The Dugu Surname

On the other side, Qingxi withdrew her divine ability, her face showing shock. The lollipop in her mouth suddenly didn't taste so sweet.

What had she just heard?

Luring the Spirit Hall's Saintess away? Incest between siblings?

Incest between siblings!!!

This Grandmaster was something else!

Yu Tianheng and Yu Xiaogang returned, one after the other. The latter looked thoroughly displeased.

Qingxi couldn't shake the astonished look on her face.

"Hey? You gone stupid?" Seeing Qingxi's strange expression, Yu Feng bent down and waved a hand in front of her.

"Mm, I have." Qingxi came to her senses. Looking into Yu Feng's deep blue eyes, she nodded blankly.

Incest! What kind of person would do something like that?

"Boss." Seeing Yu Tianheng return, Yu Feng greeted him happily.

"Let's go." Yu Tianheng nodded and reached out to pat Qingxi's head, but pulled his hand back before it reached her.

He remembered that the child didn't like being touched.

"Did you settle everything?" Yu Feng held his head high and looked at Flender and the others with disdain.

"Settled." Yu Tianheng picked up the bag from the ground and gestured for Qingxi to follow. He didn't spare a certain someone another glance.

"Wait..." Flender raised a hand as if to say something, but Yu Xiaogang stopped him with a look.

"Let them go."

"Xiaogang, you're giving up on such a good student? So what if she's at Heaven Dou Royal Academy? Are we supposed to be afraid of them? They're just a bunch of good-for-nothings," Flender fumed.

In his eyes, having that child at Heaven Dou Royal Academy was a complete waste of her talent.

"Exactly." Zhao Wuji nodded along beside him. They were only two Soul Elders in their thirties. What was there to be so smug about?

"Teacher?" Tang San noticed that Grandmaster looked unwell and hurried over to support him, concern on his face.

"I'm fine." Yu Xiaogang shook his head. Though his expression was grim, his voice was serious. "That girl's surname is Dugu, and she's not someone we can afford to provoke. A Titled Douluo stands behind her."

The temperamental Poison Douluo might poison Shrek on a whim if something displeased him.

"A Titled Douluo?" Tang San was startled. He hadn't expected that girl to have such powerful connections.

That was a Titled Douluo!

"A Titled Douluo with the surname Dugu..." Flender lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked astonished. "Could it be..."

Yu Xiaogang nodded, clasped his hands behind his back, and once again took on that inscrutable air.

"Let's go. We need to prepare the Little Monsters for the team match."

The group headed back the way they had come, their backs looking rather dejected.

"Dean, were you talking about that Titled Douluo?" Tang San asked curiously along the way. This was his first time encountering someone at the Titled Douluo level.

"Of course. The senior known as the Poison Douluo, whose poison ruled the world. You see, breaking through to Soul Douluo isn't especially difficult. But breaking through to Titled Douluo is as hard as climbing to heaven. Once you reach the Titled Douluo level, every rank is a world apart. It often takes years, even decades, to raise your Soul Power by one rank. Talent alone isn't enough; you need a stroke of fate, too."

Flender paused, his expression turning animated. "And the Poison Douluo is a legend. He started with only rank 90 Soul Power, yet in six years, he broke through five ranks and rose to become a rank 95 Titled Douluo!"

"Rank 95?!" Tang San looked astonished.

On the other side, Qingxi followed Yu Tianheng and the others to the Imperial Fighting Team's Resting Room. Everyone had already returned after finishing their matches, sitting in small groups and discussing the upcoming team battle.

"Mas... little sister." Dugu Yan looked at the person following Yu Tianheng and nearly called her the wrong thing in surprise.

"Come on, everyone, have something to eat. Boss is treating." Yu Feng set the bag on the table in the middle of the room and laid out the food one item at a time. Then he called out to Dugu Yan, "Yanzi, your little sister was almost bullied just now. Good thing we ran into her."

"Not bad! You even remembered to get mine extra spicy." Osler lightly punched Yu Feng and picked up a skewer of mutton from the table, loaded with extra-hot seasoning.

"Who did it?!" Dugu Yan pulled Qingxi over to sit beside her. When she heard Yu Feng, her expression immediately turned cold.

"It's fine." Qingxi shook her head. It hadn't been that big a deal to begin with.

"Don't worry. They won't dare try it again." Yu Tianheng spoke calmly, then picked out some of Dugu Yan's favorite food and put it in front of her.

"Thanks." Dugu Yan's expression softened a little. She thanked Yu Tianheng, then sent him a message in secret.

Dugu Yan: Who's so bold they'd dare bully you?

Qingxi: ...I wasn't bullied.

"Here..." Ye Lingling picked out some lightly seasoned meat skewers for Qingxi and opened a peach-flavored soda for her as well.

"What's good about those? Extra spicy is the way to go. Little sis, try these mutton skewers. They're spicy and delicious." Osler grinned mischievously as he handed Qingxi a handful of skewers.

"Thanks." Qingxi hurriedly accepted them.

"Little sis, try this." Yu Feng joined in.

"Easy, you guys." Dugu Yan propped her chin on her hand and watched everyone enthusiastically feed a certain someone.

Perhaps because Qingxi looked the youngest, the other members of the Heaven Dou Team all seemed to love feeding her.

Halfway through, she used going to the bathroom as an excuse, finished her match in just a few minutes, then returned to the private room.

As the Great Soul Arena's headline match began, the six members of the Heaven Dou Team left the Resting Room one after another, leaving only Qingxi and Dugu Yan behind.

"Aren't you going?" Qingxi asked.

"I'd like to." Dugu Yan rested her chin on her hand and watched the six on the Soul Fighting platform. "But if I join them, they'll be matched against a Gold Soul Fighting team with Soul Power above rank 50."

At their current strength, they'd have almost no chance of winning.

Qingxi watched the match below, frowning slightly. "Have they ever used the Body Tempering Liquid from Spirit Hall?"

"No. The relationship between the two empires and Spirit Hall is actually pretty delicate. They don't trust each other. Even if Spirit Hall wanted to promote the Body Tempering Liquid to the two empires, the people willing to accept it would mostly be commoners. The nobles look down on anything that cheap. But I've given them Body Tempering Pills. Why do you ask?"

Dugu Yan tilted her head slightly and looked at Qingxi, unsure why she'd suddenly asked.

"How long have you known each other?"

"Seven or eight years." Dugu Yan answered casually. She'd always been close to Yu Tianheng and the others; they'd practically grown up together.

Qingxi tapped her fingertips against the railing. "Tap, tap, tap..." She seemed to be thinking about something.

"Then have you never considered letting them absorb Soul Rings beyond their limit?" Qingxi's voice was a little low. She looked at the matching yellow, yellow, and purple Soul Rings onstage and found them almost absurd.

The greatest effect of the Body Tempering Liquid was to purge impurities from the body and strengthen it. Those with exceptional talent could even draw spiritual energy into their bodies.

Yet that so-called Ten Core Competitiveness Theories of Martial Souls stated that exceeding the recommended age of a Martial Soul would cause the person to explode and die.

The reason given was that the body couldn't withstand the power brought by a Soul Ring.

But if the body had been strengthened, wouldn't the limit on Soul Ring age increase too?

Qingxi had once worked it out. After using the Body Tempering Liquid, the first four Soul Ring Configurations should range from yellow, purple, purple, purple to purple, purple, purple, black.

After taking the Body Tempering Pill, the limit should be purple, purple, black, black.

That meant the First Soul Ring shouldn't exceed four thousand years, the second should be under ten thousand, the third under twenty thousand, and the fourth under thirty-five thousand.

These kids...

Qingxi sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Huh? Absorb them beyond the limit? But the Ten Core Competitiveness Theories of Martial Souls say that if you exceed the limit, you'll explode and die. And the best Soul Ring Configuration should be yellow..." Dugu Yan saw the warning in Qingxi's eyes, and her voice gradually faded.

She pressed her index fingers together, head lowered, looking like a child who'd done something wrong.

"Please get your brain out of those so-called core competitiveness theories." Qingxi looked at Dugu Yan with a cool gaze.

"Immortal cultivation trains spiritual power. Soul Masters train Soul Power. They're not the same thing. Your first two Soul Rings were acquired naturally after your Soul Rings evolved, and your third, fourth, and fifth Soul Rings were purely because your body was strong enough. You don't actually think that was thanks to the drop of Origin Spirit Liquid I gave you, do you?"

Dugu Yan looked up at Qingxi, wondering how she'd known what she was thinking.

Qingxi snorted, clearly unwilling to indulge Dugu Yan, and turned to leave.

"Master, where are you going?" Dugu Yan hurried after her.

Then she watched as a certain someone found the Shrek Team's group battle betting area and placed a bet.

Flender had just bet fifty thousand on Shrek Team to win when he spotted a certain irritating little girl.

His anger flared. She wouldn't join Shrek Academy, yet she kept betting on them to win!

"What are you looking at? If you've got the guts, then lose." Qingxi saw Flender and raised the corners of her mouth in a faint smile.

A fool and his money were soon parted.

Besides, it'd drive them mad.

"You..." Flender pointed at the little girl before him. Remembering the Titled Douluo behind her, he angrily swept his sleeves and left.