"I found the Dai Mubai you were looking for."
"If you want to see him, go see him. If you want to leave, leave now. Fail to cut the knot when you should, and you'll only get tangled in it."
The blond boy had handsome features, and his eyes-scarlet on the left, sky blue on the right-drew particular attention.
After those words fell, the boy rose, turned, and left without hesitation.
"..."
The black-clad girl wearing a bamboo hat stayed silent for a short while before finally rising to follow the blond boy.
Inside the Soto Great Soul Arena, Xiao Wu followed behind Li Shaobai, studying her surroundings with a face full of curiosity.
Every so often, she looked east and wandered west, then immediately hurried after Li Shaobai when she saw he had gotten far ahead.
"Xiao Wu, weren't you going to buy books? Why did you suddenly decide to follow me?"
Casting a helpless glance at the little tail following him, Li Shaobai finally could not resist asking.
"Hmph! Sister Xiao Wu always repays a favor. You helped this young lady, so naturally, this young lady has to help you too."
"Aren't you looking for that Soul Master who's good at controlling swords or something? I'll help you look. That has to be faster than searching alone!"
Xiao Wu gave a haughty little huff, then took a few steps forward and approached the Great Soul Arena staff member in charge of Soul Fighting registration.
"Hey, hello. Who's the strongest Sword Martial Soul Master here?"
The smartly dressed staff member discreetly glanced over the girl's clothes, then spoke with a stern, impartial expression.
"...Uh, I'm sorry, Miss Soul Master. Information on all our competitors is confidential."
"..."
Speechlessly regarding this little rabbit with so little experience of the world, Li Shaobai stepped forward and pulled her behind him.
"Sorry, my companion has never been somewhere like this. Please forgive her."
With a turn of his wrist, three or four Gold Soul Coins fell from his Storage Soul Tool.
Li Shaobai jabbed with two fingers held like a sword, and every coin slipped into the gap in the staff member's collar, lodging securely there.
"Roughly Soul Elder or Soul Ancestor cultivation, a sword Martial Soul, and around his early twenties. He's said to be able to summon several swords to attack at once."
Discreetly touching the Gold Soul Coins tucked securely inside his collar, the staff member immediately broke into a beaming smile.
"Hahaha, honored Battle Soul Master, please wait a moment. I understand your request. I'll go check with the front desk."
As the little rabbit watched in utter bewilderment.
The man first looked around, pocketed the Gold Soul Coins while no one was paying attention, then left for a short while.
When he reappeared, the staff member held several sheets of paper, which he handed to Li Shaobai.
"Honored Battle Soul Master, this is a list of all competitors with Sword Martial Souls at the Soul Elder or Soul Ancestor level."
"However, only one fits your requirements."
"Tie Jian Zhao, eighteen years old, a rank thirty-nine Battle Soul Elder. He only registered for Soul Fighting recently, and currently has fifteen wins in fifteen matches."
"He frequently uses a Soul Skill that controls three swords in battle, which matches the characteristics you described."
"However, he's reportedly already broken through rank forty and isn't in Suotuo City at present."
"Tie Jian Zhao?"
Reaching out to take the papers, Li Shaobai stared at the name "Tie Jian Zhao" on the list and knew in his heart that this was the person he was looking for.
The list in his hands had no photographs. That made sense; the staff member would hardly be bold enough to reveal a competitor's detailed information for a few Gold Soul Coins.
"Two yellow Soul Rings and one purple. A Soul Ancestor at eighteen-that would count as a rare genius even in the sect."
So commented Li Shaobai, a thirteen-year-old Soul Ancestor.
"Perfect. Soul Ancestor against Soul Ancestor would be fair enough. Keep an eye out for me. If you see him come here for Soul Fighting again, please help me keep him here."
"Tell him Li Shaobai of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect would like to spar with him in swordsmanship..."
In the middle of his instructions, Li Shaobai paused, took paper and a pen from his Soul Tool, quickly wrote a letter, and handed it to the staff member.
"Never mind. Just tell him who I am and give him this letter."
"So you're an esteemed disciple of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect! Understood!"
Reaching out to accept the envelope, the staff member felt the bulge beneath it with his fingers, his smile never leaving his face.
"Rest assured! I'll make sure this matter gets properly taken care of!"
"Oh, take care!"
With Xiao Wu wearing a adorably blank expression, she and Li Shaobai were escorted out of the Great Soul Arena by its staff member.
"Hey! Wait, why are you so practiced at this sort of thing?"
Coming back to her senses, Xiao Wu looked at the person before her in astonishment.
"According to Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng's books, aren't you supposed to be the kind of supporting male character who's proud of his talent, seems incredibly cold and unapproachable, but is actually cold inside and warm outside, and also incredibly innocent?"
"Why are you even so practiced at bribery?!"
"That's not how it goes in the books!"
"..."
"Have you read yourself silly?"
Sure enough, Yu Tiansheng's books did people no small harm.
Thinking this, Li Shaobai reached out with a face full of exasperation, instinctively wanting to pat her head.
But he quickly realized that the person before him was not the one he knew, and forcibly stopped his hand.
Xiao Wu, who had inexplicably stuck her head out to await his touch: "..."
In a certain sense, Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng's books were not wrong.
"I wasn't Sword Douluo's disciple from the beginning."
Looking at Xiao Wu's puffed-up little face, Li Shaobai let out a long sigh and slowly began to speak.
"I originally came from a Soul Master Escort Agency. By the time I awakened my Martial Soul, my family had already fallen on hard times."
"Before my father died, he called on what little goodwill remained from our ancestors, and only then was I fortunate enough to become a disciple of Sword Douluo of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."
"Setting aside my sect and Martial Soul, I'm nothing more than an ordinary person."
Xiao Wu fell silent, looking at Li Shaobai's gloomy profile with a somewhat odd gaze.
"Say, don't you have too little confidence in yourself?"
"You're a Soul Ancestor!"
"We're about the same age, aren't we? I'm only a weak, pitiful, helpless Soul Grandmaster!"
"If even you're just an ordinary person, does that mean all the other humans aren't even people?"
"I'm telling you," Xiao Wu said, her little legs carrying her in a flash to stand in front of Li Shaobai, where she planted both hands on her slender waist and stared haughtily at him.
"Aren't you being a little too negative?"
"You don't have any of the pride geniuses have in novels. You're a genius of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"
"That's the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect! Even I know there are only a handful of forces on the continent stronger than it."
"As a genius of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, don't you have even the slightest thought of letting your pride soar to the heavens and sweeping all before you?"
"Where's your pride as a genius?!"
As Xiao Wu's words fell, Li Shaobai's eyes shifted slightly, and an image flashed through his mind over and over.
"Leave."
"Your sword is unsteady. You don't even qualify to make me draw mine."
The boy wore gold-and-red robes, a small blood-colored sword marked his forehead, and he held the unmistakable Frost-Cold Nine Provinces, his gaze icy.
Facing a powerful enemy, facing his archenemy's disdain, Li Shaobai drew his sword.
Then a whisper reached his ears.
"Blood for the Blood God..."
Before you continue