章 179: Chapter 171: Breakthrough

"Huuu...." Huo Yuhao let out a deep breath. He opened his eyes to see Wang Dong'er sitting cross-legged in front of him, their palms still clasped together. She too had her eyes opened, undeniable joy.

"Yuhao, I-I....I reached rank 35! I brokethrough!" She cheered happily, throwing her arms up and excitedly hugged Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao widened his eyes in surprise and smiled softly, feeling happy for her "Congratulations on your breakthrough as well, Dong'er."

"Hm. Thanks! I-wait, as well?" Wang Dong'er paused and leaned back, surprised. "Did you went up a rank as well?!"

"Hm. Well, it was inevitable. I was lingering around the peak of rank 43 for a while now." If he continued cultivating with Wang Dong'er, he might reach rank 50 by at least a year.

A 14 year old Soul King, with twin top tier martial souls and an Ultimate attribute, he was most likely the only soul master in history to ever achieve such a feat.

Wang Dong'er beamed and tightly hugged Huo Yuhao again, causing him to fall back on the bed. "That's amazing, Yuhao! I'm so happy for you!"

"Ugh, Dong'er!"

"Hehe. Take this!" She then grabbed a pillow from the side and smacked his face.

"You!"

Huo Yuhao's face flustered and he chuckled. He couldn't believe that the once germaphobe Wang Dong'er was being so intimate with him right now. As he looked up at her beautiful and radiant face, he felt a profound sense of contentment.

She didn't have a voluptuous figure like Ma Xiaotao or that desirable aloofness from Ling Luochen, but her beauty was unmistakable and could even have nations fighting over her.

'....I'm really lucky to have her by my side,' Huo Yuhao stretched out his hand and placed his hand gently on the side of her face. The warmth and softness of her skin under his fingertips were a soothing comfort, a stark contrast to the pressures and challenges they faced daily.

"Cute."

Wang Dong'er froze, her face turning beet red. "Y-You, hmmmm!" She made a squeaky sound and started beating him up with the pillow.

"H-Hey! Dong'er!"

"Shut up! Have a taste of my secret technique, Heavenly Whopping Pillow!"

"Ah! What the-? Did you strengthened the pillow with soul power?!"

"Yah!"

"O-Okay, that does it!" Huo Yuhao hurriedly grabbed a pillow next to him and started to retaliate. "Have at thee!"

"You scoundrel! You dare bare arms against a lady?!"

"I believe in gender equality! Secret technique, Greater Heaven Whopping Pillow!"

"Hey! That's—ah!"

The two engaged in a playful pillow fight, their laughter echoing through the room. The pillows fluffed and flew, each strike punctuated by their light-hearted banter.

Wang Dong'er, though initially fierce in her attack, soon found herself laughing too hard to keep up the fight. Her pillow strikes became weaker, and she finally collapsed next to Huo Yuhao, gasping for breath.

"Okay, okay, I surrender!" she said, still giggling. "You win this time."

Huo Yuhao, catching his breath, looked at her with a broad smile. "You put up a good fight. I didn't expect you to have such a powerful secret technique."

Wang Dong'er grinned, leaning closer. "You are such a copy-cat."

Huo Yuhao shrugged, "It is my thing, sometimes."

They just lay there, catching their breath and enjoying the afterglow of their playful battle. Wang Dong'er rested her head on Huo Yuhao's shoulder, wishing that time could stand still.

The room was filled with a peaceful silence, which was soon broken by a knock on the door.

"Brother Yuhao? It's time to get up, Teacher Wang Yan is calling for us." Ling Luochen tapped gently on the door, her voice carrying a mix of curiosity and formality.

Huo Yuhao blinked, slowly coming back to reality from their moment of tranquility. "Okay! I'll be right there!" he called out before looking down at Wang Dong'er, who was now stirring slightly at the sound of the knock.

"Time to get up, lazybutt," he said softly, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Time for you guys to fight."

"I hope I can fight in this round."

"Hm. I'm sure you'll get your chance."

"By the way, do you have any idea why senior Luochen is acting all weird around you?" Wang Dong'er glanced at him suspiciously.

Huo Yuhao broke out a sweat, "I....honestly have no idea."

"Hmm. Do you know? Whenever I, Xiao Xiao and the rest of the girls gets close to you, she starts acting all....weird."

"....I'll deal with it later." Huo Yuhao replied.

The two quickly composed themselves. Wang Dong'er punched Huo Yuhao's shoulder before hurriedly going to the bathroom to freshen up. The latter waited for her to finish before heading to the bathroom himself.

In the meeting room.

"Okay, I just got information on our next opponents." Wang Yan said after everyone had gathered.

"Our opponents this time will be quite tough, consisting of three Soul Kings and four Soul Ancestors, and they were part of the top eight teams in the previous tournament. Most notably their leader, who was personally praised by Elder Xuan to become a Soul Emperor before the age of twenty, fortunately he got a bit delayed."

"So, I ask, who do you all suggest to fight in the upcoming matching?"

They exchanged a look with each other and started to discuss their strategies. Ma Xiaotao, Huo Yuhao, and Bei Bei had the loudest voices in the conversation.

It took them a while to decide, but this was the lineup they came up with.

In a 1v1: Xi Xi, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Tang Ya.

In the 2v2,2v2, and 3v3: Ma Xiaotao and He Caitou, Bei Bei and Tang Ya, lastly Xi Xi, Ling Luochen and Ning Tian.

In a team fight: Ma Xiaotao, Xi Xi, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, He Caitou, Ling Luochen, and Ning Tian.

Wang Yan listened intently as the team laid out their strategy. He nodded in approval at their proposed lineup.

"Good. Your choices seem well thought out. We'll talk more of the logistics tomorrow. Get some rest and be ready for tomorrow's match."

"Yes, sir!"

The next day, Shrek Academy was once again the last team to take the stage, arriving in a cool and arrogant manner. The crowd erupted in cheers upon their arrival, anticipating for their inevitable domineering fight against their opponents.

Today, Shrek Academy had to face the Justsky Advanced Soul Academy.

Justsky Academy was identical to Shrek Academy in the sense that they both came from the Heavenly Soul Empire, but unlike Shrek, which didn't belong to any empire, Justsky Academy was a famous academy from the Heavenly Soul Empire that had produced a large number of talents.

Moreover, it was an empire that insisted most on maintaining traditional soul masters and rejecting soul engineers within the continent's four empires was the Heavenly Soul Empire. Because of that, Justsky Academy was actually even more insistent towards pure soul masters than Shrek Academy. They simply didn't even have a division for soul engineers; they only nurtured soul masters.

Regardless of whether they would be washed away in the future, Justsky Academy was currently still a notable academy that was considered powerful throughout the continent.

As Huo Yuhao and the rest took their seats, he took a brief glance at their opponents.

Specifically, their team leader.

The team leader of Justsky Academy was a youth of around twenty or so, and his handsome looks were comparable to even those of Huo Yuhao, but the youth was more on the pretty boy side while the latter was on the ruggish side of looks.

Wang Yan had talked about this very team leader of Justsky Academy, and he had had a very high opinion of him. Someone that had received praise from Elder Xuan was definitely not ordinary.

Ye Wuqing, nineteen years old. A very talented person from Justsky Academy, and the leader of their representative team. His martial soul was the Golden Leaf, and he was a Rank 58 assault-type soul master who was extremely powerful. He had already represented Justsky Academy as a member of the official team in the last tournament, and now he was the cornerstone of his current team.

'....I hope to any God out there, that monster isn't fighting in this match.' Ye Wuqing silently gulped, clenching his hands tight to hide his nervousness. As a top talent of soul masters, he knew more about soul masters than most—and absorbing those kinds of soul rings at such a young age and low cultivation was theoretically impossible!

It defies the all logic and sense in the world! He had initial doubts about Huo Yuhao's capability, until he saw that there was no sense of falseness emanating from his body when he walked past him and his team a few days ago.

He had went through a lot of challenges in his life, most being life-threatening, to the point he developed a sort of sixth-sense against dangerous people.

Huo Yuhao certainly give such an aura constantly. The sheer thought of even attacking him gave him a shiver down his spine. It was as if every fiber of his being warned him of the danger that Huo Yuhao represented. Ye Wuqing's instincts told him that this opponent was not someone to take lightly.

As the teams prepared for the match, the atmosphere in the arena grew tense.

The audience buzzed with anticipation, eagerly waiting to see the clash between these two strong teams.

Shrek Academy, with its reputation and powerhouse members, sat confidently in their chairs, while Justsky Academy maintained a calm but alert demeanor.

Both Bei Bei and Ye Wuqing went down on stage to draw the lots for their match.

It didn't take long and the referee said in a loud voice, "The match between Shrek Academy and Justsky Academy will be held as a 2-2-3 match."

"In other words, we will have two 2v2 matches before a 3v3 match. Two out of three victories is sufficient to win the whole match, so if a side wins both of the 2v2 matches, the 3v3 match will be cancelled. May both team leaders step down and make their preparations."

.....

AN: Natlan's fun to explore, especially turning into dinosaurs. Strangely, the update didn't really use up a lot of storage. Though that must be because it's still the beginning. Welp, anyway, still waiting for Mavuika. I got 90 wishes saved up, I freaking hope I get lucky...

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