Profound Heaven Soul Sovereign

Xu Jing didn’t know why Ye Xuan was so focused on Spirit Essence Stones. After a moment of careful thought, he answered, "Spirit Essence Stones are only Tier Six, but they’re extremely rare. If I had to say where you could find them, it would be within some of the Ten Great Powers of our Dream Realm Plain."

"Other than them, even other major powers aren’t guaranteed to have any."

Ye Xuan instantly sifted through what he knew about the Ten Great Powers, then gave a wry smile. ’I’m not familiar with any of them. Approaching them rashly would just expose me.’

Xu Jing continued, "Among the Ten Great Powers, the Nine Yang Sect, Profound Mystery Sect, Sword Sect, Divine Sea Sect, Profound Sound Valley, and the War God Tribe are all sects, so it’s impossible for you to get in, Your Highness. As for the three great empires, you’d have to visit the auction houses in their Imperial Capitals and see if you have any luck."

"That only leaves Gale Light Academy."

At this, Xu Jing’s eyes suddenly lit up. "That’s right, Your Highness! If you truly need Spirit Essence Stones, you could try Gale Light Academy. If you join the academy, let alone Spirit Essence Stones, you could even find rare Tier Seven materials."

Mo Chengtian and Li Yu, Patriarch of the Li family, both nodded repeatedly. "Your Highness, with your talent, joining Gale Light Academy will be no problem. Once you’re in, it will be easy to obtain any treasure you desire."

An idea sparked in Ye Xuan’s mind. As one of the three top powers in the Dream Realm Plain, Gale Light Academy recruited disciples from all across the land. They were bound to be all-embracing. ’If I get in,’ he thought, ’I probably won’t draw too much attention.’

Besides, Ye Xuan recalled that Dongfang Zisi of the Divine Walk Commerce Association also seemed to be a member of Gale Light Academy.

’But can I really get into Gale Light Academy?’

As if sensing Ye Xuan’s doubt, Mo Chengtian smiled and explained, "Your Highness, every year, Gale Light Academy openly recruits genius disciples from all over the Dream Realm Plain. This year’s recruitment is six months from now. The minimum qualification to even be considered is to be a Tier Four Celestial Martial Artist under the age of twenty-five. And that’s just the bare minimum. If someone only reaches that level at the age of twenty-five, they have absolutely no chance of getting into the academy."

"But I’m sure that with Your Highness’s strength, it will be a simple matter."

Mo Chengtian added, flattering him.

Ye Xuan remained noncommittal, but he gave a wry smile internally. ’Even though Gale Light Academy is just a top academy within the Dream Realm Plain, I didn’t expect its recruitment standards to be so strict.’

’A Tier Four Celestial Martial Artist under twenty-five... before the Floating Light Secret Realm opened, the only one who qualified was Xia Qixi from the Celestial Gold Kingdom, right? And that’s just the most basic requirement; it doesn’t even guarantee that she could get into Gale Light Academy.’

And Ye Xuan happened to know that Xia Qixi’s background was anything but ordinary; she probably wasn’t a native disciple of the Thirteen Nations Alliance at all.

’No wonder the Thirteen Nations Alliance has such a lowly status. When it comes to the number and prospects of its geniuses, it’s leagues behind the Dream Realm Plain.’

With these thoughts in mind, Ye Xuan asked, "Does Gale Light Academy have any restrictions on a recruit’s background?"

"Gale Light Academy doesn’t restrict recruitment. As long as someone meets the requirements, they can participate in the assessment. If Your Highness wishes to join, you could use the identity of a disciple from one of our three families."

Ye Xuan nodded. At least now he had a path forward. Whether he would take it or not, however, was another matter entirely.

"By the way, I’m leaving tomorrow. If any of you have questions about your cultivation, you can ask me now. After tomorrow, I’ll be gone."

"What? Your Highness, you’re leaving tomorrow?"

Mo Chengtian and the other two were stunned to hear that Ye Xuan was leaving the very next day.

"Yes. I still have some matters to attend to. Of course, I won’t just leave you to fend for yourselves. I will leave behind some resources, enough for you to break through to the Tier Six Third Layer of the Martial Venerable Realm within a year. As for when you break through to Tier Seven Martial King, that will depend on your own accomplishments and talent."

"While I’m away, you can’t afford to slack off. It’s best to focus on expanding your influence. It would be even better if you could take control of more cities in Wukong Ridge."

Hearing this, Mo Chengtian and the other two felt a pang of disappointment.

Nevertheless, they took the opportunity to ask him about the problems they had each encountered in their cultivation.

As for Ye Xuan’s claim that they would break through to the Tier Six Third Layer within a year, the three men didn’t pay it much mind, assuming he was just making a casual remark.

All three of them were Tier Six Second Layer Martial Venerables who had been stuck at this level for a very long time. If breaking through were that easy, they would have done it long ago.

The three men assumed that after hearing their questions, Ye Xuan would have Jin Lin answer them. They never expected Ye Xuan himself to casually and easily answer the very questions they had just raised.

The three were instantly shocked. They had raised the most difficult bottlenecks and problems from their own cultivation, yet Ye Xuan, a youth barely in his teens, had answered them offhandedly. ’Are all the disciples from the continent’s super-factions this frightening?’

After that, the trio asked many more questions. But no matter how difficult or tricky, Ye Xuan answered each one with ease.

The more they asked, the more flabbergasted they became, gaining a new, more profound understanding of just how formidable Ye Xuan was.

’We thought His Highness’s servant was already terrifying enough, but it turns out His Highness himself is far more so.’

Little did they know, had Jin Lin been the one answering, he might not have been able to solve their problems at all. The cultivation of Profound Beasts and humans was completely different. For Ye Xuan, however, who had been a Tier Eight Martial Emperor in his past life, answering their questions was as easy as breathing.

Ye Xuan spent over an hour answering their questions before he had finally addressed all of the trio’s lingering cultivation issues.

Afterward, Mo Chengtian and the other two felt as if they had been suddenly enlightened. They eagerly rushed off to cultivate.

Seeing their eagerness, Ye Xuan couldn’t help but chuckle.

’Helping Mo Chengtian and the others grow stronger is just a means to better control Wukong Ridge and protect the Thirteen Nations Alliance,’ he thought. ’As for dealing with a major sect like the Profound Mystery Sect, a few newly-minted Martial Kings are of little use. In the end, I have to rely on myself.’

Early the next morning, Ye Xuan and Jin Lin departed from Black Stone City.

Not long after Ye Xuan’s departure, the three great families took action against the Tianya Commerce Association’s Treasure Pavilion.

First, someone purchased a Pill from the Treasure Pavilion, only to discover it was a shoddy product. When he went back to complain, the staff beat him up and threw him out, leaving him battered and humiliated.

As it turned out, this man took his grievance to the three great families.

As the controllers of Black Stone City, the three great families acted swiftly, escorting the Martial Artist back to the Treasure Pavilion.

Steward Liu of the Treasure Pavilion, relying on his good relationship with the three families, didn’t pay it much mind. To his surprise, the three families showed no regard for the Tianya Commerce Association’s face this time, imposing a severe punishment on their Treasure Pavilion.

This caused the Treasure Pavilion’s reputation to plummet, leaving it in a sorry state and rendering its name mud among the Martial Artists of Black Stone City.

By the time Steward Liu realized something was amiss and went looking for the Martial Artist, the man had mysteriously vanished, never to be seen again.

Coincidentally, at that very moment, the Divine Walk Commerce Association’s Treasure Pavilion launched a large volume of high-quality Pills, immediately drawing in droves of Martial Artists.

The rival Treasure Pavilion could only watch as the shop they thought was on the brink of collapse rose once more to dominate Black Stone City’s market, its influence even spreading to the other eight cities of Wukong Ridge.

For this, Steward Liu was severely reprimanded by the Tianya Commerce Association’s leadership. He was transferred out of Black Stone City and demoted to the post of a minor functionary in a branch office.

Steward Liu would probably never understand that the three great families had targeted the Treasure Pavilion simply because of a single, displeased comment from Ye Xuan.

If the Treasure Pavilion’s backer hadn’t been the Tianya Commerce Association, one of the great powers, the three families would have likely razed it to the ground. Even so, it was now completely impossible for the Treasure Pavilion to ever reclaim its share of the Black Stone City market.

The turmoil in Black Stone City, along with the news of the annihilation of the Wei family, one of the four great families, quickly spread throughout Wukong Ridge.

Such family feuds were commonplace in Wukong Ridge, so this news didn’t cause much of a stir. What did get people talking, however, was the news that the Divine Walk Commerce Association’s local branch, which had been on the verge of collapse, had suddenly produced a batch of high-quality Pills and quickly recaptured the market, making a difficult recovery from its crisis. This story spread by word of mouth throughout Wukong Ridge.

But what no one in Wukong Ridge expected was that, three days later, another shocking piece of news would spread through the entire region.

Elder Gale of the Profound Mystery Sect—one of the three supreme powers of the Dream Realm Plain—had fallen in Wukong Ridge.

The moment this news broke, all of Wukong Ridge was in an uproar.

Although Wukong Ridge was a chaotic place where countless Martial Artists fell every day, all the local bandits and families were careful not to touch the properties of the major powers, let alone assassinate a high-ranking member of a top-tier faction.

Therefore, everyone’s first reaction to the news was disbelief.

But when the Profound Mystery Sect plastered notices across all nine major cities of Wukong Ridge, offering a bounty for information leading to the killer’s capture, everyone finally had to accept the truth: a Profound Mystery Sect elder had truly fallen in their territory.

Accompanying the notices was a blurry portrait.

To everyone’s shock, the portrait depicted a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties, though his features were indistinct.

Shortly thereafter, an investigation team led by Supreme Elder Crazy Battle arrived in Wukong Ridge and began their inquiry.

A storm was brewing in Wukong Ridge. Everyone could feel the atmosphere change, growing incredibly tense.

The major families were terrified, holding their breath and walking on eggshells.

The Profound Mystery Sect had dispatched a Tier Seven Martial King to lead the team, which showed just how seriously they were taking this matter.

For a time, all sorts of rumors filled the air.