Future Offerings: Will They Participate in the Soul Master Tournament?

"Child, remember this: as long as you can become a Title Douluo in the future, I, Kong Deming, pledge on my honor that I will make you one of the Sun Moon Empire's imperial retainers. As an imperial retainer, I guarantee that no one will ever dare to bully you."

Kong Deming had calculated everything well at this moment. In his eyes, Zhong Kui, who could refine such medicine, must be a formidable genius. By winning over such a talent, he was essentially securing a future Title Douluo.

It was equivalent to reserving a path to Title Douluo status for him. When the time came, amidst the quagmire of power within the Sun Moon Empire, he would gain an ally to help safeguard his own interests and those of his family.

Kong Deming was also recruiting a genius for the Imperial House.

Jing Hongchen was also very pleased.

He held a great deal of affection for Zhong Kui.

After all, he had only managed to become a level 95 Super Title Douluo thanks to the medicinal pills provided by Zhong Kui. Furthermore, the custom pills Zhong Kui produced were so powerful—even more so than the divine Mystic Water Pill.

With such a brilliant alchemist helping them, the Sun Moon Empire would be able to cultivate many outstanding soul master combatants, and they would no longer need to rely on Evil Soul Masters.

He himself had no fondness for Evil Soul Masters and disliked them personally. If it weren't for the fact that soul master combat power was so crucial to help them shoulder the pressure from the top-tier soul masters of the Douluo Three Kingdoms (including Shrek), they would never have chosen to cooperate with them.

But things were different now. With these pills, they could cultivate top-tier soul master combat power.

"By the way, child, I would like to ask: do you wish to participate in the Soul Master Tournament? If you do, I will personally ensure your safety, and no one will dare to lay a hand on you."

The Soul Master Tournament, also known as the Soul Fighting Tournament, could be traced back to the competition between the Martial Soul Hall and the two great empires of the Douluo Continent. At that time, the Martial Soul Hall held a dominant position in the tournament. Later, Shrek Academy emerged, not only defeating the Martial Soul Hall but also triumphing over the Martial Soul Hall Academy in the tournament.

This established Shrek's reputation as the number one holy land on the continent to this day, as Shrek played a vital role in defeating the Martial Soul Hall, alongside the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, while the majority of the two empires' forces could only cheer from the sidelines.

Now that the Martial Soul Hall had been defeated, the tournament had become a contest between the Douluo Three Kingdoms and Shrek. It had been held for countless years, with Shrek consistently dominating. Later, when the Sun Moon Continent collided with the Douluo Continent, conflict erupted between the two sides. The Sun Moon Empire failed in its attempt to annex the others, and later, in an effort to squeeze into the circle, the Sun Moon Empire began participating in the tournament as well.

It was now called the Soul Fighting Tournament; there were many ways to refer to it.

It didn't matter what it was called.

In the Soul Fighting Tournament, many of the Sun Moon Empire's outstanding young talents had been secretly murdered by people from the Douluo Three Kingdoms or even Shrek.

Moreover, they had basically never managed to defeat Shrek Academy to win glory for the Sun Moon Empire, which led to the Sun Moon Empire harboring deep resentment toward the Douluo Three Kingdoms and Shrek.

You claim to be honorable, yet you are the ones playing dirty. Do you have any shame at all?

After witnessing Zhong Kui's exceptional abilities, Kong Deming felt that Zhong Kui should participate in the Soul Fighting Tournament. Perhaps he could help the Sun Moon Empire win the championship, which might suppress the arrogance of the Douluo Three Kingdoms and Shrek, preparing the way for the unification war the Sun Moon Empire planned to launch against them later.

On the surface, the Sun Moon Empire would not go to war with Shrek Academy and the Douluo Three Kingdoms—after all, they had already lost once before—but in reality, they had never forgotten that defeat and were constantly making preparations, even if they weren't quite ready yet.

But it wouldn't be long now. Kong Deming and his peers had been researching powerful Soul Tools during this time, readying themselves for war at any moment.

If Zhong Kui participated in the tournament and managed to defeat Shrek Academy to claim the championship, they would be able to suppress Shrek Academy and dampen the spirit of the Douluo Three Kingdoms.

"This..."

Zhong Kui pondered at this moment. He was considering whether there was any point in participating in the Soul Master Tournament, or the Soul Fighting Tournament, as it were.

Zhong Kui understood that his strength relied mostly on the system. He felt that participating in the tournament would be highly unfair to many of the other contestants. Tang San was also a transmigrator; his soul age had long since passed forty. When he participated in the tournament back then, his soul age was likely over forty as well, and he had the Mysterious Heaven Skill and other Tang Sect martial arts.

Furthermore, he had relied on those immortal herbs from Dugu Bo to finally defeat the Martial Soul Hall Academy.

He had always felt such behavior was unfair. If he didn't have the system, perhaps it would be fine, but the problem was that Zhong Kui did have the system, and his soul age had long exceeded the standard.

He really didn't want to pretend to be a genius; he didn't want to deceive those around him who treated him well.

After all, he was a youth who had lived under the red flag; he still had some sense of shame and didn't want to disguise himself as a genius, using cheating methods to win a championship.

Moreover, if he displayed powerful strength in the tournament, it would only invite trouble from the Douluo Three Kingdoms and Shrek Academy. They would certainly not allow an outstanding genius to emerge from the Sun Moon Empire, and it would lead to endless complications.

It would be better to make a fortune in silence and only shock the world once he had sufficient strength. Even if the Douluo Three Kingdoms and Shrek discovered his power then, no one would be able to do anything about it, because his strength would already be set in stone.

Just then, the system suddenly told him something.

[Ding! Host, the system detects that you do not wish to participate in the Soul Fighting Tournament. The system understands, but it reminds you that if you participate and report Huo Yuhao for cheating, the system will grant you more points, which can be used to purchase more items—Dou Techniques or cultivation methods from the Battle Through the Heavens world, or rare treasures and herbs.

Furthermore, if the host intends to participate, the system is willing to pay a portion of the deposit in advance: a sword-type Dou Technique created by a Dou Zun from the Dou Qi Continent, and it is of the Earth-tier intermediate grade.

The quality is guaranteed to be excellent.]

"!!!"

After hearing what the system said, Zhong Kui began to reconsider whether or not to participate in the competition. Now, he was even more inclined to join, primarily because the rewards offered by the system were substantial, and this was an Earth-tier Dou Technique.

In the Douluo Universe, this was already considered a level beyond divine skills. Zhong Kui truly could not resist.