First Visit to the Spirit Arena

By lunchtime, Oscar and Ning Rongrong still had not returned. For two Support Soul Masters, running thirty laps around the village was clearly a bit too much.

But Su Xiao had no time to worry about that. The moment the cafeteria food came out of the pot, he was the first to rush inside. Besides his own portion, there was also the breakfast Ma Hongjun owed him.

Just then, the system, which had been silent for six whole years, suddenly chimed.

"Ding, sign-in location refreshed: Shrek Academy cafeteria."

"Ding, this sign-in will grant a three-star reward."

Su Xiao was delighted. People who lived to eat really were a cut above the rest—there were even rewards for having a meal.

With a thought, he said, "Sign in."

"Ding, host has successfully signed in. Reward: when absorbing your next Soul Ring, you are guaranteed to obtain an External Soul Bone!"

Hearing this, Su Xiao leaped to his feet. As one of the greatest treasures in the Soul Master world, Soul Bones were already precious enough, let alone an External Soul Bone.

Tang San's ability to gain an advantage despite having roughly equal Soul Power absolutely depended on the help of his External Soul Bone, the Eight Spider Lances.

And now, the system had directly rewarded Su Xiao with a guaranteed External Soul Bone when he absorbed his next Soul Ring, and he was about to break through to level forty.

"With my physical strength, my fourth Soul Ring can already absorb a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. A Ten Thousand Year soul beast's Soul Bone is known as a Blood River Treasure!" Su Xiao could not help but look forward to it.

That evening, Flender gathered everyone once more. Oscar and Ning Rongrong had also returned from their run, but Ning Rongrong deliberately kept her distance from Oscar and went straight to stand beside Su Xiao, forcibly squeezing Tang San aside.

"Today's lesson is spirit fighting. The carriages are ready, so we will depart for Suotuo City immediately," Flender announced.

Before boarding the carriage, Su Xiao told Xiao Bai to stay home. Soul beasts were not allowed into the spirit arena, after all, and bringing one in would cause quite a commotion. Besides, there were many Soul Masters in the arena.

On the carriage to Suotuo City, Su Xiao, Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Ning Rongrong rode together, while Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar took the other carriage.

The moment they got on, Ning Rongrong began chirping away with Su Xiao.

"Xiao-ge, I ran so far today. My stamina has improved a lot."

"Xiao-ge, this morning, I saw that lots of shops in the city were closed. Let's go take a look together."

"Xiao-ge..."

Seeing how proactive Ning Rongrong was, Su Xiao could hardly pretend to be cold toward her, so he could only give simple replies.

Tang San and Xiao Wu occasionally exchanged knowing smiles in the carriage. Ning Rongrong no longer cared at all; instead, she seemed to take them as a blessing.

Ning Rongrong smiled and was about to speak again when Su Xiao suddenly interrupted, "Rongrong, you've been running all day. Do you want to sleep for a while?"

The atmosphere in the carriage abruptly turned awkward. No one said anything. Ning Rongrong looked at Su Xiao, then suddenly wrapped her arms around his arm. "Thank you for worrying about me, Xiao-ge. Then I'll rest for a while first."

Ning Rongrong leaned against Su Xiao's shoulder and fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.

Only then did Su Xiao breathe a sigh of relief. He could not help lifting the carriage curtain to look toward the other carriage, thinking, Oscar, I gave you a chance, but you were useless!

After arriving at the Soto Grand Soul Arena, everyone began registering. Tang San and Xiao Wu signed up for the two-person match, naming themselves the "Three-Five Combination."

Ning Rongrong pulled Su Xiao over. "Xiao-ge, let's sign up for the two-person match too!"

Su Xiao shook his head. "Rongrong, this is spirit fighting. People can get injured or die here. This isn't a game. I'm a Soul Elder, so the opponents matched against me in a two-person match will also be Soul Elders. You would be in great danger. You can team up with Zhuqing or Ma Hongjun instead."

Ning Rongrong knew Su Xiao was right, but she still felt somewhat disappointed. As for teaming up with the cold Zhu Zhuqing or Ma Hongjun, she did not want either of them as a teammate.

Ning Rongrong dearly missed that exam where she had supported Su Xiao from behind as they joined forces against Zhao Wuji.

In the end, Ning Rongrong and Oscar would not participate in spirit fighting for the time being. The other six all entered the individual matches, while Tang San and Xiao Wu entered the two-person match.

In today's spirit fights, Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Tang San and Xiao Wu's two-person team all won. Tang San defeated Zhu Zhuqing in his individual match. Now, only Su Xiao's individual match remained.

Su Xiao, a level thirty-nine Soul Elder with three Thousand-Year Soul Rings, caused quite a stir at the Soto Spirit Arena. Thus, his matched opponent was also a level thirty-nine Soul Elder.

"Leo, level thirty-nine Battle Soul Elder. Martial Soul: Yin Yang Dual Swords."