Chapter 367: The Enormous Gap
During the Soul Hunting Operation, although Salas had achieved no merit while commanding the army, there had still been four Titled Douluo above him.
Even though the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan had not been destroyed, the responsibility for the failure of the Soul Hunting Operation would mostly fall on those four Titled Douluo. Salas would not have to bear much of it himself.
However, the burning of Spirit Hall was different. As a Platinum Bishop and the highest leader of the Heaven Dou City Spirit Hall, Salas had to take responsibility for this matter and accept punishment.
Because Spirit Hall had been burned down, Salas's position as Platinum Bishop was no longer secure.
Who knew how many Spirit Douluo in Spirit Hall wanted to replace him and take over the position of Platinum Bishop?
It just so happened that during the Soul Hunting Operation, the army responsible for attacking the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had been completely annihilated, and another Platinum Bishop, Brian, had died outright. This left a Platinum Bishop position vacant.
Therefore, the many Spirit Douluo of Spirit Hall were now openly and secretly fighting over the vacant Platinum Bishop position in Spirit City, leaving them temporarily unable to pay attention to Salas.
However, there was only one vacant Platinum Bishop position. Among the many Spirit Douluo competing for it, only one was destined to succeed, while all the others would fail.
Those failed Spirit Douluo would certainly not be willing to accept the result. At that time, they would surely shift their attention to Salas, seize upon his weakness, and drag him down from his position as Platinum Bishop.
In other words, if Salas did nothing, his good days would be over once the result of the competition for the Spirit City Platinum Bishop position was decided.
Salas naturally would not sit back and let such a thing happen, so he had to quickly achieve some merit.
When others tried to target him over the incident of Spirit Hall being burned down, he could use his own achievements as a counterargument.
So, for the current Spirit Hall, what kind of achievement counted?
Naturally, recruiting Spirit Masters.
Spirit Hall had suffered significant personnel losses during the Soul Hunting Operation, and now it needed to quickly make up for those losses. That meant recruiting a large number of Spirit Masters.
Because of this, Salas launched an operation.
He sent invitations to many Spirit Master forces within the Heaven Dou Empire, hoping these Spirit Master forces would join Spirit Hall.
Although they were called invitations, they were essentially coercion, relying on Spirit Hall's prestige to pressure others.
For other forces, Salas merely applied pressure. But for Sky Water Academy, Divine Wind Academy, and Blazing Academy, his actions could be described as outright threats.
That was because the Elephant Armored Clan had also become involved.
The Elephant Armored Clan had suffered heavy losses during the Soul Hunting Operation. Even its Clan Head, Hu Yan Zhen, had died.
Now, the entire clan's high-end strength consisted of only one Spirit Douluo and a few Spirit Saints, while the total number of Spirit Masters had fallen below five hundred.
If they did nothing, they would soon be removed from the ranks of the Seven Great Clans.
The Elephant Armored Clan was eager to restore its strength, so it joined hands with Salas.
Using the Elephant Armored Academy as a base, they threatened the other three Element Academies, hoping to absorb those three academies and the forces behind them.
Even if Spirit Hall took the larger share and the Elephant Armored Clan took the smaller share, it would still allow the Elephant Armored Clan to recover much of its strength.
However, the three Element Academies and the forces supporting them were naturally unwilling to be swallowed up like this. Thus, they wanted to bring in Thunder Academy, thereby connecting themselves to the recently prestigious Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
This was the whole story behind the merger of the Four Element Academies.
On the way to Thunder Academy, Yu Xiaogang explained everything in detail to Yu Tianlin, making sure he understood the situation.
"So that's how it is." Yu Tianlin nodded. "I understand what I should do."
Ultimately, this time, the other three Element Academies had come asking to merge with Thunder Academy, so Thunder Academy held the initiative.
During the merger discussions, they could strive for more benefits for Thunder Academy, such as greater say after the merger.
Of course, after the merger, the other three Element Academies would be considered their own people, so they had to be treated properly, not coerced like Spirit Hall had done.
Yu Tianlin needed to grasp this delicate balance.
After walking for a while longer, the uncle and nephew finally arrived at Thunder Academy.
Due to the merger, Thunder Academy's current location was the former Blue Tyrant Academy.
The former Blue Tyrant Academy had achieved an excellent third-place finish in the All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament, bringing glory to the Heaven Dou Empire.
Furthermore, its campus was located within Heaven Dou City, so it had received support from the Heaven Dou Empire in recent years.
The entire academy grounds were much larger than before, and many new buildings had been constructed within the campus.
After the two academies merged, the place had taken on a completely new atmosphere.
After Yu Xiaogang brought Yu Tianlin to the meeting room, he told Yu Tianlin to wait there while he went to call the representatives of the other three Element Academies.
The first to arrive were Feng Xiaotian and Huo Wu. They came together, and their relationship seemed quite good. They had likely already become a couple.
Behind them was Shui Binger.
As soon as Shui Binger entered, she exchanged a glance with Yu Tianlin. The two smiled at each other, saying everything without words.
Once everyone had arrived, Yu Tianlin was the first to speak.
"I already understand your intentions, but the merger of the Four Element Academies is no small matter. We are only juniors. Matters like this should be discussed by the academy deans."
Hearing Yu Tianlin's words, Huo Wu immediately frowned and said, "The Dean of Blazing Academy is my father, and he has authorized me to take full responsibility for this matter."
"I am the same as Huo Wu," Shui Binger said with a gentle smile.
Alright, Huo Wu's father was the Dean of Blazing Academy, and Shui Binger's mother was the Dean of Sky Water Academy, so they could indeed represent their respective academies.
But what about Feng Xiaotian?
The Dean of Divine Wind Academy should not be his relative, right?
Thinking of this, Yu Tianlin shifted his gaze to Feng Xiaotian.
Seeing Yu Tianlin's reaction, Huo Wu spoke before Feng Xiaotian could say anything.
"Xiaotian is now an advanced Spirit King and is not far from becoming a Spirit Emperor. Because of his outstanding talent, he has been appointed Vice Dean of Divine Wind Academy and has also been authorized by Divine Wind Academy to handle the merger of the Four Element Academies."
When Huo Wu introduced Feng Xiaotian, her tone was filled with pride. Clearly, she was very proud of Feng Xiaotian's achievements.
However, Yu Tianlin remained noncommittal.
With his mental force, he could clearly sense Feng Xiaotian's cultivation level. It was only level fifty-five, barely stepping into the threshold of an advanced Spirit King.
By contrast, Yu Tianlin was already an advanced Spirit Saint, with a spirit power cultivation of level seventy-five, a full twenty levels higher than Feng Xiaotian.
With Yu Tianlin's current spirit power cultivation, many deans of Advanced Spirit Master academies could not compare to him.
And this was only in terms of pure spirit power cultivation. When it came to true combat power, Yu Tianlin could already rival a Titled Douluo.
From every angle, Yu Tianlin was far stronger than Feng Xiaotian.
.....
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