I remember correctly it was you as well who agreed to these conditions." Wang Wei said. "Or do I need to spread word that the sacred moon family doesn''t honor their bets?"


    "No! You don''t have to do that." The patriarch said. "Evacuate three square kilometers of land and hand it over to the red fire-dragon family."


    Long Yue asked for a treasure out of their treasury. He then chose a scroll which contained an ancient martial arts technique. Lee Zheng then also wanted to take something out of their treasury and he chose a soul egg which contained a snow-white falcon.


    "We can also use this one as a guardian to our family." Lee Zheng said with a big smile to the patriarch of the snow white eagle family.


    At the void family, they all asked for a rich mine and at the jade family, they each asked for some farmland with some cattle.


    The boys still had more than a year before they would start attending jade academy. They decided that they would focus on cultivating and strengthening their martial arts.


    After a few months in the family hall of the red fire-dragon family.


    "Wang Wei. I thank you." Patriarch Wang Longwei said. "Without you, our family would never have been able to prosper as it does now."


    "It is not a big deal." Wang Wei replied. But in reality, he did know how big of an impact he had on the life in victory village. Which now had city rights so it would be known as victory city from now on. The three families that were victorious on that day were growing at an alarming rate. They acquired riches at a pace that they never would''ve imagined. The red fire-dragon family now had some strong martial artists that joined and a few chi masters. Each of the chi masters had a fire-animal type of soul form. Wang Longwei did not reject anyone instead he chose to send those with ice or snow type soul forms to the snow white eagle family which could help them better with their cultivation. And holy soul forms he sent to the holy leopard family. The unholy soul forms were established in each family since they still had an elemental attribute.


    The family names quickly spread through the continent. Often there would be challengers but either the patriarchs solved it or the trio of Wang Wei, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng. There were no challengers above the soul brawler rank since the families which had stronger patriarchs already had a pretty good life for themselves. As the trio of Wang Wei, Long Yue and Lee Zheng kept winning and dominating their opponents they made a name for themselves. They were now known as the golden trio. The peerless youngsters from victory city who descended from the three great families there. Victory city was transformed into a metropolis and all kind of people visited. The city kept growing and growing. The capital still had the most power and the most powerful families but victory city was rising fast under the influence of the three families.


    Which eventually would be known as the three divine families.


    "Hey, Wang Wei." Could be heard.


    "Oh hey. Lu Piao." Wang Wei said. Lu Piao was a martial artist who joined the red fire-dragon family.


    "What is the matter?"


    "Nothing." He said very respectfully. Even though Wang Wei was younger than him he still couldn''t beat him in a sparring session. Wang Wei was also the most famous genius in victory city. He cultivated to rank twenty-two within twelve years. "I just wanted to see if you needed any help packing for your journey to jade academy?"


    "No thanks, jade academy will probably have a lot of applicants but I wonder how many will make the cut." Wang Wei said.


    It was true. Jade academy did scout them but they were a special case. Usually, they only allow people with level twenty soul energy to enroll. Even though Wang Wei and his friends did manage to meet this requirement there were few who could.


    "Do you have everything with you? I don''t see any suitcase." Lu Piao asked.


    "Don''t worry." Wang Wei said as he held up his hand and showed an interspatial ring. "I have everything I need right here."


    Wang Wei then started his journey and traveled to the holy leopard family.


    "Who are you? What is your business?" The guards outside the family hall asked Wang Wei.


    They couldn''t recognize him because he was cloaked. When Wang Wei removed his cloak the guards immediately stood aside.


    "Please enter young master Wang Wei."


    "Thank you." Wang Wei said.


    "Hey! Long Yue. Are you ready?" Wang Wei said.


    "You bet. I have been waiting for this day for the entire year. What is your soul energy rank?" Long Yue asked. "Mine is twenty-four."


    "Mine is rank twenty-two." Wang Wei replied.


    "Maybe I can defeat you this time if we sparred." Long Yue said while laughing.


    "You never learn do you?" A voice said behind them.


    The boys then turned their heads.


    "Lee Zheng!" They both said.


    "How have you been doing?" Wang Wei asked.


    "I''ve been great. I am rank twenty-three right now. The snow-white eagle had been in its egg for at least a few hundred years so it now has a cultivation basis of a five-hundred-year-old soul beast." Lee Zheng said.


    "That''s great!" Long Yue said. "Are you guys ready to take off?"


    "Yeah of course!" Both of them said.


    "Are you sure you don''t want to be escorted?" Long Chen said.


    "No, this is something we have to do on our own." Long Yue said.


    And so they began their journey towards jade academy.

 34 Arrival in jade city

    After traveling for a few days the three boys finally arrived in jade city. It was not that big of a city. They got their instructions from Li Yun who would be there to welcome them to jade academy. The academy lay outside the city so the boys still had to cross the city.


    On their way through the city, they saw a lot of different shops and stands selling different things.


    "Now and only now! We have an exclusive egg from the glass dimension. A one-thousand-year-old glass spider." A salesman said.


    "Wow, a thousand-year-old glass spider. You don''t see that often." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yeah, but when are you going to use it?" Wang Wei said. "It is best to let the people who have some use for it get it themselves."


    "Are you sure you don''t want it?" Long Yue said. "Your family still doesn''t have a guardian beast."


    "No, we don''t. However, I promised my patriarch that one day I would travel to the dragon realm dimension and bring back a red fire-dragon egg. That way our family would be back on top like it was thousands of years ago." Wang Wei said.


    ...


    "My lord. The seal is almost broken we can send through some weak soldiers but we still need a few more decades to entirely break the seal." A dark figure said.


    Then a dark figure on a blood red throne spoke.


    "That is great. The red fire-dragon family thought that they could seal us away forever. What they didn''t know was that even though they sacrificed a lot of their soul experts to seal us we would break the seal one of these days. Hahaha."


    .....


    "If you say so." Long Yue said. "How are you going to find the entrance to the dragon realm dimension anyway? It is said to be somewhere on a floating island which only flying type soul experts could find if they even had a little connection to dragons."


    "I will find it. I am a direct descendant of the red fire-dragon family. I will find a way." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, let''s go and head for the academy if we leave now we could reach it before noon." Lee Zheng said.


    "Okay, let''s go then." Wang Wei said.


    And so the three started traveling again and they reached the academy before noon.


    When they arrived there was a large line waiting to be tested by a teacher.


    "Next!"


    "It''s my turn." A little boy said very excited to be tested.


    "Rank eighteen soul energy. Butcher knife soul form. Sorry, you are not allowed" the teacher said.


    The parent of the child was furious.


    "Rank eighteen is considered a genius. Glory academy would gladly accept my son. The others there have higher social status but my boy is still on the same level in the cultivation world." The father said.


    "I don''t care if this boy is considered a genius. We only accept talents that come once in a few millennia, the students we accept here would even qualify as monsters."


    This moment the three boys walked towards the teacher.


    "I am sorry to interrupt." Wang Wei said.


    "What do you want?" The teacher asked.


    In response, Wang Wei, Lee Zheng, and Long Yue each showed two tokens. One of the tokens represented each of their respective families and the other token was the token which represented jade academy.


    "Alright, I understand. Please move on." The teacher said.


    "What!? This is outrageous!" The father said angrily. "How come they can enter the academy while my son can''t what family are they from to pressure you."


    "I am sorry sir but they each have the token of our jade academy which lets them enter without examinations." The teacher said.


    "I don''t care. I want to know what family they''re from. There is no way that they could be more powerful than my son." The father said.


    "I am sorry sir we can''t tell you that." The teacher said.


    "It''s okay teacher." Wang Wei said. "I am Wang Wei. I am a descendant of the red fire-dragon family. I come from victory city. I am sure you have heard of them."


    "Yeah of course. The snow-white eagle family, red fire-dragon family and holy leopard family all grew really fast when three young chi fighters won a bet with opposing families. But those three youngsters are very powerful. There''s no way that they would be here." The man said.


    "You are wrong." Wang Wei said. He then showed his token from the red fire-dragon family. Long Yue and Lee Zheng did the same with their own respective token.


    "Those could be fake. How do I know for sure that you are really descendants of those families?" The man said.


    "If you want I could spar with your son. One on one." Wang Wei said.


    "That is something I can agree too. If my son wins he gets your spot in the academy." The man said.


    "Okay, if I win I get to request one thing from your family patriarch." Wang Wei said.


    "That would be me." The man said. "I am the patriarch of the azure leaf family."


    "Okay, it''s a deal." Wang Wei said.


    As the boy got ready and revealed his soul jewel. It was a three-hundred-year holy soul jewel. But Wang Wei didn''t reveal his soul jewels he only summoned his snake claws and defensive scales.


    "Individual techniques?!" everyone present cried out.


    "It''s okay son just because he has an individual technique doesn''t mean you can''t beat him." The patriarch of the azure leaf family.


    The boy'' soul jewel then lit up and his butcher knife started to glow blue and then slashed. A blue slash headed for Wang Wei who just stood there not moving even a millimeter. He only raised his arms and let the slash hit his defensive scales. He then pounced towards the boy and kicked him in the gut. The boy flew backward for ten meters.


    "That was a fluke." The patriarch said.


    "I won. I can now make one request. For what that is I still need to think about it and gather information about your family." Wang Wei said.


    "No! I demand a rematch." The patriarch roared.


    "He will never win." Wang Wei said as he revealed his soul jewels.


    "Two yellow soul jewels!?" everyone cried out.


    "I am the famous chi fighter of the red fire-dragon family Wang Wei. With me are Long Yue from the holy leopard family and Lee Zheng from the snow-white eagle family. Together we form the golden trio. Make sure you spread our names and those of our famillies. Come visit us or join our families. They reside in victory city." Wang Wei said.


    After that he walked through the gates of the academy.

 35 New students of jade academy

    There were approximately thirty children all around twelve years of age. They all stood together on a large open space chatting in groups.


    "Alright. Everyone listen up! My name is Li Yun, I will be your head teacher this year." Li Yun said.


    As soon as Wang Wei saw Li Yun his eyes lit up. This was the woman who helped him in his previous academy. She gave him such a big opportunity. She was a huge help for his cultivation if one would look at it in hindsight.


    "Some of you may already know me and others may not. That does not matter. I don''t give anyone any extra''s. I only give you something when you deserve it. Jade academy does not tolerate any crimes or behavior that is without norms and values. If you get caught doing something that is not tolerated by the academy you will be expelled." Li Yun said.


    "Thank you little Yun." Could be heard the next moment.


    A figure in a white robe walked out. Nobody could recognize him with his robe on except for Wang Wei because he met this man a few times while he wore his robe.


    "My name is Shen Teng. I am the vice-principal of this academy. What teacher Li Yun said is true. Any intolerable behavior will result in expulsion. Fighting outside the academy is not something we approve of but if you are unable to resolve something with words and there is no other option it is okay. Fighting inside the arena is approved. Our students are allowed to fight for glory and riches. Fighting inside the academy is highly encouraged." Shen Teng said.


    "Allow me to explain." Li Yun said. "You can practice martial arts and fighting techniques as much as you want on your own but if you never apply them in a fight you will fail when the moment comes. Combat experience is extremely important in the world of soul experts. You are all here because you exceed the norm and are true geniuses. Our academy is not that well known to common people but all big powerhouses know of our academy since we produce a large number of monsters here. That is why most of you are probably from families with a big powerhouse."


    "That is it for now." Shen Teng said. "Now everyone has time to get to know each other."


    After that, the kids all started to talk to each other. They all started to brag about their families.


    "I am from the holy sun family. My grandfather has the blazing sun soul form. I inherited that soul form. I am probably the strongest here since I also am a rank twenty-four chi fighter." Some kid said.


    "You really think you are the strongest?" Was heard from within the crowd.


    "Who said that?" The kid said.


    "I did." Wang Wei said as he walked out from the crowd.


    "Hmpf, what rank are you then? If you think that you are the strongest you would have no problem telling us your soul energy level and soul form."


    "I am Wang Wei from the red fire-dragon family. I am a rank twenty-two chi fighter. I have the red snake soul form." Wang Wei calmly said.


    "Pfu hahaha. A red snake soul form? What are you doing here?" The boy said. "Isn''t trash like you supposed to stay home?" the boy said.


    "You shouldn''t call him trash you know." Long Yue said as he stepped up.


    "Oh, and why should I take your advice?" The boy said.


    "I am Long Yue I come from the holy leopard family. I am a rank twenty-four chi fighter with the holy leopard soul form." Long Yue said.


    "What?! Rank twenty-four?!" the boy said.


    "Yeah, and I have never been able to defeat Wang Wei. He comes from one of the strongest families in victory village. He is also an expert in Jongh martial arts. He also developed two individual techniques. He is a true genius." Long Yue said.


    "What?! Two individual techniques? N-no you''re bluffing there is no way. To produce an individual technique is hard enough on its own. Let alone produce two." The boy said. "You! Wang Wei!"


    "Yeah?" Wang Wei said.


    "I challenge you to a fight the loser will have to pay for the other person'' dinner expenses for a whole week. Okay?"


    "You really shouldn''t do that." Lee Zheng interrupted.


    "Another one?" The boy said annoyed. "I am Chen LiI am destined to become the next patriarch of the holy sun family. I have the blazing sun soul form and I am a rank twenty-four chi fighter. I will not lose to a puny little red snake. Who are you to stop me?"


    "I am Lee Zheng. Rank twenty-three chi fighter, snow-white eagle soul form. I am from the snow-white eagle family in victory city. In the entire city, he is the strongest genius in the entire city. Even the entire west division¡­." Lee Zheng said.


    "It''s okay. If he wants to fight with Wang Wei we should let him." Li Yun interrupted him. "If you follow me I will guide you to the sparring arena." Li Yun said.


    When they arrived Shen Teng was as the entrance Wang Wei would take.


    "Vice-principle. What are you doing here?" Wang Wei said.


    "I have something to tell you. If you win this fight I will help you evolve your soul form. I will also take you in as my disciple if you can complete the evolution of your soul form. If you become my disciple I can teach you some cultivation techniques or I can give you cultivation resources. I can even grant you entrance to the most secret and best places inside the academy." Shen Teng said.


    "Thank you, vice-principle." Wang Wei said while he made a deep bow. "I will definitely do my best and when the time comes I will complete the evolution of my soul form."


    He then entered the sparring arena. There was a crowd of all the new first years. There were also a few upperclassmen but most of them weren''t interested in a little fight between kids. Those that did come. Have heard of victory city and Wang Wei or they heard about Chen Li and his family. The crowd was split.

 36 The true monster

    As the fight was about to begin the two boys set some ground rules.


    "Stop when the opponent is unconscious or when he gives up. Apart from that, there is no stopping this fight." Chen Li said with an evil grin on his face.


    ''Once the fight begins I will kick this little snake'' ass.'' He thought to himself.


    Outside of the sparring arena, all the girls were talking to Long Yue and Lee Zheng. Not because they were super cool or anything but they were friends with the handsome Wang Wei. They themselves were also pretty handsome but they couldn''t compete with Wang Wei.


    "How come we didn''t see you at the entrance exams?" One girl asked.


    "We didn''t have to take those." Lee Zheng said.


    "Why?" Another girl asked.


    "Wang Wei took first place in the solo soul expert competition in duskshore city. Wang Wei and I placed first in the duo tournament and the three of us also placed first in the trio competition. We took down glory academy in each competition. We are the strongest in our generation of the west division. That is why we were scouted by the principal and vice-principal. I don''t know where this Chen Li is from but it doesn''t matter. Wang Wei will defeat him in no-time. Just you watch." Long Yue said.


    After that one of the upperclassmen announced the start of the fight.


    Chen Li was the first to make a move. He immediately released his soul form and a bright hot blazing sun formed above his head. He had two soul jewels one was a light orange soul jewel. The other one had a solid yellow color.


    "A thousand-year-old soul jewel?!" the crowd yelled out.


    Outside the arena, a lot of murmurs was going around.


    "Wow! That kid is amazing! He has a thousand-year-old soul jewel!" All these kinds of things were being said at the moment.


    A girl then turned to Long Yue and Lee Zheng.


    "Aren''t you worried about your friend?" She said.


    "Worried? Why would we be worried?" Long Yue said in response with a smile on his face.


    "Because his opponent has a thousand-year-old soul jewel." The girl said.


    "It''s okay." Long Yue said. He then turned to the arena. "Ooooi, Wang Wei!" He yelled.


    Wang Wei then turned to look at him.


    "There is no need to hold back! You need to earn respect in this place with power. Now show them your power!" Long Yue said.


    "Power? What power could a mere red snake have? Hahaha." Chen Li said.


    But the next moment it turned dead silent. Even a pin drop could be heard.


    This silence was caused by Wang Wei. He summoned both his snake claws and defensive scales at the same time he showed his soul jewels. They were two light yellow soul jewels. One a little bit lighter than the other one.


    "I told you!" One of the upperclassmen said. "He is the monster from victory city! The strongest genius in the entire city."


    "So what. You have two, thousand-year-old soul jewels who cares about that? You''re still a weak little red snake. I am from the powerful holy sun family I will burn you to a crisp." Chen Li said.


    Wang Wei said nothing. His second soul jewel lit up and he spat out his poison breath soul technique. As he did this Chen Li'' second soul jewel also lit up and a small solar flare shot out to meet the poisonous gas.


    The crowd went wild.


    "So what if he is the strongest genius in victory city. The young master of the holy sun family is way stronger than a red snake." The people who supported Chen Li said.


    "To think trash like you can produce such a strong soul technique." Chen Li said.


    It was at this moment that Wang Wei burned with rage. He hated to be called trash. Not because it is hurtful but because everyone called his family trash and that is why he hated it when someone called him trash.


    "How about we make this a little more interesting?" Wang Wei said.


    "How do you intend to do that?" Chen Li said.


    "Instead of paying for the winner'' dinner why not make the loser the winner'' follower?" Wang Wei said.


    "Okay. I don''t see why I would want someone like you as my follower but an extra hand is always helpful." Chen Li said. After he was done talking his first soul jewel lit up and the sun above his head lit up and then turned into a stone-like substance and fell into his hands. He then threw it at Wang Wei but right before it hit it exploded.


    "How do you like my soul technique. I call it nova." Chen Li said while there was a dust cloud around Wang Wei.


    "Pretty good. You actually made me back up a couple of steps." Wang Wei said as he walked out unscathed. He only had a few burn marks in his clothes which created holes but in those holes, you could see the red scales.


    "How are you okay?" Chen Li said.


    "Your soul technique was pretty strong. But my individual technique was stronger." Wang Wei said. "Now that I have given you your turn it is time I made a move."


    After he spoke these words his first soul jewel lit up. He knew that since Chen Li had the holy sun soul form he had less time that his paralysis eyes worked on him. So he moved very quickly. He first used his paralysis eyes. He then gave him a spinning back kick followed by a liver-punch. He ended his combo with a triple-twist kick. Since that was the first advanced technique he learned it was also the technique which he had perfected the most. He landed his triple-twist kick on Chen Li'' chin which knocked him out. Stone cold!


    "The winner is Wang Wei. He is the strongest new first year. He is a true monster!" Long Yue announced.


    Everyone went wild. Who would''ve thought that Wang Wei, someone with the red snake soul form which was known to be a trash soul form. Would defeat Chen Li with the top tier blazing sun soul form.


    After everything settled down and Wang Wei walked out of the arena. He was then called over by Shen Teng.


    "Vice-principal." Wang Wei said while making a deep bow.


    "Follow me." Shen Teng said with a serious look on his face.


    Wang Wei then proceeded to follow Shen Teng to the academy'' main building.

 37 Disciple

    When they arrived at the main building Shen Teng walked right into the main hall where all the teachers were gathered.


    "You must all wonder why I''ve asked you to gather here." Shen Teng said.


    "You are right teacher Shen. Will you please tell us why?" Li Yun said.


    "Yes, some of you may know this boy." He waved Wang Wei over. When Wang Wei joined him he continued talking. "This is Wang Wei. He is a rank twenty-two chi fighter with the red snake soul form. Even though he has a weak soul form he has a lot of potential. He already created two individual techniques and he has obtained two holy soul jewels of at least the thousand-year-old level. He has helped his family rise to power." Shen Teng said.


    "This boy certainly has potential." Principal Wen Xin said. "Everyone who has seen the soul expert tournament in duskshore city knows this. So why are you introducing him?"


    "That is because today I am not introducing him as Wang Wei, a student at jade academy. I am introducing him as Wang Wei the first and last disciple of me, Shen Teng."


    "What!" everyone said in shock.


    "Teacher Shen you can''t be serious right?" One of the teachers said. "We all know this boy has extraordinary talents but to go as far as to make him your disciple isn''t that going too far? Wouldn''t it be wiser to take someone with a stronger soul form and a brighter future as a disciple?"


    "Are you questioning my decision?" Shen Teng said as a heavy pressure filled the room.


    "Most certainly not." The teacher quickly said.


    "Now that you all know that he is my disciple don''t you dare poach him away from me." Shen Teng said.


    "Don''t you worry about that." Someone said while laughing.


    "Is there something wrong? Division leader Shen Fei." Shen Teng asked.


    "No it''s just that I have taken Chen Li in as my disciple and with this, I will finally be able to take the place as vice-principal." Shen Fei said with an evil smile


    "Don''t you be so sure of that." Shen Teng then said.


    "Why would I not be? My disciple has the blazing sun soul form he will crush your disciple if he had the chance." Shen Fei said.


    "Oh really? Wang Wei, tell them what happened before we came here." Shen Teng said.


    "Okay, teacher. I had a sparring session with Chen Li and I obtained an overwhelming victory." Wang Wei said.


    "Didn''t your parents ever teach you that lying to an elder is forbidden." Shen Fei said.


    "He is not lying." Shen Teng said. "If you don''t believe him why don''t you go check up on your disciple."


    When division leader Shen Fei saw the seriousness in the eyes of Shen Teng he rushed away.


    ''Little brother why must you go to this extend to defeat me.'' Shen Teng thought to himself.


    After everything was discussed all the teacher dispersed.


    "Wang Wei I want you to come with me." Shen Teng said.


    He then guided Wang Wei toward a big lake with an island in the middle.


    "This is the blue jade lake. The soul energy here is much more intense. Cultivating here will be much more beneficial to you. It will also help you evolve your soul form. From now on you are to stay here under my watch. Until I say that you are allowed to leave." Shen Teng said.


    "But teacher. isn''t this unfair?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Teachers are not allowed to give out favors but I am not your teacher. Our relationship is not as easy as teacher and student we have a much stronger connection. We have a master and disciple connection and every master will do anything for their disciple." Shen Teng said.


    "Okay, master." Wang Wei then said. "Master I have something to ask you."


    "Go ahead. I will try to answer any question you have." Shen Teng replied.


    "Okay, I obtained my second soul jewel from a black emperor snake. But it is a holy soul jewel. Why is it not an unholy soul jewel?" Wang Wei asked.


    "That is because it was probably a variant." Shen Teng said.


    "Variant?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yes, a variant. A variant is produced a holy soul beast that possesses more yin energy than yang energy which usually has. That way it will produce a holy soul jewel. And the other way around. If an unholy soul beast has more yang energy it will produce a holy soul jewel. You are very lucky because variant soul techniques are usually much more powerful than normal ones." Shen Teng then further explained.


    "Thank you for teaching me." Wang Wei said.


    While they talked further about the academy and blue jade lake they made their way to Shen Teng'' house.


    The house that they arrived at was a cozy house on the outside. It was not big but certainly not small.


    "You can stay in the guest bedroom." Shen Teng said. "Get some rest. Tomorrow we will begin the evolution of your soul form."


    "Okay." Wang Wei answered as he went up the stairs.


    He then entered his room. It was big enough for two more people to fit in but this was his very own room! He was happy but disappointed at the same time. That is because he was very excited to be sharing a room with Long Yue and Lee Zheng together.


    ''Well, there is no use thinking about that now. Let''s just start cultivating and get ready for tomorrow.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    The next morning he went downstairs and he greeted his teacher. They had breakfast and then ventured deep into the island.


    "Wang Wei I have been informed that you have been practicing Jongh martial arts since you were six years old." Shen Teng said.


    "That is correct." Wang Wei replied.


    "Excellent!" Shen Teng said.


    "Why is that excellent?" Wang Wei asked.


    "You may not know this but the Jongh martial arts originate from a place far, far away. They were created by a heavenly god who exceeded the heavenly god level. They were created for the purpose of strengthening ones meridians while also training oneself in martial arts." Shen Teng said. "And to evolve your soul form you have to have strong meridians. And even though yours are still pretty strong you will still go through hell because of this. Are you sure you want to do this?"


    "Yes, I am ready." Wang Wei said with a determined expression on his face.


    "Very well then. Let us begin." Shen Teng said.

 38 Going through hell

    "First I need you to take a position as if you were cultivating." Shen Teng said.


    Wang Wei then sat cross-legged on the ground. They were at the island''s core. It was a beautiful forest. Wang Wei sat down in the middle of a meadow filled with beautiful flowers everywhere.


    There were even plant-type soul beasts here. The weakest ones had a cultivation basis of at least a hundred years. All these plants made this meadow so beautiful one would think they were in a dream.


    When Wang Wei was seated Shen Teng told him to start cultivating. When Wang Wei was in a deep cultivating state Shen Teng started to murmur something in an ancient language.


    A bright light shone down on Wang Wei it appeared to be soft and gentle. Wang Wei slowly absorbed the light and he fell down on the ground. He was no longer sitting on the ground. After that, he awakened.


    "Teacher. You said that this would be very tough but I don''t feel anything." Wang Wei said.


    "You might want to sit back down." Shen Teng said.


    "Why I feel grea." Before Wang Wei could finish his sentence his entire body froze.


    "Aaaaaaaah!!"He then screamed and yelled as if his limbs were being torn off from his body. He fell to the ground and lost consciousness. He woke up in his own spiritual realm. But then everything was swallowed by a giant black hole. He could still feel his body. His body was blazing hot one moment, and the next moment it would be freezing cold. He could feel his bones snapping and being put back together. He was in hell. The pain was too much but he couldn''t do anything about it. He then blacked out.


    When he woke up he was still in his spiritual realm but this time there was another figure. It was the giant beast again.


    "I see that you are trying to obtain a stronger soul form." The giant figure then said. "You are one step closer. I will wait for you."


    "What are you talking about?" Wang Wei tried to ask but the giant figure was slowly fading away.


    ¡­.


    "Long Yue are you ready it is almost time to get to class." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yeah, wait for me." Long Yue said.


    They were both in their dorm room where they had slept last night. They put on their clothes and made their way to the school building. They were ready to see Wang Wei again. They haven''t seen him since he walked off with the vice-principle but they were sure that they would see him again in class.


    As they arrived in their classroom they saw all the students turn their heads toward them.


    "Where is Wang Wei?" One of the girls asked them.


    "I don''t know." Long Yue said.


    "We were hoping we would see him here." Lee Zheng added as his gaze went through the entire classroom.


    "He must have been expelled." Chen Li then blurted out.


    "You idiot." Long Yue said. "You are just mad he beat you up. The teachers wouldn''t expel him for that."


    "Not if I was an ordinary student but I am the heir to the holy sun family and I am the disciple of division leader Shen Fei. I am an important student of this academy." Chen Li said with a grin on his face.


    "You are full of it. I will beat that arrogance out of you." Long Yue said as he sped over and was ready to hit Chen Li.


    "Long Yue we will not tolerate any fighting in class." Someone said.


    As Long Yue turned around he saw that it was Li Yun.


    "I am sorry, teacher." Long Yue said.


    "Teacher, could you please tell us where Wang Wei is?" Lee Zheng said.


    When Li Yun turned to look at Lee Zheng she saw the worried look in his eyes. She then turned to face Long Yue who also had a worried look on his face.


    ''They have been through a lot together it''s no wonder they are worried about Wang Wei.'' She thought to herself.


    "Yeah tell us, teacher." Chen Li said in a tone one would describe as annoying and mocking. "Is he expelled?"


    "Of course not. Where would you get that idea? You lost because you were inferior that is no reason to expel Wang Wei. I also know that you are the disciple of the division leader. It may give you some feeling of power but it means nothing. If they want to expel Wang Wei vice-principle Shen Teng would fight for him. Because Wang Wei is his disciple. And Wang Wei is only his disciple because the principle couldn''t get to Wang Wei before the vice-principle." Li Yun said. "You all may not know it yet but Wang Wei is going to be a big figure in the future of this world."


    After this the entire class was in shock and sat down to learn.


    ...


    Wang Wei finally had a moment of peace. The burning and freezing stopped. His bones didn''t break anymore and he was fine. But he still couldn''t open his eyes or move his body. Just as he thought it was over he felt a pressure he couldn''t describe. He felt as if his meridians were being torn apart. At the same time, there was a huge pressure coming down on him.


    ''I hope he can complete the evolution of his soul form.'' Shen Teng thought to himself.


    "How is he doing?" Shen Teng then heard from behind him.


    When he turned around he saw that it was principle Wen Xin.


    "He is holding out for now." Shen Teng replied.


    "Are you sure he will complete this? What he is doing right now is going against the heavens. He will get his divine punishment very soon." Wen Xin said.


    "I know." Shen Teng said. "But I believe he will survive. I could pull through. And he is in a better condition than I was when I evolved my soul form. The divine punishment is something every being must receive when they reach a certain level. If one can survive it is the question. If the being doesn''t it will die or its cultivation base will be shattered. If he can pull through this one his future power will be limitless."

 39 Class representatives.

    The second day of school started and Wang Wei still wasn''t back. Because of this teacher Li Yun decided to just follow the usual schedule and give a big announcement.


    "Alright everyone sit down, I have a big announcement to make." Li Yun said as she walked into the classroom.


    All the kids walked toward their seats and sat down. The only ones who were silent the entire time before Li Yun walked in were Long Yue and Lee Zheng because they were worried about Wang Wei. When they tried to visit Wang Wei by contacting the vice-principle they were told to go back to their dorm.


    "This afternoon there will be a tournament in our little class to decide the class representatives. The top three will each become a representative. The number one will become the class president, and there will be two vice-presidents. The person who came in second will be in charge when the class president is absent and the number three will be in charge if those two are absent. However, this competition is not definite. One can challenge the class representatives for their position. If you are a class representative you have the respect of your peers and you have a good chance at becoming a disciple of one of the teachers here. Becoming a disciple means inheriting a legacy. Each teacher has something different to offer. They will help you to the best of your abilities. So work hard for one of the representative spots." Li Yun said.


    .....


    ''It has been two days and he still hasn''t woken up. This must be a sign of greatness or it is a sign that he will fail.'' Shen Teng thought to himself.


    Wang Wei was awake but only in his spiritual world.


    ''I wonder when the pressure will disappear he thought.'' As he thought that the pressure started to become less. The look on Wang Wei'' face showed that he was relieved but that changed drastically the next moment.


    "AAAAH!" He screamed out in agony.


    The pressure was gone but in its place came the feeling of being burned alive, drowning and being crushed by everything in existence. But unlike last time he didn''t pass out. It was as if his body wouldn''t allow him.


    On the outside, Wang Wei'' body started glowing with a bright white light.


    "So the divine punishment begins." Wen Xin says to Shen Teng.


    "Yes. Everything will be decided on what happens next." Shen Teng replied.


    ...


    After classes, all the kids were fighting for a representative spot.


    Everyone was doing their best and were being serious. Except for Long Yue and Lee Zheng. They only used martial arts up until now to defeat their opponents. The only thing that was on their mind was Wang Wei'' safety. But that did not stop them from wanting to be a representative. Because they knew that once they got back that Wang Wei would want a spot. And if they already had two spots then they could all three become the representatives.


    They made it all the way to the semi-finals. By this time it was already late and almost past dinnertime.


    Long Yue had to fight with Ye Xinghe who possessed the star sword soul form. He simply beat him so that he could fight in the finals. Lee Zheng had to fight with Chen Li but forfeited and had to battle for third place. He then fought with Ye Xinghe and they had a battle of swords as Lee Zheng used his individual skill. He defeated Ye Xinghe. Long Yue forfeited the match with Chen Li and became the second representative.


    The class president was Chen Li and the two vice-presidents were Long Yue and Lee Zheng.


    As Chen Li won he got to give a speech.


    "I am the strongest in this class. The only reason Long Yue gave up was that he already knew that he couldn''t win against me. You may all think to yourself. ''What but he was defeated by Wang Wei on the first day?'' and that is correct but I underestimated him and I had been on an overnight trip on which I didn''t get enough sleep. That is the reason I lost. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have lost to Wang Wei. And my title as class president proves it." He said with a smug face.


    When Long Yue and Lee Zheng got back to their room they were silent.


    Lee Zheng was the one to break the silence.


    "Are you sure we did the right thing. Don''t you think it would have been better if one of us was class president?"


    "No. Let him sit on his high horse for a little bit. When Wang Wei comes back he will most definitely challenge him for the position of class president." Long Yue said.


    While they were in their dorm room Chen Li had taken everyone out to celebrate but everyone could not really celebrate as they knew that the strongest person did not participate today.


    ¡­..


    It was deep in the night when the light on Wang Wei'' body finally died down. After that Shen Teng was waiting anxiously. Wen Xin and Li Yun joined his side. After a few minutes, Wang Wei opened his eyes. He saw that he lay in the same meadow where he fell to the floor.


    "Teacher, how much time has gone by?" He asked.


    "It has been two whole days." Shen Teng said. "How do you feel?"


    "I feel amazing. It feels like I have been born again. My soul energy level also elevated I am now a level twenty-four chi fighter." Wang Wei said very excitedly.


    "Could you tell me what your soul form is now. You come from a dragon family but you had a snake soul form. Your soul form could have evolved into a dragon or a greater snake. I am very curious as to which side it went." Shen Teng said.


    Wang Wei then told the three people that were next to him about his experience and new soul form.


    "I see." Wen Xin said.


    "I think that this soul form fits you perfectly." Li Yun said. "I have to tell you that Chen Li is class president but you can challenge him for that position if you''re up for it."


    "I will. Can you please tell him I want to challenge him now." Wang Wei said.


    "You can''t challenge him directly you need to wait a few hours to adapt to your new soul form." Shen Teng then said.


    "Okay then tell him I want to challenge him after school. I will train in the morning with my teacher and then in the afternoon I will challenge him." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay but that will be your third absence people might not accept it." Li Yun said.


    "They will when they see my newfound power."

 40 New class presiden

    It was afternoon and the entire class gathered at the sparring arena.


    "Hey! Long Yue, are you sure your little friend is going to show up?" Chen Li said.


    He stood in the middle of the sparring arena and he was waiting for Wang Wei. Earlier that day Long Yue came up to him and told him Wang Wei wanted to challenge him for his position.


    "He will come! Just be patient for a little while." Long Yue replied.


    "Forget it. If that coward isn''t going to show up then I''ll just leave." Chen Li said.


    "Who are you calling a coward?" Could be heard from the arena''s entrance.


    A figure then walked out. It was someone who resembled Wang Wei but was five centimeters taller and was even more beautiful. The person'' eyes also had a tinge of red in the deep brown.


    "And who might you be?" Chen Li asked with an arrogant smile on his face.


    "I am Wang Wei. Just because I grew a few centimeters you don''t recognize me anymore?" Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, very well then I heard you wanted to challenge me for the position of class president." Chen Li said.


    "You heard wrong." Wang Wei said.


    "Oh? Then why am I here?" Chen Li asked.


    "Because I am going to take that position from you. There will be no fight." Wang Wei said.


    "We''ll see about that." Chen Li said with eyes full of disgust.


    "Did you forget? After you lost the previous fight you are now a follower of mine. I am commanding you to give up your position." Wang Wei said.


    "No way. I earned this position myself. This fight will be for my position and freedom" Chen Li said furiously.


    He couldn''t believe someone would be so arrogant towards him. The heir to the holy sun family! He soon pushed those thoughts away as he released his soul form.


    A small blazing sun formed above his head and it heated up the place.


    Wang Wei then brandished his snake claws but they were different. The claws didn''t look like snake fangs but they looked more like dragon claws! His defensive scales as well. They were still red but the color was a little lighter and the scales were thicker.


    Wang Wei didn''t waste any time and pounced toward Chen Li and he punched straight ahead. He hit Chen Li in the gut. Which caused him to fly away for fifteen meters.


    "What happened?" Someone in the crowd asked.


    "I don''t know but I do remember that Wang Wei wasn''t this strong before." Someone else said.


    "How did you get so strong?" Chen Li said. "Which elixir did you take to raise your strength this


    much in the past two days?"


    "I didn''t take any elixir. Unlike you." Wang Wei said


    "Bullsh*t! No one can increase their strength this much within two days without taking elixir." Chen Li said. "But if you didn''t take any elixir, tell me what you did."


    "I evolved my soul form." Wang Wei said very calmly.


    "What?!" Everyone present said.


    "Yeah, my soul form has evolved and it is now the soul form of my family. I am now a red fire-dragon soul expert. My power has increased a lot and my soul energy level has increased to twenty-four."


    Wang Wei said. "I will annihilate you and take the position of class president."


    "That is impossible. Even if you could find an ancient technique which could let you evolve your soul form there would be no one around to even understand such an ancient language." Chen Li said.


    "Then you won''t believe me. But I am a lot stronger now." Wang Wei said.


    After he said this he released his poison breath which was even more now. But Chen Li was prepared for this as he released his solar flare. After that, the sun above his head turned into a stone-like substance. He threw it at Wang Wei and he used his nova soul technique.


    "Since last time it only scratched you I put in a little more power this time." Chen Li said with an evil grin on his face.


    But his expression changed the next moment when he saw that Wang Wei had protected himself using his snake scales. After that Wang Wei'' first soul jewel lit up. Its power was stronger now and he could execute it for a longer time. He then dashed toward Chen Li and kicked to his head.


    "Bang!"


    A loud sound could be heard as Wang Wei'' leg connected with Chen Li'' head. Who flew back twenty meters and spat out a mouthful of blood.


    "I win. I am now the class president and you are still my follower but I don''t need your help. Just make sure you don''t walk in my way." Wang Wei said.


    Everyone cheered and celebrated with and for Wang Wei for he was the strongest person in their year.


    "Hey, Wang Wei. That was a great fight." Long Yue said.


    "Thanks." Wang Wei said.


    "Is your soul form really the red fire-dragon now?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "It sure is. In fact, I want to change the name of my individual skills to dragon claws and dragon scales. Since it won''t make sense anymore to call it snake claws and defensive scales." Wang Wei said.


    "Now that you are awake are you going to live with us?" Long Yue asked.


    "No, my teacher told me to stay with him on blue jade island. It is really helpful since the soul energy there is much denser. It would be really helpful for you two to also become the disciple of a great teacher." Wang Wei said.


    "Then I guess we will only see you in class." Long Yue said with a bitter smile.


    "No way! I will still come and hang out with you guys. On top of that, tomorrow is our day off. Let''s go visit the azure leaf family since they still owe us one favor." Wang Wei saidwith a big smile.

 41 Azure leaf family

    It was the boys'' first day off and they decided to go to jade city and just walk around.


    "Excuse me." Wang Wei said to a stranger. "Could you please tell me where I can find the azure leaf family?"


    "Yeah, of course. You just have to make your way to the west part of the city. It will take a few hours so you will reach it around noon." The stranger said.


    "Okay, thank you." Wang Wei said.


    "Long Yue, Lee Zheng. I know where we need to go." Wang Wei said.


    They then made their way to the azure leaf family. On their way, they had to go across the city''s center. All the big shops and expensive auction houses were located in the center. Wang Wei took the time to write a letter to his patriarch inviting him over to jade city so that they could recruit some people for the family. Long Yue invited his father so that they could go to auctions and Lee Zheng did the same. Among the three strongest victory city families the red fire-dragon family was still the weakest as they had the least soul experts.


    They arrived at the azure leaf family just before noon. Wang Wei directly walked toward the elder hall of the family. It was there that he was stopped by the guards.


    "Who are you? What is your business?" The guard said.


    "I am Wang Wei. I came here because your patriarch owes me a favor."


    "Our patriarch owes, you. A favor?" the other guard said.


    "If you don''t believe me go ask him yourself." Wang Wei then said.


    One of the guards went inside the elder hall to talk with the patriarch. He came out a few moments later.


    "Very well. You may enter." He said while feeling embarrassed.


    Wang Wei and his friends then entered the azure leaf family'' elder hall. Inside there were six elders including the patriarch.


    "Hello patriarch." Wang Wei said in a respectful manner.


    "What is it that you want?" The patriarch said. He wanted to get right down to business.


    "Straight to the point huh? I like that." Wang Wei said. "What I want is to take a look in the treasury of your family and I want to take three items. Of course, I won''t take anything that costs a huge amount but I won''t pick the cheapest things either."


    "Patriarch we can''t allow this." One of the elders said.


    "Quiet. I lost a bet. I have to honor it or else who would want to be associated with our family anymore?" the patriarch said.


    The elders then lowered their heads.


    "Alright. Follow me." The patriarch said.


    He then led Wang Wei and his friends to a room which was heavily guarded.


    "You can have your pick from any of these." He then said.


    "Thank you. Long Yue, Lee Zheng you both also take something." Wang Wei said.


    "Are you sure?" Long Yue asked.


    "Yeah, I can take three things so why not?" Wang Wei replied.


    He then turned to the patriarch.


    "Do you have something that is from the red fire-dragon family?" Wang Wei asked.


    "We don''t have anything that we acquired in our recent history but I do have something which has been in our family for a long time." The patriarch said.


    He then came back with a very very old book. It almost looked ancient.


    "What is this?" Wang Wei asked.


    "This is something left to our family by the first patriarch of the red fire-dragon family. It was part of some cultivation technique but none of our family had the ability to read it. The only reason we have this in our family is that our first patriarch helped the red fire-dragon family and their patriarch trusted us with it before they sealed the hell dimension." The patriarch said.


    "Wow, then I guess I will take this." Wang Wei said. "Since I am finished let them have something of more value since this was useless to you. Also, could you tell me where your son is? I wish to spar with him once again and maybe teach him a thing or two."


    "My son is currently at his academy and he won''t be home for a few weeks so you will have to wait. Ican, however, provide you a calm and quiet place to cultivate." The patriarch said.


    "Okay." Wang Wei said with a disappointed look on his face.


    He then went into a secluded room and waited. He then opened his storage device and took out the book which he got from the patriarch.


    ''I wonder why no-one can read this.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    He opened the book and was very surprised it was empty there were no words but then a bright light shone. It had a red hue and then focused on Wang Wei. Right at that moment on the page words started to appear.


    "A drop of blood from the red fire-dragon is needed." It read.


    ''A drop of blood from a red fire-dragon? That is almost impossible.'' But then he had an epiphany. ''What if the blood of a red fire-dragon FAMILY member is needed?''


    Wang Wei the brandished his dragon claws on his right hand and made a small cut in his left thumb. A little drop of blood started to flow. He then let the drop of blood drop on the paper.


    The next moment the empty pages started shining with a red light and words started to form on the pages. He then started reading the book.


    Meanwhile, Long Yue and Lee Zheng both picked their item. Long Yue picked up some herbs which would help him cultivate. Lee Zheng chose a sword fighting technique which he would practice back at the academy.


    "Are you guys done?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, let''s go back to the academy." Long Yue said.


    Wang Wei said goodbye to the patriarch and the boys made their way back to the academy.

 42 Wang Ye

    It was almost dinner time when the boys arrived at the academy.


    "Thanks for coming with me today." Wang Wei said.


    "It''s nothing and if we didn''t come we wouldn''t have gotten these things that would help us in our cultivation." Long Yue said.


    "Yes. I have been looking for a suitable sword technique for a while now but I couldn''t find it. Who would''ve thought it would be with the azure leaf family?" Lee Zheng said.


    "Come to think of it. You only got a scrappy old book. Why were you satisfied with it?" Long Yue said.


    "Because this is a book written by the first patriarch of the red fire-dragon family. It can help me a lot. I have only glanced through it once but it holds cultivation techniques and fighting techniques which I have never seen before. It could be really helpful." Wang Wei said.


    "Really? Let me see then." Long Yue said as he grabbed the book from Wang Wei. "What is this? Some kind of joke? There is nothing to read."


    Lee Zheng then stood next to him.


    "He''s right there is nothing in here." He said.


    "Here give it to me." Wang Wei said.


    He then reached out his hand and when he made contact with the book the pages started shining again.


    "What is happening?" Long Yue exclaimed.


    "Only a member of my family can read it. But only a direct descendant." Wang Wei said.


    "Well then, good luck." Lee Zheng said.


    "Thanks. I will see you tomorrow." Wang Wei said.


    The boys went their separate ways. Long Yue and Lee Zheng both went to their dorm room and Wang Wei headed to blue jade island.


    Back at the house, Shen Teng was already waiting for him.


    "What did you do today?" Shen Teng asked Wang Wei.


    "I went to the azure leaf family since they owed me a favor. And I obtained something amazing." Wang Wei said very excitedly.


    "Oh?" Shen Teng said as he raised his eyebrows. "And what might that something be?"


    "I obtained a book that was written by the first patriarch of my family. It contains fighting and cultivation techniques which I have never seen before. I also saw something which was written by the patriarch as a sort of journal." Wang Wei said.


    "Really?! That is amazing. Who better to teach you to cultivate than the person who was an expert with the same soul form. I am truly happy for you." Shen Teng said.


    "Thank you, teacher." Right when Wang Wei said this his stomach started growling


    "Hahaha." Shen Teng started laughing. "Are you hungry?"


    "Yes." Wang Wei replied.


    "Come with me." Shen Teng said.


    He then started walking and Wang Wei followed him. They eventually came to a small house in the middle of the island. They entered.


    "Took you long enough." It was principal Wen Xin. She was sitting at a nicely set table full of delicious looking food. Next to her sat teacher Li Yun. There were two more places to sit.


    "Go on. Take a seat." Shen Teng told Wang Wei.


    "Thank you for the meal." Wang Wei said as he sat down.


    "Now that we are all here. Let''s start eating." Wen Xin said.


    That night Wang Wei ate the most nutritious food he had ever tasted in his life.


    "Principal. Can I ask you something?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Of course."


    "Why is teacher Li Yun here?" Wang Wei said.


    "That is because she is like a daughter to me. She is my disciple and I will take care of her until I no longer can."


    "Yes, she is the principal'' disciple. She has taken more but she is the proudest of Li Yun. You, on the other hand, are my one and only disciple. I have high hopes for you." Shen Teng said.


    "Tell me, Wang Wei. What did you do on your first day off?" Li Yun asked.


    Wang Wei told the entire story as it was getting dark.


    "You found a book containing fighting and cultivation techniques written by the first red fire-dragon patriarch?!" Wen Xin cried out. She had a bright look in her eyes.


    "Yes, even a journal. But only direct descendants of my family can read it." Wang Wei said.


    After Wang Wei said this the bright look in the eyes of Wen Xin disappeared.


    "That''s too bad. I thought those fighting techniques would be really powerful." Wen Xin said.


    "I could write them down for you if you want." Wang Wei said.


    "Really? Then I''ll have to trouble you." Wen Xin said.


    "It''s no problem at all since I will be learning from them as well. It will take some time however since I still have class." Wang Wei said.


    "That is no problem. I will excuse you for the next week." Li Yun said.


    "Are you sure? Won''t I miss out on a lot?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Don''t worry I will come by every evening and teach you one on one." Li Yun said.


    "Okay." Wang Wei said. "But I can''t promise to have everything since I still want to talk with my friends."


    "That is fine. Even one technique will be enough." Wen Xin said.


    After everything was discussed Wang Wei and Shen Teng went back to the house. Wang Wei directly went to his room to start reading the book.


    He found a cultivation technique called the heavenly dragon''s way. It was a cultivation technique that would help you cultivate soul energy that was much denser. He also found a few dragon fighting techniques and some martial arts. The dragon techniques were like individual techniques but not entirely since they could be learned by anyone with a dragon soul form. Much to Wang Wei'' surprise his dragon scales and dragon claws were the foundation on which these techniques were build on. The martial arts was the same as Jongh martial arts only that it was harsher on the body and would strengthen the meridians even more. But the most interesting was at the end of the book.


    "This book is the first I will ever write. I am sure that it will help someone when I am gone from this world. That is something I swear on my name Wang Ye."

 43 Wang Ye’s star

    Wang Wei started reading Wang Ye'' journal.


    When I was a small child I was left by my parents in an orphanage. There I never had many friends the other kids were not interested in me or what I did and likewise. But my story took a turn when I turned five years old. I went to the city hall. I went there just like any other kid that had turned five years old. That is because we were going to awaken our soul form. As I was waiting there were a lot of disappointed faces. Some happy and some that were very excited. Those were the kids that could cultivate soul energy. It was finally my turn. I went into one of the rooms. The room I chose had a male chi master. It was a stout male who looked to be in his high thirties. He then said in a hoarse voice.


    "Sit down and start to meditate."


    I did as he instructed and everything went smoothly. He told me I was the most amazing kid he has seen in all the years he has awakened soul forms. I had the red fire-dragon soul form and I had level seven soul energy. I was considered a prodigy. I enrolled in one of the top academies in the region. In there I met a person who would stick with me for my entire life. His name was Long Yun he came from a small village named victory village. His soul form was the holy leopard. He had no family or anything he was all alone in this world. Just like me. We became close friends, brothers even. we soon were the two strongest in the entire academy. After we finished our final year in the elementary academy we decided to travel the world. We didn''t continue our studies and decided to learn from the world. We travelled far and wide. By the time we were fifteen, we were already powerful chi masters at rank thirty-five. We were the strongest amongst our peers and none could stand up to us. We earned our money by fighting in the arenas all across the land. While we were travelling we would hunt soul beasts and sell the resources we would get from them when we arrived in a big city. We lived a good life. But that suddenly changed when we turned sixteen.


    As Wang Wei turned the page he saw that it was the back cover of the book. He saw a little scribble at the bottom of the book.


    It read: To whoever finds this if you want to know stronger techniques or want to know more of my life head to the dragon caves and there you will find the second part.


    "What the hell is this!" Wang Wei said very angrily.


    He wanted to know what happened and was curious for the stronger techniques.


    The next morning he came down for breakfast.


    When Shen Teng came down Wang Wei wasted no time.


    "Good morning teacher."


    "Good morning Wang Wei."


    "Teacher, what are the dragon caves?"


    "Where did you learn about that?" Shen Teng asked with, a serious look on his face.


    "It was on the back of the book I obtained. Apparently, its only purpose was to produce a little information and tell where more information and techniques were." Wang Wei said.


    "The dragon caves are a cave system which is perfect for cultivating if you have a dragon type soul form. However, there is a barrier which keeps people out who are below the rank of a chi master and it also keeps out people who have wrong intentions. Whether that is murder or theft it keeps them out. If you want to take something you have to prove that you are worthy by fighting a dragon type soul beast. So you are not ready by a long shot." Shen Teng said.


    "Why not? I have fought with soul beasts before." Wang Wei said.


    "I know but dragon type soul beasts are on a different level. They are smarter and they have more power, speed and defence. Overall they are way stronger than normal soul beasts." Shen Teng said.


    "Oh, okay. I will wait before going to the dragon caves." Wang Wei said.


    The two then ate their breakfast. After they finished Shen Teng left because he had some work in his office. Wang Wei stayed behind and practised the techniques that were noted in the book he obtained. He started with the individual techniques. They were said to be very difficult to master and only certain people could use them to their fullest potential that is why there were only one or two people who could use these techniques per generation. The first skill he practised was the dragon body. It would cover the entire body in dragon scales. After practising for a while he could only cover both his arms and shoulders.


    ''No wonder only one person per generation can master these techniques'' Wang Wei thought to himself. ''These techniques are ridiculously complicated.''


    As he was resting he used the cultivation technique described in the book. It led his soul energy through the meridians he already used but also through meridians which lay deeper in his body. It took him two full hours to complete one circle but he felt that the soul energy he obtained was much denser than the soul energy which he would usually absorb.


    When he was finished with that he practised the martial techniques described.


    It all started with stances which would enhance his strength. It wasn''t anything particularly difficult for the first few seconds but after that, his muscles started aching. He started moving his body according to the instructions. It was extremely difficult to even move one finger for Wang Wei.


    He finished the move and immediately fell to the ground.


    ''That was way to difficult. I can only wonder as to how difficult the stronger techniques will be.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    He then looked at the time and sprang up. He then ran to the water and used the boat to reach the mainland. He then started running toward the dorm rooms. He promised Lee Zheng and Long Yue that he would hang out with them.

 44 Sparring

    When Wang Wei arrived at the dorm he found out that Long Yue and Lee Zheng haven''t returned from class yet.


    When he asked around he found out that they had some trouble with some upperclassmen. He quickly dashed toward the school building.


    When he arrived there was a group of people all in one place.


    "Why don''t you just shut up." Wang Wei heard.


    "How dare you talk to me like that? I am from the prestigious holy sun family and I heard that you disrespected my cousin and with that our family." Another boy said.


    "You''ve got the wrong guy. I didn''t disrespect your family. I wish it was me but it wasn''t." Long Yue said.


    "Then who was it?" The other boy asked.


    "I did." Wang Wei said as he walked out.


    Everyone turned their heads to Wang Wei. They were surprised by the fact that someone dared to stand up against the holy sun family.


    "So you are the one who beat up my cousin." The boy said. "I am Chen Wong. I am the strongest in the holy sun family of my generation. I am a rank thirty-one chi master. I came here seeking revenge for my cousin." Chen Wong said.


    "And you think you have the ability to do so?" Wang Wei said in a mocking tone.


    "I know so." Chen Wong said.


    "Well, if you''re so sure why don''t we have a little sparring session. I have learned some new martial arts move and I want to test it in a battle." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, why don''t we." Chen Wong said.


    ''I''ve got this in the bag. I will just turn it into a battle of attrition. Since I am a chi master and he is a chi fighter I will have the upper hand. I also have more experience and I am able to execute one more soul technique than him.'' Chen Wong thought to himself.


    When they entered the sparring arena there was a bigger audience than Wang Wei had before because usually, no one cared about a first-year'' fight. But since there was also a second year fighting the number of people that were interested in watching this sparring session was obviously bigger.


    One of the fifth years was the referee for this fight.


    "If I tell you to stop and step away you will listen to what I say. When I say the fight is over, the fight is over. No redo''s the fight will be over, you can challenge again another day." He said.


    After the start of the fight was announced the spectators began cheering. The people from victory city were obviously cheering for Wang Wei. But the people who weren''t from victory city were cheering for Chen Wong.


    Wang Wei started by dashing toward Chen Wong.


    "Don''t think getting a jump start will help you." Chen Wong said as he released his soul form.


    A blazing sun appeared above his head and three soul jewels. Two orange and one yellow.


    His first soul jewel lit up and a bright light suddenly shone blinding Wang Wei. Who stopped dead in his tracks. Chen Wong sped to Wang Wei to punch him in the face but something unexpected happened as Wang Wei opened his eyes and they were yellow. He could see forms again and used his first soul technique. He paralyzed his opponent for three seconds. After that time he regained his sight.


    "You are pretty good. Enduring my first soul technique like that." Chen Wong said.


    The next moment his third soul jewel lit up.


    ''Crap!'' Wang Wei thought. ''The third soul technique a soul expert gets will be much more powerful than the first two.''


    The next moment three more suns appeared behind Chen Wong. And each sun started glowing up. And then suddenly they each shot out a solar flare. Wang Wei could do nothing but use his dragon scales to defend. But it wasn''t enough. He was hit by a solar flare on his leg and he fell to the ground. He had a pretty bad burn.


    "Are you able to continue?" The referee asked.


    "Of course." Wang Wei said with a determined look.


    "Impressive. You are the first person to ever really injure me to this extent." Wang Wei said.


    He then suddenly jumped up and ran toward Chen Wong.


    "You don''t learn do you?" Chen Wong said as he used his first soul technique again.


    But this time Wang Wei turned his back toward his opponent. He wasn''t blinded this time but he made himself vulnerable. Chen Wong saw this and made use of this opportunity.


    As his first soul jewel was still shining his third soul jewel also started glowing. He then hit Wang Wei with four solar flares at the same time.


    Wang Wei couldn''t keep himself from screaming out because of the pain he felt. But to everyone''s surprise, he got up again.


    His second soul jewel started glowing as well as the first one he released his poison breath and used his paralysis eyes to keep his opponent in place. Chen Wong was badly affected by the poisonous gas.


    "If you don''t surrender within three minutes the poison will start to affect your bones and cultivation base. Unless you can work the poison out of your system which can only be achieved by meditating for three minutes." Wang Wei said.


    Chen Wong then started glowing a bright red and steam started to come out of his body. But this steam had a tinge of purple.


    "Don''t think that that is the only way. The minute the poison entered my body it became a liquid. All I am doing now is heating my body up which will result in the poison evaporating." Chen Wong said.


    Wang Wei'' second soul jewel started to glow up again but Chen Wong'' second soul jewel also started to glow up. And out from the sun above his head came a single solar flare which made Wang Wei'' poisonous gas explode.

 45 Claiming victory

    After another fifteen minutes of fighting Wang Wei was getting tired. This was the first time he ran low on soul energy. This was the area on which his opponent had the advantage. His opponent was a chi master and he was a chi fighter. He had to end this as soon as he could or else he would lose due to exhaustion.


    "This is the first time Wang Wei has fought for this long." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yeah, but he said that he had learned a new martial arts technique which I haven''t seen yet." Long Yue said.


    "Could it be something that he read in that book he got from the azure leaf family?" Lee Zheng then said.


    "Maybe, let''s just wait and see how he will deal with this. After all, he is a rank twenty-four chi fighter going up against a rank thirty-one chi master." Long Yue replied.


    Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Chen Wong released another solar flare. This time instead of relying on his defenses Wang Wei decided to evade this blow.


    "You should feel proud of yourself." Chen Wong said. "For a chi fighter to compete against a chi master for this long is already a great accomplishment. You show a lot of potential."


    "I don''t care about what you think." Wang Wei said.


    "Now, now, don''t get angry. I am not the one who resents you. I am only here to uphold the name of my family. I am very impressed with your abilities." Chen Wong said.


    "Thank you, senior. But this isn''t everything I have to offer." Wang Wei said. "I can beat you."


    "I would like to see you try." Chen Wong said.


    The next moment Wang Wei charged at Chen Wong. Who again used his first soul technique.


    However, this time Wang Wei didn''t turn around but he covered his eyes for a few moments. After that, he took a peculiar stance.


    Everyone in the crowd was confused. "What is he doing?"


    However the next moment an overbearing aura could be felt by everyone. For people who had a cultivation base lower than rank twenty-four, it was unbearable. Those above were only startled but didn''t affect them much.


    Next Wang Wei lifted his right leg and made a big step forward. When his foot touched the ground it shook. He then took another step with his left leg and the same happened. Next, he threw out his right fist. When Chen Wong saw this he reacted by also throwing out his right fist. The two fists collided and the next thing that could be seen was Chen Wong flying away. His fist was reflected and the force at which it was thrown back was so great it dragged along his entire body.


    ''So this is the overbearing fist?'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    This technique was the first technique he learned from the book written by Wang Ye. It was called overbearing fist because it came with a great overbearing aura. It used only a little soul energy and was fairly strong. However, in the book, it was described as one of the weaker punches. It could only hit. There were punches in the other books which could crush mountains and kicks that could split the heavens.


    Chen Wong crashed into the barrier of the sparring arena. He was unconscious. The referee called it and Wang Wei was victorious.


    His name quickly spread through the academy. Within a few days known as the young monster.


    In these days he spent almost all his time cultivating and practicing the special techniques and martial arts which were described in the book. Even though he understood the martial arts and made pretty good progress with those he made little to no progress with the special techniques. The dragon body which he was practicing was very difficult to master. He made little to no improvement. He only added one row of scales in the past few days while on the first day he could cover his upper arm and shoulders in addition to his forearms.


    When he went to ask Shen Teng for guidance he didn''t get much of an answer.


    "I can''t help you with this, this is something you need to comprehend on your own. Only that way can it work to its fullest potential." Is what Shen Teng said.


    These were the words that floated through Wang Wei'' mind. He was using the special cultivation technique described in the book. It was a cultivation technique without a name. Wang Wei decided to call it the fire-dragon cultivation technique. When he started it took him two full hours to circulate the soul energy ones. Currently, he could complete one circulation within one hour and fifty-five minutes. It was not much progress but Wang Wei already was happy with any progress. However this time he was really mulling Shen Teng'' words. Suddenly his eyes opened. He understood something now which he didn''t understand before. He couldn''t quite describe it but he knew that he had a breakthrough. He tried using dragon body and to his surprise, his scales didn''t stop at his shoulders. They spread across his chest and upper back. They also formed in his neck.


    ''Yes! Finally a breakthrough.'' Wang Wei thought. A couple of days were extremely fast but because Wang Wei made a giant leap the first time a couple of days felt like an eternity for him.


    He went out to meet with Long Yue and Lee Zheng. They told him that they had also been practicing very hard. Lee Zheng made some progress with his swordsman technique and Long Yue broke through to rank twenty-five. He currently was the soul expert with the highest cultivation base amongst the first years.


    Like this a week flew by and Wang Longwei was in jade city. He came to look at the progress Wang Wei made. He also was interested in the auction and recruiting new people into the family.

 46 Jade city marke

    Wang Wei went to meet with Wang Longwei in jade city. Who was staying in one of the most luxurious hotels in the city.


    "Wang Wei greets patriarch." Wang Wei said.


    "Don''t be so formal little Wei. if it wasn''t for you I wouldn''t have been able to enjoy life to this extent and stay in a hotel as fancy as this. So what is the reason you called me to this city''s auction we also have an auction in victory city which also has a lot of treasures." Wang Longwei said.


    "The auction in jade city this time will sell an earth tier defense artifact. I don''t know the specifics but it will certainly help the family and all. We can also hire soul experts and recruit people into our family. But before all that I have to talk to you about something." Wang Wei said.


    "Oh, what is that then?" Wang Longwei asked.


    "My soul form has evolved and it is now the red-fire dragon." Wang Wei said.


    "That is amazing. How is that possible?" Wang Longwei said.


    "Well, I became the disciple of the vice-principle of the academy. He had a special technique to help me evolve my soul form. But that is not what I wanted to talk to you about. While my soul form was evolving I entered my spiritual world and there I met with a being. I don''t know what it was but I met it before when I started my cultivating path. It talked about getting one step closer with this soul form of mine. It was kind of like a giant beast. I don''t know what it was and don''t know what I need to do." Wang Wei said.


    "This is really common amongst the soul experts with the red-fire dragon soul form. I also have experienced something like this. No one knows what it is. The only clue we have about it is that it is a dragon type of beast." Wang Longwei said.


    "Ohw, I thought you could help me more. But that is not really terrible I have some more good news." Wang Wei said.


    "Oh? After all this, you still have more good news?"


    "Yes. It is about this." Wang Wei said as he retrieved an old book from his interspatial tool.


    "What is this?" Wang Longwei asked.


    "This is a book written by Wang Ye."


    "Wang Ye?!" Patriarch Longwei cried out.


    Wang Ye was a figure which all the elders knew in the red-fire dragon family. It was the first patriarch of the family which led the war against the demons.


    "How do you know about him and what is that and how did you obtain it?" All these questions came flying out of Wang Longwei.


    "I came to know about Wang Ye through this book. I obtained this book from the azure leaf family which is on the other side of jade city. They owed me a favor and they gave me this book. It was useless to them as they couldn''t read it. Only direct descendants of the red-fire dragon family can read this book. it is a book which contains special cultivation techniques and martial art techniques it also contains special techniques which were all created by Wang Ye." Wang Wei explained.


    "Cultivation technique? Martial arts? Special techniques? Are you talking about the heavenly dragon road cultivation technique, overbearing martial arts, and the dragon techniques?" Wang Longwei said.


    "Yes, how did you know?" Wang Wei replied.


    "These are ancient secret techniques of the family. We only know the names and one move of the overbearing martial arts. The complete martial arts and other things were lost in time and never recovered. If you could write them down in a different book and give that to me you would do the family a great favor. The family could grow stronger again." Wang Longwei said.


    "Of course. But this is not everything, there are more books. I will go to the dragon caverns once I reach level thirty and get my third soul jewel to search for the second book." Wang Wei said.


    "Are you sure. You have to be extremely careful because there are rumors that in the dragon caverns is also the portal to the dragon realm." Wang Longwei said.


    "Really? Then I will be extra careful." Wang Wei said.


    When they were done discussing family matters they went toward the market of jade city. The auction wouldn''t start for another three hours so in the meantime they set up a little stall and were advertising for their family. They had a sign next to their stall which read: "Looking for fire attribute soul experts to join the red-fire dragon family." Because the red-fire dragon family was a rising star in the continent they got attention from a lot of soul experts. By the time the auction was starting they had recruited fifteen soul experts. Eleven chi masters, three chi legends and one soul brawler. The soul forms were all different. There were a lot of tool soul forms but the soul brawler was without a doubt the strongest out of the new recruits. He had the tyrannical flame tiger soul form. He was strong but the patriarch was stronger and as long as he was the strongest here wouldn''t be a power struggle. The patriarch was also level sixty-nine and was one step away from becoming a soul king. This fast growth was not human. It was because of all the herbs and elixirs the patriarch bought for himself and the family. The weakest people in the family were chi fighters excluding the children. The red-fire dragon family was becoming stronger and stronger by the day.


    Finally, the auction started. The soul brawler and one chi legend were to stay with the patriarch to build a stronger connection and the rest was sent to the land owned by the family. Once they entered the auction a servant came to their side to guide them to their VIP seatings. They got VIP treatment because these days no one dared to offend the red-fire dragon family. Once the auction started money was being spent left, right and center. It was time for the earth artifact to come out. The red-fire dragon family got this artifact at a price of five million gold. At the end of the day, the patriarch bought a lot of things.


    Of course, he bought the artifact but he also bought some armor for the new recruits and depending on their skills he bought better armor for the stronger soul experts. For Wang Wei, he bought special martial art techniques but no elixirs or anything because Wang Wei said he didn''t want any of those. When Wang Wei and the patriarch said their goodbye''s Wang Wei went straight to the academy to cultivate.

 47 Practicing martial arts

    When Wang Wei got back to the academy he went straight to jade island to start practicing the new martial arts he got from Wang Longwei. He wanted to become a soul expert who was also very experienced in martial arts. That way, when his soul energy ran out he could still continue to fight. He did have the martial arts from Wang Ye but those were extremely hard to practice. He already learned the overbearing fist. There were some other martial arts techniques but they were for increasing one''s stamina and strength. The special techniques were also hard to practice. Not only was it extremely difficult. You would also need to have good learning and understanding ability. That is because there was no one around who could teach the techniques.


    So that is why Wang Wei started learning the new martial arts he obtained. The one he started with was called the fire manipulation arts. To practice it one would need to have a fire-type soul form. And be a soul expert. The martial art was full of moves which involved fire enhancing the attacking power and manipulating fire to take the form of objects or beasts. The other martial arts were bone enhancing arts, lightning steps, and air strike arts. The final two martial arts were for Long Yue and Lee Zheng.


    ''I will start by training the fire manipulation arts.'' Wang Wei thought to himself. ''After that, I will practice a little bit of the bone enhancing arts.''


    For the next few days, Wang Wei would wake up, eat breakfast, go out to train, eat dinner, train, and sleep.


    It was a peaceful morning and Wang Wei woke up. The sun would shine on his face through the window which made him look like a beautiful divine being. The birds were happily chirping and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees was very calming. After Wang Wei ate breakfast he stepped outside to start his training again. The morning dew on the grass and plants was almost gone but there was still a little bit left.


    Wang Wei started breathing in, and out. Between each breath, he waited for three seconds. He repeated this process for a full five minutes. After this, he would start taking different stances which seemed to do nothing but eventually, a red mist started to form around his body. After the red mist was ten centimeters thick. He started breathing again and the red mist around him disappeared. It was being absorbed by his body! After all the red mist was absorbed by him it was silent. After a moment a lot of cracking and popping could be heard.


    ''Yes!'' Wang Wei thought to himself. ''I reached the red bone level.''


    The bone enhancing arts was divided into nine different levels. Each level would correspond with the cultivation base of the person practicing. That is why Wang Wei reached the red bone level so fast. He could also reach the orange bone level if he practiced for another two months. But if he wanted to advance to the yellow level it would take him much longer because he was not yet a chi master. This is also the reason why people who would practice this martial arts and weren''t able to cultivate soul energy weren''t able to reach a high level. The highest level reached by a non-cultivator was the yellow level. Which was already really impressive as most of them couldn''t even completely reach red bone level.


    In the past few days, Wang Wei would also cultivate for a decent amount of time but he did not advance that much with his soul energy level. He was still level twenty-four. But he did reach red bone level. Which would also help his combative abilities. After he was done stabilizing his bone level he started practicing the fire manipulation arts. He would take a few deep breaths and a little bit of fire would appear. He used pure soul energy to use this martial art. After he stabilized the fire he would start to move it around. He would make circles around his body and slowly gain more understanding and control toward the fire and the martial arts themselves.


    He then made yet another breakthrough. As his understanding towards fire became more profound he stretched out the ball or fire until it would form a ring of fire around him. This was the second technique described in the fire manipulation martial arts. If his understanding of fire would become as great as the heavens he would even be able to create strong soul beasts out of fire.


    When he finished his training it was almost time for dinner.


    "Teacher." Wang Wei called out.


    "Yes?"


    "Tonight I will be eating with my friends." Wang Wei said.


    "That is okay. But don''t forget that the principle is still waiting for the martial arts from that book of yours." Shen Teng said.


    "I know. It is already done." Wang Wei said as he retrieved a little notebook from his interspatial ring. "You can deliver this to the principle."


    "Thank you, Wang Wei" Shen Teng said.


    "No problem." Wang Wei said as he left.


    ''I have really chosen great disciple.'' Shen Teng thought.


    When Wang Wei arrived at the dorms he headed straight toward the room Long Yue and Lee Zheng were staying in.


    "Hey, Wang Wei. What''s up." Long Yue said when he came back to his room. He was training hard to make sure he wouldn''t fall behind.


    "Nothing. I just wanted to have dinner together." Wang Wei said.


    "That''s great!" Long Yue said. "The entire class is coming together tonight for a big barbeque. We wanted to invite you but we couldn''t contact you nor the vice-principle."


    "Oh, well. I''m here now. Let''s go." Wang Wei said.


    "Sure, just let me change into fresh clothes and we''ll be on our way." Long Yue said.


    As they were walking toward the barbeque Long Yue was talking about what had happened in class the past few days.


    "Oh by the way." Wang Wei interrupted him. "I picked up some martial arts for you and Lee Zheng to practice."


    "Really?"


    "Yeah, here." Wang Wei handed over the lightning steps and air strike arts. "The lightning step martial arts is for you and the air strike is for Lee Zheng. I also picked up some martial arts for myself so when I will return to class I will be even more powerful." Wang Wei said.


    "Thanks. I can''t wait." Long Yue said

 48 Barbeque

    As Wang Wei and Long Yue were walking toward the place where the entire class decided to meet a delicious smell made its way to them. It was a smell of deliciously grilled meat and other nice food.


    "I think I can already smell the meat." Wang Wei said.


    "I know. Me too. It smells amazing. Let''s hurry up before everything will be gone." Long Yue said as he quickened his pace.


    The two arrived at the barbeque really quick. When he arrived Wang Wei could see the fire roasting the meat just right and he could feel that his mouth was watering. It has been so long since he had meat that was roasted by a barbeque. He couldn''t wait to sink his teeth in the meat.


    When he arrived everyone became quiet and a lot of whispers started to go around.


    "Isn''t he the class president?"


    "Yeah. I heard he is extremely powerful. He even beat up a second-year student."


    "Hey, Wang Wei." Could be heard very loudly.


    "Lee Zheng." Wang Wei said with a big smile on his face.


    When the three stood next to each other the looked like three great leaders. Which in fact they actually are because they are the class representatives.


    Wang Wei handed over the air strike arts to Lee Zheng.


    "What is this?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "They are some martial arts that go well with your soul form." Wang Wei said.


    "I can''t accept this. I can get my own if I needed to. Besides I already got the sword technique." Lee Zheng said.


    "I know, but I want all three of us to become powerful that is why I also picked up one for Long Yue and two for myself. And these martial arts can help your sword technique get even stronger. Just practice them. Don''t think too much of it." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, since it is you. I will accept these martial arts." Lee Zheng said.


    "Class president!" could be heard.


    Everyone turned their head to see who it was.


    "I want to apologize for my behavior previously. I hope you can forget it and we can become comrades." It was Chen Li.


    "Of course. I actually need to thank you and your cousin. If it wasn''t for the two of you I wouldn''t have been able to push myself to this extent and I never would''ve gotten this strong." Wang Wei replied.


    "Thank you. If you ever need help ask me or anyone in my family we will be able to help you." Chen Li said.


    "I will hold you to that promise." Wang Wei said.


    Long Yue took Wang Wei aside.


    "You know that he doesn''t really mean what he says right? He only acts like this because he knows that he could never win against you." Long Yue said.


    "I know, but it is still a rare opportunity to decline such an offer. We will visit the holy sun family the next time we get a chance. I want to see if we can get anything good from that place." Wang Wei said.


    In his mind, Wang Wei was only thinking of all the riches and cultivation resources the holy sun family would possess. ''If I get my hands on some good cultivation resources I will be able to enter the dragon caverns sooner than I thought.''


    The class proceeded to have fun and enjoy the meat which was beautifully roasted. Wang Wei even showed off his new fire manipulation arts. He used it to prepare the best meat of the entire night. When the barbeque came to an end everyone was leaving to their dorm rooms. Except for the strongest kids in the class. They were all talking to each other.


    "By the way. Are we going to participate in the jade city battle arena?" Chen Li said.


    "What? You want to participate?" Long Yue said.


    "Yeah, it is really helpful for our combat experience. Besides that, we also get prize money and with it, we could buy cultivation resources or martial art techniques." Chen Li said.


    "When you put it like that it sounds really attractive." Wang Wei said.


    "Right?! I am going to participate for sure. How about you guys?" Chen Li said.


    The other kids said that they wouldn''t participate. Eventually, it was time for Wang Wei, Long Yue and Lee Zheng to answer.


    "It is a really quick and smart way to increase your combat experience and you can earn money while doing it." Wang Wei said.


    "I know that all that sounds nice but for combat experience, we can spar with each other and for money, we can rely on our families." Lee Zheng said.


    "I know but we can''t rely on our families forever and sparring with each other will become standard and we won''t be able to handle situations with soul experts who have rare soul forms." Wang Wei said.


    "He does have a point you know." Long Yue said.


    "So are you in?" Wang Wei asked the two.


    "Yeah, I''m in." Lee Zheng said.


    "Count me in as well." Long Yue said.


    "That is great. Let''s all go together and register tomorrow." Chen Li said.


    "Sure, but I will only have a short amount of time available because I will be busy cultivating." Wang Wei said.


    That night when he got back to the home of his teacher he told Shen Teng all about the plans he made.


    "That is great. To go and increase your combat experience. However, you must wear a mask to conceal your identities." Shen Teng said.


    "Why?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Well nothing is for sure but what if there are evil soul experts in the audience and they will kidnap you. If you wear masks that problem can be avoided because they won''t know who you are."


    "I see." Wang Wei said. "Okay, I will make sure all of us wear masks."

 49 Battle arena

    Morning comes around and Wang Wei starts exercising like he usually does and completes everything before heading out to see his friends.


    He arrived at the academy''s entrance and he met up with Chen Li, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng. When all four of them arrived they started making their way to the battle arena in jade city.


    When they entered the battle arena''s lobby they were in awe. It was a giant hall with all sorts of clerks and booths. The place that was bustling with activity was the place where the arena would take on bets. A lot of people were betting on these things.


    "Let''s go sign up." Wang Wei said.


    The other three agreed and followed him to the counter where they could register themselves as fighters.


    "Hello, young masters." The lady behind the counter said with a sweet smile.


    "Hello miss." Wang Wei said. "We would like to register as fighters for this arena."


    "Oh? You all want that?" The lady asked as she looked to the others for confirmation.


    They all nodded their heads and made sounds of approval.


    "Okay then. What are the names you want to go by?" the lady asked.


    "Fire bone master." Wang Wei said.


    "Snow sky fighter." Lee Zheng said.


    "Leopard fighter." Long Yue said.


    And last but not least was Chen Li "Apollo".


    "Okay, then I will register the four young masters." The lady said. "You will start off as stone-rank fighters. The more points you get the higher the rank you will attain. The way you obtain points is by winning and losing as less as possible. The points you accumulate are the points you get when you deduct the number of losses from the number of wins you got. So let''s say you got three wins and one loss you have two points."


    "Okay. What are all the different ranks?" Chen Li asked.


    "The different ranks are stone, metal, steel, bronze, silver, gold, platinum and diamond. The ranks are also divided into soul expert levels. For example level twenty to twenty-nine fight in the same division." The lady said.


    "Okay, thank you for explaining miss." Wang Wei said.


    "No problem. Do you also want to sign up for a fight?" The lady asked.


    "Yes, please." The four boys said.


    "I can place you in the schedule this afternoon. Your pay will differ by a win or a loss. If it''s a loss you will also get paid but not as much as when you would achieve a win." The lady said.


    "Thank you." The boys said.


    The four boys prepared for their fights by meditating in a special room reserved for fighters of the arena. The opponent Wang Wei would face was called the snake lord whose martial soul was a snake scythe. Long Yue was up against the speed demon. Chen Li was up against the fairy prince and Lee Zheng was up against the blazing falcon.


    Wang Wei also started doing special breathing exercises which could help him break through to the orange bone level. His soul energy was still at level twenty-four but he was only one step away from reaching level twenty-five. Lee Zhen, Long Yue, and Chen Li also were level twenty-four. They were the top of the class with Wang Wei as the strongest of them all.


    If one advanced to the next level in the soul master world they would take their level in the arena with them. So if a silver rank chi fighter became a chi master they would still be silver rank.


    ''If I win a lot then I can obtain even more martial art techniques and I can maybe combine multiple techniques to create my own.'' Wang Wei thought to himself as he was cultivating.


    "Long Yue, are you ready for your fight?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "Yeah, of course. How about you?" He replied.


    "I am pretty confident in my abilities. What are you guys going to do with the prize money?" Lee Zheng said.


    "I am only doing this for the experience." Long Yue said. "The money is a nice bonus but not really of


    use for me."


    "Same here." Chen Li said. "What about you?"


    "I will use it to buy my own cultivation resources as I don''t want to rely on my family forever." Lee Zheng said.


    At this moment Wang Wei woke up from his meditation.


    "Wang Wei, what are you going to do with your prize money?" Chen Li asked.


    "Isn''t it obvious? I am going to buy more martial art techniques and cultivation resources to keep improving my strength further and further." Wang Wei said.


    "That is pretty obvious for you if I think about it." Long Yue said with a smile."Always thinking about getting stronger."


    "Isn''t that important in this world of ours? The one with strength will be revered and will have the most power in the world. Of course, I want to get stronger." Wang Wei said.


    "That is true." Lee Zheng said. "I think I might also want to buy more martial art techniques next to cultivation resources. I do have the sword technique and the air strike martial art technique but it will never be enough for me to reach the top of the world with only those."


    "Yeah, if you think about it I might also buy some more martial art techniques." Long Yue said.


    "Me too," Chen Li said.


    It was at this moment that a person walked in the room.


    "Fire bone master. It is time for your battle. Please follow me."

 50 Snake lord

    "Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for visiting the battle arena. Today we have four fights in the stone chi fighter division. Starting with the fight between the snake lord and the newcomer, fire bone master." The announcer said as the crowd went wild. "The snake lord has five wins and one loss which would give him four points in general. This will be the first battle for the fire bone master so we will see how he starts off his career."


    The bets were flowing in all in favor of the snake lord. Chen Li, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng also put down their bets. They were betting on Wang Wei to win. The odds were 20:1 so if Wang Wei won they would be rich.


    As both fighters walked in the arena the crowd was cheering for the snake lord.


    The arena was a big place. Their fight would take place on a circular stage with a diameter of forty meters. The lights in the arena all shone toward the stage. Both fighters were standing on opposite sides of the stage.


    "Ladies and gentlemen I will be the referee for this fight. Are both fighters ready?" The man asked.


    Wang Wei simply nodded and stood there not moving in the slightest. His opponent, however, he summoned his snake scythe and had an evil smile on his face.


    "Alright. Begin!" the referee said.


    Right after the referee announced the start of the fight the snake lord pounced toward Wang Wei. His first soul jewel lit up. It was a deep brown soul jewel. His second soul jewel was a pure blue soul jewel.


    ''Hmpf, he plans to take me down with a ten-year-old and a hundred-year-old unholy soul jewel?" Wang Wei thought to himself.


    The first soul technique the snake lord used increased the sharpness of his scythe. He slashed at Wang Wei and hit.


    The crowd went wild as a dust cloud appeared because of the impact. But they turned silent as soon as they saw Wang Wei still standing there. Without even a scratch!


    "You''re pretty strong." The snake lord said.


    "Thanks, but you disappoint me." Wang Wei said.


    "What?! Do you know who I am? I am the snake lord! I am one of the stone division''s strongest competitors!" the snake lord said.


    "Guess that means I have to rise the ranks if I want to fight some stronger people." Wang Wei said.


    "Don''t get cocky kid." The snake lord said.


    Even though Wang Wei wore a mask and you couldn''t really tell he was thirteen years old. Despite his mask, you could still tell he hasn''t reached adulthood yet.


    In the next moment the snake lord his second soul jewel lit up and he slashed at Wang Wei''s direction. A purple slash made its way through the air and reached Wang Wei in no time. However, Wang Wei stood still and only raised his arms. He summoned the dragon scales and on his arms and neck, the dragon scales were visible. He took the hit like it was nothing.


    "What?! How can this be?" The snake lord cried out.


    The audience was dead silent. They never saw something like this. A newcomer overpowered a veteran without using soul techniques.


    "I guess it is my turn then." Wang Wei said calmly.


    The next moment Wang Wei held out his hands in front of him as a small fireball came into existence.


    "Hahaha. What are you planning to do with that it is so weak you can''t do anything." The snake lord said.


    But the fireball was starting to grow bigger and bigger. It only stopped growing by the time it had a diameter of half a meter. He then shot it at the snake lord who sliced it apart which resulted in a big explosion. Which left behind a giant smokescreen.


    "It is strong but not strong enough." The snake lord said.


    In the smoke, the snake lord had a very confident look on his face.


    ''When the smoke disappears I will attack him with my secret technique. If it works he won''t be able to cultivate after this.'' The snake lord thought to himself.


    But when the smokescreen started fading away. His confident look faded with it. He saw Wang Wei in a fighting stance only three steps away from him.


    When Wang Wei started moving he felt an overbearing pressure pushing down on him.


    ''How can this be? I am a rank twenty-five chi fighter.'' The snake lord thought to himself.


    First Wang Wei took a step with his right leg. When it descended the overbearing aura would increase and when it hit the ground it shook the entire arena. He then took a step with his left leg and the same thing happened he then threw out his right fist and when he hit the snake lord it was as if he was hitting a soft pillow. He didn''t feel any resistance.


    The next moment the snake lord flew away and crashed into the wall which left behind a big dust cloud when the cloud faded the snake lord could be seen. He was embedded in the wall like a gem in jewelry.


    "Victory goes to the fire bone master. Giving him his first win." The referee said.


    After a moment of silence, the crowd burst out in cheers.


    "fire bone master!" could be heard as Wang Wei left the stage.


    When Wang Wei returned to the resting room his friends were he was greeted by an unknown person. It was a tall man who had a very sophisticated look.


    "Dear, fire bone master. Your victory has come as quite a shock to everyone. Congratulations." The employee said. "I am the owner of this battle arena. And I am here to give you your prize money."


    He handed over an interspatial ring.


    "Thank you very much." Wang Wei said.


    "No problem. I hope you will keep fighting in this arena. Your victory has earned you one hundred gold coins." The man said.


    ''I am rich!'' Wang Wei thought.


    One hundred gold coins was a large amount for someone as Wang Wei who grew up in poverty. That was a little less than the amount of money his family used to make in half a year.


    ''I can buy a pretty good technique with this money.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    The man then turned around and face Lee Zheng.


    "Snow sky fighter. It is your turn next."

 51 Blazing falcon

    Lee Zheng was walking toward the fighting stage and he could already hear the crowd cheering.


    "Ladies and gentlemen the second fight of this evening is between the blazing falcon who is 3 in 2, and the newcomer snow sky fighter." The announcer said.


    Both Lee Zheng and the blazing falcon made their way up the stage. The blazing falcon was a man who was in his mid-twenties. He had a slender build and had a graceful yet dangerous appearance. Next to that Lee Zheng was a little kid with a mask on. The people couldn''t tell his real age but they could still see he wasn''t in his twenties.


    The referee quickly announced the start of the fight.


    Immediately after the referee announced the start of the fight both fighter unleashed their soul form. The bright lights made a beautiful contrast of bright blue with a cold feel and a deep red with a hot feel. The blazing falcon soul form could be considered the rival of the snow white eagle soul form.


    The first soul jewel of the opponent lit up. It was a light red soul jewel meaning it was approaching the one-hundred-year-old level. However, it was no match for Lee Zheng''s soul technique which was granted to him by a soul jewel which was almost one-thousand-years-old.


    The opponents spew out flames but Lee Zheng just used his wings to slash at the air which slashed right through the fire and made it disappear.


    Next moment the opponent''s second soul jewel lit up. His entire body was engulfed in flames and his speed increased tremendously. Seeing this Lee Zheng also used his second soul technique: eagle vision. With his eagle vision, it was not that hard to keep up with his opponent. Even though he couldn''t physically keep up he could still see his opponent and block his attacks.


    In the next moment, Lee Zheng shut his eyes and started breathing very calmly. He then opened his eyes and focused on the blazing falcon. The next second his opponent slammed into something invisible. No one knew what was happening except for Wang Wei and Long Yue. It was the air strike martial arts. If you don''t know about it, it is really effective.


    ''I can''t lose. Especially because my friends betted all their money that I would win. I won''t let them down.'' Lee Zheng thought to himself.


    What he thought was true. Wang Wei, Long Yue and Chen Li betted all their money on that Lee Zheng would win.


    "Wang Wei, the air strike arts you gave him really helped him." Long Yue said.


    "So that is what it was." Chen Li said. "I was thinking that it would be really weird for his opponent just to fall down like that."


    "It is really handy." Wang Wei said. "But it is still only the basics of the basics. He only is able to do this because he understands different things really fast. He just got the arts yesterday and can already execute them. I mean you can''t execute the lightning steps. Can you Long Yue?"


    "No, not yet but I think that I can execute the basics within two weeks." Long Yue said.


    "That is amazing." Chen Li said. "Is there any martial art technique you would recommend me?"


    "Seeing as you have the blazing sun soul form I think the sun arts might be something for you." Wang Wei said.


    "Sun arts? What are those?" Chen Li asked.


    "The sun arts are an ancient martial arts technique created by the different positions of the sun. There is the morning stance, the mid-day stance, the afternoon stance, and the evening stance. Those are the basic stances the two strongest stances are the dusk and dawn stance. They each come with a strike. Whether it is a palm strike or a kick the power is incredible. I think you can buy it at the auction house next week." Wang Wei said.


    "Well then, next week we are going to visit the jade city auction house." Chen Li said.


    "Perfect. I was already planning on going there to get some martial art techniques." Wang Wei said as he looked back toward the fighting stage.


    By this time the blazing falcon was low on soul energy. He was using his second soul technique all the time. Once he knew Lee Zheng was using the air strike arts he was able to dodge it a few times but he still got hit.


    "You have got skills kid." The blazing falcon said. "But however it ends here." He said as his first soul jewel lit up again and he spat out flames.


    The flames made their way to Lee Zheng and everyone was holding their breath waiting to see what was going to happen.


    The blazing falcon had a victorious smile on his face but that soon faded when he saw that Lee Zheng slashed away the flames with a sword made out of feathers.


    That''s right! Lee Zheng used his individual skill feather sword. His body swayed once and he appeared before the blazing falcon. His sword technique also starting showing the fruits of his labor. He held the sword to the throat of the blazing falcon.


    "Give up." Lee Zheng calmly said.


    "I concede!" The blazing falcon yelled out.


    And like that Lee Zheng also got his first win in the battle arena. He walked off stage and toward the room in which his friends would be.


    When he entered his friends congratulated him.


    The same man who was waiting for Wang Wei also was waiting for Lee Zheng.


    "Snow sky fighter. Here is an interspatial ring which contains the amount of money you won. I hope that you will keep fighting in our arena as well as the fire bone master." The man said.


    "Of course we will. And our friend will too." He said as he pointed toward Long Yue and Chen Li.


    "Now that you mention your friends, Leopard fighter you''re next." The man said as he walked out of the room.

 52 Speed demon

    "It is Long Yue''s turn do you think he will win?" Chen Li asked


    "Even though his opponent is probably faster. I think he will win. That is why I am putting all my money on him." Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, he might be slower but his martial arts and fighting experience are not to be underestimated." Lee Zheng said.


    "Okay then, I will also put all my money on him." Chen Li said.


    Long Yue was slowly walking toward the fighting stage. The closer he got to the stage the louder the cheers got.


    ''I have to win this. I can''t let everyone down.'' He thought to himself as he walked to the stage.


    "Ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are ready for the third fight this evening. This fight is between the speed demon who is 2 for 1 and between yet another newcomer, the leopard fighter." The announcer said.


    "Hmpf, little boy you better get out while you can." The speed demon said.


    "I hope you have all placed your bets because the fight is about to begin and once the fighting has started you can''t place any bets anymore." The announcer said.


    ''This battle arena is making big money with all these bets.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    "Fighters are you ready?" the referee asked.


    Both fighters nodded their heads very calmly.


    "Alright, begin!" the referee said.


    Right at the start of the fight, the speed demon''s first soul jewel lit up. It was an orange soul jewel. Not as transparent as Lee Zheng''s soul jewel but it wasn''t solid. That meant that is was older than one-hundred-years but younger than nine-hundred-years.


    He ran toward Long Yue at an incredible speed. It was not normal. When he arrived before Long Yue he hit him. Long Yue was launched backward. In the air, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.


    "Little boy, I warned you. My first soul technique increases my speed by ten percent." The speed demon said.


    "Is that all you''ve got?" Long Yue said.


    "You want more? Okay." His opponent said before speeding toward him.


    This time, however, Long Yue summoned his holy claws and he was able to block the opponent.


    "I also have a skill which makes me faster." Long Yue said.


    "Alright, I will have to go all out." The speed demon said.


    The next moment his second soul jewel lit up. This was also an orange soul jewel but it was a bit lighter than the first one. His body suddenly lit up with a dazzling light. Everyone closed their eyes. When they opened their eyes again there were two, speed demons!


    "This is my second soul technique. It is called speed clone." The speed demon said. "Get ready."


    Both speed demons their bodies swayed once and they were already upon Long Yue. They both threw out a punch to Long Yue''s arms with the intention of breaking them. When Long Yue saw that his second soul jewel lit up. The next moment a bone-like shell formed upon his arms. When the speed demons hit is their hands were broken.


    They hit it with all their might, they never imagined that they would hit something that was hard enough to break their own hands.


    "What? How?" the speed demon said.


    "This is my second soul technique. It is twenty-five-hundred-years-old and it''s called boneclaw armor. It is one of the strongest defensive techniques." Long Yue said.


    "Impossible!" the speed demon yelled out as he made his way toward Long Yue again.


    But this time Long Yue''s first soul jewel lit up and slashed at the air in front of him five crimson-red, flaming slashes appeared in the air and made their way toward the speed demons.


    The original speed demon used his clone as a human shield to block the attack. His clone exploded on impact. Due to his clone being destroyed the original speed demon spat out a mouth of blood and fell to the ground.


    Long Yue wasted no time and sped toward his opponent.


    However right before he reached his opponent, the speed demon threw out a kick. It was so unexpected Long Yue couldn''t react and he also fell to the ground.


    The speed demon stood up and sped away. When Long Yue was on his feet again. The speed demon''s first soul jewel lit up again.


    He ran toward Long Yue but this time before he hit Long Yue he switched his feet and kicked Long Yue''s leg.


    It was not a kick with much power but because of the speed, it hit hard. Long Yue fell down.


    But when he stood up he had a look in his eyes which could be described as disgust.


    He was disgusted by the dirty technique his opponent used.


    He stood up but he didn''t move. His opponent sped towards him again. However, this time Long Yue jumped up and started spinning. He spun three times and at the end of the third spin he threw out his leg. He hit his opponent on the head and it knocked him out.


    "Wow! What was that?" Chen Li asked.


    "That is the triple twist technique you learn when you practicing Jongh martial arts. It is the first martial arts technique I ever learned but it is extremely powerful as you can see." Wang Wei said.


    The speed demon lay on the ground unconscious.


    "The winner of this fight is the leopard fighter. This is unbelievable all the newcomers today have all won their first fights." The announcer said.


    When Long Yue arrived at the resting room the same man that was awaiting Lee Zheng and Wang Wei, was also awaiting him.


    He gave him the prize money and was very polite.


    "I sincerely hope you and your friends decide to keep fighting in our arena." The man said."Apollo, you are up next. I will be cheering for you."


    "Okay, guys. Wish me luck." Chen Li said.


    "You don''t need luck. You can defeat your opponent just as we defeated ours." Wang Wei said.

 53 Fairy Prince

    As Chen Li was walking toward the fighting stage he put on his mask.


    ''I have to win! The others won I can''t embarrass myself.'' He thought to himself.


    He arrived on stage as the announcer was in the middle of telling the information about the fight.


    "¡­.Yet another newcomer Apollo. He will be up against the fairy prince who is two in o." the announcer said.


    As soon as the ladies in the crowd heard the name fairy prince they lost their minds.


    "Is it really the fairy prince?"


    "He is so handsome." Could be heard throughout the crowd.


    But it was nothing compared to when the fairy prince finally stepped on stage. The cheers all the ladies screamed out were so loud the announcer had to wait for the cheering to calm down before he could continue.


    "This is the last fight today. So I hope you will all enjoy this and visit us again." He said.


    "Are both fighters ready?" the referee asked.


    The fairy prince nodded and Chen Li summoned his blazing sun soul form.


    Everyone was in awe as the blazing sun lit up the entire arena and had a holy aura to it. Even the referee was stunned to see such a beautiful soul form.


    After a second he began the fight.


    The fairy prince''s first soul jewel lit up. It was a light orange soul jewel. The next moment two illusory fairy wings appeared on his back and an illusory crown on his head. His presence could be felt by everyone. It felt like a righteous overlord. He gave off a gentle glow which made him look even more handsome.


    "This is my first soul technique called illusory fairy. It boosts my abilities by ten percent." The fairy prince said.


    "So what." Chen Li said as his first soul jewel lit up.


    The sun above his head also started to glow up. In just a moment. Three solar flares shot out. One to the right, one to the left, and one above the fairy prince blocking all his possible escape paths. The fairy prince quickly retreated and as he did his second soul jewel lit up. It was an even lighter orange soul jewel.


    The next moment he sped up and appeared before Chen Li in an instant. He hit him right in the guts and Chen Li flew backward.


    "This is my second soul technique. It''s called fairy steps. It increases my speed even more." The fairy prince said.


    Chen Li quickly got to his feet.


    When he got up his second soul jewel lit up. The sun above his head hardened and he took it in his hand. He then threw it at the fairy prince.


    The fairy prince scoffed and threw out his left arm to block the incoming projectile but right before it hit his hand the small ball exploded and he was blasted away.


    A giant dust cloud arose as the impact of Chen Li''s nova was even bigger than before. When the dust cloud settled down the beautiful lights the explosion gave off were still visible.


    The fairy prince stood at the edge of the stage. His illusory fairy was gone and his second soul jewel also didn''t work anymore. He exhausted almost all of his soul energy to stay conscious. He only had a little bit left. He could only keep his illusory fairy technique up for a mere five seconds.


    When Chen Li saw him still standing he knew that he couldn''t have that much soul energy left. Even though he too exhausted quite a bit with that attack he still had more than enough to continue the fight. His fist soul jewel lit up again and this time only one solar flare shot out but it was bigger than the three before.


    ''This is probably his final push. The solar flare can only hit me for one moment. After that, I can attack him.'' The fairy prince thought.


    His first soul jewel lit up and the illusory fairy appeared again. He was hit by the solar flare and after that, he sped toward Chen Li. But just before he arrived the sun above Chen Li''s head lit up again and another solar flare shot out causing him to stop dead in his tracks. After the second solar flare, he only had one second left of the illusory fairy. He did an all-out strike.


    Chen Li saw the fist that was coming closer and closer. Right before the fist came into contact with his face he smiled. He quickly ducked down and let the fist fly past him. He then stood up straight again and released another solar flare.


    Direct hit!


    He hit the fairy prince head on. This caused the fairy prince to fly backward. When he hit the barrier of the fighting stage he slowly slid down and just lay there.


    "The fairy prince is unable to fight. This victory goes to Apollo." The referee said.


    This caused an uproar. All the newcomers today were incredible they all won their first fights.


    When Chen Li got back to the room the same man was standing there yet again.


    "Congratulations on your win. This interspatial ring contains the same amount of money your friends got." The man said.


    He then walked in the room. His three friends were there to congratulate him.


    "Congratulations Chen Li." The three boys said.


    "It''s nothing. We are students of jade academy. Of course, we would all win." Chen Li said.


    "Thanks to you three I have more than enough money for a super good martial art technique." Wang Wei said.


    "Same here." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yeah me too." Long Yue said.


    "It certainly was a good idea to bet on each other." Chen Li said. "We should do this every time."


    "Of course, but next week we are going to the auction house." Wang Wei said. "I want to get a really strong martial arts technique or some cultivation resources."

 54 Demons

    On their way back Wang Wei, Long Yue, Lee Zheng, and Chen Li decided to stop by a local restaurant and eat their fill. Since they fought the entire day the boys were famished.


    "I can''t believe we got this much money." Long Yue said.


    The boys had each received one-hundred gold coins from their fights and because they all took on bets with the great odds they walked out of the battle arena with more than thirty-thousand gold coins each.


    "I know right. With this, I can buy so many martial arts and cultivation resources." Wang Wei said.


    "Hehe, you only think of training don''t you." Chen Li said.


    "Yes, I want to get stronger and to get stronger I need to train. What are you going to do with the money?" Wang Wei replied.


    "I am thinking of starting my own business. If I invest the money I can get even more." Chen Li said.


    "That is also pretty smart." Wang Wei said. "However I get enough money from the arena, and the martial arts I have right now are strong enough for now. I will only buy martial arts to practice them in the future or I will buy some for my family."


    Somewhere deep in the forest between jade city and jade academy


    "You know what to do. Find the target and kill him without mercy." A dark cloaked figure said.


    Right after he said it three other figures sped away into the town searching for someone.


    "That was a nice meal. I can''t wait to have that again." Lee Zheng said.


    "I know. We don''t have food like that in victory city." Long Yue said.


    The boys started making their way toward jade academy.


    "Sir I have found the target. He is with three other humans. They are all of the chi fighter level, rank twenty-four. We could take them. Our cultivation bases are equivalent to rank twenty-eight chi fighters." One of the dark figures said.


    "Wait a second." Lee Zheng said.


    "Hmm?" The other three said as they turned around.


    "We are not alone. There are four people surrounding us." Lee Zheng said.


    "Whahahahahahahaha. Well done human. You managed to detect our presence but there is one thing you got wrong." Someone said as they walked onto the path which was illuminated by the moonlight.


    When it walked out the boys saw a deep blood-red skin with dark eyes and a bright red iris. The figure also had horns on the top of its head and sharp claws.


    "We are not humans." The figure said as it pounced toward the boys.


    The next moment the four boys were surrounded.


    The first thing to speak was fighting Wang Wei and the others were fighting Lee Zheng, Long Yue, and Chen Li.


    Wang Wei had his dragon scales and dragon claws summoned. The figure fighting with him landed a big blow which send him flying when he got back up his feet the figure was already before him.


    "What are you?" Wang Wei said.


    "We are demons." The figure said.


    "That can''t be. My family has locked you up thousands of years ago." Wang Wei said in disbelief.


    "Yes, your family sacrificed their position of the strongest family to only put a seal on our dimension. The seal has weakened and the weaker demons can come out. In a few years, the entire seal will be undone and it will mean the end of your family and all the families which helped seal us away." The demon said.


    "We will never let that happen." Wang Wei said as his first soul jewel lit up.


    The next moment the demon was frozen. This was the moment Wang Wei''s counter-attack began. He used his dragon claws and slashed at the demon''s throat. The demon could do nothing and wait for its death to arrive. Next Wang Wei used his fire manipulation martial art skill to send fireballs flying toward the other demons. As they were busy fighting Wang Wei''s friends they were caught of guard by the fireballs and received a lot of damage.


    Two demons then pounced toward Wang Wei while another one ran away. The two who pounced toward Wang Wei were also victims of Wang Wei''s first soul technique paralysis eyes. One of them was caught off guard again while the other one saw the first demon being paralyzed and could break free within a second. The one that was caught off guard was killed instantly. The other one took a step back.


    "It was the wrong choice to come for me right away." Wang Wei said.


    "You are nothing before our king." The demon said as he ran away.


    "Long Yue." Wang Wei said calmly.


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    "Yes." Long Yue said as he summoned his holy claws.


    A minute later Long Yue came back.


    "Is it done?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Yes, the two demons that fled are both dead." Long Yue said.


    "Wang Wei, I never knew you had this in you." Chen Li said.


    "In my family, everyone is taught the same thing: if you ever run into a demon. Kill it! Whatever it takes." Wang Wei said. "The demon race is a strong race. We need to become stronger and fast. I will also send a letter to the patriarch of my family. He will make all the preparations."


    "The demons said we had a few years before they would entirely break the seal. We should train ourselves to the best of our abilities." Lee Zheng said.


    "I agree. I will train my hardest and enter the dragon caverns. If I do that maybe I can find out more about my first patriarch and the first war with the demons." Wang Wei said.


    "For now let''s go back to the academy and inform our teachers. This way we will be prepared for when they come." Long Yue said.


    "Yes. I will never let my family decline again because of those monsters." Wang Wei said while his eyes filled with hatred toward the demon race.


    "My lord, the four warriors we send have been killed. We should send more to crush them now." A demon said.


    "No! We will keep everyone here and train them. Then when the time comes we will invade the human realm with our entire army." A giant demon said while he took his place on a blood-red throne.

 55 Jade warriors

    When Wang Wei and his friends returned to the academy they immediately started looking for their teachers and started telling them about their encounter with the demons.


    "So you''re saying that the four of you defeated four demons?" LI Yun asked.


    "Yes, the four of us worked together to obtain victory over the demons." Wang Wei said.


    "That is really good but at the same time extremely worrying. You said the demons were about to break the seal, yes?" Shen Teng said.


    "Yes, they seek to destroy humanity and reign over the realm." Chen Li said.


    "Seen as that is the case we need to inform a lot of people and start preparing." Wen Xin said.


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    The news of the four boys defeating four demons quickly spread through the academy. Lee Zheng and Long Yue also became disciples of strong teachers at the academy. And since all four of them resided at jade island and they were the strongest of their age they were given the name of jade warriors.


    Wang Wei also sent a letter to his family who also informed the holy leopard family and the snow-white eagle family. They immediately started preparing for the battle that was to come in a few years. Wang Wei also paid a visit to the azure leaf family to warn them of the danger that they would face in a few years.


    And so a week went by and the four boys set out for the jade city auction house.


    At the auction house, Wang Wei only bought cultivation resources as he didn''t see any martial art techniques that caught his eye. Chen Li purchased the sun arts martial art technique, Lee Zheng bought the divine sword arts and Long Yue purchased the yellow jade cultivation technique. Which suited him very well since the yellow jade cultivation technique was created for people with a holy soul form and Long Yue had one of the purest holy soul forms around.


    They all went back to the academy and started practicing their martial arts. They were excused from class as they were important disciples of the academy and they needed to be nurtured well so that they could face off against the demons. Besides that, they wouldn''t learn much in class as it talked about things that their masters would tell them about. To be disciples of this academy would pay off big time for the four boys.


    After a month the boys went out again to buy some more cultivation resources. In the meantime, they did nothing but cultivate. Wang Wei''s bone enhancing arts already advanced to the orange bone structure, and his fire manipulation arts were almost at the fire manipulation level. Lee Zheng his air strike arts were still in the first level called wind manipulation but it was still stronger than before. Long Yue was able to execute the first level of the lightning step arts called lightning speed, and Chen Li was able to execute the morning stance of the sun arts. At the same time, they all became rank twenty-five chi fighters. They had not returned to the battle arena but they were planning to.


    After yet another full month of cultivating did the boys return to the battle arena. They were much stronger than they were before. Wang Wei still had the orange bone structure but his fire manipulation arts had advanced from fire control to fire manipulation. Lee Zheng mastered the wind manipulation, Long Yue mastered the lightning speed stage, and Chen Li mastered the morning stance. The morning stance was a special stance in the sun arts. It came with a palm strike that could carry the weight of the sun. it would become stronger and stronger as Chen Li progressed in his cultivation.


    In the battle arena, the four boys achieved an overwhelming victory and each earned a lot of money again. They were starting to make a name for themselves.


    "Wang Wei I know you have been training hard why don''t you take a break?" Shen Teng said as he saw Wang Wei practicing again.


    "I don''t plan on taking any breaks. I have to work as hard as I can." Wang Wei said.


    "Overworking is a bad thing for your body. It is required to relax every once in a while. You have been working hard for two and a half months now. Go do something fun with your friends." Shen Teng said.


    "Okay, I will go and do something fun tomorrow but after that, I will train again." Wang Wei said.


    "That is okay. As long as you don''t overwork your body." Shen Teng said.


    Later that day Wang Wei started cultivating the cultivation technique he learned from Wang Ye''s book. He found out that it was called the fire-dragon ascending cultivation technique. There were five levels. Crawling, walking, running, sprinting, and at last flying. Wang Wei was first crawling in terms of the cultivation technique but today he felt something was different. The speed at which the soul power was flowing through his body.


    ''I broke through to the walking level. My cultivation speed will be much faster as compared to before. And since I was already close to breaking through to level twenty-six it shouldn''t take that long anymore.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    If anyone would be in Wang Wei''s room right now they would be mesmerized by the scene they would see. The beautiful Wang Wei was surrounded by small dragon silhouettes and there were fire particles floating all around him. It was truly a magnificent view. As the fire particles grew closer together they seemed to be attracted to Wang Wei. Eventually, the fire particles started to disappear into his body. Wang Wei felt a pleasant warm feeling while he was cultivating which reminded him of when he was hugged by his mother and father.


    When he finished his cultivation the next morning he felt a little different. He felt more powerful.


    ''I broke through to level twenty-six!'' Wang Wei thought to himself. He couldn''t hide his excitement and immediately told his teacher and friends. When he was together with all his friends they decided that they would just spend the day in the city looking for fun things to do.

 56 Spreading the name

    The four boys woke up later than usual. They usually wake up at sunrise but since they had a relaxing day without an,y training they decided to sleep in.


    Wang Wei finally woke up. He could hear the birds chirping outside. The sunrays entered his room through the window. He looked outside and he could see the beautiful jade island with the blue jade lake surrounding it. On jade island, they were not the only inhabitants. Holy soul beasts also lived on jade island, but the did not attack the humans and vice versa. It was a beautiful scene watching the soul beasts live together with the humans in harmony.


    He got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast.


    "Goodmorning, master." Wang Wei said as he came downstairs.


    "Oh, good morning. I see that you really are having a relaxing day." Shen Teng said.


    "Yes, it was nice to sleep in for the first time in a while." Wang Wei said.


    "There is something different about you." Shen Teng said.


    "You noticed?" Wang Wei said in shock he couldn''t believe his master would find out so soon.


    "Of course I noticed I am a heavenly god. So tell me, what is different." Shen Teng said.


    "Well, I broke through to level twenty-six." Wang Wei said.


    "That is amazing! It was the right decision to take you in as my disciple." Shen Teng said.


    "Thank you." Wang Wei said.


    "So what are you going to do today?" Shen Teng asked.


    "I don''t know. We are probably just going to walk through the city and look for fun things to do." Wang Wei said.


    After Wang Wei finished his breakfast he went and met up with Lee Zheng, Chen Li, and Long Yue at the entrance of the academy.


    "So, where do you guys want to go?" Wang Wei asked.


    "I heard that if you go climb the mountain behind the city you can get the most wonderful view of jade city, so why don''t we just do that?" Lee Zheng proposed.


    "Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun." Long Yue said.


    "Okay, then it''s decided. We are going mountain climbing today." Wang Wei said.


    "Afterwards let''s go eat somewhere in the city. I know of a nice place." Chen Li said.


    "Okay, let''s head out." Wang Wei said.


    So the boys set out to climb the mountain behind jade city. The city had gotten its name because of this mountain. The mountain had a rich jade mine inside of it. That is also why it is called the jade mountain.


    Wang Wei and his friends were halfway to the top when the stopped to drink something.


    "Waah, the view from here is already this amazing. I can''t wait and see what it''s like at the top." Lee Zheng said.


    "You have a bird-type soul form. Can''t you just fly?" Chen Li asked.


    "No, not yet." Lee Zheng said. "I can fly when I get my soul form possession ability with my eighth soul jewel."


    "Aaaah, I understand now." Chen Li said.


    "Alright let''s keep going." Wang Wei said.


    After another hour of climbing the boys arrived at the top of the mountain. They could see over the entire city. Right across from the mountain they could see the spot where Lee Zheng, Long Yue, and Wang Wei first entered jade city. To the left of the city, they could see jade academy and to the right of the city, they could see a huge forest with a lake in the middle of it.


    The forest was at least six times the size of the city and it was being said that deep within the lake a soul beast lived of at least six-hundred-thousand-years old. All the other soul beasts within the forest were under its control. It was being called the king of the jade forest.


    People sometimes wondered why it wouldn''t attack the city but according to the legends, there was once an almighty soul expert which made a deal with the soul beast that it would not attack the city. In return, the people of the city would not go on a killing rampage within the forest or take down too many trees. The people of jade city believed this story to be true and that is why the jade forest was a safe haven for soul beasts.


    After they enjoyed the scenery and talked to each other for a while they decided to go back down and eat something in the city. On favorable thing of fighting in the battle, arena was that money was not something they had to worry about anymore. So they went to a fancy restaurant.


    "Table for four please." Wang Wei said as they came in.


    The four boys didn''t really look like they would belong in a fancy place like that so they would get a lot of filthy looks of the other people.


    When they were eating peacefully, someone arrived at their table.


    "Who let this trash in here." Some random fancy looking guy said.


    "Who are you calling trash!" Chen Li said angrily while he stood up.


    "Chen Li sit down. Don''t dignify him with a response." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay." Chen Li said and sat back down.


    "Yeah, listen to your friend who is even bigger trash." The person said.


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    This is when Wang Wei looked up. He saw a boy who was at the most sixteen years old.


    "I really advise you to sit back down." Wang Wei said. "I can''t control them forever and my patience also has a limit."


    "I don''t care. I am the young master of the Li family. I can do what I want. What are you going to do to stop me." The boy said.


    "I honestly just want to enjoy a peaceful meal today." Wang Wei said.


    "Then you should have gone somewhere else which had more of your kind. You know, trash." The boy said.


    "Don''t you call me trash again." Wang Wei said with an irritated tone.


    "What are you going to do. I am Li Fu Chen the number one genius in jade city I have a chi fighter rank twenty-eight cultivation base with the jade dagger soul form. I am not someone you trash can compare to" Li Fu Chen said.


    "I don''t care." At this point Wang Wei was angry. "Let''s take this outside."


    As they walked outside all the other people inside the restaurant followed them.


    Three other people of the Li family also went outside to fight with them.


    When the fight began the bystanders were dumbfounded. The fight was over just as quick as it started.


    "Everyone listen up. I am Wang Wei leader of the jade warriors. We don''t want any discrimination like just now. We just want to enjoy our meal." Wang Wei said as he walked inside.


    The fight ended in just a few breaths the jade warriors didn''t even use their soul forms. The just used Jongh martial arts.

 57 Brothers

    After that night in the city, the name of the jade warriors was spreading. Everyone knew them and envied their power at such a young age.


    "Wang Wei, we are known by the entire city now. Our profits in the battle arena won''t be as much as before so I don''t think we can keep buying cultivation resources or martial art techniques." Chen Li said as the four boys walked toward the battle arena.


    "I don''t really care about that anymore. I come here for the combat experience. Besides, I already have an idea on how to earn some more money." Wang Wei said.


    "You have to tell me about that when we get back." Chen Li said.


    The boys had no trouble with their opponents. After they all won their fights they returned back to jade island.


    "So, what is your idea of earning more money?" Long Yue asked.


    "Well I was looking through the book left behind by my family''s first patriarch and I found a note which I had never seen before. On it was three different recipes for cultivation pills. They are the fire pill, the spirit pill, and the body enhancing pill. The fire pill will be only useful to fighters and soul experts with a fire-type soul form. The spirit pill is only for soul experts as it will help them in their cultivation, ad the body enhancing pill is for both. As its name implies it will strengthen the human body. It is said that these three pills were the most used pills in the first war with the demons." Wang Wei said.


    "Wow, that is amazing. These pills will definitely help us a lot in our own cultivation as well." Lee Zheng said.


    "Of course, but I want to sell them too so that the entire human race can reap the benefits of these pills." Wang Wei said. "First let''s buy the ingredients and start producing the pills."


    "Okay!" the other three said.


    When everyone returned with the ingredients Wang Wei told all of them the recipes and they started making the pills. They used the school''s furnace to make the pills. At first, they failed a lot and spent a lot of resources but the resources they used weren''t that expensive so they could always buy more.


    Like this, three months passed. In the morning they would produce the pills and in the afternoon they would train and cultivate. All four of them broke through. Chen Li, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng all broke through to level twenty-six and Wang Wei broke through to level twenty-seven. It had been around half a year since they enrolled in jade academy. Since that time Long Yue and Chen Li both turned fourteen. Today was the birthday of Wang Wei although he didn''t really celebrate it.


    The other three did prepare a meal for him as they waited in the house of his teacher, who naturally joined in. at the end of the night, the boys all sat around the table as teacher Shen Teng was away for a bit to attend to some business.


    "I know I didn''t celebrate it or ask you to do this for me but I am very happy that you are all my friends." Wang Wei said.


    "It''s nothing." Chen Li said.


    "Yeah, we are also happy to be friends with you." Lee Zheng said.


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    "Yes." Long Yue said.


    Wang Wei then stood up and walked into the kitchen. He came back with a teapot and four cups.


    "Let''s become sworn brothers tonight." He said.


    The others agreed.


    They each made a small cut on their fingers and let a drop of blood fall into the pot. They then stirred the tea and poured four cups.


    "Cheers!" They all said as they drank the tea.


    From today onwards they were all sworn brothers. Wang Wei was the first brother, being the strongest. Long Yue was the second brother, Lee Zheng was the third brother, and Chen Li was the fourth brother.


    The next day they went into the city and headed straight for the busiest street. They set up a little stand and were ready to sell their pills.


    Normally people would just ignore these kinds of stands but since they were the jade warriors people actually stopped and bought some pills. At first, the people were still a bit skeptical but after a week they absorbed the pills they bought and noticed the increase in strength and came right back to the jade warriors to buy more pills.


    Their business started to prosper. They started renting a small store and they kept selling the pills only now they also started selling martial art techniques, which they created all by themselves. The martial art techniques weren''t amazing but for the normal people to have a martial art technique which was created by the jade warriors was already big. They weren''t famous on a continental level but the entire jade city knew of them and their power so the people wouldn''t think twice of buying the martial arts. They mainly sold Jongh martial art scrolls since it was a martial arts form that was not very well known despite its power.


    But the martial art technique they sold for the most amount of money was the overbearing fist. They would sell it for twenty gold coins. They sold all their pills for fifteen silver coins and the Jongh martial art scrolls were being sold for thirty silver coins.


    Their store name was; The jade brothers. Their business did so well that they started expanding to different cities. After a month they build a business empire in the west of the continent. Their families were also growing in strength because of the various soul experts and fighter who went to join them.


    Another six months passed and the school year ended. By this time Wang Wei was level twenty-nine and the other three were level twenty-eight. They all returned to their families to spend the break.

 58 Return of the golden trio

    After four days of traveling full speed. Wang Wei, Long Yue and Lee Zheng returned to victory city.


    When they arrived they were taken aback. The city was much bigger than when they left, also the market square was way busier and the shops were selling better products than before.


    "This has happened since our families took over?" Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, looks like it." Long Yue said.


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    "I wonder what happened to the sacred moon, void, and jade family." Lee Zheng said.


    "I guess we''ll find out if we just ask around."


    So the boys started asking around. As they were asking around they were getting recognized as the golden trio and were being asked for their autograph. Eventually, they found out what happened to the three families.


    "The three families became subsidiary families to ours. The void family was absorbed by the holy leopard family, the jade family by the snow-white eagle family, and the sacred moon family by the red fire dragon family." Wang Wei said.


    "So that means our families are now the strongest families in the city." Lee Zheng said.


    "Yes, I even heard someone say that this city was almost as powerful as the capital." Long Yue said.


    "That is amazing." Lee Zheng said.


    "Alright, let''s all go back to our families and meet each other in one week." Wang Wei said.


    The three boys each visited their own families. Their holiday would last for one and a half months so they were preparing to cultivate and train the entire time to get even stronger.


    "Patriarch, I''m back." Wang Wei said as he walked into the red fire-dragon family hall.


    "Little Wei you''re back." Wang Longwei said.


    "Yes, I have a holiday so I decided to spend it at home." Wang Wei said.


    "That is wonderful." Patriarch Longwei said. "Let me walk you back to your house."


    While they were walking back patriarch Longwei asked all kind of questions. About how the school had been treating him since he left jade city, and how his cultivation had been going.


    "Level twenty-nine?!" Wang Longwei cried out.


    "Yes." Wang Wei said. "But don''t scream so loud, I don''t want everyone to know. it will get me a lot of attention and then I can''t focus on my cultivation. I am close to becoming a chi master, and if that time comes before I go back to the academy I will rely on the family to help me hunt down a soul beast."


    "Of course, you can count on the family." Wang Longwei said.


    "Thank you."


    After they talked a little more they arrived at Wang Wei''s house. He was welcomed by his parents with big hugs and a nice meal. When his parents found out about his level they could not help but celebrate.


    "My son is a one in a thousand-year genius." His father said proudly.


    "I am so proud of you." His mother said with tears in her eyes.


    "Mom, dad, it''s nothing. The entire of jade academy is full of people like me." Wang Wei said.


    "But they probably didn''t start out with the universally known trash red snake soul form." His father said.


    "Whatever, I''m going to go cultivate." Wang Wei said embarrassed.


    He went to the forest he used to go when he attended victory academy. He decided to put on a cloak to hide his appearance because he didn''t want to be disturbed.


    ''I am so close to reaching level thirty. Why am I stuck here.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    He had reached a bottleneck in his cutivation. He then remembered what his teacher told him.


    ''Overworking is a bad thing for your body. It is required to relax every once in a while.''


    ''Alright it''s decided tomorrow I will go into the city and I will do something fun.'' He thought to himself.


    It was right at this moment that he felt someone approaching fast. He stood up and was ready to battle.


    "How dare you trespass on the red fire-dragon family''s ground." The person said as he pounced toward Wang Wei.


    Wang Wei said nothing in return and dodged the person''s attack. After exchanging blows with the person he had a familiar feeling.


    ''Wait, isn''t this..''


    "Lu Piao?" Wang Wei said as he took off his hood.


    "Young master Wei? Is that you?" Lu Piao said.


    "Yes, it''s me." Wang Wei said.


    After this, they immediately stopped fighting and started talking.


    "How have you been?" Lu Piao asked.


    "I''ve been great, I am almost at the rank of a chi master." Wang Wei said. He would trust Lu Piao with his life so there was no doubt he would keep this kind of information from him.


    "Chi master! That is amazing." Lu Piao said.


    "Thanks, your martial arts have improved as well." Wang Wei said.


    "Of course. I have been training very hard for the past year. But since I am only a martial artist I can''t use any special techniques." Lu Piao said with a disappointed look on his face.


    "Then take this and cultivate this technique." Wang Wei said as he handed over a certain scroll to Lu Piao


    "What is this?" He asked.


    "This is the bone enhancing technique. It consists of eight levels namely. The red bone structure, the orange bone structure, the yellow bone structure, the white bone structure, the star bone structure, the solar bone structure, the galaxy bone structure, and the universe bone structure. I have cultivated to the peak of the orange bone structure and when I will make my breakthrough to chi master I will also breakthrough to the yellow bone structure. You don''t necessarily need soul energy to cultivate this technique, although it will make it significantly easier. What I am trying to say is that this is a martial arts technique which will help you strengthen your body. I am planning to give it to all the martial artists in our family so the overall strength will increase." Wang Wei said.


    "Thank you, young master Wei. This is amazing." Lu Piao said.


    "Don''t mention it. I will keep searching for these kinds of martial art techniques so I can help the family more." Wang Wei said.


    "It''s getting late, young master. You should return home." Lu Piao said.


    "Okay, by the way, I am going into the city tomorrow would you like to join me?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Of course." Lu Piao said.


    "Then it''s settled tomorrow we will go into the city." Wang Wei said.

 59 Encounter in victory city

    It was a nice morning and Wang Wei woke up with the sun shining on his face. He stood up and had his breakfast. After that, he went to Lu Piao''s residence. They promised that today would be the day that they would go into the city.


    "Lu Piao are you awake?" Wang Wei yelled as he banged on the door.


    There was no answer. But he did hear some sound coming from the backyard.


    It came from Lu Piao. He was practicing some moves on a dummy.


    Wang Wei immediately recognized the martial arts Lu Piao was practicing. It was Jongh martial arts!


    "Lu Piao, I''m surprised that you know Jongh martial arts." Wang Wei said.


    "Huh?" Lu Piao said. He had no idea that Wang Wei was standing next to him, as he was so immersed in his practice. "Oh, yeah. We got some scrolls from the holy leopard family. So I''ve been practicing them non-stop."


    "I see." Wang Wei said. "No wonder you were so strong yesterday, keep up the good work."


    "Thank you."


    "Alright let''s go." Wang Wei said as he walked in the direction of victory city.


    They arrived in the city pretty quickly, because they were both martial artists they could travel faster than the ordinary human.


    "Okay, here we are." Lu Piao said. "Where do you want to go first?"


    "Let''s go to that shop over there." Wang Wei said as he pointed to a weapon shop.


    When they entered the shop there weren''t many weapons that caught Wang Wei''s eye. But he did see one sword with a peculiar gem embedded.


    "I want that one."Wang Wei said as he pointed to the sword.


    "Okay, that will be ten silver coins." The shopkeeper said.


    ''So cheap. He probably doesn''t feel the strange aura coming from it.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    "Here you go." Wang Wei said as he handed over the ten silver coins.


    When they stepped outside Wang Wei turned to Lu Piao.


    "This is for you." Wang Wei said.


    "What? I can''t take that." Lu Piao said.


    "Just take it, it has a peculiar aura, and I think that you can use it to its fullest potential." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, thank you." Lu Piao said.


    It was at this moment that Wang Wei felt a peculiar aura. He didn''t know who or what could produce it so he was very intrigued. He immediately followed the aura.


    "Young master, where are you going?" Lu Piao said.


    "Just follow me." Wang Wei said.


    When he got closer the aura would grow stronger and stronger. Suddenly Wang Wei stopped. He saw the origin of the aura. It was a human with a cloak on so he couldn''t see whether it was a male or a female.


    "Hey, you!" He then shouted out.


    The person in the cloak turned around. "Me?" the sweetest voice said.


    ''What a sweet and gentle voice!" Wang Wei thought to himself.


    "Yes, you. Can I have talk with you?" Wang Wei said.


    "As long as it isn''t in the open." The girl said.


    "Okay, I know a place. Follow me." Wang Wei said.


    They arrived at a tea house where Wang Wei requested a private room. When they walked in the girl turned around.


    "He has to leave." She said as she pointed toward Lu Piao.


    "Okay. Lu Piao could you step outside please?" Wang Wei said.


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    "But¡­"


    "Step outside please." Wang Wei said before Lu Piao could finish his sentence.


    After Lu Piao stepped outside the girl took off her cloak. She had a beautiful figure and a pretty face.


    After a few seconds of admiring her beauty, Wang Wei finally said something.


    "Name."


    "What?" the girl said. She was also in a daze. She could finally see Wang Wei clearly and he was way more handsome than she thought.


    "Uhm, what is your name." Wang Wei said.


    "Oh, I am Mei Ying." Mei Ying said.


    "Nice to meet you, I am Wang Wei." Wang Wei said. "Where do you come from."


    "I can''t tell you that." Mei Ying said.


    "That''s okay, I am the young master of the red fire-dragon family. You are probably wondering why I called you out." Wang Wei said.


    "Yes, a little bit." Mei Ying said.


    "Well, I called you out because I could feel a peculiar aura coming from you." Wang Wei said.


    "You can feel that?!" Mei Ying said with a surprised look on her face.


    "Is that weird?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Yes, only people with ancient dragon-type bloodlines can feel the aura I give off. And you are telling me you can feel it?" Mei Ying said.


    "Well, my family did fight in the first demon war, and my ancestor did put the seal on the demon realm." Wang Wei said. "Is that ancient enough?"


    "No, not by a long shot. But in my family, there are tales of a fire dragon but I don''t know if that is your family or if it is a family that went extinct a long time ago." Mei Ying said.


    "Are you a soul expert by any chance?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Yes, I am a level twenty-nine chi fighter. I came here to find something for my breakthrough." Mei Ying said.


    "Really, I am also a level twenty-nine chi fighter. And since I am the young master of one of the city''s three major families I can help you with what you''re looking for." Wang Wei said.


    "I doubt that. I am looking for a small dragon statue with a pink scale on top of its head." Mei Ying said.


    "What?! I know where that is." Wang Wei said.


    "Really? Where?" Mei Ying said.


    "It is in my family''s treasury, it doesn''t help my family what so ever. But the patriarch says that it is a gift from another family which had a close relationship with our family in ancient times." Wang Wei said.


    "Can you take me there?" Mei Ying asked.


    "I can, but first I need to know where you''re from." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, I''ll tell you because I trust you." Mei Ying said. "I am from the pink dragon family. It isn''t really well known but we are really strong. We reside in the high mountains three days from here."


    "Okay, thank you for telling me." Wang Wei said. "Now I will take you to the treasury of my family."

 60 Dragon treasure

    After Wang Wei and Mei Ying left the tea house, Lu Piao immediately followed them.


    "Young master Wei, where are we going with this girl?" he whispered.


    "We are taking her back to our family, she said she needed one of our treasures." Wang Wei whispered back.


    "What?! How could we do that, we don''t even know her." Lu Piao said.


    "It''s okay, I trust her." Wang Wei said.


    After that, they kept walking in silence as they made their way to the red fire-dragon family''s property.


    "Patriarch, I need to speak with you." Wang Wei said as he walked into the main family hall.


    All the elders looked surprised as Wang Wei entered because some of them hadn''t seen him ever since he left for jade city.


    "Little Wei, what is it that you need to discuss with me?" The patriarch said.


    "I need entrance to the family''s treasury and I want to take her with me." He said as he pointed to Mei Ying.


    "Oh?" The patriarch said with a surprised look on his face. "Of course I would grant you entrance but I don''t think that I can let her enter. I don''t know who she is, she might be someone trying to steal from our family. We can''t trust her."


    "I get what you are trying to say but I trust her and she said she needed the pink dragon statue." Wang Wei said.


    "What? No one has come looking for the pink dragon statue in all the time we had it in our possession. How do you know about it?" the patriarch asked Mei Ying.


    She looked to Wang Wei who then gave an approving nod.


    "I am Mei Ying. I come from the pink dragon family in the high mountains. I have reason to believe that it was my family who gave you that statue." Mei Ying said.


    "I see¡­ if that is the case I ask the two of you to take a walk with me." Patriarch Wang Longwei asked Wang Wei and Mei Ying.


    "Sure." They both answered.


    After that, they walked out of the family hall, and they walked toward the patriarch''s garden. It was a beautiful garden with spiritual herbs and small soul beasts.


    Wang Longwei supported the idea of humans and soul beasts living in co-existence. That is why he always wanted to cultivate spiritual herbs and take care of small soul beasts. However, due to the family''s lack of money, he couldn''t afford to do any of that until recently. Since the family began to grow and the sacred moon family became a subsidiary family. He had sufficient funds to finally realize his dream. He started by letting the red fire-dragon family live together with soul beasts and eventually he would spread to victory city. The strongest soul beast and his favorite was the crimson flame tiger. It was of the nine-thousand-year level and was closing in on ten-thousand-years. Wang Longwei was cultivating a spiritual herb that could elevate its level by at least ten-thousand years.


    As Wang Wei and Mei Ying entered the garden they were filled with a comforting feeling. They felt like they were at home. This was because of the aroma of the ice-blue rose it gives off an aroma that could make anyone feel comfortable.


    "This garden is my most treasured possession. Not because of the spiritual herbs or soul beasts but because of the harmony that you can feel right now." The patriarch said. "You are probably wondering why I asked the two of you to take a walk with me. That is because I wish to tell you a story."


    "A long time ago it was said that the fire-god dragon and the love dragon were madly in love as they lived in the realm of deities. They eventually had their own family. They had two children the red fire-dragon and the pink dragon, and they were a happy little family. But that happiness wouldn''t last long. Eventually they were attacked by demons. To protect their children the love dragon and the fire-god dragon send their children down to our realm. They gave them the forms of humans so that they wouldn''t get hunted down. They also gave them each one scale of them. Those were the scales of the love dragon and the fire-dragon god. The children grew up together, they faced many hardships but they always pulled through. Eventually they each found a partner and started their own family. They would collect all kinds of strong experts and both of their families grew to be one of the strongest in the continent. After countless generations, the pink dragon family chose to go into seclusion from the world and collect their strength and they went into hiding. Before they disappeared they gave the red fire-dragon family a statue with the love dragon scale embedded on its head. They also said that they would come look for it one day, and when that day came they would announce to the world that they had returned."


    As Wang Longwei was telling this story Wang Wei and Mei Ying both had surprised looks on their faces.


    "I am willing to grant you access to the love dragon statue but at the same time I have to give Wang Wei access to the fire-god dragon statue and it is also said that the people who would cultivate using the statues would be linked together by fate. Are you willing to be linked to Wang Wei?" Wang Longwei asked.


    "My family also told me this and I was ready to accept whoever would cultivate the other statue." Mei Ying said.


    After hearing that Wang Longwei turned to Wang Wei.


    "Are you also ready to accept that the two of you will be linked by fate?" He asked.


    Wang Wei then looked at Mei Ying. She was beautiful, her beautiful blond hair was blown by the wind and in her blue eyes he could see the light which was being reflected in the water. He was mesmerized by her beauty once again.


    "I am able to accept." Wang Wei said.


    As Mei Ying heard that she looked at Wang Wei. The two looked deep into each other''s eyes and it felt like the entire world stopped. At that moment they felt the connection they shared.


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    "Alright then. Follow me, I''ll take you to the statues." Wang Longwei said.

 61 Cultivating the statues

    As Wang Wei was following Wang Longwei he noticed something strange.


    "Uncle patriarch, this isn''t the way to our treasury." He said


    "I know, but the dragon statues are not in the treasury. The one you saw was a small one which has great power but is nothing compared to the true dragon statues." Wang Longwei said.


    After walking for another ten minutes the three of them entered a cave.


    "I never knew we had this in our territory." Wang Wei said.


    "There is a lot that you do not know yet. But once you become patriarch you will know everything." Wang Longwei said.


    After walking for quite some time in the cave they came before a door. It was a giant door which had the images of two great dragons upon them. Around the edges of the door were flames which were colored red and pink.


    "This here is the most precious place of our family. It is said that Wang Ye and his little sister Mei Ling first set foot on our realm in the room behind this door." Wang Longwei said. "I will now open the door for the two of you. After I opened it you two will enter and you will see the statues. As soon as you cultivate you will feel the power."


    Wang Longwei started breathing in and out with his eyes closed. He then suddenly opened his eyes and a strong force of soul energy could be felt. After that, the door slowly opened. There was no light inside.


    "Alright, both of you can enter right now." Wang Longwei said. "I don''t know what will happen once you enter but be careful."


    After he said this Wang Wei and Mei Ying entered the room. The moment they both entered the room the door closed and two giant statues lit up. One was a fiery red and the other had a soft pink color.


    "Alright, let''s cultivate." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay." Mei Ying said in return.


    When Wang Wei started cultivating it didn''t take him long to reach a deep meditative state. He again saw the giant silhouette.


    "I see you have grown a lot, you are even cultivating next to the scale I sent down with my children." The silhouette said.


    "Wait, you''re the fire god-dragon?!" Wang Wei yelled.


    "Yes, I am. You are the person with the highest chance of obtaining me as your soul form and saving the human realm." The fire god-dragon said.


    "What? How do I do that?" Wang Wei asked.


    "You will have to enter the dragon realm and find me. We then shall have a battle of life and death. If you defeat me you can get your hands on the strongest soul jewel ever. Also if you absorb my dragon core and refine it you will have the chance to further evolve your soul form. However, with your current soul form you''ll be too weak so you''ll have to find a solution to that." The fire god-dragon said.


    "What? How will I do that?" Wang Wei asked. But that moment the fire god-dragon vanished. As he said one last thing.


    "I will find you again when you need me."


    After the conversation Wang Wei was meditating very diligently.


    At the same time¡­.


    "Little girl, I see you are cultivating with the help of my scale and with your partner chosen by fate."


    Another silhouette said.


    "What? Who are you?" Mei Ying said.


    "I am the love dragon. You are the one destined to be with the strongest man in existence." The love dragon said.


    "You are the love dragon?!" Mei Ying said.


    "Yes, I am. And I already see you found the one who is destined to become the strongest in existence." The Love dragon said. "Work hard and help him along the way."


    After she said this she also vanished and Mei Ying started cultivating again.


    While they were cultivating a strange feeling arose in both of them. They suddenly felt the presence of the other person but on a deeper level. Without realizing it they turned to face each other.


    After cultivating for an entire day both of them awakened. When they both opened their eyes they were surprised to see the other person before them.


    "How did it go?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Pretty good, I advanced to level thirty. I am now a chi master." Mei Ying said while she was blushing.


    "Really? Me too." Wang Wei said.


    As he said this Mei Ying was captivated by the beauty of Wang Wei.


    "If you want you can join me and my friends when we go hunting for our third soul jewel." He said.


    "Yeah, of course¡­" Mei Ying said while she was still in a daze "Wait what?"


    "Okay then, let''s go they are probably close to breaking through too." Wang Wei said.


    He then stood up and left the room.


    After thinking about it for a moment Mei Ying decided it would be the best if she were to get to know Wang Wei''s friends.


    They first traveled to Long Yue''s family.


    "Hey, Long Yue. Your big brother has reached rank thirty!" Wang Wei yelled as he entered.


    He then suddenly felt a presence behind him.


    "Sorry to disappoint you brother Wei, but I also advanced to rank thirty. My father had a high ranking spiritual herb for me. So I''m ready to go hunting. By the way, who is she." Long Yue said as he pointed to Mei Ying.


    "Don''t worry about that, I''ll tell you later. I assume little brother Zheng also advanced so we''ll go and pick him up as well." Wang Wei said.


    After the three arrived at Lee Zheng''s family they were happily informed that Lee Zheng also


    advanced.


    "Brother Wei we''ve been walking for so long in this forest. Are we there yet." Lee Zheng said.


    "Almost, we are heading to the victory highlands. The more powerful soul beasts live there." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, but I still want to know who she is." Long Yue said.


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    "Do you want to introduce yourself?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Sure, I am Mei Ying. I am Wang Wei''s fianc¨¦e." She said.


    "What?! Fianc¨¦e?" Lee Zheng and Long Yue screamed out as they turned to Wang Wei.


    "Yeah, well¡­ because of certain things that happened over the past couple of days we are now engaged." Wang Wei said.

 62 Chi masters

    Wang Wei and the rest continued to make their way to the victory highlands. After a few hours they finally arrived.


    "Alright let''s start looking for some powerful soul beasts." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay." The other three replied.


    ¡­.


    "My lord the troops we have sent have been found dead by the recon squad." A demon told the demon king.


    "What?! Well, it doesn''t matter we can now easily sent some demons that are stronger and start causing chaos in the holy world." The demon king said.


    "Alright, I will send the stronger demons." The demon said and he then left the room.


    "This time I will destroy the red fire dragon family." The demon king said to himself as he thought of the time that the seal was put on the connection of their realms.


    ¡­.


    "Don''t let this one get away. It will be a perfect match for Lee Zheng." Wang Wei yelled.


    At the moment the four teenagers were in a battle with a domineering crane.


    It was at this moment that the crane stopped in mid-air.


    "Watch out! It''s gonna attack." Wang Wei said.


    And as soon as the words left his mouth the crane shot a bright beam out of its beak aiming for Wang Wei.


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    Wang Wei immediately summoned the dragon scales to block the attack. It was at this moment that Mei Ying appeared behind the crane and kicked it down to the ground. As soon as the crane was on the ground Lee Zheng used his first soul technique.


    "It''s finally dead." Long Yue said while panting heavily.


    "Yes, but it was worth it." Lee Zheng said.


    "Alright, you go on and integrate the soul jewel. We will keep guard." Wang Wei said.


    Lee Zheng sat down with his legs crossed and started to integrate the soul jewel.


    A few hours passed, Long Yue was cultivating, Wang Wei and Mei Ying were getting to know each other better. Suddenly a strong soul energy force could be felt from Lee Zheng. Everyone stood up immediately.


    Lee Zheng slowly opened his eyes.


    "Lee Zheng, what is the new soul technique you got?" Long Yue asked.


    "My new soul technique is called eagle cry. It will strengthen my next attack by fifty percent." Lee Zheng said.


    "Wow, that is a great technique. Now we can go search for the next beast." Wang Wei said.


    The soon traveled deeper into the victory highlands. The soon found another soul beast which was suitable to Mei Ying. It was the thousand-years-old mind snake.


    To Wang Wei and Long Yue, this was a fairly weak soul beast compared to what they have been fighting since they first became chi apprentices. So this fight was like a walk in the park for them.


    When Mei Ying finished her integration with the soul jewel the group was attacked by a holy lion.


    "Roooaaar!" the holy lion let out a roar as loud as thunder and it was so boomingly loud that it felt like it could crush a boulder with just the soundwaves coming from it.


    The lion pounced toward Mei Ying because she was the weakest one in the group. Especially since she just spend a lot of energy integrating with her new soul jewel.


    When Wang Wei saw this something awakened in him. A feeling he never had. He was determined to protect Mei Ying, whatever it took!


    Wang Wei jumped forward to meet the lion. When Long Yue saw this he immediately helped.


    "What are you doing?This is a five-thousand-year-old holy lion. I don''t even know if I can defeat it." Wang Wei said.


    "I don''t care. This soul beast will be very compatible with me so I can''t let this opportunity go to waste." Long Yue said.


    "Okay then. Let''s do it like we did the first time we fought a soul beast together." Wang Wei said.


    "Let''s get it." Long Yue said.


    His first soul jewel lit up and five streaks of fire shot toward the holy lion.


    As counter the holy lion shot out one beam of light to block the five incoming streaks of fire.


    But while this was happening Wang Wei''s first soul jewel lit up and the lion was paralyzed. Because it did not know what was happening it made an opening in its defense. Not wasting any time Long Yue summoned his holy claws and went in for the kill.


    He hit the lion in a vital part. But instead of dying the lion had a soul energy explosion.


    "Watch out. I''ve read about this. Sometimes when a soul beast is reluctant to die it will use all of its remaining soul energy to make a final stand. The power it will gain is only for a little while but it will be immense." Mei Ying said.


    "It will be fine." Wang Wei said as both of his soul jewels lit up at the same time.


    He spewed out the poison breath as the holy lion was paralyzed.


    "Now is your chance." Wang Wei told Long Yue.


    "Okay, leave it to me." Long Yue said.


    He dashed into the cloud of poison surrounding the holy lion.


    A few moments later a loud roar could be heard.


    "Wang Wei, you can stop now. Let the poison go away and let me integrate with this beast." Long Yue said.


    "Okay, hurry it up though, it is getting dark soon." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, okay." Long Yue replied.


    "What? But the final stand, and the poison?" Mei Ying said in disbelief.


    "Crazy right? It has always been like that. Those two have been training together since they were five years old. The teamwork and chemistry they have are amazing. I mean, I also have great chemistry with them but they are on a whole different level. In both chemistry and strength. You are an extremely lucky girl brother Wei is you, fianc¨¦e, he will become a great man. I can feel it." Lee Zheng said.


    "Mhm." Mei Ying replied.


    After Long Yue integrated with the soul jewel they found a cave and set up camp.

 63 Roar in the nigh

    "So, Long Yue. What is the soul technique you got from the holy lion?" Wang Wei asked while they were eating.


    "It is called predator''s pride it will light up my holy claws and add some extra power to my strikes." Long Yue said.


    "That is amazing." Lee Zheng said.


    "I know, but brother Wei will probably blow everyone away with the soul technique he will get." Long Yue said.


    "I don''t know." Wang Wei said.


    "Don''t be like that. Of course, you will go for the strongest beast we can find." Lee Zheng said.


    "That''s right, you''re just growing stronger and stronger with every chance you get. Hahaha." Long Yue said.


    While everyone was laughing Mei Ying tugged Wang Wei''s arm.


    "Hmm, what is it?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Could we maybe talk for a bit in private?" Mei Ying asked.


    "Sure, Lee Zheng, Long Yue. We will be talking in private for a little while so you can make the beds." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay." They both replied.


    Wang Wei and Mei Ying walked to the edge a cliff. They had a beautiful view of the victory forest and the victory highlands. In the distance they could even see the lights shining in victory city.


    "Wang Wei, are you sure you want me as your fianc¨¦e?" Mei Ying asked.


    "What? Why this silly question?" Wang Wei asked.


    "When I watched you fight today I saw that you were super strong and I would only hold you back if you are going to spend your life with me."Mei Ying said.


    "That does not matter to me." Wang Wei said as he grabbed Mei Ying by her waist.


    "What?" Mei Ying said while she started blushing.


    "The moment I saw your face in that tea room I fell in love with you. Also during our cultivation together I felt like we grew a lot closer. And now that I have been getting to know you better I am falling more and more for you. I hope you feel the same way." Wang Wei said.


    Suddenly tears started flowing down Mei Ying''s cheeks.


    "This is the first time someone ever spoke such lovingly words to me. Of course, I feel the same way." Mei Ying said.


    With the full moon high in the sky, the two stood there looking into each other''s eyes. After looking at each other for a while their faces started getting closer to one another, and eventually, their lips met each other.


    When the two returned they were both blushing.


    Of course, did both Long Yue and Lee Zheng notice this. But they decided to not say anything.


    After talking for a bit longer they eventually decided to go to sleep with one person on the lookout.


    Suddenly a loud roar could be heard. A roar that could split the clouds. It was Wang Wei''s turn to stand guard so of course he was intrigued as to what could be the origin of that roar. He went into the cave and woke up Lee Zheng and Long Yue.


    "Come outside with me and make no noise. We can''t wake up Mei Ying." Wang Wei said.


    "So what is the reason we need to come outside?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "I heard the roar of what I think is a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast." Wang Wei said. "I want to scout out the situation and use that beast as my third soul jewel."


    "Are you crazy. We can''t let you do that." Long Yue said.


    "I won''t be going alone. I want you to come with me, Long Yue. And I want you to stay here and protect Mei Ying, Lee Zheng." Wang Wei said. "Are you guys up for it."


    "You really are crazy, what about your spirit powers? Are they at a level high enough to handle a ten-thousand-year-old soul jewel?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "I don''t really know. what I do know is that after I cultivated together with Mei Ying I need to keep pushing my limits and become as strong as possible. That is why I will gamble on this opportunity. If I can''t handle it I will back out." Wang Wei said.


    "Alright, I''ll join you. I am quite interested in the strong soul beast that even you want to check out." Long Yue said.


    "You better come back alive." Lee Zheng said.


    "Of course we will." Long Yue said. "Who do you think we are."


    "Just make sure Mei Ying doesn''t find out about this if she wakes up." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, I will." Lee Zheng said.


    Wang Wei and Long Yue made their way to the place the roar came from.


    "Brother Wei, what happened while you went to talk with Mei Ying?" Long Yue asked.


    "Not much. We confirmed our feeling for each other." Wang Wei replied.


    "That sounds like something interesting happened. Could you at least tell me since I have no luck with ladies?" Long Yue asked.


    "Haha, what are you talking about. No luck? A lot of girls at jade academy are after you." Wang Wei said.


    "Yeah, but I don''t want any of them. I feel like the one I am destined to be with will be a strong woman." Long Yue said.


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    "If that is so don''t talk having no luck with ladies. Let''s just hurry up and look at the beast." Wang Wei said.


    "Alright." Long Yue replied.


    After traveling for a little while they arrived at the place. It was a nice open spot with big trees at the foot of a mountain.


    Inside the mountain, there was a cave. Wang Wei and Long Yue ventured into the cave to see what was inside.


    After walking for a few minutes Long Yue was getting tired again.


    "Brother Wei, let''s go back. Whatever you heard has probably already left. So let us return back to."


    "Hush, be quiet." Wang Wei said as he pointed forward.


    Long Yue turned his head to see what Wang Wei was pointing at and once he saw his eyes were wide open.


    "That is a ten-thousand-years-old black flame tiger. What is it doing here? We need to leave if we want to live" Long Yue said.


    "No this is a great opportunity if I can absorb its soul jewel it will be great for my strength." Wang Wei said.


    "You''re crazy." Long Yue said.


    "I know. Get ready."

 64 Increase in strength

    "On my signal, we both jump the beast." Wang Wei said.


    The two were up against a ten-thousand-year-old unholy soul beast. And not just any ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, it was a black flame tiger! They are known for their great strength and defense.


    "Now!" Wang Wei said.


    The two of them both jumped at the black flame tiger. Wang Wei had summoned his dragon claws and swung toward the tiger. Long Yue''s first soul jewel lit up as he swung his arm as well and five flaming streaks made their way toward the black flame tiger.


    "Boom!" It was hit. The two boys immediately put some distance between themselves and the tiger.


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    A lot of smoke had formed during their collision. But they suddenly heard a booming roar.


    ¡­


    "What is that?" Mei Ying asked. She was in a daze as she just woke up.


    "It''s nothing." Lee Zheng said.


    "Where is Wang Wei?" Mei Ying asked him.


    "What? He is keeping guard." Lee Zheng said while laughing nervously.


    "Don''t lie to me. I can''t feel his presence. Where is he?" Mei Ying said.


    "Don''t freak out, he is investigating a roar he heard together with Long Yue. They will be back before you know it." Lee Zheng said.


    "What? I''ve got to find him." Mei Ying said as she was standing up and making her way to leave.


    "I can''t let you go. I promised brother Wei." Lee Zheng said.


    "I don''t care." Mei Ying said as she suddenly started running.


    "Come back!" Lee Zheng said as he started chasing her.


    ¡­


    "Get ready. It''s coming!" Long Yue said.


    "I know. Let''s give it our all." Wang Wei said.


    The next moment black flames erupted from deep within the smoke. Wang Wei and Long Yue jumped behind a rock to protect themselves from the fire.


    Wang Wei then stepped out from behind the rock and his first and second soul jewels lit up.


    The tiger was paralyzed for a moment but that was more than enough time for the poison breath of Wang Wei to make its way to the tiger. Black flames erupted again but this time they weren''t as violent and hot as before.


    "How come it is weaker now?" Long Yue asked.


    "I have been studying the poison arts for a little bit to increase the power of my poison breath. It now has a weakening ability next to its ability to lethally poison and organism." Wang Wei said.


    "What? How come you are so talented in everything you do?" Long Yue asked.


    "That doesn''t really matter because this is a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast. It will have an effect but not a whole lot. It''s coming again. We just have to stall as long as we can and then attack it." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay." Long Yue replied.


    The next few minutes of fighting was very one-sided. The boys were defending and the tiger was attacking.


    "It has been weakened enough. Let''s go." Wang Wei said.


    "Alright." Long Yue replied.


    "Can you keep it still for a few moments?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Of course." Long Yue replied.


    Wang Wei then backed off a little bit. He then ran toward the tiger and jumped in the air. He did a front flip and swung his right leg out to hit the tiger on the head.


    At this moment the tiger knew that it couldn''t win anymore so it decided to make a final stand.


    At this moment Mei Ying entered the cave with Lee Zheng chasing her.


    "Wang Wei!!!! If anything happens to you I will never forgive you!" Mei Ying screamed with tears in her eyes.


    When Wang Wei heard this he was very shocked but the tiger was already moving towards him.


    He quickly calmed down as an overbearing pressure started to form around him. He took a big step with his right leg and when his foot hit the ground it shook the entire cave. He then repeated that process with his left leg. At this moment Mei Ying saw the scene before her. Long Yue was standing to the walls and giving Wang Wei some space. While the tiger had shown its fangs and was about to tear Wang Wei to shreds.


    "Wang Wei!" Mei Ying then screamed out.


    The next moment Wang Wei threw out his right hand and hit the tiger head-on.


    ''I can''t lose! If I will the tiger will tear everybody to shreds.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    At that moment something felt different about Wang Wei''s overbearing fist. It still carried an overbearing pressure but at the same time it also had a calm feel to it. Like a strong emperor on the battlefield.


    An explosion of soul energy shot the black flame tiger away. The black flame tiger crashed into the wall of the cave.


    "It''s dead." Long Yue said as he looked at Wang Wei with shock in his eyes.


    ''How is this possible?He killed a ten-thousand-years-old soul beast! He is amazing'' Long Yue thought to himself.


    "Wang Wei! How can you go out and do something like this without telling me?!" Mei Ying screamed as she ran over toward Wang Wei.


    "I''m sorry." Wang Wei said.


    "Sorry? Do you know how worried I was?" Mei Ying said as she fell into Wang Wei''s embrace.


    "I thought I was never gonna see you again." She said as tears streamed down her cheeks.


    "Don''t worry. I won''t go anywhere." Wang Wei said. "Now stand aside. If this goes wrong it will kill everyone here. Leave the cave."


    "What? What are you going to do?" Mei Ying asked.


    "I am going to absorb the soul jewel of this beast." Wang Wei said.


    "What, no! You can''t it''s to dangerous." Mei Ying said. She then turned to Long Yue. "You say something about it."


    "If brother Wei has set his mind to something he will do it. Just have some trust in him." Long Yue said as he left the cave.


    "You better not die." Lee Zheng said as he also left the cave.


    "Nothing will happen to me if you all guard the cave, okay?" Wang Wei said as he looked Mei Ying in her eyes.


    "Okay." Mei Ying said.


    After that, she left the cave and Wang Wei started integrating with the soul jewel.


    Three full days passed when suddenly an explosion of force could be felt from within the cave. Long Yue, Lee Zheng, and Mei Ying immediately ran inside to see what happened.


    When they entered the could see Wang Wei standing in the middle of the cave.


    "Did you succeed?" Long Yue asked.


    Wang Wei then turned and summoned his soul form as soul jewels started to form around him. Two light yellow soul jewels, and one dark purple soul jewel!


    "What is the new soul technique you got?" Lee Zheng asked.


    "I will show you." Wang Wei replied.


    The dark purple soul jewel the started glowing. And Wang Wei summoned his dragon claws. He then slashed in the air and an illusory dragon claw followed his dragon claw and slashed a boulder into four clean parts.


    "I call it dragon slash." Wang Wei said.


    "That is amazing." Mei Ying said.


    "That is not all, I also improved my overbearing fist into the emperor''s fist and if I absorb the beast core of the black flame tiger not only will my fire manipulation arts increase the fire I can use will become black flames and the other materials we collect we can sell for a lot of money." Wang Wei said.

 65 Fiery upgrade

    The group quickly collected the materials from the black flame tiger and returned to victory city.


    "Wang Wei, you have yet again done the family a huge favor." Wang Longwei said.


    "It''s not that much." Wang Wei said.


    "The materials might not have a lot of value to them but your power has improved a lot with this third soul jewel." Wang Longwei said while all the other elders of the family nodded their heads.


    "Thank you, elders. If that is all I will take my leave and refine the black flame tiger''s beast core." Wang Wei said.


    He then left the family hall to go back home.


    When he came back home Mei Ying greeted him at the door. She was staying at his house before she would return to her own family.


    "Welcome back." She said with a sweet and innocent smile.


    "Hey." Wang Wei said in return with a smile as well.


    "Since you''re back so soon let''s go into the city and get some ice cream or a nice dinner with your parents." Mei Ying said.


    "I''m sorry but I am going to refine the beast core right now. So I won''t leave my room for at least aday. After that, we can do whatever you want." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, just be careful. I will go and see if I can find someone else." Mei Ying said, she then left.


    Wang Wei then went into his room and took out a black red orb. It was the beast core that belonged to the black flame tiger. He then swallowed it and went into a meditative state.


    ''Argh.'' His body started to feel hot like he was being thrown into a pit of fire.


    ''I can''t give up.'' He thought to himself.


    After a whole day of meditating Wang Wei finally left his room. He immediately went outside to perform his fire manipulation arts.


    The fire this time was had a dark purple color. Wang Wei then thought of something.


    ''What if I infuse some poison into the fire? It would become cursed fire.''


    So he experimented for a bit and eventually made a breakthrough. He could now use cursed fire. The level of his fire manipulation arts also improved he was now in the fire creation level. If he made a weapon he could infuse it with fire chi to make it a sword with an affinity to fire-type soul forms.


    "Wang Wei, you''ve succesfully refined the beast core." Mei Ying said.


    "Yes, I now have time to do anything you want." Wang Wei said.


    "I want to take you to meet my family. It is only a two-day trip." Mei Ying said.


    "Okay, I still have a month left before I have to go back to jade academy so let''s go." Wang Wei said.


    They packed their stuff and started their journey. Long Yue and Lee Zheng didn''t join this time since it was a secret where Mei Ying her family had settled down.


    After traveling for two days the two finally reached the pink dragon family. The entrance was between two mountains and it was a giant door which looked like not even a fifty-thousand-year-old soul beast could breakthrough. It had the images of a giant pink dragon on the front and the mountains around it all had smaller dragons carved into them. There was also snow laying all around them since they were pretty high up the mountains.


    "Is this really the right place?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Yes." Mei Ying said in return.


    "Who is it that has traveled to our pink dragon family?" Someone spoke from above.


    The two looked up and saw a man standing on top of the door.


    "It is me, uncle Hao." Mei Ying said.


    It was one of the elders of the pink dragon family Mei Hao.


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    "Little Ying? You''re back, that''s wonderful but who is that with you?" Mei Hao asked.


    "I''ll tell everything when all the elders are together, but I promise that you can trust him." Mie Ying said.


    "Alright, come on in." Mei Hao said.


    After Mei Hao spoke these words he disappeared and the giant door started to open very slowly. On the other side was a beautiful mountain village. Wang Wei was taken aback as to how beautiful this village was. The two made their way to the family hall where the patriarch would be.


    "Hello patriarch, I have returned." Mei Ying said.


    "I see, but who is that with you." The patriarch of the pink dragon family said.


    "He is my fianc¨¦e." Mei Ying answered.


    "Fianc¨¦e?" Everyone present said in shock.


    "Yes, I have cultivated the dragon statue together with him. I am destined to be by his side." Mei Ying said.


    "So there really was someone who could cultivate the fire god dragon statue." The patriarch said.


    "Well then, if that is the case then I don''t have any objections. So what will you do now?"


    "I want to join him at his academy. I think I can learn a lot from him, he is very proficient in martial arts." Mei Ying said.


    "Oh really, then I think it would be suitable to have a sparring session." A boy said who was around the same age as Wang Wei.


    "Who is he?" Wang Wei asked Mei Ying.


    "That is Liang Yu, his family and ours have a very close relationship. He has had an interest in me since the first time we met. His family even came up with a marriage proposal but I refused. He will probably hurt you a lot if you spar with him, he is a rank thirty-three chi master while you just broke through." Mei Ying said.


    "Don''t worry I will have a spar with him." Wang Wei whispered to Mei Ying.


    "Okay, I accept your challenge. Even though this is a bit boring, just a spar." Wang Wei said to Liang Yu.


    "Then how do you suppose we make it interesting?" Liang Yu asked.


    "If I win I get to choose a treasure out of the treasury of your family and if you win you can do the same." Wang Wei said.


    "I don''t care about treasures. My family has more than enough. How about if I win you break off your engagement with Mei Ying." Liang Yu said with an evil smile.


    "Sure but if that is how it''s gonna be I get two treasure." Wang Wei replied.


    "Deal, tomorrow at noon we will have our spar. I don''t want anyone to say you didn''t have the strength because you just came from a journey." Liang Yu said.


    "Okay." Wang Wei said.


    After that everyone returned to their home and Wang Wei stayed over at Mei Ying''s place.


    "Are you sure you''re gonna win?" Mei Ying asked Wang Wei.


    "Don''t worry if I wasn''t confident I never would''ve made this bet." Wang Wei said.

 66 Sweet sweet victory

    It was morning as Wang Wei woke up. He left the house to take a stroll through the mountain village. It was very peaceful and calm with the soothing sound of bird-type soul beasts chirping. He eventually stopped in front of a cave''s entrance, there were two giant statues next to the entrance.


    "I see you noticed the dragon cave." Someone said.


    "Huh?" Wang Wei asked as he turned around. It was the patriarch of the pink dragon family. He was an old man with a long beard and eyes that carried a lot of wisdom.


    "This is the cave in which ancestors Wang Ye and Mei Ling came to our realm. Back then they were children with no name. They were each taken in by a different family which is why they have different family names despite being siblings. It is also said that when one with a dragon soul form enters they will feel as if they are where they''re meant to be. But I don''t know since I don''t have a dragon soul form." The patriarch said.


    "Why are you telling this to me?" Wang Wei asked.


    "That is because you are the first one to have contact with our family in many generations. I also hope that you can win the duel with Liang Yu so that my granddaughter can live with the person she loves." The patriarch said.


    "Don''t worry about the challenge. I will make sure that I win." Wang Wei said.


    "You are really confident for someone who broke through to the level of chi master just a few days ago." The patriarch said.


    "Well, I think I have the right to be confident." Wang Wei said as he released his soul jewels.


    They appeared one by one behind him. The first one was already a light yellow which surprised the patriarch of the pink dragon family after the second soul jewel appeared he was even more surprised to see that it was almost at the ten-thousand-year-old level, but the moment the third soul jewel appeared the patriarch''s jaw dropped.


    "I have sufficient strength and individual techniques, that is why I am so confident." Wang Wei said.


    "I see, with your strength, I can understand why you are so confident in your abilities." The patriarch said.


    After that, the patriarch wished him good luck and left. Wang Wei started to walk deeper into the mountains. He eventually found a pond that had a nice aroma to it. Wang Wei was interested as to what could produce this aroma.


    ''I still have an hour before the duel so I probably have enough time to search for the origin of this nice aroma.'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    Wang Wei followed the scent for fifteen minutes and eventually he came to a small valley which was the home of a lot of flowers, however, there was one flower that stood out more than the others. It had a certain glow to it. It was a rainbow-colored rose. Suddenly the rose started to transform. Eventually, it had taken the form of a human being. A beautiful woman.


    "What are you doing here?How did you find this place?" The woman asked.


    "Huh.. how did you.. you were a flower but now¡­ how?" Wang Wei said while he was very confused.


    "I am a plant-type soul beast. I have cultivated for more than one-hundred-thousand-years, soul beasts that have cultivated for more than one-hundred-thousand-years can transform into humans or we can be reborn as humans and live as they do. I chose to stay as a soul beast and protect this valley. Now answer me how did you get here and what is your goal?" The soul beast said.


    "Uhm, I got here as I followed a sweet and alluring aroma and I have no goal or anything I just wanted to see where the scent came from." Wang Wei answered.


    "I see, for normal humans, this valley is something they can never reach but you are different. Your potential is limitless. Perhaps¡­ no, let''s not get into that." The soul beast said.


    "What was it that you wanted to say?" Wang Wei asked.


    "It is something that you need to find out on your own. Now leave I don''t want any other humans finding this place so I would appreciate it if you kept it a secret. If you do, you can come back in a few years and I will reward you." The soul beast said.


    "Okay, I will." Wang Wei said and then left.


    As he looked at the sky he realized that he spent a lot of time in search of the valley and that he was almost late for the duel with Liang Yu.


    "Where is your fianc¨¦e? It seems he doesn''t really care about you that much. He is just trash." Liang Yu said to Mei Ying in a mocking tone.


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    "You know the last person that called me trash ended up badly wounded." Someone said from within the crowd.


    As soon as that was said everyone around Wang Wei took a step back making him stand out in the crowd.


    "There you are, I didn''t think you would come." Liang Yu said.


    "Don''t worry if I came or if I didn''t this will be over in a second." Wang Wei said.


    After he said that he walked up to the stage where the duel would take place. Right then the patriarch showed up.


    "I will see over this fight and will be the referee. I will make sure none will get severely injured." The patriarch said.


    "Count yourself lucky." Liang Yu said with a smirk.


    "Begin!" the patriarch then said in a normal voice but it still sounded as if he used a voice amplifier.


    Liang Yu''s soul form was the nether wolf so he immediately pounced at Wang Wei. He had three soul jewels. Two blue and one violet. (two one-hundred-years-old and one one-thousand-years-old.)


    His first soul jewel lit up as he was a few meters from Wang Wei. His movements got faster.


    "Hmpf, that won''t help you." Wang Wei said as his soul jewels appeared and the first one lit up.


    The moment the soul jewels appeared everyone was shocked to see this combination of soul jewels. Liang Yu wanted to retreat but Wang Wei''s paralysis eyes already caught him. After that Wang Wei''s third soul jewel lit up. His dragon claws were summoned as well as an illusory dragon claw. He swung at Liang Yu.


    "Bang!"


    A loud explosion took place and everyone turned their heads away. When they looked at the stage they saw that the patriarch of the pink dragon family defended the hit and was pushed back a few steps.


    "How strong, he could push back the patriarch who is a soul king." (soul king is the level after soul warrior after that is soul legend and after that is a heavenly god.)


    "Liang Yu lost." The patriarch announced. He then turned his head to Liang Yu and said: "Unless you want to challenge him again."


    "No, of course not." Liang Yu said as he looked at Wang Wei who in his eyes was a monster.


    "Then I will come by to pick up a treasure once I have the time." Wang Wei said.


    "Anytime big brother Wei." Liang Yu said as he bowed down to Wang Wei.


    "What was that?" Wang Wei asked when he returned to Mei Ying.


    "He is a coward who bullies the weak but fears the strong. If I were you I would always be on my watch when he is around." Mei Ying said.


    "Okay, I will." Wang Wei replied.

 67 The peak of the mountain

    After the duel, Wang Wei and Mei Ying returned to Mei Ying''s house and had a relaxing afternoon talking to each other and getting to know one another better.


    "Mei Ying, are you sure you want to join jade academy? You can just cultivate here in peace and live a life without any hardships." Wang Wei said.


    "I know, but I don''t want to be in one place my entire life. I want to travel the world and all the different realms that reside in this universe. That is why my first step is to go to jade academy together with you." Mei Ying said.


    "Alright, let''s travel the universe together." Wang Wei said while looking deep into Mei Ying''s eyes.


    After that, they had dinner and went to sleep.


    The next day Wang Wei woke up and went to visit Liang Yu''s family to pick a treasure from their treasury. He chose the dragon pill. It will increase the cultivation speed of a person with a dragon soul form.


    After that, he felt a strong force from the peak of the mountain. He then went to tell Mei Ying that for the following month he would train in seclusion atop of the mountain.


    "I finally made it. It took me three days but I''m finally here on top of the mountain." Wang Wei said.


    He then took a moment to enjoy the scenery. Down the mountain, he could see the land of the pink dragon family and the mountain trail that lead to it. But no matter how hard he looked he couldn''t find the valley of flowers which he entered not even a few days ago.


    ''Whatever.'' Wang Wei thought to himself he then sat down and started cultivating. He took in the dragon pill and soon found himself in a state of deep meditation. He could feel his cultivation speed was much faster than normal. Then suddenly everything turned black.


    "Where am I?" Wang Wei asked himself as he woke up in a peaceful meadow.


    There was a gentle breeze blowing and it made the grass rustle. Surrounding the meadow was a lush forest. He seemed to be the only one there. Suddenly the sky turned dark and a giant ball of flames made its way toward the meadow. Wang Wei tried to run away but the ball of flames was too big and covered the entire meadow. Wang Wei braced himself for impact but there was nothing. He opened his eyes and saw a familiar figure before him. It was a bright red dragon only this time it was a little different it was not carrying the majestic aura it usually did. But Wang Wei thought nothing of it.


    "So we meet again." Wang Wei said.


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    "Huh. Young one, what are you talking about? We have never met before." The dragon said.


    "I''m sorry I thought you were the fire-god dragon." Wang Wei said.


    "You''ve met my father? How is that possible." The dragon said.


    "What? Father? If the fire-god dragon is your father, then you are..." Before Wang Wei could finish his sentence the dragon turned into a human.


    "I am Wang Ye, the first patriarch of the red fire-dragon family and the one to defeat the demons." Wang Ye said.


    "Wait.. what? This is all happening too fast. Where am I how is it able that I can talk to you?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Calm down, this is your sea of conscious you could also call it your inner world. The size of your inner world is determined by your mental strength, not your soul energy but mental strength. You have high mental strength since birth for you to be able to have 2 soul jewels of over one-thousand-years-old and one of ten-thousand-years old. The reason you are able to talk to me is that you''re at the dragon peak. The place I died and where my soul rests, I want you to go into the dragon cave and search for the dragon token. My soul is attached to that. If you keep that with you my soul will slowly move to your sea of consciousness. I will be able to teach you many different moves that I created. I have also written them down in journals I scattered throughout the universe." Wang Ye said.


    "Wait, did you say journals? I already found one." Wang Wei said.


    "That is great. Give that one to your family and the ones you will find. You don''t need to study the fighting moves since I can teach them to you when you enter your sea of conscious." Wang Ye said.


    "That''s great, I will go look for the dragon token in a few weeks, first I will cultivate my fire manipulation arts and my bone manipulation arts." Wang Wei said.


    Wang Wei first cultivated the fire-manipulation arts. He had a deep and profound understanding of the creation stage but he still couldn''t reach the next stage.


    After that Wang Wei first started cultivating the bone enhancing arts. To make the breakthrough from orange bone structure to yellow bone structure one must strengthen one bone at a time. Each one takes a different amount of time to strengthen so it was unclear when Wang Wei would be done breaking through.


    After a week a lot of popping and the sound of bones breaking could be heard. When Wang Wei opened his eyes he felt that his body was a lot stronger. When he used his inner vision he was surprised to see that his bones had a golden glow, this meant that he immediately advanced into the middle stages of the yellow bone structure.


    "You are cultivating the bone enhancing arts?" Wang Ye asked.


    "Yes I am, is something wrong with that?" Wang Wei asked.


    "No, but aren''t you being a bit too slow?" Wang Ye said.


    "What do you mean? I am considered a genius already making it to this level at this age. And since with each breakthrough in your soul energy you can breakthrough a bone structure my speed is incredible." Wang Wei said.


    "With each breakthrough in soul energy? What are you talking about? If your understanding is deep enough you can easily get to the star bone structure as a chi master. After that it entirely depends on willpower on how far you go. That talk about soul energy levels is nonsense. Maybe that is the case for normal soul experts since they don''t have high comprehensive abilities, but you do so why be shackled down?" Wang Ye said.


    "Really? I will have a try then." Wang Wei said.

 68 Leaps and bounds

    Wang Wei started to cultivate the bone enhancing arts again and to his surprise, he could cultivate a lot more. Knowing that it was all about comprehensive abilities his cultivation speed was much faster. It took him another week to advance to the white bone structure.


    "Yes, I made it." Wang Wei said.


    "You can''t stop now, this is the perfect time for another breakthrough." Wang Ye said.


    "Huh, what do you mean?" Wang Wei asked.


    "To break through the white bone structure to the star bone structure, your bones need to be the purest of white. Most people mistake that the bones get whiter but the color is the purest right when you breakthrough. If you wait now it will take you at least another two weeks to breakthrough. But if you let me guide you, you can breakthrough within two days." Wang Ye said.


    After that, he gave Wang Wei a few instructions and Wang Wei started to cultivate again. And just as Wang Ye said it only took Wang Wei two days to break through to the star bone structure.


    "This is as far as you can go now. The later stages of the bone enhancing arts are the most difficult to reach even the most talented soul expert may not reach the level after star bone structure. I made it, however, you need to make it on your own. I suggest you now go and pick up the token and do what you have to. If you ever have any questions you can come to me. I will reside in your sea of consciousness." Wang Ye said.


    After Wang Wei woke up he found out that his cultivation base also rose quite a lot he had reached level thirty-five.


    ''Is this the effect of the dragon pill? So strong!'' Wang Wei thought to himself.


    He then went to the dragon cave and with the instructions of Wang Ye, he found the dragon token within a few minutes.


    "Mei Ying, I''m back." Wang Wei said as he walked into Mei Ying''s house.


    "Welcome back, young man."


    Wang Wei looked up and saw it was Mei Ying''s father.


    "Hello, sir." Wang Wei responded as he bowed to the man that stood before him.


    "I see that your cultivation base has risen again in the last month. You are indeed a genius." The man said.


    "Thank you very much, but now it is time for me to return to the jade academy." Wang Wei said.


    "Of course, little Ying has already packed everything. You take good care of her." Mei Ying''s father said.


    "Of course I will." Wang Wei responded.


    After that Mei Ying came around the corner.


    "Wang Wei!" she screamed out as she ran toward him. She then leaped into his embrace. "I missed you so much."


    "Really? I''ve missed you too." Wang Wei said as he smiled at the beautiful girl who was in his arms.


    "Are you ready to go?" He asked Mei Ying.


    "Yes, let''s go." She said.


    After they said the goodbyes Wang Wei and Mei Ying started their journey to jade academy. After traveling for four days they arrived in jade city.


    "It is late let''s try and look if there is a place where we can stay." Mei Ying said as she started walking to one of the less-visited hotels.


    "Let''s not go there, it is not worthy of you." Wang Wei said.


    "But the others are probably full or we have to go into one of the more expensive ones." Mei Ying said.


    "Let me take care of that. Follow me for now." Wang Wei said.


    After walking for a few minutes Wang Wei stopped.


    "Why did you stop?" Mei Ying asked.


    "We''re here." Wang Wei said as he entered the building.


    Mei Ying looked at the sign which hangs above the door. On the sign it said, jade brothers.


    "First brother, welcome back." Someone behind the counter said.


    "Thank you." Wang Wei said.


    "Who is that?" Mei Ying asked Wang Wei.


    "This is Chen Li my fourth sworn brother. His soul form is the blazing sun, however I do not know what level he is right now." Wang Wei explained to Mei Ying.


    "I am a rank thirty-four chi master now, what do you think of that." Chen Li said with a smile on his face.


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    "You are one rank below us." Mei Ying said.


    "I''m sorry but I forgot to ask, who are you."Chen Li said.


    "This is Mei Ying, she is my fianc¨¦e." Wang Wei said.


    "What? Fianc¨¦e? Congratulations brother, by the way why did you come here?" Chen Li said.


    "We need a place to stay the night, so I wanted to go upstairs there are four beds so I take it we can stay here for the night?" Wang Wei said.


    "Of course, and tomorrow when you go to the academy I will go with you. It is also time for me to go back to the academy." Chen Li said.


    The three then went upstairs and got ready for bed.


    In the middle of the night Wang Wei got up and went downstairs, Chen Li noticed so he followed.


    "Brother what are you doing?" Chen Li asked.


    "Not much, just getting some fresh air. But now that you''re here let''s talk for a bit." Wang Wei said.


    "Ten-thousand-years?!" Chen Li yelled out in the middle of their conversation. "You have a ten-thousand-year-old soul jewel. My four-thousand-year-old soul jewel doesn''t seem like much now."


    "That''s not all, I''ve also improved my overbearing fist and it is now called the emperor''s fist, my bone structure is the star bone structure and I''ve improved a lot with the fire manipulation arts. I have improved by leaps and bounds." Wang Wei said.


    "You''re a monster, compared to the progress you''ve made I made none." Chen Li said.


    "Don''t worry you''re still very strong. For now let''s get our rest and head to the academy tomorrow." Wang Wei said.


    "Yes." Chen Li replied.

 69 Return to the academy

    It was early in the morning when Wang Wei woke up. He went downstairs and headed for the market.


    Even though it was early in the morning the market was already busy because everybody knew that if you wanted to get good quality food or items you had to be early.


    The market took up the entire city square. There were a lot of stalls which each sold its own product. Wang Wei first went to a stall that sold eggs and meat. He bought three eggs that were rich in nutrients and he bought the meat of a one-hundred-year-old soul beast. He then went to a stall that sold freshly baked bread and he bought one loaf.


    Even though it has been a while since he had been in town a lot of people still recognized him since he was the leader of the jade warriors. That was also the reason he got a good discount. A lot of people were also in town to enlist at jade academy. They heard the story of the jade warriors when one of the stores of the jade brother established in their towns. They wanted to see those strong seniors. That was also the reason their business was running smoothly.


    Back at the store, Wang Wei went to the back room where there were a kitchen and a table where they would take their breaks. He started working on breakfast for himself, Chen Li and Mei Ying. The moment breakfast was ready Mei Ying and Chen Li came downstairs.


    "Goodmorning, brother." Chen Li said with a sleepy look in his eyes and with his hair being a mess.


    "Goodmorning, Chen." Wang Wei replied.


    After that Mei Ying walked around the table and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodmorning." She said.


    "Goodmorning." Wang Wei said in return.


    "If you are going to keep doing that I don''t think I will be able to hold down my breakfast." Chen Li said as he was taking his place at the table.


    "Don''t worry. We won''t. After breakfast, get ready, we will then go to the academy." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay." Chen Li and Mei Ying replied.


    After they had their delicious breakfast of some eggs, meat, and bread. The three got ready to head over to the academy.


    After walking for an hour they arrived at the gate. Where there was an enormous line. When Wang Wei and Chen Li made their way to the front they saw the teacher who was in charge of checking the students.


    "Greetings to teacher." Wang Wei and Chen Li said.


    "Welcome back you two." The teacher said. "Who is that?"


    "That is my fianc¨¦e, she will also be an apprentice of my teacher." Wang Wei said.


    "Okay, then. The other two jade warriors are already on jade island. Go and meet them." The teacher said.


    "We will." Wang Wei said.


    The three walked into the academy straight to jade island where they would meet their teachers again. Wang Wei and Mei Ying made their way to Shen Teng''s house.


    "Teacher I''m back!" Wang Wei said as he walked into the house.


    Shen Teng hurried down the stairs to see his genius disciple.


    ''Welcome back, I hope you have been cultivating even though you were on a break. Cultivation is important to keep up and¡­" He then saw Mei Ying. "Who is this?" he asked.


    "This is Mei Ying, my fianc¨¦e. I was hoping you could take her in as a disciple too. She is really talented and strong. She broke through to the level of chi master at the same time as me." Wang Wei said.


    "You broke through? That is amazing!" Shen Teng said.


    "And according to our promise, I could now visit the dragon caverns right?" Wang Wei asked.


    "That''s right. You may visit the dragon caverns now whenever you''re ready, also I will take in your fianc¨¦e. But I don''t have a spare room so she will have to stay with the principal." Shen Teng said.


    "That okay, as long as she can stay in the academy." Wang Wei said.


    "Tomorrow we will set out to the dragon caverns I will take my brothers to come with me so that they can get more experiences with fighting soul beasts." Wang Wei said.


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    "That''s okay, but for now let''s just eat." Shen Teng said as he pointed to the dinner table which was filled with all kinds of delicacies since Shen Teng was awaiting Wang Wei he made sure he would have the best food for when Wang Wei would return.


    When Wang Wei and Mei Ying saw the food their mouths started to water and they ran toward the table to eat this magnificent feast. After they had eaten all the food the three went over to the principal her house to tell her about the situation and ask if Mei Ying could stay with her.


    "Of course she can stay with me." The principal said.


    After that Mei Ying went to see her new room and Wang Wei and Shen Teng left.

 70 New students

    The next day came around and Wang Wei woke up very peacefully in his room. His entire life was amazing, he had a great family, a terrific teacher, the best brothers anyone could ever wish for and to top it all off he had the most beautiful fianc¨¦e.


    He changed his pajamas for normal clothes and went downstairs to eat breakfast. After breakfast, he went to see Mei Ying. After he met up with Mei Ying he went on to meet up with Long Yue, Lee Zheng, and Chen Li.


    "Why did you ask all of us to come together?" Chen Li asked.


    "I wanted to ask you all if you wanted to accompany me to the dragon caverns to train and next to that, the ancestor of my family also left something behind in that place." Wang Wei said.


    "Of course I will come with you." Long Yue said. "After all the adventures we already had together how could I say no to another one."


    "Same over here." Lee Zheng said.


    "I will also join you." Chen Li said.


    "And what about you?" Wang Wei asked as he turned to Mei Ying.


    "Do you even have to ask? I will go wherever you go." Mei Ying answered.


    "Alright then, everyone get your stuff together we will set out in an hour."


    Everyone left except or Mei Ying. Because she just arrived in jade academy she didn''t unpack any of her stuff so she was ready to set out. Wang Wei went back to the house of Shen Teng and started to pack his stuff. Within a few minutes he was already finished so he went to the edge of the island to wait for the other three.


    After waiting for about half an hour everyone was ready to set out. Right as they were about to leave Shen Teng came running.


    "Wait!" he yelled.


    Everyone stopped and turned.


    "What is it?" Wang Wei asked.


    "Before you go I need you to do something for me." Shen Teng replied.


    "Okay, sure. What do you need us to do." Wang Wei said.


    "Do you remember your first day here and the assembly you had on the first day?" Shen Teng asked.


    "Yes." Wang Wei and the three other boys said.


    "Okay great, since the jade warriors are pretty famous we would want you to hold the assembly." Shen Teng said.


    "Really? That''s awesome let''s go!" Long Yue said.


    So the four boys and Mei Ying went and headed to the new students'' assembly.


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    The assembly was very lively and everyone was talking with one another but as soon as they saw the jade warriors they all fell quiet. They were in awe that they could see their heroes on the first day that they were in the academy. Each person came to jade academy so that they could display their strength and hopefully join the jade warriors. But when they saw Wang Wei, Lee Zheng, Long Yue, and Chen Li they felt like the gap between their strengths was so immense big that they would never be able to catch up.


    "Hello everyone, I am Wang Wei. The leader of the jade warriors and also the provider of martial techniques to the jade brothers shops." Wang Wei said.


    "We already know who you guys are but I am interested in who that girl beside you is." A girl said from within the crowd.


    "I am Mei Ying, I am the newest jade warrior." Mei Ying said.


    "Wow, she must be really strong to become a jade warrior." Everyone in the crowd whispered to themselves.


    "Yes, and we are here to welcome you into our academy. So you all have to study well and keep cultivating hard. If you do that you will also have time to do fun stuff with your friends." Long Yue said.


    "So let''s all have a fun time today and meet lots of new people and make a lot of new friends." Lee Zheng said.


    After that Shen Teng and the principal came out and introduced the rules of the school after they did that the other teachers showed up with a lot of food and drinks and all the new students started to talk to each other. It didn''t take long before a hierarchy was established with the strongest of the new students at the top and the weakest at the bottom. The girl who spoke up was one who stood at the top of the new students. Her name was Long Jiajia. Eventually, she made her way over to Wang Wei and the other jade warriors.


    "How about we have a battle between the new students and the jade warriors. I mean, I have heard a lot of stories about your power but I don''t quite believe that you really are that powerful." She said.


    "How can you say that they earned their titles for a reason." Another boy spoke up. He was also part of those who stood at the top of the new students. His name was Ming Ye.


    "It''s okay." Chen Li said. "It''s just a junior who doesn''t know her place."


    "Oh really? My brother fought against the three other boys here and said that they are trash who only know how to win using dirty tricks." She said as she looked at Wang Wei, Long Yue, and Lee Zheng with a nasty look.


    "Oh really, then who is your brother?" Long Yue asked.


    "Long Sha, he is really strong and got into the strongest academy on the continent." Long Jiajia said.


    As soon as Wang Wei heard his name he immediately got angry. Long Sha was a person who he hated very much. His aura immediately became heavy and oppressive as he turned to Long Jiajia.


    "Then what are you doing here?" Wang Wei asked.


    As soon as Long Jiajia felt this aura she was terrified. ''I can''t offend this person'' she thought to herself.


    "W,w,w, well Uhm I came here to, to, to tell you to challenge my brother to another duel." She said.


    "Really?" Wang Wei said. "Alright, go to your brother and stay at his academy with him and tell him that we have to take a short trip but by the time we come back he better be ready to get beat up."


    "Okay, I will go." Long Jiajia said and she immediately ran away as fast as she could.


    After she left Wang Wei turned to the new students.


    "Sorry for that everyone, I hope that you will continue to have a great time as we now have to go." Wang Wei said with a sweet smile.


    As soon as the girls saw that smile they instantly melted.


    After that, they said goodbye to their teachers and set off to find the dragon caverns.