Chapter 42 - Before the Tournament

"This place hasn't changed a thing…" Walking through the streets of the city, Mo Xie recalled the times when he lived in the orphanage.

"I should pay a visit later." Mo Xie muttered and arrived at a large seven-story hotel. There was a sign with bright gold letters that read 'Imperial Star Grand Hotel'.

This hotel belonged to the imperial family and in it were housed the high-level spiritual masters and Soul Engineers from other empires who came to participate in the tournament.

Mo Xie pulled a spirit tool from his storage and tried to contact He Caitou. This was a spirit communication tool developed by Mo Xie during his studies at the Spirit Tools Department, and as long as the person Mo Xie was trying to contact wasn't too far away he could talk to the other party.

Mo Xie was also thinking of developing cell phones because of their convenience, but building control towers and satellites as well as a large server was needed, the manpower needed for a large-scale deployment was also a requirement, so he postponed that plan for later.

A few moments later, He Caitou answered his call and went down with Wang Yan to meet him. After completing his registration, they escorted him to the highest floor of the hotel. Mo Xie had to admit that the room they were given was extremely luxurious.

However, his expression changed when he saw only Ma Xiaotao, Ling Luochen, Dai Yueheng and the preparatory team inside the room.

"What happened?" He made sure to warn Xuan Zi to prevent problems from happening.

He Caitou had a grim expression as he started to explain. "After you left, we went on a mission to hunt down a Soul King Evil Spirit Master and kill him."

"When we arrived at the cave where he was located, Ma Xiaotao warned us to be careful with the corpses on the ground. Her concern became certain when they started to explode, but as we were prepared, only minor injuries were caused."

"However…" His expression got uglier and Mo Xie could feel a little fear coming from him. "Before we had time to make any moves, a Soul Sage Evil Spirit Master with poison control appeared and ambushed us."

"Elder Xuan still managed to react quickly enough to save us, but apart from Senior Ma Xiaotao, Ling Luochen and Dai Yueheng, who inhaled little of the poison, everyone else was severely poisoned and taken back to the academy for treatment." Everyone's expression was grim.

"Anyone in danger of death?" Mo Xie asked.

"No. Elder Xuan said the poison could be treated by a spiritual master at the academy, but they would need a few months to fully recover." He Caitou replied bitterly.

Mo Xie sighed in relief. At least there were no deaths this time.

But the appearance of a Soul Sage Evil Spirit Master was completely beyond Mo Xie's expectations.

'History is changing little by little…' It was something he should pay close attention to, because there would come a time when his knowledge alone would not be enough to keep up with the changes that were taking place in this world.

'Now that I stop to think, there wasn't a Holy Son in the Church of the Holy Spirit in the novel.' Mo Xie recalled the Evil Spirit Master who tried to capture the Auspicious Beast in Star Dou Forest.

'I need information.' Mo Xie decided to accelerate the creation of surveillance Spirit Tools. Even though this could cause problems, if he didn't speed up the Spirit Tools development process in Shrek, he felt that something bad could happen at any time.

"Mo Xie?" He Caitou called him after seeing that he didn't answer for a while.

"Oh, it's nothing... I was thinking about other things." He then turned his attention to Ma Xiaotao and the others and said, "Come here, I will help remove the poison from you. After resting for 7 days should be enough to make a full recovery."

It took him an hour to completely burn the poison in their bodies with his Ultimate Fire. With a few days of meditation, they could heal the internal wounds caused by the poison.

After talking for a while, Mo Xie went straight to his room. It was already getting dark and he hadn't been able to rest properly since his last fight, so he would use this night to meditate and review everything he gained during his trip.

Although it would take him to cultivate in closed doors for a few months to digest everything, he could still gain something in a night of cultivation. But before he could sit on his bed, a knock came at his door.

When he opened it, he saw Ma Xiaotao in front of his door and without asking permission, she simply entered the room and sat on his bed.

Mo Xie smirked, closing the door and staring at Ma Xiaotao looking at him with questioning eyes.

"Why did you take so long to arrive?" She asked.

"Some things happened that prevented me from arriving early." Mo Xie replied with a smile. However, his mind was furiously working to find an excuse to deceive Ma Xiaotao.

He couldn't just say that he was seriously injured in a fight with a seven-ring Evil Spirit Master and then ran into the Beast God and Silver Dragon King in Star Dou Forest, right?

Ma Xiaotao crossed her seductive legs and tilted her head as if asking him to continue.

"Sigh… It's related to my Mystic Eyes Martial Soul." Mo Xie said and opened his Eye of Destiny. "During my trip, my martial soul underwent a mutation and I had to spend a few days in seclusion to complete it."

Ma Xiaotao was surprised to see the third eye on Mo Xie's forehead and felt a bad premonition after looking at it for a long time.

She found this unbelievable but accepted his apology.

"Sister Xiaotao, did the last mission affect your evil flames?" Mo Xie asked worriedly. Under normal circumstances, Ma Xiaotao would not act like she is now.

He approached and tried to put a hand on her shoulder, only to see Ma Xiaotao's grim expression. She wasn't being affected by her flames, but she was worried about something else.

It is not known whether it was an impulse or an unconscious action, but Mo Xie slowly hugged Ma Xiaotao as he sat down beside her. His action was like telling her not to worry about anything.

Ma Xiaotao was surprised for a moment before returning the hug and closing her eyes with her head resting on Mo Xie's shoulder. On the one hand she was a little embarrassed and her face was a little red, but on the other hand she was happy for Mo Xie to hug her for the first time.

Mo Xie was confused by his own actions, but feeling Ma Xiaotao's presence in his arms somehow calmed his chaotic mind.

They stayed like that for a while, just feeling each other's breath and hearts. No words were needed.

When they parted, Mo Xie could feel that Ma Xiaotao had calmed down and was looking at him with tenderness.

She reached out her hand, touching Mo Xie's face gently. "Do you know? During the mission, if it wasn't for Elder Xuan, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see him again. I'm glad I survived."

'So that's what affected her emotions.' Mo Xie thought inwardly with a sigh.

"Sister Xiaotao, you should rest and heal your wounds." Mo Xie didn't know how to respond to Ma Xiaotao, so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"After taking advantage of this big sister do you want to get rid of me?" Ma Xiaotao was very angry at Mo Xie's words.

Mo Xie was embarrassed and didn't know how to respond.

"Just wait. I'll break that barrier of yours even if it's by brute force!" Saying this, she got up and left the room, leaving Mo Xie stunned there.

*Sigh* Mo Xie let out a long sigh as he fell back onto the bed, covering his red face with his hands.

"That's a 'Check', huh…" He was very annoyed with himself for running away at the last moment, but there was nothing he could do to fix his mistake.

Inside, Mo Xie knew that a time would come when he could no longer run away from his feelings. But apparently, that day would come faster than he thought.

"It's no use thinking about it anymore…" He muttered and closed the door before sitting up in bed and started to cultivate.

In the room next to Mo Xie's, Ma Xiaotao had a flushed face as she tried to calm down.

"Damn, what did I just do? Although he doesn't look like it, he's still a child…" Rethinking her actions, Ma Xiaotao was very embarrassed but was able to calm down quickly.

She shook her head and began to cultivate to get rid of her idle thoughts.

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The next day, Wang Yan began explaining the tournament rules to everyone. With the exception of Mo Xie and the remaining members of the main team, Yuhao and the others on the preparatory team looked very nervous.

"Why are you so nervous?" Mo Xie said, getting everyone's attention. "Even if we don't have the support of Ma Xiaotao and the others in the first rounds, there will be no problem with me on the team."

"If you still get nervous knowing this, why don't I fight all of you alone to extinguish your doubts?" Mo Xie said in an arrogant tone. At the moment, it was the best he could do to boost the preparatory team's morale.

In fact, he didn't even mind fighting alone in the arena against the other schools. Thinking about that possibility, he smiled mischievously.

"It is not necessary!" Xu Sanshi was the first to refuse. 'Do you think I'm dying to fight you again?' Mo Xie's smile made him very scared.

"Why are you so scared?" Mo Xie asked, confused.

"Do you really need to know?" Xu Sanshi replied with disdain.

Everyone: "…"

*Cough* "It's like Mo Xie said." Wang Yan coughed a little and told them to rest.

In another room at the Imperial Star Grand Hotel.

There were 16 people seated around a table, two of them being Elders and 14 students. They were the competitors of the Sun Moon Empire, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy.

At this point, they were discussing the Shrek Academy.

"Last night, one more person registered as a member of Shrek Academy for the tournament." A red-haired Elder spoke. "What are your thoughts?" he continued.

The other Elder asked, "Were you able to investigate his identity or strength?"

The red-haired Elder shook his head in response. "All we know is that although he looks to be around 15, but his real age is 12 years old. He arrived in the city alone last night. Everything else is a mystery."

"Could he be a backup sent by Shrek?" One of the younger students asked hesitantly.

"What could a 12 year old child do? It would be good enough if he had three rings, but that's not enough to make any impact on the tournament." One of the older students said in disdain.

"It's no use thinking too much." A young man under 15 years old with white hair said. He was the captain of the prep team Xiao Hongchen. "No matter what Shrek is thinking, we'll find out when the tournament starts tomorrow." He said with a smile, but in his smile there was infinite arrogance.

Sitting with the members of the preparatory team was a young woman who appeared to be under the age of 14 and did not seem to be paying attention to the discussion. Her long black hair fell to her waist. Her smooth skin and well-developed slender body contrasted sharply with her real age and her sapphire eyes glowed with a strange light from time to time as if lost in thought.

She looked out the living room window and saw the streets of Star Luo City crowded with people, and thought. 'He must appear during the tournament, right?' There was nostalgia in her eyes.