Seven days later.
In the Heaven Dou Grand Battle Arena, the central competition platform was hosting the 26th round of the preliminaries.
"Storm Wolf – Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes!"
Still benefitting from the stat boosts granted by his support-type teammates, the infamous simp Feng Xiaotian unleashed a self-created soul skill he had painstakingly developed over years—forsaking proper cultivation to do so.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—
Merging his arms with the green light wings formed by his third soul skill, Gale Wings, Feng Xiaotian transformed into a spinning blade like a top. Each slash built upon the last, forming a storm of increasingly powerful strikes that rained down on Xiaobai's lion head.
At level 44, a powerful assault-type Soul Sect with a top-tier mutant martial soul—the Gale Twin-Headed Wolf—plus enhanced attributes from his team and his custom technique, Feng Xiaotian's current power could rival, or even exceed, that of a five-ring Soul King.
Xiaobai, being a support-type Spirit Summon, wasn't significantly stronger than an average ten-thousand-year soul beast. After tanking thirty-five slashes from the Storm Wolf combo, Xiaobai finally collapsed under the thirty-sixth blow.
The next second, Xiaobai's spirit-formed body dissolved into countless soul light particles and vanished from the arena.
Having used his strongest trump card, which cost a hefty amount of soul power, Feng Xiaotian knelt on one knee in a dramatic pose, then smugly glanced at the stands—specifically at the girl he adored, Huo Wu—before turning to face Chu Chengzhou.
Feng Xiaotian couldn't help feeling proud. After all, this was the first time Chu Chengzhou's summoned spirit beast had been killed in a match.
"Not bad, Feng Xiaotian. I, Chu Chengzhou, acknowledge your strength. But... how will you handle this?"
Despite Feng Xiaotian using the "Thirty-Six Simp Slashes" to defeat Xiaobai, Chu Chengzhou wasn't angry. After all, spirit summons don't fear death—they can be resummoned shortly. Praising him once, Chu activated his third soul ring. A graceful, two-zhang wingspan Fire Phoenix emerged mid-air before him.
"Fire... Fire Phoenix?!"
Seeing the majestic figure appear on the arena, Feng Xiaotian's eyes widened in disbelief.
As an elite of the Godwind Academy, he of course recognized the Fire Phoenix—a top-tier fire-type aerial soul beast.
And this beast was summoned using Chu Chengzhou's third soul skill. Since the third soul ring is stronger than the second, and given that the Fire Phoenix is an elite assault-type while the Bright Lion is only a mid-tier support-type, the power gap was clear—even if their soul ring ages were equal.
In other words, Chu Chengzhou's Fire Phoenix was absolutely stronger than the Bright Lion that Feng had defeated.
Let alone his own current drained state—even at full power, Feng Xiaotian admitted he was no match for this Fire Phoenix.
Glancing at his six teammates still hanging from trees (thanks to Chu's earlier summon), Feng smiled bitterly and sighed: "I concede!"
Facing Chu Chengzhou's third summon—at least level 50—and knowing there was still a stronger Fire Phoenix, and even a mysterious fourth summon yet to appear, Feng Xiaotian saw no chance of winning.
Since defeat was inevitable, better to concede now and avoid ending up strung up in a tree like the others.
"Feng Xiaotian, I heard you have innate full soul power. In my opinion, you should focus on cultivating soul power, not on inventing self-made techniques.
Once you're stronger and more experienced, creating something like Storm Wolf's Thirty-Six Slashes will be easy."
Seeing the bitter look on Feng Xiaotian's face, Chu Chengzhou couldn't help offering some advice.
Frankly, Chu couldn't understand Feng's bizarre decisions.
Low emotional intelligence aside, this guy had innate full soul power—a rare genius in the continent. But compared to Hu Liena, who reached level 50 by age 20 without any hacks, Feng's soul power lagged far behind.
Even though Hu Liena was the Pope's personal disciple from Spirit Hall, the early cultivation resources from an elite academy like Godwind shouldn't be much worse.
If Feng had spent his efforts on cultivation instead of developing his own skills, by now at 24, he'd be at least a high-level Soul King—maybe even a six-ring Soul Emperor.
One could say Feng Xiaotian wasn't just a genius delayed by self-created skills—he was a simp who wasted his talent.
"Could I have... really been wrong all along?"
Hearing Chu Chengzhou's words, Feng Xiaotian began to reflect.
At that moment, the referee stepped onto the stage and announced:"Preliminary round 26, Blue Tyrant Academy vs. Godwind Academy—Blue Tyrant wins!"
Seeing Feng Xiaotian deep in thought, Chu ordered Qing to release the Godwind team members and recalled his two summons before leading the Blue Tyrant team off the stage.
On the way back to the academy:
"Well done, Chu. Your team's performance in the prelims has made me very proud. If you beat your last opponent, Tianshui Academy, tomorrow, we'll be ranked first in the Heaven Dou division. I'm proud of you!"
Dean Liu Erlong smiled as she praised her team.
"Dean Erlong, this is nothing. Our goal is the championship. First place in prelims? Just basic operations. No big deal!"
Chu waved it off 'modestly'.
"..."
Liu Erlong was speechless. It sounded humble—but didn't feel humble at all.
Meanwhile, at Tianshui Academy's hotel:
"Binger, our last opponent in the prelims is Blue Tyrant Academy. What do you plan to do?"
Tianshui Dean and Shui Bing'er's aunt, Shui Wuyue, asked with a serious expression.
"Xue Wu, what do you all think?"
After a moment's thought, Shui Bing'er looked to her teammates.
Xue Wu and the others exchanged glances. "Binger, you're our captain and leader. Even though you're the youngest, we'll follow whatever decision you make!"
"Very well!"
Nodding, Shui Bing'er turned to Shui Wuyue. "Aunt, I plan to forfeit tomorrow's match.
Though we still have our Spirit Fusion technique as a trump card, Chu Chengzhou's strength is unpredictable. Rather than risk exposing it, I'd rather save it for the finals—perhaps we can catch them off guard and achieve better results.
Besides, we've only lost to Godwind, Thunderclap, and Blazing Fire Academies. Even if we lose tomorrow, we'll still secure one of the five qualification spots."
Indeed. While Canghui Academy did surprise everyone by beating Elephant Armor Academy, they still lost to Tianshui and Blazing Fire.
Their fusion technique already exposed, both teams came prepared and prevented them from using it in matches.
The arena is only 30 meters in diameter. As soon as the match began, Blazing Fire's Huo Wu charged in and used her third soul skill, Flame Repulsion Ring, to disrupt their formation and disable the fusion skill.
Tianshui's approach was simpler. Shui Bing'er opened with an AoE freeze soul skill, immobilizing the captain Shen Xinshui and others. Without their fusion skill, Canghui stood no chance.
At this point in the prelims, standings were already clear.The only remaining major match was Blue Tyrant vs. Tianshui, but regardless of the outcome, the top five qualifying academies were already locked in.
Even if Blue Tyrant lost, their record of 27 matches with 26 wins would secure first place.
Tianshui, even with a win, would still only have 24 wins and 3 losses—less than Godwind, Thunderclap, and Blazing Fire's 25-2 records (due to a triangle loss loop, they shared second place).
Technically, Blazing Fire should be fourth with a 24-3 record, having lost to Blue Tyrant, Thunderclap, and Godwind. But since Feng Xiaotian simped out and threw the match, they ended up sharing second.
Next morning before dawnChu Chengzhou was already meditating in the forest simulation training ground behind the academy.
Although the environment didn't suit his True Spirit Banner martial soul well, it was better than nothing. He also had an experiment to run soon.
Suddenly, a massive influx of information surged into his mind.
After a while, once he'd absorbed the data, he opened his attribute panel:
[Attribute Panel]Host: Chu ChengzhouSoul Power: Level 49 Soul SectMartial Soul: True Spirit BannerSoul Rings: Black (10,000), Black (10,000), Black (10,000), Black (22,480)1st Soul Skill – Summon: Sky Azure Tree2nd Soul Skill – Summon: Bright Lion3rd Soul Skill – Summon: Fire Phoenix4th Soul Skill – Summon: Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear
Skills:
Nine-Breath Rejuvenation (Red)
Indestructible Golden Body (Red)
Eternal Will (Red)
Archery (Red)
Movement Technique (Black)
Control (Black)
Defense (Black)
Forging (Black)
Illusion (Black)
Auto-Practice (Hang-Up):
Archery (Red)
Movement Technique (Black)
Nine-Breath Rejuvenation (Red)
Illusion (Black)
Fourth Soul Ring (Black)
Three days after leveling up to 49, his Archery skill—auto-trained for 300 days—had finally evolved to red-grade.
Without hesitation, Chu renamed the skill: Divine Arrow That Shoots the Sun.
According to myth, the ancient god Hou Yi used this technique to shoot down nine suns, saving the world from scorched ruin. Chu didn't expect to shoot suns—but hoped it might one day shoot down a God King of the Douluo Divine Realm.
Tang God-King: How dare you aim to slay a god? You are courting death!
Satisfied with the skill's upgrade, Chu glanced at his second auto-train slot—his movement technique wasn't far from evolving into red-grade either. Just twenty more days.
As for his other red skills or the 20k+ year fourth soul ring—they were far from a breakthrough. At least not until he became a Soul King.
Thinking it over, Chu removed the upgraded Divine Arrow from the auto-train slot and replaced it with the Control skill. Then he summoned his True Spirit Banner, lit up the fourth soul ring, and summoned Bear One (Xiong Da).
"Bear One, go stand over there. I want to test the power of the Divine Arrow."
Xiong Da: "."
So you summoned me just to use me as target practice? How did I, Xiong Da, end up with such a heartless master like you?
Filled with resentment, Xiong Da walked away slowly, turning back with every step, trying to use his pitiful expression to change his ruthless master Chu Chengzhou's mind about using him as a target dummy.
Unfortunately, Chu Chengzhou had a heart as black as coal and completely ignored Xiong Da's so-called pitiful (but actually quite menacing) expression.
After all, Xiong Da was a massive Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear, standing over two zhang (6.6 meters) tall, with arms wide enough for a horse to run across. Even if he pretended to be pitiful, he'd still scare the living daylights out of most soul masters on the continent.
"Roar——!"
Before long, a hundred meters away, Xiong Da placed his two massive claws on a tree trunk, stuck out his butt with a face full of despair, and gave Chu Chengzhou a low growl.
Seeing this, golden soul power began to shimmer in Chu Chengzhou's hand, and in an instant, a magnificent golden bow made entirely of soul power materialized.
After carefully examining the golden bow in his left hand, Chu Chengzhou nodded in satisfaction.
Ever since the black-tier archery technique had been upgraded to the red-tier Sunpiercer Divine Arrow, it not only introduced advanced techniques for condensing soul power arrows but also added the ability to form a bow using soul power alone.
Before today, he could form a powerful bow with soul power alone, but it was just for show—far inferior in quality to a real spirit-forged metal bow.
But things had changed. With the advanced technique to condense a bow from soul power, even without a physical, spirit-forged bow, he could now fully unleash the power of the Sunpiercer Divine Arrow.
Of course, compared to a spirit-forged Flowing Gold Soul-Cleaver Bow, a bow formed purely from soul power still came up short.
After all, a bow made purely from soul power couldn't enhance the soul power arrows' attributes.
In short, with the Sunpiercer Divine Arrow technique in hand, he could break free from the limitation of physical bows. But if he had access to a high-tier forged bow, the power ceiling would be much higher.
He then formed a three-foot-long arrow made of metallic soul power, drew the bow, aimed at Xiong Da's raised rear a hundred meters away, and released.
'Whoosh——!'
A faint sound of the arrow breaking the air was heard, and the soul power arrow turned into a golden streak, crossing the distance in an instant and striking Xiong Da's butt.
"Clang——"
In that instant, a metallic clang rang out. The soul power arrow failed to pierce Xiong Da's tough dark-gold fur and dropped weakly to the ground, dissolving into specks of light.
Darkgold Terrorclaw Bears were renowned not only for their terrifying offensive claws but also for their powerful defense—even if not as absurd as their attack power.
A Darkgold Terrorclaw Bear over twenty thousand years old had defensive capabilities that could easily rival the sixth soul skill of a typical seven-ring defensive Soul Sage.
So the arrow failing to pierce through was completely expected—well within Chu Chengzhou's calculations.
Still, although it didn't pierce, Chu Chengzhou could estimate the power of that soul power arrow.
Conservatively, this arrow's force surpassed that of a typical ten-thousand-year, single-target attack soul skill used by a five-ring Soul King. It might even rival a newly acquired sixth-ring soul skill.
In other words, the Sunpiercer Divine Arrow had upgraded by a full tier. While its power had increased dramatically, the soul power consumption hadn't risen as sharply—less consumption relative to the power gain.
Which meant: if Chu Chengzhou chose to maintain his previous power output, the consumption per arrow would drop significantly.
Of course, the Sunpiercer Divine Arrow's abilities didn't stop there.
Golden light shimmered again in his right hand. A soul power arrow appeared between each of his four fingers (excluding the thumb).
Drawing the bow again—'whoosh, whoosh, whoosh——'—three golden streaks shot out in a triangular formation toward Xiong Da.
"Clang clang clang——"
Xiong Da felt a numbness shoot through his rear and quickly covered his vulnerable area with his short tail.
Next second, Chu Chengzhou unleashed the hand speed of a man who'd been single for fifteen years, firing soul power arrows in rapid succession. Xiong Da's rear was bombarded like it had been hit by a machine gun, with constant clanging sounds.
Eventually, sensing his soul power had dropped to about half, Chu Chengzhou stopped and flipped his hand to summon a spirit-forged Titanium Armor-Piercing Arrow.
"Roar roar roar——!"
Seeing his cruel master pull out the titanium arrow, Xiong Da was shocked, waving his claws frantically and growling in protest.
Watching Xiong Da's clear resistance, Chu Chengzhou thought for a moment and eventually put the arrow away.
Now that the archery skill had evolved into the Sunpiercer Divine Arrow and gained a major power boost, the titanium arrow's power had increased as well.
Even if most of its strength came from the armor-piercing nature of the spirit-forged metal, it still meant that a shot to Xiong Da's butt would be unavoidable—and no matter how ruthless he was, he couldn't go that far.
"Roar roar——"
Seeing his cruel master put away the big killer arrow, Xiong Da happily trotted back over, grinning with his bear mouth and waving his claws, as if protesting something.
"Alright, alright, you're not even hurt, what are you whining about? Fine, I won't use you for testing anymore!"
Facing Xiong Da's strong protests, Chu Chengzhou patted his bear leg in consolation.
"Roar?"
"Really!"
Chu Chengzhou nodded.
"Roar!"
Xiong Da instantly beamed like a silly bear that had stolen honey but hadn't been stung by bees.
Heaven Dou Grand Arena – Contestant Rest Area
"What? You said the Tianshui Academy team forfeited?"
Chu Chengzhou widened his eyes in disbelief as he asked the competition staff in front of him.
The group had just entered the rest area when a staff member informed them: their final preliminary match opponent—Tianshui Academy—had officially forfeited. Blue Tyrant Academy was awarded the win by default, taking first place in the Heaven Dou preliminaries with an undefeated record.
"Yes, Tianshui Academy has forfeited. It was their headmaster Shui Wuyue who informed the organizing committee personally."
The staffer nodded regretfully.
A match he had no personal stake in—why regret it? Tsk~ Let's talk about that...
Hearing it confirmed again, Chu Chengzhou was speechless.
How could Tianshui Academy just forfeit like that? Without even saying anything? How was he supposed to give the audience a lovely little ropework "benefit" performance now?
Such a shame—what a huge shame!
You know, the Tianshui team was made up entirely of delicate young ladies!
Hanging his opponents up in the trees was his soul master competition tradition—every spectator who had watched his matches knew this.
Tickets to the soul master competition were expensive, but the stands were packed every day. Surely many of them came specifically to watch his little "talent show," right?
Without that brilliant performance, how could he justify the high ticket prices?
But since Tianshui Academy had forfeited, he couldn't drag them into the ring by force. Sorry to all his loyal fans...
"Hmph~ You're all scoundrels!"
Seeing Chu Chengzhou, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, Tailong, Jing Ling, and Huang Yuan all showing disappointed expressions, Xiao Wu snorted coldly and looked at them with contempt.
Clever and sharp Xiao Wu could tell just by thinking with her toes what these six were regretting.
"Ahem~ Xiao Wu, don't misunderstand your brother—I'm just upset we missed out on a strong opponent."
Clearing his throat, Chu Chengzhou explained sheepishly.
"Yeah, yeah, Sister Xiao Wu, don't think we're perverts!"Ma Hongjun chimed in.
"Exactly, we're all pure!"Oscar nodded solemnly.
"Pure? Pure my foot! In our team, you and Fatty are the only ones who aren't pure!"
As the second sister in the group, Ning Rongrong immediately backed up team leader Xiao Wu, her sharp tongue launching a direct attack on Oscar and Ma Hongjun.
"Only me and Xiao Ao aren't pure? No way, right? Boss Chu, really?"
Seizing on this point, Ma Hongjun winked and elbowed Chu Chengzhou.
Chu Chengzhou: "."
T/N: For up to 30 chapters ahead on most of my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle