After leaving the inner city, Fang Lin changed course and headed straight for the Soul Fighting Arena.
Heaven Dou City's Soul Fighting Arena was far larger than the one in Suotuo City. The Soul Master Elite Tournament would also be held here in the future, and it could accommodate more than eighty thousand spectators.
Entering the registration hall, Fang Lin saw no sign of Yu Feng and the others. They might have been in the stands, or perhaps in the rest area reserved for Soul Fighting contestants.
He went to the familiar window number eight, presented his Soul Elder badge, and updated the information on his Iron Soul Badge.
Fang Lin then went to a black window.
"Is there a team with Black Tortoise Martial Souls in today's two-person Soul Fights? Which arena are they in?"
Heaven Dou City's Great Soul Arena had thirty-six separate venues, each with several stages for different types of Soul Fighting.
The young woman at the window leafed through the record book in her hands and looked up. "You must mean the Black Tortoise Brothers' fight against the Tiger and Wolf team. It's in venue eight, and it should have started by now."
Once a Soul Fight began, the official betting pool was closed and no more bets were accepted.
Fang Lin could only express his regret and return to the hall. With nothing else to do, he sat cross-legged and meditated to cultivate.
After absorbing his Third Soul Ring, Fang Lin's Soul Power Level had reached nearly halfway through level thirty-three.
After tempering his body with the ice and fire immortal herbs, his cultivation efficiency had improved markedly. It had taken him less than half a year to advance from level twenty-eight to level thirty, a speed already close to Yu Tianheng's.
Tang San had been at level thirty-four when he entered the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. After taking two Immortal Herbs and drawing on Dugu Bo's inner core, he had risen from level thirty-four to level thirty-seven in half a year, gaining one level every two months on average.
That was built on a foundation of Innate Full Soul Power, so Fang Lin naturally couldn't compare.
He estimated that his current Soul Power talent was roughly equivalent to an innate level of seven or eight. Judging by Yu Tianheng's or Zhu Zhuqing's cultivation speed, if he cultivated normally until he reached Soul Ancestor, it would probably take at least another two or three years. By then, Tang San and the others would be nearly ready to leave Suotuo City.
I need to plan how to get more Immortal Herbs as soon as possible.
Fang Lin sighed inwardly. He wasn't thinking this way to guard against Tang San; Dugu Bo's poison had already been mostly cured, so it was clearly unlikely that the two would become friends despite their difference in age again.
What Fang Lin was considering was his Fourth Soul Ring.
His physique had already surpassed that of an ordinary Soul Ancestor. If he took the Five-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber and combined it with medicinal baths and training, he might be comparable to a Soul King before absorbing his Fourth Soul Ring.
Now, the only thing affecting the upper limit of his Fourth Soul Ring was his spiritual power.
Once a Soul Master's cultivation reached ten thousand years or more, the resulting Soul Ring would carry a spiritual shock that could only be resisted with Soul King-level spiritual power.
Of the Immortal Herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew could help increase my spiritual power...
Fang Lin fell into thought. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was like a safe whose password he had forgotten. There were at least seven or eight heavenly and earthly treasures inside, but Fang Lin didn't know how to harvest them and didn't dare act recklessly.
Across the entire continent, aside from Tang San, the only other two who might know about Immortal Herbs were Ju Yue Guan and Yang Wudi.
If he let them know, there would be a risk of exposing the Immortal Herbs. Add Dugu Bo to the mix, and there was no telling how many Fang Lin would still get.
Fang Lin was determined to obtain the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma, and Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.
Ju Yue Guan couldn't possibly give up the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum. Yang Wudi, like Fang Lin, was a Tool Soul Master, so the Immortal Herbs suited to them would most likely overlap.
Even if Dugu Bo had no use for them himself, that didn't mean he wouldn't be tempted. Immortal Herbs were even more valuable than a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone, and he could trade them to others for Soul Bones.
If there's really no other way, I'll try negotiating with Dugu Bo and have him find a way to get knowledge of Immortal Herbs from Yang Wudi. As for whether he'll share any with me, I'll just have to take a gamble on the old man's character.
Fang Lin made up his mind. If he still had no solution after taking the Five-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber, he would turn to Dugu Bo as a last resort.
A little while later, Yu Feng, Shi Mo, and the others still hadn't come out, but a purple-haired figure emerged from a passageway.
"Did you come to take part in a Soul Fight too?"
Fang Lin was a little surprised. He thought Dugu Yan should have been at the Brocade Workshop, not the Soul Fighting Arena.
Dugu Yan sat down beside Fang Lin, puffing her cheeks slightly. "Teacher Qin Ming's second-stage training assignment for us is to earn a Silver Soul Badge within a year. Otherwise, I couldn't be bothered to come."
According to the Great Soul Arena's rules, Soul Fighting badges were divided into eight grades. The first four were iron, bronze, silver, and gold, while the highest was diamond.
Going from an iron badge to a bronze badge required 100 points; reaching silver required 1,000.
"How many fights have you had now?" Fang Lin asked curiously.
His own badge was still at the Iron Soul Fighter level. He had made a hard push before the Heaven Dou Tournament, bringing his total to forty-nine points, and he had a three-fight winning streak going. Perhaps he could still catch up with everyone else later.
Dugu Yan thought for a moment and said, "I've fought eighteen matches and won twelve. I have forty-two points now."
Under the arena's rules, winning a match earned one point, while losing cost one. After five consecutive wins, each victory earned ten points; after ten consecutive wins, each victory earned one hundred. If the streak was broken, victories went back to earning one point each.
For Dugu Yan to have forty-two points from nine wins, she had triggered the winning-streak bonus.
Fang Lin thought about it and found that reasonable.
Dugu Yan's Martial Soul was rather extreme. Against a wind-type Soul Master, she was embarrassingly weak, but against others, apart from fellow poison-type Soul Masters, she could basically clear the stage with a single Soul Skill.
Occasionally, an opponent might also endure the poison fog and force Dugu Yan off the stage.
The arena's rules forbade killing, so whether she won or lost, Dugu Yan had to detoxify her opponents after a fight. Sometimes she had to go easy when poisoning them, too; if she carelessly used too much, there wouldn't be time to save them.
Fang Lin thought of Shi Mo and Shi Mo. "The Shi brothers are teamed up. Does that count too?"
Dugu Yan nodded. "Teacher Qin didn't restrict us to singles or doubles, and two-person Soul Fights are even harder than singles."
An idea occurred to Fang Lin. "How about we form a team too?"
The weakness of Dugu Yan's poison fog was the wind element, but Fang Lin wasn't afraid of it. When they fought together, even if they encountered a wind-type Soul Master who blew the poison fog back, Dugu Yan wouldn't have to worry about Fang Lin being poisoned.
One was unmatched under heaven on foot, the other unmatched under heaven on horseback. Together, wouldn't they be unmatched under heaven?
"Two-on-two Soul Fighting?" Dugu Yan tilted her head, a flicker in her eyes.
If she hadn't been the first to break through level thirty, Dugu Yan had originally considered teaming up with Yu Tianheng. Her Soul Skills were never well suited to fighting alone.
"That's right. When we fight, you just release your poison fog. I doubt there are many who could beat me inside it."
Fang Lin's eyes lit up, as though he could see a broad road to riches. The prize money kept doubling after consecutive wins, and if the arena opened a betting pool as well, he could return to the second floor of the Seven Treasures Pavilion in a month.
"Come on, let's register." Persuaded, Dugu Yan took Fang Lin by the arm and started toward the window.
They could only take part in one Soul Fight of any kind per day, including two-on-two fights. If they could keep winning, they would be able to earn Silver Soul Badges in a month at most. That way, Dugu Yan wouldn't have to run to the arena every day for the better part of the remaining year.
After they paid ten Gold Soul Coins and registered their respective Martial Souls and Soul Power Levels, the staff member serving them spoke.
"You need to give your team a name."
Dugu Yan lowered her head in thought, then looked at Fang Lin. "How about Jade Phosphorous Serpent Blade? It combines both our Martial Soul names."
Fang Lin nearly choked and ventured, "How about Blade and Rose?"
"What rose? My Martial Soul isn't a rose serpent." Dugu Yan frowned and made the final decision. "Let's call it Blade and Jade Phosphorous."
"All right, Blade and Jade Phosphorous has been registered."
The staff member handed back their iron badges. Beneath each of their names was a new line in small print: Blade and Jade Phosphorous.