In Douluo Continent, Tang San raids my base right from the start.

Chapter 193 What is your identity, and what is everyone else's identity?

Heavenly Dou Royal Academy

Zhu Wu sat cross-legged in the empty, simulated training ground, his eyes closed, a hazy light emanating from behind his head. Seven peculiar "orbs of light," like candle flames, slowly rotated in a circle.

The colors were strange and extraordinary: a cold, inky black; a pale blue that stirred up whirlwinds; a dark purple that constantly flashed with lightning; a crimson red with flowing flames; an ice blue that rippled like water; and two invisible colors that appeared to distort and illusory in the air.

Thanks to his strong mental strength, and after a period of trial and practice, he has been able to make initial use of the attribute energy contained in his soul core.

Furthermore, the Yin Water and Yang Fire attributes that he awakened upon receiving the Dragon God bloodlines from the Water and Fire Dragon Kings have successfully integrated into his Soul Core. They are called Yin Water and Yang Fire because the former's Yin nature was enhanced due to his cultivation of the Longevity Technique and absorption of the cold Yin energy of the night, while the latter's Yang nature was enhanced due to his absorption of the Sun's radiance.

Both yin and yang have broken through to another extreme.

After successful integration, the soul core was further condensed and strengthened.

He can now be described as a humanoid soul beast.

With the support of the Soul Core, even without using his Martial Soul, he can still use his physical talent to draw upon elemental energy to unleash various attacks.

The ability to fight alongside one's own spirit and in combination with one's martial soul to defeat opponents is no longer a dream, and the two forces will not interfere with each other.

After all, as a detached martial soul, his Little White can directly utilize the energy stored within his soul rings and his internal space to fight. He, on the other hand, only needs his own soul power. Moreover, with the soul core, the recovery speed of his soul power is greatly increased, which also solves the problem of sustaining his power.

Of course, it's definitely not as straightforward as directly drawing elemental energy from within the Martial Soul's inner space.

But dealing with Tang San is a piece of cake. After all, Tang San can't explode his spirit rings, can't use spirit ring energy, and doesn't have a spirit soul's internal space to store energy. He doesn't even need to use his spirit soul; his mana bar is much longer than Tang San's—several times to be precise.

His body had undergone repeated modifications, and his cultivation level was far superior; his soul power capacity was simply incomparable to Tang San's. Even absorbing a 100,000-year-old soul bone wouldn't have mattered, because he already had one—from Tang San's mother.

"Therefore, there's no need to reveal his spirit rings in the upcoming matches." In fact, even if he wanted to reveal them, he could use his simulation ability to conceal it, and no one would know that the age of his third spirit ring had increased to ten thousand years.

So, I'm not worried at all.

As he pondered, the ball of light behind him transformed into a misty aura that entered his body and returned to his soul core.

After finishing, with a thought, his consciousness entered the inner space of his martial soul.

Within sight, the Blue Silver Emperor's main body, which had grown several times larger, swayed its branches and leaves, emitting faint spiritual fluctuations.

After two years of nurturing, the Blue Silver Emperor has regained some consciousness, but he has not paid attention to it because the time is not right.

"Perhaps, in the upcoming qualifying rounds or the finals, I'll need to find another opportunity to imprint Tang San's remaining memories. Also, there's that old bastard Yu Xiaogang."

Putting everything else aside, he needs to thoroughly understand the fact that Tang San inexplicably possesses a soul bone.

It might come in handy later, for example, by using Yu Xiaogang's memories to deal with Bibi Dong.

Of course, a better understanding of both oneself and one's opponent makes it easier to adjust subsequent plans in a timely manner.

Thinking this, he withdrew his consciousness, got up, and left the simulated training ground. He went to the neighboring training ground to call his wife, and together they returned to their residence.

Nothing happened that night. The next day, he continued his daily practice and gained insights into his own abilities.

Time passed by day by day, uneventful yet fulfilling.

Until the one-month rest period was over.

In the afternoon, Assistant Instructor Ma came to inform us that the Empire had arranged for a carriage to pick us up at the agreed time.

The Soul Master Tournament qualifying rounds have begun.

The official competition is tomorrow morning. Today is mainly for settling into the Imperial Royal Knights' training ground, which will serve as the competition venue. The Heaven Dou Royal Academy is located outside Heaven Dou City, not far from the training ground. Therefore, there's no need to rush there.

This is also why Zhu Wu instructed the Education Commission to reply to the royal family and set the pick-up and drop-off time for the afternoon.

In the morning, he still had to practice the Purple Demon Eye and the Vajra Skill.

Without delay, Zhu Wu, along with several girls and Dugu Bo from next door, headed to the Education Commission building with Assistant Coach Ma. Looking around, they saw that the other team members had already arrived, along with the three Education Commission members. So, the group set off, taking a horse-drawn carriage at the foot of the academy mountain to the competition venue.

About an hour later, they successfully arrived at the training ground.

Unlike the preliminary rounds, which are held simultaneously on multiple arenas, the qualifying rounds take place in a single venue: the open-air training ground used by the Royal Knights for their daily training. It's much more spacious than the main arena. Furthermore, considering the excessively wide range of some of the soul skills used by Long Yingtian, Long Ling'er, and Huo Wu during the preliminary rounds, the arena's diameter has been increased to 200 meters.

This avoids the possibility that some participants may not be able to fully demonstrate their abilities due to venue limitations.

Of course, this also prevents some players from blaming the venue for being too small after losing.

Looking towards the north, an exquisite platform has been erected, with tables and chairs already set up and a large red carpet laid out on the ground—undoubtedly the VIP seating area for Xueye and the other high-ranking officials. On both sides are elegantly designed, arched canopies, also furnished with tables and chairs, eight on each side, for a total of 16 canopies. As expected, these should be the rest and viewing areas for the participating teams.

The Tiandou City division has 6 qualifying spots, and there are exactly 16 teams in the qualifying rounds.

According to the competition rules, the next 15 days of competition will consist of 8 matches per day, which is not a particularly tight schedule.

Further down, there were countless flags planted in a circle, which perfectly encircled the 200-meter diameter track.

There were no spectator seats.

Although the qualifying rounds are called "qualifying rounds," they don't use an elimination system. Instead, they use a points-based ranking system. The ranking only affects the number of byes for the finals, not the eligibility to participate in the finals. It's purely an exhibition match. As for the audience, apart from the imperial high command and the leaders of the major powers, there are only the tens of thousands of royal knights in the training ground, which also serves as a kind of incentive.

Looking around, many teams had already arrived and were also observing the venue.

Many people turned to look at them, their eyes filled with amazement. The girls were exceptionally beautiful, and they were the center of attention wherever they went.

Tang San and Xiao Wu were also there. Tang San looked calmly at the scene, then turned back to continue observing the arena. Xiao Wu, on the other hand, glanced around and then turned her head away with a haughty air.

Based on Zhu Wu's understanding of the two, it was probably Xiao Wu who dragged Tang San out for a stroll out of boredom. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been the two of them; they would have come out with the group.

"This way, please!" came the respectful voice of the royal knight leading the group.

As a seed team of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, representing the face of the royal family, they naturally deserve preferential treatment in their accommodations.

Zhu Wu nodded and led his team to follow the knights in another direction, towards the north of the VIP seating area.

"Hmph, so what if it's the Royal Academy?" Xiao Wu frowned slightly from behind.

Along the way, the other academies, including their barracks, were all located to the south. Long Yingtian and the others, however, were taken to the north, supposedly where the knights' generals lived. She knew without a doubt that Long Yingtian and his group were being given preferential treatment again, just like in the preliminaries.

Of course, otherwise why would it be called the Royal Academy? Besides, there's Long Yingtian inside, the young sect master of the Illusionary Beast Sect. Who would dare to be disrespectful? What is your status, and what is everyone else's? Not far away, the Blazing Fire Academy contestants heard this and couldn't help but glance at Xiao Wu.

Not only does she lack breasts, she also lacks brains.

They have absolutely no self-awareness!

"Alright, Xiao Wu, it's just a temporary place to stay, why bother? We're here to train, not to compete on who has the most luxurious accommodations." Tang San tugged at Xiao Wu's hand, glanced up at the north side, and said, "Living in luxury for too long isn't necessarily a good thing."

Xiao Wu suddenly recalled what Long Yingtian had once said and pouted.

"You used to say that the extravagant lifestyle outside was bad and would affect your cultivation, but now you're enjoying it too!"

Tang San didn't offer any comment, but simply said, "Let's go, let's go see other places."

"Hmm." Xiao Wu nodded, and Tang San pulled her to the other side. As they walked, she complained, "Third Brother, this arena is too big. It's really unfriendly to us melee Soul Masters. If the opponent drags us along, wouldn't we just be wasting our energy?"

"If people can't keep up, can they blame the place for being too big?" Huo Wushuang was speechless as he watched the two figures disappear into the distance.

Huo Lie, the teammate next to him, was also speechless.

"What kind of brain circuit is this Xiao Wu! Doesn't she think about how she's going to dodge a Soul Master's skill with an area-of-effect attack if the place is small? She was beaten so badly by Long Yingtian back then, Xiao Wu has probably forgotten everything."

He did feel that the venue was too large, which limited their performance, but when he thought of Long Yingtian, he thought a larger venue was better. That guy's soul skills had a really large range and were ridiculously powerful, as were Long Ling'er's.

"I've never seen anyone suffer losses so many times and still not learn their lesson," Huo Wushuang shook his head.

"Tang San is really something, as her boyfriend he didn't even try to give her some advice."

"It's simple, because he's that kind of person too." Huo Wu said indifferently, a hint of disdain flashing in her eyes.

"Let's go, we should go back now." With that, he turned and walked towards his residence.

"Perhaps this is a case of birds of a feather flocking together," Huo Wushuang commented, then beckoned the rest of his teammates to turn and follow.

On the other side, Zhu Wu looked around and saw a row of wooden buildings, each two stories high, with the same style and materials, looking exactly the same as a replica.

Following the lead knight through the archway, we finally caught a glimpse of the entire complex: rows of standard-sized courtyards.

The knight explained as he walked.

These courtyards were not only for high-ranking generals, but also for receiving court officials and visiting envoys from other countries.

To demonstrate military might to the high-ranking officials of his kingdoms or the Star Luo Empire. Zhu Wu nodded slightly, understanding.

As the emperor, he would casually bring people here on a snowy night to show off and stay temporarily.

Soon, the group was led to a quiet courtyard some distance from the training ground. After the knight briefly explained the room layout, Zhu Wu unhesitatingly chose the master bedroom on the second floor, while Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling chose to stay opposite them, and all the other men slept on the first floor.

There's no other way; there are only two rooms upstairs: a master bedroom, a guest bedroom, and a small living room.

After a quick tidying up, Ning Fengzhi arrived with Xue Qinghe.

However, they did not linger. After some polite exchanges and casual conversation, they got up and left with Xue Qinghe.

He said he was going to have a dinner with Xue Ye and other high-ranking officials of the empire. Zhu Wu was naturally unwilling to participate in such an occasion, and Ning Fengzhi was also aware of this, so he did not invite them.

After Ning Fengzhi left, it was almost lunchtime. The group chatted in the living room for a while before the food was delivered.

After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms to cultivate their soul power, and Zhu Wu did the same.

"Lingling, you can't do this." Inside the room, Dugu Yan stared at Ye Lingling, speaking earnestly.

"If you like someone, you should say so. Or, should I mention it to the young sect leader for you?"

Ye Lingling shook her head, "No need, it's fine as it is now. The advancement competition is about to begin, so let's not distract the young sect leader any further."

"Sigh, I really don't know what to say about your personality," Dugu Yan said helplessly.

However, it's really not easy to squeeze in now; we can't have four people in one bed, can we?

"Fortunately, Ling'er and Rongrong are both very nice people, otherwise, you would definitely be bullied to death after you marry into their family."

Ye Lingling remained calm and did not respond. Instead, she said softly, "Sister Yan, it's getting late. It's time to cultivate our soul power."

Seeing her best friend say this, Dugu Yan didn't intend to say anything more. She nodded, shifted her shapely buttocks, closed her eyes, and began to cultivate her soul power.

(End of this chapter)