NOVEL NEXT Chapter 172: Chapter 173: One Month Later, The Lecherous Fatty Ma Hongjun
After Lin Ye and Zhu Zhuqing participated in their first soul battle at Soto's Great Soul Arena, they continued to engage in battles regularly.
For the next month, whenever they had time outside of training, they would team up with Xie Lin and Su Ying to take part in soul battles.
For Lin Ye, these battles didn't provide much benefit, at least not while he was competing as a support-type soul master.
However, for Zhu Zhuqing, the benefits were substantial.
With Lin Ye's Falling Heart Flame aiding her, Zhu Zhuqing's cultivation speed skyrocketed.
In just one month at Soto City, she broke through from Rank 28 to Rank 29—and was now on the verge of reaching Rank 30.
With only two days left until Shrek Academy's annual enrollment, Zhu Zhuqing stopped going to the Soul Arena altogether.
Instead, she locked herself in her hotel room, dedicating herself to cultivation, hoping to break through to Rank 30 before entering Shrek Academy.
Meanwhile, Lin Ye had also been busy.
Apart from raising his soul power from Rank 53 to Rank 54, he also refined a special artifact using Heavenly Machine Hundred Refinements.
To be precise, according to Heavenly Machine Hundred Refinements, this was a magical artifact.
And the purpose of this artifact?
It was to create a second identity for solo battles at Soto's Great Soul Arena.
This artifact was crafted from the third eye of the Three-Eyed Demon Fox he had slain in Death Canyon.
After refining it, the artifact granted an illusion-based ability.
As long as Lin Ye wore this enchanted eye, he could generate illusions at will.
With this ability, he could project fake soul rings around himself and wield a longsword, making it appear as his martial soul.
This way, Lin Ye could participate in solo battles as a sword martial soul master.
His main reason for doing this?
Sword training.
After six years of practice, Lin Ye had fully mastered the Nine Solitary Swords.
Every sword stance flowed effortlessly from him.
But now, he wanted to take it one step further—toward an even greater peak.
That was to merge all nine sword stances into one ultimate move.
Right now, he could freely switch between sword techniques, countering any type of attack.
But his ultimate goal was a single, unified strike—a move that could shatter all techniques!
Achieving this level of mastery was incredibly difficult.
But Lin Ye had no other path left—the Nine Solitary Swords was a technique-based sword style, and he had already reached its limit.
The only way forward was to innovate and refine.
After completing the refinement of the Three-Eyed Demon Fox's eye, Lin Ye embedded it into a gold coin-sized pendant, using Falling Heart Flame to melt and shape it.
He named this pendant "Everchanging," symbolizing the illusory abilities of the Three-Eyed Demon Fox's eye.
Since he planned to fight with a longsword, Lin Ye also gave the sword a name—"Hidden Wind."
This name reflected the refined properties the sword gained through the artifact refinement process.
With everything ready, on the night before Shrek Academy's enrollment, Lin Ye set out for Soto's Great Soul Arena to register a new battle identity.
He had already chosen a name for this new persona: "Sword One."
This name represented his ambition—to merge the Nine Solitary Swords into a single move.
Since this new identity would be separate from his real self, Lin Ye altered his hairstyle, tying up his long hair into a topknot.
Once he put on a new mask and used Everchanging to simulate a fake soul ring configuration, no one would recognize him.
Leaving Violet Orchid Grand Hotel, Lin Ye bought a black tiger-shaped mask with golden patterns and put it on before heading to the Soul Arena.
Unlike his first visit, this time he arrived early—right when the crowds surged in.
As he stepped into the main hall, he found it packed with people.
However, since Lin Ye had visited the arena over a dozen times, he was familiar with the layout.
Even in the crowded hall, he swiftly navigated toward the registration counter.
But just as he approached, he saw something that made him frown.
At the registration counter, a short, chubby man with fiery red hair, dressed in a red leather outfit, was harassing the pink-haired receptionist.
The receptionist's face was already filled with annoyance, but the red-haired fatty continued his shameless advances, completely unbothered.
Seeing this, Lin Ye couldn't stand it anymore.
The pink-haired receptionist had left a good impression on him when he registered for soul battles with Zhu Zhuqing.
Seeing her being harassed, Lin Ye decided to step in.
"Miss, are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before! You're so beautiful!"
The red-haired fatty grinned slyly, standing at the counter, attempting to flirt with the receptionist.
"I'd love to take you out for dinner. Will you give me the honor after your shift?"
"Sir, can you please step aside? You're interfering with my work."
The pink-haired receptionist tried to politely refuse, but since the fatty was a soul master, she didn't dare to offend him outright.
So she forced a smile despite her disgust.
"There's no one else in line yet! I'll move when someone shows up. Just answer me—will you go out with me or not?"
The red-haired fatty shamelessly leaned against the counter, combing back his greasy hair before winking at her.
The receptionist's stomach churned in disgust.
"Sir, I already told you—I don't know you. I can't accept your invitation. Please find someone else."
Her patience was wearing thin.
But the red-haired fatty pretended not to hear, continuing to pester her.
Clearly, he intended to wear her down until she gave in.
The receptionist had reached her limit.
She was just about to call security to remove this pest when…
A cold voice suddenly cut through the noise—
"Hey, fatty. You're blocking my way."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING FATTY?!"
Hearing this, the red-haired fatty instantly flared up, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
He whirled around, glaring furiously at Lin Ye.
"Aren't you a fatty?"
Lin Ye glanced at his round, ball-like figure, feeling utterly baffled.
"You're in my way. I'm here to register for soul battles. Move aside."
"FATTY?! You dare call ME fat?! Listen up, kid!"
The fatty puffed out his chest, jabbing a chubby finger at himself.
"The name's Ma Hongjun! The one and only dashing, lady-killing heartthrob! Where do you think you are, brat? Don't you know about seniority?!"
Lin Ye: "…"
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