Mu Tian replied, "22 years."

Tang Wulin suggested, "You should go out and see the world; I think it'll benefit you. I'm not asking you to leave the military, but I think you should take a long break and go somewhere that can truly help you improve. You have a very good foundation, and if you have someone to properly guide you, you'll at least have a chance to become a Hyper Douluo in the future."

"Can I really?" Mu Tian was a soldier first and foremost, but he was also a Soul Master, and all Soul Masters wanted to become more powerful.

It had been six years since Mu Tian had become a Soul Douluo, and he was still steadily progressing, but progress had become very slow for him. According to his mentors in the military, he was at an age where it would be difficult for him to even progress to the Titled Douluo level, and that the Hyper Douluo level was completely out of his reach at this point.

As such, he was naturally ecstatic to hear that he still had a chance to reach that level.

"Where should I go?" Mu Tian asked in a slightly urgent manner.

Tang Wulin smiled, and replied, "Shrek Academy."

On the competition platform, Lu Yuxing was the first to spring into action.

He didn't appear to have released any soul rings, but his body suddenly disintegrated into yellow sand. As more and more yellow sand appeared, the grains of sand began to revolve on the spot, quickly forming a vortex that was rapidly expanding, and reached Qiangu Zhangting virtually in the blink of an eye.

Qiangu Zhangting rose up into the air, and nine soul rings appeared around his body, consisting of six blacks and three reds. Just his soul ring configuration alone brought a wave of cheers and applause from the spectators. Even though this wasn't the first time the spectators were seeing this, they were still in awe whenever they witnessed Qiangu Zhangting's exemplary soul ring configuration.

A long staff appeared in Qiangu Zhangting's grasp; this was his martial soul, the Coiling Dragon Staff.

It was said that the martial soul of the Qiangu Family was once just an ordinary staff. However, one of their ancestors stumbled upon a hibernating giant dragon. The dragon awakened and was about to devour the man, but it could sense that its lifespan was about to come to an end, so it made a pact with the Qiangu Family, transforming into a dragon soul that injected itself into the man's martial soul, hoping to extend its own life through the heritage of the martial soul.

This was only a rumor, but it was a very believable one as all members of the Qiangu Family had innate full soul power as long as they could awaken a martial soul. Once they reached the Soul Elder level, they would be able to summon a dragon soul in battle, and upon becoming a Titled Douluo, they would even be able to summon a true dragon to assist them in battle.

If it weren't for such a powerful heritage, there was no way that the Qiangu Family would've become the most prominent family in the Spirit Pagoda.

At this moment, Qiangu Zhangting was hovering in mid-air with his staff in his hand, and the weapon truly presented quite a stunning sight to behold.

The entire Coiling Dragon Staff was of a shimmering silver color with a silver giant dragon coiled around it. The dragon appeared to be locked into place, but it was extremely life-like, and its head was situated at the top of the staff, where faint dragon's roars rang out incessantly.

Yellow sand quickly spread over the entire competition platform, transforming it into a barren desert, and Lu Yuxing was nowhere to be seen.

Generally speaking, the opponents that Soul Masters wanted to face the least were those who could disappear right after releasing their martial soul. There was no way to ascertain how many soul rings such Soul Masters had, nor which soul skills they were using. Even if one were significantly more powerful than such an opponent, it was still often the case that a grueling battle would follow, and all opponents of this nature were generally adept at escape techniques, so it definitely wouldn't be easy to catch them.

Columns of yellow sand erupted into the heavens like a series of tornados, instantly forming nine sand pillars that converged toward Qiangu Zhangting from all directions.

Qiangu Zhangting held onto his Coiling Dragon Staff with his right hand, and in that instant, he seemed to have expanded significantly in size. He swept his staff through the air, unleashing layers of staff projections that spread through the air all around him, and a string of dull thumps rang out as the nine pillars of sand were eradicated in unison by his Coiling Dragon Staff.

However, the sand didn't simply scatter as a result. Instead, it was swept up by a gust of fierce wind and surged toward Qiangu Zhangting as an inescapable sandstorm. Hidden within the sandstorm were all types of weapons formed by sand, creating a lethal arsenal.

The staff projections converged, and they seemed to possess boundless suction force, drawing in the entire sandstorm and all of the sand weapons hidden within it. 

Tang Wulin could see that Qiangu Zhangting had improved significantly compared to the time when they had faced Dark Bell, as expected of someone who had the full support of a super organization like the Spirit Pagoda.

The yellow sand was swept up by the Coiling Dragon Staff, and in the next instant, a thunderous dragon's roar rang out as dazzling silver light erupted out of Qiangu Zhangting's body. The silver dragon on his staff seemed to have instantly sprung to life, and a massive silver dragon's head appeared above Qiangu Zhangting before releasing a silver breath.

The breath was completely translucent, as if it were formed by countless shards of ice, and as it surged through the air, all of the yellow sand that was swept up by the Coiling Dragon Staff quickly disappeared.

Qiangu Zhangting's eyes also turned a silver color as he threw his head back and let loose a long cry. He then swept his Coiling Dragon Staff downward, and the breath released by the silver dragon's head instantly fused into the staff. One end of the Coiling Dragon Staff was held in his hand, while the other end rapidly expanded before being slammed heavily toward the ground down below.

The descending staff resembled a massive bolt of silver lightning, and it crashed directly down upon the center of the competition platform.

"Boom!"

Silver light erupted in all directions, and all of the yellow sand that came into contact with it quickly disappeared. As the silver light continued to spread, a figure was forced to stumble out of thin air in a sorry display.

Most of the yellow sand on the ground had vanished, and Qiangu Zhangting descended from above, sweeping his Coiling Dragon Staff through the air once again, releasing a string of staff projections that came crashing down toward the figure that had just emerged.

"Boom, boom, boom!" Lu Yuxing defended valiantly, but the staff projections were filled with explosive power, and he was forced back in retreat, quickly reaching the protective barrier on one side of the competition platform.

"I concede!" Lu Yuxing yelled.

The staff projections were withdrawn, and Qiangu Zhangting was looking completely unflustered as he stood at the center of the competition platform.

In the distance, Lu Yuxing was looking quite pale. The yellow sand that had been eradicated by the Coiling Dragon Staff was actually a part of his soul power, so losing so much of his sand in such a short time had been extremely taxing for him.

Even though he was also a Titled Douluo, he was made to look completely defenseless in the face of Qiangu Zhangting.

It was clear that Qiangu Zhangting's victory had made more of a statement than Tang Wulin's had as his opponent was a Titled Douluo. Throughout the entire battle, Lu Yuxing didn't have any opportunities and was dominated by the Coiling Dragon Staff from start to finish.

Qiangu Zhangting gave Lu Yuxing a nod of acknowledgment, then cast a mocking gaze toward Tang Wulin, as if to flaunt the fact that he had just crushed a Titled Douluo, while Tang Wulin had merely defeated a Soul Douluo.

Tang Wulin's brows were slightly furrowed in contemplation. Was this Lu Yuxing really that weak? Lu Yuxing was his opponent for the next round; if this was all that Lu Yuxing was capable of, then it should be an easy match.

Tang Wulin didn't linger any longer and turned to depart, followed closely by Mu Tian.

"What do you think of Qiangu Zhangting?" Mu Tian asked.

Tang Wulin replied, "He's not bad, but still not enough to defeat me."

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