Chapter 08 - Arena Battles

It has been four days since Mo Xie left the Great Star Dou Forest and now found himself at the south gate of Star Luo City.

After passing the guards he went straight to the orphanage, as Mo Xie needed a quick shower. His body reeked of sweat from the trip and needed him to clean it up.

The moment he entered the orphanage, he found Bai Chen who was cultivating in an empty area. He heard Mo Xie's footsteps and turned to him.

"Brother Xie, did you get a spirit ring?" Bai Chen asked curiously.

"Yes, although it took a while, I got a suitable ring." Mo Xie replied sincerely.

"Can you show me?"

Mo Xie nodded and with a thought, a yellow ring rose from his feet. He was using his illusion ability to hide the color of his ring. His ability can be used both in combat against opponents and to hide his rings and change their colors. Compared to the second ring ability Yuhao's geted with Daydream's guidance, his was even stronger and more versatile.

"Brother Xie, have you defeated a 100 year old spirit beast?!" Bai Chen exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yes, after training for so long, if I couldn't at least do that I could just give up on being a Spiritual Master." Mo Xie casually commented and then warned, "Brother Chen, it's okay that you asked me this, but don't ask the others about their abilities and Spirit Rings. Every spirit ring and abilities of a spiritual master is a secret until he reveals himself."

"Understood." Bai Chen nodded seriously. At the time Mo Xie was reading some books in the city library, he learned a lot of information about spiritual masters and spiritual beasts from Mo Xie, so he took this advice to heart and told himself not to forget it.

"You've made good progress in that time and are already at the peak of Rank 9. Probably in another six months you will rise to Rank 10, so don't loosen your training Brother Chen. When you reach Rank 10 I will help you get a spiritual ring for you." Even though Mo Xie knows that one day they will be in two different worlds, he spent 9 years growing up with Bai Chen, so he decided to help him while they lived together.

"Yes!" Bai Chen happily agreed.

"Don't forget to train your body too. Your physical fitness is important to getting a stronger spiritual ring." Mo Xie advised.

"Okay, I'm going to wash and rest! I'm tired from the trip and I need a shower and an afternoon of sleep." Ending the conversation, Mo Xie climbed the stairs to the upper floor of the orphanage and went straight to the bathroom while Bai Chen continued to train.

After his shower, Mo Xie simply fell into his bed and slept for the rest of the afternoon. When it was getting dark he woke up.

*sigh* "If it weren't for the end of my Heavenly Eyes cycle I would love to sleep for the rest of the night too…" Mo Xie complained internally, but he understood the importance of training.

In a short time he finished the cycle.

"Since I'm awake, I can just go register in the battle arena and watch some fights." Muttering, he got up and walked out towards the Battle Arena.

The Arena was close to the city's east wall and occupied a large space capable of hosting hundreds of thousands people. It has been deduced that it can even host a million people, but it is still not possible to know for sure.

Entering the Arena it was possible to see a large reception where tickets for the fights were sold. There were also a few registration locations for fighters and several paths that led to the grandstands and VIP rooms for some nobles and people with high status in the empire, as well as a long way to the fighters' waiting room.

Mo Xie, who wore a white mask with blue tribal markings, walked towards the registration area. He bought this mask on the way to the arena, after all he couldn't register under the age of 12, so these masks would be good for hiding his identity.

At the registration desk, a woman who looked like she was 26 or 27 was registering some people. She had long black hair and fleshy lips. Her skin was white and smooth and her proportions were evenly distributed, her curves lacking nothing.

Mo Xie got in line and waited a few minutes for his turn to come.

"I want to register in the Arena." Mo Xie made sure to disguise his voice, as it still had a childish tone because of his young age.

"Only Spiritual Masters above Rank 13 are allowed to register. Please put your hand on this crystal ball for us to check your rank." The woman spoke with a smile on her face.

Mo Xie wasted no time putting his hand on the crystal and the number 14 appeared on it.

"Rank 14, meets the requirements. Please fill in your information on this paper and pay 10 gold coins as a registration fee." She passed a paper to Mo Xie.

Mo Xie filled it in quickly. He registered himself as a Heavenly Wolf and in his spirit he placed Mystic Eyes. He didn't care much about revealing the name of his martial soul. It's not like people can figure out how powerful it is.

At most he would use his illusion skill and people would think he is some kind of illusionist.

After filling in his details, he handed them to the woman along with the 10 gold coins and she started talking again: "The battles here are divided into three types, 1x1, 2x2 and 7x7. As long as you get some companions, you can register for team battles. Should I register you for a 1v1 battle now?"

"Yes." Mo Xie nodded and asked a question shortly thereafter: "Is it possible to pair me up against opponents at the level of Soul Grandmaster?"

"Are you sure? The fights in the Arena are very intense and we are not responsible for any injuries that could incapacitate you or for your death if you choose death fights." The woman asked in disbelief. She just thought Mo Xie was a teenager who was overestimating his abilities.

Mo Xie realized this but did not try to resolve this misunderstanding.

"Yes, if possible, make my opponents Soul Grandmasters." Mo Xie spoke in a calm voice.

"Okay, this is your fighter badge. Take it and enter that path and wait for your name to be called." She pointed to a hallway and handed his information to an assistant to prepare for the fight.

Mo Xie grabbed his badge and headed down the hall, entering a door that opened into a fighter's waiting area in the arena.

Inside the room were several people, some wearing masks and some not. Mo Xie used his Energy Flow ability for just a second before stopping and found that most of the people there were Soul Grandmasters with Rank 21 to 29. There were even a few people at Rank 30, one step closer to becoming a Soul Elder.

In the Arena there were several platforms, on which several fights were happening. Mo Xie watched for a while until he heard his name called.

"Heavenly Wolf, go up to platform 08. Your fight will start in a few minutes."

Wasting no time, he left the waiting room under the gaze of other fighters and walked towards the platform.

When he entered the platform he saw a middle aged man with his arms crossed waiting for him. He had brown hair and a height of 180 centimeters with big muscles in his body.

"It looks like this match will be very easy. This time they sent me a skinny brat to fight me." The man began to smile disdainfully at Mo Xie who ignored the taunts.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this time the 3rd fight on the 8th platform will be between the Crazy Bull who has a beast-like martial soul, the Crazy Bull and has 16 wins and 9 losses against a rookie who registered today, the Heavenly Wolf holding a rare body martial soul called Mystic Eyes." The Referee began speaking into the microphone to the audience and drawing attention to the fight on his platform.

"Crazy Bull, crush the newbie!"

"Throw your face on the ground!"

"Make him go home with his tail between his legs!"

Several people in the audience started screaming and booing Mo Xie.

"Whether Crazy Bull can continue his victories or the Heavenly Wolf can come out on top, we'll find out now!" The Referee spoke and started the fight.

"Boy, you can only blame your luck. I'll send you home on a stretcher." the Crazy Bull laughed and called his martial soul. Two rings rose on his feet and spun around him. It was a pity that his combination was not perfect, being only white and yellow.

From the fluctuations of spiritual power, Mo Xie felt that he was only at Rank 24, and he didn't even need to use his sword to fight.

Seeing that Mo Xie had not yet released his martial soul, the Crazy Bull sneered and ran towards him and threw a punch at his head.

Mo Xie, even though he could block the punch with one hand, decided to just step aside and dodge his attacks. He came to gain combat experience, so it would be a shame to finish things so quickly.

Seeing his punch hit nothing, Crazy Bull followed Mo Xie and began to attack him madly with punches and kicks repeatedly, while Mo Xie dodged each of them gracefully with no problem.

Crazy Bull decided to use his spiritual abilities knowing he couldn't hit Mo Xie at all and became extremely serious.

"First Ring Skill: Rush of the Crazy Bull."

The Crazy Bull's strength and speed suddenly increased and he landed another blow at Mo Xie who decided to meet him with his fist.

When their punches met, a loud sound was heard by the audience, but the one who stepped back in this collision turned out to be the Crazy Bull who widened his eyes in disbelief.

'Fuck, they turned me against a freak! He doesn't even seem to be using his Martial Soul and still has a body as strong as mine, if not better.' Crazy Bull cursed in his mind and used his second spiritual ability.

"Second Ring Skill: Fist of the Mad Bull."

His arm muscles expanded and his fist power increased as he attacked Mo Xie.

"Excellent!" Mo Xie's eyes gleamed and he once more saluted the attack with his fist.

*Crack!*

Mo Xie's attack sent Crazy Bull flying a few meters with a broken arm.

He fell to the ground and fainted while Mo Xie remained in the same place as the spectators of the fight fell silent.

"Referee, announce my victory." Mo Xie spoke to the referee who was frozen in disbelief.

"Winner: Heavenly Wolf!" The Referee snapped out of his stupor and announced into the microphone.

Mo Xie walked off the platform to the cheers of the audience.