Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament

"This was a bust."

"The Sun Moon Empire potions are all gone. What was this old hag even here for?"

Inside the brightly lit cave, Lin En took out the magazine and began reading it with great interest.

This was one of the few things that let him understand the current mindset of the Sun Moon Empire's younger generation. It also kept him from staying in the Star Dou Great Forest for so long that his thinking became disconnected from human society.

The moment he opened the magazine, he found that the last-ranked woman in some top ten beauties list was actually a dark-skinned old hag!

Lin En was deeply shaken. He simply could not understand it. Had the beauty pageant judges been kicked in the head by the Evil Lord?

This thing made the list? What kind of joke was that? Did they think the public was stupid enough to drool over anything?

Fortunately, the publisher clearly had normal taste and had also given her a scathing review at the bottom of the page.

It even specifically mentioned that the old hag was a member of the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family. Case closed—she had wandered into the ranks of royalty by mistake.

"This is divine!"

When he turned to the second page, Lin En felt as though his eyes had instantly been cleansed. Printed on the paper was a youthful, beautiful girl, though she was a little too old.

The publisher really understood how to suppress first and praise later. The good stuff had all been tucked away toward the back.

Ninth place was already this stacked. Wouldn't the ones after her be insane? No wonder the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Engineers always looked so frail. Their minds were corrupted every day by these entertainment magazines, and they were constantly taking drugs too. It would be strange if they weren't weak.

Just as Lin En wanted to keep reading, a golden flame suddenly ignited at one corner of the magazine. The Ultimate Fire reduced it to Void in the blink of an eye.

"Hmph!"

"What's the point of looking at those scantily clad two-legged creatures? They're flaunting themselves, and their poses don't look natural at all!

"You might as well go admire the natural scenery of the Star Dou Great Forest. At least it can cultivate your temperament."

Miss Golden British Shorthair sat upright, crossing her two front paws over her chest with an unhappy expression. She could not understand why her companion liked female humans whose appearances were so obviously unnatural.

Lin En looked at the sulking Qiu'er and said with a smile, "Has it occurred to you that I'm human too?"

Qiu'er raised an eyebrow and revealed a disgusted expression. "Do you believe that yourself?"

"Companion, do you think you're human?"

"Other Soul Beasts might not be able to tell, but through the Eye of Destiny, you look extremely out of place!"

Lin En tried to argue. "That depends on how you define a human. I'm an idealist. As long as I think I'm human, that's enough."

Qiu'er rolled her eyes at Lin En and could not be bothered arguing with this Chimera about it. Changing the subject, she said:

"I'm not talking to you about this anymore. Here, take this. We agreed that once you finish checking this Soul Tool ring, you'll go hunting with me!

"I'm really hungry now. Maybe the two of us will run into the life-attribute Soul Beast you've been looking for outside."

"If we just stay home all the time, a life-attribute Soul Beast isn't going to fall from the sky."

"Alright, alright. I really can't do anything about you. I'll go with you, my lady." A silver storage Soul Tool shaped like a thumb ring landed in Lin En's hand. As he replied to Qiu'er, he sent his spiritual power into it.

This ring was much more normal. Its owner was probably from one of the Three Douluo Kingdoms, and it contained all kinds of medicines—healing medicine, hemostatic medicine, bone-setting ointment, and so on.

They had been thoroughly prepared, but unfortunately, the Mixed Zone would not spare them just because they had come prepared.

Back then, Uncle Yu and his wife had both nearly died in the Mixed Zone. Lin En seriously suspected that Chicken Leg Douluo had some special curse that specifically afflicted those around him.

Little Sage sorted through the books in this storage Soul Tool. The Three Douluo Kingdoms were still conservative; these books were all related to Soul Master theory, Soul Beast knowledge, and wilderness survival.

There was also some miscellaneous information inside. Little Sage organized that as well, and while sorting through it, Little Sage suddenly spoke.

"Master, a special piece of information has been found."

Lin En asked, "What information?"

Little Sage replied, "The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament will be held in Heaven Dou City two months from now. Major academies have been widely invited to participate."

"Based on the time of this Soul Tool's owner's death, the current estimate is one and a half months."

Lin En frowned. "Isn't the timing wrong? Wasn't the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament supposed to have been held a year ago?"

"Why was it delayed by a year?"

According to Lin En's estimate of the timeline, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament should have been held when Sister Lexuan was fourteen and he was six. At that time, they had only just escaped from the dungeon.

Yet he had discovered from this storage Soul Tool that this edition of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament had not even been held yet?

Little Sage explained, "Based on the items inside the Soul Tool, its owner was a reserve team member of Star Luo National Academy and died after being surrounded and killed by Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."

"Therefore, the information is highly credible. It says that the Heaven Dou Empire suffered a severe food crisis, and large-scale civilian uprisings had broken out across the land.

"Diao Province had remained under blockade by Shrek Academy. The Heaven Dou Empire had no time to hold the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament, nor was it willing to transfer hosting rights to another empire, as that would disgrace the nation."

"Only recently did Shrek Academy gradually lift the blockade, while the uprisings throughout the empire were suppressed. After recovering somewhat, the Heaven Dou Empire officially decided to hold the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament."

After hearing Little Sage's explanation, Lin En nodded in understanding. If that was the case, then it made sense.

Lin En would make a trip to this grand Soul Master event in Heaven Dou City to see what was going on. Generally speaking, places with many people made item trading more likely—in other words, the auction houses that fantasy worlds simply could not do without.

If he could get lucky and find the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, that would be a huge profit. Gold of Life was the essence of life nurtured by the world itself.

Lin En had plenty of ways to deal with the curse on that carving knife. His Alchemy was no joke either. Killing metal with one hand, making it regenerate with the other, and sealing souls—such things were beyond the comprehension of Douluo Continent for an entire lifetime.

Besides that, he might even get to see Sister Lexuan. Judging from his connection with the cocoon over the past year, she had been living quite well. The Golden Tree had effectively suppressed the corruption of her Martial Soul, and it was already stabilizing.

Compared to the Evil Fire Phoenix, Blood Moon was far more stable. At the very least, it would not burn itself to death. The Evil Fire Phoenix lacked fire immunity, which was rather bizarre. Perhaps it was because its bloodline was impure.

However, before heading to Heaven Dou City, he first had to kill some people. He had said that he would not spare a single person connected to the Evil Soul Master Altar!

This trip happened to be on the way.

As his consciousness returned to reality, Miss Golden British Shorthair pawed at Lin En with puffed cheeks. "Lin En! Lin En! Are you done yet? Go hunting with me! Please!"

Lin En helplessly rubbed the big cat's head. Qiu'er narrowed her eyes in comfort. After more than a year together, he had long understood the best way to pet a cat.

"Fine, let's go. Is there anything you want to eat today?"

Qiu'er immediately perked up, her eyes shining as she said excitedly:

"Charcoal-grilled Soft Bone Rabbit! And braised Silver-Patterned Fish!"

Lin En followed her out of the cave, slapped his forehead, and sighed.

"You really know how to pick them. They're both the hardest types to catch."

"Do you remember the last time we caught a Soft Bone Rabbit? It almost escaped with Void and Flash."

Hearing that, Qiu'er recalled the awkwardness of that moment. Her face reddened, and she muttered in defense:

"How was I supposed to know Soft Bone Rabbits had such ridiculous skills? Void and Flash, plus Invincible Golden Body."

"It's obviously just a low-level Soul Beast. Why does it have such disgusting skills?!"

Lin En was also very curious about that question. He could not understand why the Soft Bone Rabbit had such an excellent skill set. Its numbers were indeed average, but its mechanics were far too strong.

The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion would drool itself to tears at that skill set. Wasn't this much stronger than that joke of an Ice Empress's Scorpion Claw?

Just as one human and one beast quietly left the Core Zone and headed toward the Mixed Zone, a middle-aged man dressed in black appeared atop the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's nest at some unknown time.

Golden vertical pupils stared at the two figures gradually moving away, as though he was lost in thought.