Chapter 118: The Competitors

Chapter 118: The Competitors

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed, and recently, there had been a stir among the advanced Soul Guru colleges on the continent.

This was because the High-level Youth Soul Guru Tournament, held once every five years, was about to begin.

Over the past few years, due to the cultivation method provided by a certain fellow, the strength of the younger generation had greatly improved. As a result, the competition had become increasingly unpredictable since the last decade.

This year, apart from the Soul Guru Palace, it was said that another faction had a young Soul King in their twenties, sparking the curiosity of other factions.

The tournament this year was beginning to look promising.

In the Tianwu Duchy, as there was only one advanced Soul Guru college—the Tianwu College, there was no need for any fancy selection process. The college could directly send its team to Tiandou City to participate in the upcoming tournament.

Wang Si's team consisted of seven official members: Zhu Ye, Zhu Wu, Zhu Zhuqing, Alan, and three other students with soul power levels in the thirties.

However, these three students were actually puppets, controlled by Wang Si, Xue Qinghe, and Ren Ling'er respectively.

After all, Tianwu College was ostensibly a Soul Guru college, but in reality, it had the most puppets.

As for the substitute members, they were naturally Wang Si, Xue Qinghe, the puppets controlled by Alan and Zhu Ye, and the puppet controlled by Ling Yan, the Vice President of the college.

This setup was the most stable configuration. After all, Tianwu College was part of Wang Si's faction, and he did not want to take any risks.

As a precaution, he had no choice but to opt for this conservative team arrangement.

Accompanying the team to Tiandou City were the college teachers: Zhu Ming, Tang Yuehua, and Zi Xiao Douluo, who was being controlled by Ling Yan.

Interestingly, there weren't any opposing voices within the college.

The only controversy was that Wang Si and Xue Qinghe, as the principal and vice-principal of Tianwu College respectively, were participating in the tournament themselves. However, their ages did not exceed the limit, so it was considered reasonable.

On the training ground, the team was adapting to the bodies they would be controlling.

"Look at our lineup. How do you think anyone else stands a chance against us?" Alan complained as he controlled the vine-like Tian Qing, getting used to his new body.

"Don't get complacent," Wang Si cautioned as he manipulated a young Soul Guru with a Black Flame Demon Bear martial soul. "The soul power capacity in these new bodies is limited, so we need to be mindful of our soul power consumption."

Indeed, these puppets with excellent aptitudes were young geniuses supported by Tiandou City and the Soul Guru Palace.

Both parties had considered that Tianwu College might not have enough outstanding students, so they lent a helping hand. Although the supported geniuses were not top-notch, they could still put up a decent performance.

However, the two factions probably never imagined that the young people they had just supported would instantly be turned into puppets and controlled by those from Wang Si's side.

Everyone by Wang Si's side had a puppet, except for Zhu Zhuqing, who had relatively weak mental power, and Tang Yuehua, who was not skilled in combat.

After all, they had learned the "All-Encompassing Soul" technique from Wang Si, so multitasking was a breeze for them.

The puppets controlled by Xue Qinghe and Ren Ling'er had avian martial souls. Ren Ling'er's puppet had a firebird similar to Ling Yan's, while Xue Qinghe's was a snow swallow with auxiliary abilities!

Zhu Ye controlled a male Soul Guru with a Ghost Leopard martial soul and excelled in close combat, making him a formidable agile attacker.

"Let's have one more battle to hone our coordination before we set off. If we leave early, we might even have time to play in Tiandou City for a couple of days!" Wang Si suggested, looking at his team.

No one dared to disagree with Wang Si, and they were all eager to see how well they could perform using these bodies that were not originally theirs...

.................

"They are very strong. It doesn't seem difficult to secure victory in the battle, so why are you still sighing?"

Hearing Wang Si sighing over such matters, Alan wore an expression of frustration, as if she were disappointed in his lack of ambition.

"Hey, competitions are just performances for others to watch," she chided. "Didn't you say you were tired of the mundane life of putting on acts for others? So, after this final act, why not go do something you truly want to do? Like temporarily giving up your power and experiencing the life of an ordinary person: no guaranteed food and shelter, no beautiful women, no scheming and plotting."

Alan suggested nonchalantly.

Hearing Alan's words, Wang Si glanced at her.

Some things were easier said than done; it wasn't as simple as just letting go, especially when there were external forces at play that couldn't be ignored.

"I'd rather spend my time thinking about how to develop my future than listen to your nonsense," Wang Si retorted.

There was the matter of Xue Qinghe's claim to the throne, the entanglements and grudges with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, and the hatred between him and Tang Hao. There was also Tang San, who carried the weight of fate on his shoulders, as well as Xue'er and Bibi Dong.

But most importantly, there was the Divine Realm—everything else was trivial in comparison. The Divine Realm posed the greatest threat to Wang Si!

The gods of this world were known for their pettiness and their lack of foresight.

Those who had ascended to godhood from humanity often behaved worse than soul beasts.

When the Dragon God first created the world, he had been willing to give humans the opportunity to enhance their strength and ascend to the Divine Realm. But now, with the Dragon God's fall, the gods were ruthlessly suppressing and targeting soul beasts.

If it were just the suppression of soul beasts, that would be one thing, but they were even turning on their own kind.

During the Dragon God's rule, the Divine Realm had been open to other races, and anyone could become a god. But now, the current gods were maintaining their rule by cutting off the possibility of ordinary humans attaining godhood.

To become a god, one had to inherit their godhood and pass their tests. But what did those tests even mean when given by such flawed beings?

Even the Judgment God, the god in charge of judgment, Shuiro Shen, could abuse his power for personal gain. What was the point of such gods?

And then there were the schemes among the gods themselves. Take the Angel God and the Sea God, for example.

The Sea God was taking advantage of the fact that the Angel God couldn't descend upon the Douluo Continent at the moment, employing despicable means to further his agenda.

Placing the Sea God's Heart, which was meant for the Sea God's succession, in Tiandou City was a blatant act of provocation!

Given his current situation, Wang Si felt a deep sense of powerlessness and anxiety about his own weakness.

The more he understood the nature of the gods, the more anxious he became. He feared that there might be a god in the Divine Realm who would toy with him just as Tang San, many years later, would toy with Huo Yuhao.

After all, the gods were just a group of ordinary people with greater power, and some of them were even crazed killers who had ascended through sheer force.

How could he expect them to have sound minds?

The gods of the Divine Realm were as they were, and their minds were sometimes even less pure than those of soul beasts...

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end