Soto Great Soul Arena, Teaming Up with Ning Rongrong

The Soto Great Soul Arena was as lively as ever.

People streamed endlessly in and out of the oval arena's entrance.

Dozens of soul battles were held here at the same time every day, running without pause from early morning until late at night.

Soul Masters from all over gathered here. Some came for fame, some for money, and some simply to temper their strength.

Bai Yi led Ning Rongrong and Ye Lingling into the Great Soul Arena's registration hall.

Several long lines stretched across the hall, with all kinds of Soul Masters packed together amid a constant rise and fall of noisy conversation.

Bai Yi walked straight to the registration window.

The staff member behind the window looked up at him, then glanced at the two girls behind him.

The staff member's brow furrowed.

He sized Bai Yi up several times, then said, "Kid, this is a Soul Master battle arena, not an amusement park. Did you come to the wrong place?"

Bai Yi handed over a completed form and said, "Registration. For one-on-one and two-on-two soul battles."

The staff member took the form, and when his gaze swept over the age column, his brow furrowed again.

Bai Yi, ten years old.

Ning Rongrong, ten years old.

Ye Lingling, sixteen years old.

The staff member shook his head and said, "At your age, you should go back and train for a few more years. The opponents in the Great Soul Arena are adult Soul Masters with rich combat experience, not schoolmates sparring at an academy."

Bai Yi said, "We're entering Soul Elder-level soul battles."

The staff member froze for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Soul Elder-level soul battles? Kid, do you even know what a Soul Elder means? You're only ten. Are you even rank ten?"

Bai Yi did not bother explaining further and directly released the fluctuations of his Soul Power.

The staff member's smile instantly froze on his face.

A rich, condensed surge of Soul Power spread from Bai Yi's body, carrying a sense of pressure.

Although the staff member's own cultivation was not high, he had worked at the Great Soul Arena for years and had seen all sorts of Soul Masters.

He knew very well that the strength of this Soul Power was absolutely not something a Soul Grandmaster in the teens could possess.

The staff member opened his mouth, struggled for a long while, then finally said, "You... you really came to take part in Soul Elder battles?"

Bai Yi nodded.

The staff member looked at Ning Rongrong and Ye Lingling again. After hesitating for a moment, he still processed the registration for the three of them.

But in his heart, he did not think highly of this team.

A ten-year-old Soul Elder might be rare, but in the Great Soul Arena, experience and coordination were often more important than rank.

A few children—what kind of waves could they possibly make?

Bai Yi took the three Iron Soul Fighter badges from the window, turned to Ning Rongrong, and said, "You'll fight a two-on-two match with me first. I want to see your practical coordination ability."

Ning Rongrong lifted her chin and said, "Hmph, same to you. If you can't protect me, Grandpa Sword won't let you off."

Bai Yi said nothing and turned toward the inside of the Soul Arena.

Ning Rongrong and Ye Lingling followed behind him.

The two-on-two soul battle was arranged very quickly.

Bai Yi and Ning Rongrong were assigned to a sub-arena, where the spectator stands were about thirty percent full.

When the two fighters walked onto the stage, a burst of jeering laughter rose from the audience.

"What are these two kids here for?"

"They're only about ten, right? Pretty good-looking, though."

"Hehe, I'm starting to look forward to what happens to them."

"You're seriously twisted. What's there to look forward to with two little kids?"

On the other side of the arena, their two opponents also stepped onto the fighting platform.

One was a burly man with a face full of coarse flesh, bare-chested and covered in scars. His martial soul was the Iron Arm Bear.

The other was a tall, thin middle-aged man with a blade of grass between his teeth and disdain in his eyes. His martial soul was the Iron-Back Wolf.

The burly man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and said, "You two little brats didn't walk into the wrong place, did you? Want your big brothers to go easy on you so you don't piss your pants?"

The tall, thin man spat out the grass stem and said, "What's the point of fighting two kids? Even if we win, there's no glory in it."

Ning Rongrong took a step forward, planted her hands on her hips, lifted her chin, and looked at the two men.

"You two ugly freaks, listen up."

She pointed at the burly man.

"With that face full of flab, one look and I can tell you're a slob who hasn't washed his face in three years. I can smell your stink from all the way over here. And you think you deserve to be called Iron Arm Bear? A filthy sewer rat would be more like it."

Then she pointed at the tall, thin man.

"And you. You're so skinny you look like a bamboo pole. One gust of wind and you'd fall over. Iron-Back Wolf? More like Iron-Back Dog. The two of you standing together are like a toad and a bedbug—made for each other."

The burly man and the tall, thin man both turned livid.

The spectator stands, however, burst into roaring laughter.

Ning Rongrong turned around with her nose in the air and said to Bai Yi, "Bai Yi, go. Show these two ugly freaks what a real soul master is."

Bai Yi glanced at her and said nothing more.

He raised his right hand, reached it to the side of his ear, and gently drew it out.

A streak of golden light flew from his ear and landed in his palm, turning into a crimson, gold-inlaid staff.

The Golden Cudgel gleamed with a dark red luster from end to end. Golden patterns were embedded at both tips, and faint seal-script characters seemed to flow along the shaft.

Someone in the spectator stands cried out in shock.

The burly man and the tall, thin man were also stunned for a moment. Clearly, they had never seen such a strange tool martial soul before.

But what shocked them even more came next.

Bai Yi held the Golden Cudgel, urging his Soul Power, and three soul rings slowly rose from beneath his feet.

Two purple soul rings circled his body, radiating a deep, solemn glow.

And the black soul ring at the very top carried an almost suffocating pressure.

The burly man's expression froze.

The tall, thin man's pupils abruptly contracted.

The spectator stands fell silent for an instant.

"Two purple and one black? How is that kid's soul ring configuration like that?"

"A black soul ring... what age is that?"

"At least ten-thousand-year level!"

The burly man's lips began to tremble.

He had cultivated for twenty years and had only barely reached the Soul Elder realm, and his soul ring combination was still the most ordinary white, yellow, yellow.

This ten-year-old child in front of him had a purple first soul ring, and his third soul ring was even black.

The gap was simply enough to drive a man to despair.

The tall, thin man's face was deathly pale as well, and his fingers trembled slightly.

He subconsciously wanted to take a step back, but his legs wouldn't obey him at all.

Ning Rongrong glanced at Bai Yi and took a deep breath.

She brought her hands together, and an exquisite little pagoda appeared between her palms.

The pagoda's entire body was made of glazed crystal. Its seven tiers rose one after another, radiating a gentle seven-colored light.

Cries of shock rang out from the spectator stands once more.

"The Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda? That's the martial soul of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"

"That little girl is from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?"

The burly man and the tall, thin man across from them completely panicked.

There was no one on the continent who didn't know what level of martial soul the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda was.

And this staff-wielding monster in front of them actually had a support soul master from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect with him.

What kind of great clan's young disciple had come here to gain experience by stomping small fry?