TDG : rise of shadow army

After injecting his soul force into the soul crystal, a few luminous points appeared floating within, but the soul crystal remained mostly dark.

"I suddenly feel relieved, Nie Li's soul force is much weaker than mine!" Lu Piao blinked and laughed.

Du Ze shot him a sharp glance. Xiao Ning'er gave him a mocking look, and Chan Wei didn't even acknowledge it aside from a slight chuckle. Nie Li didn't care. The amount of soul force wasn't of great importance to him. At this moment, Nie Li focused his attention on his soul realm.

A red soul realm, fragmented and chaotic forms, without attributes.

"A soul realm without attributes and in disorder," Nie Li bitterly smiled. "All soul realms are strong, but if I had to say which type of soul realm was the weakest, it would be the unattributed soul realm. That's because it has no special characteristics, and its form is not condensed. Originally, my starting soul realm was like this, but after practicing various other cultivation techniques, it became even more unruly."

"No wonder that even after spending so much time training with the Book of Temporal Demon Spirits, I was still unable to break through. So, this was the root of the problem."

Soul realms without attributes are the most unstable and the most susceptible to change. Nie Li delved deep into his thoughts. If there were cultivation techniques suited for unattributed soul realms, then there were only three options:

The Celestial God Cultivation Technique

The War God Cultivation Technique

The Void God Cultivation Technique

Among these, the Celestial God Technique was the most profound, the War God Technique was the most dominant, and the Void God Technique was the most secretive.

Based on future potential, the Celestial God Technique had the highest ceiling, but it was also the most difficult to practice. With an unattributed soul realm, training in any type of cultivation technique would be significantly slower than for others.

However, if one could successfully cultivate using the Celestial God Technique, it would be the most powerful overall, as it shared various properties similar to unattributed soul realms.

When practicing normal cultivation techniques, a soul realm could only hold one demon spirit. If one obtained a stronger demon spirit, the previous one would have to be replaced.

But with the Celestial God Technique, one could contain seven different demon spirits, each with a different attribute. Every time one fused with a demon spirit, their strength would increase exponentially.

Gathering seven powerful demon spirits could elevate one's cultivation and combat abilities to an unimaginable, terrifying level.

Only Chan Wei's technique, the Sovereign God of Darkness, could compare—allowing him to wield two main spirits while also commanding an army of others.

He hesitated for a while. Although the training speed was not fast—much slower than that of Du Ze, Lu Piao, and the couple in front of him—once training and cultivation were successfully completed, the Celestial God Cultivation Technique was undoubtedly the strongest in the end!

Nie Li memorized the chants and began practicing the most fundamental steps. In the future, he might require the support of a large quantity of elixirs. He distributed a set of nourishing pills to everyone except Chan Wei, who told him that they did not work for him.

Seeing Nie Li begin his training, Du Ze, Lu Piao, and Xiao Ning'er—who were present in the room—also started practicing after witnessing Chan Wei cultivate first. His scene was bizarre yet awe-inspiring, as an entire battalion of mini wolves and mini monkeys bowed before him while his entire form was covered in a thin azure-blue aura.

They began practicing their own cultivation techniques, absorbing the energy of heaven and earth to strengthen their soul realms. The deeper they trained, the more they realized how mysterious and profound these cultivation techniques were. Four people had their soul realms rapidly rotating, surging, and expanding.

Whether it was Du Ze, Lu Piao, or Xiao Ning'er, their soul force was improving tremendously. Only Nie Li and Chan Wei did not progress as rapidly. The rate at which their friends advanced was astonishingly fast.

After all, the cultivation techniques given to them by Nie Li were exceptionally powerful, making their practice speed ten to even a hundred times faster than normal cultivation techniques.

Nie Li practiced the Celestial God Technique; at the moment, he wasn't aiming for rapid cultivation but preferred to build a solid foundation step by step. His soul realm was like a surging sea, constantly changing shape. As waves of soul force surged and receded, Nie Li felt his soul force had already strengthened significantly.

The first stage of practicing soul force was reaching the level where heart and soul become one. With the continuous improvement of his soul force, his soul realm surged endlessly, gradually releasing a cyan glow.

Nie Li and his group remained in the library, fully dedicated to cultivation. Only Chan Wei left after the first hour, choosing to train differently once he felt his shadows had been fully refined by his technique.

One day, two days… As time passed, Nie Li's soul force increased from 5 to over 30.

This speed was simply incredible. If Shen Xiu were to discover that Nie Li's cultivation speed had reached such a terrifying pace, what kind of thoughts would she have?

However, compared to his companions, Nie Li's speed was still considered slow.

The cultivation speeds of Du Ze, Lu Piao, and Xiao Ning'er were even faster than that of Nie Li. Du Ze was very close to reaching Bronze 1-star, while Xiao Ning'er had already surpassed that level. One could only imagine how much their soul force would have increased after completing a full stage of their cultivation.

For Nie Li, reaching Bronze 1-star in two months was nothing. In fact, he could even reach 2 or 3 stars within that time! During the two-month test, what kind of expression would Shen Xiu have when she saw the results?

At this moment, in the Apprentice Fighter Class, the seats of Nie Li and all the top candidates remained empty, except for Shen Yue, who was behaving atrociously due to Ye Ziyun's absence. Without her around, he had no reason to maintain his facade.

As Shen Xiu continued teaching, her gaze swept over the six empty seats, and she sneered inwardly.

"Nie Li is probably struggling bitterly in his training, isn't he? But so what? The most important thing is that the patriarch scolded me harshly for failing to report that stupid commoner, which led to all these problems!"

If Nie Li had a green or higher-ranked soul realm, then maybe he would have had a chance to succeed. But Nie Li had a red soul realm! According to her, he was doomed to fail!

"Nie Li dared to contradict me publicly in class—this will be his price to pay!"

But then, her mind drifted to Chan Wei's face.

"That boy... Elder Ye Shuo seems to be interested in him, which means his future will likely be promising."

Shen Xiu let out a small chuckle before continuing her lecture with unwavering arrogance:

"Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, azure, and indigo—these are the seven different soul realms, with red being the lowest rank. Over hundreds of years of Glory City's history, only a handful of people with red soul realms have ever reached Silver Rank Demon Spiritualist!" she declared with contempt.

"Unless one encounters extremely rare opportunities, those with red soul realms have a limit to how much soul force they can contain—600 at most! The higher one tries to go, the harder it becomes!"

Upon hearing Shen Xiu's words, the commoner students in the classroom showed disheartened expressions.

"So our soul force can only go up to 600? That means unless we are extraordinarily lucky, the highest we can ever reach is Bronze 5-star?"

Those with red soul realms couldn't help but feel deeply frustrated.

"Some things are decided by the heavens at birth. We must submit to our fate. Some people are born privileged, while others are born as lowly commoners!" Shen Xiu sneered, mocking them openly.

Hearing her words, the commoner students clenched their fists tightly, their nails digging into their palms. Some were so furious that their palms nearly bled.

Even though they were angry at Shen Xiu's words, most of them endured it silently. Not everyone had the courage to challenge the teacher and risk expulsion like Nie Li had. They didn't want to—and didn't dare to—but deep down, their respect for Nie Li grew stronger.

What Nie Li didn't realize was that Shen Xiu's constant humiliation of commoner students had actually ignited a powerful determination within them.

Almost all the commoner students hoped that Nie Li would win, so that he could humiliate Shen Xiu in return.

Nie Li's actions had won their hearts.

Over time, the story of Nie Li boldly slapping the Sacred Family's reputation and his bet with Shen Xiu had spread like wildfire. Nearly everyone at the Holy Orchid Institute was discussing the incident.

"He actually said he would increase his soul force from 5 to 100 in just two months! He clearly doesn't know his place!"

"Yeah, even a super genius with a cyan soul realm might not be able to achieve that!"

"I really hope Nie Li wins. I hate that woman!"

"Me too, but… his chances of winning are slim."

70% of the students at the Holy Orchid Institute were commoners. Nie Li had offended Shen Xiu and the Sacred Family to stand up for them, making him their champion.

Many people already disliked the Sacred Family, but some noble children still disapproved of Nie Li.

"Even if the Sacred Family was in the wrong, they are still one of the Three Major Families of Glory City. Nie Li's actions show complete disrespect for authority!"

To them, Nie Li was nothing but a disgrace to noble blood.

"Some people just love to stand alongside commoners—what can you do?"

However, just as they were mocking Nie Li, their bodies froze in place when Chan Wei entered the room.

He had just returned from the hunting grounds, and his aura was now far stronger than before.

As he swept his cold, piercing gaze over the group of nobles, they immediately stepped aside, not daring to block his path.

With an icy tone, Chan Wei spoke:

"Do not insult my brother or the commoners. Know your place."

His eyes gleamed with cold authority.

"Without your family, you are nothing. You should focus on improving yourselves so that you actually have something that belongs to you. Because when your family loses its status, all you'll have left is your ego—and let me tell you something… your ego will be useless when you're standing in front of a horde of Demon Beasts."

After saying this, Chan Wei walked away, unbothered.

The nobles dared not whisper behind his back. Instead, they took his words to heart.

Throughout Glory City's history, many noble families had collapsed after the death of their strongest experts.

Some of them, realizing the harsh reality, rushed off to train without hesitation, abandoning their previous arrogance.

Their fragile, hedonistic way of life had been shattered by a simple reminder of reality.

Later that afternoon, as the day went on, most students at the Holy Orchid Institute left for lunch

The library was extremely quiet. Nie Li and the group ate together and then returned to the library to continue their practice. On the way, they ran into Chan Wei, who joined them, with Xiao Ning'er clinging to his arm.

"Nie Li, my soul force has already reached 145 points! At my current speed, I should be able to break through to Bronze 2-star in a week!" Du Ze whispered, his voice filled with uncontrollable excitement. This cultivation speed was beyond anything he had ever imagined, especially thanks to the pills he had received.

"Not bad," Nie Li laughed. This speed was well within his expectations.

"Brother Chan Wei, how did your training go?"

"The vice principal didn't allow me to go deeper into the hunting grounds, so I returned to Area 2 with the monkeys and wolves. The only good thing is that I found a wolf pup with a different color—it seemed to be mutated with Yin energy since its fur shifted between black and blue, with some touches of azure in its mane," Chan Wei explained before continuing.

"I didn't kill it, but I took it with me and left it in my room with a shadow wolf to watch over it. Other than that, I reached Silver rank after a complete massacre. I'm exhausted and haven't really slept yet," Chan Wei said all at once.

"Congratulations! I also reached Bronze 2-star while you were away," said Xiao Ning'er.

"Congratulations! Can you show me that wolf later?" Nie Li asked.

"You should go sleep, brother. Maybe Sister Ning'er could accompany you?" Lu Piao teased. However, Xiao Ning'er didn't react, having grown used to Lu Piao's comments, knowing he was just joking. But Chan Wei blushed slightly, not realizing right away that it was a joke, and he stole a quick glance at the young girl.

They all continued strengthening their soul forces. The speed at which they were progressing made it feel less like a goal and more like living in a dream.

"We need to get more elixirs. With more elixirs, your cultivation speed will skyrocket!" Nie Li said.

Hearing Nie Li's words, Du Ze and the others were shocked. Indeed, they had only taken a small amount of pills, and if they could consume elixirs regularly, just how fast would their cultivation speed become? But where could they get more elixirs?

"I've thought about that, brother. I have another batch for you, but could you take a look at these inscription patterns? I found them in a book and modified them a bit, mainly adding some dark attack engravings, but I'm not sure if they're functional or not," Chan Wei asked, handing over a vial full of pills. He had also started buying Purple Mist herbs with every trip he made selling loot. He had purchased two interspatial rings and filled them to the brim but hadn't yet estimated the total quantity.

"You're interested in engravings?" Nie Li asked as he examined the scrolls Chan Wei handed him while storing the pills in his own storage ring.

"Let's just say that when Shen Xiu gave her lecture, the inscription patterns seemed easy for me to understand. When I checked other books, I realized I could clearly comprehend all the inscription patterns without even understanding the language. So I did some experiments. If they don't work, then it was just an illusion," Chan Wei explained.

Nie Li inspected the scrolls, raising his eyebrows. "Brother, you really have talent! These patterns are both complex and functional, but I can't figure out what materials were used to engrave them. All of these scrolls are Silver-grade, but they only seem to enchant weapons, except for one designed for armor. They appear to be completely new as well, so you'll be able to name them and cite the books that inspired you." He then looked up at Chan Wei.

"What materials were used?"

"It's normal that you can't find them, brother. They were engraved directly with demon spirit energy. I dissolved some shadows I wasn't using into the engravings themselves," Chan Wei declared proudly before continuing.

"Unfortunately, I can only engrave Yin or dark element patterns using this method. Other elements still require materials, and I didn't have money to waste before confirming their usefulness." He then took out another set of scrolls, where the patterns were simply written with a pen.

The rest of the group looked at the two boys with admiration, and Xiao Ning'er admired Chan Wei even more for his talent. Since these inscription patterns were completely new, registering them would make him famous.

"I think brother has a great talent for this. You should register them at the Inscriptionist Association, but through someone else. Why not let Sister Ning'er handle it? She could say that a master gave them to her but wishes to remain anonymous. That way, Sister would gain a higher status in her family. What do you all think?"

"I agree! Chan Wei, you should start accumulating contribution points by creating a false master and also naming some of your creations. Please accept," Xiao Ning'er urged, taking Chan Wei's hands in hers.

"Alright, I'll name some of them, but I need brother to tell me which materials to consider for non-Yin scrolls," Chan Wei said before naming the scrolls and noting down their various effects as well as the sources that inspired him.

Except for the scrolls he had created himself using his shadows, which reached a maximum rank of Silver except for the defensive one—easily Gold-grade due to the complexity of the runes and the number of shadows used in its creation—all the other scrolls were comfortably Gold-grade. Nie Li assured him that he could craft them as long as he had the materials, so Chan Wei immediately provided another hundred thousand demon spirit coins.

Meanwhile, Du Ze, Lu Piao, and Xiao Ning'er copied a version of each scroll so that Xiao Ning'er could submit them under the name of her "master."