Douluo's Demon Blade Thousand Blades and the Original Martial Soul

Chapter 8 Battle Arena

Lin Yizhang looked at the big screen, preparing to analyze the contestant information for the next Soul Battle, and planned to place a bet on the next Soul Battle, first using 10 Gold Soul Coins to test the waters.

Information on both sides in the next battle is limited. The big screen only displays names, martial spirits, and battle records. Providing less information is clearly the way the Grand Arena tries to prevent bettors from having too much bias, thus putting the arena at a disadvantage.

One is named Zhang Fan, whose martial spirit is the Dragon Pattern Spear, and he has already achieved four consecutive victories; the other is named Madman, whose martial spirit is the Earth Bear, and he has achieved an astonishing seven consecutive victories.

Lin Yizhang guessed that the Madman's current soul power level had reached level 29, because he had achieved a 7-game winning streak in soul battles at the Great Soul Master stage, which was a very good record.

As for Zhang Fan, his four-game winning streak suggests that he is probably above level 25, or that his soul skills are very powerful.

Lin Yizhang guessed that the madman had a higher probability of winning, so he left the audience to place his bet.

Arriving at the betting counter, Lin Yizhang saw a middle-aged man without a mask placing a bet. Upon seeing the man's face, Lin Yizhang was somewhat surprised, because he was none other than Flander, the Flying Horn of the Golden Iron Triangle.

Flander is so easy to recognize; it seems that Flander is the only one in the Douluo Continent with such a unique appearance.

He looked to be around fifty years old, and although he was not young, he was very muscular.

His face was quite distinctive, with a slightly protruding chin, wide cheekbones, a flat face, and a somewhat hooked nose. If one had to describe it with a single image, one could say his face resembled a shoe sole, and he had a somewhat cunning look.

Seeing that Flander was also placing bets, Lin Yizhang went over to see who he bet on to win, and then he would follow suit and make a profit, since Flander was known for being stingy.

"Place 300 gold soul coins on Zhang Fan to win," Flander said, taking out a bag of gold soul coins and handing it over.

Lin Yizhang was somewhat surprised, then realized that Zhang Fan might be a student of Shrek Academy.

"I'm also betting forty gold soul coins on Zhang Fan to win," Lin Yizhang said, handing over the gold soul coins.

Flander glanced at me a few times. After all, most people were more optimistic about Madman winning. Of course, he didn't pay too much attention to it, because some people saw that the odds of betting on Zhang Fan to win were higher and chose to take a gamble.

Back in the stands, they waited for the battle to begin. Soon after, the battle started, and the two contestants stepped onto the battle stage.

As they summoned their martial spirits, Lin Yizhang was able to identify their identities.

Neither of them wore masks to conceal their identities. The handsome boy, who was over 1.7 meters tall but under 1.8 meters and looked to be thirteen or fourteen, was probably Zhang Fan.

He held a long spear, which was entirely black and appeared to be covered with black dragon scales. The tip of the spear seemed to have a dragon's head attached to it, making it look quite extraordinary.

Judging from his age and abilities, it can be basically confirmed that he is a student of Shrek Academy.

The other robust young man, who looked to be nearly twenty years old and possessed the Martial Soul Earth Bear, must be the Madman.

Both of them had the best combination of two hundred-year soul rings. Then they reported their martial souls and levels to each other: Zhang Fan was level 27 and Kuangren was level 29.

The battle quickly broke out, with the Madman launching the first attack. He clenched his fists and slammed them into the ground, while his first soul ring lit up. "First Soul Skill, Berserker Earth Shattering!" A powerful shockwave about 3 meters wide surged from the ground toward Zhang Fan.

After unleashing his first soul skill, the madman charged towards Zhang Fan's location.

Zhang Fan remained calm and quickly dodged to the right, simultaneously thrusting his spear directly at the charging madman.

The madman skillfully dodged the attacks, intending to continue getting closer to Zhang Fan. As the saying goes, "an inch longer, an inch stronger," and his goal was to engage Zhang Fan in close combat.

Zhang Fan was aware of his own weakness and didn't want the man to get close to him easily, so he changed his spear thrusting technique to a sweeping motion, forcing the madman back.

The two then got entangled and started fighting. Seeing that he couldn't easily get close to Zhang Fan, the Madman used his second soul skill again and shouted, "Try my second soul skill, second soul skill, Bear Hand!"

In the Douluo Continent, Soul Masters like to shout out the names of their Soul Skills during battles, because shouting out the name of a Soul Skill makes its release smoother when they have just obtained a Soul Ring.

Once you've mastered using your soul skills, calling out their names has no effect. But perhaps out of habit, or perhaps because it sounds cool, everyone still calls them out.

Lin Yizhang didn't think much of it. He wouldn't shout if it was a sneak attack or a life-or-death battle, but in fair and square battles like the Soul Arena, shouting it out would make him feel excited, and the audience would feel more excited too.

The madman's hands instantly transformed into a pair of raging earth bear paws, with sharp bear claws appearing on his fingers. He swung his claws at Zhang Fan repeatedly, like an enraged bear determined to tear everything in its path to shreds.

Faced with the second soul skill attack of a level 29 Great Soul Master, Zhang Fan's expression also became solemn. His soul power was two levels lower than his opponent's, so he dared not be careless and directly used his first and second soul skills.

"First Soul Skill, Unstoppable Force"

"Second Soul Skill, Unstoppable Force"

Suddenly, the spear's power surged to its peak, and then it thrust forward with tremendous force.

With a loud "boom," a gust of wind howled, and when the dust settled, only Zhang Fan, somewhat exhausted, remained standing on the Soul Fighting Platform, holding his gun.

The Madman was knocked off the fighting platform, clutching his chest with his left hand and bleeding from his mouth. He was clearly seriously injured, but he did not faint.

The host was a young man, not the DouDou he knew. Lin Yizhang was a little disappointed that he didn't get to see the beautiful host.

As the host announced Zhang Fan's victory, cries of despair erupted from the audience, clearly indicating that they had lost the bet.

Ignoring what others were doing, Lin Yizhang was also quite excited. He must have won a lot tonight, so he hurried over to exchange his bets.

Upon arriving at the betting exchange counter, Lin Yizhang saw Flander. This guy hadn't gone to visit Zhang Fan. Could it be that Zhang Fan wasn't a student of Shrek Academy? But that doesn't make sense either. If Flander didn't know Zhang Fan's background very well, why would he bet so much money?

Although puzzled, he didn't sit still and handed over the certificate in his hand.

Having successfully obtained the money—a full 210 gold soul coins—Lin Yizhang first wandered around the Soul Arena to make sure no one was following him before leaving.

Flander was a familiar character. As for why he didn't strike up a conversation with Flander earlier, Lin Yizhang planned to visit Flander's shop again tomorrow.

Logically, Flander should have taken in Ma Hongjun and Oscar by now.

I remember that Flander met Ma Hongjun when he went to help the village awaken its martial soul. Flander was impressed by Ma Hongjun's innate level 9 soul power and his flying martial soul, so he took him in as his personal disciple to inherit his mantle.

Lin Yizhang had no recollection of when Oscar entered Shrek Academy, but he figured that the fact that his innate talent for a food-type martial soul with full soul power hadn't been stolen by the Spirit Hall was most likely discovered by Flander when he was digging up potential talents and helping them awaken their martial souls.

I and Tang San are currently six years old, so Ma Hongjun should also be six years old, and Oscar is eight years old.

Dai Mubai should be 9 years old now. He seems to have entered Shrek Academy at the age of 12, class of 25.

With Ma Hongjun and Oscar at Shrek Academy, the academy must have some books. I don't recognize most of the characters in Douluo Continent yet, so I can study with Ma Hongjun.

Since he didn't intend to join Shrek Academy or owe them a favor, Lin Yizhang's solution was to cooperate with Flander to make money, giving him most of the profits as a condition for him to agree to let him study at Shrek as an auditor.

Given Flanders' personality, as long as there's money to be made and he doesn't suffer any loss, he'll definitely agree to this small request.

Even if the people at Shrek Academy discover that I have outstanding talent as a Soul Master and want to leave, they probably won't forcibly stop me. After all, they are not a powerful force and have no motive to kill geniuses.

(End of this chapter)