The Tournament Opens

In the blink of an eye, two days passed. Morning came.

Though it was still early, Heaven Dou Arena was already packed with people. The opening ceremony of the Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament was being held here.

The stands surrounding the enormous circular plaza were completely full. Citizens from the Heaven Dou Empire and visitors from other empires waved flags of every color, their cheers rising higher and higher like tidal waves. The air was thick with fervor and anticipation.

When the Heavenly Soul Emperor, dressed in magnificent robes, ascended the highest-ranking platform alongside members of the royal family, the atmosphere reached its first climax.

Immediately afterward, the academy representative teams from across the continent began entering one after another.

Every team drew its own cheers, but when the familiar Shrek Academy Representative Team—the symbol of legend—entered, the entire plaza instantly erupted with frenzied roars that seemed ready to overturn the sky!

"Shrek! Shrek!"

"Shrek is number one in the world!"

"We're waiting for you to take the championship!!"

The atmosphere in the plaza reached its peak at that moment!

Ma Xiaotao and the other young Reserve Team members walked among the procession, feeling the admiring, reverent, and fanatical gazes cast at them from all directions. They instinctively felt somewhat restrained.

But as time passed and they listened to the mountain-shaking cries calling out their academy's name, an indescribable excitement began surging within them.

At that moment, they truly understood what "the glory of Shrek" meant. Pride naturally arose within them, and their sense of belonging to Shrek began to deepen.

The Reserve Team members were somewhat exhilarated, and even the Shrek Main Selection Team members who had already participated once could not help being affected. Only Zhang Lexuan, walking at the very front of the team, showed little excitement on her face.

Her gaze unconsciously swept toward the direction from which the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy would enter, as though she were searching for a particular figure.

Yet she did not find that conspicuous target among those uniformed students, and her eyes darkened uncertainly.

What the youth named Kong Ming'an had given her last night was a genealogy—the Kong Family genealogy—and it matched the genealogy left behind by her own ancestors that she had found.

She had grown up in the Heaven Dou Empire and studied and matured at Shrek, yet in truth, she could be considered someone from the Sun Moon Empire. She even carried royal blood...

She had already roughly guessed what that youth wanted. It was nothing more than having her acknowledge her ancestry and return to the Kong Family, but naturally, she could not agree.

Although Shrek had its problems, it could not be denied that Shrek was her home. She would absolutely never betray it... absolutely never.

Therefore, the most urgent matter was to find that youth, make things clear, reject him face-to-face, and state her position.

Her plan was very clear. There was only one problem now—where was he?

He had said he would wait for her, so where had he run off to?

Zhang Lexuan discreetly looked around again, but still failed to find Kong Ming'an. Feeling slightly frustrated, she could only suppress her emotions and prepare for the upcoming matches.

At the same time, on the seat of honor in the VIP section specially established for the Sun Moon Empire delegation, Kong Ming'an—the person Zhang Lexuan had been thinking about—sat casually.

The emperor's long and formulaic speech might have stirred the audience's emotions, but to him, it was truly rather boring. He might as well spend the time organizing his insights.

With his eyes slightly lowered, Kong Ming'an focused on the many materials in his hands concerning the "Body Cultivator" system. Ye Yulin, serving as Ming's guard, stood silently behind him, his aura as profound as the sea and too intimidating for others to meet directly.

Such a combination made the already eye-catching VIP area draw even more attention.

In the distance, in the seats reserved exclusively for the Heavenly Soul Royal Family, a gentle-tempered blonde girl with blue eyes unconsciously turned her gaze in that direction.

She curiously tilted her head, then looked toward the best friend who had grown up beside her and teased, "Sister Muxue, look, look! That youth over there is so handsome!"

Faced with her Princess Highness's occasional lack of seriousness, Muxue unconsciously sighed and explained,

"According to the information below, he is Kong Ming'an, the grandson of Kong Deming, the pillar of the Sun Moon Empire."

"Hm? The legendary sole heir of the Kong Family? Why would such an important person come to our Heaven Dou City? Isn't he afraid he won't be able to return?"

"The person standing behind him is Ye Yulin, the Starry Sky Douluo of the Sun Moon Empire. I heard he is already a Super Douluo. He is likely Kong Ming'an's guard."

"A Super Douluo as a guard?" Vina could not help clicking her tongue and glanced over several more times.

That youth truly was exceptionally handsome. More strangely, perhaps due to the special perception granted by her Martial Soul, the space around him seemed different from everywhere else in her eyes.

On an energy level, his body appeared abnormally "clear" and "weighty," as though it was not made of flesh and blood, but of highly condensed, pure energy. It was utterly out of place with the surrounding environment, yet strangely harmonious.

How fascinating...

She unconsciously looked over a few more times.

Just then, as though sensing her lingering gaze, the youth who had been reading the documents suddenly raised his eyes and met her gaze precisely.

Their eyes met briefly in the air. The youth froze slightly, then a polite faint smile appeared on his face. He gave her a slight nod in greeting before lowering his head as though nothing had happened and continuing to read the documents in his hands.

"..."

Vina paused slightly, then turned to look at her best friend beside her.

"Muxue..."

"What is it?"

"I think I might be in love..."

"..."

Your love really is awfully hasty!

Muxue could not stop herself from complaining inwardly, but she did not say it aloud and simply pretended not to have heard.

For a Princess, free "love" was absolutely forbidden.

In the VIP section of the Sun Moon Empire delegation in the distance, Kong Ming'an withdrew his gaze, but his thoughts were no longer on the documents. Of course, they were not on that Princess either.

One reason he had personally come to the Heaven Dou Empire was to contact Zhang Lexuan. The other was the Body Sect, which was hidden in the shadows and was suspected of having close ties with the Heavenly Soul Royal Family.

When he met Vina's gaze earlier, he had actually been observing whether any members of the Body Sect were present. Unfortunately, he had found nothing.

Clearly, the Body Sect, as a secluded sect, had hidden itself deeply. It was even possible that it had not appeared at such a public event at all.

"Sure enough, finding them directly will be troublesome. I'll still have to follow the normal process."

Kong Ming'an murmured softly, with little disappointment in his heart. It was merely a matter of sooner or later.

His gaze was calm as it dropped into the distance, naturally settling on Zhang Lexuan among the Shrek Representative Team below.

Now that searching directly had failed, the matter of the Body Sect could only be handled together with the matter of his "older sister."