Chapter 289: The Gap Between Geniuses

A tall, handsome man leading the Shenfeng Academy group—needless to say, he was the captain of the Shenfeng Academy team, Feng Xiaotian.

He is one of only four, or perhaps five, genius Spirit Masters in the original story confirmed to have Innate Full Spirit Power.

This is because there is Qian Renxue, who possessed innate super soul power and a god-level martial soul; she reached level 20 soul power at birth.

But after all, Qian Renxue is a favored connection of the Angel God, so that might be slightly inflated.

The other three are Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Oscar.

Among them, if one actually calculates it, Xiao Wu is a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beast in human form, and Tang San's Innate Full Spirit Power also appears to have been cultivated through the Mysterious Heaven Skill in his later years.

So, strictly speaking, the only ones who truly possess Innate Full Spirit Power are Feng Xiaotian and Oscar.

This is enough to prove just how high Feng Xiaotian's talent is; after all, he is an Innate Full Spirit Power talent rarely seen in the Douluo Dalu for many years, and unlike Oscar.

He is a Battle Soul Master.

Auxiliary System Spirit Masters, especially Food-type Spirit Masters, have a cultivation speed far inferior to Battle Soul Masters when at the same level of innate soul power.

Therefore, in other words, Feng Xiaotian's innate talent is even better than Oscar's.

He should be the undisputed number one genius of this year's Advanced Spirit Master Academy Competition.

Yet in the original plot, he was only a level 44 Spirit Master, far inferior to the Spirit Hall Golden Generation trio, even though his age is actually similar to Xie Yue and Yan.

He is even a bit older than Hu Liena.

So, although it is said that there is currently no cultivation resource in the Douluo Dalu that can quickly widen the gap.

In reality, one can still see that Spirit Masters from major factions have more advantages than those from ordinary backgrounds, or even those from commoner backgrounds.

Innate Full Spirit Power... is not entirely valued in the Douluo Dalu as it is in other worlds, where things like divine bodies or holy bodies are snatched up by major factions.

Otherwise, Feng Xiaotian would likely have been poached by the Spirit Hall, along with the bricks under his feet, by now.

Tang San and Xiao Wu, both with Innate Full Spirit Power, did not seem to be valued by anyone at the Notting City Soul Master Academy either.

After all, if Innate Full Spirit Power were truly that sought after, it would be like two top-scoring college entrance exam students going to a vocational college instead of top-tier universities.

Who wouldn't find that strange? Even the principals of the top universities would be cursing all night, demanding they come to poach the talent.

So, compared to Innate Full Spirit Power, the Douluo Dalu actually values the subsequent speed of cultivation improvement more.

It is like an innate IQ test, while the latter is the level of acquired learning.

Innate Full Spirit Power is equivalent to being able to graduate from the sixth grade of elementary school with full marks at the age of six.

Is that impressive? It is impressive.

But it does not mean one will be excellent in middle school or high school later on.

So it is easy to understand: while Innate Full Spirit Power is indeed rare—only a few appearing every fifty years—it currently only proves that one is relatively smart.

Like the Spirit Hall Golden Generation, who reached the Soul King realm before the age of twenty-five, they are not actually considered extremely formidable.

This only proves that their current academic level is the best among their peers for the time being, but it has already proven that their cultivation talent is very high.

A person like Feng Xiaotian, with Innate Full Spirit Power, being only level 44 at around twenty years old—while that cannot be called "the tragedy of Zhong Yong."

It certainly did not perform as well as expected.

But although Feng Xiaotian is not as good as the Golden Generation or the "Heavenly Generation."

He is still a leading figure within the Four Elements Academies, and even if one counts the Elephant Armor Academy that no longer plays with them.

Feng Xiaotian and the student members of Shenfeng Academy followed their accompanying teacher to Tianshui City.

And just at this moment, Chihuo Academy also entered.

"Sister Huo Wu!" The moment Feng Xiaotian saw Huo Wu, his eyes lit up, and he revealed a confident smile, shouting loudly at her.

Huo Wu saw Feng Xiaotian, but her expression was merely somewhat helpless.

"You guys are here too." At this time, the team leader of Chihuo Academy, Huo Lingfei, looked at the team leader of Shenfeng Academy, Gerald, and greeted him with a smile.

"Isn't this because Tianshui Academy initiated an academic discussion invitation this time? I think everyone is here except for those guys from the Elephant Armor Academy." Gerald also smiled and signaled.

In fact, they were once competitors, and even came to blows over it.

It is just that they are all older now, and the relationship between the Four Elements Academies is actually quite good.

Therefore, they have now become "ordinary" friends with a decent relationship.

The reason it is only "ordinary" is mainly because everyone is too far apart from each other.

Chihuo City, where Chihuo Academy is located, is in the southeast of the Heaven Dou Empire, while Shenfeng City, where Shenfeng Academy is located, is in the inland east of the Empire.

This is indeed quite far apart.

As for Tianshui City, it is in the north of the Empire, and Leiting Academy Academy Academy is in the central part of the Empire.

Elephant Armor Academy was originally in the west of the Empire, but in recent years, they have left the Heaven Dou Empire and moved to a kingdom near the Spirit Hall.

Although they did not move directly to Wuhun City, this can be considered Sima Zhao's heart—everyone knows it.

Sometimes, when painting, one does not need to dig out all the internal organs.

In the original plot, Huyan Zhen even dared to walk and talk happily with Salas in front of Emperor Xue Ye.

That is indeed the Elephant Armored Sect not even bothering to act anymore, directly making their stance clear that they have joined the Spirit Hall.

The Four Elements Academies have not exactly never received invitations from the Spirit Hall to join them.

But... they at least still know how to be grateful.

In the original plot, they refused the Spirit Hall, saying that as an academy, they did not want to be controlled by others, and then turned around and clearly joined the camp of the Heaven Dou Empire.

It can be seen that their actual thought was that as a part of the Heaven Dou Empire, they did not want to be driven by the Spirit Hall.

This is much better than the likes of Flender; at least they know where they belong.

The Four Elements Academies also directly rejected the invitation issued by the Spirit Hall, which was represented by the Elephant Armor Academy on behalf of the Elephant Armored Sect, and even distanced themselves from the Elephant Armor Academy.

"Those guys from the Elephant Armor Academy, they defected to the Spirit Hall..." Huo Lingfei also shook his head and said, "Forget it, our paths are different; we can't play together."

"By the way, have the people from Leiting Academy Academy Academy not arrived yet?" Gerald had just asked.

Then, a voice that was extremely overbearing and heroic suddenly came from behind, "Fire Qilin, Featherless Bird, you guys arrived so fast!"

"Lei Qian!" Huo Lingfei looked back and said with a headache, "How come it's you, guy, who came."

Looking back, a group of Spirit Masters wearing azure uniforms suddenly appeared. At the head was a middle-aged, burly man wearing azure tight-fitting clothes, revealing a pair of particularly well-developed triceps.

And behind him were seven young Spirit Masters as well.

But if Ning Feiliu were here, he would immediately recognize one very familiar face among them.

That's right... it was Yu Tianxin, one of the Blue Dragon Twin Walls who had fought side-by-side with Ning Feiliu for a time at the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena and had also been defeated by him.

In the original plot, he did not join the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, but instead competed on behalf of the Thunder Academy, which was funded and sponsored by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect.

The burly man at the head heard Huo Lingfei's words, but laughed heartily and said without any avoidance, "What? You don't like me?"

"Yes, I don't just dislike you, I simply loathe a vulgar guy like you, okay!" Gerald, who was on the side, couldn't help but retort.

"Too bad, you can't beat me." Lei Qian revealed a mouthful of white teeth and said unscrupulously.

In terms of strength, the Thunder Academy is naturally the strongest among the Five Elements Academies; after all, they have the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, one of the Upper Three Sects, behind them.

Although the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect is not as attentive to the Thunder Academy as the Elephant Armored Sect is to managing the Elephant Armor Academy.

After all, in order to manage the Elephant Armor Academy, the Elephant Armored Sect even sent their young clan leader, Huyan Li, to the Elephant Armor Academy for cultivation.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect only sent Yu Tianxin to the Thunder Academy.

However, the funding and attention that the Thunder Academy receives this way are also not to be underestimated.

At the very least, it is stronger than academies like Tianshui Academy, Shenfeng Academy, and Chihuo Academy, which have no major sects as their background.

The Thunder Academy has always been the strongest among the Five Elements Academies.

However, it wasn't until this generation that the Shenfeng Academy produced a Feng Xiaotian, which allowed them to temporarily become the leader among the Five Elements Academies.

But in Lei Qian's generation, Gerald and Huo Lingfei are indeed no match for him.

This is also the reason for his unscrupulousness.

"Forget it, I don't want to waste my breath on you." Gerald said unpleasantly, "Let's eat something first, then go to visit Tianshui Academy."

Speaking of Tianshui Academy, a glimmer of light flashed in Lei Qian's eyes, but he laughed heartily as he entered the restaurant first, settled the students of the Three Elemental Academies together with Gerald and Huo Lingfei, and called for food.

He then laughed and said, "You have all heard, Tianshui Academy has been... quite extraordinary these years!"

"Yeah, isn't that the reason they called us here?" Gerald said casually.

"Then your Feng Xiaotian is going to have a hard time this time." Lei Qian said with a chuckle.

As the current leader and strongest person of the Five Elements Academies, this academic invitation from Tianshui Academy is definitely aimed at him.

So Lei Qian is naturally a bit gloating.

After all... Feng Xiaotian and the Shenfeng Academy did the same thing back then.

They successfully challenged the strongest person and leader of the Thunder Academy's generation, and then they replaced them.

"Xiaotian isn't so easily defeated." Gerald said indifferently.

"Your Xiaotian broke through?" Huo Lingfei asked curiously at once.

"He broke through to Soul Ancestor three months ago and just obtained his Fourth Soul Ring not long ago." Gerald said with some pride.

"But he's still far behind those two little girls, right? It's said that the girl from Tianshui Academy is now at level 47 soul power?" Lei Qian said with emotion, "They are really getting more and more powerful, these genius Spirit Masters... back in our day, it was already very impressive to be able to break through to Soul Ancestor before the age of twenty-five."

"Children nowadays have better cultivation conditions; they have imperial subsidies, don't have to worry about food and drink, have teachers specifically training them, and have all kinds of pills and potions to assist their cultivation." Huo Lingfei smiled slightly and said.

"I heard there are three genius Spirit Masters in Heaven Dou City who broke through to the Soul King realm at around twenty years old; that is... completely unimaginable." Gerald also said with some emotion.

"Is that true?" Huo Lingfei asked curiously, "I thought it was just that group of guys from the imperial capital bragging again."

Heaven Dou City, as the imperial capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, has always been a source of bragging rights.

Some merchants who have been to Heaven Dou City will deliberately exaggerate certain aspects of the city to show how different they are.

Simply put, it's just blowing hot air.

However, Lei Qian shook his head and said, "That's not bragging... Young Master Tianxin grew up in Heaven Dou City. Let me tell you, those three genius Spirit Masters known as the Heavenly Generation are real."

"Actually... our sect's young clan leader, Young Master Yu Tianheng, was originally a member of the Heavenly Generation, but I have to say that compared to those three monsters, the young master is still inferior." He said with emotion, "All three broke through to the Soul King realm before the age of twenty, and the most powerful one, Ning Feiliu from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, even broke through to the Soul King realm at fifteen."

"Fifteen... Soul King." Gerald and Huo Lingfei suddenly felt a sense of inferiority and an urge to bang their heads against the dining table.

When they broke through to Soul King... it was already at the age of thirty.

Yet others broke through to the Soul King realm at fifteen, which is only half the age it took them to break through to Soul King.

This truly makes one feel as if they were just here to make up the numbers in this world.

"But it's no wonder..." Lei Qian sighed again and said, "He comes from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, studied under that Poison Douluo Dugu Bo, and has all kinds of resources like Mysterious Water Pill and Soul Power Recovery Potion supplied to him; of course he could achieve the Soul King realm at fifteen."

He was thinking a bit too simply; Ning Feiliu... did not rely solely on Mysterious Water Pill and Soul Power Recovery Potion to cultivate so quickly.

He also had many cheats enabled.

However... these were not given to him just because of Ning Feiliu's background and master.

Aside from his background, everything else Ning Feiliu had was a reward for completing missions.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and Dugu Bo didn't give him any Mysterious Water Pill or cultivation potions at the beginning.

Lei Qian's words sounded a bit sour.

But there was no help for it; he really didn't have the kind of cheat that Ning Feiliu had.

However, Gerald and Huo Lingfei were also somewhat envious and jealous because of this; they chatted for a few more sentences and finished their meal.

Then...

"Children, if you're full, we'll set off." Lei Qian, Gerald, and Huo Lingfei stood up and said to the students of the Three Elemental Academies behind them.

"Yes, we are full." Feng Xiaotian and the others had no issues and stood up directly.

Then they paid the bill and left the place.

But just at this moment, outside Tianshui City...

A group of four people appeared. What made people envious was that this group consisted of three women and one man, and the leader was that young man.

Moreover, the three young girls all had different appearances, but they could definitely be considered peerless beauties in the human world.

"Is this Tianshui City?" a stunning young girl with long, dark green hair standing to the side said, looking at the Tianshui City walls not far away, sounding somewhat excited and curious.

Same—watching the match, will edit later (End of this chapter)