A Mission You Couldn't Survive

Star Luo Emperor Xu Jiawei invited the players who had won the Soul Master Tournament to the stage and personally presented them with this year's championship prizes: three Soul Bones and a large number of Gold Soul Coins.

The players' eyes lit up at the sight of the three Soul Bones. As for the Gold Soul Coins, not many of them cared.

Just then, the game system's voice rang in the players' ears.

[Congratulations to the players on winning the Soul Master Tournament. Participating players' Soul Master levels have increased by 3, while spectators' Soul Master levels have increased by 1.]

Directly rewarding them with levels was a pretty good prize. It also made up for the experience they had lost by being unable to level up during the tournament.

[Story reward detected: three Soul Bones. Players, please choose how you would like to receive your reward.]

[Option 1: Choose the three Soul Bones and distribute them among yourselves.]

[Option 2: The system will reclaim the three Soul Bones and equip each participating player with a set of Soul Bones based on the total age of the three Soul Bones.]

Seeing the two options, the players began discussing again.

Wang Zhongwang: "Let's hear it. How should we choose? The first option or the second?"

I Am an Angel: "This really is a tough choice. If we pick the second option and they distribute them based on the total age, each Soul Bone will have a very low age. We'll have to wash and refine them ourselves."

Ten-Year Veteran: "I'm more in favor of the second option. Let's decide by vote. The minority will follow the majority."

Qian Xixi: "Fine, I'll pick the first option. I can make up for it with Fate Coins."

Primordial One: "I'll pick the second option. Something's better than nothing."

Agile Dog in the Mountains: "Sorry, big shots, but I'm picking the second option too."

Spirit Hall Eternal: "Me too!"

Qian Xixi: "All right, then. Washing and refining them will be a bit of a hassle, but I can live with that."

The players chose the second option. The system reclaimed the three Soul Bones awarded as story rewards, unlocked every participating player's Soul Bone Slot, and filled each one with a low-age Soul Bone.

For players who already had Soul Bones, the age of the Soul Bones placed in their slots was recalculated.

"Congratulations, young Soul Masters. Once you graduate, if you wish to develop your careers in my Star Luo Empire, it will welcome you with open arms."

Ten-Year Veteran: "Thank you, Your Majesty. We'll consider it."

"Good! Then I hereby declare this year's Soul Master Tournament closed. I hope all the academies will perform even better at the next tournament."

The Soul Master Tournament had officially come to an end, and for a while, the players didn't know what to do.

Wang Zhongwang: "Where do we go now? Are there any other quests? It doesn't look like any other maps have opened."

I Am an Angel: "We're probably supposed to head back to our Sect Base first. Didn't they say new players would be arriving?"

Primordial One: "We should count as Beta Testers, right? There are so few of us. I don't think there'll be that many players in the second batch either."

Agile Dog in the Mountains: "Just a guess, but maybe twice as many."

Ten-Year Veteran: "Maybe. Huh, that's strange. Why is the sect's Teleportation Array grayed out?"

Qian Xixi: "It really is. Don't tell me we have to walk all the way back?"

I Am an Angel: "No way. Is this game really that much of a pain? How long would it take us to run all the way back?"

Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior: "If we don't run back, what, are we supposed to die our way back?"

Wang Zhongwang: "Now that you mention it, that might actually work. We can just choose the sect's Respawn Point after we die."

Ten-Year Veteran: "Wait. Could there be a mission coming up that we're guaranteed to die in?"

Qian Xixi: "Come on, let's go over the story. What happens after the Soul Master Tournament?"

Wang Zhongwang: "I don't think much happens in between. They go straight back to the academy."

Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior: "No, there is a story arc in between: the part where the Noumenon Sect goes looking for Huo Yuhao."

Wang Zhongwang: "Right, I almost forgot about the Noumenon Sect. But Huo Yuhao's performance at this tournament was mediocre. You could even say he barely did anything. Would the Noumenon Sect still take an interest in him?"

I Am an Angel: "Even if the Noumenon Sect doesn't go after him, Dai Hao will. He is his son, after all. But none of that seems to have anything to do with us."

Qian Xixi: "I've thought of a possibility."

Agile Dog in the Mountains: "What? Hurry up and tell us. Don't keep us in suspense."

Qian Xixi: "At the tournament, we completely offended Shrek Academy. We even exposed the sordid affair between Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong."

I Am an Angel: "You mean Shrek Academy might take revenge on us next?"

Ten-Year Veteran: "With Elder Xuan's personality, that's definitely possible. And we claimed to outsiders that we're the hidden branch of the Tang Sect. Shrek Academy might also be interested in the so-called secrets of the Tang Sect that we have."

Wang Zhongwang: "So next we might get hunted down by Xuan Zi and have no choice but to die our way back to the Sect Base. That's way too humiliating!"

Behind the scenes, Tang Yi smiled faintly. "Heh, these players are pretty clever. They put their heads together, reasoned it through, and figured out the truth. System, issue a quest for them."

[Players, please take note. Emergency quest issued: Ode to Courage.]

[Quest: You will soon be hunted by a powerful Soul Master. You won't be able to fight back with your current strength, but please summon your courage and compose an Ode to Courage.]

[Quest reward: Rewards will be issued based on the damage dealt to the target.]

Wang Zhongwang: "The quest really came. They want us to give Xuan Zi a parting gift before we leave."

Qian Xixi: "This has potential. Maybe we'll even have a chance to kill him."

I Am an Angel: "You mean that Soul Guidance Bomb from last time? It was powerful, sure, but killing Xuan Zi with it won't be easy."

Qian Xixi: "If one isn't enough, then we'll use three."

Agile Dog in the Mountains: "Why three?"

Qian Xixi: "Can't be helped. The shop has purchase limits: one per person, and three per group."

Ten-Year Veteran: "The game designers are probably worried about upsetting the game balance. Three Level 8 Soul Guidance Bombs, plus some C4-we'll give Xuan Zi a real taste of it."

I Am an Angel: "Good! Let's do it!"

Primordial One: "Once he's been blown half to death, the look on his face when he sees us next time will be priceless."

Over at Shrek Academy, Xuan Zi had Zhou Yi look after Wang Dong, Huo Yuhao, and the other injured students.

"Elder Xuan, where are you going?"

"Shrek's students can't have been injured for nothing. Shrek Academy can't have lost the championship for nothing, and we certainly can't have suffered this humiliation for nothing."

"But if this gets out..."

"Don't worry, it won't. I won't go too far, but they'll have to pay a price. They're another branch of the Tang Sect, so the things they've hidden away ought to belong to Shrek Academy as well."

Since he had put it that way, Zhou Yi had nothing more to say. She could only reply, "Please be careful, Elder Xuan."