Heading to Spirit City

Looking at Shui Bing'er's delicate face, Dai Chengqian shook his head with a smile.

"It's nothing, this is just some primary-grade stuff I've been researching.

Once I research more powerful things in the future, I won't give them away anymore.

I might sell them then, and it'll be great if you can patronize my business then."

Shui Yue'er poked her head out from behind Shui Bing'er and said with a cheeky smile,

"Definitely, definitely, I'll definitely buy more then."

After chatting briefly with the members of Skywater Academy, Dai Chengqian didn't linger and left the resting area.

After all, they had just met, and too much of a good thing could backfire.

As for romance, it had to be cultivated slowly.

Over the next few days, all matches in the preliminary round gradually concluded.

Shrek Academy finished with twenty-four wins out of twenty-six matches.

The two matches they forfeited were due to giving up against Godwind Academy and Thunder Academy.

The Elite Tournament entered its next stage: the Promotion Tournament.

Unlike the team battles of the preliminary rounds, all teams in the promotion tournament had only a single arena, allowing people to clearly watch the details of 1-on-1 soul master combat.

Tang San once again demonstrated his strength in the promotion tournament, sweeping seven opponents in a row and defeating Huo Wu.

Afterwards, the members of Shrek Team won consecutive battles.

Time arrived at the day of the battle between Tang San and Feng Xiaotian.

The two agreed that a single match would decide the outcome.

Inside the resting area.

Huo Wu looked dazedly at the competition platform.

At this moment, her conviction had already been shattered by Tang San.

Huo Wushuang, standing beside her, looked at his younger sister, shook his head, and said, "Which person do you hope wins this match?"

Huo Wu blinked without speaking, her heart in utter turmoil right now.

At that moment, Dai Chengqian's voice came over.

"Feng Xiaotian can't win. The winner of this match will only be Tang San."

Huo Wu looked at Dai Chengqian and said,

"Why are you so certain that Feng Xiaotian will lose?

I admit now that Tang San is very strong.

But Feng Xiaotian is no weakling either. First of all, his soul power level is two levels higher than Tang San's.

On top of that, he possesses Innate Full Soul Power and the top-tier mutated martial soul Gale Demon Wolf.

Does such strength really not give him a chance to defeat Tang San?"

Dai Chengqian smiled toward her and said,

"Huo Wu, you only know Feng Xiaotian's true strength, but do you know how strong Tang San's true strength is?"

Huo Wushuang frowned, looked at Dai Chengqian, and said, "Are you saying Tang San has been hiding his strength?"

Looking at the competition platform, Dai Chengqian said indifferently,

"It's about to start, just watch."

As the match began, Tang San and Feng Xiaotian first probed each other for a while.

Then, showing their true cards, Feng Xiaotian used his self-created soul skill, Gale Demon Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes.

Tang San went even further and used his trump card, the Clear Sky Hammer Random Cloaking Wind Hammer Technique.

The instant Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer appeared, everyone watching stood up.

Under the continuous pounding of Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer, Feng Xiaotian's wings broke, and he plummeted from midair.

He looked at Tang San, his gaze bitter.

"Twin Martial Souls? I've lost this match."

Resting area.

Huo Wushuang looked at Tang San holding the Clear Sky Hammer on the stage, his heart shaken beyond measure. He hadn't expected Tang San to hide so much.

While looking at Tang San, Huo Wushuang glanced sideways at Dai Chengqian, feeling that Dai Chengqian was also becoming somewhat unfathomable. He wondered who was stronger and who was weaker compared to Tang San.

At this moment, Huo Wu's eyes were fixed on Tang San on the competition platform, her gaze completely dazed.

Tang San's performance had deeply shocked her, and a feeling of heartbeat-skipping attraction gradually emerged.

Dai Chengqian was somewhat speechless; Huo Wu really was quite the worshipper of the strong.

Nudging Huo Wu, Dai Chengqian chuckled and said, "What? Subdued by Tang San's domineering aura?"

"As if!"

Hearing Dai Chengqian's words, Huo Wu stubbornly retorted.

Dai Chengqian smiled and didn't expose her.

Huo Wu looked at Dai Chengqian, her expression turning serious as she spoke,

"Since Tang San is so strong, can you really beat him?"

Dai Chengqian glanced sideways and teased with a smile,

"Tang San has won against you a few times, and I feel like you're practically falling in love with him.

If I can beat Tang San, won't that make me deeply attract you instead?

What are you going to do if you beg to be my girlfriend then?

I'll state this in advance, though: too many maidens like His Highness here, so you'll have to get in line."

"Get lost! Who wants to be your girlfriend!"

A few days later, the promotion tournament ended.

Shrek Team advanced with a record of fourteen straight wins.

In the Heaven Dou territory, a total of fifteen teams were heading to Spirit City to participate in the finals.

The Heaven Dou Emperor dispatched Royal Knights soldiers to escort all the teams. A thousand-strong entourage mighty and grandly rushed toward Spirit City.

Dai Chengqian didn't return to Star Luo. He brought his team members, hitched a ride on a carriage, and traveled along with the Heaven Dou delegation.

Dai Chengqian's reason for doing this was very simple: the journey would take about twenty days, a very long time.

During this time, he could frequently visit various academies to drop in on his "friends."

On the first day, he behaved quite well, staying only within his own team's carriage.

By the second day, he completely dropped the act, spending the entire day over at the Skywater Academy Team until the beauty instructor of the Skywater Team chased him away, whereupon he finally left.

On the third day, he came over to Blazing Fire Academy to find Huo Wu, and unexpectedly ran into Feng Xiaotian, who had also come looking for her.

Seeing Dai Chengqian, Feng Xiaotian instinctively wanted to hide.

Dai Chengqian ran over, threw an arm around his neck, and said with a smile,

"Brother Xiaotian, why are you running when you see me?"

Feng Xiaotian smiled awkwardly and said,

"Well, rest assured, I will abide by that bet.

I came because I wanted to apologize to Huo Wu."

"Then let's go, we'll go together."

After Dai Chengqian went along with him, he witnessed Feng Xiaotian discussing with Huo Wu the matter of merging the two teams together.

Dai Chengqian listened from the side without minding.

Although the combat power of these two teams merging would increase quite a bit, it still wouldn't pose any threat to him.

After staying with Huo Wu for a while, Dai Chengqian returned to his own team.

The journey proceeded very peacefully, and everyone assumed the entire trip would go smoothly.

Only Dai Chengqian didn't think so.

Because he was familiar with the original work, he knew that after Tang San exposed the Clear Sky Hammer, they would suffer an ambush by Spirit Hall on the road.

Thinking of this, Dai Chengqian deliberately had his carriage convoy move to the very rear of the procession.

Noticing Dai Chengqian's action, Zhu Zhuqing came to his side and asked quietly,

"Why did you suddenly come to the very back? Is something going to happen?"

Dai Chengqian gave Zhu Zhuqing an appreciative look, then took her hand and patted it gently, saying,

"Rest assured, with Poison Douluo and Qingyue Douluo here, I don't know about others, but we will definitely be fine."

Hearing Dai Chengqian say this, Zhu Zhuqing set her mind at ease.

When the convoy reached a distance halfway to Spirit City and entered a small valley, the people of Spirit Hall finally couldn't help but make their move.

Rolling boulders cascaded down from the valley, smashing toward the Royal Knights.

Black-clad assassins, long since lying in ambush all around the valley, appeared and charged down toward the procession below.

The teams from various academies hurriedly deployed soul skills to resist the charging black-clad assassins.

However, this group of black-clad assassins was numerous, several times the number of the academy students, and the scene instantly plunged into a stalemate.

Among the convoy, the only two teams facing the black-clad assassins with ease were these.

One was the Shrek Academy Team at the very front of the convoy.

The other was Dai Chengqian's team, located at the very rear.

Shrek Academy's team relied on Tang San's Blue Silver Grass for crowd control, coupled with hidden weapons like the Godly Zhuge Crossbow equipped within the team, so the black-clad assassins couldn't gain the slightest advantage.

Dai Chengqian's side presented a completely different scene.

His team unleashed their soul rings, every single one of them uniformly above level 40.

Zhu Zhuyun, who possessed the highest level among them, had even reached level 48.

Among all the teams on the field, not a single team could surpass Dai Chengqian's team in soul power level.

Aside from their levels, Dai Chengqian's team also displayed astonishing coordination.

The moment the black-clad assassins appeared, they simultaneously executed counterattacks.

Facing those black-clad assassins, Dai Chengqian didn't even release his martial soul; he lifted his right leg and used the soul bone skill he had obtained not long ago.

Outrage Break.

With every kick, a terrifying moon-shaped slash shot forth from his right leg.

Every black-clad assassin who came into contact with this strike was directly chopped in half at the waist, their viscera spilling all over the ground.

Soon, there were no more black-clad assassins coming to attack Dai Chengqian's side.

After all, these people's true target wasn't him, but Tang San.

Looking over toward Tang San's side.

At this point, the ones attacking them were no longer ordinary black-clad assassins.

Instead, it was one Soul Douluo, coupled with several Soul Kings.

Flender and Liu Erlong were entangled by several Soul Kings.

That Soul Douluo was slaughtering his way toward the members of Shrek Academy.

Dugu Bo appeared by Dai Chengqian's side and asked with a solemn expression,

"Kid Dai, these people are probably from Spirit Hall.

I'm guessing even stronger powerhouses will appear. Should we get out of here quickly?"

Dai Chengqian's expression remained calm as he shook his head and said,

"Relax, this is none of our business."

Just as he finished speaking, the Soul Douluo who had locked onto Tang San suddenly sensed a trace of dangerous intent in his heart.

Immediately following that, a sword beam suddenly slashed down from the sky.

The Soul Douluo hastily retreated dozens of steps, distancing himself from the Shrek group.

He looked up at the sky, his gaze gloomy as he spoke,

"Sword Dao Chen Xin!"

As his voice fell, Sword Douluo Chen Xin appeared before the Shrek group.

Seeing Chen Xin, Ning Rongrong happily cried out "Sword Grandpa".

"Hmph, Chen Xin, I advise you not to muddy these waters."

A man in white sneered as he appeared beside that Soul Douluo.

This person was naturally Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan.

Immediately afterward, another dark shadow appeared on the side, looked at Chen Xin with a chuckle, and said to the man in white beside him,

"Hold Chen Xin off for a while, I'll deal with the target."

The two were just about to make a move.

Suddenly, multicolored treasure light flashed in the distance-that was the radiance of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

Following the appearance of this light, Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo slowly walked over from afar.

Ning Fengzhi looked at Yue Guan and Gui Mei, speaking earnestly:

"Two Titled Douluos, bullying a bunch of kids while hiding your heads and tails-aren't you afraid of being ridiculed by others?"

Knowing that Ning Fengzhi had recognized him, Yue Guan issued a threat:

"Sect Master Ning, you'd better think this through. Does the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect really intend to make an enemy of us?"

Ning Fengzhi said indifferently, "The Upper Three Sects breathe the same breath and branch from the same root. What do you think?"

"Fine! I'll chalk it up to poor preparation today. Let's go."

The moment he saw those two, Chrysanthemum Douluo knew today's operation couldn't continue.

He swiftly led his men and left the valley.

"Dad! It's a good thing you came."

Ning Rongrong happily ran over to embrace Ning Fengzhi.

The teams from the other academies wore extremely ugly expressions at this moment.

They didn't understand why they had gotten involved in a dispute between Titled Douluos.

At that moment, Dai Chengqian brought Ye Lingling around to the various academies so she could heal their injured members.

When they reached Skywater Academy's carriage, Shui Bing'er said to Dai Chengqian:

"Thanks."

After glancing at Dai Chengqian's team, a flicker of surprise appeared in Shui Bing'er's eyes.

Every team there had at least a few injured members.

Only Dai Chengqian's team looked completely unscathed. Even their carriage frame had barely suffered any damage.

At first, she had suspected it was because Dai Chengqian's team had been at the very back, and the Black-Clad Assassins hadn't attacked them.

But after seeing the nearby corpses of Black-Clad Assassins who had been cleaved in half, she drew in a sharp breath and looked at Dai Chengqian in shock, asking:

"Did you kill all these people?"

Dai Chengqian glanced back and said with a smile:

"To be precise, I killed the ones who were cleaved in half. My teammates took care of the rest."

Shui Bing'er looked at Dai Chengqian and said with a sigh of admiration:

"You certainly live up to being the main team with Star Luo automatic qualification. From what I've seen now, your combat strength really is far greater than ours."

After healing Skywater Academy's members, Dai Chengqian led Ye Lingling onward, helping heal the injured from every academy along the way.

It had to be said that the Nine Heart Begonia truly deserved its reputation as a top-tier Martial Soul devoted purely to healing.

As long as someone wasn't dead and still had a breath left, Ye Lingling could heal them.

White petals showered down from the sky, drifting into the bodies of the injured. Before long, they could leap to their feet, brimming with life like dragons and tigers.

When they reached Shrek, Ning Fengzhi looked at Ye Lingling and remarked:

"The Nine Heart Begonia truly is a miracle among Martial Souls. With support like that, even dying would be no easy feat."

Turning to Dai Chengqian, Ning Fengzhi said with a smile:

"You poached a support-type Soul Master like her. You've really landed yourself a bargain."

Dai Chengqian nodded, then looked at Ye Lingling and said:

"Having a support-type Soul Master like Lingling on our team really does put my mind at ease. Thank you, Lingling."

"Oh, Your Highness, what are you thanking me for? Ever since I joined your team, you've helped me plenty too.

You're going to embarrass me, talking like that."

Afterward, the procession continued toward Spirit City.

For the rest of the journey, Spirit Hall's people made no further moves, and all the teams arrived safely in Spirit City.

As soon as he arrived in Spirit City, Dai Chengqian received news from his people in the Star Luo Empire.

The message said that, during the preliminaries and the Promotion Tournament, Dai Weisi's team had cut down the teams of several princes, including the Second Prince and Fourth Prince, advancing to the grand finals in first place.

However, Dai Chengqian had expected as much. The other princes had never intended to compete for the Throne in the first place. They had only formed teams to enter the competition and test whether they had the strength to contend for it.

After arriving in Spirit City, Dai Chengqian parted ways with the teams from Heaven Dou.

Dai Chengqian took the women on a brief stroll around Spirit City, drawing countless sidelong glances along the way.

Dai Chengqian felt that Spirit City was much smaller than Heaven Dou City or Star Luo Main City.

Yet the entire city's construction was more lavish than that of either Heaven Dou City or Star Luo Main City.

The city walls were built entirely from the finest stone and were over thirty meters thick.

After their brief stroll, Dai Chengqian led his team into the accommodation area Spirit Hall had prepared for the Star Luo Empire's teams.

The moment Dai Chengqian entered, a staff member came forward to guide him into an extraordinarily lavish and luxurious room.

The staff member looked at Dai Chengqian and said respectfully:

"Your Highness, Sixth Prince, we heard that you are the captain of the Star Luo Empire's main team. Her Holiness the Pontiff had this prepared especially for you."

"Oh?"

Dai Chengqian was very surprised. Could that madwoman Bibi Dong have taken notice of me?

Without dwelling on it, Dai Chengqian called Zhu Zhuyun and the other women into his room.