Unable to Find a Match

As the sun and moon turned, two days passed in the blink of an eye. In no time, the first day of the Spirit Hall Academy Intermediate Soul Master Division's final examinations had arrived.

It was also the day when everyone was at their most excited and their fighting spirit burned brightest.

That was because their Douluo examinations would be held in the Douluo Arena, which had its own system for selecting opponents for both sides.

That system was the ranking system.

As mentioned before, when competing in the Douluo Arena, contestants were issued a badge token. The lowest rank was the Iron Douluo badge, followed by Bronze Douluo, Silver Douluo, Gold Douluo, Purple Gold Douluo, Sapphire Douluo, Ruby Douluo, and Diamond Douluo.

There were eight ranks in total, rather similar to the ranked tiers in certain games from Li Qing's previous life.

During the two months since Li Qing had enrolled, he had come to the Douluo Arena a few times to spar with others. However, he had come so rarely that the occasions could be counted on one hand. As a result, his Douluo badge was still at the Iron Douluo rank.

By the standards of ranked games from his previous life, Li Qing's Iron Douluo badge was absolutely in the trash-tier plastic rank...

Continuing with the Douluo Arena's opponent-matching system, opponents were matched according to rank and Soul Master title. Generally, the two people or two teams that were matched would be in the same rank and have the same Soul Master title.

It was worth noting that a team's Soul Master title was determined by the member with the highest Soul Power Level.

Of course, Xu Yu and Yan had told him all this. Although he had participated in a few Douluo matches before, they had all been one-on-one solo matches. He knew little about two-person and team battles.

At that moment, Li Qing was heading toward the Great Soul Arena of Spirit City with Xu Yu, Yan, and Yan's teammate, a cute girl. As they walked, Yan and Xu Yu told Li Qing some relevant information.

"Yan, what badge are you at now?"

Li Qing fiddled with his Iron Douluo badge and casually asked.

"Me? I'm already Silver Douluo now." Yan patted his chest badge, his face brimming with pride.

"Silver Douluo, huh. All right."

"Um... Brother Qing."

At that moment, Xu Yu spoke up. He scratched the back of his head, a simple, honest smile appearing on his face. "Actually, I'm Silver Douluo too..."

"You're Silver Douluo too?"

Li Qing was not particularly surprised to hear that Yan was a Silver Douluo. After spending several months together, he had discovered Yan's battle-loving nature.

Every rest day, Yan would go to the Douluo Arena to fight. Coupled with his considerable strength, earning a Silver Douluo badge was no issue for him.

But Xu Yu, this flashy support-type Soul Master, was also Silver Douluo? That made Li Qing rather curious. Xu Yu's support-type Martial Soul was powerful, but it lacked offensive methods and did not offer much defense either.

For Xu Yu to obtain a Silver Douluo badge, the difficulty could be said to be enormous. He would have had to participate in a great many Douluo matches.

Was there something wrong with Xu Yu's head?

Going to Douluo matches just to get beaten up?

"Brother Qing, you don't know the whole story." Xu Yu explained, "Back when we first advanced from the Junior Soul Master Division, during our first year, our dean, Lin Qianxin, gave every student in the academy a task."

"The task was to earn a Silver Douluo badge within a year. If you failed to complete it, you had to repeat the year. You could only advance once you had completed the task."

"This task was nothing to Yan, but for a support-type Soul Master like me, the difficulty was truly... Brother Qing, you have no idea. Back then, I went to the Douluo Arena whenever I had time. I relied on nothing but diligence to complete such an arduous task."

At this point, a trace of pride appeared on Xu Yu's face. Li Qing was just about to praise him, but Yan's next words made him swallow his compliment whole.

"Hmph... Diligence? Weren't you just thinking that the more often you went, the more likely you were to run into support-type Soul Masters? And when you met female Soul Masters weaker than you, you had the nerve to poke them with that long stick of yours!"

Yan spoke disdainfully, though the corners of his eyes kept sneaking glances at his teammate, the cute girl named Feng Ting.

After hearing Yan's words, Li Qing did not know whether to laugh or cry. The image immediately formed in his mind: Xu Yu wielding his glittering Brilliant Gold Scepter with tremendous force. Before he knew it, Xu Yu's image in Li Qing's eyes had increasingly overlapped with Tang Sanzang from his memories.

After Yan finished speaking, a breeze blew by and swept a few strands of hair from Xu Yu's forehead across his face.

Truly, several black lines had dropped across his face!

However, after listening to Xu Yu's explanation, Li Qing frowned slightly.

"By what you're saying, doesn't that mean everyone in the Intermediate Soul Master Division has a Silver Douluo badge now?" Li Qing asked.

"Of course!" Yan nodded and answered with absolute certainty.

Honestly, earning a Silver Douluo badge was not that difficult. Given a year, as long as one was diligent enough, like Xu Yu, what was there to fear about reaching Silver Douluo?

Vaguely, Li Qing seemed to understand the meaning of that sinister smile at the corner of Yu Shaofei's mouth.

A while later, the four arrived at the Spirit City Douluo Arena. They registered their Soul Power Levels and Douluo badge ranks one after another, then headed to the waiting area for the arena to arrange their matches.

They planned to begin with one-on-one Douluo matches.

However, Li Qing did not know that...

"Name, Li Qing. Level thirty-one assault-type Battle Soul Master. Martial Soul, Scythe of Judgment. Next... Yan, level thirty-seven assault-type Battle Soul Master. Martial Soul, Flame Lord."

The staff member responsible for registering the personal information of Li Qing, Yan, and the others looked at two of the records and muttered, "Heh heh heh, it's you two!"

With that, the staff member took Li Qing and Yan's personal information into a small room...

Half an hour later, Feng Ting's and Xu Yu's names appeared on the notice board in the waiting hall. That meant the Douluo Arena had arranged suitable opponents for them.

"Brother Qing, I'll head to Sub-Arena Five first." Xu Yu stood up, preparing to leave for Sub-Arena Five. His match was next, and there was not much time left before it began.

"Mm. Good luck!"

Li Qing encouraged him. In a one-on-one battle, there was nothing Li Qing could do to help Xu Yu. Xu Yu could only pray to encounter an easy opponent. He absolutely could not have an auspicious start by running into an agility attack Battle Soul Master in his very first match.

If that happened, he would be giving up first blood...

A few minutes later, Feng Ting also got up and headed to her Douluo arena.

Ten minutes later, Xu Yu returned with his head hanging dejectedly.

Twenty minutes later, Feng Ting returned with a delighted expression.

The outcomes of their first Douluo matches spoke for themselves.

An hour later, Xu Yu's and Feng Ting's names appeared on the notice board in the waiting hall once more, but Li Qing's and Yan's names still had not appeared.

"Damn it, why isn't my name up yet? At this rate, when will I ever get my ten Douluo matches?" At last, Yan, full of anxiety, could not hold back and cursed.

In an instant, Li Qing understood. Combined with his earlier thoughts, he already had a rough guess.

He figured that even if he and Yan kept waiting, even if they waited an entire day and night, they would not be assigned matches.

"Since that's the case, why don't we do a two-person battle first?"

"Xu Yu," Li Qing said.

"Brother Qing, what is it?"

"Let's get the two-person battles out of the way first."

"That... works!" Xu Yu nodded in agreement.

"Mm, we should do two-person Douluo matches first too, Feng Ting?" Yan's eyes suddenly lit up as he immediately asked Feng Ting.

Feng Ting had a gentle personality and did not refuse.

Half an hour later, Xu Yu returned again. Just like last time, he had lost once more...

Thus, Li Qing and Xu Yu went to register for the two-person category. Since it was their first time teaming up, they needed a combination name.

"Hmm..." Li Qing rubbed his chin. "How about the Qingyu Combination?"

Honestly, Li Qing could not think of any other name that could combine both of their names. Besides, they were only a temporary team that would disband once the final examinations ended. There was no need to waste too many brain cells coming up with a name.

This time, no unexpected complications arose. Less than twenty minutes after registering, the Qingyu Combination received their first opposing combination.

The Feng Huo Combination.

Wait!

The Feng Huo Combination? Feng Huo?

A strange thought arose in Li Qing's heart.

No way...

Could it really be such a coincidence?

Yet reality was exactly that coincidental.

The Feng Huo Combination was Yan and Feng Ting's team.

"Brother Qing, I hope you won't hold back in the arena!" Dense fighting intent radiated from Yan's body like fiercely burning flames.

Li Qing shook his head helplessly. "Don't worry, Yan. I won't go easy on you!"

"Brother Qing, you have to go easy on us!" Feng Ting blinked her large eyes and looked at Li Qing pitifully, wearing an utterly pathetic expression.

"All right." Li Qing smiled.

Around twenty minutes later, it was finally the four of their turn to take the stage.

Referee: "Release your Martial Souls!"

As the referee's voice fell, Li Qing, Xu Yu, and the other two released their Martial Souls in unison.

However...

"Uh, Xu Yu, can you lower the light on your scepter a little? It's too bright," Li Qing said somewhat awkwardly.

"Uh..." Xu Yu froze, biting his lip. "Brother Qing, my Brilliant Gold Scepter can't control its glow."

"All right, then..."

"Very well, the match begins!"

The referee immediately announced the start of the match.

"Come on, Xu Yu. Give me a boost and let me feel it!" Li Qing smacked his lips as though he were waiting for some peerless delicacy.

"Yes!" Xu Yu answered. The first and second Spirit Rings beneath his feet lit up at the same time. A beam of golden light shot fiercely from the Brilliant Gold Scepter and entered Li Qing's body.

At once, Li Qing felt his Soul Power, speed, strength, defense, and more rise by nearly fifteen percent across the board!

Across the board!

Fifteen percent!

A flash of wonder crossed Li Qing's eyes. He had to admit, the Brilliant Gold Scepter Martial Soul was truly powerful. No wonder Xu Yu would become a member of Spirit Hall's next Golden Generation. The man really had something to offer!

"Then let the dance begin!"

A sharp glint flashed in Li Qing's eyes. His bones cracked loudly as if his entire body were overflowing with power.

Across from him, Feng Ting was a level thirty-four agility attack Battle Soul Master, and her Spirit Rings were also optimally configured. Her Martial Soul was the Flame Maple Blade, a dagger-like Martial Soul.

Li Qing's first target was Feng Ting! Even though Yan was shielding her closely behind him.

Feng Ting, I'm sorry.

Li Qing silently apologized to Feng Ting in his heart. The next moment, his body shot forward like an arrow.

Li Qing was extremely fast. With the boost from Xu Yu's Brilliant Gold Scepter, his figure blurred as he sped ahead!

"Damn!" Seeing Li Qing's lightning-like speed, Yan blurted out a curse. Yet his hands did not stop moving. The first and second Spirit Rings beneath his feet lit up at once as he unleashed two Spirit Skills simultaneously.

Feng Ting did not hesitate either, immediately using her First Spirit Skill.

First Spirit Skill, Maple Leaf Flash!

Her Spirit Ring lit up, and Feng Ting's body instantly turned into a streak of red light that rapidly lunged toward Xu Yu.

At the same time, Yan leaped into the air. His third Spirit Ring shone as a ball of red light sprayed from his mouth, shooting straight toward Xu Yu.

Third Soul Skill, Blazing Flame Ray!

Seeing this, a smile appeared at the corner of Li Qing's lips.

Xu Yu, who could provide such powerful support, was naturally the first target Yan and Feng Ting would focus on!

He had prepared for this long ago!

Second Spirit Skill, Instant Hell Shadowless Slash.

Li Qing immediately appeared beside the panicked Xu Yu. Seeing this, Feng Ting instantly retreated.

Li Qing raised the Scythe of Judgment high in his hand before slashing down fiercely.

Judgment!

A jet-black blade of light shot directly toward Yan's molten ray.

After slashing once, he locked onto Feng Ting's aura once more and unleashed his Second Spirit Skill again. The next instant, the cold gleaming blade appeared at Feng Ting's fair neck.

"Heh heh." Feng Ting gave a bitter smile and silently withdrew from the arena.

Then came the time for a one-on-one battle between Li Qing and Yan, two real men.

But the power of Judgment had already marked Yan. The defensive armor that was incomparably tough to others was like paste in Li Qing's eyes, utterly unable to withstand a blow!

The Scythe of Judgment possessed ultimate cutting power!

Did he think that was a joke?

Together with Xu Yu's boost, the battle between the two was over in less than a minute.

This two-on-two battle had ended in under three minutes. From the very beginning, there had never been any suspense regarding its outcome.

On the scales of victory, Yan and Feng Ting's side had nothing at all; on Li Qing and Xu Yu's side sat a blue whale.

Although Yan had lost again, his fighting spirit was reignited.

Over the following half day, Li Qing and Xu Yu fought five more two-person matches, winning every single one.

There was no issue with the two-person matches. Li Qing's only concern was what to do about the one-on-one matches. They could not find opponents at all!