Outside the Arena: Dad Beats Up His Son

Mu Rong twisted his wrist and cracked his knuckles, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

After a hundred years of absorbing the essence of plants and herbs, his body had grown tall and strong. The Demon Blade he had forged long ago had surpassed the others of its kind, and was even stronger than Lu Zhen's ordinary Demon Blade!

That was the power of the Mysterious Gold!

"Again!"

Mu Rong took a deep breath, then launched the attack himself!

The next scene completely overturned everyone's understanding of what a newborn could do.

A control-type Demon Blade wielder was actually engaging an attack-type Demon Blade wielder in close-quarters combat, relying entirely on hand-to-hand techniques!

Wham! Wham! Wham!

The heavy blows came one after another, with no sign of stopping.

The more Odwin fought, the more frightened and frustrated he became.

His opponent's physique was exceptionally strong, and his combat skills were terrifyingly polished. He could predict Odwin's attacks and counter them from the most dangerous angles.

He realized that his opponent wasn't just an ordinary Soul Emperor. He was up against a mighty Soul Emperor with a hundred battles under his belt—or perhaps even a Soul Venerable!

Even so, Mu Rong was struck a few times. But none of the blows did him any real harm.

The Cold Poison inside Odwin's body spread without pause. His movements grew slower and slower, and his strength continued to ebb away.

"Where's the opening?!"

Mu Rong seized a flaw in Odwin's flowing movement. The ice-blue scales on his shoulders abruptly stood on end, and he sank his teeth into Odwin's arm!

"Ah!"

Odwin cried out in pain. A bitterly cold chill surged through his body from the bite, and his entire arm instantly lost all feeling.

The winner had been decided!

Mu Rong drove his knee into Odwin's chest, kicking him onto the ground.

The Ice Phoenix Python opened its mouth, its massive fangs once again dripping with blood. It looked down at the defeated man beneath it.

Odwin lay on the ground, gasping for breath. His arm was covered in tiny bite marks, already beginning to frost over.

He had lost.

He had lost completely and utterly.

The host raised the microphone and shouted excitedly:

"This young master... I won't be convinced! Next time, I'll definitely beat you!"

Mu Rong didn't bother responding to his yells. He turned and walked back to his team.

By the time he returned, all the students around them had snapped out of their shock. They erupted into cheers that shook the heavens and earth!

Even the old dean looked deeply at Mu Rong. In his notebook, he solemnly wrote the three words "Mu Rong," then circled them three times.

What a good seedling! A fine seedling for the academy!

"Next match, Lan Lin versus Lu Zhen!"

The old dean's voice rang out again.

Lan Lin lifted his head and puffed out his chest as he stepped forward. His opponent was a control-type Demon Blade wielder with thirteen soul rings, whose martial soul was the Ghost Orchid.

After a hundred rounds of fierce fighting, Lan Lin fought with the pride of a century-old Soul Emperor and the resolve of someone willing to stake his life. In the end, he won by a hair.

The first day of the preliminaries concluded with Mu Rong and Lan Lin's victories.

But everyone knew that from that day onward, the name "Mu Rong" was destined to set off a major stir at Suotuo Soul Master Academy.

After the match, Odwin was helped to his feet and brought before Mu Rong. Though he was still unconvinced, he bowed his proud head.

"I'm Odwin. I've learned my lesson."

Mu Rong had always been indifferent to people who openly challenged him and wanted another match.

Even if they sneaked around in the shadows, playing dirty tricks.

Mu Rong smiled calmly. "You're still too weak. You can't beat me."

"You!"

Odwin's face flushed red with fury. The blue veins on his forehead bulged, and he looked ready to charge over and fight again.

His younger brothers held him back, finally preventing him from losing face in public.

"Big brother, let it go. You're not going to have your men go after us, are you?"

Lan Lin chuckled, looking a little uneasy.

"Relax. Though his character isn't great, he's too proud to use underhanded methods. His guts are all muscle. He wouldn't stoop to dirty tricks."

Mu Rong patted his shoulder, looking completely confident.

The two exchanged a glance, then left together for the cafeteria.

There was no need to mention the way the students of Suotuo Soul Master Academy ate like starving wolves. Aside from Ning Rongrong, Lu Zhen was the only one who seemed completely unfazed.

He even had a plate of Soul Fragment meat worth several gold soul coins.

Of course, Ning Rongrong was also immensely grateful. One meal cost fifty gold soul coins, an amount most students could never afford. She was practically a little heiress.

But compared to Mu Rong and Lan Lin now, she was nothing.

Time passed in the blink of an eye, and half a year slipped away.

Mu Rong had improved as well. His soul power had risen step by step, reaching rank thirteen.

During that half-year at the academy, he had absorbed knowledge like a sponge, gaining all sorts of useful information.

And thanks to his dealings with others, his basic understanding of martial souls had grown so familiar that he could now toss out all sorts of plausible nonsense at a moment's notice.

Back in the small town where he had taken the exam, his knowledge had only let him bluff his way through an icy cave full of Cold Poison.

But after half a year of studying at the academy and spending time in the martial soul library, he had gathered information on three exceptional Soul Fragments.

Frozen Ice Silkworm, Cold Tide Ice Python, Earth Dragon Frost Python.

The Frozen Ice Silkworm was a rare Soul Beast that lived in the bitterly cold mountains. It had a stone-like body and could petrify whatever its eyes touched.

The Cold Tide Ice Python was an active Soul Beast of the deep-sea ice caverns. It could unleash a cold tide that froze everything in its path.

The Earth Dragon Frost Python was an extremely rare earth-and-ice-type Soul Beast, a product of the land itself. It possessed the strength of a dragon and the frost breath of an ice python.

Each of these three Soul Fragments was far superior to the Cold Tide Ice Python's, and any one of them would make an excellent choice for his second Soul Ring.

As for his second Soul Ring, any one of these three Soul Fragments would be an excellent choice.

That day, after finishing his classes, Mu Rong suddenly called out to Lan Lin.

"Come on. We're going to the Great Soul Arena for a big fight today."

"Huh? We're going to the arena?"

Lan Lin was stunned.

"To the real arena."

Mu Rong's voice was calm.

"The Soul Arena's little fights are too boring, and we'll be going back to those same people after we leave the academy."

The Great Soul Arena was full of countless martial soul masters. No matter how rare a martial soul was, they could run into one there. It would be much more stimulating—and they might even make a fortune.

Lan Lin fell silent, then nodded in agreement.

The two set off for the Great Soul Arena, the most famous one in Suotuo City.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, they both spent a few gold soul coins on masks and put them on before entering.

After entering the Great Soul Arena, they registered their information and gave themselves titles.

Mu Rong seemed to have a wicked sense of humor. With a flourish, he wrote four large characters on the registration board:

Dad Beats Up His Son.

The staff member responsible for registering the fighters stared at the name, completely dumbfounded. The brush in his hand nearly slipped.

That name... was way too outrageous!

One could practically see that the guy calling himself "Dad Beats Up His Son" would become the target of the whole arena as soon as he stepped in.

Beside Lan Lin, he thought for a moment, then wrote down the three characters "Lone Wolf King." That title fit the spirit of his wolf martial soul rather well.