Chapter 166: End of the Preliminary Round

Furthermore, besides Spirit Beasts, in the upcoming matches, his Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances could also find opportunities to devour a portion of his opponents' life force; as long as it was only a little, it would be of no consequence.

Tang San looked down at the red patterns on his Blue Silver Grass, "As for the red patterns from the martial soul's evolution and mutation, I'll just say it's the influence brought about by the Fourth Spirit Ring."

The night passed without incident.

The next day, the opponents for Tang San and his group changed back to ordinary academies.

Everything went as usual, and under Tang San's leadership, the group achieved victory with great ease.

During the battle, Tang San again used the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances to devour a portion of the life force within three of them; to avoid letting outsiders discover any clues, the amount Tang San absorbed was extremely small, at most only enough to make the human body feel weak for a short period.

Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, Hou Shan.

"Tang San actually broke through to Soul Ancestor so quickly?" Shi Quan raised an eyebrow as he looked at the news in his hand.

"He even defeated the Elephant Armored Team all by himself, and his fourth spirit ability can make the Blue Silver Grass erupt with a powerful devouring ability, allowing the Blue Silver Grass to absorb the opponent's soul power to replenish its own consumption?"

A look of interest appeared on the corner of Shi Quan's mouth, "It seems Tang San's Fourth Spirit Ring must have been chosen in the direction of devouring; I wonder if it's a plant-type or animal-type spirit ring?"

According to the news from Xue Xing's side, the day after Tang San was defeated by Tianshui Academy, he went out; according to reliable information, Tang San had absorbed too much energy from the Martial Soul Fusion Skill of the Tianshui Team and the soul bone, and under the infusion of that energy, he broke through his bottleneck.

"So simple? With such a fast rate of improvement, I'm afraid it's not that simple."

Shi Quan looked at the report thoughtfully, "It is possible that Tang San is secretly devouring soul power to directly increase his strength. If evidence can be found, then Tang San can be labeled a Fallen Spirit Master, and naturally, there will be plenty of people to deal with him then."

"Grandpa Dugu, I feel there is a problem with the speed of Tang San's strength improvement. Could you ask His Highness the Prince to pay more attention to this Tang San? It would be best if there were specific details of every battle."

"That's no problem." Dugu Bo nodded and continued to ask, "But why do you think this kid's strength improvement speed is problematic? He has consumed the Immortal Herb you left for him; it should be quite normal for his strength to improve quickly, right?"

"Grandpa Dugu, the Immortal Herb I left was specially and carefully selected; it is absolutely impossible for his improvement to be this high. I also know his strength very well; he would need at least several more months of effort to break through to Soul Ancestor."

"Then what do you suspect?" Dugu Bo looked at Shi Quan curiously.

Shi Quan shook his head, "Hard to say, we'll only know after the specific investigation results come out..."

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.

With the end of the final match, the Preliminary Round of the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament came to a close.

According to the procedure, after the Preliminary Round ended, there would be an awards ceremony to present the qualification certificates for the Promotion Tournament to the top five teams; the entire process took place at the Great Soul Arena.

The process was simple.

The teams that advanced were the same as in the original story: Kamikaze Academy, Thunder Academy, Tianshui Academy, Blazing Academy, and the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy's second team, Shrek Team.

As for the so-called qualification certificate for the Promotion Tournament, it was just a simple letter; there was no fear of forgery for this thing, after all, both the Spirit Hall and the Heaven Dou Empire knew very well which academies had advanced.

This was just going through the motions.

Then it was time for Xueye the Great to speak about some rewards and the arrangements for the subsequent matches.

In order to allow the advancing teams to have a better performance in the upcoming Promotion Tournament, there was a one-month rest period between the Preliminary Round and the Promotion Tournament.

On the Shrek Team's side.

Yu Xiaogang had just finished arranging a one-month training plan for everyone.

Tang San then found Yu Xiaogang in private and said, "Teacher, there is something I would like to ask for your opinion on."

"Speak." Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly.

"Teacher, it's like this." Tang San said with a serious expression, "After absorbing the Fourth Spirit Ring in the Sunset Forest previously, didn't I use the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances and my martial soul to absorb the corpse of the Swallowing Python? After returning, I discovered that my Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances and Blue Silver Grass seem to have undergone a certain evolution."

"Evolution?" Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang's expression could not help but shake, and he looked at Tang San in surprise.

"That's right." Tang San nodded, "The strength and devouring ability of the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances have both improved, and even the toughness of the Blue Silver Grass has increased."

Thinking of something, Yu Xiaogang's expression tightened slightly, and he asked, "San, when you previously used the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances to devour the energy within the Swallowing Python, did you integrate them into your own body?"

Tang San remained calm and answered without hesitation, "No, after all, it is external energy; I was worried it would have a bad influence on my body, so I stored these energies in the soul bone. As for the energy absorbed during battle, I also consumed it at the first opportunity."

That was how he put it, but could Tang San be unaware of whether the devoured energy had any influence on him?

Through his previous attempts, the energy filtered by the Soul-Devouring Eight Spider Lances was incomparably pure and would not bring any influence to him at all.

"San, doing so is correct." Yu Xiaogang's face showed relief, and he said solemnly, "San, you must remember, the devouring ability must never be used to assist in cultivation, and the devoured energy must not remain in the body for too long, otherwise it may cause influence to your body."

Naturally, Yu Xiaogang did not want the disciple he had spent so much effort to cultivate to become a Fallen Spirit Master that everyone shouted to beat.

If it weren't for Shi Quan saying back then that the Blue Silver Grass could not withstand so much poison, he would absolutely not have been willing to let Tang San add a spirit ring with the Devouring Attribute.

However, Yu Xiaogang thought about it, and he was still very confident in Tang San; although he could be emotional at times, his character had always been mature and steady.

Just by virtue of his talent and Twin Spirits, as long as he cultivated step by step, his future achievement would inevitably be a Title Douluo or even higher; he shouldn't be stupid enough to take this so-called shortcut.

"Disciple understands." Tang San nodded solemnly, "Cultivation requires taking things one step at a time; there are no shortcuts. External objects are ultimately illusory things; relying on them too much is harmful and not beneficial, not only damaging the foundation but also affecting one's state of mind."

"If the state of mind is flawed, achievements will naturally be limited. Such a simple truth, how could your disciple not understand?"

That was how it was said, but whether it was true depended on the person in Tang San's eyes.

Having lived two lives, his character was already far superior to ordinary people, and his will was as firm as a rock; how could he be influenced by external objects?

Furthermore, in his worldview.

For the same power, if the person using it has justice in their heart, it is naturally used to uphold the righteous path; if used by someone with sinister intentions, it will naturally leave a legacy of disaster for ten thousand years.

Power itself has no distinction between right and wrong; the key lies in the person using it.

On this point, as someone born into the Tang Sect, how could he not know?

In the martial arts world, whether it be poison or Hidden Weapons, in the eyes of the so-called righteous, they are nothing but the devious ways of villains, but what about the facts?

Among the so-called righteous, have they done fewer bad things by relying on their own power?

Within their Tang Sect, although they walked the devious path and operated in the darkness, they were still heroes, and they had done no small amount of punishing evil and promoting good.

"That is the truth." Yu Xiaogang nodded with satisfaction and continued, "I am relieved that you understand the pros and cons. I also understand your meaning. Later, I will go find Flender and tell him to take you to the Sunset Forest to hunt a Spirit Beast with the Devouring Attribute for you to absorb. Today, the competition has ended, and the teams from various academies are leaving one after another; Heaven Dou City is a mix of fish and dragons, so you can just take the opportunity to leave Heaven Dou City."

"As for your original training plan, it will be temporarily shelved, and I will help you explain it to the team; you can go with peace of mind."

Regarding the tournament rewards, Yu Xiaogang was also very envious, especially that Wisdom Skull, which was undoubtedly very suitable for Tang San. If Tang San's martial soul could evolve, then the chances of winning the championship later would also greatly increase.

And if Tang San won the championship, his, Yu Xiaogang's, reputation would also resound throughout the entire Spirit Master world; this was also his wish.

As for hunting Spirit Beasts, special circumstances naturally require special treatment.

Although he had previously taught that one should not hunt Spirit Beasts at will, the status of Spirit Beasts with the Devouring Attribute among Spirit Beasts was actually equivalent to that of Fallen Spirit Masters among humans.

Spirit Beasts with the Devouring Attribute are mostly exceptionally vicious; besides hunting human Spirit Masters, Spirit Beasts of this attribute are mostly enemies of the Spirit Beast world.

If Tang San goes to help hunt them, to a certain extent, he is actually helping the Spirit Beasts.

For every one Spirit Beast with the Devouring Attribute he hunts, dozens of ordinary Spirit Beasts might be saved from death.

Thinking about it this way, this action of Tang San's is actually a virtuous deed!

If Shi Quan knew of Yu Xiaogang's thoughts, he would surely have to give him a good thumbs-up.

As expected, people of the same family belong together.

Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.

"Xiao Quan, judging from the news passed over, this Tang San doesn't seem to have anything unusual." Dugu Bo looked at the information in his hands and didn't see anything.

Shi Quan's attention was focused on the first match after Tang San's Breakthrough, which was the match between the Shrek Team and the Elephant Armored Team.

Because after the Elephant Armored Team fought the Shrek Team, the Elephant Armored Team lost two more matches in a row; one of them was lost to another elemental academy, which was understandable, but the other was lost to an ordinary academy, and the root cause was a mistake by the captain of the Elephant Armored Team that led to the collapse of the team's defensive formation.

It was mentioned in the original work that Huyan Li possesses a head soul bone, and his defensive power could withstand a wave of attacks even when facing the combined assault of Tang San and the others; in terms of strength, he is definitely not weak.

Moreover, as a team leader, such a mistake should never have happened; it is very likely that something went wrong with Huyan Li's body, leading to his mistake, but this problem was not serious, leading the people of the Elephant Armored Sect to mistakenly believe it was caused by injuries from the consecutive losses.

Of course, this is only a speculation based on current information, and the specific situation still requires further investigation, but from Shi Quan's speculation, there is a high probability that it is related to Tang San's Devour ability.

Although there is no evidence, Shi Quan still trusts his intuition; after all, the Immortal Herb Soul-Devouring Flower that Tang San consumed is known for being evil and wicked, and since Tang San chose this Immortal Herb, it is enough to prove that in the depths of Tang San's heart, the boundary between good and evil is decided by himself, and often, the more confident one is, the easier it is to fall into depravity without realizing it.