"The next match, Holy Spirit Sect."
The referee's voice, Unbreakable Douluo, came from the arena, pulling Lin Xiao's thoughts back to the competition grounds.
Turning around, he saw the group of Holy Spirit Cult disciples sitting upright behind him, waiting for him to speak.
Lin Xiao looked toward their opponent from a distance. "Gu Yun."
As soon as the words fell, a tall disciple stood up behind him.
Though he appeared exceptionally tall, there didn't seem to be much flesh on his body — even his clothes hung loosely on him.
"Sir." Gu Yun spoke, his voice hoarse like dry leaves blown by the wind.
"You go. The opponent isn't strong. End it quickly, but remember to hold back."
"Yes."
Gu Yun responded once, then lightly floated onto the arena platform.
Ever since the Holy Spirit Cult people appeared, those wide-brimmed bamboo hats concealing their faces had naturally attracted quite a lot of attention.
When they saw the first person step onto the stage, many eyes naturally gathered on Gu Yun.
However, he had no intention of removing his hat. As soon as Unbreakable Douluo announced the start of the match, six soul rings rose around him: one yellow, two purple, and three black.
In the Shrek Academy rest area, several gazes instantly turned toward Wang Dong.
"Why… why are you all looking at me?" Wang Dong shrank back a little shyly behind Huo Yuhao.
"It's nothing, everyone was just affected by the color of his soul rings," Wang Yan said, gently redirecting everyone's attention away from Wang Dong. "We shouldn't underestimate the others. Wang Dong isn't the only one who can exceed the optimal soul ring ratio."
"Yes, Teacher Wang."
The students nodded, and only then did Wang Yan turn his gaze back to the arena. In just the few moments they had been talking, the match on stage had already been decided.
The disciple named Gu Yun from the Holy Spirit Sect was clean and decisive. Facing an opponent with only four soul rings, he showed no carelessness at all. Soul rings flashed around him, a dull gray blade appeared in his hand, and with several flashes of his body, he sent his opponent off the stage.
"Sigh…" Wang Yan let out a soft sigh. "Yuhao, whether your guess is correct or not, these contestants could all become troublesome opponents."
"Not only do they possess soul rings that exceed the optimal configuration, but their movements show no carelessness at all, never easily revealing any flaws. Opponents like this are the most headache-inducing."
Huo Yuhao nodded as he listened to Wang Yan's words.
Behind them, however, Lin Xiao wasn't surprised by Gu Yun's victory. For disciples of the Holy Spirit Cult, revealing a flaw meant losing their lives. Anyone who could become a Saint Spirit of the cult was never simple.
Whether it was because the Sun Moon Empire had secretly done something behind the scenes for the Holy Spirit Cult or some other reason, the opponents on stage today weren't strong. The highest cultivation among them was only a Soul King, and even he only managed to persist slightly longer before being defeated.
Seventh.
In the arena, Gu Yun was silently counting how many opponents he had defeated when the person across from him suddenly spoke.
"I concede."
His gaze swept over the audience below. Gu Yun abruptly stopped all movement, turned his head, and looked toward Unbreakable Douluo at the side.
"Opponent concedes. The winner of this match is the Holy Spirit Sect!"
Unbreakable Douluo's voice wasn't loud, but as soon as he finished speaking, earth-shaking cheers erupted from below the stage.
In that instant, Gu Yun's body instantly tensed. Under the bamboo hat, his eyes narrowed slightly, staring at the sea of people below.
The right hand holding the short blade turned pale at the knuckles from the strength of his grip. Muscle memory instantly filled him with vigilance.
It felt like furious roars, or like someone deliberately creating chaos, as if at any moment someone might rush out from the crowd and strike at his back. In the Holy Spirit Cult, he had long grown accustomed to such scenes.
But after scanning the crowd once, he found no trace of hostility in any of those eyes.
The audience didn't know whether the person on stage was an evil soul master or not, nor did they know where this so-called Holy Spirit Sect came from. They only saw an outstanding soul master with a remarkable soul ring configuration win seven consecutive battles.
Although the opponents weren't particularly strong, the audience below still generously offered applause for such a brilliant performance.
Looking at those enthusiastic yet unfamiliar eyes, Gu Yun felt dazed for the first time while standing in front of so many people.
"You can go back now."
A strange feeling flashed through Gu Yun's heart. Only when Unbreakable Douluo spoke again beside him did he snap back to reality.
"Mm." He let out a heavy nasal sound, then stepped down from the arena amid the cheers of the crowd.
"You're back." Lin Xiao slightly raised his head, as if he could see Gu Yun's expression beneath the bamboo hat. "Go take a seat."
"Yes, Sir."
"According to the rules of the Elite Competition, since you defeated all of your opponent's team members, you've already obtained enough points. You don't need to participate in the remaining team battles."
Lin Xiao's gaze lingered on Gu Yun for a moment before he suddenly stood up and looked toward Scorpion Tiger Douluo.
"Sorry to trouble Sixth Worshipper, but please take the disciples back to the hotel later. I still have some matters to attend to…"
Scorpion Tiger Douluo seemed to have already anticipated that Lin Xiao would leave, so he didn't ask any questions and simply nodded.
"Go ahead."
On the west side of Mingdu City, Dark Lightning Douluo was floating in mid-air, looking toward Mingdu from afar. But the distance was too great, so he really couldn't see exactly what was happening there.
Suddenly, his eyebrows rose slightly, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Old Eight, the matches are over?"
"Not yet, but almost. I came here early to wait."
Lin Xiao replied from a distance.
"That's good." Dark Lightning Douluo nodded repeatedly. "But it's only the first day. Those sects probably haven't noticed yet. Not many people should be coming this way."
"Mm." Lin Xiao also turned to look toward Mingdu. "I thought Third Brother would be busy with the Soul Engineer Competition tonight and wouldn't come here."
"Heh heh, it's the first day after all. If something goes wrong, it would be bad. Besides, not many people are participating in the Soul Engineer Competition tonight anyway."
Dark Lightning Douluo gave Lin Xiao a meaningful look.
"Third Brother is planning to pull in those academies participating in the Elite Competition as well?"
"You still understand me best, Old Eight." Dark Lightning Douluo nodded. "In the end, the winner will definitely be us anyway, so why not pull in a few more people to play? We'll make even more money, won't we?"
"I've already spread the word. Whether those academy and sect people will come to participate, I don't know."
Lin Xiao gently shook his head and didn't speak.
Dark Lightning Douluo had even more confidence in him than he had in himself. Knowing the champion in advance, he had put out quite a lot of good prizes.
With the attraction of those final prizes, it would be hard not to draw some people in. Just the entry fees alone would already allow him to earn quite a sum.
While the two were talking, Dark Lightning Douluo's expression suddenly changed.
"I didn't expect that someone would actually leave from this side already."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are 40 early chapters available on Patreon
[email protected]/facficmax10--------(@→a)