"What if you end up facing me?"
Gu You froze for a moment. That was such a pointless question. He chuckled and replied, "I'll try to let you hold on a bit longer?"
With an annoyed look, Long Yuxue stomped on his foot.
"What do you mean let me hold on a bit longer? You're supposed to surrender immediately!"
"That's not happening. I still plan to take first place."
"Forget it. What's your nickname? Tell me."
When he didn't answer, Long Yuxue ground her heel on his foot.
Gu You sighed helplessly. "It's Zijin Wang."
"That name… hmm, forget it. I won't argue with you about it. I'm Xiaoxue in the system. You'd better know what to do if we meet."
"I... I have a mission. A Blood God Battalion mission. If I don't make it into the finals, I'll be kicked out."
He blinked innocently as he said it.
Long Yuxue blinked. "Seriously?"
Gu You nodded solemnly. "Of course it's true."
...
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
Each day, Gu You logged into the Star Dou Battle Network. After registration, he received his scheduled match time. He had to log in during the assigned window, or he'd be disqualified.
This wasn't a tournament run by people—it was managed by precision-calculating machines. If it said to be on time, you had to be on time. Machines had no empathy.
His first match was scheduled for 8 p.m. that night.
Oddly, Gu You felt even more excited about this tournament than when he had competed in the Star Luo Empire.
Maybe it was because this was the entire federation. He would be facing off against the strongest soul masters below the Title Douluo level from all across the continent.
Now that was meaningful.
"Star Dou Battle Network login successful. Welcome, Zijin Wang. Thirty minutes remain until your match. Please proceed to the Soul Master combat area and wait."
Gu You had timed his login perfectly. As soon as he entered, the mechanical voice gave him the prompt.
He had underestimated the scale of this event. Based on the match schedule, the entire tournament would probably last around three months.
Fights had started at noon, and now the area surrounding the Western Division's stadium was full of masked participants. Each had a white mask and a floating name tag above their heads, showing their record.
Gu You's name floated above him with a 5–0 record.
He hadn't entered too many matches. With his experience, there was no need to waste money on excessive battles.
"Match begins in one minute."
It was finally time.
Gu You took a deep breath. Before logging in, he had already adjusted his condition to its peak.
A flash of golden light. Space twisted. The next instant, he found himself on the arena platform.
His opponent had also appeared—a figure with a white mask, just like his. What surprised Gu You was that this time, no name appeared above the opponent's head.
Clearly, the system protected identities during the official matches.
He smirked. Now Long Yuxue wouldn't be able to complain. Even if they met on the field, they wouldn't recognize each other.
"Three… two… one… begin!"
Just as Gu You admired the anonymity system, the countdown finished and the mechanical voice announced the start of his first official match in the Federation Challenge.
No sooner had the voice ended than his opponent activated his martial soul. Four soul rings—two yellow and two purple—rose beneath the soul master's feet. He raised his right hand, and a surge of red light exploded into the sky.
Suddenly, a barrage of fist-sized fireballs began to rain down toward Gu You's position.
A four-ring Soul Ancestor?
Gu You couldn't help but laugh. What kind of luck was this? This type of opponent had to be the rarest in the entire tournament—like finding a needle in a haystack.
Lucky for him. Though… it would've been even better to get a bye.
Did this tournament even have byes?
Gu You lifted his hand calmly. Seven soul rings rose around him in a brilliant display.
The opponent froze. Though his expression was hidden behind a mask, his body stiffened, and his soul power became erratic.
'This is a joke, right? Is there a quit button somewhere?' If there was, he'd press it in a heartbeat.
He felt like the unluckiest person alive.
Originally, he had hoped to rank well and earn some decent rewards. But clearly, fate had different plans. A Soul Saint? In the first round?
Although the official description said that many Soul Douluo level experts had entered, everyone knew that Soul Douluos were rare—probably only a few thousand existed across the entire federation.
Soul Saints were more common, but even then, they were nowhere near a majority. To face one right off the bat?
Unlucky didn't begin to describe it.
While his opponent was frozen in disbelief, Gu You casually strolled forward. As he neared, he released his soul pressure.
He wanted to see what would happen when a powerful soul master completely suppressed a lower-ranked one.
The result was immediate.
The four-ring Soul Ancestor felt like his body was going to explode. Soul pressure flooded into him like a crashing wave, locking his limbs and crushing his thoughts.
It was like he'd become a helpless lamb.
Before anything else could happen—bang!—the soul master exploded into light and vanished from the stage.
Did he just get crushed by pressure alone?
Gu You frowned.
"Match over," the mechanical voice said flatly.
That was too easy. The entire fight consisted of him walking forward and releasing pressure. It was a total annihilation.
Thanks to his bloodline and physique, Gu You was relying less and less on his martial soul in combat.
But when his eighth and ninth soul skills awakened, his martial soul would shine again. Those two were always the most powerful—terrifying abilities that allowed Title Douluos to fight beyond their level.
One win.
After leaving the arena, Gu You's floating name tag changed. The characters for "Zijin Wang" turned a light gold, and his win-loss record disappeared, replaced with a golden upward arrow.
That meant he had advanced.
He had officially passed the first round.
'Not bad,' Gu You thought. Just as he was reflecting, a voice rang in his mind.
"Very impressive."
The familiar voice startled him—but only for a moment. Then his eyes lit up.
"Old Dragon God?"
The Companion Dragon God...
(End of Chapter)
---
A Huge Shoutout and Welcome to Matthew Davies for Joining us on Patreon and Becoming a Member of Diamond.
---
This Fanfiction Has Been Completed on Patreon, There is 2 Chapters Ahead of Release for Free Memebers on my Patreon.
Support me if you like this Fanfiction.
Patreon,com/Fallen_Archangel_
(Remove comma for dot.)
Leave a 5 star Review and a Power Stone.