After returning to Anyang Academy, Terra Su received a notification from the academy within a few days, transferring him and Gu Qianyin to Class A of the upper division.
For Terra Su, this was entirely expected. As a Silver Medal student, it would be strange not to promote him.
Gu Qianyin also smoothly advanced to Class A with Terra Su after passing the assessment.
On this day, upon entering the Class A classroom, Terra Su saw Julian Xue.
Julian greeted him with a grin, looking in good spirits.
It seemed that Julian’s practice of the “Great Strength Burning Heaven Sutra” was going smoothly.
Although Terra Su’s promotion caused a small stir in Class A, it didn’t create much of a ripple. This was because few people knew about Terra Su’s actions at the yacht banquet. Those qualified to attend the Crown Prince’s yacht banquet were tight-lipped, and the events of the banquet only circulated within a small circle.
After finishing the Class A course without incident, Terra Su was about to leave the classroom when Julian Xue caught up with him, insisting on fulfilling his previous promise to be Terra Su’s follower.
Terra Su’s earlier mention of having subordinates was merely a way to reassure Julian and accept his help. In reality, he wasn’t very interested in having Julian as a follower.
On the contrary, he found having too many people around him quite troublesome.
At that moment, Terra Su casually found an excuse to shake off Julian and leave.
However, Julian was unusually persistent, chasing after Terra Su, determined to be his follower. Once Julian set his mind to something, he was unstoppable.
Seeing this, Terra Su simply used the “Wolf Shadow Six Transformations” to shake off Julian.
Julian’s Blood Barbarian Clan lineage had a clear weakness: average speed, leaving him helplessly watching Terra Su disappear into the distance.
After losing Julian, Terra Su found himself in a secluded part of the academy without realizing it.
He had never been to this place before. It was far from the academy’s core area, with no grand buildings in sight, only a few scattered, dilapidated huts.
Looking around, Terra Su saw wild grass growing by the roadside, seemingly untouched for a long time.
“This must be an abandoned place, long uninhabited,” Terra Su thought, shaking his head as he prepared to leave.
Just then, one of the huts creaked open, and a medium-built man stepped out.
Judging by his skin, the man seemed under forty, but his disheveled hair and unkempt beard made him look much older, like someone in his fifties or sixties.
Holding a sword, the man walked out without even glancing at Terra Su, starting to practice swordsmanship in the open space outside the hut.
Terra Su was about to leave, but the man’s sword practice caught his attention. The man’s movements were peculiar, holding the sword in his right hand and forming a sword seal with his left, yet remaining motionless for a long time, as if petrified.
“What kind of sword practice is this?” Terra Su wondered, finding it increasingly strange. The man hadn’t moved for ages—was he practicing swordsmanship or some bizarre meditation technique?
“Young Master Su!”
At that moment, Julian Xue finally caught up, panting, “Young Master Su, you run too fast. It took me a while to find you.”
As he spoke, Julian’s gaze also fell on the man practicing swordsmanship, and he exclaimed in surprise, “Ling Fang?”
“You know him?” Terra Su asked.
Julian nodded, “He was a genius student recruited by Anyang Academy over twenty years ago, once very prominent. But later, for some unknown reason, his cultivation level stagnated, and he gradually lost his genius aura, becoming an ordinary person.”
“After graduation, he stayed at Anyang Academy as a mentor, but he rarely appeared after a few years. In recent years, he’s been completely out of sight. Honestly, I thought he was dead or missing.”
Julian spoke while scrutinizing Ling Fang with disbelief, as if witnessing something unimaginable.
“A former genius, huh?” Terra Su mused, focusing his gaze on Ling Fang. His soul power faintly sensed something extraordinary—Ling Fang’s soul power was incredibly strong, far surpassing that of ordinary martial practitioners, almost reaching the level of a first-grade Alchemist.
This was extremely rare, as martial practitioners didn’t cultivate soul-refining techniques, which were exclusive to Alchemists. Yet Ling Fang, without any soul-refining practice, had elevated his soul power to nearly match a first-grade Alchemist, a small miracle.
Moreover, besides his powerful soul, there was a faintly mysterious presence, familiar yet elusive, seemingly related to the sword.
Yes, related to the sword.
At this moment, Ling Fang finally noticed Terra Su and Julian Xue. He slowly lowered his sword hand, gazing at Terra Su and Julian.
“What kind of sword are you practicing?” Terra Su asked.
“This is not a sword,” Ling Fang slowly replied, “This is my sword.”
“Your sword?” Terra Su inquired, “Your sword should have a name, right?”
Ling Fang shook his head, “My sword has no name. I am the sword, and the sword is me. The sword has a soul, connecting with heaven and earth.”
Sword soul!
Terra Su was astonished. Ling Fang had mentioned the sword soul.
A sword soul was not something ordinary swordsmen could cultivate. It was far above sword qi, with sword intent above sword qi, and sword soul above sword intent.
In other words, swordsmen who formed sword qi were far from achieving a sword soul, let alone those who hadn’t formed sword qi.
In his previous life, Terra Su had witnessed the power of a Sword Emperor wielding a sword soul, a force that could shake the heavens and earth.
However, in Anyang County, the martial level was too low. Even swordsmen who cultivated sword qi were rare, let alone sword souls. Even top sword Dao experts might not know what a sword soul was.
Unexpectedly, at Anyang Academy, a swordsman with only a Transforming Realm level five cultivation had vaguely touched the threshold of a sword soul.
This was truly surprising. With Ling Fang’s cultivation, he shouldn’t have even approached sword intent, yet he had directly skipped to comprehending the sword soul.
No wonder Ling Fang was called a genius in his youth. To reach the brink of a sword soul without any guidance was indeed the mark of an extraordinary genius.
As for the so-called stagnation in cultivation, it likely wasn’t stagnation but rather focusing all his energy on comprehending the sword soul, leading to no progress in cultivation.
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