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In the Douluo world, flight—considered a hallmark ability—had seen significant advancements in the development of soul masters.
Twenty thousand years ago, there was no universal ability for soul masters to fly. Only those with flight-type martial souls could take to the skies by leveraging their martial soul's advantages.
Over the next ten thousand years, soul masters who reached the Soul Sage level gained the ability to briefly fly. At the eight-ringed Soul Douzong level, they could stay airborne for extended periods. By the time they became nine-ringed Titled Douluos, they could sustain prolonged flight. Additionally, the advent of flight-type soul-guided devices greatly enhanced soul masters' flying capabilities. Even Soul Sages could achieve rapid and sustained flight with the aid of these devices.
However, cultivation remained the foundation of everything. Even flight-type soul-guided devices consumed soul power.
In this era, it was still only Soul Sages who could naturally fly.
This was now the minimum requirement for flight based on cultivation. It wasn't until the Soul Sage level that soul masters began to master the forces of heaven and earth, enabling them to use such forces to achieve flight. This represented the limit of what a soul master could achieve through their innate abilities alone.
Of course, aside from reaching the Soul Sage level, two-word battle armor also provided an excellent foundation for flight.
Starting at the two-word battle armor stage, wings would manifest on the chest armor—or breastplate—assisting soul masters in flight.
If one possessed two-word battle armor, even a soul master with only sixty-some levels of soul power could achieve swift aerial movement.
However, Xu Yuan was neither a Soul Sage nor a two-word battle armor master, and his martial soul was not a flight-type martial soul. Yet he flew directly toward Sea God Island.
This was naturally due to his battle armor fusion.
It wasn't that the battle armor itself granted him the ability to fly; rather, it compensated for his weaknesses.
The reason the Soul Sage level was the threshold for natural flight was because of mastery over the forces of heaven and earth. However, Xu Yuan had long been practicing control over these forces through the Seven Forbidden Techniques.
The complete fusion of Yuan elevated his foundational attributes to rival those of a Soul Sage, removing all barriers to manipulating the forces of heaven and earth for flight.
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Sea God Pavilion
"Xiao Yuan, you're here."
Xu Yuan waited in the main hall of the Sea God Pavilion, and soon the other members of the Seven Treasures also arrived.
As everyone appeared, additional seats materialized around the conference table.
Among them were eight chairs that hadn't been there before, clearly prepared for Xu Yuan and the others.
"You are now the current generation of Shrek's Seven Monsters, and you will become the core of the academy. Consider this an early invitation to enter the Sea God Pavilion," Cai Yue'er explained briefly.
Everyone took their seats.
At the head of the table, Yun Ming began to speak slowly.
"The content of this meeting is simple—two topics, though they can also be considered one."
Among the Seven Monsters, everyone except Xu Yuan listened intently.
"This meeting will first address your ranking tournament. The specifics of the competition tie into another issue—the matter of Yuanen Yehui's martial soul."
Tang Wulin and the others exchanged surprised glances, turning their attention to Yuanen Yehui.
Le Zhengyu thoughtfully guessed that it likely had something to do with Yuanen Yehui's Fallen Angel martial soul.
Indeed, the academy had some understanding of her martial soul and was now addressing it.
Reflecting on his earlier rash reaction when he sensed her martial soul's aura and immediately wanted to attack her, Le Zhengyu realized how impulsive he had been. After all, this was within the academy, and Yuanen Yehui was clearly a student. His lack of trust and aggressive stance ignored the academy's authority.
"To put it simply, Yuanen Yehui's second martial soul, the Fallen Angel, serves as an anchor point for another plane. We call this plane the Demon Plane. A trace of the Demon Plane's demonic power accidentally entered the Douluo world, leaving behind this bloodline inheritance of the Fallen Angel as a foothold for their arrival on the Douluo continent."
Another plane?
Tang Wulin and the others perked up.
This discussion about something outside the Douluo world was novel and captivating.
It was also an expansion of their worldview.
They had learned in the outer court that planes existed beyond Douluo, so this wasn't surprising. What intrigued them now were the specifics of the Demon Plane.
"Our knowledge of the Demon Plane is limited. We only know what pertains to Yuanen Yehui's martial soul. As her Fallen Angel martial soul grows stronger and reaches a certain level, the Demon Plane will sense its coordinates and use her martial soul to open a dimensional gateway, establishing a Demon Gate to invade our Douluo continent."
Tang Wulin and the others' expressions grew serious.
So this was the immense pressure Yuanen Yehui had been carrying.
No wonder she had suppressed her powerful Fallen Angel martial soul and avoided cultivating it further.
After all, during the two exchange matches—especially the match against third-year students—Yuanen Yehui had relied on her Fallen Angel to decisively overpower the older third-year students.
Both of her martial souls were super martial souls, among the top tier in the entire Douluo world, whether in terms of their nature or the quality of her inheritance.
However, each martial soul had its pros and cons. Clearly, the Fallen Angel suited Yuanen Yehui better. Its combat style and explosive power were what she genuinely loved.
Yet, due to the inherent issues with the Fallen Angel martial soul, she had to restrain herself and avoid excessively cultivating its abilities.
Whether this suppression had affected her overall soul power cultivation remained unknown to outsiders.
"Pavilion Master, does this mean our ranking tournament is to deal with the Demon Plane's invasion?" Tang Wulin recalled Yun Ming's earlier words and made the connection, prompting his question.
Yun Ming nodded, then shook his head.
"It's not about resisting the invasion but launching a counter-invasion." Yun Ming clarified the fundamental difference.
"If Yuanen Yehui's Fallen Angel were to reach the Titled Douluo level and activate the Demon Gate, it would be at its strongest state. There might even be a being of my level descending from the Demon Plane to this side.
But right now, she's only at the Soul King level. We must forcibly trigger the anchor properties within her body to summon the Demon Plane prematurely. We'll leverage the energy of the Demon Gate they attempt to create and assist them in forging a sufficiently powerful channel.
Regardless of how much we help, the other side isn't foolish. The exact strength of the channel they establish is uncertain."
After outlining some key considerations, Yun Ming finally addressed the specific criteria for the rankings.
"This ranking will have two parts. One part will be based on your performance here in our world. Contributions will be evaluated, and even Xu Lizhi, as a support-system user, will have his role valued and scored accordingly.
This part will temporarily rank you from first to eighth. You will enter the Demon Plane in this order to explore it, and your achievements during the exploration will determine the second round of scoring. The two scores will be combined to produce the final rankings."
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