Chapter 45 - Tournament Progress, Mo Xie Scheme

Author's Note: I made a mistake in the passage of time from the previous chapter. From the second match, they have 1 rest day until the next match starts, so the total number of days passed since the Shrek first match is 7-8 days according to the original timeline.

I noticed this when I was searching out some information from the tournament, as Ling Luochen participates in the fifth game (In the original, she took 10 days to heal). However, the passage of time won't imply the story, and since TJSS doesn't specify the passage of time for me to reference, I'll ignore that and skip straight to match day.

In the end, the tournament will be the same duration as the original, so don't worry too much about it.

Now, let's go to the chapter!

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In a dark room, a pale-looking young man sat on a throne made from the bones of humans and spirit beasts. He played with a human skull in his hand while listening to a report made by an old man who was kneeling in front of him.

"Master, we've already infiltrated some spies into the top positions of the Star Luo Empire as well as the White Tiger Duke Mansion. We also got some information about the disposition of their armies."

"We've also started to spread out in the other two empires and it won't be long before we plant our spies in their armies." The old man said hoarsely.

"You did well, Deacon Wei." The young man said without expression.

"All for the glory of the Holy Son." Deacon Wei responded enthusiastically.

"Deacon Wei, is it possible for us to place spies in Shrek?" The Holy Son suddenly asked.

Deacon Wei hesitated a bit but still replied: "I'm afraid it's impossible. Everyone who enters the academy has their martial souls inspected and there are many experts around Shrek City. If we send our spies, I fear they will be quickly discovered and interrogated."

The Holy Son listened and sighed. "It's a shame… When I arrived in the city a few hours ago, I found a very interesting person. I asked around and he's called Mo Xie and belongs to Shrek Academy." He commented as he recalled that powerful aura hidden inside Mo Xie.

'His element of Darkness and Destruction seemed to be even purer than mine.' He thought and almost started laughing in excitement. 'He may have managed to hide it from other people, but such elemental purity would not escape my eyes. I can't wait to see him again.'

An evil smile formed on his lips making Deacon Wei shiver. He didn't know who caught his Holy Son's attention, but now his fate was sealed.

After calming down, the Holy Son began to give Deacon Wei some more orders before closing his eyes and meditating. The room was soon covered by the elements of darkness and destruction, with an aura of death running through it.

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The day of Shrek's fourth match soon arrived and Mo Xie once again led the team to Star Luo Plaza.

The only difference is that Ling Luochen accompanied the team this time. She had already healed all her internal wounds and could finally fight in the tournament. Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng would take another day to fully heal, so the pressure in the preparatory team was greatly reduced.

The opponent of Shrek Academy this time was the Justsky Advanced Soul Academy and the combat format would be done in the form 2-2-3. They also had three Soul Kings who would participate in each of the matches, but that didn't cause much concern for Mo Xie.

The first to fight for Shrek Academy were Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan and thanks to the awakening of Xu Sanshi's martial soul, they managed to defeat their opponents.

Mo Xie had to admit that it was a magnificent scene to witness the bloodline of the Divine Beast Xuanwu. Even though in the grand scheme of things his bloodline could not compare to the Ancestral Beast Xuanwu, his bloodline was relatively strong among his descendants.

In the second battle, Bei Bei and Ling Luochen climbed onto the platform. Thanks to Ling Luochen's cultivation of a Soul King, they managed to win relatively easily and unfortunately Mo Xie was unable to see the awakening of Bei Bei's martial soul.

Winning in both rounds, Shrek Academy was declared victorious, advancing even further in the tournament.

After a few more days of rest, there was another battle. This time his opponents were from Longpeace Academy and it would be a team fight.

By this time, Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng had recovered, but Mo Xie rose alone with Ling Luochen and upgraded her ice element to Ultimate Ice, freezing all of his opponents into ice statues and once again securing a victory for Shrek Academy.

The rest of the group competition also passed smoothly and Shrek Academy did not suffer any defeats.

After the round-robin was over, they entered the qualifiers. Their first opponent would be the Dou Ling Imperial Soul Academy and the match would be played in a few days.

At the time, Wang Yan was leading Mo Xie and the others to the Starlight Auction where a top-notch auction would be held.

Mo Xie was especially interested in the Embryo of the Snow Empress and secretly started making schemes. If he could make a contract with the Snow Empress, he could strengthen his self-created spirit ring and, if that wasn't possible, he could have her as his second ring for his second martial soul.

After finding the room where they would be accommodated, Mo Xie sneaked out of the Starlight Auction and into a dark alley.

"Elder Xuan, I need your help." Mo Xie knew that Xuan Zi secretly protected the students of Shrek, so his departure must have been noticed by him as well.

As expected, the figure of Xuan Zi appeared before him holding his wine gourd.

"What's the problem, brat?" Xuan Zi asked.

"Elder Xuan, how do you feel about 'borrowing' an item that will be sold at auction today?" Mo Xie asked with a smile.

Xuan Zi became suspicious and asked curiously, "What do you mean by that? Do you want to rob the auction?" He knew that Mo Xie couldn't have any information about what was going to be auctioned off as it protected him from the start, so his curiosity was piqued.

Formulating the best words in his mind, Mo Xie began to explain: "When I entered the Starlight Auction, I felt the pulse of a hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast, but it was incomparably weak and its signature was practically that of a newborn."

"If I'm not mistaken, it must be an embryo of a hundred-thousand-year-old spiritual beast and it must be sold at auction today."

Xuan Zi began to listen without any change in his expression, but as Mo Xie spoke, his expression became more and more distorted, and now he wore a stunned expression.

"Of all the people who will participate in the auction, the Sun Moon Empire is the most likely to be able to buy the embryo."

"It is also likely that they will send a spiritual master to bring the embryo back to the empire immediately. Since that's how it is, why not ambush them on their way back and enjoy all the benefits?" Mo Xie finished with a sly smile.

"Sounds like a good idea. I always thought that you were an innocent brat, but it looks like I underestimated you." Xuan Zi looked at him and smiled in the same way.

They planned for a while and Mo Xie calmly returned to where Wang Yan and the others were.

The auction continued normally and most of the items were not to Mo Xie's liking. However, he was able to see through various mechanisms created by the Sun Moon Empire in some auctioned spirit tools.

Their techniques were much more refined than those at Shrek Academy, but they were still way behind his own. This once again cemented his determination to improve the Spirit Tools Department's level of knowledge to a level higher than the Sun Moon Empire.

Yuhao also managed to get the Star Luo Emperor's promise regarding the Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Spirit Bone and would receive it at the end of the tournament.

Finally the item Mo Xie was waiting for appeared. When it was sold, Mo Xie broke away from the group saying he had something to do. Using his Illusion ability, he sneaked out of the city.

Mo Xie and Xuan Zi wore black suits and hid in a small forest on the way to the Sun Moon Empire.

After some time, they finally saw a hooded figure flying towards them and according to Xuan Zi, he was at least a Rank 87 Soul Douluo.

When he got close enough, Mo Xie and Xuan Zi made their moves. Mo Xie instantly used his spiritual shock in conjunction with his Eye of Destiny, causing Soul Douluo great pain and stunning him for a small moment.

However, that small moment was enough for Xuan Zi to use to his advantage. With only his physical and spiritual power, he was able to completely restrain Soul Douluo before knocking him out.

Mo Xie approached a little exhausted and smiled. He had almost completely used his mental power to stun this Soul Douluo and needed to meditate quickly to recover.

"Mo Xie, let's finish things here quickly. If we stay longer, something bad can happen." Xuan Zi urged him on.

"En." Mo Xie nodded and picked up the altar that Soul Douluo carried. Since he didn't have a proper tool to store it, he could just carry it as it was, but Mo Xie was different.

Mo Xie stored the altar with the embryo in a sixth-class storage ring. The most special feature of this ring is that it could store some life forms for a short period of time. That ring could only store life forms like eggs and embryos of spirit beasts, which was enough for now.

Although Mo Xie could only be considered a fourth-class Soul Engineer, he could still create higher-class spirit tools as long as he correctly followed the diagrams in his memoirs thanks to his immense mental power.

However, most spirit tools still required extensive knowledge that Mo Xie would need to master if he wanted to create them.

"Let's go." Xuan Zi nodded and sneaked him back to the hotel after killing the Soul Douluo, taking his storage ring and clearing all traces.

As for what would happen after that, Mo Xie didn't care one bit.

"Elder Xuan, take this ring to the academy and hide the embryo in a secret room. If it's not removed from the ring within two days, it's likely to self-destruct." In his room, Mo Xie handed the space ring to Elder Xuan.

Xuan Zi inspected it and asked, "What do you want to do with the embryo after you come back?"

"I will have it as my spirit ring. This embryo has an Ultimate Ice attribute that is compatible with me, so once it matures I will absorb it." Mo Xie replied. Although he didn't tell Xuan Zi everything, it was true that he wanted the Snow Empress to be his spirit ring.

"How confident are you in absorbing it?" Xuan Zi asked seriously.

"70%." Mo Xie replied and continued. "However, the percentage may increase after returning to the academy. I have a way to strengthen my body and mental power, which will increase my chances." Of course, Mo Xie didn't mention the blood contract he was developing with Xu Ling and was about to be completed.

When the contract was finalized, he could create the continent's first Spirit Soul. It was the same method created by Electrolux in the original timeline, but now he would be the one to take that step.

Xuan Zi thought for a while but ended up saying nothing more. "Stay with others from now on. I'll go back to the academy and come back as soon as I can."

Before Mo Xie could say anything, Xuan Zi disappeared from his room.

Shaking his head, Mo Xie sat on his bed and began to cultivate to restore his spent mental power.