Grandmaster Appears

The giant axe came straight at her, reeking of blood. Qingxi used the Shadow Chaser footwork, and in the span of a breath, she appeared behind the hulking man, leaving an afterimage where she had stood.

"Too slow..." Before the words had even left her mouth, Qiankun was already in motion. With a resounding BANG, a massive figure crashed into the inner wall beneath the stands, then dropped to the ground.

The man who had been so arrogant now lay sprawled on his back, unconscious. If it weren't for his limbs twitching faintly, you might have thought he was dead.

For a moment, the entire Soul Fighting Arena fell silent.

It had happened too fast. The whole fight had lasted less than two seconds.

"He's fallen off the Soul Fighting Platform. You can announce the result now." Qingxi lifted her head and looked toward the female Soul Master hovering in midair.

"Huh?" The female Soul Master finally came to her senses, her voice brimming with excitement. "Let's welcome Qiankun Mingxin, the Soul Fighter, as the winner of this match!! As a newcomer to the Soul Fighting Arena, she fought with such speed and didn't even use a Soul Skill. I'm sure she'll bring us even more surprises in the days to come. Let's wait and see!"

Only then did the audience come back to their senses and burst into enthusiastic applause.

Amid the crowd, a middle-aged man with a rigid expression silently watched the platform.

Qingxi left the Soul Fighting Platform and returned to the registration desk. She set her Iron Soul Fighting Badge on the table. "Sign me up for a Death Match."

"One moment." The clerk took her badge and tapped at a machine, then handed it back. "I'm very sorry, esteemed Soul Fighter. Soto City Grand Arena regulations allow each Soul Master to participate in only one match per day. You've already fought today, so I'm afraid we can't help you."

"Isn't there any other way?" Qingxi furrowed her brow slightly. She hadn't had her fill yet.

"You've already competed in a one-on-one match. You can still sign up for a two-on-two match or a team battle," the clerk replied with a polite smile.

"Two-on-two and team battles?" Qingxi lowered her head in thought. A two-on-two match or a team battle would be no good—she was alone.

"Thanks." She thanked the clerk, then turned and headed back into the arena.

When she reappeared in the stands, she had taken off her mask and changed her outfit. With milk tea in one hand and grilled meat in the other, she watched the matches below with relish.

She had nothing better to do, so she might as well watch a few more.

Soto City Grand Arena was enormous. District Sixteen alone had four Death Arenas and four Sparring Areas, for a total of eight platforms.

To her surprise, she spotted someone she recognized.

The person was wearing a mask, so at first Qingxi had only found them familiar. She activated her Spirit Eye and took a closer look. It was the group she'd run into at the tavern outside Star Dou Great Forest last time.

It was the quiet little girl who was like a cat. She also had the best figure in the group, with a full chest and curvy hips.

Her opponent was a plant-type Soul Master.

Qingxi watched for a while. This match was more exciting than the previous few. Both fighters had real skill, and the plant-type Soul Master was especially cautious. In the end, though, she still lost to the little cat.

"Up next, we have the Beast Spirits Evil Fire Phoenix and Spirit Cat Bai! Both are twenty-eighth-rank Battle Soul Masters. Who will prevail this time?"

As soon as the match ended, a chubby little fellow wearing a mask stepped onto the platform. He blew kisses toward the hostess.

"Miss, how about a drink tonight?" Ma Hongjun looked at the curvaceous hostess, and his Evil Fire immediately flared up.

The hostess ignored his lecherous gaze and continued introducing the two fighters in a strictly professional manner.

Qingxi propped her chin on her hand, watching the platform with amusement. She hadn't expected to run into this fatty. If he was here, were the others here too?

Ma Hongjun's eyes lit up when he saw the female Soul Master opposite him. During the fight, he kept sneaking touches whenever he could, drawing cheers from the male audience.

Qingxi's gaze darkened. She got up and left the stands, then wandered through the other districts. As expected, she found the rest of them too.

After watching the whole match, she had to admit that the children had some talent. From a Soul Master's perspective, they were bound for greatness.

For the final, headline team battle, Shrek Team faced Mad Battle Team. Qingxi watched the fighters take the platform, then rushed to the betting area in the last few minutes and wagered a thousand Gold Soul Coins on Shrek Team.

She thought they were lousy people, but that didn't stop her from making money.

What surprised her was that the soul from another world managed to defeat six opponents single-handedly.

Over the next few days, she kept fighting in the Death Arena and betting on Shrek Team in the headline match. After five or six days, she'd won twenty or thirty thousand Gold Soul Coins.

What annoyed her was that, with her Soul Power at level twenty-eight, the Grand Arena only matched her against Bronze Soul Fighters between levels twenty and thirty. It was all rather dull.

Since these were life-or-death matches, most of the participants were desperate outlaws. Truly gifted fighters were few and far between.

On the eighth day, Qingxi came to the Soul Fighting Arena as usual. This time, she didn't enter a death match. Instead, she headed for the Sparring Area.

"Friend, wait a moment."

A middle-aged man's voice sounded behind her.

Qingxi didn't think he was calling to her. After all, no one here knew her.

So she paid no attention and kept walking toward the Sparring Area in District Sixteen.

"Please wait." Yu Xiaogang hurried forward and stepped in front of Qingxi.

He had deliberately waited for her in the Death Match District today, but she never showed. It turned out she'd come to the Sparring Area instead.

"What is it?" Qingxi looked at the middle-aged man before her and frowned slightly. He had a corpse-like face with hardly any expression, and when he smiled, he looked downright sleazy.

"Miss, I can see you have excellent talent. Would you be interested in joining our academy?" Yu Xiaogang put on what he considered a gracious smile.

From her voice, the girl before him sounded about thirteen or fourteen. Yu Xiaogang had been watching her for days. She always came alone, had won six matches in a row, and had beaten her opponents with ease without using a single Soul Skill. Someone like her was worthy of joining Shrek Academy.

Though her repeated refusal to stop when he called after her had already irritated him, Yu Xiaogang still held his temper and extended the invitation.

"Sorry, I'm not interested."

Qingxi stepped back, putting some distance between them.

She knew she shouldn't judge people by their looks, but he already had a corpse-like face, and then he went and smiled. It was truly hard to stomach.

"Think it over, miss. Everyone at our academy is a genius like you. I just can't bear to see you waste your youth. If you join us, we'll surely train you to the level of a Titled Douluo within your lifetime." Yu Xiaogang spoke with complete confidence.

When it came to geniuses, he even looked down on this girl a little. His disciple had Twin Martial Souls, after all. The only reason he'd invited her was that she seemed to have some ability.

She might not measure up to his disciple, but she was still far better than the others.

Yu Xiaogang's goal was the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament. Each team needed seven competitors and three substitutes, ten members in all.

He'd been worrying about where to find the last three when he discovered this uncarved jade. Fast, precise, ruthless—she'd spent six consecutive days fighting, and each match lasted less than a minute from the moment she stepped onto the platform to the moment she stepped down. He didn't think anyone else could do that, except his disciple, of course.

After all, Xiao San was a genius with Twin Martial Souls and an External Soul Bone. He competed against Soul Elders, and most of his opponents were six or seven ranks above him in Soul Power.

As for this girl, Yu Xiaogang thought she'd won only because she relied on that Ghost Asynchronous Method.