The poor pink fox had finally met its nemesis.
The two little girls genuinely liked it, but since they were young and rough, the fox often lost patches of fur to their petting.
So now, whenever it saw them, the pink fox reflexively bolted.
…
Leisurely and happy days always pass quickly.
Only half a month remained before the 2023rd All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament, hosted by the Heavenly Soul Empire.
During this time, all the soul master academies on the continent were preparing in secret for this top event.
Changli had already registered Saint Freya Academy for the tournament.
The seven team members were also decided.
Besides Zhang Lexuan and Keqing, the other five were students recruited by Saint Freya in recent years.
However, these five had only average talent and were unlikely to achieve much as soul masters.
So, they decisively sold themselves to Lu Jingming, undergoing the Fusion Warrior surgery.
After the tournament, they would leave Saint Freya Academy, abandon their former identities, and join the Golden Guards or the Wuchang Division.
But before that, they had to do their best in this tournament—it was, after all, the reason they got this precious chance to become Fusion Warriors.
Due to limited resources, and since they hadn't made any meritorious contributions yet, they only received Soul Ancestor-level fusion surgery.
But that was fine—the real main force was still Zhang Lexuan and Keqing.
These two had trained for a whole year at Shrek Academy's Golden Tree, successfully breaking through to Soul Sage.
On their return, with Jingliu's help, they obtained their seventh soul rings.
Thus, with two Soul Sages leading, Saint Freya Academy was almost guaranteed victory in the tournament.
The Sea Abyss was left in Shrek City for Ningguang to use, and the second air soul tool battleship hadn't been completed yet.
Helpless, Zhang Lexuan and the others could only rely on flying soul tools to travel to the Heavenly Soul Empire.
This time, the group consisted of seven contestants, plus Jingliu and Lu Jingming—nine in total. Oh, and the pink fox, too.
Lu Jingming happened to need his third soul ring from Star Dou Forest and was curious about the tournament, so he planned to watch as well.
After all, it was a world-class event—he didn't want to miss out.
Lu Jingming had always been eager to explore the world. Previously, he only understood it through words, lacking real experience.
Since he was still young, he'd never left Haiyuan City—this was a great chance to see the splendor of Heaven Dou City.
Because they needed to go to Star Dou Forest, they had to take a detour.
But with half a month until the tournament, and only needing his third soul ring, Lu Jingming had plenty of time.
At first, Lu Jingming thought, like other soul masters, that a soul skill's type depended on the soul beast hunted, so he sought out destruction- and death-type beasts for his first ring.
But after obtaining his second ring, Herta told him his Black Abyss White Flower was completely different from other martial souls.
No matter what type of soul beast's ring he absorbed, the soul skills would all be powers inherent to the Black Abyss White Flower.
Absorbing rings and raising cultivation were just unlocking the flower's true power. The real determinant of his soul skills' strength wasn't the beast's type, but the ring's age—the higher, the stronger.
Thus, he no longer had to painstakingly hunt for rare destruction- and death-type soul beasts.
After all, those types were rare, and he needed high-year rings.
For his third ring, while most Soul Elders absorbed only thousand-year rings, he set his sights on a ten-thousand-year ring.
Physically, as long as he could endure the pain of absorbing the ring, the White Flower's power of creation would let him survive.
Mentally, a red light flashed in Lu Jingming's eyes, a sign of intense spiritual power.
He had practiced swordsmanship since childhood—not just ordinary techniques, but the cultivation of spirit and will into sword intent, as Jingliu had taught him.
Once sword intent was mastered, any weapon could be deadly.
Though he hadn't yet mastered it, years of training had greatly strengthened his spirit.
Now, his spiritual power far surpassed other spirit-type soul masters at his level.
Therefore, he was confident in absorbing a ten-thousand-year ring.
He didn't fear being torn apart by berserk soul power, nor having his soul harmed by the remnant soul of a ten-thousand-year beast.
Though there were other ways to increase ring age later, the rebound from over-limit absorption would save him much cultivation time.
Upon reaching Star Dou Forest, Zhang Lexuan and Keqing led the team to wait outside.
Only Lu Jingming and Jingliu entered the forest—the little fox stayed behind with Keqing.
Since their goal was a ten-thousand-year beast, Jingliu took Lu Jingming straight to the core area.
The soul beasts there were all strong in age and bloodline.
Even so, finding a beast of about ten thousand years was no easy task—they spent a lot of time searching.
Along the way, they encountered several soul beasts, but their ages were all too high, far beyond what Lu Jingming could absorb.
At that moment, Jingliu sensed a rapidly moving soul beast.
It exuded light and fire and was about fifteen thousand years old—perfect for Lu Jingming's needs.
With Jingliu's signal, Lu Jingming's hand filled with black mist, and a pitch-black spear appeared.
He stepped calmly into an open area, quietly waiting for the beast.
A ten-thousand-year soul beast already had Soul King-level strength.
Ordinarily, such a foe would be impossible for a mere Soul Elder to handle.
But Lu Jingming was no ordinary soul master. His powerful physique, far superior martial soul, and the Black Abyss Spear all gave him the confidence to challenge above his rank.
To him, it was just a ten-thousand-year soul beast—its intelligence not yet fully awakened, its beast nature dominant. Why should he fear it?
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