Two Princesses (6K)

On the VIP Platform, Crown Prince Xu Tianran did not leave as soon as the match ended as he usually did. Instead, he remained seated without moving, his expression dark as water.

A full quarter of an hour passed before he raised a hand in signal.

Ju Zi pushed him down from the Competition Stage, and he departed surrounded by numerous attendants and guards.

"Ju Zi, that match just now left me deeply moved."

Xu Tianran suddenly sighed.

Ju Zi replied softly, "Your Highness, please do not be unhappy. Although our team did not make it into the final four this time, isn't there still the Holy Spirit Cult?"

Xu Tianran shook his head. "The Holy Spirit Cult is not, after all, our own force. If not for dealing with the Body Sect and Shrek Academy, do you think I would be willing to cooperate with those Evil Soul Masters?"

"But no matter what, we truly have fallen behind in nurturing the younger generation. Shrek Academy and the Body Sect truly deserve their reputations as powerful forces with long histories. And then there is that Soul Hall of dubious origins. What a surprise."

"If they had not looked down too much on Soul Tools, perhaps our Sun Moon Empire would not have had any chance to dominate the continent even after another ten thousand years. Yet now, all three of those forces are showing signs of this."

"Even Shrek Academy and the Body Sect, which had the greatest confidence in themselves, have begun using Soul Tools. That Soul Heavenly Cripple from Soul Hall is even a genius in the Soul Tool Department himself. This is a good thing for the Three Great Empires, but not for us."

"Today's battle—no, these nearly month-long matches—have made me understand many things. The old