Unexpected Changes

Soul battles continued as usual the next day, as though everything from the previous night had been a dream. Aside from the addition of a sect master from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and a Titled Douluo staying in Suotuo City, everything seemed perfectly normal.

Over the following month, the Shrek Eight Monsters made a tremendous name for themselves in the branch arenas of the Suotuo Great Soul Arena.

Within that month, the Shrek Eight Monsters took part in twenty-seven team soul battles—twenty-seven fights, twenty-seven victories. They were utterly unmatched in the thirtieth-level bracket.

Their momentum seemed to echo the days when Fu Hua, under the name Crimson Kite, had taken the Great Soul Arena by storm.

In the individual pair battles, the two teams formed by Fu Hua—the Seven Treasures Xuanyuan and the Nether Crimson Kite Combination—also maintained perfect records. Fortunately, the two teams had never been assigned to the same group.

Tang San and Xiao Wu's Three-Five Combination also achieved twenty-seven consecutive victories. Their powerful, seamless coordination left their opponents helpless.

Dai Mubai and Oscar's Twin-Wing White Tiger Combination achieved sixteen wins and eleven losses in twenty-seven battles. After all, Dai Mubai was the only one actually fighting, and Oscar's sausages ultimately had limited use in this kind of soul battle.

Not everyone was like Fu Hua.

As for the one-on-one matches, the Shrek Eight Monsters were even more dominant across the board. In the thirtieth-level bracket, Dai Mubai won twenty-five matches, losing only twice when he encountered Control System Soul Masters.

Tang San was exceptionally lucky. He never encountered a single opponent with a fire-type martial soul, and despite being only level thirty-two, he remained undefeated in the thirtieth-level Soul Elder bracket.

After all, against his Spider Web Restraint, it was difficult for anyone at this level to break free without a means of countering it.

Xiao Wu fared somewhat worse. Although her Teleport was extremely special, she encountered opponents who happened to counter her abilities several times and managed only twenty wins.

Ma Hongjun also thrived in the twentieth-level bracket, claiming twenty-three victories in twenty-seven battles.

Zhu Zhuqing's individual record was no less impressive, with only one fewer victory than Ma Hongjun.

Fu Hua did not participate in the individual matches. To her, they were like children playing house—not worth mentioning at all.

During this time, several of the little monsters also broke through in Soul Power. Dai Mubai reached level thirty-eight, Ning Rongrong reached level twenty-seven, and aside from Zhu Zhuqing, who had long since reached level thirty, only Ma Hongjun had yet to break through.

Master had originally planned to hunt a Soul Ring for Zhu Zhuqing before continuing with the soul battles, but Fu Hua rejected the idea.

At present, Zhu Zhuqing was training alongside Fu Hua. Fu Hua knew Zhu Zhuqing's growth better than anyone. While a Soul Master could not advance without obtaining a Soul Ring, there was also such a thing as building up strength before making a breakthrough.

Only by laying a solid foundation at lower realms could one walk more smoothly down the road ahead.

As for the claim that advancing became harder in the later stages, Fu Hua believed it was because they had failed to lay a proper foundation from the start, leaving their base unstable and making further progress impossible.

Night fell, and the Suotuo Great Soul Arena, located in the bustling heart of Suotuo City, was once again brilliantly lit.

Spectators came streaming in from every direction to watch the soul battles. From time to time, luxurious carriages could be seen entering the Great Soul Arena through the VIP passage under the protection of guards.

Those were nobles or members of great clans. Naturally, the only soul battles worthy of their attention were the matches held in the central arena of the Suotuo Great Soul Arena.

Today was both the end of the month and the weekend, so the Suotuo Great Soul Arena naturally became the best place for the people of Suotuo to spend their leisure time.

Not only could they watch thrilling soul battles here, but they could also place a small bet to try their luck and cheer on the Soul Masters they supported.

The group from Shrek Academy, including Master, Flender, and Zhao Wuji, entered the Suotuo Great Soul Arena completely separately.

It was not that they were being overly cautious about concealing their identities; they simply had no choice.

After a month of soul battles, the achievements of the other seven monsters of the Shrek Eight Monsters were absolutely no worse than Fu Hua's. As a result, the Crimson Kite craze, which had yet to fully die down, had once again been pushed to its peak.

They had naturally become the focus of the spectators' attention.

To avoid unnecessary trouble and harassment, starting ten days ago, the group from Shrek Academy had begun entering the Soul Arena in their normal appearances before changing into different clothes and putting on masks at designated locations to register for soul battles.

Because of this, guessing which branch arena the Shrek Eight Monsters would be fighting in became a pastime that spectators in the outer arenas never tired of.

Today was no different. Dressed deliberately in plain clothing, no one would pay attention to several children who appeared to be only in their teens.

Over the past few months, Tang San and Ma Hongjun had both turned thirteen. In a few more months, Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, Fu Hua, and Zhu Zhuqing would all enter their thirteenth year as well.

Fu Hua had passed another year in this world, yet the mysteries troubling her only grew more numerous.

Xue Qinghe, Ning Rongrong's father Ning Fengzhi, and Bone Douluo had all remained behind. Over the past month, they had witnessed the growth of the Shrek monsters with their own eyes.

They had paid some attention to Fu Hua's third soul skill, but since the soul battles began, they had never seen her use it. Before they realized it, they had somehow all forgotten about it, and even those observing in secret had overlooked the effect of her third Soul Ring.

Only the people of Shrek knew how terrifying this third soul skill truly was.

Team battles were held last, something they had understood from the moment they began participating in soul battles, but they had to register for them first.

To prevent them from encountering one another in the one-on-one and two-on-two matches, Master first told them the branch arena for the team battle, then had the Shrek Eight Monsters spread out among different sections for the first two events.

This prevented them from meeting each other and disrupting their winning streaks. Originally, registration for the team battles had been personally arranged by Manager Ao of the Great Soul Arena, but a few days later, Fu Hua felt that this drew too much attention, and Master agreed it was inappropriate. The task therefore fell to Master.

Today, Master chose the eighth branch arena. Once today's soul battles were over and the points were calculated, everyone would have obtained Silver Soul badges, and the second stage of training could come to an end.

As usual, Master arrived at the registration point for the team battle area and handed the staff member the Shrek Eight Monsters' team battle registration badge.

"Please register us for a team battle."

The staff member took the badge as usual, but the moment he saw the words engraved on it, his expression changed drastically. He let out a low cry.

"Shrek Eight Monsters?"

Master frowned, his expression displeased.

"I'm sorry, sir. Could you please wait a moment?"

Only after Master nodded did the staff member swiftly move, quickly contacting the person in charge of the Great Soul Arena.

Very soon, Manager Ao appeared before Master. Master looked at him with an unreadable expression, as though he had not expected a mere ordinary soul battle to bring the man here in person.

"Long time no see, leader of Shrek. Would you be willing to step aside for a private discussion?"

Manager Ao wore a bitter smile, as though he had run into some sort of trouble.

Master gave a slight nod and followed Manager Ao into a quiet room.

"Leader, I'll get straight to the point. On behalf of the Suotuo Great Soul Arena, I hope that Shrek Eight Monsters' team battle today can be held in the central main spirit arena," Manager Ao said gravely.

"Oh? That doesn't seem to follow the rules, does it? According to the arena's regulations, only Soul Master teams of Silver Soul rank or above may appear in the main spirit arena, while Shrek Eight Monsters are still only Iron Soul," Master replied blandly.

Unsolicited favors were never given without reason.

Manager Ao definitely had something to ask of them.

"You needn't be modest. With Shrek Eight Monsters' results this month, once today's spirit battles are over, all of them will receive Silver Soul badges. Lady Crimson Kite may even receive a gold or perhaps platinum-gold badge. One day earlier makes no difference."

Sure enough, there was something behind this.

Master said nothing, merely watching Manager Ao quietly as he waited for what the man had to say next.

"Three days ago, a Soul Master team arrived. Every one of them was a Silver Soul-ranked Soul Master. They seemed to have been hired by several great nobles of Suotuo City. For two days in a row, those nobles placed heavy bets on them, and they won their spirit battles without any suspense, causing tremendous losses for the Great Soul Arena.

"Since you are familiar with the Great Soul Arena, you should know that, generally speaking, Soul Masters who reach Silver Soul rank are at least level forty. Yet every member of this team is a Soul Elder. We cannot break the rules by sending a level-forty Soul Ancestor team to battle them.

"But if this continues, the Great Soul Arena cannot bear such ongoing losses either. Perhaps having tasted success, those nobles have increased their wagers again today. If we lose again, I'm afraid..."

Master remained unmoved.

"A Soul Elder team has already reached Silver Soul rank. It seems they are quite strong. Then what sort of teams did the arena send against them over the previous two days?"

"There are no Silver Soul teams at the Soul Elder level in our Suotuo Great Soul Arena. Left with no alternative, we could only send Soul Elder-level Bronze Soul teams to battle them. One of them was the Berserk Team, which had only recently advanced to Bronze Soul rank and had once fought Shrek Eight Monsters. Yet they suffered a crushing defeat."

"Among Soul Elder-level teams, the Berserk Team's levels are already quite impressive. Could the members of that Silver Soul team be at higher levels than them?"

Master frowned. This made matters somewhat troublesome. He did not want his students to suffer any accidents during their spirit battles.

"No, it isn't a matter of Soul Power Level. The main difference lies in their Soul Rings. Like Shrek Eight Monsters, that Silver Soul team has the optimal Soul Ring combination. Their overwhelming advantage in soul skills left the Berserk Team without the slightest chance."

At this point, everything was clear.

The Great Soul Arena could no longer produce another team to fight them, so they had thought of Fu Hua's team, Shrek Eight Monsters. Unfortunately, plans sometimes failed to keep up with change.

While Master and Manager Ao were speaking in private, the little monsters on the other side had already gone their separate ways. After parting from Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, and the others, Fu Hua immediately stepped out of the Great Soul Arena.

Over the past month, she had clearly sensed several pairs of eyes watching her from the shadows—some hostile, some not. Whenever she walked together with the Shrek group, those eyes seemed unable to restrain themselves.

After an entire month of waiting, they had likely exhausted their patience. From now on, whether she remained somewhere safe or not, they would make their move against her.

If that happened, the ordinary people in this city, as well as her companions and teachers at Shrek, might be implicated because of her. That was a sight she absolutely did not wish to see.

Thus, after leaving, she found an attendant and gave him a letter. If she had not returned to retrieve it from him in thirty minutes, he was to deliver the letter to the Great Soul Arena, from where it would be passed into Master's hands.

To be safe, Fu Hua had already prepared for the worst.

It was only a few minutes' walk from the Great Soul Arena to Suotuo City's gates. When she stepped beyond the city gate, that feeling of being watched became even stronger, as though they were standing right beside her and staring.

Fu Hua's expression did not change. At an unhurried pace, she headed toward a stretch of barren woodland beside Suotuo City.

It was already evening, and few people were leaving the city. Even the guards looked listless and paid little attention to Fu Hua—or to the several people who emerged close behind her.

These people all wore black robes. As their robes fluttered with their steps, the insignias concealed beneath were revealed. They were the exclusive insignias of Spirit Hall. The auras these people gave off were not particularly strong; rather, none of them possessed the bearing of a Titled Douluo.

That was why Fu Hua could remain so calm.

Escaping from one Titled Douluo would be exceedingly easy for her, but if there were two or three, even she would find it very difficult.

After five minutes, Fu Hua stopped deep within the barren woods. The figures following behind her arrived at her back the moment she halted.

Their auras locked onto her. Ordinary people would have had no hope of escape. Five Soul Saint-level Soul Masters surrounded Fu Hua from five directions.

The leader suddenly spoke. "Crimson Kite, our lord wishes to see you."

"Spirit Hall."

The figure fell silent, seemingly unsure whether to answer Fu Hua's words.

"I know you are from Spirit Hall. There is no need to hide it any longer."

"Since you already know, we have come by order of the Pope to invite you for a conversation."

"So this so-called invitation involves five Soul Saint-level Soul Masters, as well as a Titled Douluo?" Fu Hua said coldly.

"To prevent any mishaps, the Pope fears that you may encounter villains along the way."

"I am very safe in Suotuo City."

"So you insist on refusing to come with us?"

His words carried a threat. The pressure of five Soul Saint-level Soul Masters bore down on Fu Hua in waves.

"I do not like becoming involved in struggles between factions."

Her refusal was unmistakable.

The five Soul Saints spoke no further. They directly unleashed their pressure. Violent winds rose, grass and trees shuddered, and the barren trees around them were reduced to broken wood beneath that pressure.

Their earlier courteous demeanor had vanished entirely.

This was a threat—a naked threat.

But Fu Hua's expression remained unchanged. It was as if the pressure of five Soul Sages bearing down on her was nothing more than a gentle breeze brushing her face. At some point, a pair of gauntlets had appeared on her arms.

Like a celestial wolf howling at the moon, they drew in the essence of the sun and moon from heaven and earth, instantly dispelling the pressure from the five Soul Sages.

Eternal Dusk Twin Wolves, reporting for duty—

PS: I recently found a really good novel, so I'll be slowing down a little on this side. We'll talk after I finish reading it. Delightful!

PS1: Also, I caught a cold again. Sob sob sob! I feel awful. I'll make up the extra chapter later.