Shrek's first match ended with extraordinary speed.
As soon as Ling Luochen took the stage, she didn't even release a single soul ring. Simply by circulating her soul power, she summoned an ice tornado that blanketed the entire arena. The referee was forced to intervene, and surprisingly, the defense-system Soul Douluo acting as the official nearly failed to block it.
Throughout the process, Ling Luochen remained expressionless, sweeping away the dust like an Ice Queen before departing.
This strength, comparable to the Soul Saint level, cast a dark shadow over the hearts of many powerful teams. Meanwhile, the cheers of the audience erupted without restraint.
In the matches over the following days, Ling Luochen consistently took the stage alone. Every time, she used a massive ice tornado to pressure the field, sweeping all her opponents off the stage.
This behavior instantly earned Ling Luochen a massive wave of fans. After all, she was beautiful, powerful, and had such a cold, elegant aura—the "character design" was simply perfect!
However...
The reason Ling Luochen opened with her ultimate move and crushed everyone was simply that she was sulking with no place to vent, so she took her frustration out on her opponents.
Ever since the day before the competition, when she saw that team member in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Tool Engineer Academy representative team who "closely resembled" Huo Yuhao, Ling Luochen had been desperate to figure out what was going on.
Especially since she hadn't caught another glimpse of him after that first sighting, Ling Luochen's intuition told her: That person is Yuhao!
Having settled on this thought, Ling Luochen naturally wanted a face-to-face confrontation. Of course, she didn't want to ask pointless questions like why he was with the Sun Moon Empire team, whether he had betrayed Shrek, or if the Spirit Transmission Pagoda had ulterior motives.
She, Ling Luochen, had long since signed her "deed of sale" (or so she thought), and she and a certain someone had done almost everything except the final step. How could she give up now?
If anyone forced her to choose a side, she would choose to stand by Huo Yuhao without a moment's hesitation. Whether it was Shrek, the Spirit Transmission Pagoda, the Sun Moon Empire, or anything else—she would stand beside Huo Yuhao.
The question she wanted to ask was simple: Why does he look so young?! Just how old is this guy!!!
Ling Luochen had a clear self-awareness. She had to admit that she was actually a "shotacon" (someone attracted to younger males), but because a certain someone suited her taste so perfectly, she hadn't been able to resist "changing her palette."
But now, you're telling me her tastes haven't changed at all, and the one she set her sights on was just a master of disguise who tricked her?!
Ling Luochen was in a total state of disarray, resolving to ask for clarity once she got back! Furthermore, why were there two more people by his side? Is this guy a Succubus?!
Ling Luochen fell silent, recalling that certain someone's flawless face, and instantly confirmed her theory.
—That guy is definitely a Succubus!
"Ling Luochen? Ling Luochen!"
In the meeting room, Wang Yan's voice pulled the daydreaming Ling Luochen back to reality.
"Ah... what is it?"
Seeing Ling Luochen spacing out again, Wang Yan didn't know what to say for a moment, but he repeated himself: "Tomorrow is the match against Tianxing Academy. The format is 2-2-3. I plan to have you go last. For the first two rounds, I want the other reserve members to go up and get familiar with combat. What do you think?"
Over the past few days, Ling Luochen had proven her off-the-charts combat power, giving Wang Yan a massive boost in confidence and making him feel the championship was within reach.
Consequently, his tactical arrangements were no longer as overly cautious as before. He began letting others take the stage to gain experience for the later rounds.
Arranging them one by one, almost everyone got a chance to play—except Tang San.
Of course, Wang Yan wasn't targeting him; he wanted to keep Tang San as another trump card. After all, Tang San's fifth ring was a 100,000 Year Soul Ring! Moreover, he possessed the two divine skills: "Resurrection" and "Purification."
One could say that as long as Tang San's soul power didn't run dry, he was impossible to defeat. He was the perfect unexpected trump card!
To this, Tang San merely nodded with a calm gaze.
A moment later, the meeting ended. Tang San did not return to his room. Instead, while no one was paying attention, he activated "Concealment" and quietly slipped out of the hotel.
This was one of the two soul skills from his 100,000 Year Golden Ancient Tree Left Leg Bone. It allowed him to manipulate all surrounding vegetation to hide his presence. While difficult to use in actual combat, it was perfect for this.
He maintained "Concealment" all the way to a secluded spot in Star Net City, where he saw a figure who had been waiting for a long time—Dao Jie.
Upon seeing Dao Jie, Tang San subconsciously felt a faint ache below. His mind involuntarily recalled the scenes from that day, and his gaze turned several degrees colder.
Killing intent surged in his heart, but Tang San ultimately stayed his hand.
He reached out and took a storage soul tool ring from Dao Jie's hand. With a thought, the corpse of a recently killed soul beast appeared before him.
In an instant, all of Tang San's annoyance toward Dao Jie transformed into greed for life force.
Without any hesitation, Tang San unleashed a Blue Silver Binding while the Eight Spider Lances erupted from his back, beginning to devour the soul beast in front of him.
Ever since his Dantian was shattered and he killed Dai Yueheng, devouring the full life force of two Soul Kings and one Soul Emperor in succession, the way he looked at other Soul Masters had undergone an indescribable change.
It was greed—a hunger for the pure life force within the bodies of surrounding Soul Masters. This was an instinct born from Tang San's broken body.
His body truly couldn't hold on much longer. If he didn't continue devouring life force to replenish the cultivation he was constantly losing, he feared he would eventually become an ordinary person with martial souls and soul rings but not a shred of soul power!
So, he truly had no choice. He had to devour life force! In fact, if he devoured enough, there was even a possibility that his cultivation could still progress!
And so, Tang San saw hope again.
He just needed to devour more life force. Once this was over, he would go to the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Currently, he possessed the two divine skills of "Resurrection" and "Purification." Breaking through the Jade Phosphorus Poison Formation he had once laid down would be no problem at all!
When the time came, he would only need to reveal the aura of his remaining Divine Consciousness and have an immortal herb sacrifice itself to him. He would immediately break through to Rank 60!
Then, he would consume the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot while having those two immortal herbs sacrifice themselves as well. He would successfully reconstruct his Dantian with an Ice and Fire Golden Body while gaining two more 100,000 Year Soul Rings!
He still had hope!
The pleasure brought by absorbing life force made Tang San unable to stop fantasizing about a beautiful future. However, Tang San didn't notice...
As he greedily pulled one soul beast corpse after another from the storage ring to devour, a figure completely hidden in the shadows watched the entire scene play out.