So here's the question: with Spirit Hall being so overwhelmingly powerful, why haven't they unified the continent yet?On this point, Chu Chengzhou couldn't quite figure out Spirit Hall's strange "master plan."
With Spirit Hall's might — especially with Tang Chen trapped in the Slaughter City — they should have been able to sweep across the whole continent, right?After all, Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires were never on good terms, and the three Upper Clans weren't exactly best friends either. Even if they formed an anti-Spirit Hall alliance, they'd inevitably drag each other down.
It was just like the Qin Emperor sweeping the Six Kingdoms in Chu Chengzhou's previous life — on paper, the total strength of the Six Kingdoms far surpassed Qin's, but Qin still took only about ten years to conquer them all.
Without true unity, Spirit Hall could easily choose to pick off Heaven Dou or Star Luo one by one. And with opportunists and traitors in every era, pushing through the continent didn't really sound that hard, did it?
In the end, the answer was probably Qian Renxue — with her innate full 20-level spirit power, she gave Qian Daoliu, the real helmsman of Spirit Hall, plenty of patience.
But following the plot of the original story, it turned out that even at over a hundred and fifty years old, Qian Daoliu was still too "young" — not realizing the simple truth that delays create change.
He had cultivated an heir who was strong enough in terms of raw power, but when it came to dealing with the protagonist's "plot armor," the rest of the plan was far from solid. So what should have been a guaranteed victory with acceptable sacrifice turned into total ruin — they even lost Spirit Hall's thousand-year foundation.
At this moment, as the Pope arrived, the Spirit Hall Battle Team's seven members all dropped to one knee in perfect sync, bowing in salute.
But Lanba Battle Team and Huangdou Battle Team didn't kneel — after all, they weren't Spirit Hall's people, and there was no rule on the continent that a spirit master must kneel before the Pope of Spirit Hall.
In fact, not only did they not kneel, they even stood tall and straight, meeting Bibi Dong's eyes directly — defeating Spirit Hall's team right in front of the Pope herself? Now that would be interesting.
Of course, this didn't include Xiao Wu — the moment she saw Bibi Dong, she immediately recognized her as the vile woman who had killed her rabbit mother all those years ago. And the two unfamiliar Titled Douluo next to her? They were Bibi Dong's accomplices.
Recognizing her mother's murderer, Xiao Wu's eyes flashed with intense hatred, but she knew that powerful people had sharp senses. She hurriedly lowered her head, not daring to meet Bibi Dong's eyes with her vengeful gaze.
But right then, Xiao Wu's heart couldn't help sinking into despair.Every spirit master knew that Spirit Hall was the strongest force on the continent, with countless followers and endless experts.And Bibi Dong was its Pope — wanting revenge for her mother meant going up against the ruling overlord of the entire spirit master world. Could she really do it? Could she really avenge her mother one day?
After glancing over the proud, unbowed Lanba and Huangdou teams, Bibi Dong's eyes lingered an extra moment on Chu Chengzhou and Tang San. She lightly waved her jeweled scepter and parted her lips: "You may rise."
With that, everyone kneeling finally stood up again.
A faint smile appeared on Bibi Dong's face as she slowly swept her gaze across all twenty-one young spirit masters who had made it to the final three teams. She said, "From you all, I see hope. Here before the Pope's Palace, I hope to witness all your talents and strength. The ultimate victors will receive Spirit Hall's greatest reward!"
Pausing, Bibi Dong continued: "This Pope promises here and now: the one who performs the best among the winning team — if they join Spirit Hall — will become my personal disciple and have the right to compete for the position of Spirit Hall's Holy Son or Holy Maiden!"
These words caused an instant uproar.
What did it mean to be Spirit Hall's Holy Son or Holy Maiden?Bibi Dong herself had once been Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden.
In other words, winning that title meant you'd become Spirit Hall's first-in-line heir — when the current Pope stepped down, the Holy Son or Holy Maiden would become the next Pope!Sure, it would still require competition, but being the Pope's personal disciple was like an emperor openly favoring one prince — that heir's succession was practically assured.
After all, the one chosen from this champion team would definitely be the best of the best of this generation — a genius like that wouldn't lose to anyone in the competition for the title.
Spirit Hall's playing this big?!That was the thought echoing in every non-Spirit Hall person's mind.
Even Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo Chen Xin, and Dugu Bo were looking at Bibi Dong in utter disbelief.
Seeing everyone's stunned faces, Bibi Dong nodded inwardly in satisfaction.In her mind, the best among the final three teams were her own disciple Hu Liena, Lanba's Chu Chengzhou, and Tang San — son of Tang Hao.
Hu Liena was already her disciple, so this reward didn't mean much for her.Chu Chengzhou's talent wasn't bad either — with his mutated martial spirit and unique soul skills, his power far exceeded his soul power rank. If Lanba won and Chu Chengzhou chose to join Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong would gladly accept such an interesting new disciple. A bit of training, and Spirit Hall would have yet another formidable powerhouse.
As for Tang San?Never mind whether Huangdou could even win — even if they did, as Tang Hao's son, Tang San would never join Spirit Hall.
So no matter which team won, Bibi Dong wouldn't lose anything.
Hearing Bibi Dong's promised reward for the champion team, Chu Chengzhou felt a bit speechless. Compared to the three soul bones in the original story, this "personal disciple" status was no worse — probably even better.
After all, Bibi Dong was a true big shot — if you won her favor, getting a full set of hundred-thousand-year soul bones wasn't impossible at all.There were plenty of hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in the oceans; with Bibi Dong's power, arranging even a full set wouldn't be too hard.
But… for the three teams in this final, this "champion team reward" seemed kinda pointless.
Hu Liena was already Bibi Dong's disciple.Tang San would never bow to Bibi Dong.As for himself — Chu Chengzhou had no plans to join Spirit Hall either. Even ignoring what his future father-in-law Ning Fengzhi might think, he still had to consider Xiao Wu's feelings — so being the Pope's personal disciple was basically empty talk.
What a joke — even the Heaven Dou Emperor's promise after the prelims — letting him choose any spirit beast under thirty thousand years — felt more practical.Bibi Dong really was a cunning woman. He'd rather she just hand him a gold card instead!
Just then, Chu Chengzhou felt a few gazes fall on him — from his Lanba teammates and from Hu Liena not far away.
Each gaze meant something different. Of the four girls, Zhu Zhuqing's eyes showed curiosity. Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong looked worried. Hu Liena's eyes, on the other hand, were full of joy.
Different looks meant different stances.They all knew Chu Chengzhou's strength best. If anyone was going to get that personal disciple reward, it would obviously be him.
Zhu Zhuqing was neutral — whether he joined Spirit Hall or not didn't matter to her. Xiao Wu hated Bibi Dong. Ning Rongrong, as the young miss of Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan — who opposed Spirit Hall — obviously didn't want him to join either.But Hu Liena? She was genuinely happy — if that "bad boy" became her junior brother, wouldn't they be "Senior Sister" and "Junior Brother" in name, perfectly official?
Ignoring everyone's shock, Bibi Dong continued, "This morning, each of your three teams will send seven people into the individual knockout matches.
The last team standing will gain the advantage and go straight to tomorrow's championship match, while the losing two teams will fight this afternoon for the final spot in the finals.
You may now send out your first contestant."
Just like the promotion rounds, these were still solo battles — except now all three teams would fight at once. Though not the final championship match, this was equally critical.
Winning meant not just a spot in the top two but also the chance to rest and recover for tomorrow's ultimate showdown.
This setup was obviously in Spirit Hall's favor — with three Soul Kings in their lineup and everyone else at least level 45, they were almost certain to win.
Lanba and Huangdou only had one Soul King each. If they had to fight both this morning and again this afternoon, a single injury or heavy damage could cost them dearly in tomorrow's final match.
A row of gilded chairs was set up in front of the Pope's Palace. At Bibi Dong's signal, she sat in the middle, with Ning Fengzhi, Sword Douluo Chen Xin, and Dugu Bo on her left, and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, and another familiar Titled Douluo on her right — Elder Lingyuan.
Yes — because the seating was tricky, Bibi Dong had someone call Lingyuan over.Otherwise, wouldn't Ning Fengzhi be sitting on equal footing with the Pope?
Ning Fengzhi: …
On the square before the palace, the three teams sent out their first fighters. Spirit Hall's starter was a burly youth, a level-47 Soul Ancestor. Lanba's first was Ma Hongjun.
Seeing Lanba send Ma Hongjun first, Huangdou's coach Qin Ming thought it over but stuck with the plan: their first up was Yufeng.
For both Lanba and Huangdou, these solo knockouts were rough. Huangdou's Ye Lingling was a healer — she couldn't really fight solo and would just be free points. So they really only had six people they could use.
Substitutes? Huangdou didn't have any. The academy's strongest were already here; anyone else strong enough was playing on the second team. A weak substitute would just be cannon fodder — did the Imperial Academy want to lose face like that?
It was the same for Lanba. Ning Rongrong was a support type; Oscar was food type — both useless for solos. They had substitutes, but a three-ring substitute would be helpless against four-ring opponents.
Even Tailong, a core member who hadn't yet reached four rings, wasn't on Chu Chengzhou's list — letting him fight would just mean getting beat up for nothing. Better to leave him cheering from the sidelines.
So, realistically, Lanba only had four people for this round: Ma Hongjun first, Zhu Zhuqing second, Xiao Wu third, and Chu Chengzhou — the strongest — last.
Before the individual matches could start, the three teams had to draw lots to decide the order: two teams would fight first, then the winner would face the third.
Luck didn't favor Lanba — or maybe Spirit Hall rigged it again — but Spirit Hall drew the bye. So Ma Hongjun and Huangdou's Yufeng would fight first, and the winner would then face Spirit Hall's lead fighter.
'Damn it!'Seeing the result, Yufeng cursed under his breath.
His martial spirit was a Wind Chime Bird — but Ma Hongjun's was a variant Phoenix — giving Ma Hongjun massive bloodline suppression. This was unwinnable. He'd have to surrender for sure.
Why didn't Qin Ming switch him out, though?Because the lineup was submitted before the draw — and Huangdou didn't necessarily know they'd face Lanba right away.
Plus, Yufeng was the weakest on their roster — better to have him go out first, since the later the matches went, the stronger the opponents would be. By then, he wouldn't even be able to drain any soul power at all.
After the draw, before the match could start, Yufeng turned to the red-cloaked bishop acting as referee and said, "Referee, I forfeit this match."
Upon hearing this, the referee froze for a moment and couldn't help but cast a strange glance at the Huangdou (Emperor Battle) team resting at the edge of the square — the mighty Huangdou Battle Team actually surrendered right at the start? Weren't they worried about crushing their own team's morale?
But surrendering was the right of every contestant, so the referee didn't dwell on it and directly declared that Ma Hongjun had won the first match. The second match would be between Lanba Battle Team's Ma Hongjun and Spirit Hall Battle Team's Li Kai.
Li Kai — a member of Spirit Hall Battle Team. Martial spirit: Black-Horned Boar, a level-47 Power Attack System Soul Ancestor.
Level-41 Lava Fire Phoenix Soul Master Ma Hongjun vs. Level-47 Black-Horned Boar Soul Master Li Kai — judging by soul power level alone, Ma Hongjun was obviously at a disadvantage, and quite a big one at that.
However, even with that gap in soul power, it wasn't insurmountable. Ma Hongjun's Lava Fire Phoenix martial spirit was undeniably far stronger than Li Kai's Black-Horned Boar. Plus, Ma Hongjun was a flying-type soul master — once he took to the air, he'd basically stand in an unbeatable position.
Of course, given Ma Hongjun's soul power level wasn't that high and his internal reserves were limited — flying consumed a lot of soul power — so while it made up for his disadvantage, his advantage still wasn't overwhelming.
After a long fight and exhausting more than half of his soul power, Ma Hongjun used his newly acquired fourth soul skill, Fire Phoenix Sky Strike, to cross a six-level gap and defeat his opponent.
"Lanba Academy's first contestant Ma Hongjun is victorious — Huangdou Battle Team, please send out your second contestant!" the referee announced.
Huangdou's second contestant was Shi Mo, a four-ring Defense System Soul Ancestor.
Seeing that the opponent was a defense-type soul master and with less than twenty percent of his soul power remaining, Ma Hongjun didn't hesitate to admit defeat immediately.
Power-attack flying soul masters did counter defense-types, but Ma Hongjun knew that in his current state, he couldn't break Shi Mo's "turtle shell."
If he was going to lose either way, there was no point in wasting more energy — otherwise, exhausting Shi Mo's soul power would only benefit the next Spirit Hall contestant.
Against either Huangdou or Lanba, once they knew they couldn't win, they'd just surrender — this was the unspoken agreement between the two Heaven Dou Empire teams.
Lanba and Huangdou both represented Heaven Dou Empire — if they could weaken Spirit Hall without hurting their own chances, they'd gladly do so together.
In the third match, Spirit Hall sent out Zhang Ping as their next player.
Zhang Ping — martial spirit: Golden-Waist Swallow, a level-47 Agility Attack System flying Soul Ancestor.
The soul power gap was clear, and since the opponent could fly too, Shi Mo knew he was no match for Zhang Ping. So he just hunkered down behind his tough turtle shell and dragged it into a battle of attrition.
He knew he wouldn't win — but that wasn't the point. His mission was to drain Zhang Ping's soul power as much as possible.
And that turtle shell lived up to its name — with his Xuanwu Tortoise martial spirit, Shi Mo was easily one of the strongest defense-types in this tournament.
Time ticked by. More than two hours later, the personal knockout matches on the plaza in front of the Pope's Palace finally reached their climax.
In those two hours, after defeating Shi Mo, Spirit Hall's Zhang Ping had burned so much soul power that he lost to Lanba's Zhu Zhuqing.
But after beating Zhang Ping, Zhu Zhuqing — facing an airborne opponent and with her own soul power nearly spent — realized she couldn't break Shi Mo's turtle shell and chose to surrender too.
Whenever facing Spirit Hall, Lanba and Huangdou fought like mad dogs — if they couldn't win, they'd drag it out and deplete the opponent's soul power, setting things up for the next teammate to clean up.
But when Lanba and Huangdou faced each other, if one side knew they were outmatched, they'd just surrender to help their ally keep more energy to deal with Spirit Hall later.
At this moment, on the field, Xiao Wu decisively defeated Huangdou's Dugu Yan.
Xiao Wu was Lanba's third contestant; Dugu Yan was Huangdou's fourth; and next up was Spirit Hall's fourth contestant.
In terms of match order, Lanba clearly had the upper hand. But in terms of remaining players, Lanba was actually at a disadvantage.
If Xiao Wu lost, then besides Chu Chengzhou, Lanba would only have that one final trump card left.
In contrast, Spirit Hall still had their fourth player about to enter, plus Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan — all three five-ring Soul Kings. Huangdou still had Yu Tianheng and Tang San waiting too.
Of course, in a soul fight, numbers didn't always matter — quality did.
"Lanba Academy's Xiao Wu wins! Spirit Hall, send out your fourth contestant!" the referee announced after Dugu Yan fell.
Spirit Hall's fourth player was Sun Chuantao. Martial spirit: Circular Giant Blade, level-48 Power Attack System Soul Ancestor.
"Contestants, bow to each other. Release your martial spirits — begin!"
"Second soul skill: Charm!"
The instant the fight began, Xiao Wu's second soul ring shone, her eyes flashed pink, and Sun Chuantao, who had just raised his weapon, froze in place.
A heartbeat later, Xiao Wu leapt forward and landed a flying kick, booting Sun Chuantao straight out of the arena.
"Lanba Academy's Xiao Wu wins! Huangdou, send out your fifth contestant!" the referee announced, his expression stiff.
Back-to-back Soul Ancestors taken out by a mere hundred-year second soul skill? A single trick, used over and over?
"Next! Hurry!" Xiao Wu urged when the referee hesitated.
"Huangdou, send out your fifth contestant!"
In the Spirit Hall rest area —
"Brother, that Xiao Wu's spiritual power is strong. Let me handle her," Hu Liena said to Xie Yue as she glanced at Xiao Wu, who had already won multiple matches in a row.
"No, Nana — let me go. You're our strongest. Only you can deal with Chu Chengzhou," said Yan, the loyal puppy, immediately stepping forward.
"Yan's right! Nana, let him and I go first — if you get drained too much, we won't have any hope of defeating Chu Chengzhou."
Xie Yue nodded, his face darkening at the mention of Chu Chengzhou.
As her brother, Xie Yue would never forget that moment in the Star Dou Great Forest when Chu Chengzhou had taken Hu Liena away right in front of him.
Hu Liena: "..."The problem is, I'm not even sure I can beat that pervert! Stop putting all your hope on me, okay?!
T/N: For up to 30 chapters ahead on most of my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle