The Charm of Soul Pets

The second day after the preliminary competition was the semi finals. For the semifinals, the Chu Family probably should have said that their luck wasn’t very good, as they were up against the Soul Pet Palace team!

The Soul Pet Palace faction was extremely huge, and it probably wasn’t inferior to the powerful organization of Nightmare Palace that was found everywhere in this world. The main palace of the Soul Pet Palace wasn’t in Luo Region, but was instead in some far away region. Thus, in Gangluo City, the Soul Pet Palace’s influence wasn’t too strong, and they primarily conducted soul pet transactions.

In the majority of cities, Soul Pet Palace would take a neutral stance, and they would rarely side or discriminate in favor of any faction in a certain city. Additionally, if Soul Pet Palace had people stationed in cities, it would maintain a passive stance, and would not conflict at all with any of the big powers of that place.

Gangluo City’s Soul Pet Palace team wasn’t considered terribly strong, but there were numerous experts in Soul Pet Palace, and the young experts they sent were definitely not normal people.

The arrangement of battle was still Chu Lang leading the way, followed by Chu Mu. In order to preserve physical strength to handle the subsequent stronger opponents, Chu Xing didn’t didn’t have Chu Lang continue fighting after winning. Instead, after winning one round, he immediately switched people.

Chu Lang had obtained victory in the first round, and so Chu Mu immediately switched in to deal with Soul Pet Palace’s second opponent. Chu Mu’s opponent wasn’t powerful, but it was a spirit teacher that could summon three soul pets. Relying only on Zhan Ye naturally would not obtain him victory, so Chu Mu also summoned the Night Thunder Dream Beast to enter the fight.

After using heavenly demon tears, the Night Thunder Dream Beast entered a burst growth phase. In a short period of time, it had reached the fifth phase ninth stage. According to Chu Mu’s estimates, over the next few days, it should be able to evolve to the sixth phase.

The Night Thunder Dream Beast had already used a sixth level soul crystal to train. If it wanted to train again, then Chu Mu would have to purchase an expensive seventh level soul crystal.

The price of a seventh level soul crystal was extremely terrifying. A single type would reach 1.5 million gold coins, while a dual type would probably require 2 million gold coins. Even if it was a great family in Gangluo City, they would not be able to casually purchase one.

Once the fifth phase ninth stage Night Thunder Dream Beast appeared on stage, a sigh rang throughout the arena! Dream Beasts were nobility soul pets amongst the commander rank. With a dual lightning and thunder attribute, its value was even higher. Even with a normal aptitude, it would be comparable to many highly talented high class commander rank soul pets.

The fifth phase ninth stage Night Thunder Dream Beast’s fighting power was naturally much stronger than the fifth phase first stage Mo Ye. The Night Thunder Dream Beast fought one versus two, and its fighting style was like an elegant dancer, allowing it to easily dodge the attacks of the opposing two sixth phase warrior rank soul pets. Very soon, it defeated the two soul pets, causing people to let out a rather large gasp of surprise.

Compared to the Night Thunder Dream Beast’s beautiful performance, Zhan Ye’s fight against a fifth phase third stage commander rank Bloodsucking Hundred Stem Devil was rather strenuous. After all, Zhan Ye’s fighting strength was slightly inferior to a normal commander rank soul pet.

Chu Mu didn’t have the Night Thunder Dream Beast interfere with Zhan Ye’s fight. The early part of Zhan Ye’s fight was him silently enduring, suffering from continuous whip-like stem slaps. The Bloodsucking Hundred Stem Devil had hundreds of grass stems on its body and hundreds of tentacle-like weapons. Grass type soul pets harbored a slight advantage when facing beast type soul pets, so it was naturally very hard for Zhan Ye to win.

“Chu Mu, replace your soul pet. This Mo Ye’s fighting spirit isn’t bad, but there isn’t a need to render its body full of bruises. Save up a bit of fighting strength for the fights in the future.” Chu Xing used his soul remembrance to remind Chu Mu on the battlefield.

Zhan Ye’s temperament was understood very well by Chu Mu. It definitely would not just casually give up a fight, so he continued to let it fight.

“This fellow, don’t think that you’re infallible with a Night Thunder Dream Beast. Quickly listen to older brother’s plans!” Chu Ying was a bit annoyed as she yelled at Chu Mu.

Chu Mu continued to disregard Chu Ying’s words, and he indifferently stood on the field, unmoving. Like a black colored statue with cold emotionless eyes, he conducted the Mo Ye’s fight.

Finally, after unceasingly persistent attacks, the Bloodsucking Hundred Stem Devil finally exposed a gap. Zhan Ye, who understood counterattacking when the opponent was overextended, immediately grasped the opportunity, and he got close to the Bloodsucking Hundred Stem Devil’s overstretched body.

The moment a plant world grass type soul pet was closed in on, it wasn’t far from death. The opponent realized that Chu Mu’s Zhan Ye could very likely deal an extremely great wound to his soul pet, and he very decisively recalled his own soul pet, proclaiming his loss in the fight.

“Your Mo Ye has a lot of perseverance.” insipidly said the Soul Pet Palace opponent, as he looked at Chu Mu.

Chu Mu only nodded his head and didn’t say anything. After the referee announced his victory in battle, he slowly walked off the stage.

“Hmph, completely depleting this Mo Ye’s fighting strength and then fighting with the Zhou Family is essentially putting yourself at a disadvantage. Why do you understand nothing about fighting tactics.” Chu Ying’s complaints rang out once more.

Chu Mu lifted his eyelids, but didn’t say anything as he sat next to Chu Xing. He then said: “It’s recovery ability is extremely powerful and will not interfere with tomorrow’s fight.”

Chu Xing could see that Chu Mu wasn’t an impulsive person and nodded his head.

……

After the semi-finals ended, the main tournament was even more grand. The competition of the main tournament was even held in the extremely luxurious Gangluo City Battlefield.

The main tournament was different from the semi-finals, as the main tournament could be regarded as the true Recommendation!

The main tournament had two battles in total. Without any particular surprise, the first battle was Huiyan City’s Su Family. The Su Family could be considered a great family, but Huiyan City’s Su Family was only really a side branch, and could only be regarded as an upper class family in Gangluo City. However, compared to the four great families, their foundation was a bit lacking.

Since the Chu Family would have to deal with the Zhou Family in the second battle, and face the Su Family tomorrow, they would have to preserve their strength when fighting the Su Family.

They continued to do things as they did in the semifinals, with Chu Lang starting off. His opponent was a third remembrance soul pet trainer who controlled a sixth phase commander rank soul pet. Chu Lang’s strongest soul pet was only the Light Rhinoceros, whose strength was clearly inferior to this Su Family expert.

However, since he controlled a sixth phase commander rank soul pet, this was probably the Su Family’s strongest person. As long as they got rid of this fellow, the other four wouldn’t be able to hold up.

The average strength of Chu Lang’s three soul pets wasn’t very different from the Su Family team leader’s. However, he had no way of dealing with the opponent’s sixth phase commander rank, and ultimately lost in order to preserve a bit of strength.

“Chu He, here you go.” said Chu Xing. He had Chu He go and face off against the Su Family’s team leader.

The reticent Chu He nodded his head and slowly walked towards the arena. He saw that the opponent’s three soul pets had already been summoned, but he only summoned two soul pets himself.

Chu He’s strength was second only to Chu Xing. For the time being, Chu Mu hadn’t even seen him summon his strongest soul pet.

Chu He’s two soul pets were a fifth phase seventh stage Mo Ye and the sixth phase ninth stage Silver Armor Heavenly Bug.

The Silver Armor Heavenly Bug was a warrior rank soul pet. Chu He’s sixth phase ninth stage Silver Armor Heavenly Bug had clearly gone through bug type strengthening, and even though it was facing the Su Family’s sixth phase commander rank, it would still be able to meet it with ease!

The battle didn’t even last ten minutes before the Su Family’s team leader conceded. However, Chu He didn’t immediately get off the field, and continued to use his two summoned soul pets to get rid of another Su Family opponent. Afterwards, in order to preserve strength, he got off.

Chu Ying’s strength identically was not weak. After the Su Family’s strongest opponent had been defeated, Chu Ying used under ten minutes to defeat her opponent in an absolutely domineering fashion.

Right afterwards was Chu Xing’s fight. His strength was the strongest and so far, Chu Mu also hadn’t seen him summon his strongest soul pet. Apparently, it was a sixth phase Mo Ye.

Chu Xing’s second strongest soul pet appeared on stage and still easily defeated its opponent. Thus, it managed to preserve the most of its strength.

The last one to go on stage was Chu Mu. His opponent was a spirit soldier that could only summon two soul pets. This ended up making Chu Mu greatly disappointed. It seemed that the Su Family’s team leader was the only relatively strong one. The others were a bit subpar, as they couldn’t even gather five spirit teachers from their younger generation.

He continued to let Zhan Ye fight, followed by the Devil Tree Battle Soldier.

Chu Mu wanted to temper Zhan Ye’s fighting ability, and even after the Devil Tree Battle Soldier easily defeated its opponent, Chu Mu still did not let it interfere with the Mo Ye’s fight.

“That’s odd. Didn’t this fifth phase first stage Mo Ye sustain a full body of injuries only two days ago from the Bloodsucking Hundred Stem Devil? How is its fighting strength replenished again today?” Many people who saw Chu Mu’s battle before let out flabbergasted expressions.

In the past, everyone in Gangluo City knew that Chu Mu couldn’t summon a soul pet. Four years later, numerous people discovered that this once ridiculed person appeared amongst the Chu Family’s youth, causing them to be exceptionally astonished. They began to secretly lament that the Chu Family truly had no people left, and that they could only use Chu Mu, who had only four years of summoning experience, to participate in the fights.

However, during the few Recommendation fights, Chu Mu’s performance had caused many people to be shocked. They didn’t think that in four years, this brat who couldn’t summon a soul pet would already have a bit of strength; dealing with third-rate opponents was as easy as blowing off dust to him.

Of course, the most prominent thing was still Chu Mu’s Night Thunder Dream Beast. It was essentially a great highlight in the arena, but the majority of people believed that the Chu Family had spent a great amount of money to purchase it in order to increase Chu Mu’s strength. They didn’t think that Chu Mu himself had raised it...

It was precisely because of Chu Mu’s unique circumstances that he received a lot of attention. After fighting consecutive fights, there would automatically be people who found Chu Mu’s fifth phase first stage regular Mo Ye to have a bizarre aspect.

“Chu Mu’s Mo Ye truly had a very strong recovery ability. Generally speaking, it was just like last time: a normal soul pet needed at least six or seven days to recover, but Zhan Ye was able to fully recover its fighting strength in two days. It should be a Mo Ye with an outstanding bug type talent.” said Chu Xing as he nodded his head.

“The soul pet brother Chu Mu chose for Yishui was so strong. How can his own soul pet be inferior? That small Mo Ye definitely has many other strengths.” said Chu Yishui.

“Hmph, in my opinion, it’s just slightly more tenacious.” harrumphed Chu Ying. She didn’t think very highly of Chu Mu’s small Mo Ye.

[1]

The sole unique aspect of Chu Mu’s Zhan Ye really was its tenacity. However, it wasn’t a normal tenacity. In all likelihood, it would be very soon before Zhan Ye could exhibit its abnormal ability!

TL: In this context I translated 命硬 as tenacious. This is a bit of a tricky word as there’s no direct translation in English. It’s not entirely tenacious, but rather a step more intense. Essentially, during its life it has encountered tons of bumps and hardships and managed to survive. Through tribulations and near-death experiences, it has still managed to live and thus made it’s life ‘tenacious’. In the future when I describe Zhan Ye as ‘tenacious’, the tenacity I refer to is closer to this.