That night, after returning, Su Ming recorded the day's events in his journal.
Now, everyone knew that both Feng Xiaotian and Huo Wu had challenged Su Ming and lost, with Huo Wu ultimately taken by Su Ming.
At midnight:
Ding! Congratulations, Host, for completing today's journal entry. You have been awarded: all three initial soul rings upgraded to 50,000-year-old rings!
In an instant, the boost in soul ring power propelled Su Ming's soul power from level 58 to the peak of level 59. With a few more days of training, he could likely break through to level 60 during the finals!
With the first three soul rings reaching 50,000 years, their skills improved significantly. Unlike the changes to the fourth soul skill, where its life-attribute amplification rose from 50% to 70%, Su Ming's first three rings saw a 100% increase, doubling their previous 50% boosts. This makes sense, as life attributes are inherently rare, amplifying all attributes but with a smaller percentage increase.
Su Ming's second soul skill, Renewal, now provided a passive and active increase of 100% in total soul power, and the cooldown interval had reduced from thirty minutes to ten minutes. If this skill reaches a 100,000-year level, the cooldown might even drop to five minutes, or even one minute!
Combined with his third soul skill, which enhances soul power recovery, Su Ming practically had limitless soul power! Just imagining this possibility filled him with excitement. With endless soul power and abundant life attributes, he felt like he was developing a simplified version of the Sage Body.
Ding! Today's most mentioned female character is Huo Wu. Reward: all soul skills now have explosive properties.
Huo Wu read through her reward thoughtfully. Explosive properties? This likely meant her soul skills' power had increased and gained an explosive effect, which would help against opponents resistant to fire.
However, she wondered whether this explosive property would work on Su Ming's wood-based techniques.
System: Girl, you're overthinking it.
The explosive attribute simply allowed Huo Wu to unleash energy explosions without extra compression, which would otherwise consume excessive soul power. While she thought it was a decent reward, it was rather ordinary. Against Su Ming, it might only succeed in knocking off a few wood chips, so to speak.
The following day, all academies gathered at the designated venue, with Emperor Xue Ye and Bishop Salas seated on stage.
For the fourteen matches of the qualifying tournament, Emperor Xue Ye was surprised that Tianshui and Blazing Academies had tied for first, with Godwind Academy in third and Thunderclap Academy in fourth—an unusual shift from previous years. This year, Tianshui and Blazing had produced several outstanding talents.
That day, Emperor Xue Ye delivered an inspiring speech.
The final match would be held in Spirit City, located on the border between the two empires. As the Emperor, he couldn't leave Heaven Dou Palace himself, so the delegation would be led by Crown Prince Xue Qinghe.
Typically, the final tournament wasn't held in Spirit City, but for some reason, the Spirit Hall had decided to move this year's finals to its main city.
Su Ming understood the reason well—it was all because of Tang San. In the original story, Bibi Dong had planned this as a backup. If her attempt to assassinate Tang San with Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo failed, the finals in Spirit City would prevent him from escaping.
She hadn't anticipated that her carefully laid plan would ultimately be foiled by Tang Hao.
Su Ming glanced up at Xue Qinghe on the platform, wondering if she was fully prepared.
Traveling from Heaven Dou City to Spirit City would take around twenty days. The finals wouldn't last long, as the knockout system with thirty-three teams would determine the champion in under ten days.
Seeing Su Ming looking at her, Xue Qinghe smiled and nodded, signaling that everything was in place.
Without the help of Ning Fengzhi and Dugu Bo, Tang San would be relying solely on Tang Hao.
When Emperor Xue Ye finished his speech, all the academies boarded the carriages prepared for them by the Empire, along with a dedicated guard escort.
But Su Ming knew the 500 guards would be ineffective against a Titled Douluo—far too weak.
Suddenly, he noticed Feng Xiaotian sneaking over to Huo Wu's carriage and frowned. Had Feng Xiaotian forgotten his promise from yesterday?
After all, he had agreed that the loser wouldn't approach Huo Wu, yet here he was, doing just that.
Huo Wu, intending to greet Su Ming, spotted Feng Xiaotian approaching her carriage stealthily.
Annoyed, she said, "Feng Xiaotian, what are you doing here? Did you forget our agreement from yesterday?"
Feng Xiaotian smiled awkwardly, "Huo Wu, I just wanted to help you teach Su Ming a lesson yesterday. Who knew he'd be so strong? Let's just forget about that promise, okay?"
Huo Wu was speechless.
She hadn't expected Feng Xiaotian to be so shameless!
Then again, she thought, if he had any sense of shame, he wouldn't have followed her around all these years.
At this moment, Su Ming asked Xiao Wu and the others to board the carriage first, then walked over.
"Feng Xiaotian, are you looking for another fight? Huo Wu is my girlfriend now. If you keep bothering her, it won't just end with you passing out and wetting yourself."
Su Ming didn't hold back his voice, so the nearby students from Tianshui Academy and others overheard.
Now, Feng Xiaotian's humiliation was complete.
Even the students from Godwind Academy turned their heads, too embarrassed to look.
They had rushed over immediately after finding their unconscious captain yesterday and cleaned up the scene, only for everything to come out today. Now they were about to be as infamous as Thunderclap Academy!
Feng Xiaotian's face flushed red. He hadn't expected Su Ming to humiliate him publicly.
But he hadn't thought about it logically—he was the one who broke the promise. Why would Su Ming spare his dignity?
Meanwhile, Huo Wu blushed at hearing Su Ming refer to her as his girlfriend, sneaking a glance at the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's carriage.
Feng Xiaotian stared in disbelief at Su Ming and Huo Wu—were they really in a relationship already? They hadn't even known each other that long! Feng Xiaotian glanced at Huo Wu, hoping she'd say it was a lie, but her expression was genuine, leaving him feeling utterly defeated.
Su Ming didn't care what was running through Feng Xiaotian's mind. If he bothered Huo Wu again, there would be no mercy. After watching Huo Wu board her carriage, Su Ming returned to his own.
Upon entering, he felt the tense atmosphere. Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, Ye Lingling, and Dugu Yan were all silently staring at him, creating a "pressure-cooker" environment.
"Brother Su Ming," Ning Rongrong finally broke the silence, "can you explain when Huo Wu became your girlfriend?"
Clearing his throat, Su Ming replied nonchalantly, "Well, after I sparred with her yesterday, she was so impressed by my strength and charm that we just… got together." Su Ming said this shamelessly, and if Huo Wu were here, she'd probably want to punch him.
"Ew~~"
His words earned a wave of eye-rolls and jeers from the girls, and he scratched his head, slightly embarrassed. Maybe he'd exaggerated a bit, but it wasn't that far from the truth!
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang, after saying his goodbyes to Tang San and Flender, rode alone toward Spirit Hall. He intended to ask Bibi Dong for training methods for twin spirits. Now that Tang San had reached Soul King level and had his devouring ability, he could soon start cultivating his second spirit, the Clear Sky Hammer. Solving the conflict between twin spirits was urgent!
Yu Xiaogang was confident in his charm; surely, Bibi Dong wouldn't refuse him.
Ten days later…
Riding without rest, Yu Xiaogang finally reached Spirit Hall. When he attempted to enter the Pope's Palace, a group of guards immediately stopped him.
"Who goes there? This is the Pope's Palace. Leave immediately!" two guards said sternly.
Yu Xiaogang scowled and responded coldly, "Then see what this is!" He proudly took out the Elder's Token given to him by Tang Hao, holding it high. He anticipated the guards' deference, assuming they'd kneel and let him through.
The two guards exchanged glances, examining the token closely. After a moment, they seemed to come to a decision.
One second. Two seconds…
Contrary to Yu Xiaogang's expectations, they showed him not the slightest bit of respect—in fact, they looked at him with hostility.
The next moment…
"Ow! What are you doing?! This is the Elder's Token! How dare you, lowly guards, lay hands on the holder of an Elder's Token!" Yu Xiaogang shouted in pain, shocked that the guards would respond to the token by beating him!
Unable to resist, Yu Xiaogang's soul power was only at level 29, while these guards were well over level 50, tasked specifically with guarding the Pope's Palace.
"Bibi Dong! Bibi Dong! Look at the kind of people Spirit Hall has trained! They don't even recognize an Elder's Token!" Yu Xiaogang shouted in fury, trying to attract attention.
The commotion drew others' attention, but the guards, undeterred, continued to punch and kick him. Why? Simple: the Elder's Token he held was an old version—a fake.
As decreed by the Pope, anyone caught with a counterfeit Elder's Token could be "disciplined." In other words, if you could beat them, do so; if not, call someone who could.
Just then, the doors of the Pope's Palace opened, and Bibi Dong stepped out, looking at Yu Xiaogang's bruised face with hidden satisfaction. To her, this was just a minor punishment for the man who had deceived her for twenty years—an unforgivable act!
Years ago, Su Ming had critiqued the Elder's Token in his diary.
The Elder's Token was meant to symbolize the authority of Spirit Hall elders. However, when they originally crafted the token, they made a foolish mistake. The token bore six emblems, only three of which represented Spirit Hall, while the other three represented the upper sects. This made no sense, as these sects weren't even affiliates of Spirit Hall. Why honor them on Spirit Hall's own token?
This was Su Ming's first criticism.
The second issue was that anyone holding the Elder's Token could issue orders to Spirit Hall members, a bizarre rule. The Hall had even given Elder's Tokens to the three upper sects. Su Ming found this incredibly foolish. Yu Xiaogang's token, after all, had come from Tang Hao—a known enemy of Spirit Hall! Could such a person truly qualify as an elder?
In the original story, this token allowed Yu Xiaogang unimpeded access to see Bibi Dong, purely because it was "token over person," Su Ming's third point of critique. A token should have been bound to a specific individual. Otherwise, what if someone unqualified held it? Would Spirit Hall still have to obey them?
When Bibi Dong had read Su Ming's thoughts, she realized how right he was. Since Spirit Hall intended to unify the continent, it was inevitable that they'd clash with other sects, and simply recalling the tokens now wasn't realistic.
Thus, Bibi Dong conceived a different solution: a new batch of tokens. The new tokens would no longer bear the symbols of the three upper sects, marking a clean break.
You may also Like
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT