First Visit to the Great Soul Arena

The Purple Spirit Wolf's age and attributes were an excellent match for Miyi Mei, so he absorbed the spirit ring without a hitch. In less than an hour, he had completed the absorption and gained an incredibly overpowered soul skill—Deprivation. It forcibly stripped an enemy Soul Master of all enhancement effects not generated by their own Soul Power, effectively rendering all the soul skills a support-type Soul Master had cast on a particular ally useless.

After Miyi Mei finished absorbing the spirit ring, Xiao Yu immediately led everyone onto the return journey, unwilling to risk unnecessary delays.

The Star Dou Great Forest was fraught with danger, concealing far too many powerful soul beasts. Although, during the era of Douluo Continent I, they had remained hidden within the Lake of Life, there was no telling whether an accident might occur because of the butterfly effect he had created. If one of those fierce beasts happened to come out for a stroll, even the lower-ranked Three-Headed Crimson Demon Mastiff, Scarlet King, or the Hell Demon Dragon, Zi Ji, would be more than enough to give them a serious beating.

After leaving the Star Dou Great Forest, the group hired two carriages in a small town outside the forest and departed. Only after many days of travel did they return to the sect grounds.

Within Nine Stars Hall, Mu truly lived up to being the disciple of Shion, a Pope of his generation. During Xiao Yu's absence, he had managed the sect in perfect order.

Lou Gao, whom Xiao Yu had recruited, also lived up to his title as a divine craftsman. In this short time, he had already grasped the basics of Soul Tools and produced several first-grade Soul Tools, leaving Xiao Yu—who had spent three months barely managing to create a single first-grade Soul Tool—feeling rather ashamed.

A few days later, Zilong, Yi Hui, Eden, and the others had mostly recovered their stamina and Soul Power from the exhausting journey. Xiao Yu then took them to the Great Soul Arena in Kaiser City.

On Douluo Continent, only cities at the level of a main city could possess a Great Soul Arena. As the capital of the Silvia Kingdom, Silvia City naturally had one as well.

However, in terms of scale, the Silvia Soul Arena could not be mentioned in the same breath as the Soto Great Soul Arena from the original work. This also showed that the Silvia Kingdom's strategic importance within the Heaven Dou Empire was far inferior to that of the Balak Kingdom.

As night fell, Xiao Yu and the other six arrived at the Great Soul Arena. Like the Shrek Seven Devils, they were too young, and revealing their true faces would easily cause a stir in the arena, so they all put on masks.

Registering at the Soul Arena was simple. One only needed to pay ten Gold Soul Coins as a registration fee, then fill out a form listing one's name, age, birthplace, and martial soul to receive an initial Iron Soul Badge.

At the Soul Arena, soul duels were divided into three types. The first was a sparring duel, where both sides tested their skills and were forbidden from killing or striking ruthlessly. The second was a deathmatch, used to settle irreconcilable disputes. The last was a wager duel. The Great Soul Arena acted as the referee, while both sides sent out equal numbers of Soul Masters to compete. The final victor received everything stipulated in the wager. Wager duels were, first and foremost, deathmatches. Many nobles and clans frequently used this method when serious conflicts arose between them.

There were also three forms of matches: one-on-one, two-on-two, and team battles. For team battles, the number of participants on each side was decided through negotiation. Under the Great Soul Arena's rules, it was generally limited to seven to ten people.

Xiao Yu naturally chose a sparring duel in the team soul duel category, and the team name they selected was the Nine Stars Team.

"Next is the fifth team battle. The competing sides are the Moro Team and the Nine Stars Team. A special note: the Nine Stars Team only completed registration today, and this will be their first team soul duel. Let's see what kind of exciting performance they can deliver."

Team battles only began after the one-on-one and two-on-two soul duels had concluded. Having watched from the stands for quite some time, Xiao Yu and the others had finally been called up.

Team soul duels were the audience's favorite form of competition. The spectator stands were already packed, and when the two teams stepped onto the stage, cheers immediately erupted.

"Moro Team! Moro Team!"

"Nine Stars Team! Nine Stars Team!"

The Soul Duel Stage was a massive circular platform nearly forty meters in diameter. The two teams occupied opposite corners of the platform and assumed their formations.

Both the Nine Stars Team and the Moro Team adopted the traditional three-three-one formation. On the Nine Stars Team's side, Xiao Yu, Yi Hui, and Zilong, the three with formidable offensive power, stood at the front. Eden, the control-type Soul Master, occupied the center of the second row, with Xie Wu and Iao on either side. Miyi Mei, the support-type Soul Master, stood behind them all.

"The team soul duel begins!"

As the host's words fell, all fourteen members of the two teams released their martial souls at once. Brilliant soul rings lit up simultaneously, triggering another wave of cheers from the audience.

Every member of the Nine Stars Team possessed the optimal soul ring configuration. Although Nine Stars Hall already had two Titled Douluo, the sect's development had only just begun. Xiao Yu did not want to invite too much trouble for himself out of nowhere—especially from a behemoth like Spirit Hall—so he still used a disguise tool to turn their second soul rings yellow.

Compared to the Nine Stars Team, the Moro Team's soul ring configurations were utterly outclassed. Four Soul Masters on their team had white ten-year soul rings as their first rings. The only one with an optimal soul ring configuration was their captain, Moro, a level 37 assault-type Battle Soul Grandmaster whose martial soul was the Adamant Lion.

The Great Soul Arena had no obligation to keep Soul Masters' information confidential, especially not for two teams about to engage in a soul duel. Before the duel began, the Moro Team had already obtained the Nine Stars Team's information, including their martial souls, Soul Power Levels, and soul ring configurations. As for soul skills, those could only be determined through a Soul Master's own observation and probing. The Soul Arena had too many matters to handle and lacked the manpower and time for such meticulous work. Besides, if they got something wrong and brought disaster upon a team, they would only end up taking the blame themselves.

Seeing the optimal soul ring configurations across from him, Moro's eyes filled with wariness. To be honest, if none of the opponents had Soul Power Levels lower than his own, Moro would have considered forfeiting on the spot.

"Go!"

After his team's support-type Soul Master cast his auxiliary soul skill, Moro charged out first. The contrast between the two teams' soul ring configurations was simply too great, and he could clearly sense his own side's morale had fallen. As captain, he had to find a way to suppress the other side and bolster his teammates' spirits.

His Soul Power was the highest on the field, and his soul ring configuration matched theirs. In a one-on-one fight, no one should be able to stop him.

Under Martial Soul Possession, Moro looked from afar like a golden-maned lion, charging forward with ferocious momentum.

On the Nine Stars Team's side, Zilong rushed forward to meet Moro. When their fists collided, Zilong actually staggered backward.

Moro was overjoyed. He had not even felt the slightest recoil from that exchange. It seemed his opponent must have come from some noble background, relying on his family's influence to obtain the optimal soul ring configuration. But he had lived a pampered life, and his real combat ability was far inferior to someone like Moro, who had fought and struggled in Soul Arenas for more than a decade.