Emperor of Soul Pets

Chapter 62: The Aftermath

Stark silence reigned over the arena as the spectators stared at Rao Wu, Lu Lin, and Aeriole in disbelief. What the hell just happened!? One second, Aeriole appeared to be the definite winner, but then she suddenly lost out of nowhere? Could someone please explain this!?

"I... I don't believe this." The announcer was the fastest to recover, his voice pulling the audience back to reality. "Do my eyes deceive me? Aeriole Von Basten, the Phoenix Princess, has fallen! We have a winner! At one hundred to ninety-nine victories, the savage child, Rao Wu, has won this competition for the monsters!"

Following the announcer's shout, the stadium erupted in a massive uproar as some cheered, booed, or screamed in joy or rage. The audience had already taken Rao Wu's loss as fact, so the announcement was like a sledgehammer to their expectations.

"Haha! I'm rich! Rich!" Some audience members who bet on the monsters' victory celebrated their tremendous wins, whereas many more lamented their unforeseen loss.

Rao Wu, oblivious to the audience's feelings, looked at Lu Lin with a pleased smile as he resonated with her soul. "Whoa. You evolved? You're noble-rank now." That's right. Lu Lin had broken through to noble-rank and was at Third Phase, Second Stage. Her advancement had stalled somewhat, but Rao Wu did not mind, because her evolution more than made up for it.

Lu Lin warmly smiled as she bent down and inspected Rao Wu's injuries. "Master is in such a state because of me. I should have awakened earlier. My apologies, master."

"Heh, nonsense," Rao Wu weakly shook his head as he lay within the flowerbed. His body was racked with immense pain. It felt like someone was simultaneously stabbing thousands of needles into his skin. Having felt it once, Rao Wu knew this was the backlash for using Overdrive. At least he did not pass out this time—a significant improvement.

Rao Wu looked at Lu Lin with a hint of regret. "You could have evolved again if you didn't wake up. Sorry for wasting your opportunity." Although Rao Wu was happy he won, he was not sure the trade-off was worth it. Lu Lin had been gathering the seed's energy over the past few months for one final push to evolve once again.

The Dryad would have succeeded in a few more days, but she then unleashed all that energy as soon as she awakened. That was the only reason Lu Lin could unleash an attack capable of binding an emperor-rank existence. However, this meant Lu Lin would have to seek out another fruititous encounter to break through to monarch.

The world was vast, and such encounters were plenty, but the chances of running into one were surprisingly low. Only the truly lucky, blessed, or brave managed to encounter these.

"Mm-mm." Lu Lin shook her head as she warmly smiled, "This is for the best. We got to repay your Uncle Twilight and Aunt Midnight just a little for raising you. There will be many more chances to evolve, but there might not be another chance to do something like this for them."

"I honestly hope there isn't," Xian Da grumbled as he trudged up to Lu Lin and Rao Wu. An acrid smell wafted off his burnt fur, revealing terrible burns on his skin. "I don't want to fight this kind of unreasonable monster again."

Rao Wu chuckled and then winked at Xian Da. "We'll have to face many more unreasonable monsters, though. We can't become Emperors without those kinds of fights."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Xian Da snorted and then looked at Lu Lin. "Welcome back, Lu. Thanks for the assist. You saved us back there."

Lu Lin chuckled and then bowed her head. "Thank you for protecting master as long as you did. I was able to rest easy knowing you and Ju Tu were watching over master."

Rao Wu, suddenly feeling a headache, grimaced and said, "There's someone angry at being left out."

Lu Lin, realizing her mistake, laughed, and then corrected herself, "Sorry, Raven. I'm thankful to you, too."