When their conversation ended, Dugu Yan released her Martial Soul Possession, and her snake tail turned back into a pair of long, fair legs.
"Those legs sure are white."
Fang Lin cast them only a brief, critical glance before looking away.
Only then did he understand why Dugu Yan always liked wearing qipaos.
Before Beast Soul Masters reached an advanced stage of cultivation, they would undergo uncontrollable beast transformations during Martial Soul Possession. For some Soul Masters who were already powerfully built, bursting out of their clothes was commonplace. Tool Soul Masters had it better; activating a Martial Soul Avatar wouldn't make their clothes burst.
Fang Lin emerged from the Shattered Jade Forest in high spirits, humming a somewhat peculiar tune as he headed straight for the dormitory.
"One plant to cleanse the marrow and purify the flesh, two to defy the heavens and change my fate, three to take me straight to godhood."
Moonlight crept in over the windowsill. Yu Feng was still sleeping soundly in bed, mumbling something.
Fang Lin pricked up his ears and listened for quite a while before he caught a few words, roughly "Sister Yan" and "stop it." He couldn't help laughing.
"You rascal, you even dare poach Yu Tianheng's girl. Too bad I don't have a recording Soul Tool, or I could live off this secret of yours for the rest of my life."
The next day, the quarterfinals continued.
The matches hadn't started yet, but a large crowd of students had already gathered around the arena.
As the Heaven Dou Tournament was the academy's grand annual event, the academy had given all its students three days off to watch the Soul Fighting.
In the stands, a stout old man and a young teacher had also taken their seats early. The two sat in the very center, with a solid mahogany table before them. The stout old man pointed to a list on it and spoke.
"Teacher Qin Ming, the top eight students have all been decided. Are there any promising contenders you have your eye on?"
The teacher called Qin Ming wore a faint smile as he replied at an unhurried pace.
"Education Committee Member Bai, I've looked into some of them. Yu Tianheng of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Senior Dugu's granddaughter Dugu Yan, the Shi Brothers of the Black Tortoise Sect, and Yang Yue and Niu Heng of the Four Clans are all fine students. Besides them, there are those two commoner Soul Masters."
Education Committee Member Bai looked in the direction Qin Ming indicated.
"Those two boys? If I remember correctly, Teacher Sun Buyu applied to the education committee to have both of them specially admitted. The more recent one was called Yu Feng, I think."
"Yu Feng, Wind Chime Bird Martial Soul. He's a Flight System Soul Master, a relatively rare type among Beast Soul Masters. His Innate Soul Power was level eight, and he reached level twenty-four before the age of twelve." As Qin Ming supplied the details, he smiled and remarked, "If my former dean had met him, he might have taken him on as a disciple on the spot."
Education Committee Member Bai laughed heartily, the flesh on his face jiggling.
"If I get the chance, I must meet that dean you mentioned and see the academy that trained such an outstanding student as you, Teacher Qin. A place devoted to teaching without a thought for fame or profit is truly rare."
Hearing Education Committee Member Bai praise his alma mater, Qin Ming's face lit up with a smile as well.
"Perhaps there'll be a chance. I've written to my teachers too. If they could join the academy, I'd be very happy."
The two in the stands were enjoying their conversation, while the Yu Feng they were talking about had Fang Lin's arm draped over his shoulders. Their heads were bent together as though they were discussing something in secret.
Fang Lin spoke in a low voice, a gentle smile on his face.
"Xiao Feng, someone's taking bets on the match between Dugu Yan and me. The odds are one to one either way. Interested in placing a bet?"
"A bet on you and Sister Yan, at one-to-one odds?" Yu Feng's voice abruptly rose. His first reaction was disbelief. "What fool has so much money he dares play like that?"
Fang Lin smiled without answering. "Who knows? Just tell me whether you're betting."
Yu Feng glanced at Fang Lin and ventured, "Then I'll put a hundred Gold Soul Coins on Sister Yan?"
Fang Lin patted his shoulder, his smile harmless and gentle. "Don't worry about my feelings. Bet as much as you want. Betting too little would be disrespectful to your Sister Yan's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison."
Yu Feng hesitated, seemingly weighing whether something this good could really be true, but Fang Lin's voice continued, seemingly full of temptation.
"Are you going to pass up such a good deal? A famous Soul Master once said, 'Only a bastard passes up money to be made.' Do you want to be a bastard?"
The one-to-one odds weren't high, but it was a sure thing. At that moment, Yu Feng wavered and waved his hand decisively.
"Brother Lin, you're right. I'll add another hundred Gold Soul Coins!"
As he said it, he had already begun imagining how he would spend that huge sum.
"Now that's guts."
Fang Lin accepted the Gold Soul Coins with a beaming smile, found a place to wait for a moment, then returned and stepped onto the arena with an easy air.
The quarterfinal referee was a Heavenly Supreme Level teacher, a level forty-two Soul Elder. Seeing that Dugu Yan had yet to come onstage, he circulated his Soul Power and called out twice to the crowd.
"Dugu Yan? Dugu Yan?"
His voice carried with his Soul Power, reaching even Education Committee Member Bai and Qin Ming in the distant stands. But no one appeared on the arena besides Fang Lin. Then a female student emerged from the crowd and stepped forward to say a few words to the teacher in a low voice.
The referee's expression froze for a moment, and then he walked onto the arena.
"Dugu Yan is unable to attend the match. Fang Lin wins this round!"
The result made everyone below the arena's eyes pop. Yu Feng in particular felt as though he had been struck by a bolt from the blue. He stood there like a stone statue, and only after a long while did he speak, trembling.
"A rigged match... It's rigged... Crafty capitalist! Brother Lin, you've really done me in!"
When the remaining quarterfinalists learned that Dugu Yan was absent, they all secretly breathed an inexplicable sigh of relief, Yu Tianheng included.
The bewildered look of the Tool Soul Master who had faced the poison fog earlier, unable to do a thing, was still fresh in their minds. A peak level twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster had been forced to jump off the arena and admit defeat without even thrusting his spear once. It had been a terribly stifling fight.
Fang Lin and Dugu Yan's match ended early, and the remaining three matches were all over in less than half a day.
Apart from Yu Tianheng, the other two winners were a level twenty-nine Control System Soul Grandmaster and a level twenty-nine Power Attack System Beast Soul Master. Neither was a member of the original Heaven Dou Imperial Team whom Fang Lin knew. Aside from Dugu Yan and Yu Tianheng, the others all had Soul Power roughly on par with Yu Feng's. Facing opponents four or five levels above them, most had been stopped at the quarterfinals or even before the top sixteen.
Fang Lin also learned who his next opponent was: a level twenty-nine Control System Soul Grandmaster whose Martial Soul was the Thorny Green Vine.
The two banes of Plant System Soul Masters were fire and slashing attacks. Fang Lin's Martial Soul happened to counter his opponent's, and with a physique and strength that were no weaker than a Power Attack System Beast Soul Master's, even if his opponent managed to restrain him, it wouldn't last long. Tomorrow's match would be even easier than his fight against Yang Yue.
Second place is in the bag, at least!
Fang Lin thought to himself. The credit reward for second place was a full 3,000 points, enough to exchange for Gold Soul Coins to buy two pieces of thousand-year Whale Rubber.
Since it was still early, Fang Lin planned to take a trip to Heaven Dou City and see if there was any suitable Whale Rubber.
At the foot of the mountain where Heaven Dou Academy stood, a straight road nearly five meters wide stretched toward Heaven Dou City. The imperial family had paid to build it so the noble children attending the academy could come and go conveniently.
Many carriages drawn by Horned Scale Horses were parked along both sides of the road. These horses, crossbred with Soul Beasts, stood nearly two meters at the shoulder, with long, well-proportioned frames and fine silver scales covering their fetlocks. Their gait was steady, and they could travel a thousand li in a day.
The price was steep as well. Each carriage could carry six passengers, and when it departed full, the fare was two Gold Soul Coins per person.
In the past, Fang Lin had always gone to Heaven Dou City on foot, but today he tossed the driver a pouch of Gold Soul Coins that were still warm.
"I'm hiring the whole carriage. To Heaven Dou City!"