Disclaimer!
Besides my original characters, the other characters do not belong to me (I'll name them when they appear). I am not making any money off this story, and am merely writing Fan Fiction.
I hope you enjoy Soul Land: Generation Talents Journey :)
They continued around Star Dou Forest for another few days, during that time, both Bai Shu, and Dan Guo had gotten their spirit rings. Although they had seen several spirit beasts that suited both Qi Long and Lan Jing Hua, Cao Li Yang had insisted each time to let them go instead. "For your spirits, it should be something different," He had said. Finally, on the fifth day in the forest, they stumbled across a spirit beast that their Teacher Cao approved of for Qi Long: a dragon type of spirit beast. "Do you remember what I told you about dragon spirit beasts?" Cao Li Yang asked after the last of the spirit beast's life was extinguished. A spirit master would have to absorb the spirit ring in two hours before it disappeared so he was in no rush, rather he would quiz the children on their new knowledge. "Yes," Qi Long affirminated. "As they are a dragon, they are quite powerful. There are not several branches of direct dragon spirit beasts, but this one is one of the less rare ones. Nonetheless, a distant relative of a dragon or direct relative, both are strong,"
"Good," Cao Li Yang gave a nod. "Known as the top attacking spirit is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, ranked 3rd among the upper 3 sects. The reason why it is considered the most powerful attacking spirit is because all spirit rings for it must be from dragon-based spirit beasts."
"So Teacher," Qi Long thought for a moment. "Are you considering my spirit to be developed similarly?"
Cao Li Yang gave another nod. "Yes, this method will give great benefits, of course, there will be slight alterations such as the type of dragon spirit beasts you kill. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's method for a spirit ring usually focuses on attacking power, does anyone remember what pure system spirit masters are?"
Several hands rose up. This time, Cao Li Yang asked Bai Shu to answer. "It's when a spirit master focuses on only one attribute." He answered, smiling. "They become great at that attribute, but also lack several other traits for their spirit,"
"Correct. This method will sometimes veer too much towards this pure system strategy. Although undoubtedly having its benefits, if one is alone without others, it could be more of a burden. There are several first-rate spirits you may encounter, among them, some of them may have elemental attributes which could be stronger compared to others. Zu Que, for example, your flame is incredibly strong. If you continue absorbing fire-type spirit beasts, along with other abilities, your flame itself will be stronger as a side-effect. However, you must be careful when you select these spirit beasts. If they all give you only fire-based attacks, then it could be troublesome." He then turned to Qi Long who was still crouched next to the spirit beast's dead body. "Xiao Qi, you start absorbing."
Qi Long sat cross-legged. He imitated the hand actions Cao Li Yang had shown them, then started to draw the spirit ring to himself with his own spirit power, a yellow spirit ring appearing around him as he continued the absorption process. "Although we haven't finished this trip, so far the benefits we reaped are very good," Cao Li Yang remarked.
Gu Yan Ling snickered. "We should seize this chance as well,"
"Gu Yan Ling," Dan Guo warned. "Do not think of doing anything. Although outer help cannot be given, we should still not interfere,"
"Relax, of course, I wouldn't hurt him,"
Suddenly, there was a rustle of noise coming from the north. Immediately, the 6 other children got into a defensive position near Qi Long, sharp daggers in their hands. Although they had the protection of Cao Li Yang, he had warned them that he would still probably let the spirit beast attack them to let them practise their reactions as well as their awareness. He looked to the side with pride, then said. "Don't worry, it's another spirit master." Unless there was some grudge or they were fighting for spirit beasts, most spirit masters would have no ill intent towards one another.
As Cao Li Yang had said, coming from the direction were a small group of people rather than a spirit beast. It was made of two adults who seemed to be in their forties, along with 4 children. "Ah," The female adult of the two said. She had short brown hair and was wearing red clothing that the rest of her group wore. "Another group of spirit masters. Excuse me, can we rest with you? We ran out of food these past couple of days while hunting, could you share a few of your rations?"
Cao Li Yang smiled, moving away to give them more room to join them. "Of course. Children gather some timber and twigs so we can start a fire, it'll give us some light," Not long after, there was a small group of timber and small branches on the floor surrounded by a circle of rocks. Just as Cao Li Yang was about to start the fire, the woman extended an arm stopping him and looked behind her to one of the red-clothed children. He was an average-looking boy around Qi Long's age, probably a few years older. Immediately, behind him, a fiery silhouette of a dragon appeared. Just a flick of its tail on the twigs started a small flame, lighting around their surroundings. The other adult of the two spread some power in a circle around them all. This power was called Snake Repellent Powder. Although some spirit beasts would fear fire, there was also an amount that was attracted to it. Snake Repellent Power would help drive away spirit beasts, though it didn't always work on higher-level ones. Nonetheless, it was useful to have on, and it would also keep out bugs and such.
From the side, Qi Long suddenly stood up. "Teacher Cao, I finished absorbing,"
"Teacher?" The woman gave a curt laugh. "You must be a spirit master academy as well," Behind her, next to the red-clothed boy was a slightly younger girl. Her short red hair was styled into a pixie cut, and she had quite a nice-looking face, however, this face was slightly scrunched up. Earlier they had naturally seen the colour of the spirit ring, along with the fact that there were no others floating around him while he absorbed. This young man seemed to be around her age, perhaps only a year or two younger, but he had only just absorbed his first spirit ring?
Cao Li Yang and the others naturally understood their disdain-filled reaction, but at most chose to ignore it. After all, there were plenty of people like that in the world, and the criticism was of a young group that had children. If they reacted very strongly it wouldn't be very sensible. However, among them, if you were to single out the two most hot-tempered it'd be Gu Yan Ling and Bai Shu. Gu Yan Ling as a person would never care too much about these sorts of scenarios, her way of thinking similar to the rest of the group, but Bai Shu was another situation. Immediately he jumped up, his face full of indignation. "Hey! Stop looking at us like that!"
"Like what?!" The young girl demanded, she herself had a very fiery temper. Being from a prestigious school, while also regarded as an extraordinary talent thus being treated exceptionally, she couldn't help but feel angry. Who did this boy think he was? He certainly looked several years younger than the other. If his companion had such poor skill, then she doubted he would be any better. How could she stand by and watch him run his mouth? "If you want to do something about it, then let's fight!"
In the beginning, Qi Long had been planning to just let this event slide over. After all, Cao Li Yang himself hadn't seen the necessity to act. However, with Bai Shu's personality, he knew a fight would break out between the two. As the eldest in their group of 7, they all saw him as their big brother, and he regarded this role as very important to him. Before Cao Li Yang had brought him to the village, he never really had any friends. Other than working, his mother would oftentimes send him out, telling him to find other children to play with. However, because of his background, he would often get bullied. If he relented he'd cause as his mother had said: Unnecessary trouble if they beat you then let them beat you. Men shouldn't be spineless. In normal situations, you should fight back, but this time let them beat you. Don't tell me you're afraid of some pain?
When Cao Li Yang took him, he had given him affections that he didn't know could exist. Although there was only Lan Jing Hua at first, the more time he spent with everyone, the happier he became. Being their Big brother was something more than a role to him. Qi Long stood up. "Young miss, it is true my brother spoke harshly first, however you have to admit that this request for a fight is unfair. You seem to be about my age, even older, that's about double Little brother Bai's age. How shameful is that?"
The young girl stood up from her seat, her face contorted in anger as she clenched her fists. "Who are you calling shameful?!"
Gu Yan Ling laughed bitterly, her nose wrinkled. "The ugly wretch in front of us is who," Her mouth had never really been kind, and she had learnt several nasty words and other insults early on. Cao Li Yang had some suspicions about the relations between the 7 of them had always been close, if you provoked one of them, you'd be attacked with the firepower of all. This was something that was fact from the moment they all became a team of spirit masters of the Little Village Academy, and even more so in the future.
"What did you say?" The average-looking boy who had the flame dragon spirit rose to his feet as well along with the other students. "Then let's fight!" To the side, Lan Jing Hua and Ning Tian Cheng both looked nervously at Cao Li Yang who had not made a sound throughout the whole conversation, so much so that even Dan Guo had slid her eyes over to look at him, a hint of worry in her pupils. Cao Li Yang had a completely apathetic look on his face, other than the slow blinks, one would probably think he was a statue. "Teacher," Ning Tian Cheng couldn't help but say.
The female adult kicked up her feet and gave a laugh. "How interesting. They always say young people are hot-headed and impulsive. This Mister, what is the name of your school? This one is Cai Xiao Li, that one over there is my brother, Cai Fu. We are from one of the Five Elemental Schools, Blazing Academy."
"Ah, so it's the eminent Blazing Academy." When conversing with Cai Xiao Li, Cao Li Yang's original poker face melted away as he revealed his normal distinguished and gentle smile.
"Teacher Cao," Lan Jing Hua asked. "What's the Blazing Academy?" Out of the seven of them, it was Lan Jing Hua who was most ignorant of what could be considered well-known knowledge. Even when they just started all living together, the rest of them had all known of the concept of spirit masters, but she had never heard of the term until that moment. "The Blazing Academy as Miss Cai had mentioned, is one of the Five Elemental Schools who are five different closely related schools that each house students specializing in one element: God Wind Academy, Thunderclap Academy, Blazing Academy, Sky Water Academy and the Elephant Armoured Academy. In this order, their signature elements are Wind, Thunder, Fire, Water, and Earth," Cao Li Yang turned back to Cai Xiao Li. "This one is Cao Li Yang from Little Village Academy,"
"Little Village Academy?" She let out a light scoff. "Mister Cao, how about we let our students battle it out? It's good for others to gain this experience of fighting one of the Five Elemental Academies. Besides, it's obvious that your students first provoked mine, we can't let this flame keep burning. How about this? If you manage to win then we'll forget about this little argument, as for if we win," She gave a sigh, and tilted her head back slightly. "Well, we'll be magnanimous and still let go of this argument,"
"You scumbag!" The entire group of seven had a furious expression, but it was Gu Yan Ling's whose mouth was the quickest to first speak. "You came here to take some of our food, and we kindly let you stay. Before we even shared a meal, you made snide expressions towards us! Clearly, you are just looking down on us! The way you-"
"Yan Ling," Cao Li Yang's tone was serious. In the end, no matter how obstinate any one of the 7 were on a subject, if they were addressed in such a manner by their Teacher Cao, it would make them always think twice about continuing. Cao Li Yang turned to the Cai Xiao Li. "Please forgive my student's sudden burst. I agree with this battle, how many people should we put up?"
In this chapter, we have the appearance of characters from the original story! The 4 children from the Blazing Academy are from the original novel, though the teachers are people I made.