Fang Lin whistled as he walked down from the arena, in excellent spirits.
Yu Feng hurried toward him, his eyes shining, though his expression seemed to carry a trace of regret.
"Brother Lin, you were incredible! Ah, if I'd known, I would've borrowed money and bet more. The odds were three to one! What a waste!"
Fang Lin froze for a moment, then caught on. "Someone was taking bets?" he asked incredulously.
"Of course. Heaven Dou Academy has lots of noble students, and they're all loaded." Yu Feng sighed. "It's a shame I had so little to bet. A Soul Grandmaster gets a monthly allowance of ten Gold Soul Coins, and after saving for so long, I only had 106."
"You bet it all?"
"Of course." Yu Feng looked certain. "Betting one Copper Soul Coin less would've meant I didn't trust your strength, Brother Lin. Brother Niu bet even more: 318 Gold Soul Coins."
Fang Lin's gaze grew distant, and his voice was so sour it could have dripped. "Such exact amounts-you bet everything you had. You really did believe in me. And Brother Niu always looks so honest, but who'd have thought he was an old gambling bull?"
"Hehe, a little gambling is good for the mood."
Yu Feng was grinning happily, but Fang Lin felt aggrieved. He knew the plot, yet he'd failed to make any Gold Soul Coins this time. How was that any different from being reborn in 2024 and not buying gold?
"Where can I bet on Dugu Yan and Yu Tianheng? I'm staking my entire fortune against the bookie!"
Those two were in a class of their own at Heaven Dou Academy. Today, he was going to show Yu Feng what a god of gambling looked like!
Unfortunately, Yu Feng's next words left Fang Lin sorely disappointed.
"No one's taking bets on them. The bookies aren't idiots. People only bet on students who could go either way."
Fang Lin looked deeply regretful and could only curse the bookies viciously. "Cunning capitalists! Yu Tianheng's Soul Power is at level twenty-seven, two levels lower than Niu Heng's, and they still don't dare take bets? They're really looking down on my Brother Niu!"
As the two chatted, Niu Heng and Yu Tianheng's match was about to begin.
Both were Power Attack System beast Soul Masters with formidable physical strength. The force of their collisions battered the arena floor into a pockmarked mess, and the watching students shouted in delight.
Yu Tianheng's Soul Skills leaned toward long-range energy attacks. His first Soul Skill was a mid-range, single-target skill, while his second was an area-covering blast of plasma. Both Soul Skills only needed time to gather.
Once gathered, they were unleashed with extreme speed. Without taking the initiative and interrupting him, Niu Heng could only rely on his body to take them head-on.
Relying on the thick hide of his Plated Armor Giant Rhinoceros Martial Soul, Niu Heng avoided any fatal injuries, but the lightning still left his whole body numb, and he was ultimately blasted off the arena.
Yu Tianheng's fighting style was clear from this as well: he fought with sweeping, forceful moves and liked to overwhelm his opponents with power.
"Is this the charm of raw stats?"
Fang Lin watched enviously. To defeat a top-tier defense-system Soul Master like Niu Heng head-on, he would have to wear down his opponent's Soul Power and break through his defenses at a crucial moment. Yu Tianheng, on the other hand, only had to keep raising his hand and firing off skills.
As Fang Lin was analyzing the fight, Niu Heng walked over from the arena, accompanied by Yang Yue, who had fought Fang Lin earlier.
Scorched black marks still lingered on Niu Heng's skin. When he rubbed it with his palm, a layer of black flakes came rustling off.
Still rubbing the grime off, Niu Heng said to Fang Lin, "The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul really is powerful. Lin, if you run into him later, you have to dodge his Soul Skills."
Before Fang Lin could answer, Yang Yue chuckled beside him. "You think everyone's like you, gritting their teeth and charging straight into someone else's Soul Skills?"
Niu Heng glanced back at Yang Yue and let out an exaggerated sigh. "Ah, the Soul Breaking Spear, famed for meeting attack with attack, got countered. If Grandpa Yang finds out, he'll probably whip someone to death. Haha!"
Teased by Niu Heng in front of everyone, Yang Yue's face flushed bright red with embarrassment. He stammered to Fang Lin:
"I was careless earlier. Once the Heaven Dou Tournament is over, let's have another fight."
"Sure, sure."
Fang Lin didn't accept Yang Yue's challenge on the spot, only saying they could do it another day.
Though Yang Yue was flashy and arrogant, he clearly wasn't narrow-minded. Fang Lin had teased him earlier, yet he hadn't blindly held a grudge.
But there was something Fang Lin was curious about. The Soul Breaking Spear's Soul Skills were all chosen for extreme offense, focusing on attack power, penetration, and destructive power. Yet when they had fought earlier, Yang Yue's second Soul Skill had possessed both strength and defense attributes.
Niu Heng chuckled without speaking and looked at Yang Yue instead.
Seeing that, Fang Lin immediately understood that Niu Heng knew the reason but couldn't say it outright.
"I was just curious. If it's some kind of secret, forget I asked."
Yang Yue gave a soft snort.
"It's not really a secret. My Soul Breaking Spear isn't exactly the same as the ones in my clan. It underwent a bit of a mutation. Grandpa Yang said I wasn't suited to following the clan's Soul Breaking Spear down the path of extreme offense anymore, so he told me to develop normally."
Martial Soul Mutation.
Fang Lin understood, though he also felt somewhat puzzled.
The Soul Breaking Spear's strength lay in its extreme attack power and its choice of Soul Rings to match. So was Yang Yue's mutation a beneficial one, or a harmful one?
Thinking the question might be a little forward, Fang Lin didn't press him further.
The group chatted for a while. After seeing Dugu Yan defeat her opponent and enter the top eight, Fang Lin sighed and stopped watching the remaining matches. He went alone to the foot of the mountain and bought another ten jin of realgar.
Late at night, several brief, sharp insect cries came from outside the window, breaking the stillness like a pebble suddenly piercing the surface of water.
Fang Lin tiptoed out of bed and walked over to Yu Feng's bed.
"This kid has his blanket wrapped tight around him even in this heat. Looks like he's dead asleep."
After confirming that Yu Feng was sleeping soundly, Fang Lin opened the door and left, reassured.
The Heavenly Supreme Level students' dormitories were all in one area, housed in single-story buildings. Fang Lin turned through several paths and arrived at the door to Dugu Yan's dormitory.
"Knock, knock-knock."
It was silent inside, and there was no response, so he knocked twice more.
The door creaked open a crack, then opened wider. Dugu Yan had a white top loosely thrown on. When she saw Fang Lin, her expression froze for a moment, then she naturally turned sideways and leaned against the doorframe, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Senior Fang Lin, coming to see me in the middle of the night-you're not thinking of doing something naughty, are you?"
"Don't say things like that."
Fang Lin's eyelids twitched. If Dugu Bo was like Tang Hao and enjoyed secretly spying on people, Fang Lin ought to be fertilizer by now.
Dugu Yan giggled, her voice coquettish.
"Then what did you come to see me for, Senior? You can't be here to confess, can you? No wonder you kept staring at me during the day. If you come up with something original, I might just say yes."
A stretch of her collarbone showed above her neckline, and her hair was disheveled over her forehead. Combined with her sickly sweet voice, she was somehow indescribably alluring.
Faced with such temptation, Fang Lin coughed and spoke word by word, his expression serious.
"Dugu Yan, in tomorrow's match, I have a way to cure your Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison."