Silver Soul Badge, Level Forty Soul Elder

"Haha, another win! The odds are pitifully low, but even a little profit is still profit!"

"Exactly! It's practically picking up Gold Soul Coins for free!"

"Where did this monster called 'Heavenly Flames' come from? He's fought twenty-one matches this month, hasn't he? And won every single one! Have you ever seen anyone last three minutes against him?"

"Never! Even his strongest opponent only held out for two and a half minutes!"

Voices rose and fell throughout every corner of the stands.

Over the past month, everyone had witnessed Ye Han's performance.

Twenty-one individual Soul Fighting matches, without a single defeat. His opponents were often knocked down cleanly by that powerful external beast martial soul before they could even touch the hem of his clothes.

Under the Great Soul Arena's rules, a newcomer received an Iron Soul Badge upon winning their first match.

An Iron Soul Fighter needed to accumulate one hundred points to become a Bronze Soul Fighter, while advancing to Silver Soul Fighter required a full thousand points.

Ordinarily, a victory earned one point, while a defeat deducted one.

Winning streaks, however, triggered hefty point bonuses: after five consecutive victories, each subsequent win earned ten points; once the streak passed ten, every further victory awarded a hundred points at once!

Ye Han had maintained his winning streak all the way to this point, even fighting an extra match to ensure he had more than enough points.

With today's victory included, his total had reached one thousand one hundred and fifty-five points, well above the threshold for a Silver Soul Badge.

Amid the thunderous waves of cheering, Ye Han raised his hand to recall the Fire Qilin, then leaped lightly off the fighting platform.

Ignoring the gazes directed at him from every side, he headed straight toward the Soul Fighting Arena's staff area.

At the rear of the Soul Fighting Arena, inside a tastefully furnished office.

The manager of the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena, a well-dressed middle-aged man, sat uneasily.

A young female employee stood beside him, holding an exquisite tray in both hands. A gleaming silver badge and a purple card rested upon it.

Two masked young women were also waiting quietly in the room.

Though their faces were concealed, their exposed eyes alone made it clear that both were stunning beauties.

They were Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan.

Creak—

The door swung open, and Ye Han stepped inside.

"Mr. Heavenly Flames, you're here."

The manager immediately approached with an enthusiastic smile, though beneath it lay an ache he could scarcely conceal.

"Have you finished tallying the points?" Ye Han asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yes, yes!"

The manager hurriedly motioned the employee forward. "We've checked all the records. Your current total is one thousand one hundred and fifty-five points, which fully meets the requirements for receiving a Silver Soul Badge.

"This is your Silver Soul Badge. Your prize money from this period, along with all the Gold Soul Coins you won through your bets, has been deposited on this stored-value card."

The employee respectfully presented the tray to Ye Han.

Ye Han first picked up the finely crafted silver badge. It had a satisfying weight, and the Great Soul Arena's exclusive emblem was engraved on its surface.

He casually slipped the badge into his pocket before picking up the purple stored-value card.

At the very instant the card changed hands, the manager's fingers gave an almost imperceptible twitch.

Ye Han naturally caught the tiny movement, and an amused smile curled his lips beneath his mask.

He weighed the card in his hand and said teasingly, "Relax. I won't be coming back to compete."

Both the manager and the employee froze.

"Mr. Heavenly... Heavenly Flames, what do you mean?" the manager asked instinctively.

Ye Han merely smiled, offering no further explanation.

He turned and walked calmly over to stand between Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan.

Dugu Yan immediately linked her arm affectionately through his. Ye Lingling was less demonstrative, but she too moved gently closer to him.

"Let's go."

Without looking back, Ye Han raised a hand to signal to the two women.

Under the staff's watchful gazes, the three left the office.

Only after their figures disappeared at the end of the corridor did the manager let out a long breath and wipe the nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead.

"Sir, he said he won't be coming back..." the employee ventured hesitantly.

"What else could he mean? That young man and the two young ladies beside him are not people we can afford to provoke."

The manager waved a hand, his voice tinged with relief and lingering fear. "His willingness to stop of his own accord is already the best outcome we could hope for."

How could he fail to recognize Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling?

Poison Douluo Dugu Bo's granddaughter and a descendant of the Ye family—neither identity was one anyone in Heaven Dou City could lightly offend.

What was more, the strength and potential "Heavenly Flames" himself had displayed were already terrifying.

Though the Great Soul Arena had powerful backing, there was no reason to offend a genius of such caliber.

Outside the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena, dusk was settling, and the street lamps lit up one after another.

Ye Han removed his mask and let out a long breath.

Weighing the purple stored-value card in his hand, he recalled the manager's expression, as though a chunk of flesh had been carved from him, and could not help laughing.

"What are you laughing about? How much did you make to get you this happy?"

With her arm linked through his, Dugu Yan leaned closer curiously, her emerald eyes sparkling in the twilight.

Ye Han turned his head, mischief in his eyes. "Take a guess?"

"Come on, tell us!" Dugu Yan gave his arm a gentle shake.

Ye Han stopped keeping them in suspense and lowered his voice. "Almost... two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins."

"Two hundred thousand?!" Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling covered their mouths almost simultaneously, gasping softly.

Ye Lingling's violet eyes widened slightly, her surprise plain to see. "No wonder... that manager looked so miserable."

Ye Han curled his lip. "That's actually on the low side. If the Soul Fighting Arena hadn't deliberately imposed restrictions later on and driven my odds so low, the amount on this card would have more than doubled."

He was not exaggerating.

With his and the Fire Qilin's current combat strength, competing in the Soul Elder division was like crushing opponents from an entirely higher dimension.

And what he had just said was true: he genuinely had no intention of returning for more Soul Fighting.

For one thing, he had enough Gold Soul Coins for now. For another, he had already obtained his Silver Soul Badge.

Both his goals were complete. Coming here to compete again would only waste precious cultivation time.

After hearing Ye Han's complaints, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling both could not help laughing.

They, too, belonged to the Imperial Fighting Team, and the academy had set them the same assessment requirements as Ye Han.

However, both had obtained their Silver Soul Badges six months earlier, becoming the first two students under Qin Ming to meet the requirements.

Among the other team members, only Yu Tianheng had successfully obtained a Silver Soul Badge, relying on the formidable power of his blue lightning tyrant dragon martial soul.

The Shi brothers, Yu Feng, and the others still had some way to go. After all, not everyone could steamroll their opponents and maintain a perfect winning streak like Ye Han.

Both women had also broken through level forty before Ye Han and successfully acquired their fourth Soul Rings.

Even after repeated deliberation, Dugu Bo and Ye Linyuan had ultimately not dared let the two youngsters risk forcibly absorbing Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings.

Even so, the ages of their fourth Soul Rings still far exceeded the limits ordinary Soul Masters could withstand.

Ye Lingling's fourth Soul Ring was six thousand seven hundred years old, taken from a Holy Light Ganoderma of the same age.

Dugu Yan had been consuming whale rubber to continually temper her body. Moreover, her jade phosphorous dragon martial soul strengthened her physique more than the nine heart begonia did, allowing her fourth Soul Ring to reach seven thousand five hundred years.

Her fourth Soul Ring came from a Venomous Scorpion with seven thousand five hundred years of cultivation.

"All right, enough about that."

Ye Han grandly raised the stored-value card in his hand. "I'm in a good mood today. You two can pick anywhere you like. Whatever you want to eat, whatever you want to buy, wherever you want to browse—it's all on me!"

"You said it!" Dugu Yan's eyes lit up. Ye Lingling's lips curved into a faint smile, and she did not decline.

The two women stopped standing on ceremony, and the three strolled together along Heaven Dou City's busiest street. Between restaurants fragrant with food and shops filled with dazzling wares, they wandered and stopped at leisure, enjoying the relaxed atmosphere.

Ye Han kept his promise. Almost anything the two women looked at twice, he bought without hesitation, demonstrating exactly what it meant to have deep pockets and swagger to match.

Only when the sky had gone completely dark did the three finish their outing.

Yet the direction Ye Han took left Ye Lingling puzzled.

"Hm? Ye Han, aren't we going back to our lodgings?" Ye Lingling looked at the familiar road ahead. It led to Dugu Manor.

A mysterious smile appeared on Ye Han's face. He tried to keep his voice steady, but the slight upward curl of his lips betrayed his inner delight:

"We're not going back just yet. I have something to discuss with Senior Poison Douluo."

"With Grandpa?" Dugu Yan grew interested too. "What is it?"

Ye Han stopped and turned to look down at the two women, no longer suppressing the excitement in his voice. "My cultivation has reached the level-forty bottleneck. Right now, I need a suitable fourth Soul Ring to break through."

"What?!"

His words struck like thunder from a clear sky, instantly seizing their attention.

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling stared at him in shock, their eyes filled with disbelief.

They knew Ye Han had always cultivated at an astonishing pace, but this speed was simply outrageous.

Two years ago, when they had returned from hunting Soul Rings in Sunset Forest, Ye Han had only been level thirty-two.

In just two short years, he had charged all the way to the threshold of level forty?

Everyone said a Soul Master's cultivation slowed drastically after breaking through level thirty. Why did that seem to have no effect on him at all?

As the two women looked at Ye Han, a faint trace of aggrieved resentment crept into their eyes.