The two walked out of the forest side by side.
Night fell.
Stars twinkled in the night sky, spilling silvery light.
Huo Wu walked beside Chen Jin, her hands clasped behind her back and her steps light.
Her long, straight, beautiful legs looked especially alluring in the moonlight.
"When we get back, I'm going to tell my brother the good news."
Huo Wu excitedly clenched her fists.
"He'll be shocked when he finds out you've broken through."
Chen Jin nodded.
The two walked side by side beneath the moonlight, their shadows stretching behind them.
Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.
Golden lights illuminated the enormous Soul Fighting Platform as brightly as daylight.
The surrounding stands teemed with spectators, their clamor deafening.
The smell of sweat filled the air.
At the center of the Soul Fighting Platform.
Purplish-red flames raged, forming the phantom of an enormous, fat bird.
Ma Hongjun stood at the heart of the flames, radiating scorching, murky waves of heat.
The student from Heaven Dou Royal Academy opposite him lay sprawled miserably on the ground.
That student's Martial Soul was a Wind Chime Bird, which should have soared through the sky, but now its wings had been scorched black by evil fire.
The Soul Power defenses around his body had long since shattered.
"Aah!"
Amid the scream.
The Heaven Dou Royal Academy student was hurled away by a blast of air and crashed heavily onto the edge of the Soul Fighting Platform, losing consciousness.
The referee hurried forward to examine his injuries, then raised his right hand high.
"The winner of this Soul Fighting match is Ma Hongjun of Shrek Academy!"
The stands fell silent for a moment before erupting into a tremendous buzz of discussion.
"That's his seventh match. That fatty from Shrek has won seven rounds in a row."
"How are the people from Heaven Dou Royal Academy so useless? They can't even beat a fatty."
"I heard the others from Shrek Academy are even stronger. They've all been sweeping aside their opponents."
Listening to the surrounding chatter, Ma Hongjun smugly patted his enormous belly.
He spat a thick glob of phlegm onto the Soul Fighting Platform.
"Heaven Dou Royal Academy is nothing special!"
"Not a single one of you can put up a fight. What a waste of my time!"
His arrogant voice echoed through the Soul Fighting Arena.
Below the platform.
Flender stood with his arms folded across his chest, his gold-rimmed glasses flashing smugly beneath the lights.
"It seems Heaven Dou City really has run out of capable people."
"These flowers raised in a greenhouse can't weather any wind or rain at all."
Beside him, Zhao Wuji roared with laughter, his voice like rumbling thunder.
"Dean, it looks like our Shrek Academy is going to make a name for itself in Heaven Dou City this time."
In the VIP stands.
Xue Qinghe sat in a luxurious armchair.
Her pale gold finery reflected a noble sheen beneath the lights.
Yet a shadow hung over that gentle, refined face.
With Heaven Dou Royal Academy suffering repeated defeats, she naturally found it hard to save face as the empire's crown prince.
What displeased Xue Qinghe was Shrek Academy's overbearing arrogance, which held everyone else in contempt.
Even with all the Heaven Dou Empire's elites deployed, they could not find a single opponent at the same level who could suppress Shrek Academy.
Dai Mubai, Tang San, and the others crushed their opponents like rotten wood and withered stalks in their respective brackets.
And within the level thirty to thirty-nine Soul Elder bracket, this Ma Hongjun had fought until no one in Heaven Dou City dared face him.
The matchmaking system on the large screen began to cycle.
However.
After scrolling for a minute, the screen finally stopped on a line of large text:
"No matching opponent."
This meant that among the level thirty to thirty-nine Soul Elders currently registered at the Soul Fighting Arena, no one dared challenge Ma Hongjun anymore.
As for Soul Ancestors at level forty and above, the Great Soul Arena's rules prevented them from being matched against Ma Hongjun.
"Hahahaha!"
Ma Hongjun stood on the platform, looking at the large screen and laughing so hard that the fat all over his body shook.
"What? You cowards of the Heaven Dou Empire don't have a single person brave enough to come up here and trade a few moves with me?"
"If you're scared, get on your knees and admit defeat already!"
His mockery turned the faces of every Heaven Dou noble in the stands livid.
Xue Qinghe gripped her chair's armrest, her knuckles whitening from the force.
If these people were allowed to behave so outrageously in Heaven Dou City, the empire's dignity would be swept into the dust.
But.
At present, there truly was no one among Heaven Dou City's Soul Elders who could defeat Ma Hongjun.
The Evil Fire Phoenix was, after all, a top-tier Power Attack System Martial Soul with tremendous explosive power.
Xue Qinghe's brows knitted tightly as the names of talented young people from Heaven Dou City's various major factions flashed through her mind.
Suddenly.
A name flashed through her mind.
Chen Jin.
That mysterious young man who, in a recent match, had single-handedly blocked Yu Tianheng's fourth Soul Skill and knocked him unconscious.
According to the intelligence, Chen Jin's Soul Power was also in the thirties, and his Martial Soul was the Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix, which possessed ultimate fire.
The Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix was more sacred and purer than the Evil Fire Phoenix.
If Chen Jin made a move, he would certainly be able to suppress Ma Hongjun.
At that thought.
Xue Qinghe rose, ignored the questions from the attendants behind her, and walked straight out of the VIP seats.
At that moment.
Outside Heaven Dou City, on a quiet path leading to Blazing Fire Academy's lodgings.
Moonlight spilled like water over the treetops, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
A breeze blew past, carrying wafts of earth and fragrant flowers and grass.
Chen Jin and Huo Wu walked side by side.
Huo Wu had straightened her clothes, but the blush on her face looked particularly lovely in the moonlight.
Her long, straight, beautiful legs appeared and disappeared beneath her skirt, her steps light yet marked by deliberate coyness.
"Chen Jin, just now... did you really not do anything?"
The young woman turned her head, suspicion and shyness in her beautiful eyes.
Chen Jin remained composed, his hands pillowed behind his head as he gazed at the stars in the night sky.
"If I'd wanted to do something, do you think you'd still be standing here questioning me?"
At those words.
Huo Wu's pretty face reddened to the tips of her ears, and she stamped her foot in embarrassed annoyance.
"You scoundrel!"
"I'm so good-looking, yet you're not even tempted. Is there something wrong with your body?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Huo Wu regretted them and hastily covered her mouth.
Chen Jin stopped and turned to look at the young woman beside him.
A smile appeared on his handsome, refined face.
"Didn't you already feel very clearly just now whether there's anything wrong with my body?"
The scene from earlier in the forest surfaced in Huo Wu's mind: she had been pressed against the young man's chest, her beautiful legs wrapped around his waist.
That heat and sense of strength still left her body tingling.
"I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Huo Wu hurriedly turned away and walked briskly ahead, covering her burning cheeks.
Watching the pretty figure in red ahead of him, Chen Jin shook his head and followed.
Having just broken through to the peak of level forty, his body brimmed with the Nine-Heaven Divine Phoenix's origin Soul Power.
The physical transformation brought by the second turn of the Nine-Turn Nirvana Art had sharpened his five senses.
Before they even neared the lodgings.
Chen Jin sensed someone standing beneath the shadows of the trees ahead.
That person wore a luxurious pale gold robe and exuded the noble bearing of someone in power.
Sensing someone approach, the person turned around.
Moonlight illuminated that handsome, refined face.
It was none other than Xue Qinghe.
Huo Wu also noticed the figure ahead and stopped, a flicker of wariness passing through her eyes.
"Who's there?"
Xue Qinghe smiled and elegantly took a few steps forward.
"Please wait, both of you. I mean no harm."
Chen Jin stood beside Huo Wu, calmly looking at the gold-robed youth ahead.
"What business brings you here to wait so late at night?"
Xue Qinghe bowed to Chen Jin, performing the formal courtesy of an imperial noble.
"To be frank, I am Xue Qinghe, crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire."
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