Chapter 101: She slandered me, she slandered me!
Countless colorful smokes dyed the sky, and the audience's cheers rose and fell. At this moment, the honor of the championship made everyone temporarily set aside their prejudices and celebrate this team that represented the highest honor in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament.
"Yuhao, we won! We are the champions!"
"Hahaha, we won the Empire's first All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament!"
The Sun Moon team members tossed Huo Yuhao high into the air. At this point, they no longer cared about anything; they lacked nothing.
Upon returning to the Empire, only honor and praise awaited them. They had achieved what countless predecessors could not. They would be etched into the honor halls of many academies, remembered forever by future generations of students.
They did not have ten thousand years of glory, but they had embarked on their own path to glory, and everyone at this moment believed that this glory would continue. This was the first time, but it would definitely not be the last.
Huo Yuhao's heart was also filled with soaring ambition. It had to be said that being watched by tens of thousands of people, with praise and applause ringing for him, was a feeling hard to describe in words.
No wonder Shrek cared so much about this championship. Who wouldn't be overwhelmed by such a moment?
He was no longer weak, nor was he the rookie who had escaped the Star Dou Great Forest, desperately moving to the Sun Moon Empire for survival, worried about not receiving attention.
He had already obtained the highest honor possible for his age, and his name, Huo Yuhao, would continue to spread across the continent, attracting the attention of countless people.
The previously echoing "Heaven's Movement is Vigorous" Echo was now vibrating constantly, gently echoing on the End-Time Bell Martial Soul due to Huo Yuhao's strong emotions. At this moment, the bell patterns representing "Heaven's Movement is Vigorous" seemed to become even more profound.
"Destiny" and "Strong Luck" were also silently undergoing changes.
The All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament came to an end. Due to the fervent atmosphere on site, it temporarily descended into chaos.
The Shrek supporters and the Star Luo Empire fans had already begun indiscriminate combat. To maintain order, the Star Luo Empire had to postpone the awards ceremony.
Perhaps to protect Shrek's reputation, or to diminish Sun Moon Team's victory, the Star Luo Empire made a small move: the awards ceremony would not be open to the public.
This was also to avoid dampening the morale of the Star Luo Empire's citizens. After all, at their home venue, they watched the Sun Moon Team defeat the Shrek and Star Luo Team to win the championship, then saw them receive awards. It was simply too outrageous.
If they lost face, so be it. Xu Jiawei couldn't care less at this point.
And the Sun Moon Team cared even less. We are already champions; whether the ceremony proceeds or not is irrelevant. It's better to save some face for the Star Luo Empire.
The tournament's grand prize was three Soul Bones, all of a common type, and they hadn't been awarded yet. They weren't considered rare, and neither Huo Yuhao nor Xiao Hongchen could truly value them. One could only say they were better than nothing.
Compared to the original timeline, the Star Luo Empire would not provide those rare Soul Bones to aid the Sun Moon Empire. If they had guaranteed before that the reward was Soul Bones, they wouldn't even be willing to give these prizes.
Meanwhile, in the northeastern border region of the Star Luo Empire, near the Star Dou Great Forest—
Xuan Zi, leading Ma Xiaotao, Bei Bei, and others, was preparing to return to Shrek when they finally encountered the Holy Spirit Church, which had been waiting and ambushing them there for a long time.
Originally, the Holy Spirit Church planned to deploy Vice-Patriarch Feng Ling, Sixth Elder Zhang Peng, and Second Elder Nangong Wan—who was ambushing in the dark—to hold back Xuan Zi and Elder Zhuang, then take Ma Xiaotao away.
But they didn't expect the situation to be even better than they imagined.
Now, only Xuan Zi, the Taotie Douluo, was escorting the injured team members alone. Elder Zhuang had stayed in Star Luo City to protect the remaining Shrek team members watching the final match.
This was truly a blessing from the heavens for the Holy Spirit Church.
This must be the blessing of the Great Holy Spirit Lord.
"Holy Spirit Church?" Xuan Zi felt a bad premonition.
"Evil Soul Masters!"
Ling Luochen and Zhu Lu were fine, but now they suddenly saw several Titled Douluo-level powerhouses aggressively appearing before them—all of whom were Evil Soul Masters. Even fools would recognize they were targeting them.
Especially Ling Luochen and the newly awakened Bei Bei, who had experienced the disaster of the Soul King Evil Soul Master; their hearts pounded whenever they saw an Evil Soul Master.
Ma Xiaotao and Caitou were still in a coma and unaware of what was happening outside.
"Scum of the Holy Spirit Church, are you seeking death?"
As a rank ninety-seven Super Douluo and a Titled Evil Phoenix, Feng Ling was unafraid of Xuan Zi. Besides, the two were, in a sense, "old acquaintances."
She mocked directly, "Old fellow, I heard about Shrek's deeds. I didn't expect that the disciples led by an old fellow like you would be so vulnerable."
"The entire main team of Shrek fell into the hands of a Soul King from the Holy Spirit Church. The Holy Spirit Church really owes you a great debt!"
'She slandered me, she slandered me!'
Xuan Zi felt a pang in his heart. The news spread too quickly; even the Holy Spirit Church members knew about it.
At this moment, he also recognized who was before him: Feng Ling, a woman who had once been hurt by that scoundrel Yan Shaozhe.
Isn't it absurd? The dignified leader of the Sunset Water Alliance, the Vice-Leader of the Holy Spirit Church, and the wife of Leader Zhong Liwu, was involved with Yan Shaozhe, the notorious philanderer.
Adding Xian Lin'er, Cai Mei'er, and others, it was hard to imagine how outrageous the consequences would be if Yan Shaozhe could stabilize his harem and rally them with a shout.
Leaving aside everything else, if Feng Ling loved Yan Shaozhe deeply and directly gave Zhong Liwu, the Leader of the Holy Spirit Church, some "medicine" (like "Big Brother, take your medicine"), hiss, that's a bit too much to imagine...
However, even after recognizing her, Xuan Zi couldn't bring himself to get close to her.
Besides, turning evil due to unrequited love is the underlying logic of this world. Xuan Zi wasn't Yan Shaozhe; if you dared to get close, Feng Ling, the Vice-Leader, wouldn't give you a face. Turning evil makes you three times stronger—an iron rule.
Zhang Peng continued with a jab, "Taotie Douluo, could it be that you, old sir, are truly an undercover agent of the Holy Spirit Church planted within Shrek? You're so effective that it makes us feel very uninvolved."
"Nevertheless, we thank you, old sir, for your contributions to the Holy Spirit Church. Everyone outside is now saying, 'Never provoke a Soul King of the Holy Spirit Church.' Look, all this is your doing, old sir."
One person single-handedly ruined almost a generation of the Shrek Seven Devils. When the Holy Spirit Church members first heard this, they were almost scared silly.
No, are the low-level Soul Masters of our Holy Spirit Church really that effective? This battle record is a bit exaggerated.
If the Evil Soul King Spirit Master hadn't died, they would want to see what kind of being could achieve such a feat.
"If you've come to mock me, then this old man can only say you've provoked the wrong person. Retreat now, and I might spare your lives!"
Xuan Zi's veins throbbed with anger. He saw Bei Bei and Ling Luochen instinctively retreat a few steps. 'Damn it, I'm really not a member of the Holy Spirit Church!'
Actually, he misunderstood. Ling Luochen and the others retreated because they heard what these Holy Spirit Church members called Xuan Zi. Elder Xuan is a Super Douluo, and these enemies were so arrogant, clearly Evil Soul Masters of at least the Titled Douluo rank.
They dared not get involved casually, or the aftermath alone could kill them dozens of times over.
"Hahaha, old fellow, you don't really think a few harsh words can scare us, do you? Let me tell you the truth: today, we're here for that little phoenix in your hands."
Zhang Peng's ferocious expression was clear. "Old fellow, hand her over obediently, or these little ones behind you will all die today!"
If Huo Yuhao joined the Holy Spirit Church, he would definitely act without hesitation. Why bother with all this chatter? Just say "I don't eat beef," snatch the person, and run—wouldn't that be enough?
They just had to mock a few times, as if others wouldn't realize they weren't good people without such words.
Things looked grim. Xuan Zi wanted to run, but seeing how distressed Ling Luochen, Bei Bei, and the others looked, he simply couldn't leave these little ones behind.
But how could he make another mistake? If Ma Xiaotao was really snatched away by these bastards, he... Well, he had already made too many mistakes; he couldn't even remember them all.
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End of Chapter