Douluo V: Daily Intelligence - I Want All of Tang San's Opportunities

The applause this time was noticeably sparser than before, and many people in the audience looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Which family does this Su Yuntao belong to?"

"When did our Kingdom of Barak acquire a viscount named Su Yuntao?"

Ma Hongjun turned to look at Oscar in the crowd: "Oscar, do you know who this Su Yuntao is?"

Oscar shook his head: "I don't know. I've never heard of a viscount named Su Yuntao in the Kingdom of Barak before."

As the two were talking, the young Soul Master next to them, wearing a brown short jacket and who had just been mocking them, gave them a disdainful look:

"You haven't even heard of Viscount Su Yuntao? He's the one who personally killed a ten-thousand-year-old Golden-Winged Roc in Barak City. You're all so ignorant."

Ma Hongjun was stunned for a moment: "Personally killed the ten-thousand-year-old Golden-Winged Roc? That's no ordinary ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, is it true?"

The young Soul Master snorted coldly:

"How could this be fake? You must not be locals from Barak City. Many of us witnessed what happened with our own eyes. That golden-winged roc swooped down from the sky, its wingspan wider than the city wall, but it was still killed head-on by Viscount Su."

Ma Hongjun glanced at the figure sitting on the judges' panel again, and opened his mouth: "That amazing?"

"Of course!"

Seeing Ma Hongjun's interest, the young soul master became even more enthusiastic:

"Besides that ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, I've also heard that Viscount Su even personally killed a Soul Emperor expert."

"A Soul Emperor? How old is he? And his soul power should only be around level 40, right? Killed a Soul Emperor? How did he do that?"

The young Soul Master was stumped this time, and he scratched his head:

"Well... I didn't see it with my own eyes, but everyone's talking about it, so it can't be wrong."

At this moment, an old Soul Master nearby chimed in:

"Don't you believe me? I watched Viscount Su chase that Soul Emperor all the way from Barak City to the outskirts of the city. He forced the Soul Emperor to jump off a cliff to escape, but before he even landed, Viscount Su killed him in mid-air. Otherwise, how do you think he became a viscount?"

Ma Hongjun opened his mouth: "You mean... his viscountcy wasn't hereditary, but an honorary title?"

The old Soul Master nodded: "Of course, Viscount Su's title was personally bestowed upon him by the king after he killed the Ten-Thousand-Year Golden-Winged Roc and that Soul Emperor. It was a real viscount title, the kind that grants control over a territory."

After hearing this, Ma Hongjun fell completely silent:

"If I had a viscount's title, I'd never have to worry about not having girls who like me..."

Oscar stood to the side without saying a word, but his gaze was noticeably more serious than before.

Everything Su Yuntao possessed was the kind of life he had always dreamed of.

On the arena, after the murmurs from the Spirit Hall deacons subsided slightly, they opened the booklet in their hands and began to explain the rules:

"There are a total of 212 participants in the junior group and 536 participants in the youth group of the Barak Kingdom preliminary competition. Each group will compete in a free-for-all with 10 participants. If there are fewer than 10 participants, they will be in a separate group. Only two people will advance from each round. All those who advance will participate in a second round of free-for-all, again in groups of 10. The top two winners from each round will qualify to go to the Heavenly Dou Imperial City to participate in the qualifying competition."

He closed the booklet in his hand and continued, "The rewards for this preliminary round are jointly provided by the Kingdom of Barak and the Spirit Hall. In addition to the winners of each group in the second round qualifying for the next round, all contestants who advance to the second round will receive a reward of ten gold spirit coins."

A cheer erupted from the audience.

Ten gold soul coins might not be much to some nobles, but for the vast majority of commoner soul masters, it is a considerable sum of money.

Ma Hongjun's eyes lit up when he heard this:

"Ten gold soul coins? Even if we don't advance in the end, we have to get through the first round!"

Oscar nodded subconsciously as well:

"Yes, these ten gold soul coins, these are the real deal."

The two exchanged a glance, and although they didn't say anything more, their enthusiasm was clearly even stronger than before.

The Spirit Hall deacon glanced at the booklet again and finally said:

"Now, please welcome the first group of contestants from the first round to the stage."

Ten boys whose names were called walked up from around the arena one after another.

The first group consisted entirely of junior contestants, the oldest of whom looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, while the youngest had only recently awakened their martial soul.

They spread out on the stage, some were already flexing their wrists, some were lowering their heads to adjust their breathing, and others were trembling as they looked at their opponents.

A sturdy young man was the first to reveal his martial spirit, which was a long sword with two yellow spirit rings.

A tall, thin man next to him then revealed his own martial spirit, a pair of short sticks, also with two yellow spirit rings.

The others also revealed their martial souls one after another, most of which were weapon martial souls such as scythes and hammers, and a few were beast martial souls, but most of them were ordinary beast martial souls such as hunting dogs and gray wolves.

Without further ado, the referee raised his right hand and decisively lowered it: "Begin!"

The young man with the long sword made the first move. He took a step forward and slashed at the nearest tall, thin man with his short stick. The tall, thin man parried with his short stick and took half a step back, but another person had already closed in on his flank and grabbed at his shoulder with a claw.

The tall, thin man had no choice but to retract his short stick and turn around to block, but the young man with the long sword seized the opportunity to slash horizontally, forcing him to the edge of the arena.

The tall, thin man tried to jump away, but someone had already blocked his escape route from behind. He was forced to the edge and struggled for a moment, but was eventually pushed off the stage, becoming the first person to be eliminated.

The remaining nine people were noticeably more cautious than before. Some began looking for suitable angles to attack, some took a few steps back to try to reduce the risk of being surrounded, and some had already reached a brief verbal agreement with those around them to temporarily refrain from attacking each other and clear out the others first.

The figures on the stage changed positions several times in just a few breaths, and several people were pushed off the stage one after another.

In the end, only two people remained on the field: a young man wielding a knife and a skinny man with an iron chain. The two stared at each other for a moment in the center of the arena, and then simultaneously withdrew their martial spirits.

The referee at the edge of the ring confirmed that only two people remained standing in the arena, and raised his right hand to announce the result of the first group.

A burst of scattered applause immediately rang out from the audience.

Standing in the crowd, Ma Hongjun watched the two men walk off the stage and couldn't help but say, "This is such a mess! How can they fight like this?"

Oscar stood to the side without saying a word, but his gaze remained fixed on the ring, as if he were constantly assessing something in his mind.