Book 15: Victors

Chapter 128.3: The Light of the SeaG.o.d"s Pavillion

The thick but tender golden light drifted down and enveloped everyone within. The warm and dense light aura nourished everyone"s bodies, and all the exhaustion that they had brought back from their long road home was swept away in an instant. Xu Sans.h.i.+ was still in a deep sleep, but his body quivered and gradually came to.

w.a.n.g Dong"s experience was the deepest. His body emanated transparent golden hues that interacted with this sudden burst of golden light, and his left arm was even completely golden in color as it sparkled radiantly. That pure golden l.u.s.ter was extremely bright and vivid, and it felt as if colors were flowing out from it.

The Shrek team members and even w.a.n.g Yan subconsciously shut their eyes as they were bathed within the golden light. The four Deans, Fan Yu and Elder Xuan quietly stepped into the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion. They weren"t affected by the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion"s sudden outburst of light.

The expression in Bei Bei"s eyes was a little peculiar as he released the soul power in his body. The bluish-purple lightning radiance disappeared, and faint dragon roars could be heard from within the flickering golden lights.

Everybody who closed their eyes had different sensations. Huo Yuhao"s reaction wasn"t as great as w.a.n.g Dong"s, but the astonishment he experienced was extremely intense as well.

The vitality of heaven and earth in the air became a lot denser, and the three powerful beings that were slumbering within his body awakened at the same time. These three powerful beings didn"t unleash their respective auras, and neither did they attempt to interact with Huo Yuhao. Only Electrolux subtly pa.s.sed Huo Yuhao a thought, telling him that the person who possessed this light aura was exceptionally formidable, and was almost at his level of cultivation when he was still alive. The Ice Empress, Skydream and he had to hide themselves completely, as they ran the risk of being discovered by the owner of this light energy even though they were inside Huo Yuhao"s body.

Could he be more powerful than Elder Xuan? Huo Yuhao felt the muscles in his heart tighten. His original perception was that Elder Xuan and the several Deans were supremely powerful beings. It appeared, however, that the academy"s strength didn"t stop there - this was Yan Shaozhe"s mentor!

However, these thoughts in his mind dissipated after a while, and he entered a meditative state while standing inside the dense and thick light aura. He channeled the Mysterious Heaven Technique, and he could clearly feel his cultivation rising linearly with every circulation.

His body"s endurance had become a lot more powerful after the Life Gold"s regulation and harmonization, and his life energy had also become much more bountiful. Even his Eye of Life started to itch as he soaked himself within the dense light aura - it was subconsciously absorbing the life energy in the air.

The Mysterious Heaven Technique"s soul power circulated smoothly, and the dense vitality in the air seemed to flow directly into his soul. Huo Yuhao"s soul power was originally at around Rank 28, but he was already close to breaking through to Rank 29 after these few moments.

If felt as if only a minute had pa.s.sed, yet it also felt like a century. The warm and radiant aura gradually vanished, and everybody woke up from their strange sensations and experiences one after another.

The first to recover was Dai Yueheng, as his cultivation was the highest, and there was an exhilarated look on his face. His soul power improved at a sluggish pace at his current rank, and even raising it by one level was extremely challenging. However, he had felt improvements in his soul power after these few moments, and what was more substantial was that he felt like his soul power had been completely rinsed, and was now purer. This was relatively more important than increasing his cultivation directly.

The reason why Huo Yuhao didn"t have this sensation was because his soul power had already undergone several similar experiences - the Life Gold"s cleansing and nourishment was only the most prominent episode. Therefore, the light energy"s effect on his body was just a pure boost to his soul power.

Ling Luochen, Bei Bei and the others gradually came to after Dai Yueheng. Xu Sans.h.i.+"s face looked a lot better after he woke up, as if he had just replenished all the vitality that he had lost. He gazed at the three-storey building before him with perplexed eyes as the golden hues gently receded, and he muttered under his breath, "Where am I?"

Jiang Nannan had recovered a little from her injuries since the beginning, and that recovery process had been sped up with this golden light. She got off her stretcher voluntarily and whispered a few sentences in Xu Sans.h.i.+"s ear to explain the situation.

Xu Sans.h.i.+ looked at her with a dazed look. "Are you alright, Nannan?"

Jiang Nannan shook her head softly, and the expression on her face was a little complicated.

"Let"s go. Let"s just go inside before anything else," Bei Bei said as he carried Xu Sans.h.i.+"s stretcher.

Huo Yuhao had already awoken at this point. He realized, to his pleasant surprise, that his soul power had broken through Rank 29 just like that, and it didn"t feel like a long time had pa.s.sed when he glanced up at the sky.

What kind of power was this?! The light aura contained dense volumes of life energy - could this be achieved by soul masters?

w.a.n.g Dong was the last to wake up. Huo Yuhao could tell from the look on his face that it was needless to say that he had also benefited greatly from this experience. The golden l.u.s.ter on his left arm was still sparkling, and wasn"t receding quickly.

They stepped into the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion in single file after everybody woke up. They had just been baptized by light, and this tiny three-storey building suddenly became incredibly majestic in their eyes. They walked inside with feelings as if they were undergoing a pilgrimage.

They stepped into the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion"s first level. Everything was just so plain and austere, and every single piece of furniture or decoration seemed to be made from this strange wood, just like the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion itself.

There was a long table in the center of the great hall. The four Deans and Elder Xuan were sitting by the table, while Fan Yu stood behind Xian Lin"er and Qian Duoduo - it was clear that they didn"t have the status to sit down at this table. There were several other elders sitting on either side of the table. Huo Yuhao didn"t recognize most of them, and only the inner courtyard"s Dai Yueheng and Ling Luochen could recognize some of them.

Huo Yuhao and the others stood before the table and couldn"t help but feel a little nervous. Yet, they were also a little excited. This was the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion, and the elderly people sitting before them were the most powerful existences in the academy. This overwhelming feeling and astonishment was amplified when they realized that the four Deans were sitting beside the last seat.

Yan Shaozhe smiled and said, "Welcome back, children. Whether or not you"ve heard this before, I will explain it to everyone again. The Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion is the supreme place for official business and meetings, and conferences held within the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion will determine the academy"s future direction and path. Everyone here, besides the four Deans, are Elders from the academy, and they have each contributed greatly to the academy."

"You represented the academy and emerged as champions in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament with an incomplete team. We have heard of the entire process. Giving everyone the opportunity to come here is the academy"s way of showing our grat.i.tude and rewarding you guys. We hope that you will continue to work hard and not be overcome with pride by what you have achieved."

Everybody immediately bowed respectfully toward the Elders sitting around the table. They were slightly surprised that Yan Shaozhe didn"t introduce the Elders to them.

This wasn"t because Yan Shaozhe had forgotten - this was the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion"s rule, and giving Huo Yuhao and the others the permission to come in was already an exception. Everything inside the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion could be said to contain Shrek Academy"s core secrets, and anybody that wasn"t part of the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion wasn"t allowed to know.

"I will announce the rewards," Yan Shaozhe said with a deep voice, "Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen."

"Here." Dai Yueheng and Ling Luochen bowed respectfully.

Yan Shaozhe continued, "Both of you are inner courtyard disciples along with Ma Xiaotao, and you guys weren"t able to protect your comrades while executing your surveillance task. Your teammates were severely wounded as a result, and this affected our partic.i.p.ation in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. That"s a grave mistake."

"Eh?" Dai Yueheng and Ling Luochen hadn"t seen this coming at all, and both of them turned pale with fright.

Yan Shaozhe"s face turned black as he continued, "What? You wish to dispute that? Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng were the team"s main a.s.sault-type soul masters. What are a.s.sault-type soul masters supposed to do? They have to push forward in the face of danger and protect their teammates. Did you guys done that? Ling Luochen, you are the team"s main control-type soul master, but have you been pulling your weight in controlling battles? If not for Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection that gave you a timely reminder, you wouldn"t even have been able to come back in one piece, no? I can tell from the situation during that time that your comrades were hurt because of your complacency, and because you underestimated the enemy. You are Shrek Academy"s inner courtyard disciples, and was that the battle prowess that you should have displayed? Even the outer courtyard students know the principle that you have to give your best even if you"re stronger - but what about you guys?"

Dai Yueheng and Ling Luochen lowered their heads from Yan Shaozhe"s chiding. They didn"t dare to retort against his intimidating speech, and it didn"t help that the Dean was speaking the truth.

Yan Shaozhe"s voice became a little more amiable. "You guys followed the team to partic.i.p.ate in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament afterwards. You managed to exercise enough fighting strength due to the sufficient time given by the reserve team"s exemplary performance for you to recover and tend your wounds, and ultimately helped the team to win the champions.h.i.+p. The academy is well-aware of this achievement. However, you are inner courtyard disciples, and you are also part of the official main team, so you guys will receive comparatively smaller rewards. Your achievements will cancel out your mistakes, and we will not include that in your records and our case files. We hope that you will learn your lesson from this, and bear in mind that life is precious - n.o.body can have another one."

"Thank you, Dean." Dai Yueheng and Ling Luochen heaved a sigh of relief. It would become a serious blemish to their lives if their mistakes were recorded in Shrek Academy"s case files.

The difference between the inner courtyard"s disciples and those from the outer courtyard was that the inner courtyard"s disciples were bestowed with all kinds of resources, and they received the best mentors and teachings. The academy would naturally expect more from them in comparison to the outer courtyard"s students. This was the main reason why Yan Shaozhe declared that they would receive fewer rewards than the reserve team, even though everybody was part of the team that won the champions.h.i.+p.