NOVEL WEB Chapter 104: Team?
The streets of Soutuo City were alive with energy—merchants calling out their wares, spirit masters boasting about their latest victories, and common folk weaving through the crowds. The smell of freshly grilled meat mixed with the damp scent of the approaching night, but Feng Xuan barely noticed any of it.
His mind was elsewhere.
He walked with a sense of purpose, his sharp golden eyes scanning the people around him as if searching for something—or rather, someone.
"Strength alone isn't enough."
Feng Xuan clenched his fists. He had reached peak of Spirit Ancestor at just eleven years old, and with his dual martial spirits, he was more than capable of facing anyone. He was confident that, if it came down to pure combat power, he could take down even the Spirit Hall team by himself.
But reality was different.
The Continental Advanced Spirit Master Tournament had rules.
No matter how strong he was, he couldn't enter alone. He needed a team of at least seven to even qualify.
That was the problem.
"Who can I trust to fight beside me?"
Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu were the first people who came to mind.
Zhu Zhuqing was a powerful agility-type spirit master, and her silent determination made her an ideal teammate. But there was a problem.
Her engagement with Dai Mubai.
Feng Xuan sighed, his gaze shifting toward the sky.
"She's still bound by her family's fate. If she doesn't break free from that, can she truly stand beside me in battle?"
Xiao Wu, on the other hand, was an easy choice in terms of talent, but her background was far too complicated.
She was a 100,000-year-old spirit beast in human form.
Even though she hid it well, Tang Hao would never let her come with me.
If he even sensed that Feng Xuan was trying to pull Xiao Wu into his team, he would intervene immediately.
Feng Xuan clicked his tongue in frustration. That was two powerful fighters already out of reach.
Since he couldn't join Thunder Academy or Shrek Academy, he had already decided to enrol in Thunder Abyss Academy.
It wasn't the strongest, but it was an academy that didn't have any major background ties. That gave him freedom.
Once he was officially a student there, he could start recruiting.
Zhu Zhuqing was still an option if she was willing to break her ties to Dai Mubai. If she refused, he would have to find someone else.
Then there was Dugu Yan.
"She could be a powerful ally."
Dugu Yan had immense potential, but her body was being slowly eroded by her own Jade Phosphor Serpent poison.
She had control over the poison, but it also limited her future growth.
Feng Xuan had already decided.
He would find Dugu Bo and help him remove the poisonous backlash that plagued both him and his granddaughter. Once that was done, Dugu Yan would owe him a favor.
And favors could be turned into alliances.
"If I heal her, she will have no reason to refuse to join my team."
That made two possible recruits—Zhu Zhuqing and Dugu Yan.
But he still needed at least five more.
"Where do I find others?"
He needed a control-type master to help suppress opponents. He also needed a strong defense-type spirit master—someone who could act as a frontline shield.
Finding raw attack power wouldn't be as difficult, but he couldn't just recruit based on strength alone.
They needed to have the mindset of winners.
A team wasn't just a group of strong individuals.
It was a unit that fought together.
Recruiting Through Combat
Feng Xuan smirked to himself.
"The best way to find warriors is through battle."
The quickest way to test someone's ability wasn't through talking or reputation—it was through actual combat.
Which meant one thing.
He had to enter the underground fighting rings of Soutuo City.
"I'll let them come to me."
Strong individuals naturally seek out challenges. If he made a name for himself in the fighting circuit, the best ones would seek him out.
"First step—Thunder Abyss Academy. Second step—recruitment through battle."
Feng Xuan stopped in his tracks, standing at the edge of the city's largest plaza.
His plan was clear.
It was time to move.