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Life at Nuoding Academy was fresh and interesting at first. But after that initial stage, it quickly became dull and monotonous.
Only cultivating every 3 to 5 days brought Wang Li joy from the bottom of his heart. The reason it was every 3 to 5 days was because each session left him needing that long to recover.
Wang Li didn't learn the basic meditation techniques taught by the academy. Instead, he focused on the meditation technique that came with his system panel. This technique was truly powerful—almost overbearing.
Wang Li suspected that cultivating this meditation method, without experience points to guide him, would ideally be paired with medicinal baths or dietary supplements. These would help replenish the body's deficiencies while allowing for rapid progress.
However, Wang Li didn't have access to such things. He could only wait for his body to recover naturally. This greatly increased his appetite—he ate far more than his peers after each session. Fortunately, he had brought a good amount of silver soul coins when he left his village. Otherwise, the 10 copper soul coins he earned daily from cleaning wouldn't be nearly enough to cover his food.
But the cultivation effect was absolutely astonishing. Just one session was equivalent to 10 days, or even half a month, of regular cultivation. Because he had the panel, he could see the progress of each cultivation session directly.
He estimated he could increase his soul power by one level after just 4 or 5 cultivation sessions. Even though cultivation was generally faster in the Soul Master stage, his speed was still ridiculously fast.
Life at the academy grew boring. The only occasional excitement came from Xiao Chenyu, a senior student. As the city lord's son, instead of focusing on proper cultivation, he seemed to find pleasure in bullying the work-study students.
Xiao Wu wasn't one to tolerate being mistreated. One day, she formally challenged Xiao Chenyu and his group of senior students.
Wang Li was also a work-study student, so he definitely had to go along to watch. Although he also wanted to join the fight and gain experience points, his Martial Soul wasn't well-suited for direct combat yet, and no one was willing to let him fight rashly.
Wang Sheng was the first to step up to fight. But before his battle was over, Tang San—who had been away to obtain his first Soul Ring—returned.
Now Wang Li had even less of a chance to fight. He could only continue watching the battle, feeling extremely bored.
Tang San versus Xiao Chenyu.
As soon as Tang San's hundred-year Soul Ring appeared, Xiao Chenyu's meager 10-year Soul Ring seemed utterly laughable.
Seeing this, Wang Li couldn't help but complain inwardly. Isn't Xiao Chenyu the City Lord's son? How could he not even obtain a hundred-year Soul Ring?
Although Nuoding City was a remote, small city, the Nuoding City Lord was still a noble who had risen above the commoners. Yet his son started with a 10-year Soul Ring, just like any ordinary person.
It's almost as if the narrative is deliberately making Xiao Chenyu weak just to highlight Tang San and the preciousness of a hundred-year Soul Ring, Wang Li thought. It's a bit too convenient.
If he had to find a reason, Wang Li mused, then Xiao Chenyu was probably not the City Lord's favored son—perhaps illegitimate—and was placed in Nuoding Academy to be raised without much attention. The true heir had likely long been sent to a more prestigious academy or a powerful sect.
Unsurprisingly, Tang San, a first-year student, completely crushed Xiao Chenyu, a sixth-year student.
At this point, Xiao Chenyu and his group of senior students were thoroughly intimidated.
Finally, Xiao Wu activated her Martial Soul. She, too, was a level 11 Battle Soul Master, also marked by a yellow, hundred-year Soul Ring.
Faced with this, everyone, including Xiao Chenyu, became completely submissive.
Only Wang Li deeply regretted not being able to gain experience points from the confrontation. To him, it felt like missing out on a fortune.
Cultivate, cultivate hard, he resolved. He needed to get out of his current predicament as soon as possible. Only by possessing a certain level of strength could he experience more battles, gain more experience, and further increase his power.
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In the blink of an eye, 3 months had passed.
Within Wang Li's body, soul power was constantly surging forward through his meridians. It ran wildly, like a coiling dragon or a striking snake, devouring the free soul power from the air around him in large gulps. Then, it compressed and condensed this energy at an extremely fast rate, turning it into his own soul power, strengthening him.
When this cycle was completed, the soul power within his body suddenly increased greatly—he had officially broken through to level 10.
Wang Li was overjoyed. He immediately focused his mind, guiding his surging soul power to return to the core of his being. All the restlessness gradually calmed down. Within his core, the soul power nourished his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, and in turn, the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul fed back into his soul power.
Wang Li felt an indescribable warmth spread throughout his body.
Slowly opening his eyes, which were full of joy, Wang Li thought:
3 months ago, I was only a level 3 Soul Master. 3 months later, I am already a level 10 Soul Master. This cultivation speed is definitely no less than that of a top genius...
It was already dark, but not yet late at night. The others in the dormitory were all cultivating. Wang Li glanced in Wang Sheng's direction.
Wang Sheng often boasted in front of them that he would soon reach level 10, that he would reach level 10 very soon…
As it turned out, Wang Li had reached level 10 faster than Wang Sheng. Wang Sheng liked to publicize his progress, but Wang Li was quite low-key.
Even now, the others didn't know Wang Li's true soul power level. Although there were crystal balls in the Academy for testing soul power, they were only used at the end of the term—equivalent to a final exam.
Therefore, as long as Wang Li didn't say anything, no one would know his true soul power level.
He didn't have a way to independently hunt Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings, so whether he announced his level or not, it made little difference for now.
If he wanted to hunt Soul Beasts with the academy's help, he would have to wait until the sixth-year students graduated this year. The Academy would then organize all students who had reached level 10 soul power to go to the Hunting Soul Forest. There would be no exceptions made for any particular student.
Since his soul power had reached level 10, he decided not to continue cultivating for the rest of the night. Wang Li gently lay down, looking at the ceiling, and thought,
Although I don't have a Soul Ring and my soul power can't break through to the next rank yet, I can't completely slack off. The soul power I cultivate now will still accumulate and benefit me after I absorb a Soul Ring.
However, besides soul power cultivation, the most important thing for me now is to cultivate one or two methods of self-defense. Creating my own Spirit Skill, though… That's no small feat.
Thinking about this, Wang Li drifted off to sleep. He slept soundly until the next day, when the sun rose in the east and the sky was bright.
The two morning classes—cultural knowledge and Martial Soul knowledge—definitely couldn't be missed. Although Wang Li found them boring, he still studied them seriously.
In the afternoon, Wang Li went directly to the Back Mountain of the Academy. The ecological environment of Douluo Continent was very good. Lush Blue Silver Grass could be seen everywhere on the ground, and the mountains and forests were shaded by green trees. The sounds of birds and cicadas were continuous and resonant.
Wang Li didn't go too far. He found a hillside densely covered with Blue Silver Grass. The terrain here was open, and he could see Nuoding Academy when looking down.
Taking a deep breath and stretching, Wang Li took off his school uniform. It revealed a large area of tanned skin and a surprisingly muscular upper body for his age. With a firm expression, he said slowly to himself:
"Then let's begin… the real training!"
Wang Li hadn't learned any formal martial arts in the true sense of the word. But his Martial Soul had Vitality and Tenacity—two very versatile characteristics and passive abilities.
Therefore, the cultivation method Wang Li had thought of was to intentionally harm his own body and then let it recover on its own. He wanted to see if he could achieve something like an impenetrable defense or an iron-like physique.
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