The higher the soul foundation's grade, the harder it would be to form it. That was an absolute and unchangeable fact.

However, many Emperors would still try to form a high-grade soul foundation for more strength. Unfortunately, of 1,000 Sovereigns, only perhaps one would have a mid-grade soul foundation. And of 10,000 Sovereigns, perhaps not even one high-grade soul foundation would appear. From that, it was clear how hard it was to gather the materials for a high-grade soul foundation.

After going through the soul foundation insights, Xiang Shaoyun lamented, "I had thought that forming a soul foundation only requires fusing my astral energy and soul power. But materials are actually required, and the materials actually determine the grade. This is troublesome."

"Overlord, it won't be hard to gather these materials. If you have enough contribution points, you will be able to purchase the materials for a mid-grade foundation from the academy," said Lady Shura.

"You're right. With the reaches of the academy, they will definitely have the mid- and higher-grade materials available. We don't have to worry about that," said Xiang Shaoyun with a nod. "But what I want is to form a high-grade soul foundation."

Xiang Shaoyun had many advantages over other cultivators, but he had also selected the hardest path of cultivation. Even so, the many difficulties had not succeeded in impeding his path. Hence, it was understandable that he would select the best materials possible when forming his soul foundation to form a high-grade one.

Lady Shura could understand Xiang Shaoyun's reasoning, and she also agreed with his choice. In her eyes, Xiang Shaoyun was the strongest man among his peers. After memorizing the contents of the record, the two left and started hunting more devilish plants.

With Xiang Shaoyun's strength, he could easily run over any opposition in the battleground. Even if he encountered some extremely difficult devilish plants, he could rely on the many profundities he had comprehended to crush them.

Lady Shura had just broken through to the fifth stage. She was also capable of unleashing considerable combat prowess. To make up for her lost time after being kidnapped, she tried her best to hunt as many devilish plants as she could, and her contribution points rapidly grew.

About one month before the battleground ended, Xiang Shaoyun stopped hunting the devilish plants and allowed Lady Shura to train alone with Money nearby as backup. As for him, he started going through all the treasures he had obtained.

This time, he had obtained three items from the secret cave. One jade case, one iron case, and a scroll of beast hide. It was time to see just how valuable the three were.

"The contents of the jade case will certainly be the most valuable. I can keep the jade case for later. Let's take a look at this beast hide first," Xiang Shaoyun muttered to himself as he started unfurling the beast hide.

A sovereign-grade battle technique called the Raging Skyburn Palm, a fire elemental technique.

Xiang Shaoyun was overjoyed. He did not know a lot of sovereign-grade techniques. He had pushed the Seven Scorching Sun Claws to its limits, but the technique was unable to keep up with his growth in cultivation. This Raging Skyburn Palm had arrived just in time. With it, he could unleash the true strength of his power of flame.

He quickly memorized the contents of the scroll and moved on to the iron case. He opened it, revealing a bracer. The bracer was decorated with precious stones and was light yellow in color with scale-shaped markings. At the two sides of the bracer were golden dragon-like runes, looking rather gorgeous and majestic.

Generally, armors were made to protect one's vitals, but rarely did the protection extend to one's limbs as well. This bracer would work well to extend the protection to his arm as well. However, Xiang Shaoyun had a feeling the bracer was more than it looked. Otherwise, it wouldn't be placed in the secret cave in the first place.

He took the bracer out of the case and put it on. It was then that he discovered an ancient book in the case, with "Dragonscale Arm" written on it. He picked the book up and muttered, "Is this not just a bracer but a weapon?"

He flipped open the book and found a battle technique inside. This was a rare technique encompassing offense and defense designed to be used with the bracer.

"The Dragonscale Arm is actually a set, consisting of the bracer and the battle technique. By combining one's draconic aura and astral energy, one can form a powerful battle aura, gaining the ability to sweep through armies with a single arm, destroying mountains and rivers with that same arm," Xiang Shaoyun read out loud.

Most battle techniques focused on the usage of fists, palms, feet, or weapons. But a technique focusing on an entire arm was rather rare. Moreover, it was a high-grade technique, so it was definitely worth cultivating. After all, he cultivated nine powers and was unafraid of having too many battle techniques. On the contrary, he actually lacked battle techniques.

He lightly waved his arm with the bracer on. It did not feel tight but rather felt incredibly light and comfortable. As he channeled energy into the bracer, draconic aura swirled around it, making it look rather overbearing.

Xiang Shaoyun was pleased, and instead of taking it off, he shifted his focus onto the jade case. He lifted it and said in excitement, "The five jade cases are the biggest treasures of them all. I believe this case won't disappoint."

He carefully opened the jade case and soon saw the contents inside. When the only thing he saw was a piece of some pitch-black item, his expression fell.

"Is this a joke? What is this?" he muttered as he lifted the black thing.

He carefully sized it up, and he found that it seemed to be a piece of rock, but at the same time, it did not seem so. It also seemed to be iron but did not seem so either. He was unable to determine what material it was. But when he looked at the middle of the item, he found that he seemed to be able to see through it. It was as though this piece of thing was actually a clump of flowing liquid. But he was obviously holding a solid object. How could it be a liquid?

"Is this perhaps the black tides mystic stone, a soul foundation material?" he exclaimed in shock.

There were many different soul foundation materials, and this black tides mystic stone was a high-grade material. Using it in tandem with some other materials would allow one to form a black tides soul foundation, which was extremely durable.

Xiang Shaoyun had not imagined that a high-grade material was contained in one of the cases. That was quite a harvest.

"Finally, forming my soul foundation seems hopeful now," muttered Xiang Shaoyun, who was extremely pleased. But after some thought, he muttered, "But I cultivate nine powers, so this black tides mystic stone is not enough. Maybe I need a soul foundation with nine powers as well. But that would push the difficulty to a much greater level. I need to think this through carefully."