Chapter 406: The Unpredictable Yun Qing
"Damn it!"
Watching the Savory Tofu Pudding Team march confidently onto the stage, Yun Qing—waiting at the entrance of the other tunnel—felt his expression tighten slightly.
The opposing team had actually gone to the trouble of wearing perfectly matching uniforms. In contrast, his own team looked instantly outclassed.
What a complete miscalculation!
The rest of the Sweet Tofu Pudding Team members also showed subtle changes in expression, until Paide suddenly spoke up with a loud, defiant tone.
"It's fine! They might have matching outfits, but we've got Yun Qing—and he's way stronger! We'll make them regret it: the ones with the neatest uniforms are gonna take the hardest beating!"
That… actually made sense.
The team members exchanged glances, their eyes naturally drifting toward Yun Qing, though their expressions grew a bit complicated.
Most of the members on both sides were regulars at Han Shi, and quite a few even knew each other well.
For instance, Darn and Paide—leaders of the two opposing teams—were old acquaintances, as were several Tang Sect disciples scattered across both sides.
Because of that, the Sweet Tofu Pudding Team had a perfect grasp of their opponents' strength—down to each person's martial spirit.
But not everyone's ability was known. Yun Qing's strength, for instance, was a mystery. He wasn't a resident of Shrek City, but rather an out-of-towner who had come here just to taste Han Shi's famous dishes. In fact, he was the only non-local participating in today's Spirit Fight.
With his power unknown, he was bound to give the other side a big surprise.
Thinking that, the faces of his teammates lit up with excitement.
Just you wait, savory heretics—your beating's coming!
Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the arena, the Savory Tofu Pudding Team members were whispering among themselves.
"Those sweet-tofu heretics don't stand a chance against us!" Darn said confidently. "Just look at us—our uniforms are perfect! We've already won in terms of presence!"
"Exactly!" Ye Haoran nodded vigorously. It had been his idea to make the matching battle uniforms, so he was particularly proud. "I even went to spy on their preparations earlier—they didn't bother with any sort of matching gear. They've already lost the momentum before we even start!"
"And besides, we're stronger," Darn added with a smirk, though his expression soon grew more thoughtful. "But… among their seven members, Yun Qing's strength is still unknown. He's an outsider."
"Probably not that high," one of the Tang Sect disciples said after thinking it over. "He looks like he's in his early twenties at most, and I've never heard of him before. If he were some kind of prodigy, we'd know his name by now. I'd say he's at best a four-ring Spirit Sect."
"Four rings, huh?" Darn nodded, accepting the analysis with confidence. "Then even with him, they're still weaker than us! We'll crush them in power as well as spirit—let those sweet-tofu heretics learn that savory tofu pudding is unbeatable!"
"Right!" The team members' fighting spirits burned high as they turned toward the opposite tunnel, eyes filled with challenge.
Before long, Ang Tian finished introducing every member of the Savory Tofu Pudding Team, who now stood ready on their side of the battlefield. His voice then rose again, filled with energy.
"And now, let's welcome the members of the Sweet Tofu Pudding Team!"
The stands erupted once more into thunderous cheers—this time from the same half of the audience who had been booing earlier. Meanwhile, the group that had cheered for the savory side responded in perfect synchronization with loud "boos" of their own.
Their timing was so coordinated that Qi Han, sitting among the spectators, couldn't help showing an odd expression.
This audience… really knows how to stir things up.
As another beam of light descended, the members of the Sweet Tofu Pudding Team finally stepped onto the stage.
Unlike the Savory Tofu Pudding Team, whose identical uniforms gave them a perfectly coordinated look, the sweet faction's members all wore their own individual outfits—but they'd at least agreed on one detail: color.
Every member of the Sweet Tofu Pudding Team was dressed in shades of reddish-brown.
Reddish-brown—the color of brown sugar.
Qi Han immediately caught the reference, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
So that's their idea of unity, huh?
He couldn't help wondering which of these two eccentric teams would actually come out on top.
On the stage, as the Sweet Tofu Pudding Team made their entrance one by one, Ang Tian began his introductions again—but the very first line out of his mouth sent a ripple of surprise through the entire arena.
"First, let's welcome the captain of the Sweet Tofu Pudding Team—the Gold Spirit Fighter known as 'Fushou Yinqing,' Yun Qing! His spirit power level is sixty-three, and his martial spirit is the Yin-Yang Weather Gauntlet!"
With a dramatic flourish of his arm, Ang Tian's tone turned even more enthusiastic.
"Most of our guests today may not recognize this name—so allow me to give you all a proper introduction!"
The moment those words landed, the expressions of the Savory Tofu Pudding Team collectively darkened.
None of them had expected Yun Qing's strength to be this high.
Even if Yun Qing had turned out to be a Spirit King, the Savory Team would still have had the upper hand—they did have a Spirit Emperor on their side, after all, while the opponents didn't. But this mysterious outsider… was actually a Spirit Emperor himself?
That changed everything.
A battle that had seemed like an easy victory just moments ago was suddenly looking very grim.
"'Fushou Yinqing'… him?"
Within the Savory Team, the Tang Sect member who was their own Spirit Emperor suddenly gasped under his breath, his expression tightening.
"We're done for."
"What? What do you mean?" Darn turned to him quickly, hearing the weight in his tone. The Tang Sect disciple clearly knew something—and given that he himself was also a Gold Spirit Fighter, theoretically on the same tier as Yun Qing, his words carried serious weight.
"This man is very famous in the Spirit Fight circuit," said Tang Zhong, his voice solemn. "They say his cultivation talent is on par with the inner court disciples of Shrek Academy. But he dislikes being bound by Shrek's rules, so instead of enrolling, he's been funding his own cultivation by winning Spirit Fights all across the continent. He's known for traveling from city to city, fighting wherever he goes."
He paused, frowning deeply. "Don't let the fact that we're both Gold Spirit Fighters fool you. There's a huge difference between one Gold rank and another."
"To reach Gold rank, you need a minimum of five thousand Spirit Fight points. Each victory at that level earns you about five hundred points. Sounds easy, right? It's not. There are so few Gold Spirit Fighters to begin with that every one of them is an elite among their peers. Maintaining a constant win streak is nearly impossible."
"Once you hit Gold rank, earning more points becomes extremely difficult. Lose too many times, and you'll drop right back to Silver." Tang Zhong looked toward Yun Qing, who was casually waving to the crowd, and his expression grew even heavier. "I've been a Gold Spirit Fighter for about a year now. My total score is just over seven thousand."
"But his score," Tang Zhong continued grimly, "is eighteen thousand."
"What!?" Darn's face twisted in shock. "But… doesn't it only take twenty thousand points to reach Amethyst Spirit Fighter? He's that close already?"
"That's right. And here's the scary part—he reached that score when he was still only level fifty-nine." Tang Zhong gave a slow nod. "At that time, he held the highest Spirit Fight points of any five-ring Spirit Master on the entire continent. He was even predicted to become the first ever five-ring Amethyst Spirit Fighter in history."
"Unfortunately," he added, his tone turning wistful, "after breaking through to the sixtieth rank, he stopped participating in battles for almost a whole year."
"To think…" Tang Zhong's eyes lingered on the figure standing not far away, his voice low with a mixture of awe and disbelief. "That he of all people… would show up here."
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