Douluo: AFK to Become a God

After spending a few days exploring a large city far from Heaven Dou City, Chu Chengzhou finally returned to Blue Tyrant Academy with Xiao Wu.

After all, when it comes to spirit beast hunting, it takes time—setting off and coming back the same day would be a bit too suspicious.

Of course, Chu Chengzhou ultimately didn't take after Oscar's dad.

At the end of the day, he wasn't even fifteen yet, and Xiao Wu was a year and a half younger than him. You couldn't exactly act like a beast—no matter what, sixteen should be the minimum.

After all, he wasn't like Ma Hongjun, who at just twelve years old was already a frequent visitor to brothels and had cycled through more than a few "girlfriends" with in-depth experiences.

Ma Hongjun: ???

That evening, Liu Erlong, Flender, and Zhao Wuji gathered Chu Chengzhou and his six teammates, along with the four alternates—Tai Long, Jiang Zhu, Huang Yuan, and Jing Ling—into the academy's classroom meeting room.

Standing on the podium, Liu Erlong looked at the eleven most outstanding students of the academy—especially the seven core team members—and nodded with satisfaction before waving her hand. "Take a seat, all of you."

Everyone found a seat.

Liu Erlong scanned them with a serious expression and began, "The Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament will begin in three days. Today, I'll explain the rules.

Although I know your strengths are exceptional, don't take this lightly.

In a tournament, power is important, yes, but you must clearly understand all the rules and restrictions. Otherwise, you might be taken advantage of and ruin everything you've worked for.

First, all participants must be under the age of twenty-five, and each team must maintain seven members in every match.

Second, the tournament is meant to be a friendly competition. Try to avoid seriously injuring your opponents, and absolutely no killing is allowed.

If a participant kills an opponent, their academy will not only bear the consequences but also be disqualified from the competition entirely."

As soon as she finished speaking, Chu Chengzhou raised his hand.

"Chu, what's your question?" Liu Erlong asked.

"Dean Erlong, you should know that during a soul duel, the situation changes rapidly. If the power difference is too great, it's not always possible to hold back.

For example, my spiritual power is strong. If an opponent uses a mental-type soul skill on me and ends up brain-damaged or even dead due to backlash, would our team be blamed?"

Chu Chengzhou asked calmly.

Liu Erlong paused, frowned in thought, and replied with some difficulty, "That's just how the rules are. I don't make the tournament rules. If you encounter someone like that… just avoid them."

Chu Chengzhou: …

Seriously? Avoid them?

They're weak, so they need to stay out of harm's way—but I'm strong and still have to dodge them just to avoid trouble?

Ignoring Chu Chengzhou, Liu Erlong continued, "Aside from those two hard rules, the rest are more about maintaining fairness. For example:

During the matches, participants cannot use any food or healing items unless they are created by a food-type soul master on the field. Only food-type soul masters on the battlefield are allowed to provide soul power supplements.

That means, if you want to receive mid-battle support, a food-type soul master must take up one of the seven fighting slots. This prevents teams with food-type soul masters from gaining unfair advantages.

Additionally, contestants are prohibited from using any non-spirit-based weapons or equipment.

This includes items like bows, arrows, armor, or anything external not derived from your martial spirit.

That covers the tournament rules. Any questions?"

Everyone, including Chu Chengzhou, shook their heads. They understood.

Chu Chengzhou had already known the rules for the tournament. He was aware that externally forged items like bows and armor couldn't be used, but those weren't his main reliance anyway. Losing access to them just limited his tactical options a bit—it didn't affect his peak combat capability.

Seeing no confusion, Liu Erlong nodded and continued, "Those are all the rules for now. If anything changes or there are new additions, I'll inform you as the competition progresses.

Now, let's talk about the tournament structure.

Across the two great empires, there are nearly a hundred advanced soul master academies, each with one spot in the tournament. Additionally, each empire has its own official academy that receives two participation slots.

For the Heaven Dou Empire, that's Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. Their two teams are split into a main team and a secondary team. The main team gets an automatic entry into the final stage, while the secondary team competes in the qualifiers with the rest.

This privilege exists not only as a courtesy to the empires' royalty but also because the official academies gather the most talented soul masters, and their main teams are often championship contenders."

After this lengthy explanation, everyone had a solid understanding of the tournament structure and rules.

Of course, the rules weren't the most important part—strength was still the deciding factor for winning the championship.

If you weren't strong enough, knowing the rules inside out wouldn't help.

"Alright, that's all I have to say.

As for match strategies, Chu Chengzhou, you're the captain of Blue Tyrant Academy's team. The strategy for each match will be up to you.

No matter what tactics you use, my only requirement is this—win the championship!"

Liu Erlong declared sternly.

"Yes!"

Everyone responded in unison.

Three Days Later

The opening ceremony of the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, Heaven Dou Empire Division, was held grandly in Heaven Dou City.

As the most prestigious event in the soul master world, the tournament drew attention from more than just soul masters. From royalty and nobles to commoners, everyone in Heaven Dou City treated this event as the biggest festival.

The opening was held at the Heaven Dou Grand Spirit Arena. Tickets had been sold out a month in advance.

To prepare, all duels had been suspended for a full month. The inner structure was completely remodeled, combining all sub-arenas and the main arena into one massive competition field.

Aside from the VIP section in the north, the remodeled arena could now hold 80,000 spectators. All preliminary matches in the Heaven Dou division would be held here.

At dawn, even before sunrise, huge crowds were already gathering outside the arena.

They weren't coming early to compete for seats—every ticket had assigned seating.

They came to catch a glimpse of the young participating soul masters, especially on opening day.

Among the crowd were countless lovestruck young girls.

After all, there were only about 100,000 soul masters across the continent. Anyone qualified to represent their academy in this tournament was an elite—strong, talented, and under twenty-five.

In other words, the ideal romantic partner for many girls.

Marrying a rising soul master? That's both fame and fortune in one stroke.

Of course, there were way more pervy men (LSPs) than starry-eyed girls.

But while the girls had a shot at achieving their dreams, the LSPs? They could only drool and daydream.

Young, beautiful soul masters had no shortage of suitors—but none of them would look twice at those LSPs.

Unless they were as outstanding as Chu Chengzhou—talented, handsome, and gifted.

At that moment, nearly a third of Heaven Dou City had emptied into the streets around the arena.

All hotels had been booked solid for days. The city's population had temporarily surged by over 50%.

This tournament's appeal was on full display.

To keep order, the Heaven Dou Empire even deployed 5,000 city guards.

"Wow! So many people!"Xiao Wu couldn't help but exclaim as she looked around in awe. This was her first time seeing such a massive crowd.

Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing nodded as well. Even for a bustling place like Heaven Dou City, only the once-every-five-years Soul Master Tournament could produce such a spectacle.

Would you like a summary of the rules or the tournament structure in list form?

As for Chu Chengzhou, he was currently playing the role of a flower guardian, standing protectively beside the three girls to prevent them from being harassed by wandering hands.

Unlike in the original story, the head of Blue Tyrant Academy was not Flender, but Liu Erlong, whose sense of aesthetics was much more normal. Everyone from Chu Chengzhou's group wore white and blue uniforms.

Although in terms of style and color, the uniforms didn't seem any higher-end than those of other academies, at least they weren't like the dung-green uniforms of Shrek Academy in the original, which drew disdainful looks from passersby.

At that moment, as they turned a corner, a group of girls wearing water-blue uniforms walked by and joined them in heading toward the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena.

"Damn, Fatty, is that the all-girl Tianshui Battle Team?!"

Oscar's peach-blossom eyes were instantly captivated by the youthful and beautiful girls of the Tianshui Team.

Ma Hongjun ignored him—he had no time to waste.

The long legs of the Tianshui girls, wrapped in blue stockings, had already captured most of his attention.

Staring at the swaying blue-stockinged legs, the veteran lecher Ma Hongjun was practically drooling.

Perhaps sensing Ma Hongjun's burning gaze, two of the Tianshui girls shot a fierce glare in their direction.

"Fatty, Oscar, can you two mind your image a bit in public?"

Seeing this, Chu Chengzhou said with some helplessness.

But to be fair, the girls from Tianshui really were very attractive.

However, when it came to resisting the temptation of beauty, Chu Chengzhou's self-control far surpassed that of Oscar and Ma Hongjun—at least he could keep his eyes from wandering.

"Ahem, Boss Chu, you're like a full man who doesn't know the hunger of the starving."

Retracting his gaze, Ma Hongjun said sheepishly.

"Exactly! Boss Chu, you've got to understand us poor brothers!"

Oscar nodded in agreement.

Chu Chengzhou: "..."

I'm the full man and you two are the starving?

Don't think I don't know you two frequently sneak off to the lower-end clubs of Heaven Dou City.

The reason it's not the high-end clubs is simply because they can't afford it—after all, Heaven Dou is the imperial capital, and high-end entertainment here is far more expensive than in Soto City.

Hmm, rumor has it some of those clubs even have fox-eared girls…

Skipping the small interlude, under Liu Erlong's lead, the group strode proudly into the Heaven Dou Great Spirit Arena.

Inside the waiting area, all the teams participating in the preliminary rounds of the Heaven Dou division, including Blue Tyrant Academy, were gathered, waiting for the opening ceremony.

Due to the large number of teams, the registration and entrance process took some time.

But none of that concerned Chu Chengzhou and his group—those trivial matters were being handled by Liu Erlong and Flender.

Soon enough, the event staff arrived and began organizing the teams that had already arrived for their entrance.

Perhaps it was good luck, or maybe the event staff mistook the academy's name and assumed they were backed by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, but following the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's reserve team and the Five Element Academy team, it was Blue Tyrant Academy's turn to enter.

Even though they were mentally prepared, everyone was still shocked by the scene before them the moment they stepped in.

Surrounding the vast plaza were countless spectators cheering and shouting, and directly in front of the central field stood a golden-themed platform for VIPs. Behind that was a remodeled VIP section.

The massive arena had a diameter of over 150 meters. The six teams that had already entered stood in neat formations in the center.

Each team was introduced by a dedicated announcer on the VIP platform.

"The seventh team to enter is Blue Tyrant Academy's team, with a total of eleven students participating. Their slogan is: 'Victory shall belong to Blue Tyrant Academy!' What a passionate slogan! Let's hope they perform brilliantly!"

The announcer shouted their slogan with great enthusiasm, but the audience response was lukewarm—some even booed.

With the Royal Academy's Emperor Team and the renowned Five Element Academies present, who did Blue Tyrant Academy think they were?

In the stands, hearing the boos and doubt from the audience, Liu Erlong clenched her fists.

"Erlong, don't worry. The truth will prove everything!"

Sensing her anger, Flender tried to comfort her.

At his words, Liu Erlong nodded, her mood improving—not because Flender was good at comforting, but because she believed in Chu Chengzhou and the others. She was sure that Blue Tyrant Academy, the one she founded, would be the ultimate winner of this tournament!

In the arena, Chu Chengzhou was observing his surroundings.

He had to admit, the Spirit Master Tournament really was the grandest event on the continent.

The silver-themed spectator stands were packed with 80,000 people.

That might not sound like much, but once the crowd surpasses ten thousand, it becomes an overwhelming sea of heads stretching to the horizon.

Besides the masses, there were many VIPs in attendance.

In the first row of the VIP section sat three individuals.

In the center was a man in a crimson-gold robe and a golden crown adorned with diamonds. His face was like ancient jade, and though his hair and beard were white, he exuded majesty and nobility.

There was no doubt—this was the Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue Ye.

To Xue Ye's left sat an elderly man who looked even older. Wearing a crimson robe and a five-pointed platinum crown, he sat with eyes half-closed as if asleep. His shoulders were narrow and his frame thin, like a javelin.

Unsurprisingly, this was one of the original antagonists: Salas, the Platinum Bishop of the Spirit Hall in Heaven Dou.

To the Emperor's right was none other than Chu Chengzhou's future father-in-law—Ning Rongrong's father, Ning Fengzhi, Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Today, Ning Fengzhi wore a light moon-white robe and a crown representing his status. He looked like a wealthy and powerful handsome middle-aged man—just the type young girls admired.

Even Salas, a high-ranking servant of Spirit Hall, was qualified to sit in the front row, so it was only natural for Ning Fengzhi, leader of one of the Three Great Sects, to sit beside the Emperor.

Skipping over the first row, Chu Chengzhou turned his gaze to a golden-haired youth seated in the second row.

Since the first row hosted Emperor Xue Ye, Ning Fengzhi, and Salas, those in the second row were no doubt also of high status—either Spirit Douluo-level experts or senior officials of the Empire.

As the only young person among them, the identity of the blonde youth was obvious.

He was the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue Qinghe.

Of course, that was only her public identity. In reality, she was Qian Renxue, Spirit Hall's top undercover agent inside Heaven Dou.

Chu Chengzhou wasn't thinking anything nefarious—just how to lure this little fish into his own pond.

After all, the Angelic Miss Qian Renxue was already 24. Not exactly an old maid, but it was about time she started a serious relationship.

Well, no need to rush. Better to deal with the big kitty already circling his pond first.

Oh right, Spirit Hall also had a little fox…

"The revolution has yet to succeed, comrades must continue to strive!"Chu Chengzhou sighed to himself.

As time passed, all the participating teams had entered.

Then, from the VIP stage, the announcer loudly declared, "Now, His Majesty the Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire will officially declare the opening of this tournament!"

Amid thunderous applause, Emperor Xue Ye slowly stood up from the center of the first row.

He raised his right hand slightly toward the crowd and the contestants below, and the applause quickly faded. The entire plaza fell silent.

Then his deep, resonant voice, amplified by a sound-amplifying spirit device, spread across the arena:

"I, Xue Ye, Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, on behalf of the Empire and as the host of this tournament, hereby declare the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament—open!"

Applause erupted again, cheers rising like waves.

Once the noise died down again, Emperor Xue Ye continued:

"I hope all participating spirit masters can show their full strength and achieve great results.

You are all the pride of the Empire. For the Empire's glory—shine!"

A third round of applause rang out. This time, the young spirit masters standing in the center of the arena had eyes burning with excitement.

For many, this tournament would be the best platform to show their abilities.

If they performed well, they wouldn't need to worry about their future—many powerful factions would eagerly extend offers.

Emperor Xue Ye sat back down, and the announcer's voice rang out again:

"Next, please welcome the Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Mr. Ning Fengzhi, to give a speech!"

As Ning Fengzhi stood up, thunderous applause erupted again. Many contestants looked at him with eager, even fiery, gazes.

After graduating from their academies, if they wanted to join a faction—excluding Spirit Hall, the dominant force in the spirit master world—then for those without powerful backgrounds, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was a better option than the Empire itself.

After all, if war broke out between the two empires, those under the Empire's banner would be summoned to the frontlines unconditionally.

But it was different for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—one of the Three Great Sects, protected by Sword and Bone Douluo. No one dared to mess with them.

Moreover, they were known for being rich. Sect Master Ning Fengzhi was famously wealthy. High pay, low risk—what better job could there be?

Ning Fengzhi smiled slightly and raised his hands in a calming gesture:

"I am honored to be invited to speak at this tournament. As the Sect Master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, I have witnessed many spirit masters grow over the years.

As the most noble profession on the continent, every spirit master must endure many trials in their growth.

But as the saying goes, 'A sharp sword is forged through grinding, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold.' You are all elite among the young generation. As His Majesty said earlier, I hope you will bring glory to the Empire—and to your own academies. The Empire needs talents like you!

Thank you!"

Listening to Ning Fengzhi's speech, a smile appeared on Emperor Xue Ye's face.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was indeed a fine ally. And today, Ning Fengzhi had spoken with the Empire's interests in mind—just what Xue Ye wanted to hear.

T/N: For up to 20 chapters ahead on all my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle