Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao who returned from Sekiro

Chapter 629 The Soul-Sacrificing Shop (Daily Ten Thousand Words)

"Long live the Regent! Long live the Regent! Long live the Regent!" The people of the Sun Moon Empire knelt down and paid their respects to the Regent, who, though in a wheelchair, was about to ascend the throne as the new emperor.

Xu Tianran sat in his wheelchair, still smiling. He extended his right hand to Ju Zi, who had returned to his side.

Ju Zi placed her right hand in his palm, then sat down next to him, a faint smile on her pretty face.

Xu Tianran patted her hand without saying anything, his calm gaze fixed on the competition stage below.

"My esteemed ministers, please take your seats," Xu Tianran said calmly. Only then did the ministers of the Sun Moon Empire dare to sit down. Each seat had a corresponding nameplate. These seats were not to be taken incorrectly; they corresponded to the ministers' rank.

Sitting on the other side of Regent Xu Tianran was not Jing Hongchen, the head of Mingde Hall, but a middle-aged man wearing a black robe with gold trim.

The man was expressionless and pale. Even more strangely, a mist seemed to shroud his face, obscuring his features. Mingde Hall Master Jing Hongchen sat on the other side of the orange.

"The competition rules will now be read aloud," a loud voice announced. Then began the reading of the competition rules, identical to those given to each team.

He announced loudly: "The first match of the preliminary elimination rounds—Soul Palace versus Dragon Slayer Sect, each side sends seven members to the waiting area."

Ok?

Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow slightly. It seemed that Zhang Peng's words carried weight. Although it was just a fleeting glance, the other party had clearly noticed the strangeness of the Soul Palace.

If he wasn't mistaken, this Dragon Slaying Sect should have been specially prepared by the Sun Moon Empire for the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. Judging from the appearance of this group of people, it was obviously a sect with decent strength on paper. Their empty pockets probably meant they were quite resistant to soul tools.

With above-average strength, and just enough to be crushed by the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, they are definitely a very good target as an opening act. It is not easy to pick out the Dragon Slaying Sect from so many teams.

Shrek Academy had a bye, so logically the first team to play should have been the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy. However, due to the appearance of the Soul Hall, the Sun Moon Empire had to temporarily give up this good opportunity to set the tone for the competition and instead use the Dragon Slaying Sect to test the Soul Hall's strength.

The group from the Soul Palace, including their "instructors" Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan, stood up and walked towards the waiting area, causing Jing Hongchen to suddenly stand up as well.

"I was wondering how those two guys, who dropped out of school without a word, ended up in such an obscure little organization."

"Well, at least these two weren't kidnapped by that bastard Huo Yuhao. Thank goodness."

"Master of the Red Dust Hall, what's going on here?"

Xu Tianran looked at Jing Hongchen with some confusion.

"I apologize, Your Highness, I was a bit out of line. These two teachers leading the Soul Hall organization are from our academy. They dropped out a few months ago. I didn't expect them to have joined such an organization."

Xu Tianran then nodded.

But soon, something even more unsettling happened: he finally saw clearly who was standing on the Soul Battle Platform – Ghost Nana.

No, isn't this one of our academy's regular team members this year? How did he end up in that Soul Hall?

At this moment, Jing Hongchen was unaware that because of the Soul Hall's participation in the competition, a shop called "Soul Sacrifice Old Shop" in Mingdu's underworld had quietly closed down, causing many people to panic.

The mules were shrewd too. Instead of taking such a big risk to cross the border, they decided to just sell the rare metals to the old Soul Sacrifice Shop. But as soon as they arrived at the shop, they saw a line of big words.

"We'll close for a few days to watch the game, and reopen as usual after the game."

"Please welcome the first-place winners from the Soul Hall and Dragon Slayer Sect elimination rounds to enter the arena and shake hands in greeting."

On the Dragon Slaying Sect's side, a young man of short stature appeared. His appearance was somewhat unusual; his head was flat, and although he was short, he appeared quite heavy. His hands were particularly large, spread out at his sides like palm-leaf fans.

Nana walked unhurriedly toward the center of the Soul Arena, pulling out a string of level-six healing bottles from her storage soul tool and hanging them on her waist, which made the first member of the Dragon Slayer Sect twitch at the corner of his eye.

"In this individual elimination tournament, the match ends when one side is rendered unable to fight, concedes defeat, or the referee decides the winner. Do not injure your opponent if possible. Understand?" the referee said sternly to both sides.

"Understood." The young man representing the Dragon Slayer Sect looked capable and answered, then turned and walked in his own direction without even the most basic greeting.

Nana didn't react much to this. As Huo Yuhao's head butler, she had met all sorts of people these days, including many arrogant fools like Fatty Feng Ling. He was just a bit arrogant, nothing to brag about.

Soon, both sides stood at one end.

The referee raised his right hand high, and the moment his palm fell, the first battle of the new Continental Youth Soul Master Tournament officially began.

"Bang!" The referee's right hand had just landed when a low rumble erupted from beneath the feet of the young man from the Dragon Slayer Sect. The hard metal ground was dented by his kick, and his short, stocky body shot towards Nana like a cannonball.

Superficial contempt doesn't necessarily mean underestimating the enemy. In a battle against a Soul Master, closing the distance is undoubtedly crucial. The Dragon Slayer Sect member's Soul Rings only lit up as he lunged forward.

It's easy to see from the formidable power he unleashed that he is a power-attack type Soul Master. He possesses incredible explosive power, and for a short period of time, he can even make his cultivation level comparable to that of an agility-attack type Soul Master.

Two yellow, two purple, and one black spirit rings—five in the perfect ratio—rose from the young man's body. It's important to understand that in previous competitions, a five-ring spirit ring participant was already considered extremely powerful. Six-ring spirit rings were only possessed by a very small number of top academies.

The Dragon Slaying Sect, though relatively unknown, managed to send out a five-ring Soul King right off the bat, demonstrating the sect's formidable strength. This sight caused the leaders of the various academy teams to pale in disbelief.

The greatest advantage of a sect is the purity of its bloodline. Although it may not produce exceptionally gifted geniuses, the starting point is likely to be innate level four or five soul power, and level six or seven is also quite common. As long as they are willing to give birth, the younger generation will ultimately have a solid foundation of strength.

Nana simply lowered the spirit ring beneath her feet.

Yellow, purple, black—six spirit rings with the best spirit ring ratio have fallen from Nana's feet. As Huo Yuhao's chief steward, there's no way Huo Yuhao would refuse to provide resources to Nana, right?

Before anyone could recover from the shock of the Soul Palace, a small sect, sending a Soul Emperor to the arena, Nana's sixth Soul Ring suddenly detached from her body, and a powerful aura and a faint phantom emanated from the Soul Ring!

(End of this chapter)