"And I heard that the person who beat them is especially young."
"Seeming around our age."
"The most important thing is..."
Ning Rongrong seemed to remember something, her tone carrying a few extra traces of surprise.
"That person's martial soul is actually a bone dragon!"
Hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing abruptly raised her head, her face full of astonishment.
"A bone dragon?"
Ning Rongrong was slightly stunned, as she clearly had not expected Zhu Zhuqing to react so strongly.
"Yeah, it's a bone dragon, just like my Bone Grandpa at home. I heard it's an especially large white bone dragon, and after martial soul possession, there is white bone armor and bone claws on his arms."
"And he's also a three-ring soul elder."
Saying this,
Ning Rongrong couldn't help but sigh with emotion:
"I just heard little Ao say that person's second soul ring is actually at the thousand-year level, and Dai Mubai and the fatty both got beaten up exceptionally miserably by him together."
However, Zhu Zhuqing had not really taken in much of what Ning Rongrong said after that.
A bone dragon, white bone armor, an age similar to theirs, a three-ring soul elder—with this string of information combined, a familiar black figure almost instantly emerged from her mind.
Half a year ago.
Near the Star Dou Great Forest, she was hunted down by people sent by her family, and just as she was almost unable to hold on anymore, a black-robed youth suddenly appeared.
Gu Ling!
A trace of fluctuation clearly appeared in Zhu Zhuqing's gaze, and she said inwardly.
Could it be him?
She almost subconsciously felt that it was. After all, the bone dragon martial soul was extremely rare to begin with, and his age matched up completely; moreover, half a year ago, Gu Ling had already prepared to head to Heaven Dou City.
Now appearing in Suotuo City...
It seemed not entirely impossible.
Ning Rongrong was originally still talking about what happened yesterday, but as she spoke, she noticed that Zhu Zhuqing suddenly stopped talking. Not only did she stop talking, but she even clearly seemed somewhat distracted.
Ning Rongrong blinked her eyes and said with a puzzled face:
"Zhuqing?"
No response.
"Zhuqing? What's wrong with you?"
Ning Rongrong called out again, and only then did Zhu Zhuqing abruptly snap back to her senses.
"Huh?"
Ning Rongrong immediately narrowed her eyes.
There was a problem.
Definitely a problem!
She and Zhu Zhuqing had known each other for so long, when had she ever seen her suddenly turn into this state after hearing information about a strange man?
Ning Rongrong couldn't help leaning closer, probing:
"Zhuqing."
"Do you know that person?"
Zhu Zhuqing's gaze flickered slightly, and she said somewhat unexpectedly:
"Why ask that?"
Ning Rongrong reached out and pointed at her, putting on an expression of having seen through everything long ago.
"Still asking why? When I said Dai Mubai got beaten just now, you didn't have any reaction at all. But as soon as I said that person's martial soul is a bone dragon, you raised your head immediately, and you were even spacing out just now."
Saying this, the expression on her face gradually turned strange.
"It couldn't be such a coincidence, right?"
"You really know him?"
Zhu Zhuqing was silent for a moment, finally nodded gently, and said indifferently:
"Maybe I do!"
In the blink of an eye, a week passed.
During this week, the Imperial Dou Team still followed the plan formulated by Qin Ming, heading to the Soto Great Soul Arena every day to participate in soul fights.
And the result was no different from when they had traveled all the way south before.
Winning streaks!
Whether it was one-on-one, two-on-two, or the most important team battle, the Imperial Dou Team maintained an almost terrifying win rate.
Especially in team battles. With Gu Ling joining, the Imperial Dou Team's originally very well-rounded lineup became even more troublesome. Spatial traversal, large-scale crowd control, long-range bone spikes, combined with the abilities of Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, and the others, made it very difficult for ordinary soul elder teams to pose a genuine threat to them.
In just a short week,
the Imperial Dou Team had completely drawn the attention of the high-level figures at the Soto Great Soul Arena.
And on this very evening, after a few days of recuperation, the injuries on Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun had finally recovered for the most part, and the Shrek Seven Monsters gathered together again.
Grandmaster also brought them to the Soto Great Soul Arena once more, preparing to continue participating in team battles.
Yet just as Yu Xiaogang took out the Shrek Seven Monsters' team battle emblem to register, the staff member in charge of registration saw the name on the emblem, and his expression suddenly underwent some changes.
"Sir, please wait a moment."
After saying that, the staff member quickly left with the emblem.
It wasn't long before he walked back with Director Ao in tow.
Director Ao didn't waste any breath and directly stated his purpose: recently, a Silver Soul Team composed entirely of soul elders, yet possessing strength far surpassing ordinary soul elder teams, had come to the Soto Great Soul Arena.
For many consecutive days, some nobles had continuously placed heavy bets on this team, and since the opponents always maintained their victories, they had already caused quite a bit of loss to the Soto Great Soul Arena.
Yet according to the rules of the Soul Fighting Arena, they could not send a soul ancestor team to meet the challenge.
Therefore, they hoped the Shrek Seven Monsters could enter the central main soul fighting arena tonight to engage in a team battle with this Silver Soul Team.
As the inviting party, the conditions offered by the Great Soul Arena were likewise very generous: five hundred gold soul coins for each participating soul master, and an extra reward of ten thousand gold soul coins if the Shrek Seven Monsters could win!
Yu Xiaogang only pondered for a brief moment before agreeing. After all, they lacked money!
Before long, the Shrek Seven Monsters were gathered back into the lounge by the staff members, and Flender, Zhao Wuji, and the others also rushed over.
Yu Xiaogang stood beside the table. In front of him lay a piece of opponent data freshly sent over by the Soto Great Soul Arena. His expression was noticeably much more solemn than usual as he said:
"Your opponents tonight are very strong. At least from the perspective of surface strength, they might be the strongest soul elder team you have encountered up to now."
Dai Mubai frowned and said somewhat unconvinced:
"How strong can they be?"
Grandmaster did not answer, merely pushing the data on the table toward the group.
The four large characters at the very top were exceptionally eye-catching: Imperial Dou Team! Below them was the member data of this team currently registered at the Soto Great Soul Arena:
Captain: Yu Tianheng, Martial Soul: Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Level 39 Power Attack System Battle Soul Master. Soul Rings: Two yellow, one purple.
Vice-Captain: Dugu Yan, Martial Soul: Jade Phosphorous Serpent, Level 38 Control System Battle Soul Master. Soul Rings: Two yellow, one purple.
Following them were Shi Mo, Shi Mo, Yu Feng, Osler, and Ye Lingling.
Seeing this point, the data was actually not all that different from a top-tier soul elder team as anticipated by Grandmaster. Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Jade Phosphorous Serpent, Black Tortoise... almost none of them were ordinary martial souls!
Yet what truly caused the atmosphere inside the room to suddenly shift was the very last line.
The eighth member.
Gu Ling, Age: 12. Martial Soul: Bone Dragon. Level 37 Power Attack System Battle Soul Elder. Soul Ring Configuration: One yellow, two purple!
The instant they saw this name, the room suddenly fell quiet. Tang San's pupils shrank abruptly, and Xiao Wu even abruptly stood up from her chair.
"Gu Ling?!"
The complexions of Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun likewise turned extremely unsightly all at once. Naturally, it was impossible for them to forget this name!
It was this guy who had beaten both of them to the point of lying in bed for several days!
Ma Hongjun even subconsciously touched his face. Up until now, he felt as though he could still recall the sensation of being smashed in the face by Gu Ling's fist that night.
"Damn it..."
"Why is it this guy again?"
Flender stood in the back, his originally fairly calm expression likewise stiffening slightly.
Gu Ling?
How come this brat was also in the Imperial Dou Team? Following that, things that had happened a week ago involuntarily surfaced in his mind. The ten-move pact, himself being continuously toyed with by Gu Ling, and in the end even shamelessly resorting to using his martial soul and soul skills—yet still failing to touch the opponent.
At the same time,
Zhu Zhuqing, who had been standing at the edge of the crowd without speaking, saw the two characters for Gu Ling on the data, and those originally icy eyes also clearly displayed a trace of fluctuation as she thought inwardly:
It really is him.
Ning Rongrong beside her noticed her change immediately. She looked at Gu Ling on the data, then looked at Zhu Zhuqing, and her gaze abruptly took on a somewhat meaningful tint.
However, Yu Xiaogang did not notice these things. At this moment, all of his attention had fallen upon the column of data for Gu Ling, and his originally solemn expression gradually eased as he said:
"Gu Ling is indeed very strong."
"But you don't need to be overly fearful of him either."
"Don't forget, what's taking place tonight is a seven-person team battle, not a one-on-one soul fight."
"Gu Ling's abilities are something I already researched six years ago. His powerful aspect is nothing more than extremely formidable individual combat capability. The bone dragon martial soul grants him physical fitness far surpassing soul masters of the same rank, and coupled with spatial-type soul skills, it causes ordinary soul masters to find it very difficult to hit him head-on."
"So in a one-on-one soul fight, he is indeed extremely troublesome. Even if one's soul power is higher than his, as long as you can't catch him, in the end you can only be worn down as he searches for flaws bit by bit."
"But team battles are different. No matter how strong a soul master is when fighting alone, it doesn't mean they are equally unbeatable in a seven-person team battle. In fact, in my view, once Gu Ling's style of combat is placed into a team battle, his threat will instead drop significantly."
Hearing this, Ma Hongjun's eyes lit up, and he looked at Yu Xiaogang with an expression of worship.
"Master, you mean..."
Yu Xiaogang glanced at Tang San and said with a confident expression:
"Because we have Little San. Why is Gu Ling difficult to deal with? It's because when you fought against him before, no one was able to truly restrict his range of movement."
"His spatial soul skills can change his position at any time. As long as the battlefield is sufficiently open, naturally he can go wherever he wants—yet Little San is a control system soul master."
"The truly powerful aspect of a control system soul master has never been frontal attacks, but rather mastering the entire battlefield! The Blue Silver Grass can be spread out in massive quantities to restrict the opponents' moving space."
Before you continue