Chapter 44: Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament
It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on time.
Xiao Bai's words caused the two who had been locked in a standoff to freeze in place. Qian Daoliu and the others nearby also turned their gazes toward them.
"Yeah, exactly. Why do you keep insisting that my disciple go over there? Since your daughter is the one coming to look for my disciple anyway, why don't you just send her over here? Wouldn't that solve everything just the same?"
Since the goal was to resolve the issue, why did it have to be Fan Chen going over instead of the other party coming here?
More importantly, it was clearly your daughter who had nearly run off with Fan Chen. Yet in the end, you came to take Fan Chen away—what kind of ridiculous logic was that?
Golden Crocodile Douluo snapped out of it as well. He had been arguing with Di Tian for so long that he hadn't even realized this point.
The main reason he had kept the conversation going was to see if he could extract some information from Di Tian regarding Fan Chen's martial soul.
After all, Di Tian didn't look like someone from any ordinary faction.
The Spirit Hall had dominated the continent for so many years, yet this was the first time they had encountered such a reclusive force.
Just the dragon might he had displayed earlier surpassed that trashy Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon by who knew how many levels.
If they could take this opportunity to establish contact with such a faction, the benefits to the Spirit Hall would be immense.
"No. Why should my daughter come here? Can your poor, rundown place even afford to raise my daughter?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's granary was the entire Star Dou Forest. How long had the Spirit Hall even existed? How could it possibly compare to the Star Dou Forest?
Just the Water of Life produced by the Lake of Life alone was enough to crush all of the Spirit Hall's assets combined.
He could let the Three-Eyed Golden Lion use that stuff as mouthwash. Could the Spirit Hall do that?
"Sigh, Master, why bother wasting words with him? If he looks down on our little backwater, then forget it. A forced melon isn't sweet."
Fan Chen also chimed in from the side, fanning the flames. Xiao Bai's words had truly reminded him of something.
It was them who came looking for him—not the other way around.
The initiative had been in his hands the entire time, yet he had nearly been led astray by Di Tian.
"That brat…"
Qian Daoliu could see right through Fan Chen's thoughts. Clearly, the kid was preparing to take advantage of the situation.
In that case, their side naturally had to cooperate with him.
"Since that's the case, then there's nothing more to discuss. Considering that you had your reasons and didn't cause any real damage, we'll end this matter here."
"Second Elder, see him out."
Qian Daoliu spoke as he prepared to leave directly, but Di Tian was not having it.
What kind of joke was this? You say it's over, and it's over?
Then what had he been busy with all these days?
Did they really think they could just toy with him like a monkey?
"No."
Di Tian's single word caused the group, who had been about to leave, to stop once more. Every single one of them looked at Di Tian with hostile expressions.
"Then what do you want?"
Qian Daoliu's tone clearly turned cold, making it seem as though he was genuinely prepared to fight Di Tian.
Seeing this, Di Tian felt a headache coming on.
He swore that in his entire life, he had never encountered such a ridiculous situation.
It was clearly their doing, yet somehow he ended up being the one suffering for it.
Wasn't he the one who came to demand an explanation? How had it turned into him being the unreasonable one instead?
An inexplicable sense of irritation surged up within him, leaving Di Tian extremely agitated and completely unable to calm down and think things through.
Fan Chen lowered his head and looked at Xiao Bai in his arms. At this moment, a faint glimmer flickered in his eyes.
"So you can actually influence Di Tian… That really is unexpected."
Xiao Bai's abilities were constantly being developed, and each new ability that emerged brought Fan Chen a different kind of surprise.
"This matter will be discussed another time. I'll come find you again."
Di Tian also noticed that something was off with his current state, and he guessed that Fan Chen was responsible.
Given the current situation, he was at a disadvantage and needed to avoid direct confrontation for now.
After leaving those words behind, Di Tian turned and departed immediately.
Watching Di Tian depart, Fan Chen could only let out a slightly regretful sigh.
"What a pity."
He hadn't expected Di Tian to be so cautious. Sure enough, a 700,000-year-old existence was far more sharp-minded than a certain ice silkworm that had slept for most of its life.
Though judging by the timeline, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm should have already been captured and turned into an experience pack by now.
Just as Fan Chen was lost in thought, Golden Crocodile Douluo suddenly grabbed him and lifted him straight up.
"You little brat, you're causing trouble for me every single day."
"What—are you no longer satisfied stirring things up in Spirit City, so you've expanded your 'business' outside as well?"
When it came to stirring up trouble, Fan Chen was absolutely first-rate.
He had barely gone out once, yet he'd already managed to draw out a powerhouse of that level. If they really let him roam free, who knew what kind of chaos he'd cause?
"It's not like I deliberately provoked them. They were the ones who came looking for me, alright? Master, don't wrong an innocent person."
"Innocent my ass. You're just a little troublemaker who loves looking for problems. Right now, you only need to do one thing—get back and go to sleep immediately."
The others nearby couldn't help but laugh at this master-and-disciple duo. Having a disciple like Fan Chen was actually quite entertaining.
If only he had caused a little less trouble, it would've been perfect. After all, Fan Chen's glorious deeds were far from few.
...
After leaving Fan Chen and the others behind, Di Tian's condition gradually improved.
The irritability in his mind slowly faded away. At this moment, he was standing in a forest about a hundred li outside Spirit City.
His expression was somewhat complicated. In the recent confrontation, he had clearly been at an absolute disadvantage.
And the other side was far from simple—especially the bizarre combination of Fan Chen and the Auspicious Beast. Even thinking about it now gave Di Tian a headache.
Originally, he had only planned to investigate quietly. He never expected to run straight into them.
He had thought about secretly capturing the boy and bringing him back first, but he never imagined that the Auspicious Beast would turn out to be that human kid's martial soul.
Worse still, he'd been discovered.
That things had ended up like this was something even Di Tian himself hadn't anticipated.
Moreover, the current Auspicious Beast clearly harbored strong hostility toward him—without a word, it had launched an attack.
Fortunately, it hadn't hit him. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
"Looks like I'll have to go back and discuss this with Bi Ji and the others first."
Di Tian was truly out of options and could only choose to withdraw for now. In any case, his objective this time had more or less been achieved—it was just that the process and outcome had far exceeded his expectations.
With Di Tian's departure, Fan Chen's life returned to its usual rhythm.
High-intensity training left him exhausted every single day.
Every time he returned after training, he would collapse onto the bed and fall asleep immediately.
The next morning, he'd wake up and resume training once more—over and over again, in an endless cycle.
However, this monotonous life soon welcomes a turning point.
Because something major was about to happen in Spirit City.
The Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament was about to begin, and the host of this competition was none other than the Spirit Hall.
No wonder Fan Chen hadn't seen Qian Xunji's old face around these days—it turned out he'd been busy handling this matter.
"The Continental Elite Soul Master Tournament, huh? Looks like there's going to be some excitement to watch again."
As the host of the tournament, the Spirit Hall's strength was undeniably formidable.
Over the years, nearly all the championships had been swept up by the Spirit Hall.
That said, Fan Chen wasn't very familiar with the specifics of this time period, nor did he know who the participants would be this year.
But none of that mattered to him.
What mattered was that Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others finally had work to do, and he himself could enjoy a brief period of leisure.
But even that wasn't the most important thing.
What mattered most was that he planned to use this opportunity to help them pick out disciples.
He had never forgotten about this matter.
Suffering was such a wonderful thing—it had to be shared. How could he possibly shoulder it all alone?
Sharing was a virtue, and Fan Chen just happened to be the kind of person who loved to share it.
"Let me see who the next lucky one will be."
End of Chapter