Entering the Round of Sixteen

The following night, Wang Yan gathered everyone once again, saying he would take them somewhere. However, this time, only the eight members of the reserve team came. Wang Yan led the way, speaking to the eight following behind him as they walked. "Although you haven't watched the matches of the other academies, this tournament differs from previous ones. Many academies have, to some extent, integrated Soul Masters and Soul Engineers. The simplest approach is to train Soul Masters first, then purchase and equip them with suitable Soul Tools. As a result, there are very few purely Soul Master teams in this tournament."

Xu Sanshi was the first to question Wang Yan's words. "But shouldn't battles between Soul Masters be pure? Only power cultivated by oneself is the most reliable and trustworthy."

Wang Yan's expression darkened, but he did not speak, because someone spoke before him. That person was Ling Mo.

Ling Mo glanced at Xu Sanshi and said mockingly, "You're just too naive! In the arena, a loss is a loss and a win is a win. But outside the arena, losing might mean death. When life and death are on the line, who would care whether it's pure or not? No one wants to die. Only by surviving do you have the right to discuss such questions."

Xu Sanshi wanted to argue. He believed that high-level Soul Engineers were definitely no match for high-level Soul Masters. However, Wang Yan gave him no opportunity to refute him. He explained the current status of Soul Masters and Soul Engineers to everyone. When they learned that Xuan Zi was as high as Rank 98, yet several ninth-rank Soul Engineers working together could threaten his life, they fell into deep thought. In the end, aside from Wang Dong, who still opposed the idea and left, the others all said they were willing to make changes.

Thus, Wang Yan led the remaining seven to their destination—the auction house. It was a special auction for Soul Tools.

They put on masks, entered the auction house, and found their seats. After a brief wait, a young woman in a purple gown stepped onto the auction stage.

Ling Mo listened to the purple-dressed girl's meaningless pleasantries and watched Wang Yan purchase item after item. He was beginning to feel bored, but the final item caught his interest. It was a listed carving knife.

Naturally, Ling Mo had no interest in carving knives. He had no desire to become a Soul Engineer. However, he was very interested in the material of this carving knife. A rich aura of life was concealed beneath an ominous curse, but it could not escape Ling Mo's senses. With this, Bella's consciousness should fully awaken soon. Ling Mo thought to himself. He did not believe the so-called curse on the carving knife could affect a Judgment-class Honkai Beast born from Honkai Energy.

Perhaps intimidated by the carving knife's title, Fierce Blade Soul Devourer, no one in the entire hall made a bid. Seeing that no one was bidding and assuming no one would compete with him, Ling Mo raised his paddle and offered the knife's starting price: one hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Wang Yan naturally would not allow it. Huo Yuhao even spoke up midway, saying that he had a way to remove the curse within the carving knife. However, Ling Mo knew that once Huo Yuhao said that, if Wang Yan bought the knife in the academy's name, it would definitely end up belonging to Huo Yuhao as a Soul Engineer. How could that be acceptable? In the end, Ling Mo purchased Fierce Blade Soul Devourer in his own name.

He said he had bought the carving knife, but where could Ling Mo possibly get that much money? Therefore, when it came time to pay backstage, Ling Mo took out two items and entrusted the organizer of this auction, the Starlight Auction House, to sell them. After assessing the value of the items, the auction house informed Ling Mo that, due to the excessive value of the two consigned items, they would be auctioned at the highest-tier auction held by the Starlight Auction in a few days. They also invited Ling Mo to attend.

After returning to the hotel, Ling Mo impatiently released Bella and placed Fierce Blade Soul Devourer before her. At the same time, the Stigma on his back lit up, and a massive amount of Honkai Energy poured from Ling Mo's hand into the carving knife. The black aura wrapped around it was soon completely cleansed away, and the entire knife shimmered with the faint glow that originally belonged to Life Gold. Once he had done this, Ling Mo had Bella absorb it. Bella did not refuse. The carving knife slowly transformed into strands of life force that entered Bella's body. Before long, Bella had completely absorbed the piece of Life Gold, then entered a dormant state in order to digest the life energy.

Seeing Bella like this, Ling Mo contentedly returned her to Imaginary Space, then collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day was Shrek Academy's third match. This match was a team battle, and Ling Mo still did not take the field. Watching Huo Yuhao shout theatrically from the stage, "Ice, I am your sovereign," Ling Mo felt his embarrassment acting up once the match ended.

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened during the three-day break after the third match. However, those three days were not easy for Huo Yuhao and the others, because their next opponent was Zheng Tian Academy, which had three Soul Kings.

Wang Yan had originally planned to forfeit this match, but all seven of Huo Yuhao's group disagreed. Ling Mo said nothing, but Wang Yan took his silence to mean that he shared Huo Yuhao's views.

The three days quickly passed. In the end, Wang Yan could not bear to refuse Huo Yuhao and the others when he saw their resolute expressions. Ling Mo's face was hidden beneath his cloak, but Wang Yan believed that Ling Mo would not give up either.

However, the result of the match was quite unexpected. The format drawn was two-two-three. Under Beibei's arrangements, Xu Sanshi partnered with Jiang Nannan in the first match. They narrowly won after Xu Sanshi's Martial Soul suddenly evolved. In the second match, Beibei and He Caitou took the field. Unexpectedly, Beibei's Martial Soul also evolved during the battle, securing victory in the second match. Ling Mo, Huo Yuhao, and Wang Dong, who had originally been arranged to participate in the third match, did not need to take the field at all.

Not to mention Huo Yuhao and the others, whose cultivation was the lowest among the seven besides Ling Mo—even Wang Yan in the rest area had not expected them to win two consecutive matches and directly claim victory in the fourth match of the Soul Dueling Tournament.

After the match, everyone from Shrek, including Wang Yan, returned to the hotel as though they were in a dream. This victory truly felt like a dream to them, yet everyone knew it was real. Ling Mo appeared no different from the others, but his thoughts were entirely different.

Is this cursed or something?! I still didn't get to take the field. If the will of the world didn't interfere with this, I wouldn't believe it even if you beat me to death! Ling Mo thought inwardly. Sure enough, living the easy life and raising Bella is the life I'm supposed to have.

Ling Mo remembered that Shrek's original victory in this match against three Soul Kings could only be described as brutal. Yet because of his presence, Beibei had gone up in the second match, then won that second match, leaving no third match to be fought. As a result, only Xu Sanshi had suffered damage to his foundation and would be unable to participate in the next match. The other seven were basically fine...

There was no need to say much about the results of the next two matches. With Ling Luochen, a regular team member, returning and Huo Yuhao's Ultimate Ice strengthening her attributes, they easily won both matches. As for why it was Huo Yuhao working with Ling Luochen rather than Ling Mo—well, that was because Ling Mo... still did not take the field...

Shrek Academy ultimately took first place in their group with a perfect record in the round-robin stage. Next came the elimination rounds among the remaining sixteen teams. Naturally, Wang Yan would not make no preparations, and Ling Mo's group was soon summoned to the conference room.

Having passed the round-robin stage, Shrek would have Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng return for the elimination rounds. This greatly boosted Wang Yan and the others' confidence. The meeting had not lasted long before the arrival of a young woman interrupted it.

The young woman was Qing Ya, the auctioneer they had seen at the previous auction. After the Starlight Auction House learned that everyone was from Shrek Academy following that auction, they sent Qing Ya to deliver invitations, inviting everyone from Shrek Academy to attend a top-tier auction that night.

At first, Ling Mo did not think much of it, but after carefully recalling the plot, he suddenly remembered—wasn't this the auction where the Snow Empress embryo was originally sold?