Chapter 30: First Arrival at the Grand Arena of Souls

The age and attributes of the Violet Spirit Lynx were an ideal match for Mi Yimei, so the process of absorbing the spirit ring was remarkably smooth. In less than an hour, he had completed the absorption and gained an incredibly powerful soul skill—Deprivation. This ability forcibly strips an opponent of all enhancements not generated by their own soul power, effectively nullifying any auxiliary soul master's buffs granted to a target. In essence, it completely negates all support skills from an opponent’s auxiliary soul master.

Once Mi Yimei had finished absorbing the spirit ring, Xiao Yu, not wishing to risk any unforeseen complications, promptly led the group back on their return journey. The Star Dou Great Forest was fraught with peril, home to countless powerful soul beasts. In the original timeline, most of these creatures would remain hidden within the Lake of Life and rarely emerge. However, with the unpredictable ripples caused by his own actions, Xiao Yu dared not assume nothing would go awry. Should one of the fearsome beasts—be it the lower-ranked Three-Headed Crimson Demon Mastiff, Crimson King, or the Hell Demon Dragon, Violet Empress—happen to cross their path, it would spell disaster for them.

The group left the Star Dou Great Forest and, hiring two carriages from a small town on its outskirts, eventually made their way back to the sect’s headquarters after several days of arduous travel.

Within the Nine Stars Hall, Mu lived up to his reputation as the disciple of the former Pope Shion. During Xiao Yu’s absence, he managed the sect’s affairs with admirable order and efficiency. Meanwhile, Lou Gao, whom Xiao Yu had personally recruited, proved worthy of his title as a Divine Craftsman. In a surprisingly short period, he had already mastered the basics of soul tool creation, producing several first-grade soul tools. This left Xiao Yu somewhat embarrassed, as it had taken him three months of effort to barely manage a single first-grade soul tool.

A few days later, after sufficient rest and recovery, Zilong, Ikki, Eden, and the others had regained their stamina and soul power. Xiao Yu then led them to the Great Spirit Arena in Kaeser City.

On the continent of Douluo, only cities at the level of main cities were permitted a Great Spirit Arena. As the capital of the Sylvia Kingdom, Xier City naturally boasted one as well. However, in terms of scale, the Xier Spirit Arena could not compare to the Soto Great Spirit Arena from the original story, which further reflected Sylvia Kingdom’s inferior strategic importance to the Heaven Dou Empire when compared to the Balak Kingdom.

As night fell, Xiao Yu and his six companions arrived at the Great Spirit Arena. Much like the original Shrek Seven Devils, their young age and the risk of causing a sensation if their true identities were revealed prompted them all to wear masks.

Registering for the Spirit Arena was a simple affair: pay a registration fee of ten gold soul coins, fill out a form with details such as name, age, place of birth, and martial soul, and then receive a basic Iron Spirit Arena Badge.

In the Spirit Arena, there were three types of spirit battles. The first, Competition, was a test of skill where lethal force was forbidden. The second, Life-and-Death Battles, resolved irreconcilable disputes. The third was Wager Battles. Here, under the arena’s adjudication, both sides fielded an equal number of soul masters, and the victor would claim everything wagered. Crucially, wager battles were fought as life-and-death duels. Many nobles and clans favored this method when major conflicts arose between them.

There were also three formats for the matches: one-on-one, two-on-two, and team battles. For team battles, the number of participants on each side was negotiated but generally limited to between seven and ten, according to arena rules. Naturally, Xiao Yu chose the team battle format in the competitive category and named their squad the Nine Stars Team.

...

“Next, we will begin the fifth team match of the evening. The contenders are the Moro Squad versus the Nine Stars Squad. Special note: the Nine Stars Squad has just registered today, and this is their first team battle in the arena. Let’s see what outstanding performance they might bring us.”

Team battles commenced after the one-on-one and two-on-two events. Xiao Yu and the others had waited for some time in the stands, and now it was finally their turn to compete. Team battles were the crowd’s favorite, and the stands were now packed with spectators, who erupted in frenzied cheers as the two teams took the stage.

“Moro Squad! Moro Squad!”

“Nine Stars Squad! Nine Stars Squad!”

The arena itself was a massive circular platform, nearly forty meters in diameter, providing ample space for combat. Both teams took their positions at opposite ends of the platform, arranging themselves in their preferred formations.

Both the Nine Stars and Moro Squads opted for the classic three-three-one formation. On the Nine Stars side, the formidable attackers Xiao Yu, Ikki, and Zilong stood at the front. The control-type soul master, Eden, took the center of the second row, flanked by Xie Wu and Iao on either side, while the auxiliary soul master Mi Yimei brought up the rear.

“Team battle, begin!”

At the host’s announcement, all fourteen combatants simultaneously released their martial souls, and dazzling spirit rings illuminated the arena, drawing another round of wild applause from the stands.

The Nine Stars team all sported the optimal combination of spirit rings. Although the Nine Stars Hall now boasted two titled Douluos, the sect was still in its infancy. Xiao Yu, not wishing to invite unnecessary trouble—especially from the behemoth that was the Spirit Hall—continued to use a disguise to make his second spirit ring appear yellow.

In stark contrast, the Moro Squad’s spirit ring combinations fell far short. Four of their members had white ten-year rings as their first. Only their captain, Moro—a level 37 power-attack Battle Soul Elder with the martial soul Golden Lion—possessed the optimal configuration.

The Great Spirit Arena was under no obligation to keep soul masters’ information confidential, and especially so for teams about to compete. Moro Squad had already acquired the Nine Stars Squad’s details before the match, including their martial souls, soul power levels, and spirit ring combinations. As for their soul skills, these would have to be deduced through observation and testing, as the arena’s staff had neither the manpower nor the time to gather such detailed intelligence. Moreover, mistakes could be disastrous for a team, and the last thing anyone wanted was to take the blame for a defeat.

Gazing at the opposing team’s flawless combination of spirit rings, Moro’s eyes were filled with wariness. In truth, if it weren’t for the fact that none of the opponents surpassed him in soul power, he would have considered forfeiting outright.

“Go!”

With the support-type soul master’s buffs in place, Moro charged forward at the head of his team. The disparity in spirit ring quality was obvious, and he could sense his own team’s morale waning. As captain, it was his duty to suppress the enemy’s momentum and rally his teammates.

His soul power was the highest in the arena, and his own spirit ring combo matched the best. In a straight one-on-one, no one should be able to stand against him.

With his martial soul possessed, Moro looked every bit the radiant, golden lion as he charged, exuding a fierce and intimidating presence.

On the Nine Stars side, Zilong met Moro head-on. Their fists collided, and Zilong staggered back in retreat.

Delighted, Moro realized he hadn’t even felt a hint of recoil from the clash just now. Clearly, the opponent was likely of noble birth, having acquired the optimal spirit rings through family influence, but pampered and lacking the real combat experience he himself had gained from over a decade of fierce battles in the arena.