Douluo: I am the True Master

In the following years, it seemed that there was nothing more for Notting Junior Academy to teach. Most of the classes were now self-study cultivation sessions.

Ye Wen didn't react much to this. What he needed now was time—time to accumulate enough strength through steady cultivation.

Three more years passed. By now, Ye Wen's cultivation had reached Level 40. However, under his disguise, he appeared to be only a Dual-Soul Ring Great Soul Master at Level 23.

Even so, he was already considered an extraordinary genius in this rural Notting Academy. Some intermediate academies, upon learning of Ye Wen's true cultivation level, sent him admission offers without requiring an entrance exam and even promised to waive all tuition fees.

The only person who knew Ye Wen's true cultivation level, Ah Yin, was utterly shocked. At this point, she had only just surpassed Level 35. Though her cultivation was significantly higher than Xiao Wu's from the original story, she was still far behind Ye Wen, which left her both frustrated and determined. She spent her days in seclusion, focusing on intensive cultivation.

"Six years have passed since I became a soul master. Though I'm not yet among the strongest, my strength is sufficient to journey across this continent.

It's time to plan for my fourth soul ring."

Silently sitting on his bed in the dormitory, Ye Wen—who had reached a height of 1.8 meters and showed no signs of further growth—exhaled deeply, his thoughts resolute.

After finishing his final day of cultivation, his Level 40 cultivation remained unchanged. Ye Wen and Ah Yin began packing their belongings.

Outside the door stood two young girls—Huo Rui and Lan Lan.

Three years had passed since they had obtained their first soul rings. Both girls had grown to over 1.4 meters tall. Though still petite, Huo Rui exuded a vibrant and commanding presence, while Lan Lan radiated a gentle and elegant demeanor.

For Huo Rui, Ye Wen had designed a soul ring acquisition strategy focused on body-enhancing spirit beasts. The six self-created soul skills he had taught her would suffice until she reached the Soul Sage level. The only limiting factor was how much physical strength she could unleash. To address this, Ye Wen had hunted an 800-year-old Furious Bear for her. Its first soul skill, *Furious Strength*, increased Huo Rui's physical power by 30% and reduced physical pain.

With the help of Ye Wen's second soul skill, *Void Mimicry*, Huo Rui's cultivation in soul power had skyrocketed. She had now reached Level 20 as a Great Soul Master and only needed to acquire her second soul ring to officially attain that rank.

As for Lan Lan, perhaps due to the influence of spending so much time cultivating alongside Ah Yin, she had developed an air of elegance. In Notting Academy, she and Huo Rui were now regarded as the two goddesses of the school.

Unfortunately for the other students, once they learned that both girls were Ye Wen's disciples, they could only lament inwardly and abandon any thoughts of pursuing them.

Given the inherently weak nature of the Blue Silver Grass martial soul, Ye Wen never intended for Lan Lan to pursue a control-based path. Instead, he thoughtfully guided her toward an auxiliary role.

However, Lan Lan lacked talent in physical training. Her strength had plateaued at 350 jin and refused to budge further.

The one bright spot was that, thanks to cultivating alongside Ah Yin, Lan Lan had reached Level 12. Ye Wen had also hunted a 350-year-old Jade Aloe soul beast for her.

During the absorption of this soul ring, Lan Lan struggled visibly. Her body's endurance was barely sufficient for the task. Had she followed the rigid theories espoused by Yu Xiaogang in the original story, Lan Lan might have exploded from the strain.

Moreover, this so-called "soul beast" was more akin to medicinal herbs. The Jade Aloe was renowned for its remarkable efficacy in treating burns and accelerating wound healing.

As Ye Wen had predicted, after absorbing the soul ring, Lan Lan's ordinary Blue Silver Grass evolved into long, vine-like Blue Silver Tendrils. These tendrils were slightly thick, and when broken open, they resembled aloe vera inside.

Her first soul skill, *Blue Silver Healing*, was a purely supportive healing ability. By binding the generated Blue Silver Grass around a wound, it could accelerate healing. However, it had no effect on poison-related injuries.

After all, it was just an ordinary century-level soul ring—what more could one expect? Stop dreaming.

Furthermore, based on Lan Lan's martial soul evolution, Ye Wen couldn't help but sneer at Yu Xiaogang's choice of the first soul ring for Tang San in the original story. If a century-level soul ring could evolve Blue Silver Grass into Blue Silver Vines, achieving a direct leap in class, why go through the trouble of obtaining a Datura Snake soul ring for such negligible operational bonuses?

The most embarrassing part was that Yu Xiaogang couldn't even defeat a century-level Datura Snake. Yet there he was, boasting about hunting soul rings for Tang San—how laughable and foolish.

If not for Tang San's own exceptional talent, even if Yu Xiaogang personally stepped in, he'd be lucky to obtain two or three ordinary century-level soul rings with mediocre combat abilities.

If Tang San had simply acquired a plant-type soul beast like Ghost Vine for his first soul ring and familiarized himself with his martial soul's soul power control, he could have independently created a skill like *Entangle*. Instead, he wasted a soul ring slot chasing that insignificant venom enhancement.

This was putting the cart before the horse—how ridiculous.

And let's not forget the infamous title of the weakest Poison Douluo. Clearly, among high-level soul masters, resistance to poison was a given.

"Let's go. Our next phase of cultivation will take place at home. This academy has no further value for us," Ye Wen said indifferently.

The three girls nodded silently.

Notting Academy had once provided them with basic knowledge and minimal protection, but now they were strong enough to dominate this city. There was no reason to linger.

As for Lan Lan's enemies, Ye Wen had long since assassinated them in the wild. After all, those arrogant nobles weren't the type to stay cooped up at home. Their indulgent lifestyles made it easy to find opportunities to strike. And with Ye Wen's expertise in covering his tracks, their families were left clueless. They could only assume that these troublesome noble brats had crossed paths with a powerful soul master and paid the ultimate price. As low-ranking nobles, they lacked the courage to seek revenge and eventually gave up.

The next soul ring hunt would naturally be undertaken by Ye Wen alone.

After all, his survival skills were unparalleled, while the combat abilities of the three girls paled in comparison to the dangers Ye Wen would face. They would only slow him down, so he had no choice but to go solo.

The destination for this soul ring hunt was the most renowned gathering place for spirit beasts on the entire continent:

The Star Dou Forest!!!

A perilous land teeming with countless rare treasures and top-tier, ferocious spirit beasts.

"Come take a look! High-quality Golden Horn Rhino horns for just 99 gold spirit coins—you won't regret it!"

"Gray Fox Mercenary Group recruiting! We need a Level 30 control-type soul master!"

"Freshly baked flatbread for sale~"

Entering the nearest soul master hub to the Star Dou Forest, Ye Wen ignored the cacophony of shouts from lower-tier soul masters. Adjusting his state, he activated *Void Mimicry* to conceal his presence and ventured into the depths of the Star Dou Forest.

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