Douluo, my clone Groudon

Chapter 194 Celebi, Fourth Soul Ring
Three years later.

After the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition ended, Class Zero of Donghai Academy went into seclusion, undergoing rigorous training and learning under Wu Changkong. Having seen the vast world, even Xie Xie, who loved to slack off the most, did not complain, and everyone made great progress.

Tang Wulin, who had the lowest soul power, reached level 28, while the others' soul power levels improved by about ten levels.

Tang Wulin's soul power was relatively low, so he didn't go to Shrek Academy with Zhuoshi. However, Zhuoshi often taught him his own unique skills on the Soul Network, so there wasn't much difference.

Inside the Spirit Pagoda laboratory.

Under the white light of the soul-guided lamp, Gula was staring at the data screen of the soul power monitoring device.

The soul power vortex formed by the three extreme attributes slowly rotated within his body, like three ferocious beasts tearing at each other, suppressing his cultivation speed to an outrageous degree.

Even with the aid of concentrated body-tempering elixir, his soul power only increased from level 37 to level 43 in three years—a breakthrough that would be considered a miracle by ordinary people, but for him it was as slow as a snail climbing the Tower of Babel.

"It's still too slow."

He tapped his fingers on the titanium alloy control panel, the numbers reflecting a faint blue light on the alloy wall.

At the current pace, it will take at least two years to break through to the Soul King level, at which point he can attempt to condense his first Soul Core. Correspondingly, he will possess Soul Power quality comparable to an ordinary Title Douluo, but this is far from sufficient.

Over the course of three years, he tried to return to the original timeline more than once, but the Silver Dragon King, as expected of a God King, was very sensitive to ripples in time and space. He stayed near the original timeline for eight months, leaving him with no way to make a move.

To avoid spacetime distortion, he cannot arbitrarily choose a point in time to return, at least not a point in time several months away from the original spacetime node.

In other words, he can't go back for the time being.

After several fruitless attempts, Gula had no choice but to occasionally vent his anger on Gu Yue by finding excuses to bully her. He could only focus on training, hoping to one day possess the power to directly confront the Silver Dragon King.

Fortunately, having fully merged with Celebi's essence, he is essentially a different kind of time-space legendary Pokémon with an infinite lifespan, so he doesn't need to worry about dying of old age in another dimension.

While Gula was training his body, he could also cultivate his soul power and spiritual power, giving him plenty of free time.

He calmed down and raised his blacksmith level to level six. He was only one level away from becoming a Soul Forger and a Level Seven Saint Craftsman. Once his soul power cultivation caught up, he could break through to the next level.

The other three secondary professions require too many books to read. Even with the clone soul skill born from the Golden Ancient Tree's spirit, Gula only raised the designer to level six, while the maker and repairman were still at level five.

Originally, the fourth soul ring should have been fused with the Fragrant Qiluo Immortal Item, but Gula asked it and it couldn't provide the clone soul skill that Gula wanted.

However, thanks to Gula's vigorous cultivation and the resources he received as a core disciple, the Golden Ancient Tree successfully advanced to a 99,000-year-old Soul Spirit. It was only one opportunity away from advancing to a 100,000-year-old Soul Spirit, but it was already enough to give birth to the Soul Skill he wanted.

Fourth Soul Skill: Tree Avatar.

Judging from the name, one might think that the Tree Avatar is a simple clone soul skill.

In fact, the fourth soul skill is still a spacetime soul skill, a mixture of the power of the Golden Ancient Tree and the spacetime power it acquired during its multiple attempts to return.

Its effect is to use plant-based soul beasts cultivated with the first and third soul skills as materials to summon Gula from the distorted timeline and create a real external avatar.

The clone can be seen as another Gura. In addition to the wood attribute that is required, it can also obtain other attributes based on materials and luck. It can also awaken a martial soul, cultivate and grow, and share memories and insights with Gura.

Gula sacrificed the offensive power of his soul skills, focusing entirely on enhancing the effects of his clones in order to accelerate his cultivation and learning. If the Golden Ancient Tree soul spirit were to advance to a 100,000-year soul spirit, the restriction that the clones must possess wood attributes would also be removed.

At that time, even if Gura doesn't say anything, no one will know that it was Gura's clone.

Such a powerful soul skill naturally has limitations. Each use requires pure spacetime power. Even after exploring the spacetime turbulence several times, Gula could only condense five clones.

The clones are the Giant Tree clone created with spiritual power during the battle with Gu Yue, and the four Soul Beast clones of the Killer Willow.

Gula doesn't need them to fight for the time being. As long as they can help with reading and studying, saving him countless hours of hard work, it won't be in vain that he spent so much effort to condense this soul ring.

Unlike ordinary clones, these avatars carry the possibility of distorting the timeline. Take the Giant Tree clone as an example: its main body is an aggregation of millions of plants in the virtual forest. In terms of avatars, this means that it will awaken a very pure and ultimate tree, making it the avatar closest to the main body of Gura.

Once the soul spirit advances and the avatar truly takes shape, the wooden body transforms into a flesh and blood form, and it may awaken its own original martial soul, possessing powerful wood attributes.

Having traversed fourteen years and possessing a system and two divine-level martial souls, Gula finally grasped a sliver of non-human power. Although avatars are not true life forms, creating avatars is, in a sense, the first step in creating life.

Gula was filled with excitement. He stood up and looked towards Shrek City. "Golden Tree, here I come."

……

The silver-white Soul-Guided Train sped along the tracks, the air conditioning inside the carriages dispelling the sweltering summer heat. Xie Xie slumped in the dark green seat, his silver hair whipping wildly in the wind.

He stared resentfully at the backs of his companions in the row in front of him. Tang Wulin and Gula had switched seats at some point and were now studying the Shrek City map with Xu Xiaoyan.

Xie Xie tapped the leather armrest with his fingers, the seat creaking softly as it rubbed against it. "You bunch of ungrateful bastards."

He muttered under his breath, then turned to meet Wu Changkong's icy blue eyes, immediately swallowing back the rest of his complaint.

"Dance teacher."

Tang Wulin suddenly turned around, the metal armrest he gripped so tightly it became slightly hot.

The boy's Adam's apple bobbed twice, and the thin layer of sweat on his palms seeped into the leather, leaving dark stains. "Is the Shrek Academy entrance exam... really that difficult?"

He subconsciously touched the storage soul tool on his chest, where a heavy card of gold soul coins was stored.

After three years of frugal living, plus the prize money from the Tianhai City Junior Soul Master Competition, I finally saved enough to break the second seal. But yesterday, I searched every herbal medicine shop in Donghai City and couldn't even find a trace of Dragon Blood Vine. I had no choice but to try my luck at the Shrek City auction house.

He has already asked Zhuoshi to keep an eye out for him, but he is still not sure if he can successfully enroll.

After all, that's Shrek Academy!
Tang Wulin was filled with unease.

The scenery outside the window rushed past, and sunlight streamed through Gu Yue's silver hair. She suddenly chuckled softly.

"Some people always say they can't give up, so why are they so nervous now?"

Her slender fingers twirled the ends of her hair, and her dark purple eyes glanced sideways. Three years was enough time for Gu Yue to adjust her mindset. Now, when facing Tang Wulin, she could treat him as a companion, ensuring that Tang San's divine sense in the shadows would not detect anything amiss.

(End of this chapter)