Huo Yuhao stared at her calmly and replied, “Why, what?”
Wang Qiu’er continued, “Why won’t you fight me? Are you not as brave as Dong’er is? What about your Ultimate Ice? What about your formidable spiritual power? Why won’t you dare to come on stage to see who’s the stronger one?”
Huo Yuhao gave her a deep stare, and he could see the moisture swirling around at the bottoms of her eyes. He heaved a faint sigh and said, “Is it that amusing for you to bully a cripple? Do you think I can defeat you in my current state?”
Wang Qiu’er’s aura froze and her ferocity was beaten back. She stared at Huo Yuhao in his wheelchair, and her condescending words didn’t come out of her mouth in the end.
She turned towards Wang Dong’er and said, “Nobody has won this fight. If we meet again in the finals, you and I will finish what we started if he can’t fight.”
“It’s a deal.” Wang Dong’er didn’t show any weakness at all in her reply.
Wang Qiu’er departed with large strides, bearing her Golden Dragon Spear. The Shrek Academy team was walking towards her, and she led them away from the competition arena.
Huo Yuhao watched her figure disappear from view before he exhaled deeply and said, “Brother Ji, bring me back to the hotel.”
Ji Juechen was slightly taken aback, and glanced subconsciously at Wang Dong’er. Wang Dong’er had always been the one responsible for pushing his wheelchair.
The toughness that Wang Dong’er showed against Wang Qiu’er immediately vanished into thin air. She lowered her voice and whispered, “I know I was wrong, Yuhao. Can you not be angry with me?”
Huo Yuhao snapped around and glanced at her as he forced down the boiling rage in his heart. He lowered his voice and said, “We’ll talk about this when we get back.”
Huo Yuhao had to give her face when they were outside, no matter what. He closed his eyes after his reply.
Wang Dong’er stuck out her tongue and gestured at Ji Juechen, who hurriedly pushed Huo Yuhao’s wheelchair back towards their hotel.
The others wore strange expressions on their faces. Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao gave Wang Dong’er a thumbs-up, and seemed a little amused.
Wang Dong’er blushed and pouted towards them. She gestured in Huo Yuhao’s direction with her lips and gave them a pleading look.
Jiang Nannan covered her mouth and giggled, but then turned away. It didn’t seem like she wanted to help at all.
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Everyone received news that new rooms had been arranged for them once they returned to the Brilliant Delight Hotel. The teams that had progressed into the quarterfinals were assigned better rooms. The first-place teams of each group stayed in the top level, while the second-place teams stayed on the second level.
Huo Yuhao directly rejected the offer to switch rooms, and he told the officials that he didn’t want any more inconveniences.
Wang Dong’er pushed his wheelchair obediently back inside their room.
Wang Dong’er pushed his wheelchair all the way inside and bolted the door. She stood beside Huo Yuhao and lowered her head, as if she were a little child who had done something wrong. She placed her tender and smooth hands in front of her and fiddled with her fingers.
“Let me help you on bed to rest, is that okay?” Wang Dong’er whispered.
“Do you have any strength left in your hands?” Huo Yuhao answered coldly, and his eyes landed on Wang Dong’er’s quivering arms.
There wasn’t a single ounce of strength left in Wang Dong’er’s hands after those intense clashes from before.
“I know I messed up, Yuhao. The truth is, I just wanted to prove that she’s not stronger than me. I didn’t have any other intention. We were just fighting normally, and we wouldn’t have placed our lives on the line.”
Wang Dong’er’s explanation made Huo Yuhao even more furious, and the rage that he had been holding back immediately erupted.
“Wang Dong’er! Listen to me! We are the Tang Sect, and you are part of the Tang Sect’s team! You didn’t listen to instructions and made decisions on your own! How am I to command and instruct the others from now on? Have you thought about that? Also, I don’t care at all whether you’re stronger than Wang Qiu’er or she’s stronger than you! I’m just concerned about your safety! Do you not know how powerful her Golden Dragon Spear is? You would have been irrevocably injured if you had been struck by her spear! What am I to do if something happens to you? Why do you have to make me worry and make me anxious like that? If you regaining your personality means you’ll be so rebellious, I would rather have that gentle and soft you! At least you won’t make me worry that way!”
“Do you not know that I feel ten times more pain if you were hurt than if it had been my own injuries? You had an exciting time with Wang Qiu’er on stage, huh, but did you know what I was feeling beneath the stage?”
Wang Dong’er stuck out her tongue. She didn’t attempt to dispute him, and she lowered her head and put on a pitiful look as she listened to his chiding.
There was no question that this was the best solution to deal with Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao raised his voice angrily against her, but the fury in his heart gradually dissipated as he watched her cute and obedient behavior.
Huo Yuhao snapped, “Give me your hands.”
Wang Dong’er hurriedly gave him both of her hands.
Huo Yuhao grabbed her right forearm as he looked at her trembling arms, and he channeled his gentle Mysterious Heaven Technique’s soul power and helped her slowly smooth out and adjust her passageways and nerves.
Wang Dong’er stared at the serious look on his face and felt the warmth and comfort from his large hand against her arm. Waves of warm sentiment swelled in her heart as she inched forward and sat down on his lap before leaning into his chest.
Wang Dong’er’s warmth and tenderness melted the last strands of anger in Huo Yuhao’s heart. How could he scold her anymore when she was so soft in his embrace?
Huo Yuhao continued helping her smooth the passageways in her arms. He suddenly looked up and shouted in the direction of their room door, “Senior brothers and senior sisters, stop listening. Go back, wash up, and get some rest.”
“Ahem…” Dry coughs could be heard from outside their door, and everything quickly quieted down.
Wang Dong’er blushed and whispered, “Those nasty fellows.”
Huo Yuhao put down her arms for a moment and stroked her cheek so that she was staring into his eyes.
“Dong’er.”
“Yes.”
“This is the first and the last time. I don’t want to see something like this happen again.”
“Okay.”
“I want to punish you.”
“How are you going to punish me?”
“I’m going to spank you!”
“You’re so nasty…”
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The round robins’ final matches were over. Eight teams progressed into the quarterfinals, and this also meant that the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament was entering its final phase.
The first-place teams out of the teams that qualified were: Shrek Academy, the Snowdemon Sect, the Holy Ghost Sect, and the Proudsword Sect.
The Heavenly Soul Empire’s princess, Wei Na, and Mu Xue were part of the Snowdemon Sect, and they were considered acquaintances. There was nothing to be said about the Holy Ghost Sect. Their mighty evil soul masters never gave their opponents any chance at all, and they hadn’t encountered any particularly strong opponents throughout the entire tournament thus far. Most of their rounds were resolved in the single elimination matches.
The Proudsword Sect was a relatively reclusive sect, and their performances were extremely low-profile. It felt as if they won every round by a hair’s breadth. They advanced gradually but steadily, and they eventually came out from the round robins with a full score.
The other quarterfinalists, which consisted of the second-place teams in the round robins, included the Tang Sect, the Star Luo National Academy, the Radiant City Soul Engineering Academy, and the Heavenly Dragon Sect.
The Radiant City Soul Engineering Academy was another reputable soul engineering academy based in the Radiant City. They were second only to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy in reputation, but they had always been held back by the Sun Moon Academy in past seasons. There were rumors going around that the Radiant City Soul Engineering Academy had an unprecedented and irreplaceable team of prodigy students this season, and it was this team that had brought them into the quarterfinals. They were considered a formidable dark horse.
Huo Yuhao was connected in some way to the Heavenly Dragon Sect. The Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Earthdragon Sect were a pair of relatively withdrawn sects that were both quite reputable amongst the other sects. The Heavenly Dragon Sect was comparatively stronger than the Earthdragon Sect, and their martial souls were all true dragons. This was the reason why the Earthdragon Sect was considered a subsidiary sect of the Heavenly Dragon Sect.
Naturally, the Earthdragon Sect would never admit that. Even though they had a friendly relationship with the Heavenly Dragon Sect, they had never been willing to concede the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s superiority. The Heavenly Dragon Sect’s impressive fighting strength couldn’t be denied, however. They came out with six victories in the round robins, and the only match they lost was against the Snowdemon Sect, and the reason they came out second in their group. For some reason, they were clearly fooling around during their battle against the Snowdemon Sect, and they didn’t give everything they had.
The quarterfinalists were finalized. The teams would take two days off, and then the quarterfinals would officially begin. One day was enough to conclude the quarterfinals, and the winning teams would be given another two days to rest before they would enter the semifinals. Two more days would be allocated before the grand finals, and the tournament would then be over.
Today was the first day of rest before the quarterfinals. All eight teams were up early in the morning to draw lots before the quarterfinals began. This was exceedingly important for every team.
It didn’t mean that the teams who qualified in second place weren’t strong at all. For instance, the Tang Sect gave everything away to Shrek Academy, but those with a discerning eye could tell that the Tang Sect was actually stronger than Shrek Academy. In actual fact, the Tang Sect had helped Shrek Academy cripple some of their opponents so that they could qualify successfully.
Similarly, the Heavenly Dragon Sect had also qualified as the runners-up in their group. Their true strength had always been a mystery, but there was no doubt that they had incredible prowess. Some of their contestants, who were clearly their main team members, hadn’t even taken part in the tournament yet.
Whichever team ended up against them wouldn’t have an easy time.
As for the remaining two second-place teams, the Star Luo Empire’s representative team and the Radiant City Soul Engineering Academy’s team, how could they be weak if they made it into the quarterfinals?
The lottery was to be carried out at the Brilliant Delight Hotel. The contestants had to admit that the organizing committee’s decision to do this was laudable. It was very humane, and allowed the contesting teams more time to rest.
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All eight quarterfinalist teams were already inside the Brilliant Delight Hotel’s grand banquet hall.
The eight teams were standing in eight rows. Huo Yuhao was standing in front of the Tang Sect’s team. This spot had originally belonged to Bei Bei, but Huo Yuhao was sitting in his wheelchair, so he wouldn’t be able to see what was going on in front if he was seated to the back.
Zheng Zhan, who had been the referee for the Tang Sect on many different occasions, was sitting on the rostrum. There were several other officials present that the Sun Moon Empire had sent forth especially to organize this tournament.