This Is Called Hunger Marketing

And so, by the following afternoon, the usually sparsely occupied clearing before the Soul Fighting Zone's main entrance was packed with people. At least fifty or sixty of them crowded outside the railings around the arena.

When Su Lin brought Xiao Wu back to the Soul Fighting Zone, he had not even had time to unfurl the banner again before the students who had arrived early to wait swarmed forward, then spontaneously formed an orderly, long line, everyone eager to try.

At the front stood a sturdily built, short-haired young man. Seeing Su Lin approach, he stepped forward, briskly pulled his merit point card from inside his clothes, and waved it before Su Lin's eyes. "Level twenty-seven Soul Grandmaster. Five merit points. Want to fight?"

"Yes!" Su Lin nodded in agreement without a second thought.

The outcome held no suspense. Barely a few exchanges into the fight, Pikachu spotted an opening and unleashed Lightning Sucker Punch, the fierce collision knocking the Soul Grandmaster flat and sending him tumbling off the arena.

But this Soul Grandmaster's defeat caused no stir. The second challenger immediately stepped forward with enthusiasm. "My turn, my turn!"

Standing at the edge of the arena, Su Lin first surveyed the length of the line, then could not help coughing before calling out:

"Um, senior brothers and sisters, I need to make something clear first. Pikachu's Soul Power is limited, so he can only fight ten matches a day at most. Anyone past tenth in line might not get a turn today. You can head back first and come queue up again tomorrow."

At these words, the previously fairly orderly line instantly erupted. Those at the front sighed in relief, while those at the back immediately squeezed a few steps forward, a clamor of urgent arguments rising from the crowd.

"What are you saying?! What kind of talk is that?!"

"I got here first!"

"I've been waiting since yesterday! Let me go first!"

Seeing that the moment was ripe, Su Lin added at just the right time, "If that really won't work, I'm also happy to accept bids for a turn. Whoever offers more merit points gets to fight me first. I'll match whatever you put up anyway. How about it?"

After he finished speaking, the crowd fell silent for roughly two breaths. Then someone toward the middle-back of the line shouted, "I'll put up six merit points! Let me go first!"

"I'll put up seven!" someone else immediately followed, louder than the first.

"I'll put up nine. Let me see what this is all about!"

Bids rang out one after another throughout the Soul Fighting Zone as the Soul Masters present who thought they might not lose began frantically raising their offers.

The wager, originally fixed at ten points a match, rose like a boat on a swelling tide.

"That little rascal, even coming up with a method like this. Is he Soul Fighting or doing business?"

On the viewing dais not far from the Soul Fighting Zone, a powerfully built old man with white hair and beard watched the noisy scene below, where everyone competed to bid, and could not help chuckling as he muttered a curse.

Beside the old man, the young teacher serving as his assistant bowed slightly upon hearing this and asked for instructions. "Headmaster, should we have someone stop them?"

Xue Nuo gave his assistant a sidelong glance and said irritably, "The boy has no objections, and neither do the other students who want to fight. You certainly do like sticking your nose into things."

The young teacher sheepishly shut his mouth.

"Putting that aside," Xue Nuo changed the subject and asked evenly, "have you clarified the relationship between the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and this boy?"

"We have some leads." The assistant hurriedly nodded and reported earnestly, "According to the information we've obtained so far, Su Lin encountered Shi Kusou ambushing a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect convoy on his way to Heaven Dou City. Through a chance turn of events, he saved the entire convoy, and that was how he established contact with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. The details have yet to be fully verified, but the general outline checks out."

"To think this child had such an extraordinary encounter." A trace of surprise flashed through Xue Nuo's eyes, but he did not delve further.

He knew full well that most of the information circulating now was likely information the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had deliberately released.

Ning Fengzhi had never concealed his desire to recruit Su Lin. Just yesterday morning, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had specifically sent someone to pay a visit and ask them to give Su Lin some extra consideration.

Seeing Xue Nuo fall silent for a moment, the assistant cautiously asked another question. "Then, as for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect..."

"Don't concern yourself with them. Just let them be."

As headmaster of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy Affiliated Intermediate Academy, as well as Xue Ye's distant paternal cousin of his father's generation, he naturally would not lightly go against Ning Fengzhi's wishes.

The Heaven Dou Imperial Family and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect now depended on each other like lips and teeth, sharing glory and sharing losses. If Su Lin truly joined the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in the future, it would likewise be a tremendous blessing for the entire Heaven Dou Imperial Family.

Still, the imperial family needed to make an effort on this front too. They could not let the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect eat everything clean and wipe its mouth.

As the old saying went, the past was the past, and the present was the present. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's good relationship with the imperial family now did not mean that relationship would last forever. The imperial family ought to make its own plans early as well.

"I hear this boy's adoptive father was also a student of our academy?" After some thought, Xue Nuo turned to his assistant.

The assistant hurriedly nodded. "Yes. His adoptive father, Grant, graduated from Heaven Dou Royal Academy twenty years ago. He's now a Soul King-level expert too, serving as village chief of Wealth Village on the outskirts of Nuoding City in Fasinuo Province."

"A Soul King-level village chief..." Xue Nuo shook his head with a laugh. "Send a letter to the Administrative Office in my name and secure a city-level development plan for Wealth Village. Make sure this is implemented as soon as possible."

"Understood." The assistant nodded and said no more.

"Let's hope he doesn't die before he can grow." Xue Nuo sighed.

The current situation truly was one of wind filling the tower before the mountain storm arrived. Spirit Hall's fangs were already beginning to show, yet the Heaven Dou Imperial Family could not find a single usable person.

If Su Lin truly could rise, the imperial family would have to consider a marriage alliance, binding all three parties to the same war chariot.

That night, darkness lay heavy outside, while gentle lamplight filled the bedroom of their residence.

On the large bed, Xiao Wu held a great handful of merit point tokens in both hands, her sparkling eyes filled with admiration as she looked up at Su Lin beside her. "Su Lin, you're amazing! You earned seventy merit points in just one day!"

Su Lin had been sitting cross-legged in meditation. Hearing Xiao Wu's words, the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled upward.

Converted into time in the Mimicry Training Ground, seventy merit points meant a full thirty-five hours. Given his current Soul Power Level and the combined efficiency with Thunderbolt Mode, that time was enough for him to complete, within half a month, the Soul Power accumulation that would normally require two months.

By that reckoning, this day and a half of arena challenges had certainly been worth the price of admission.

He could only marvel at how easily the boys and girls of the Douluo Continent rose to provocation. Every one of them was fiercely competitive, and their enthusiasm far exceeded his initial estimates.