Suotuo City Great Soul Arena, The Person in Charge Greets Personally

It must be said, those with a foundation find it incredibly intuitive to switch over to cultivating martial arts.

Little Li Flying Dagger—no, wait, that's not right—Little Li Flying Dagger. After Chen An guided her through it a few times, Meng Yiran had already mastered the basics.

After explaining the Heavenly Profound Scripture, he took his leave.

"Little Junior Sister, you're back! How did it go? What kind of good cultivation technique did Master give you?"

At the strong insistence of Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, Meng Yiran's dormitory had been arranged to be inside theirs.

Meng Yiran had been worried about whether three women would make for a chaotic household, or if her two senior sisters would bully her.

But upon returning to the dorm, well, she realized she was wrong.

"Some techniques for hidden weapons."

Initially, she thought it would be like the outside world, where everyone is secretive and evasive, but the two of them ended up telling Meng Yiran about their own situations.

And then, as a fair exchange, she shared her own situation as well.

Just enough to touch upon the basics.

"Why are you so willing to reveal your secrets? Aren't you afraid I might be a bad person?"

Ning Rongrong looked at Meng Yiran, feeling that this junior sister was a bit naive, before she replied.

"Master has his ways of judging people. Since you passed Master's assessment, we naturally trust you."

Meng Yiran didn't quite understand or grasp it yet, but she respected it. The three girls chatted for a while, went to the cafeteria for a meal together, and finally paid a visit to a certain lonely bachelor.

"Why aren't there any male disciples apprenticing here? Sigh."

Luo Xiaoshi sighed; even now, he was still living alone in his dormitory. Being responsible for teaching the other students the Five-Tiger Eight-Trigram Staff only made the other students even more hesitant to associate with him.

"Perhaps the timing isn't right yet. Just wait a little longer, Senior Brother."

Luo Xiaoshi was troubled, but he changed the subject to avoid bringing down the mood for his senior and junior sisters.

"Have you all decided on your groupings?"

He was referring to the matters at the Great Soul Arena. Ning Rongrong and Meng Yiran exchanged a glance and looked simultaneously at Zhu Zhuqing. Zhu Zhuqing, feeling their gazes upon her, did not act coy.

"We've discussed this with Junior Sister Yiran. For now, we've decided that you and Rongrong will be one group, and I will be with Yiran."

Zhu Zhuqing's proposal was based on rank; she and Meng Yiran were both Soul Elders, while Luo Xiaoshi was level 24 and Ning Rongrong was now level 26, making their levels quite close.

After hearing the proposal, Luo Xiaoshi grasped Zhu Zhuqing's intent.

"I have no objections."

An interesting point about this grouping was that the two strongest fighters among the four would each lead one of the slightly weaker ones, making the distribution of strength quite reasonable.

Don't let the fact that Meng Yiran was a Soul Elder fool you; she had no chance of winning against a full-strength Luo Xiaoshi, as he had started a year earlier and possessed stronger techniques.

"What about the seven-man battle?"

"We'll find three defense-type soul masters; our lineup already has enough output. I happen to have three classmates who have mastered the Golden Body."

"Good."

Once the four of them settled the matter, they each went off to cultivate. The current timing was actually quite delicate; aside from preparing for battle, Luo Xiaoshi was single-mindedly focused on getting stronger. Since his level was now close to Ning Rongrong's, it made her even more diligent, Zhu Zhuqing remained as steady as ever, and Meng Yiran was fresh off receiving her new techniques.

While the students were working hard, Chen An was no slouch either.

At this moment, he was heading toward Suotuo City, intending to meet with the director of the Great Soul Arena. Since his students were coming, he had to make the arrangements himself.

Upon arriving at Suotuo City, he entered with unexpected ease. Chen An was puzzled—why were they being so respectful toward him?

Having concealed his presence, he had also inadvertently learned a "few" extra skills in stealth. Thus, he had been walking like an ordinary citizen until he reached the Great Soul Arena, at which point he dropped his disguise.

Coming toward him was a tall, sturdy man who looked quite young, likely in his early thirties, followed by a middle-aged man in his forties.

Such pairings were not uncommon, but seeing them here, at this time, clearly indicated a superior-subordinate relationship.

"Greetings, Dean Chen. I am the person in charge of this sector, Di Ao, and this is the director of the Suotuo Great Soul Arena, Ao Tian."

Chen An was bewildered; he didn't know these two guys, though he had a vague impression of Director Ao, as he was a character mentioned in the original work.

But this was their first meeting, so why was he so famous?

"Do we know each other?"

Di Ao looked like a wealthy young master out for a stroll, but his professionalism was impeccable; he had maintained a professional smile since they met.

Moreover, his professional smile didn't look fake at all—he was truly a talent.

"Dean Chen, you flatter me. This is our first meeting, but everyone in Suotuo City—or rather, the important officials in this sector and the surrounding cities—all know of you."

Oh, that explained it. It must have been the fallout from when he had disciplined Flender.

It seemed the Heaven Dou Imperial Family must have suppressed the news; otherwise, more people would surely know him.

"Sir, I see you have come, so you must have matters to discuss. Why don't you follow me?"

As Di Ao spoke, he led Chen An like a restaurant waiter into a large, luxurious, and dignified room.

Chen An looked at the surrounding decor; this was the VIP reception hall of Suotuo City.

It was likely reserved for entertaining high-ranking officials and was not usually open to the public.

"I wonder what business brings you here, sir? This Humble One will certainly serve you."

Di Ao kept his posture very low, showing not a shred of the airs of a district supervisor.

In reality, his raw strength was not high; before Chen An, he was nothing more than an ant, not to mention that he had reached this position at such a young age.

"I have a few students who wish to participate in your Great Soul Arena."

"That is our honor; I will certainly ensure they receive fair competition."

"Good, then are you interested in deeper cooperation?"

Having listened to Di Ao's introduction earlier, Chen An understood the nature of his position.

Believing this man had the authority to decide certain matters, and being too lazy to go through extra trouble, he decided to just deal with him directly.

Chen An spoke about things regarding promotion, positioning, and the tournament structure for the competitors.

In the end, it alarmed a leader from the Seven Great Sects Alliance, effectively taking the framework of esports and athletic competitions from his past life and applying it to the Soul Arena.

After the conversation concluded, Chen An left fully satisfied, as this trip had secured him a seven percent stake in the Suotuo City Great Soul Arena.

This was all because that leader could not make a firm decision and sought instructions from above; when the people from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect found out, they strongly recommended the proposal and requested that equity be used to win him over.

With things having reached this point, there was no reason to refuse.

"The Great Soul Arena has been closed for days; I wonder what the hell they're doing."

Passersby found the closure of the Great Soul Arena strange, as such an occurrence was truly too rare for them.

"Third Brother, what do you think? It's closed again today, but the sign has changed—Suotuo Arena? Did they change the name?"

Tang San was also among this group, accompanied by Ma Hongjun.

"Forget it, I'll go ask Teacher for instructions."

He was referring to that fellow Yu Xiaogang; for some unknown reason, his original plan had been altered.

The three months of closed-door training had now been changed to parallel training and actual combat.

High-intensity training from Monday to Friday, with competitions on Saturday and Sunday. Even pigs wouldn't be that tired.

Now that the arena was closed for adjustments, their training had naturally hit a snag.

Tang San reported the situation calmly, but the result was to continue training, so the Shrek Five Monsters could only pull long faces and bury themselves back into their drills.

Meanwhile, inside Phantom Star Academy.

A great battle was currently underway, with everyone fighting until their faces were flushed red.