"Number One, Victory!"
The electronic prompt rang out.
On the competition platform, Mu Xi stood upright, slightly out of breath.
"Big Sis-in-law!" "Big Sis-in-law!" "Big Sis-in-law!"
The cheers from her supporters in the audience erupted like a geyser.
It wasn't just the spectators inside the Star Dou Battle Network—viewers watching via broadcast platforms were also shouting her name.
On the screen, the huge word "Champion" and the illusory crown above Mu Xi's head proclaimed loudly that she was the strongest in this tournament.
Star Dou Battle Network All-Federation Challenge – Soul Master Battle: Final Champion!
After Xia Yi and Gu Yue withdrew from the Soul Master competition, Mu Xi's victory was expected. She advanced without a single loss and took the title with overwhelming dominance.
After the Soul Sage Wu Jin was eliminated by the Crimson Mother, she then lost in the semifinals to the Jade King, who was also a peak Soul Douluo.
For the Crimson Mother, defeating a Soul Sage wouldn't raise suspicion, but defeating the Jade King, a peak Soul Douluo with double-word battle armor, might draw unwanted attention.
Though the Crimson Mother was also at the peak Soul Douluo level, her martial soul wasn't as strong as the Jade King's, and her "background" and experience couldn't compare. There was "no way" she could be his match.
The Jade King, like Sima Jinchi and A Ruheng, had defeated Title Douluos while still being a Soul Douluo himself.
His martial soul was the Emerald Crystal Qilin, a mutated soul with ancient bloodlines. In ancient times, Qilin soul beasts were even rarer than dragons, and their power rivaled that of the Dragon Kings.
The Jade King had awakened a type of mutated Qilin bloodline, even superior to the Qilin Douluo of the former Star Luo Empire.
His bloodline was innate, while the Qilin Douluo's was acquired through mutation, making the two incomparable.
The Jade King's martial soul was ranked number one in quality at this tournament.
Even compared to Gu Yue's "Elementalist" or Xia Yi's "Nine-Tailed Fox," his soul ranked higher.
Although Gu Yue had revealed her martial soul to be a dragon-type, the Federation had searched through all historical records and still couldn't identify what kind of dragon it was. So Gu Yue's official martial soul listing remained "Elementalist."
Xia Yi was similar. His martial soul was initially registered as "Fox."
As his cultivation increased, his martial soul evolved multiple times, and now he possessed eight tails.
The Federation concluded that he must have the bloodline of a Nine-Tailed Fox and officially updated his martial soul record to that.
The Nine-Tailed Fox is the most powerful among all fox-type souls.
But in a tournament spanning the entire Douluo Continent, even that wasn't enough to stand out—let alone to compare with the Emerald Crystal Qilin.
If the Crimson Mother had grown up inside the Spirit Pagoda, then a peak Soul Douluo from the tower losing to a fellow Soul Douluo with double-word battle armor would still be acceptable.
But she had only recently joined the tower.
She could only lose.
Even the Crimson Mother lost to the Jade King.
Everyone thought there would be a clash of titans between the Jade King and Mu Xi.
The Jade King, a citizen of the Sun-Moon Federation, had long known this tournament was coming. To seize the championship, he deliberately held off on advancing past the Soul Douluo stage and didn't make a three-word battle armor.
To defeat Mu Xi, he specially modified his battle armor beforehand. He believed that if he could withstand Mu Xi's terrifying flames, he could win.
But despite all these preparations, when Mu Xi unleashed her Samadhi True Fire, he was mercilessly eliminated.
As for the Mecha Battle, Ice God's Heart swept through the competition and easily took the championship.
Thus, in the Star Dou Battle Network All-Federation Challenge, the Soul Master Champion was Mu Xi from the Forging Master Association, and the Mecha Champion was Xia Yi from the Spirit Pagoda.
Hearing the cheers from the crowd, Mu Xi felt dizzy with emotion—a sensation she had never experienced before.
A surge of pride welled up inside her.
This was a tournament spanning the entire continent, and she had become the champion.
Offstage, Xia Yi, who had finished his matches the previous day, clapped sincerely.
"Great! Great!" Mu Chen, Yuan Bao'er, Zhen Hua, and other people who knew Mu Xi were also filled with excitement.
The Forging Master Association had finally earned its moment of glory.
Who would dare say again that forging masters were weak in actual combat?
"Big Brother!" "Big Sis-in-law!"
These nicknames said everything. Combined with the previous video of Xia Yi dancing the "axe dance" with Mu Xi, even a fool could guess their relationship.
Although Mu Xi had been "taken" by Xia Yi, she had never joined the Spirit Pagoda. As of now, her only official affiliation was still the Forging Master Association.
Therefore, the Sun-Moon Federation still referred to her as Mu Xi of the Forging Master Association, not Mu Xi of the Spirit Pagoda.
The honor of being Soul Master Champion of the Star Dou All-Federation Tournament belonged to the Forging Master Association.
Meanwhile, in the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters in Mingdu, the current Tower Master—Snow Toad Douluo Yi Hongchen, a Level-97 Super Douluo—watched the screen where Mu Xi stood proudly, and her brow furrowed deeply. She opened her soul communicator and began to search.
But as she dug deeper, she noticed something wrong.
Yi Hongchen came from the prestigious Hongchen family of the Sun-Moon Federation, a lineage that had lasted for ten thousand years.
They had been prominent since the era of the Sun-Moon Empire and had endured into the Federation.
Even now, they remained one of the most powerful families in the Federation.
Besides Yi Hongchen, the Supreme Commander of the Federation Army also hailed from the Hongchen family.
The family head—Yi Hongchen's elder brother—is Toad Douluo Yi Tianchan, a Level-98 Super Douluo.
The family's peak influence had been during the Sun-Moon Empire era, when they effectively controlled the Royal Soul Master Academy.
At one point, a third of all key figures in the Federation came from that academy, under the Hongchen family's sway.
Had it not been for a catastrophe ten thousand years ago, which nearly destroyed the academy and heavily weakened the family's influence, allowing the royal family to retake control, the academy might still be theirs today.
Even so, the Hongchen family later made a comeback.
During the war to unify the continent under the Sun-Moon Empire, the emperor refused to lead the army personally, so the Hongchen siblings naturally became supreme commanders and conquered the Star Luo Empire.
The unification of the continent was thanks to them.
Even after the Empire became a Federation, the family retained immense prestige in the military.
"This isn't right! There's no record of Mu Xi in the Spirit Pagoda's database—and even more shocking, there's no record of Xia Yi either. Could it be… he never joined the tower at all? How's that possible?" Yi Hongchen couldn't believe it.
She wasn't originally from the tower herself. After the Spirit Pagoda joined the Federation, she was appointed as the nominal Tower Master by the government.
Qian Gu Dongfeng became the Tower Master of the Shrek City branch.
Leng Yaozhu served as Deputy Tower Master in the same branch.
Qian Gu Dongfeng, Leng Yaozhu, and Zhang Geyang, the Tower Master of the Star Luo City branch, all held Vice Tower Master positions in the overall structure.
Yi Hongchen understood the internal complexity of the tower. She had just joined and, despite her title, knew she wasn't truly accepted by the tower's inner factions.
If not for Leng Yaozhu's support, things would've been even harder for her.
So after taking office, Yi Hongchen didn't assert herself or interfere with Leng Yaozhu or Qian Gu Dongfeng's powers.
In reality, though Tower Master in name, she only managed the Mingdu branch.
Other branches were still effectively run by Leng Yaozhu.
As for Qian Gu Dongfeng—his brother, Qian Gu Qingfeng, had recently become a Quasi-God after resonating with the God Realm Core's Douluo Seal, prompting Dongfeng to leave the tower's affairs behind and focus on cultivation.
One reason was the immense allure of godhood.
Another reason—so long as Leng Yaozhu remained dominant in Shrek City's tower, no one would care about his "Tower Master" title.
So he took a figurehead role and focused on training.
Even so, Yi Hongchen held supreme authority within the tower.
When Xia Yi won the Mecha Battle yesterday and the Federation declared him the Spirit Pagoda champion, she hadn't questioned it.
But when Mu Xi won the Soul Master Battle today, and considering her relationship with Xia Yi, Yi Hongchen grew curious and decided to check if they were officially part of the tower.
After all, the Forging Master Association was merely a council. Even if Mu Xi were the president, that wouldn't prevent her from joining the Spirit Pagoda.
But to her shock, neither Mu Xi nor Xia Yi was listed as a member.
This discovery startled Yi Hongchen.
"What about Gu Yue?" She quickly searched Gu Yue's file.
Gu Yue: disciple of Deputy Tower Master Tianfeng Douluo, member of Shrek City Spirit Pagoda.Martial Soul: Elementalist.Level: Soul Douluo, three-word battle armor.Spirit Transfer Rank: Level 9.
Everything seemed normal.
Then what about Xia Yi?
Yi Hongchen didn't believe he had joined the tower.
She immediately called Leng Yaozhu.
"Tower Master, is something the matter?" Leng Yaozhu answered respectfully. If her strength and prestige were higher, she would've happily made Yi Hongchen the real Tower Master.
"Tianfeng Douluo, I was just sorting some records and noticed that there's no file for Master Xia Yi in our tower's archives," Yi Hongchen said. Despite being the top authority, her tone felt more like a report than an interrogation.
"Xia Yi? He never joined the tower," Leng Yaozhu replied with some helplessness. "I even tried seducing him, but he still refused. What can I do?"
"Ah…" Yi Hongchen couldn't believe her ears. Did Leng Yaozhu just reveal a secret she shouldn't have?
"I know what you're thinking," Leng Yaozhu continued. "With Xia Yi and Mu Xi's talent, you think they should belong to the Spirit Pagoda, right?"
Yi Hongchen opened her mouth but said nothing, because Leng Yaozhu was right.
That was exactly why she'd looked them up.
"I understand how you feel," Leng Yaozhu said. "You've just become Tower Master and want to prove yourself. But the Spirit Pagoda isn't a gang. If someone doesn't want to join, we can't force them. Xia Yi… he's a free spirit—not someone who should be bound."
Both Leng Yaozhu and Gu Yue knew Xia Yi well.
Couldn't they make him join if they wanted?
Of course, they could.
If Gu Yue tried, she could even make him the next Beast God.
But none of them were willing to force him.
They preferred things this way—assigning him little tasks occasionally to annoy him slightly.
That way, they could indulge their vanity without truly binding him or affecting him.
"Oh." On the other end of the soul communicator, Yi Hongchen replied flatly. She didn't understand Xia Yi, and naturally couldn't understand Leng Yaozhu's reasoning.
Leng Yaozhu continued, "Don't worry about Xia Yi. There's something I do want to report. The Shrek City branch is researching a Hundred-thousand-year artificial spirit souls. We'll need technical support from your side."
"Really? I'll arrange it immediately!" Yi Hongchen's breathing grew rapid.
Hundred-thousand-year artificial spirit souls… The implications were immense.
She knew that Leng Yaozhu was letting her share in the research credit by involving her.
Once successful, her authority within the Spirit Pagoda would soar.