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Despite his grumblings, Su Wen still immediately followed Huo Tianyang to the Blazing Fire City Scholastic Palace.
At the Blazing Fire City Scholastic Palace, a large number of Soul Masters had already gathered both inside and outside the Hall of Seeking Knowledge. They waited in orderly lines, gazing at Su Wen with looks of reverence, eagerly anticipating the moment they would witness him opening the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning.
Su Wen had grown accustomed to this reception throughout his journey, but for Huo Tianyang, it was the first time witnessing such a spectacle in Blazing Fire City—the first time seeing so many Soul Masters worshiping a single individual with such fervor. Even at the Grand Finals of the Continental Soul Master Classic, the respect the countless spectators showed the Supreme Pontiff was likely no more than this, right?
The little fellow from back then had now become the Teacher of the Soul Masters of the Continent.
Huo Tianyang recalled the scene of Su Wen traveling and battling for experience, learning the Blazing Sun technique at Blazing Fire Academy. It had only been two and a half years since then.
"Let's begin."
Su Wen repeated the process of opening the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning.
The formation took shape, the thirty-six classrooms linked with the spatial core within the Hall of Seeking Knowledge, and the Soul Seal Registry successfully condensed.
"Alright everyone, you may now inject your soul power into the Soul Seal Registry to collect your respective Soul Seals."
"Many thanks, Master Wen!"
The gathered Soul Masters expressed their gratitude to Su Wen one after another before proceeding in an orderly fashion to collect their Soul Seals.
Su Wen took a deep breath and left the Hall of Seeking Knowledge, following Huo Tianyang to Blazing Fire Academy.
"Little Wen, you need to take care of your health too."
During the process of opening the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning, Huo Tianyang had sensed it—Su Wen's condition seemed rather poor.
It wasn't that there was a physical problem with his body, but Huo Tianyang noticed that Su Wen's spirit seemed exhausted, as if he were shouldering a heavy burden.
Su Wen shook his head, signaling that Huo Tianyang didn't need to worry.
This was a normal situation.
All the Soul Seal Registries were constructed based on a part of his Martial Soul. This meant that all the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning spaces relied on his Martial Soul as their carrier, and the numerous projections within them all originated from his visualization of Heaven and Earth.
Although Su Wen used the technique of condensing fire seeds to complete the separation and materialization of the Soul Seal Registries—allowing them to absorb external energy to maintain operation—the source ultimately remained with him.
Moreover, for the sake of eventually opening the virtual world, Su Wen would not allow these Soul Seal Registries to leave his control.
Therefore, he was essentially maintaining control over the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning in dozens of Scholastic Palaces simultaneously, at all times.
Although it consumed a great deal of mental energy, Su Wen felt this also served as a form of tempering for his spiritual power. As long as he persevered, once the virtual world was successfully established and these burdens were lifted, his spiritual power would inevitably surge forward, breaking through certain bottlenecks in a single leap.
"Uncle Yang, this is the Myriad Arts Manual. It consists of enhanced recording pages condensed from my own insights. They can temporarily grant the target the soul skills recorded within them.
"I have separately recorded the four most basic soul skills of the Blazing Sun onto these pages. Give them to Wushuang and Huo Wu. Experiencing these soul skills a few more times might help them master these four skills in the form of self-created soul skills.
"When that time comes, seek me out again. By then, I should have perfected this ability enough to record the Blazing Sun itself into them."
Huo Tianyang took a deep breath and accepted the thick stack of pages from Su Wen's hands.
"I thank you on behalf of Wushuang and Little Wu."
Su Wen waved his hand, indicating it was the least he could do.
The Blazing Sun was the first domain Su Wen had mastered. It had served as a reference for his development of the World Within the Book Domain, as well as numerous other domains.
In fact, it wasn't just a reference; the framework of Su Wen's World Within the Book Domain was actually based on the Blazing Sun Domain. However, the basic soul skills within it, like the Ring of Fire, had been replaced by Su Wen. Of course, he had also incorporated many other structural soul skills, making the entire World Within the Book more complete.
"Uncle Yang, since you're going to serve as an Elder of the Scholastic Palace after you retire anyway, consider these an advance on your stipend."
Huo Tianyang laughed. "You brat, you still remember trying to rope Uncle Yang into the Scholastic Palace."
"Hehehe, after all, being able to create a domain skill as a Soul Douluo means you are very strong."
"Hmph, of course. That guy Xiao Zhan just had the advantage of some lucky opportunities," Huo Tianyang huffed.
He would never admit that losing to Xiao Zhan was a problem with the Soul Master himself.
"Hahaha, indeed. Uncle Zhan being able to hold an absolute advantage among peers of the same level is largely due to the quality of his soul power."
Huo Tianyang indicated that he liked the sound of that.
"So, Uncle Yang, although you haven't retired yet, you can still join the Scholastic Palace now as an Elder. Since the Palace has established so many branches anyway, while you are overseeing the Academy, you might as well oversee the Blazing Fire City Scholastic Palace too."
Huo Tianyang did not hesitate and accepted Su Wen's proposal.
"Hehe, since you're already overseeing one area, how about you—"
"Hmm?" Huo Tianyang sensed Su Wen was about to push his luck.
"Don't worry, Uncle Yang. I'm just giving you a heads-up. For now, you only need to oversee the Blazing Fire City Scholastic Palace. But when the construction of the Scholastic Palace enters its final phase, I want to invite you to oversee the entire Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning."
"Hmm?" What does that mean?
Huo Tianyang looked at Su Wen in confusion.
Oversee the entire Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning?
"With the Scholastic Palaces scattered across various regions, they are ultimately difficult to manage. With so many separate Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning spaces, it would be easy for local hegemons to seize control of the Palaces, turning them into private institutions for their own forces. This must be avoided," Su Wen explained.
Hearing Su Wen say this, Huo Tianyang felt very relieved.
It seemed Su Wen had indeed considered this problem.
"So, how do you plan to solve it?" Even as he asked, Huo Tianyang already had an inkling of the answer in his heart.
"Merge the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning in every Scholastic Palace to create a single space that connects all the Palaces on the continent. Soul Masters will not only be able to enter a shared Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning to study but also communicate across cities and regions."
Su Wen looked at Huo Tianyang, a faint smile on his face.
"Uncle Yang, what do you think of my idea?"
Huo Tianyang had already been sucking in a breath of cold air for quite a while.
He had only thought of bringing all the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning spaces under centralized control, but he hadn't imagined merging them completely into a single space connecting all Scholastic Palaces.
Once this was achieved, just as Su Wen said, anyone on the entire continent—as long as they were at a Scholastic Palace—could enter the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning to communicate.
This was more than just breaking the barriers of knowledge.
Su Wen was about to break the barrier of distance.
Break the restrictions of geography.
Break far, far too many restrictions...
At the same time, Huo Tianyang understood what Su Wen meant by overseeing the entire Scholastic Palace's Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning.
It was exactly what it sounded like.
When the time came, the Scholastic Palace would have only one Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning space, and the management of this space would inevitably require someone of significant weight to oversee it.
Suddenly, Huo Tianyang felt a wave of pressure.
He was, after all, "only" a Soul Douluo.
Given the strength and influence of the Scholastic Palace, entrusting the task of overseeing its core—the Mountain of Books and Sea of Learning space—to a Title Douluo would not be excessive in the slightest.
Yet, Su Wen still intended to entrust this task to him.
"Sigh, it seems I really ought to cultivate properly," Huo Tianyang thought, a sense of urgency rising in his heart.
(End of Chapter)