Chapter 46: Soul Beast? No, It's Pidgeotto!

Whiz—

High above the Kamikaze Academy, a cyan streak cut across the sky like a shooting star, hurtling at top speed toward the Spirit Arena.

"So fast!"

Meanwhile, on Pidgeotto's back, Mo Hui was equally startled. This speed had long since surpassed his own maximum limit, and only by employing Quick Attack could he barely manage to keep up.

Mo Hui had been aware that Pidgeotto was exceptionally fast, but what he hadn't anticipated was that even with his added weight, Pidgeotto's speed remained largely unaffected; his presence seemed to do little to slow the avian creature down.

Before long, Pidgeotto arrived in the airspace directly above the Spirit Arena. Naturally, such an unmasked and conspicuous display instantly drew the attention of everyone inside the arena.

Upon catching sight of Pidgeotto's imposing figure, someone immediately gasped in alarm, "Oh no, it's a spirit beast!"

"Hmph! That spirit beast is certainly audacious, daring to barge into our Kamikaze Academy at a time like this!"

Another person let out a cold snort. After all, this was the exchange tournament of the Five Elemental Academies, and the teachers and dean of Kamikaze Academy were seated right up there on the high platform!

Their dean, in particular, was a peak Soul Saint of the seventy-ninth rank. Even if their opponent were a fifty-thousand-year spirit beast, they would have nothing to fear.

Not to mention that representatives from the Blazing Flame Academy and Water Silk Academy had already arrived, accompanied by their respective deans. With the Thunderclap Academy and Elephant Armor Academy soon to follow, the combined forces of five senior Soul Saints working in unison meant that unless it was a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast, anything else would simply be walking to its doom.

"Hahaha, Brother Qingcang, it seems your luck is rather poor today. Would you like me to lend a hand and take care of that for you?"

Just as Pidgeotto came into everyone's view, Huo Yangyan, the dean of Blazing Flame Academy seated on the high platform of the Spirit Arena, chuckled and teased Feng Qingcang beside him.

Huo Yangyan was of a similar age to Feng Qingcang, attired in golden-red garments, and was likewise a Soul Saint of the seventy-eight rank.

Following Huo Yangyan's remark, a voluptuous middle-aged beauty on the other side of Feng Qingcang, dressed in a flowing aqua-blue gown, smiled softly and said, "Huo Yangyan, your martial soul can't even fly, so how exactly do you plan to knock that avian spirit beast down? Besides, judging by the aura radiating from that spirit beast in the sky, it's at most a thousand-year-level creature. There's hardly any need for us Soul Saints to intervene."

The speaker was Shui Yueer, the dean of Water Silk Academy, who was also a Soul Saint of the seventy-eighth rank.

Yet, faced with the teasing of the two, Feng Qingcang acted as if he hadn't heard a word. He merely stared fixedly at the Pidgeotto in the sky, cursing inwardly with a mix of amusement and exasperation: "This brat! Causing such a massive commotion right after claiming he didn't want to draw attention!"

Clearly, Feng Qingcang had already recognized Pidgeotto and knew precisely who had arrived.

"Wait, look closely. There seems to be a person on the back of that spirit beast."

At that moment, someone else noticed something unusual about Pidgeotto and remarked with a hint of astonishment.

Hearing this, the rest of the crowd looked more closely at Pidgeotto overhead, instantly wearing expressions of utter disbelief.

That spirit beast actually belonged to someone else? But how was that even possible? Spirit beasts of that nature simply did not submit to human beings.

"Pee-pipi~"

Down in the arena's airspace, after taking a quick glance at the seating arrangements and distribution of the various academies, Mo Hui patted Pidgeotto, transforming into a flash of cyan light as he descended.

Almost instantly, Mo Hui arrived at the designated area for Kamikaze Academy, hopped down from Pidgeotto's back, and took an empty seat.

Deprived of Mo Hui's supplementary spirit power supply, Pidgeotto shrank back to its normal size and settled quietly by Mo Hui's side.

Only then did the people inside the Spirit Arena finally realize that the bird was not some wild spirit beast at all, but a martial soul—someone's martial soul!

"I never expected my eyes to deceive me. That wasn't a spirit beast after all, but a martial soul," Huo Yangyan exclaimed in surprise upon witnessing the scene.

Beside him, Shui Yueer covered her mouth in mild astonishment, clearly caught off guard by this unexpected turn of events.

Seeing the shock on his two old friends' faces, Feng Qingcang offered an explanation: "That is a talented student from our academy. His martial soul is a specialized external beast martial soul, though even I didn't expect his martial soul could be utilized in such a manner."

In truth, Feng Qingcang was inwardly surprised as well. Originally, he had assumed that both Pidgeotto and Mo Hui could unleash spirit skills, making a two-on-one battle already outrageous enough; he had never imagined Pidgeotto could grow large enough to carry Mo Hui through the air.

This essentially resolved Mo Hui's survival and mobility issues entirely. One had only to consider the nature of Mo Hui's spirit skills: his second spirit skill was Quick Attack, and his third was Tailwind. When used simultaneously, his speed directly multiplied eightfold while entering a flying state. If Mo Hui wanted to run, leave aside peers of his own rank—even Feng Qingcang himself couldn't guarantee he'd be able to catch him.

"An external beast martial soul? Such a martial soul actually exists? If I recall correctly, doesn't someone else possess that exact type of martial soul?"

Upon hearing Feng Qingcang's words, a contemplative look crossed Shui Yueer's eyes.

"Hah! Who else could it be other than that disciple of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the one hailed as the foremost master of martial soul theory, Yu Xiaogang?" Huo Yangyan said dismissively.

Yu Xiaogang still held considerable fame in the spirit master world. Although his personal combat prowess was rather mediocre, he was capable of executing a Three-in-One Martial Soul Fusion Technique alongside Flender and Liu Erlong, and even possessed a record of fighting to a standstill against Soul Douros.

Admittedly, for a Three-in-One Martial Soul Fusion Technique with a ninety-nine percent compatibility rate, that might seem a bit underwhelming, but within the realm of spirit masters, it was already a quite respectable achievement—enough to earn Yu Xiaogang a place in the public eye.

Not to mention that Yu Xiaogang was the son of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's patriarch and seemingly maintained some vague, unspoken relationship with that person in the Spirit Hall. Therefore, at least on the surface, people were still willing to accord him the courtesy of calling him Grandmaster.

As for Yu Xiaogang's untried theories, which often appeared hazardous in numerous aspects—well, let Yu Xiaogang put them into practice himself first!

Calling him Grandmaster was a matter of saving face; if he expected someone to act as his guinea pig to test his unverified theories, that would simply be repaying kindness with enmity.

"Mo Hui, you're finally here!"

At that moment, down in the Kamikaze Academy section, Feng Yunfan walked over to Mo Hui and greeted him.

"Feng Yunfan? Why aren't you sticking with Feng Xiaotian instead of coming over to find me?" Mo Hui asked in return, glancing curiously past Feng Yunfan.

Hearing this, Feng Yunfan immediately wore a helpless expression, pointed in a certain direction, and said, "Look over there!"

Mo Hui immediately looked toward the indicated spot, and upon taking in the scene before him, his lips twitched involuntarily.

The direction Feng Yunfan pointed to was none other than the territory of the Blazing Flame Academy. There, their resident genius, Feng Xiaotian, was currently hovering around a stunning young maiden of about sixteen or seventeen, attired in a golden-red long dress and sporting dark-red wavy hair, whispering obsequiously about something whose content remained entirely unknown.