The Legend of the Dragon King

Wu Zhangkong said, “This is because your spiritual power has already reached the Spirit Connection realm. With your current strength, although you are able to dual cultivate with a dragon-type Soul Master, if you cultivate with more people, it would be too distracting. Similar to fusing with a spirit soul, the greater your spiritual power, the more spirit souls you can fuse with at one time. In this case, you need to guide this foreign energy to merge with your body, so you will use up some of your spiritual power. Even if your spiritual power reaches a really high level, the number of Soul Masters you can cultivate simultaneously with is still limited.”

Tang Wulin was still scratching his head awkwardly. There really were no shortcuts in cultivating! But even if there were, cultivating with Wang Jinxi was still faster than normal, and it was beneficial for the both of them too. In fact, Wang Jinxi benefitted more than Tang Wulin.

“Tang Wulin, I will rearrange your bedrooms so that you can remain connected to Wang Jinxi with a strand of Bluesilver Grass at night. You shouldn’t have any problems meditating together this way. From tonight onwards, you two will meditate together, and if you experience any other changes, inform me immediately,” Wu Zhangkong continued.

“Yes.” They both agreed simultaneously, so Wu Zhangkong left to wash himself.

“I’m also going to go then.” Tang Wulin waved goodbye to Wang Jinxi.

“Wait a minute,” Wang Jinxi called out.

“What is it?” Tang Wulin eyed him suspiciously.

Wang Jinxi wore a strange expression as he began to speak. “There’s something that I forgot to tell Teacher Wu. After cultivating with you, without knowing why, I now feel a bit submissive when I see you. Do you think this feeling is weird?”

Tang Wulin laughed. “How is that a weird feeling? You cultivation speed increases when we cultivate together, so it’s only natural that you feel friendlier towards me. Anyways, I’m going now!” He waved goodbye to Wang Jinxi once again, before returning to his own room.

Neither of them noticed that as Tang Wulin left, a faint golden pattern glowed on Wang Jinxi’s forehead. The lines were very faint but bore a resemblance to the one on Tang Wulin’s body.

Tang Wulin was in a good mood. It was still early, so he went to wash up before heading to the field for a morning run.

The fact that they both complemented one another by dual cultivating was a good thing for both him and Wang Jinxi. After all, they were classmates and would have to cultivate together for the next five years.

Just as he began running, a familiar figure appeared on the track.

It’s her…

Ouyang Zixin had also noticed Tang Wulin. She waved at him, before continuing on her run.

Tang Wulin didn’t purposefully approach her this time. Instead, he continued running at his own pace while watching the energetic and youthful figure running in front of him.

He really enjoyed this feeling. Being able to admire something beautiful made one even more joyful, was that not so?

Run, eat, then attend class!

Tang Wulin was the last one to arrive to class. There was nothing he could do about it, since he had a great appetite and took longer than others to eat his fill.

Ever since he absorbed the power of the Golden Dragon King, Tang Wulin’s appetite had grown exponentially, making him a bizarre wonder within the academy.

The benefit of joining class zero that made Tang Wulin the happiest was the fact that they were able to eat at the first window free-of-charge. With his large appetite, Tang Wulin gave Long Hengxu a constant headache, but the director endured it due to Tang Wulin’s outstanding performance in the Class Promotion Tournament. After all, it wouldn’t be right for him to forbid a student from eating their fill.

“Today we will be going to the Spirit Pagoda.” Apart from his lectures, Wu Zhangkong’s words were always concise.

Going to the Spirit Pagoda? To do what? None of us need a spirit soul though?

The five students sank into confusion, but Wu Zhangkong didn’t bother to explain.

Although leaving the academy while classes were still in session made them feel weird, all five class zero students also felt superior.

Wu Zhangkong explained as they walked. “From now on, you will all cultivate in the Spirit Pagoda’s spirit ascension platform once a week. You must treasure this opportunity; the academy fought hard to allocate some funds for this.”

Spirit ascension platform? What’s that? Tang Wulin silently thought to himself.

Gu Yue and Tang Wulin wore similar expressions. On the other hand, Zhang Yangzi, Wang Jinxi and Xie Xie had faces full of awe.

Xie Xie spoke with a voice full of admiration. “Wow! The academy sure knows how to spend money. Looks like joining class zero was a good choice after all!”

Tang Wulin softly asked, “What’s the spirit ascension platform?”

Xie Xie stared at him in shock. “You don’t know what the spirit ascension platform is? It’s a great place!”

Tang Wulin grew impatient. “Hurry up and tell me. I really don’t know.”

Xie Xie explained, “On our Douluo Continent, only the Spirit Pagodas of major cities have a spirit ascension platform. In total, there are eighteen on this continent. They are the best place for us Soul Masters to cultivate.

“The spirit ascension platform was created by the Spirit Pagoda. Soul Masters can go there to gain experience and increase their strength. Moreover, you can experience the charms of the ancient Soul Master’s world. I’m not really sure what principles it operates on, but I heard that over ten Title Douluos were involved in its creation, and the greatest researchers of the time poured their efforts into it. Only after the Spirit Pagoda invested an enormous amount of resources was the spirit ascension platform completed.

“Originally, the spirit ascension platform was used as a step in the Spirit Pagoda’s research into artificial spirit souls. They hoped that it would be able to upgrade artificial spirit souls, and hence manufacture even stronger spirit souls. After completion, however, they discovered that it was only a partial success. Although the spirit ascension platform could upgrade spirit souls, its effects weren’t as great as they expected, and its nature wasn’t too clear.

“Naturally, after making such a large investment, the Spirit Pagoda couldn’t discard the product. After another period of development, the spirit ascension platform became a unique place. To put it simply, it’s the crystallization of the continent’s best soul devices and the efforts of the greatest Soul Masters and researchers. After entering the spirit ascension platform, a Soul Master will feel that they had entered a whole different realm, yet they would still be protected by the spirit ascension platform. The danger inside isn’t too high, but Soul Masters can battle with soul beasts to increase their combat experience in there. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to improve your spirit soul. I’m not sure how to attain the spirit ascension effect though, because this is only what I have heard from others. I’ve never actually been in there.”

Xie Xie’s explanation had piqued Tang Wulin’s interest. The spirit ascension platform can upgrade spirit souls?

“How are spirit souls upgraded?” Tang Wulin asked.

Xie Xie dismissively answered, “It’s not easy at all! Our spirit souls are actually pretty good. In the past, you would directly absorb a soul beast’s soul ring, and its power would be limited by its cultivation age. Nowever, however, when we upgrade a spirit soul, we actually increase its cultivation age. This reminds me, since you have a ten year spirit soul, you have a decent chance at upgrading it. If you can cultivate for an extended period of time in the spirit ascension platform, you will have an even greater chance of upgrading it to the hundred year level. Although, I heard that the higher its age, the harder it is to upgrade it.”

Tang Wulin was shocked, but at the same time, he felt his heart beginning to heat up. If he could upgrade Goldlight to a hundred year spirit soul, then his Bluesilver Grass would naturally be upgraded too!

Although he possessed the Golden Dragon King’s bloodline, his martial soul was still the Bluesilver Grass. If he upgraded Goldlight, his soul skill would grow even more powerful too. Furthermore, a hundred year spirit soul would provide him with two soul skills, removing the need to buy another spirit soul at rank 20. This would conserve both his spiritual power and his money. After all, he still had to save enough money to buy the items necessary to break the next seal.

“What do you need to enter the spirit ascension platform?”

“Two things; money and space!” Xie Xie mischievously laughed.

The moment he heard ‘money’, Tang Wulin’s heart began to ache. Money and cultivation really can not be separated! It’s a good thing I know how to forge, otherwise I wouldn’t have any way to continue cultivating.

“How much money?”

Xie Xie answered, “The spirit ascension platform has multiple layers. It costs about 500,000 federal coins per entry into the elementary spirit ascension platform. Space is even more valuable though! There are only one thousand spots each month for the elementary spirit ascension platform. There are over a million Soul Masters on the continent right now, so can you imagine the demand… And spaces for the intermediate and advanced spirit ascension platforms are even fewer. This is because they consume even more resources, so the cost of entry is also several times higher.”