. Xiao Hongchen stared blankly at the azure sky above the Soul Arena. The warm midday sun couldn't penetrate his gloomy heart. The blue sky and white
clouds seemed filtered through a heavy lens, making the whole world appear dim and lifeless.
He rarely read those chivalrous novels; every time Meng Hongchen forced him to, he'd complain about why the author always made it rain on the day the protagonist lost.
Now he understood a little. Xiao Hongchen really wished for a torrential downpour to wash away his shame, or better yet, for a bolt of lightning to strike him dead!
The thought of losing a one-on-one duel to a second-ring Great Soul Master in the Heavenly Soul Empire made him want
to flee the Douluo Continent that very night, carrying the Mingde Hall with him.
If the people from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy found out, he felt his Soul Master career would probably be over.
The only thing that gave Xiao Hongchen a sliver of comfort was that the Soul Arena wasn't using a recording device to document the matches.
He barely managed to preserve what little dignity he had left.
Clearly, he'd forgotten his younger sister carried a recording soul tool.
Meng Hongchen, on the other hand, was gleefully recording Xiao Hongchen's humiliation.
This video would be enough to keep
Xiao Hongchen entertained for life! If he refused to give her the latest soul tool she wanted, Meng Hongchen would pull out this video and say,
"Xiao, you don't want the people at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy to know about this, do you?"
Xiao Hongchen lay helplessly in the mud, his body wracked with pain.
Madmos had perfect control over his strength; each attack hadn't damaged his opponent's internal organs, only causing superficial wounds.
After all, it was just a soul-fighting exchange; how could he possibly ruin someone's future or take their life?
"It's not raining."
"Looks like I'm not the protagonist of a wandering knight's tale."
"Sorry, Grandpa, I don't think I'm some kind of number one genius."
Xiao Hongchen murmured in the mud, feeling like his vision was about to blur.
Medemos stretched his shoulders, although the high-temperature scarlet crystal formed by the "blood feud" had blocked most of the soul-guided rays.
Some attacks still managed to hit him, but they were all within the Golden Lion King's self-healing range.
Then, his golden lion eyes looked at Xiao Hongchen, who was lying in the crater, seemingly questioning his existence, a look of doubt in his eyes.
He was certain he hadn't injured the other's internal organs; how could this guy be acting like he was about to die?
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Can you stand up?"
Xiao Hongchen didn't respond, his gaze fixed blankly on the sky.
He wasn't afraid of losing, but he couldn't accept losing to a second-ring Great Soul Master.
Being defeated by someone twenty levels higher was indeed too much of a blow to him.
"Hmph, get up!"
Medmos couldn't bear to see this guy continue to lie in the crater pretending to be dead, and forcibly pulled him up.
"If you're alright, walk a few steps."
"Making this face after just one loss, utterly incompetent!"
"Cheer up!"
Hearing Medmos's cold words, Xiao Hongchen finally snapped out of it.
His heterochromatic blue-green eyes looked intently at Medemos and said,
"Medemos?"
"I'll remember that name!"
"I'll continue to challenge you! Until I defeat you!"
Hearing Xiao Hongchen's declaration of war, Medemos crossed his arms, glanced at him with his golden eyes, and said,
"The word 'cowardice' doesn't exist in my dictionary."
"Whatever."
"Let's go, go fulfill your promise."
Xiao Hongchen watched Medemos's retreating figure, memorizing it, and then followed him to the backstage of the Soul Arena.
He wanted to apologize to that red-haired girl. Since it was a promise he had already made, even if it initially required him to kowtow, he would accept it!
As the self-proclaimed number one genius of the Sun Moon Empire, he still had some pride and principles!
There were actually two heartbroken people in the Great Soul Arena.
After Xiao Hongchen left, the referee slumped onto the arena, somewhat devastated.
"The Soul Arena!!!"
"That's all top-quality sedimentary rock! It's ridiculously expensive!"
Although he was a referee, he was also the owner of this arena!
This large arena didn't used to belong to him. The previous owner, because of his encouragement of bloody gladiatorial combat and his fondness for the slave trade, was taken away by Passion to the Dragon Arena to cultivate his Dao.
The former owner had long since become a D-rank member, waiting for Huo Yuhao's favor.
As a referee here for a long time, he had some affection for this place and spent all his savings to redeem the arena from Passion. He
even personally went to Passion's headquarters to repeatedly promise Huo Yuhao that he would never allow bloody gladiatorial combat to happen again.
At this moment, his heart was bleeding. Repairing the sedimentary rock would be another considerable expense. He
didn't have much money left to begin with.
At this moment, he wished that the sky would send down a heavy rain to wash away his sorrow.
"Alright, stop kneeling there."
"Go to Passion's headquarters and ask the finance department to reimburse you for the money for the arena."
A voice transmitted to the referee's spiritual sea through his mental power.
He immediately became alert and then felt an undisguised gaze fixed on him.
The referee glanced at the high platform behind him and saw a man in a black trench coat looking at him with dark eyes.
"Boss!"
He immediately recognized the burly man with the extremely eccentric style as Enthusiastic Boss!
He was none other than the King of Xilu City, the underworld emperor of the Tiandou Plain, the fast food king of the Douluo Three Kingdoms, and the soul tool distributor of the Tiandou Plain!
A truly renowned figure!
Since the other party had spoken, the money for his Soul Arena was definitely not a problem; Enthusiastic was always generous.
No one knew exactly how much money Enthusiastic had; he had made a fortune just from fast food.
Not to mention his soul tool sales business, having sold level eight soul tools, making him the largest soul tool distributor in the Tiandou Plain.
Enthusiastic's executives frequently appeared at major auctions, spending lavishly! They had a particular fondness for unusual and strange items.
For example, not long ago, an Enthusiastic executive at an auction in Xingluo City directly spent one million gold soul coins to buy the famous Soul Devouring Carving Knife.
The auction house had originally projected a price of only 100,000 gold soul coins, but the other party immediately multiplied it tenfold.
Because of his generous spending, many large auction houses invited him to participate, placing him on par with other major sects.
This was mainly because it was widely believed that his biggest backer was Taotie Douluo Xuanzi.
After all, Xuanzi frequently cleared obstacles for him, and some even said that Taotie Douluo was his elder, practically family.
Huo Yuhao really wanted to clarify that this was absolutely a rumor! How could his beloved Taotie Douluo tolerate such a powerful figure as Chicken Leg Douluo?
Even the Chosen One often encountered trouble beside him; who knew what kind of person he was!
The referee bowed to Huo Yuhao and then left the platform.
Huo Yuhao turned to Su Tong beside him and said,
"Disciple, did you see that boy with the golden-red hair just now?"
Su Tong nodded, her icy blue eyes filled with shock. Her clear, cold voice reached Huo Yuhao's ears as she said,
"An ultimate martial soul!"
"He actually managed to defeat an enemy twenty levels higher! And the opponent even had the divine beast martial soul, the Three-Legged Golden Toad!"
"But the Three-Legged Golden Toad seems to be from the Sun Moon Empire, right?"
Huo Yuhao ruffled her hair and said,
"That child is my junior. He also has another ultimate martial soul that I'll show you later."
"That one with the Three-Legged Golden Toad martial soul is called Xiao Hongchen. You should have seen him on the billboard in Snow King Ice City."
"His grandfather is Jing Hongchen, the head of the Mingde Hall. He has a good relationship with our Passionate Empire now."
"We sent him here to learn a bit, and also to avoid the internal turmoil within the Sun Moon Empire."
"Jing Hongchen even sold a level nine soul tool to Passionate Empire recently. I wonder what he was thinking."
"Those level nine soul tools are in the experimental field behind Passionate Empire."
"I'll give you some access later and teach you some new things."
"Let's go, I'll introduce you to my lovely juniors!"
With that, Huo Yuhao led Su Tong to the backstage of the Soul Arena, using his mental energy to locate Madmores and Tibo.
Meanwhile, Bai E and Roman arrived late in their jeep, attracting the attention of many passersby.
"Sigh, looks like it's over."
(End of Chapter)
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