When enemies met

Three years ago, Huo Yutong had met Dai Huabin for the first time.

She and her mother were servants at the White Tiger Duke's Mansion and usually lived in the servants' quarters.

Although their daily work was exhausting, they could still scrape by.

That day, she was carrying a load of freshly washed clothes out to dry when Dai Huabin barged into the little courtyard with seven or eight guards, a place no one ever normally visited.

"So this is the bastard that servant gave birth to? Beat her!"

Dai Huabin looked at Huo Yutong with disgust in his eyes, then turned and left after giving the order.

Two burly guards began punching and kicking Huo Yutong, who could only cry loudly.

Her mother heard Huo Yutong crying from inside the courtyard and came out. Seeing Huo Yutong being beaten, she could only shield her with her body while weeping and begging for mercy.

The two guards only left after beating them both within an inch of their lives.

After that day, her mother fell ill and never got out of bed again. The physicians at the White Tiger Duke's Mansion also refused to treat her.

Huo Yutong took all their savings and walked fifty li to Star Luo City before finally finding a physician who took pity on her.

After seeing Huo Yutong's mother, the physician merely shook his head and said that she had fallen ill from accumulated overwork and suffered severe injuries on top of that. She only had a few days left to live.

Before long, Huo Yutong's mother died.

"If I'd held it in that day, would Mom never have been drawn outside?"

"If I'd done more work normally, would Mom never have fallen ill from overwork?"

Huo Yutong did not know the answers to those questions. She was only certain of three things.

Dai Huabin had caused her mother's death, the duchess had caused her illness from overwork, and she would slaughter everyone in the Duke's Mansion to avenge her mother.

Now, encountering her enemy again, Huo Yutong felt cold all over. Her hands clenched into fists and trembled uncontrollably.

Just then, a warm hand closed around her fist, driving away the chill.

Huo Yutong looked up and saw a doting affection in her master's eyes that she had never seen before.

"All right, all right. The White Tiger Duke's Mansion, was it? He's only a Soul Douluo, or a Titled Douluo at the absolute most. I'll avenge you."

"N-no grudge," Huo Yutong said stiffly. She would avenge her own grudge herself. She could not drag her master down.

"You still say there's no grudge? Your face is twitching. It's too stiff to pinch like this." Lu Yu pinched Huo Yutong's cheeks with both hands, softening them up again.

"If you want to take revenge with your own hands, that's fine too. But remember, with your master here, you'll get your revenge sooner or later. Right now, you're just waiting for the progress bar to fill."

"So relax. Don't let hatred affect you."

"Mm." Huo Yutong obediently lowered her head. With her master and Sister Tian Meng helping her, she was confident she would avenge her great grudge. All that remained was a matter of time.

What she should do now was cultivate diligently, live up to her master's nurturing and Sister Tian Meng's investment, and go take revenge as soon as her cultivation reached the required level.

"Don't worry, Yutong. I'll help too. We're the best of sisters! Once we both become Soul Douluos, we'll wipe out the White Tiger Duke's Mansion."

Xiao Xiao took Huo Yutong's other hand too. Once she became a Soul Douluo, she could destroy a mere White Tiger Duke's Mansion with a flip of her hand.

"Mm." Huo Yutong nodded.

Thonk. Thonk.

A knuckle landed on each of their heads.

"Oww." ×2

Both girls crouched down, clutching their heads in pain.

"Soul Douluos? Two people with Twin Martial Souls need to become Soul Douluos just to beat a White Tiger? I'd be too ashamed to let anyone hear that. You need to get this done by Soul Saint at the latest. Understood?"

"Yes!" ×2

The two girls stood at attention.

After that bit of clowning around, Huo Yutong did not feel so terrible anymore. That's right. Soul Saint at the latest. Mother, please wait a little longer.

When the time comes, I'll bring both their heads to your grave as an offering.

"Don't worry, Master. I'll cultivate diligently, and when the time comes, I'll get back at them."

Determination shone in Huo Yutong's eyes, but Lu Yu quickly interrupted it by patting her head.

"Why wait until later? Don't you hate that Dai Huabin? Why not get back at him now?"

"But if we kill someone during the tournament, we won't be able to escape either. Wouldn't it be too wasteful to use Sister Tian Meng's teleportation just to deal with Dai Huabin?"

"Yutong, you're still too innocent."

Lu Yu continued patting her head.

"When you take revenge on someone, you certainly can't just kill him. You hate him so much-don't you think killing him outright would be letting him off too easily?"

Huo Yutong found that very reasonable. That was right. Her mother had been ostracized at the Duke's Mansion for so many years that she had fallen ill from overwork. Simply killing that mother and son would be letting them off far too easily.

"So we need to torment them psychologically."

Lu Yu continued.

"I just took a look. He's teamed up with one of the Zhu Family members, so they must have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill."

"Though with the way I usually fight, I wouldn't give them a chance to activate their Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Of course, this time will be no different."

"But this time, it won't be that we don't give them a chance to use it. We'll give them the chance, yet still leave them unable to activate it."

"Leave them unable to activate it..." Huo Yutong was a little puzzled at first, but her eyes soon lit up.

Her mother had told her many things about the Dai Family while she was alive. For instance, the Dai Family had once been the imperial family of the Star Luo Empire, but their succession system had been extremely bloody, requiring the princes to slaughter one another.

Although the Dai Family had become much more restrained since becoming dukes, the competition between heirs was still fairly fierce.

What she had occasionally overheard from other servants chatting in the Duke's Mansion had indeed confirmed this.

As the second son, Dai Huabin could not match his older brother Dai Yueheng in strength. Unless there was a very large gap in their talent, he had no chance of inheriting the title of duke.

But having a Martial Soul Fusion Skill would change things.

A Martial Soul Fusion Skill could unleash combat power far beyond that of others at the same rank. So even if Dai Huabin ultimately fell short of Dai Yueheng, he would definitely be the one to inherit the title of White Tiger Duke.

Although Huo Yutong had only met Dai Huabin a few times, every meeting had left a deep impression. Dai Huabin was arrogant and craved the title of duke. If someone that arrogant lost his Martial Soul Fusion Skill, surely he would fly straight into an impotent rage!

At the thought of Dai Huabin losing his composure and flying into a rage, a cold smile crept onto Huo Yutong's lips.

It was so frosty that even Xiao Xiao beside her shivered. Huo Yutong's expression had changed more today than it had in the entire previous month.

With Huo Yutong looking forward to revenge, time passed quickly.

That afternoon, they encountered Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Nanmen Yun'er from Class Nine. A top-tier Martial Soul, the Red Dragon, and a high-grade Martial Soul, the Jade Green Bird, both with ordinary Soul Ring configurations-there was not much to say. Even with Ning Tian's forty-percent boosts to speed and strength, they could not withstand Xiao Xiao's truck of doom.

But Ning Tian's build gave Lu Yu a small surprise.

The Seven Treasure Exquisite Pagoda's Soul Skills provided a fixed ten-percent boost, with that boost increasing by another ten percent for every additional Soul Ring. They were among the few Soul Skills that could grow.

The first three rings of an ordinary Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda generally followed the strength, speed, and soul power route, but Ning Tian's build was actually speed, cleanse, and strength.

Cleanse, in gaming terms, meant Purification. It had been a must-pick skill when he played games in his previous life. Bring along a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda that had picked Purification, and the opposing team's crowd-control skills were rendered completely useless. Precisely because of that, even in the late game, if they had not managed to obtain an Immortal Herb, people were still willing to bring along a level-seventy-nine Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

That teamwide Purification really was useful!

After they finished fighting Ning Tian's team, the first day's matches came to an end. The next two battles were not much trouble either. One team had a Soul Elder leading two Soul Grandmasters; the other had three Soul Grandmasters.

Even Wang Dong, with her beyond-limit yellow, purple, and purple Soul Rings, had been smashed to pieces by Xiao the Emperor. Those two teams could only become speed bumps beneath the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron.

In the eyes of the teachers, Xiao Xiao had become an NPC thanks to her Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, while Lu Yu and Huo Yutong were two freeloaders getting carried to victory.

Was Lu Yu a freeloader getting carried? He really was. Huo Yutong had at least activated Spiritual Detection. In those two matches, he had done nothing but coast, collecting some Martial Soul Fragments along the way.

The final day's championship match arrived: Lu Yu's team from Class One versus Dai Huabin's team from Class Five.