Qing Mu, Targeted

"Alright, I understand!"

After hearing Supervisor Ao's words, the staff member nodded, then quickly left the room.

After the staff member left, Supervisor Ao looked over Qing Mu's information and frowned. "Where exactly did this Garlic Turtle come from? Why have we investigated for so long without gathering even the slightest bit of information?"

As the supervisor of the Great Spirit Arena, he naturally needed to have some understanding of the Soul Masters in his area. But this form had clearly been filled out with nonsense by the other party. Its credibility was less than a tenth.

Especially that name, Garlic Turtle. Who would call themselves that? It was obviously a codename. The only thing he could confirm was that the thirty-fourth rank of Soul Power was real.

Meanwhile, inside a massage parlor in Suotuo City.

Qing Mu enjoyed the massage from the masseur behind him, feeling his body, stiff from battle and cultivation, gradually relax.

A moment later, Qing Mu opened his eyes and asked to the side, "Bulbasaur, how does it feel?"

That was right. Beside Qing Mu was his martial soul, Bulbasaur. Though hiring someone to massage a martial soul was rather absurd, it was worth it if it could dispel the effects of the baleful aura affecting Bulbasaur.

Besides, Qing Mu won ten Gold Soul Coins from the Spirit Arena every day. Those coins were just enough to offset his recent expenses.

"Da Na, Da Na~"

Bulbasaur replied from beside him, its eyes narrowing contentedly.

These past ten or so days in Suotuo City had been the most comfortable days Bulbasaur had ever spent. Qing Mu only fought one match a day, and Bulbasaur did not even need to make a move. Qing Mu spent all the remaining time taking it around Suotuo City to eat, drink, and have fun.

After more than ten days of relaxation, Bulbasaur's affected mind had gradually recovered. It would not be long before it returned to normal.

"Ah... if we hadn't gotten lost before, things wouldn't have been so troublesome."

At that moment, Qing Mu suddenly recalled getting lost in the Star Dou Great Forest and could not help but feel exasperated.

Bulbasaur's baleful aura had come from killing too many Soul Beasts. In Qing Mu's original plan, Bulbasaur would not have needed to kill any Soul Beasts at all. It only needed to find a suitable Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

After that, Qing Mu could repeatedly defeat that Thousand-Year Soul Beast and use Grassy Terrain to heal it, farming experience that way.

The efficiency would have been high, too. They could fight twenty or thirty times a day, and Bulbasaur would level up before long. Then they could simply switch to a higher-level Soul Beast.

But because they had gotten lost, Qing Mu and Bulbasaur had entered a region where Thousand-Year Soul Beasts roamed everywhere and Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts could be spotted from time to time.

In such a region, Bulbasaur not only had to guard against danger all around them, but also protect Qing Mu. Naturally, it could not hold back. It killed quite a few Soul Beasts in battle, including even a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!

That Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had been rather unlucky. It had just suffered some injuries in a conflict with other Soul Beasts, and then, by an unfortunate coincidence, encountered Bulbasaur right after an intense battle, with Growth fully stacked.

Under normal circumstances, Qing Mu and Bulbasaur would flee immediately upon encountering a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. In fact, that was exactly what they had done before.

But after evolving into Ivysaur, Bulbasaur with fully stacked Growth truly possessed the strength to confront a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast head-on, not to mention that this particular Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was injured.

In the end, under the control of Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, and Leech Seed, the already injured Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast grew weaker and weaker before being bombarded to death by endless Seed Bombs.

"What a pity that Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast didn't drop a Soul Bone. Otherwise, my combat strength would be even greater now."

Thinking of this, Qing Mu could not help shaking his head, feeling somewhat regretful.

But Qing Mu also knew that Soul Bones were not so easily obtained, especially Soul Bones in Douluo 1.

Even some level ninety-five Titled Douluo did not possess a single Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone, let alone other Soul Masters.

A Soul Bone—even just a Hundred-Year Soul Bone—was an exceedingly rare treasure in Douluo 1!

More than an hour later, Qing Mu and Bulbasaur emerged from the massage parlor feeling refreshed and returned to the inn.

Several more days passed. Qing Mu won several more matches, reaching fifteen consecutive victories.

However, as Qing Mu looked at the opponent lying before him, he frowned. Why had his recent opponents been so targeted? They were completely different from the opponents he had faced before.

"Looks like I've won too many times in a row. The Great Spirit Arena has started targeting me."

Qing Mu quickly guessed the reason. A large portion of the Great Spirit Arena's revenue came from gambling. If he kept winning, the spectators would blindly bet on him, and the Suo Tuo Great Spirit Arena certainly would not be pleased.

Moreover, battles without suspense would inevitably reduce the number of people watching the matches, which was another source of income for the Great Spirit Arena.

But Qing Mu soon smiled calmly. "Target me if they want. I don't care anyway."

In truth, Qing Mu had long been prepared to lose. The Soul Fighting at the Suo Tuo Great Spirit Arena was merely a casual experiment for him during his downtime.

For that reason, he had not even planned to reveal Bulbasaur. The fact that he had won so many matches using only his own body had already exceeded Qing Mu's expectations.

"I hope I run into some interesting opponents afterward. Maybe they'll help my combat skills improve even further."

Through half a month of fighting and watching, Qing Mu had already absorbed all the techniques these Soul Masters possessed. If they spoke purely of combat technique, Qing Mu now surpassed the vast majority of Soul Masters.

This was not because Qing Mu's talent was superior to that of the other Soul Masters at the Suo Tuo Great Spirit Arena. Rather, it was because he had experienced far more battles than ordinary Soul Masters, and the intensity of those battles was not something the other Soul Masters at the Suo Tuo Great Spirit Arena could compare to.

At the Suo Tuo Great Spirit Arena, a person only fought one match a day. Even including two-on-two matches and team battles, that was only three matches a day at most.

But in the Star Dou Great Forest, Qing Mu's daily number of battles might far exceed what these Soul Masters experienced in an entire month.

The only difference was that in the Star Dou Great Forest, his opponents were Soul Beasts, while at the Great Spirit Arena, his opponents were Soul Masters.

That was also why Qing Mu had come to the Suo Tuo Great Spirit Arena to watch Soul Masters fight: to gradually transform the techniques he had tempered under the claws of Soul Beasts into combat experience useful against human Soul Masters as well.

After the referee announced the result, Qing Mu left the Soul Fighting Arena and headed straight for the passage without stopping.

In the past, Qing Mu would have chosen to stay and watch other Soul Masters fight. But now, he had already absorbed all the combat techniques of these Iron Badge Soul Elders, so there was naturally no need to keep watching.

As Qing Mu departed, the expressions of Tang San, Dai Mubai, and the others in the spectator area grew increasingly grave.

Because they could clearly sense that Qing Mu had become stronger during this period.