Invincible Soul Emperor

The spiritual energy around the low mountain had been almost entirely gathered here by Elder Yang, all so Ye Qingchen could break through without any hindrance. However, the final result greatly exceeded both of their expectations.

Ye Qingchen’s strength eventually stalled at the peak of the Second Stage of the Martial King Realm. After that, no matter how Elder Yang manipulated the spiritual energy, Ye Qingchen couldn’t absorb the slightest bit more.

Ye Qingchen was also puzzled. His Fen Tian Earth Fire automatically absorbed pure spiritual energy, which meant his breakthroughs always consumed several times more than others. Even so, he shouldn’t have been completely unable to absorb any more after reaching just the peak of the Second Stage of the Martial King Realm!

Elder Yang looked at the dwindling Holy Light within the stele and fell into deep thought. Logically speaking, the more Holy Light one absorbed, the greater their final achievement should be. Based on the amount of Holy Light Ye Qingchen had just absorbed, Elder Yang wouldn’t have been surprised if he had reached the advanced stages of the Martial King Realm. And yet, Ye Qingchen had failed to advance even a single level, which was highly unusual.

Could it be?

Almost simultaneously, they both arrived at the same conclusion: his inability to absorb spiritual energy was caused by an incomplete Martial Soul.

Ye Qingchen understood that his Dual Pupil Martial Soul was indeed imperfect. Although this flaw had always existed, its side effects were now manifesting after being activated by the Holy Light. With this realization, Ye Qingchen gave up trying to absorb more spiritual energy and slowly opened his eyes.

Seeing Elder Yang standing guard by his side and recalling the overwhelming spiritual energy from a moment ago, he knew it must have been Elder Yang’s doing. This master I’ve conveniently acquired seems more reliable than I first thought.

Ye Qingchen looked at Elder Yang’s furrowed brow and asked, "Elder Yang, do you know where I might find an Ironwood Soul Flower around here?"

Hearing the question, Elder Yang understood immediately. The Ironwood Soul Flower was a herb that nourished the Martial Soul and repaired its imperfections. For Ye Qingchen to bring it up now, he must have discovered the flaw in his own Martial Soul.

After a moment of thought, Elder Yang said, "Although Ironwood Soul Flowers are rare, you should be able to find one within our Zhongtian Academy’s Training Mountain Range."

He then took a scroll from his robes and handed it to Ye Qingchen. "Since you’ve discovered the defect in your Martial Soul, I have a formation for repairing Martial Souls right here. With this, combined with an Ironwood Soul Flower, the effect will be more than ten times greater than using the flower alone. However, this is a fourth-grade formation. Whether you can comprehend it will depend on your own aptitude. If you really can’t grasp it, just consuming the Ironwood Soul Flower directly can temporarily solve your current problem."

Ye Qingchen gratefully took the scroll and stored it away carefully. He then stood up, bowed to Elder Yang, and said, "Elder Yang, my Martial Soul is incomplete, and I cannot continue cultivating. I want to find the Ironwood Soul Flower as soon as possible to repair it. I hope you will grant me permission."

Elder Yang nodded. "The Training Mountain Range is open to all disciples of the Central Celestial Academy, but teachers cannot accompany them. There are some decent little beasts inside, perfect for a martial artist’s training. With your current strength, as long as you don’t venture too deep, you shouldn’t be in any danger."

Ye Qingchen declared, "In that case, I’ll head to the Training Mountain Range right now to look for the Ironwood Soul Flower!"

After Elder Yang pointed him in the right direction, Ye Qingchen immediately ran toward the Training Mountain Range.

Watching his departing figure, Elder Yang muttered to himself, "During the entrance test, this kid’s Seven-Star Willow Wood Martial Soul was perfectly intact. But now this problem has appeared... could it be that the boy has two Martial Souls?"

If Ye Qingchen had known what Elder Yang was thinking, he would have been stunned by the man’s keen insight. He had kept this secret so closely that he had told almost no one, yet Elder Yang had seen through it.

The Training Mountain Range was not far from the Divine Wood Academy, situated near the very edge of the Central Celestial Academy’s grounds. Following Elder Yang’s directions, Ye Qingchen found the entrance. After showing his Identity Token to the teacher on guard, he smoothly entered the Training Mountain Range.

"That token just now... I think it said ’Divine Wood Academy’," one of the teachers on guard remarked to the other with a hint of surprise.

The other teacher was equally astonished. "Has the Divine Wood Academy started recruiting disciples again? I heard the students they train are all monstrous talents..."

Ye Qingchen did not hear their conversation. Now inside the Training Mountain Range, he began to use his experience to search for any possible trace of an Ironwood Soul Flower. Along the way, he didn’t encounter any other students out training, and the strongest ferocious beasts he came across were only at the Martial Spirit Realm. This eased his mind, and he continued deeper into the mountain range.

According to the records in the Pill Emperor’s Heart Sutra, the Ironwood Soul Flower prefers cool, shady places. So, Ye Qingchen specifically searched the shadowed sides of large mountains, using his Soul Power to try and sense a resonance with the flower.

Since Ye Qingchen was temporarily unable to go to the ten great Ancient Clans, this was a crucial time for him to cultivate diligently and increase his strength. But his incomplete Dual Pupil Martial Soul now prevented him from breaking through. The urgency he felt was immense. Leaving aside any other benefits of repairing the Martial Soul, the inability to advance was a problem that needed to be solved immediately.

However, Ye Qingchen also knew that finding something like the Ironwood Soul Flower couldn’t be forced. He recalled searching for one once before. It was only by a stroke of luck and with the help of Qin Yue’s special constitution that he had obtained it.

After three days and nights of continuous searching, Ye Qingchen finally found traces of the Ironwood Soul Flower behind a mountain peak. Guarding it was a ferocious beast at the Third Stage of the Martial King Realm. With his current strength, it took little effort to slay it. After taking the Beast Core, Ye Qingchen carefully harvested the Ironwood Soul Flower.

My luck is pretty good. It only took three days to find the Ironwood Soul Flower. The top priority now is to repair my Dual Pupil Martial Soul.

The previous battle had frightened all the nearby beasts into scattering, so Ye Qingchen decided to act immediately. He used the Ten Thousand Laws Formation Flag to set up a Defensive Array, preparing to refine the Ironwood Soul Flower on the spot. He first took out the Formation Scroll given by Elder Yang. Since Elder Yang had said it could enhance the effect tenfold, Ye Qingchen naturally wanted to give it a try.