Chapter 249: The Gu Lei Team Returns Home

Several days later, the Gu Lei Royal Academy Team finally returned to Gu Lei Royal City.

The entrance to the Royal City was exceptionally lively today; the civil and military officials, the commoners within the city, and even the King, Nan Tianchen, had all come out in person to welcome them.

He was truly overjoyed; the results of this Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament had already spread across the entire continent, and the Gu Lei Royal Academy had defeated the Spirit Hall Academy to take first place, winning immense honor for the kingdom.

After all, the Spirit Hall Academy had held the championship throne for far too long; now, the ones to break their dominance were neither Star Luo nor Heaven Dou, but their small Gu Lei Kingdom, which truly brought glory to his face.

Moreover, the champion of the Soul Master Tournament was not just about honor; the practical benefits were also enormous, as the champion academy each year would attract a large number of outstanding young Spirit Masters to come and study.

Although the Gu Lei Royal Academy also had a requirement to only accept nobles, that was the main academy; after the great war with Star Luo many years ago, the Gu Lei Kingdom's talent in terms of Spirit Masters had withered.

To restore national strength, Nan Tianchen had overridden all objections and began recruiting commoner students.

Of course, he also knew that putting commoners and nobles together to study would certainly trigger conflicts.

Nobles looking down on commoners was the norm in the current age, a problem he could not solve at the root.

For this reason, he had to think of another way, building a Gu Lei Academy Branch to separate the nobles from the commoners; although this did not cure the root cause, it at least addressed the symptoms.

The main academy and the branch were far apart, so they rarely met, and conflicts naturally decreased.

But in the final analysis, that branch was also Gu Lei Academy, and those Pan Feng and Xing Daorong were outstanding commoner students who had come out of the branch.

Regarding this point, Nan Feihuang highly approved of his father.

When in poverty, change; when change is made, one finds a way—this is the truth.

This was also a major factor in why Nan Feihuang thought that if the continent were unified in the future, it should all be left to Nan Tianchen to manage.

Nan Feihuang's filial piety and selfish motives accounted for seventy percent; after all, he was a father who had been very good to him since childhood, and since he wanted to be and enjoyed being Emperor, as a son, it would not hurt to be filial to him.

The other thirty percent of the reason was that in an era of peace, Nan Tianchen might not become an emperor for the ages whose name would be passed down for generations, but he could definitely become a wise monarch.

The group jumped off the carriages a few meters away from Nan Tianchen, and except for Nan Feihuang, everyone else knelt on one knee, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Lan Xue flew over and landed beside Nan Tianchen.

Nan Tianchen nodded at his wife, then turned back to look at the group and said, "Seeing you all return, my heart is greatly comforted. You have won fame and glory for our Gu Lei Kingdom; you are truly the meritorious ministers of our country."

"I reward and punish clearly. Today, I specially confer the title of Viscount upon the seven: Zhang Xingcai, Pan Feng, Xing Daorong, Jia Kui, Dian Wei, Lv Lingqi, and Xun Yu."

Nan Tianchen was not stingy either; he had already heard about the honor the Great Emperor of Heaven Dou had given the students before the tournament, and he certainly could not fall behind others, so he directly enfeoffed them all as Viscounts.

In reality, this reward was a bit excessive, but the officials had no objections; after all, winning the All-Continent Soul Master Tournament for the Gu Lei Kingdom was a merit that could not be called small.

Nan Feihuang and Nan Feiling were the Crown Prince and Princess of the empire, so naturally, they did not need any titles.

But for the others, this was a massive elevation in status.

In fact, as long as a Spirit Master reached level forty, they could obtain a title, but that was a title in name only, and it was the lowest grade.

Yet what Nan Tianchen was conferring upon them now were actual titles with fiefs and the enjoyment of court salaries; these were true nobles.

Pan Feng and Xing Daorong were overjoyed in their hearts; these two were the only ones in the Gu Lei Team who were truly of commoner origin, and after working hard for so long, they had finally become part of the noble class.

Then there was Xun Yu, who had always wanted a title because Ye Lingling also had noble status, and his background as a slave did not look good anywhere.

Now he could finally be called Lord Viscount Xun.

"Alright, let us invite our meritorious ministers to enter the city!" Nan Tianchen personally leading the Gu Lei Team home was not only their honor but also Nan Tianchen showing the world the importance he placed on talent.

After returning to the royal palace, Nan Tianchen rewarded Jia Kui and the others with plenty of gold, silver, and jewelry before letting them go back to rest.

As for him, he took Nan Feihuang and his confidants to the Imperial Study.

What should be rewarded had been rewarded, and other matters that needed to be calculated also had to be calculated.

"Hmph, Clear Sky Douluo, actually impersonating the Spirit Hall to assassinate my son! If any harm had come to my son, even if our Gu Lei Kingdom is not the enemy of the Clear Sky Sect, I would still fight them to the death." Nan Tianchen smashed the table into powder in his anger.

Lan Xue had told him what happened on the road, and at this moment, he was filled with hatred for Tang Hao.

Nan Feihuang was his only son, the future successor to the kingdom, and was himself so outstanding; Nan Tianchen naturally treasured him dearly.

"Rest assured, Tianchen, with me here, I will never let Feihuang be in any danger," Lan Xue said firmly.

Calmed by his wife's reassurance, Nan Tianchen said, "However, for that Tang Hao to scheme against my son like this, no matter what, I cannot remain indifferent."

"Father, Mother, you can just leave this matter to me. If Tang Hao wants my life, then I will take his six soul bones to help you, Father, break through to Title Douluo!" Nan Feihuang smiled.

Nan Tianchen's level progression in these past few years had also been extremely fast; the Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma had also improved his aptitude, and even after breaking through to Spirit Douluo, his cultivation speed had not slowed down in the slightest.

In these few years, he had already broken through to level eighty-four.

And like Lan Xue, he currently only had one soul bone on his entire body, which was a high-grade soul bone passed down by the Gu Lei Kingdom, meaning there were still five full parts empty.

That Tang Hao had high-grade soul bones all over his body; if Nan Tianchen absorbed all his soul bones in one go to make himself a Full Spirit Bone user, plus a few years of cultivation, he would definitely be able to break through to Title Douluo.

Or it could be given to Lan Xue to help her accumulate soul power, but she was already a Super Douluo, and increasing her level was even more difficult; she not only had to focus on increasing soul power but also had to strengthen her own comprehension of her martial soul to continue breaking through realms.

Moreover, firstly, she already had the medicinal power of two Immortal Herbs remaining in her body that had not yet been developed, so her soul power accumulation was already great enough; secondly, Nan Feihuang thought that to help a Super Douluo break through, he should prepare better and stronger soul bones for his mother.

"Oh, my son has an idea?" Nan Tianchen looked at his son with interest; he knew that his son had far more devious ideas than he did.

The combined "Mind Eye" of their family of three was eight hundred; Nan Feihuang alone accounted for seven hundred, he had three hundred, and Lan Xue was at negative two hundred.

Nan Feihuang said calmly, "Yes, within two years, I will definitely make that Tang Hao die without a burial place!"

(End of chapter)