Clan Annihilation

When the lord of Benoa City arrived at the Gold Strength Clan with his men, the battle was already over.

As the clan head, Jin Yan had been beheaded, his corpse carelessly tossed aside.

The scene was bloody. Many Soul Masters had died, most of them members of the Gold Strength Clan.

Only then did Ambro emerge from the Gold Strength Clan estate, his expression grim.

Clearly, he had not found what he was looking for.

And what he had done today would inevitably bring retaliation from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

He might even be stripped of his position as a bishop of the Martial Soul Hall because of it.

If he had obtained the treasure, all of this would have been worth it. But there had been nothing at all in the Gold Strength Clan estate.

He had already turned the entire estate upside down, yet he had found no trace of it.

Impossible. He had no reason to lie to me, Ambro thought.

"Ambro, who gave you the authority to do this?" Huang Xi asked gravely.

As the lord of Benoa City, he represented the dignity of the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family. Ambro had led Martial Soul Hall Soul Masters to wipe out the Gold Strength Clan and kill Jin Yan—this was equivalent to challenging his authority.

"The Gold Strength Clan colluded with Fallen Soul Masters. I eradicated them all. What was wrong with that?

"On the contrary, as the city lord, you allowed Fallen Soul Masters to harm people right under your nose. What exactly did you mean by that?

"As for the authority you mentioned? Don't you find that ridiculous? Why would I need authority to eliminate Fallen Soul Masters?" Ambro had clearly come prepared. His brazen attempt to turn the tables showed that he had no regard for the other man.

"You... Fine. Fine!" Huang Xi's eyes glinted coldly. Once this matter was over, he would certainly report it to the imperial family.

He was no match for Ambro. If he attacked in anger now, he would only humiliate himself.

"Heh, ridiculous! Let's go."

Ambro waved at the Soul Masters under him and simply left.

He could not help feeling regretful. If Huang Xi had attacked just now, he could have muddied the waters.

News of the Gold Strength Clan's annihilation spread to every corner of Benoa City the very next day.

Another deeply rooted Soul Master clan had been destroyed.

When Tie Li and the others learned of it after getting up that morning, they could not help sighing.

But there was good news for them as well: they had a bye in the next round and advanced directly.

Their scheduled opponents for the third round had originally been the Gold Strength Clan's team.

But with the Gold Strength Clan destroyed, how could there still be a team?

The only surviving members were probably the Gold family ancestor in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and several younger members of the Gold family.

Although there was no spirit battle match today, Kaiqi still brought everyone to the Great Soul Arena.

The main reason was that a Martial Soul Hall team would be competing today, and the Great Soul Arena had specially arranged their match in the main arena.

As soon as they reached the viewing stands, they found the audience's enthusiasm running high. Wave after wave of cheers supported the Martial Soul Hall team.

The Martial Soul Hall team's opponents today were the Noah Academy Team.

After learning that their next opponents would be the Martial Soul Hall team, they had sent all five Soul Elders onto the field.

Both teams stepped onto the spirit battle platform, every member of the Noah Academy Team looking extremely alert.

The members of the Martial Soul Hall team, on the other hand, looked relaxed. There was no small amount of disdain in the way they looked at their opponents.

As the referee announced the start of the spirit battle, dazzling soul rings filled the platform.

Watching a team spirit battle from the stands delivered an even more powerful visual impact.

"Ah!"

Dolangbu and the others cried out in surprise, because all seven members of the Martial Soul Hall team were three-ring Soul Elders.

Tie Li's gaze sharpened as he stared fixedly at one of the female Soul Masters from Martial Soul Hall.

Her martial soul was... the Golden-Waisted Flying Swallow!

She was one of the core members who would represent Martial Soul Hall in the future All-Continent Soul Master Elite Tournament. Though she might not compare to Martial Soul Hall's Golden Generation, the fact that she could represent Martial Soul Hall in the tournament was enough to prove her talent.

She was the youngest of the seven, yet her soul power rank was the highest among them.

Of the seven Soul Elders, five had the optimal soul ring configuration of two yellow and one purple. The other two had one white, one yellow, and one purple. Though slightly inferior, they were still Soul Elders with thousand-year soul rings.

From the very beginning, the battle was one-sided. Under the all-out assault of Martial Soul Hall's seven members, the Noah Academy Team held on for only ten minutes before they were defeated.

After witnessing the Martial Soul Hall team's strength, a shadow fell over everyone's hearts.

It stood in stark contrast to the enthusiasm of the surrounding audience.

"Just do your best. Don't put too much pressure on yourselves."

Kaiqi's attitude had changed noticeably over the past few days. Before, she had cared greatly about their ranking in the spirit battle competition. Every day, she would discuss tactics with the team members and simulate all kinds of unexpected situations that might arise in team spirit battles, as well as how they should respond when those situations occurred.

Now, things were different. She no longer seemed to care that much about their ranking.

After returning to the dormitory, Zhang Yang could not help voicing his doubts.

"Why has Kaiqi been acting so mysteriously lately?"

"Did you notice something?" Tie Li asked.

Zhang Yang merely shook his head. It was precisely because he had not noticed anything that he felt Kaiqi had become mysterious.

Tie Li did not care much about it. It would be difficult to win this spirit battle competition. The Martial Soul Hall team had a full seven Soul Elders, and every one of them possessed a thousand-year soul ring. That alone placed tremendous pressure on the other teams.

As long as they did not face the Martial Soul Hall team in the next round, they could still fight for second place.

"By the way, do you know what the reward for second place is?" Tie Li asked.

The brothers Lin Wen and Lin Wu were also very interested and turned to look at Zhang Yang.

"Three thousand gold soul coins. Main team members can choose a hundred-year spiritual material, while substitute members can choose a fifty-year spiritual material," Zhang Yang said.

"Can we choose anything we want?"

"Yeah. You can choose from their treasury, but only one plant."

"That's not bad either!"

They no longer dared hope for first place anyway. In everyone's eyes, a hundred-year spiritual material for each person was better than a soul beast egg.

Kaiqi left the dormitory as usual and arrived at a certain room in the Great Soul Arena.

This time, Manager Ao stood to the side like a subordinate, while an elderly man past fifty sat in the seat of honor.

"You did well this time. You allowed me to obtain the treasure before Ambro," the old man said with a smile.

"You are too kind, sir. It was our duty," Manager Ao replied respectfully.

The elderly man before them held an extremely high position in the Great Soul Arena, and his strength was unfathomable.

"Once this spirit battle competition is over, I'll take away the Soul Master you recommended. I've already had someone investigate him. There are no problems with his identity or background."

"Sir, Tie Li's improvement within a year..."

"The world of Soul Masters is vast. Obtaining a bit of fortune is nothing unusual. I've sensed his soul power attribute, and there is no evil aura whatsoever. He is a proper Soul Master."

[Author's note: These past two days, I've seen everyone discussing the plot and the upcoming soul ring choices. I have to say, you're all really impressive—much better than me;

As for the plot, I'll stay closer to the original work. Becoming a Soul Sage at twenty-four and then participating in the Soul Master Tournament would be way too exaggerated! You've probably guessed the rest as well. There's a reason why the martial soul is called the Forging Hammer instead of the Iron Hammer.

Next are the story characters. When it comes to them, I'll respect the original work. If I dislike a character, I may magnify their flaws and downplay their strengths, but there will be no baseless uglification or malicious vilification.

Thank you all for reading this far. At this final stretch, could everyone check in so I can see some of the readers who've been lurking?]