"So then what are we supposed to do?" Xie Xie couldn't help but speak up.
"We?" Arthur turned around, his eyes burning with unmistakable light. "We fight, obviously."
"Arthur!" Wu Changkong's brow furrowed deeply. "Their side has a Spirit King with a one-word battle armor. This is not the time to be reckless."
He was worried that the string of victories had gone to Arthur's head and blinded him to the sheer gulf in power between them.
"Teacher, I understand exactly where I stand compared to them right now," Arthur said calmly.
"But I can win."
Wu Changkong stared at the boy in front of him, unspeaking. He knew Arthur well enough to know he never spoke without reason.
But a Spirit Elder beating a Spirit Sage?
He wavered. He must be losing his mind, he thought, to actually find himself willing to believe Arthur could pull it off.
"What have you got that lets you win?"
"I just have one concern," Arthur said, not answering the question directly, his tone turning grave. "I can win, but the cost will be steep."
The words had barely landed before everyone chimed in with worried protests. "Then forget it, it really doesn't matter. Arthur, there's no need."
Gu Yue, however, tilted her head with curiosity. "What kind of cost?"
Arthur let out a long sigh. "The cost is that I'm going to become incredibly, insufferably famous."
Everyone stared at him.
"What?"
Nobody could keep a straight face.
What was that supposed to mean?
The cost of beating a one-word battle armor master was becoming very famous? Wasn't that just a natural consequence? How did that qualify as a cost?
And hadn't he already made a name for himself long ago?
Xie Xie shot to his feet and jabbed a finger at Arthur, sputtering for several seconds before he could get a word out.
"You, you, you, what kind of cost is THAT? I thought you were going to say something like losing all your soul power or damaging your martial soul!"
"Famous? You're already being called the 'Young War God' all across the Skysea Alliance. One more win is going to make a difference?"
Xu Xiaoyan pressed a hand to her chest and let out a long, relieved breath, then shot Arthur an exasperated glare. "Arthur! You scared us half to death!"
"I genuinely want to throw a recording soul tool at your face right now!"
Na'er went straight for him and drove an elbow into his chest. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?!"
"Alright, everyone just focus on getting ready," Arthur said, not elaborating further. Truth be told, he was worried that showing too much would bring the Holy Spirit Cult to his door with warm regards of the unwelcome kind.
"Win or lose, it doesn't really matter. They have a one-word battle armor master on their side, so losing wouldn't be a surprise. Winning would be a windfall."
Meanwhile, in a hotel elsewhere in the city, a group of old-timers had gathered to talk shop.
Among them, Zhen Hua, who had his fingers in more pies and his ear to more walls than anyone else, suddenly said, "Shrek Academy has sent two elders from the Sea God's Pavilion to the Skysea Alliance. It's Yali and Cai Yue'er."
"Seriously? Who thought it was a good idea to send those two together?" Mu Chen shook his head in disbelief.
Yali and Yun Ming were a couple.
And everyone knew perfectly well that Cai Yue'er had made no secret of her feelings for Yun Ming.
Putting those two on the same assignment was a choice, alright.
"Who knows." Zhen Hua shrugged.
"Well, at least there's that much." Mu Ye relaxed slightly. "Yali isn't one for confrontation. From the looks of it, Shrek's approach is to play it soft."
"And the only one with a sharp temper is Cai Yue'er, and she's all bark. With us here, Arthur will be fine."
"Playing it soft?" Zhen Hua pushed back. "They brought a Spirit King to compete."
"Shrek's Spirit Kings are basically all one-word battle armor masters."
"Bullying someone younger with numbers and rank? How dare they pick on my disciple. I'll blow them to pieces!"
The word "disciple" hit a nerve. The moment it left Zhen Hua's mouth, Mu Chen reacted on instinct and the two of them were at each other's throats again.
Mu Ye watched the two old men with weary resignation, then turned to the one beside him who had stayed quiet. "Not going to say anything?"
"Aren't you worried about Arthur?"
Su Wuyan was silent for a moment. "I'm not sure."
"Honestly, I don't particularly want him to win."
"Oh?" Mu Ye raised an eyebrow. "You think Arthur actually can win?"
Su Wuyan's gaze drifted toward the competition venue in the distance, his tone even but carrying an undercurrent of something complicated. "I started training Arthur before he'd even awakened his martial soul."
"No one knows his true ability better than I do."
"A Spirit King with one-word battle armor? Whether he wins or not is entirely up to him."
Did the boy have something up his sleeve?
Mu Ye half-understood and half-didn't. He had only recently taken Arthur as a disciple and still had much to learn about him.
"Then why don't you want him to win?" Mu Ye pressed. He genuinely couldn't follow Su Wuyan's thinking.
Arthur was the most brilliantly gifted talent of his generation. With the backing they provided, all he needed to do was shine.
Su Wuyan exhaled softly. "A light that burns too bright tends to draw the flames that consume it."
He turned to look at Mu Ye, a flicker of worry deep in his eyes. "What I'm afraid of is the Holy Spirit Cult."
"The Holy Spirit Cult?!" Mu Ye straightened up immediately, his expression more serious than it had been in a long time.
Zhen Hua and Mu Chen stopped bickering and looked over.
Su Wuyan glanced at the three of them. These were all pillars of support for Arthur, and he decided it was time to lay things out plainly.
"You all know how Arthur's parents died," he said.
"They posed too great a threat to the Holy Spirit Cult."
"Arthur is no different."
"On the surface, his martial soul seems unrelated to his parents', so the Holy Spirit Cult hasn't paid him much mind."
"In reality, Arthur is the greater threat by far. What his martial soul truly is suppresses evil soul masters in a way that goes well beyond what his parents could do."
Mu Chen dropped his playful expression and leaned in. "Arthur's Holy Sword and Holy Lance are formidable, sure, but I've never noticed any effect like that."
"I don't know the reason either," Su Wuyan said, shaking his head. "But I've seen it firsthand. I've taken Arthur out to hunt evil soul masters."
"His martial soul, simply by existing in their presence, left them helpless. They threw everything they had and couldn't stop themselves from dying."
He recalled the hunts he had taken Arthur on over the years. One swing of the sword, one throw of the lance, and every evil soul master he touched died on contact. Not one of them had lasted a single exchange.
The memory brought with it a quiet puzzlement. Arthur had said his martial soul's true counter was the enemies of the world itself.
How did evil soul masters qualify as enemies of the world?
He continued explaining Arthur's situation to the three of them, and when he was done, let out a quiet sigh.
"Climbing the Heaven's Talent Rankings alone, that's one thing."
"But if he has to overcome Spirit Sage-level combat power, he'll have no choice but to expose what his martial soul is truly capable of."
The three of them drew a sharp breath.
Mu Ye's mouth twitched at the corner. He had a rough sense of how far the Holy Spirit Cult's reach extended. If they set their minds to assassinating Arthur, he wasn't sure he could shield the boy alone.
It seemed he would need to call in some allies.
The Body Sect had waited long enough for a seedling like this. Nothing could be allowed to go wrong.
The tournament moved quickly.
The final round of the blacksmithing competition ended without suspense. Arthur claimed first place by a margin that left everyone else far behind, taking the overall championship.
As a bonus, he had also completed the forging of the core material for his battle armor.
The team and individual competitions also advanced to their respective finals.
In the individual bracket, Arthur was set to face Gu Yue.
In the seven-person team competition, Eastsea Academy would go up against Shrek Academy.
Each final would take place over a full day.
Day one was the individual final.
Every eye in the city was on this one.
Arthur walked into the arena. The stands were packed to capacity, and the roar of the crowd rolled over him like a wave.
Gu Yue had no shortage of supporters either.
Looks counted for something, and it wasn't that Arthur lacked in that department. But a beautiful girl simply offered a better return on one's emotional investment.
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones