Cai Yue'er is on her way

A week later, in the afternoon, the bright sunlight shone on the largest open-air Soul Fighting Arena in Shrek Outer Court courtyard.

Yun Jingheng stood on the sidelines, hands in his pockets, his expression somewhere between "Did I go too far?" and "But there seems to be nothing I can do about it."

The arena in front of him, which was thirty feet in diameter, was unrecognizable. Most of the bluestone slabs were broken, and cracks radiated from the center to the edges like a spider web. Several slabs were forcibly lifted and overturned in the corner, and gravel and dust were scattered all over the ground.

Three people were lying haphazardly in the center of the field.

Xie Xie closest to him, lying face up in the gap between the rubble, his chest heaving violently, his eyelids half-closed, and he was muttering something intermittently. If you listened closely, it was probably something like, "This is unfair... This is cheating..."

On the other side, Tang Wulin was kneeling on the ground, panting with his knees bent. The golden aura of his Soul Power was still shimmering on his body, but he was clearly unable to hold on any longer, and his shoulders were trembling.

Yuanen Yehui was sitting further away, leaning against a crooked stone slab, her forehead covered in sweat. The phantom of the Titan Giant Ape had just dissipated behind her, and her breathing was long and heavy, like a bellows.

Ye Xinglan was still standing, but that was all.

Her sword was stuck three inches deep in a crack in the stone slab beside her feet. She had to brace herself against the hilt to keep from falling. There was a faint bloodstain at the corner of her mouth, clearly from the shock she had just experienced.

She supported Xu Xiaoyan with her left hand; Xu Xiaoyan was practically hanging on Ye Xinglan's arm, her face pale, her Star Staff lying askew on the ground, clearly indicating that her Soul Power was depleted.

The only person in the entire Soul Fighting Arena who looked relatively respectable was Gu Yue.

She stood on a relatively intact stone slab on the east side of the field. Her clothes were not torn, her hair was not messy, and although her breathing was a little heavier than usual, it was far from being out of breath.

Her face was "gloomy" as she stared at the silver-white figure in the center of the arena. Yun Jingheng's first Soul Spirit, Xiao Jiu, was now squatting on the most collapsed stone slab in the center of the arena in the form of a Nine-Tailed Fox, half the height of a person. Its nine tails stretched out behind it like nine silver-white flags.

Her squatting posture was as elegant as a jade sculpture, but the tips of her nine tails were still swaying slightly. With each sway, a very faint ripple of Soul Power spread out in the air, which was the residual energy from her battle against six opponents.

It was all too fast. If she hadn't activated a bit of the sealing power in the nick of time, she would have been one of those who died from exhaustion.

This Soul Spirit, which she herself had promised, became the second beneficiary of Yun Jingheng's God Trial, which completely surpassed the level of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast!

What's the key point?

The key point is that this fox can actually ignore the suppression of bloodline!

"Xiao Jiu," Yun Jingheng finally spoke, waving to Xiao Jiu from the sidelines, "Alright, alright, come back."

Xiao Jiu turned her head and glanced at him, her fox-like face clearly showing an expression that said, "I haven't had enough fun yet."

She turned her head, her gaze falling on Gu Yue, then back to Yun Jingheng, and then, in a very human-like manner, pointed the tip of her tail in Gu Yue's direction, as if to say, "She hasn't fallen yet."

Gu Yue's lips twitched.

She took a step forward, her shoes making a crisp sound as they hit the gravel, and a crack finally appeared in her gloomy expression.

She wasn't actually angry; she was trying to suppress a laugh, but she didn't want her companions, who were sprawled out on the ground beside her, to notice.

"...You Soul Spirit ..." Gu Yue began, a barely perceptible chuckle in her voice, "You wiped out five and a half of us all by yourself."

"Five and a half?"

Xie Xie, lying on the ground, raised his hand. "Am I one of those half?"

"You're the one who got whipped by the tail and tumbled four times," Ye Xinglan added expressionlessly.

Xie Xie was silent for two seconds, then lowered his raised hand.

Xiao Jiu finally stood up from the center of the stone slab and walked lightly toward Yun Jingheng.

When she reached his feet, she nuzzled his calf with her head. One of her nine tails was particularly mischievous; it curled up, wrapped around his ankle, and then loosened, as if asking for praise or being affectionate.

Yun Jingheng glanced down at her, then reached out and ruffled her hair twice. It felt like kneading a ball of cotton imbued with spiritual energy—soft yet resilient.

"Alright, alright, I know you're good."

He crouched down to her eye level, "But could you please not dismantle the venue like this next time? Aunt Cai will definitely come after me later."

Xiao Jiu tilted its head and looked at him for two seconds, its tail tip twitched, then flashed with light and retreated into the depths of his consciousness.

The Moon Laurel Tree branches swayed gently where she had disappeared, and the air currents created when the nine tails retracted rippled through her sea of consciousness before everything returned to calm.

The area fell silent for a moment.

Tang Wulin finally caught his breath, straightened up from his knees, looked at Yun Jingheng, and said in a tone that was both admiring and helpless, "Your Soul Spirit... is much stronger than when I last saw it."

"Last time we were able to go back and forth with her for a couple of rounds, but this time we didn't even have a chance to touch her tail."

Yun Jingheng scratched his head, stood up, looked at the messy competition stage and his scattered teammates, and a somewhat insincere apology appeared on his face. "... How about you treat me to a meal? As a price for losing?"

"What do you mean I have to treat you to dinner even though I lost? Are you even human?"

Yun Jingheng spread his hands innocently. "How can you say I'm not human? I'm more than human. Think about it, six of you ganged up on me, and my Soul Spirit took you all down. How embarrassing would that be if word got out?"

"I'm giving you a chance to treat me to a meal and let's put this matter behind us. Isn't that a great deal?"

Xie Xie sat up from the ground, not even bothering to brush off the dust, and pointed at Yun Jingheng's nose. "You call this being considerate? You call this turning the page?"

"Do you believe I'll go complain to Teacher Cai right now and say you demolished the Soul Fighting Arena and refuse to pay for it?!"

Go ahead and sue.

Yun Jingheng took out the black card from his pocket and waved it, making a soft "snap" sound. "I have money to pay."

Xie Xie's words caught in his throat. He stared at the black card in the man's hand for two seconds, then swallowed them back.

Tang Wulin, who was standing nearby, got up from the ground, dusted off his knees, and chuckled, "Alright Xie Xie, admit it. The six of us combined couldn't even defeat one of his Soul Spirit. It's not unfair to treat him to a meal."

"It's five and a half!" Xie Xie insisted.

Xu Xiaoyan lifted her head from Ye Xinglan's arm, her pale face not yet fully recovered, but she already had the strength to retort, "If you could have dodged those extra three laps, you would have been considered the complete winner. But you didn't."

"..." Xie Xie opened his mouth three times.

Finally, he gave up struggling, fell backward onto the pile of rubble, and let out a long, sorrowful sigh, "Fine, I'll treat! I'll treat, okay?"

Ye Xinglan sheathed her sword, released Xu Xiaoyan to let her stand up straight, and then glanced at the area outside. "Stop dawdling, Teacher Cai will be here soon if we don't leave, and we'll really have to pay compensation. We can still run now."

After she finished speaking, she turned around and walked out first. Although her steps were a little unsteady, her posture remained very upright.

Xie Xie was taken aback. "That's true... but Teacher Cai knows we're here, right?"

"Then you stay here! I'm going first!" After saying that, Yun Jingheng took off running.