Book 13: Life Gold

Chapter 107.3: The Semifinals Lineup!

Bei Bei shook his head and said, “Saying it would offend someone.”

Everyone knew Ma Xiaotao’s temper. She slapped her chest and said, “So what if you offend someone? I’ll protect you.”

An uncomfortable expression appeared on Bei Bei’s face as he said, “Alright, Sister Xiaotao. You must live up to your side of the bargain and protect me!”

Ma Xiaotao was impatient and said, “Why are you dilly-dallying like a woman? Quickly, just say it!”

Bei Bei smiled and revealed a mouthful of white teeth as he said, “You might have never eaten pork before, but you’ve surely seen a pig run.”

The moment he said that, he violently pulled the door next to him open. Whoosh! He immediately dashed inside. It appeared that, unknowingly, he’d already arrived outside of his own room.

Ma Xiaotao was stunned when she heard this. She quickly reacted and cursed, “The nerve of you, Bei Bei! You dare to call me a pig.” With that, she attempted to rush into Bei Bei’s room.

Ling Luochen quickly pulled her back as she tried to stifle a laugh and said, “Don’t run. If you run, you’ll have fallen for his ploy. Remember, he did talk about a running pig.”

Ma Xiaotao looked at her, and a chortle suddenly escaped her mouth. She couldn’t help but laugh too.

After this bout of tomfoolery, the somber atmosphere from the meeting before was greatly lightened.

As Wang Yan stood in the doorway of the conference room, he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration after seeing what had just happened. Bei Bei indeed possessed extraordinary leadership capabilities! As for the preparatory team, they appeared to be getting better and better.

Five years later, when the children from the preparatory team grew up, they’d probably be the most powerful team Shrek Academy had had in a long while. They would probably become the most powerful Shrek’s Seven Monsters in a long while too.

“Are you going to train tonight or not?” Wang Dong nudged Huo Yuhao with his shoulder.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Of course we have to train. Last-minute training has its uses too. You’ll see the results of my deep meditation once you’ve finished eating.”

Wang Dong’s mouth twitched involuntarily as he said, “You’ve only cultivated for a single day. Do you expect some sort of earth-shattering change?”

Yet, reality proved that he had experienced an earth-shattering change.

After dinner, the two of them began to cultivate together using their Haodong Power. However, Wang Dong opened his eyes and stopped his cultivation after only a single revolution.

“How… how can this possible?” Wang Dong looked at Huo Yuhao in shock.

Huo Yuhao beamed as he opened his eyes and said, “How could it not be possible?”

Wang Dong said, “Your circulation speed of the Haodong Power has doubled.!It’s even faster than me, a Soul Elder. My god! What did you do? If not for the fact that I’ve been following you all this time, I would’ve thought that you’d taken some sort of precious elixir.”

Huo Yuhao chuckled. “I didn’t eat anything. But you’d still be shocked if I told you.”

Actually, right after the two of them linked arms to cultivate, their Haodong Power circulated much faster after it entered Huo Yuhao’s body. Its speed had indeed almost doubled. It appeared to be filled with a vibrant life force when it re-entered Wang Dong’s body. After their soul power had completed a full revolution, Wang Dong’s body became much more comfortable and relaxed. His energy rose in all aspects, and the effects of his cultivation were greatly enhanced too. While he didn’t know it was from the vast life energy that the remnants of the Life Gold had left in Huo Yuhao’s body, he’d still felt an obvious change!

Wang Dong looked suspiciously at Huo Yuhao and said, “Are the effects of deep meditation really so good? Next time, I’ll calm myself down too, and try to achieve it.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “It’s fine. Come on, let’s start cultivating. Deep meditation is the best way to restore one’s energy. I feel that my soul power has undergone a special kind of change. Let’s not waste this opportunity; it will benefit you too.”

While the vast life energy from the Life Gold would continue to congregate inside of his body, it would gradually be absorbed by his body. It wouldn’t attach itself to his soul power for long, otherwise it would be draining on his soul power. Huo Yuhao wanted Wang Dong to train with him right now so that he could pass some of the life energy to him while he still had it. In doing so, they could share in its benefits.

The two of them started to use their Haodong Power once more. This night could be said to be their most productive joint cultivation session.

After that night, more than half of the vast life energy in Huo Yuhao’s soul power was absorbed by Wang Dong. The finished cultivating at dawn, and as Huo Yuhao cultivated his Purple Demons Eyes at the window, Wang Dong’s entire frame appeared to be bursting with energy. His skin shone with light, and his eyes were much brighter. His handsome face was reddish, and was indescribably adorable. He appeared well-rested and energetic. After an entire night of cultivation, their cultivation speed had more than tripled. Furthermore, after they’d connected and cultivated that vast energy, they were even more in-sync with each other. It was as if they were a single person.

Now that it was dawn, it would be time for the semifinals once they’d brushed up and eaten breakfast!

The team from Shrek Academy, clad in ink-green attire, was met with thunderous applause when they appeared in Star Luo Plaza.

There had been more than a hundred teams at the start of the competition, but there were now only four teams left vying for the top spot. The competition had taken over a month at this point, during which Xiao Xiao, Wang Dong, and Huo Yuhao had all experienced breakthroughs in terms of their soul power.

Of the four remaining teams, every single one of them had at least two major fights left. The decisive moment had come, and they would be battling with all their strength.

After some renovations, there were now only four zones left in the participants’ resting area. Every single team was spread quite a distance from each other.

There was still an hour until the commencement of the competition, but all four squads were already present.

Occasionally, they would cross gazes. When that happened, sparks appeared to fly from their eyes. A powerful battling aura could be felt, and the atmosphere in the resting area became harsh and tense, some traces of killing intent even present.

The sun slowly rose through the sky, the temperature today not bad. As sunlight cascaded over the vast Star Luo Plaza, it appeared to be cloaked with a layer of light gold. However, in the eyes of the four teams, it wasn’t just sunlight, but the honor of a victory that they had to stake their all for.

The first day of the semifinals would be composed of the team battles.

What no one expected was to see a red carpet, about ten meters wide, stretching from the gates of the palace all the way to the front of the arena. Tten minutes before the teams were to draw lots, the gates of the palace swung open and the Star Luo Emperor, surrounded by his guards, strode out from it and headed towards the arena.

“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!” Every single soldier who was responsible for maintaining order cheered and waved their weapons in the air.

When the crowd noticed the appearance of the emperor, they burst into cheers.

The four teams stood up as well, and gazed at the emperor with respect.

Huo Yuhao noticed that there were four old men next to the Star Luo Emperor. They’d formed a square around the emperor. Behind them, there were no more than 20 guards. Hence, it didn’t appear to be overkill.

However, every single person there clearly knew that the squad of guards there was nothing to scoff at. Those four old men were likely the Titled Douluo of the Star Luo Empire.

Ten thousand years ago, after the Martial Soul Hall—which had possessed the most powerful soul masters on the continent—had disintegrated, the many powerful soul masters within had pledged their allegiance to various states. As soul masters began to understand more about their martial souls, more and more Titled Douluo started to appear. However, some of them had relied on medicine to achieve their breakthroughs. Hence, they were comparatively weaker.

Of course, even if there were more Titled Douluo than ten thousand years ago, they were still scarce. Furthermore, different Titled Douluo had different martial souls, different ways of cultivation, different soul rings, different soul bones, and different amounts of soul bones. Thus, their individual powers varied greatly.

However, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong couldn’t find the person who’d threatened them among the four Titled Douluo below.

The 108 soul masters responsible for security all bowed to the emperor. However, they didn’t kneel.

According to the rules of the Star Luo Empire, soul masters that had more than four rings and were under the employ of the empire didn’t have to kneel to the emperor.

The emperor ascended the arena under the protection of the four Titled Douluo. He then faced the Star Luo Plaza, smiled, and said, “Please rise my subjects.”

“Long live the emperor! Long live the emperor! Long live the emperor!”

Cheers erupted from all sides of the Star Luo Plaza. Evidently, the emperor was well-loved by his subjects.

The Star Luo Emperor didn’t try to stop their cheers. Instead, his gaze was calm, and he had a smile on his face as he looked at his subjects from afar. Once the plaza had quietened down, he smiled and said, “The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament is a major event for the Douluo Continent that takes place once every five years. It’s an honor for us to host the competition this time. I’d like to thank these representatives from over a hundred schools. Thanks to them, we’ve been able to witness many exciting rounds, as well as the ever-changing developments among the soul masters and soul engineers of the continent. This pleases both me and the general populace.”

“The semifinals will commence in a moment. In turn, the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament will soon come to an end. There will be no more lot drawing after the top four teams draw their lots, thus I will personally supervise the lot drawing this time. I hope that Shrek Academy, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, the Imperial Profound Academy, and our own Star Luo National Academy will put on a grand, exciting show for all of us.”

“I know that everyone is dying to watch the show. I’m very excited too. Without further ado, let the drawing commence. I wish to partake in the joy with my people, and I hope that our Star Luo Empire will prosper for generations to come.”

The Star Luo Emperor’s words were majestic, humorous, and not too long. The moment he finished, the crowd began to cheer once more.

Among the four old men who’d gone up with him, the front-left one took two steps forward as he faced the resting area and said in a low voice, “Will the team leaders of the four teams come up to the stage now and draw lots.”

A hard-to-describe powerful energy could be felt from the body of this old man. The power that this energy held made everyone in the Star Luo Plaza feel as if the sky had darkened.

Do you want to read up to 20 unreleased chapters? Support UTS on

Patreon

! 

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter