Return to simplicity was the goal for all Soul Masters, yet Tang Wulin had achieved it even without his own realization.

He had become a Titled Douluo after that night of bliss with Gu Yuena, yet it was due to their altercation that he had achieved return to simplicity. It had to be said that everything seemed to have been designed by fate.

Only after taking a look at his soul communicator did Tang Wulin realize that he had been standing on the spot for two whole days, which meant that this was the third night since Gu Yue's visit.

Zhen Hua had stipulated that Tang Wulin was to be given absolute peace and quiet, so no one would disturb him here, and as a result, no one knew what had happened.

A sense of enlightenment had surfaced in his mind, but due to the emotional fluctuations that Gu Yuena's visit had brought on, he was completely unable to calm himself down and latch onto that sliver of enlightenment.

After briefly brushing his teeth and grabbing something to eat, he returned to the heavenly platform.

He needed to vent his emotions right now, and only lightning could calm him down.

The joust for a spouse had reached a relatively uneventful period, and the Myriad Beast Plane was still as popular as ever. Every single day, many high-grade Soul Masters would line up to enter the plane, allowing the Spirit Pagoda to profit massively. In contrast, the hype surrounding the joust for a spouse event had died down slightly as there were matches being held every day, and it wasn't all that exciting anymore. Only when there were important matchups was interest rekindled, and in order to continue promoting the event, the Spirit Pagoda had already begun issuing rewards to the competitors who had already been eliminated.

After the first two rounds of the round-robin stage, each group had a cluster of competitors with two victories, and they were undoubtedly the favorites to progress.

The most heavily anticipated group was still the third group. Not only did it have four Titled Douluos, two of them were handsome young prodigies in the form of Qiangu Zhangting and Yu Longyue.

There were many people who were lamenting the fact that they were in the same group. If they had been in different groups, it was very likely that they would both progress, thereby presenting both of them as options to Gu Yuena.

In the fourth group, Lan Fuozi was also displaying tremendous power and had two victories to her name. There were young prodigies in other groups as well, many of whom were at the Soul Douluo level and possessed special abilities.

There were only seven rounds left, and every round was very important. However, the spectators knew that the winner of the clash between Qiangu Zhangting and Yu Longyue would most likely be the one to progress from the third group.

The third round finally arrived, and funnily enough, Tang Wulin's opponent for this round was Lu Yuxing, whom Qiangu Zhangting had just defeated in the previous round.

Lu Yuxing's defeat had been a crushing one, and the outcome of his match against Tang Wulin would undoubtedly be an indicator of how Tang Wulin would match up against Qiangu Zhangting.

As Tang Wulin arrived in the resting area, all of the competitors from the third group discovered that he seemed to have become slightly different. He seemed to be less arrogant and more downtrodden. To put it in simpler terms, he appeared to be in a foul mood.

Qiangu Zhangting had already arrived, and his opponent for this round was the weakest competitor in the group, so there was no pressure on him at all. He took a glance at Tang Wulin, and a hint of mockery appeared in his eyes.

Just as Tang Wulin had deduced, Lu Yuxing hadn't displayed his full power against Qiangu Zhangting.

Lu Yuxing had actually already been recruited by the Spirit Pagoda. He possessed exceptional aptitude and had devised his own unique style of battle in the Northwestern Desert, but that area was simply too poor, and he had run out of money to support himself in his cultivation at just the Soul King level. As such, he had no choice but to seek out a powerful backer.

The Spirit Pagoda had always had a focus on recruiting outstanding talents, whom they would try to convince to sign contracts of servitude to the Spirit Pagoda in exchange for compensation. Lu Yuxing was a great success story stemming from these efforts, and he was now quite a high-ranking member of the organization. If it weren't for the fact that he was used to living in the desert and there were simply too few Soul Masters there to warrant a branch of the Spirit Pagoda being built, he would most likely be a branch chairman right now.

The restrictions that the Spirit Pagoda imposed upon him were significantly less than what they had been in the past, and he was similar to an elder of the organization.

He had been assigned to the same group as Qiangu Zhangting to provide him with a relatively easy victory, which was why Qiangu Zhangting had managed to defeat him in such crushing fashion. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been such a drastic disparity in power between them.

In complete contrast to Lu Yuxing was Yu Longyue, who was a thorn in Qiangu Zhangting's side. He definitely couldn't allow such threatening competition to progress to the final 10 with him, so he arranged for the two of them to be in the same group, thereby allowing him to prevent Yu Longyue from progressing any further.

Even though Qiangu Zhangting was confident that Gu Yuena would choose him, this was a safety precaution that he felt necessary to take.

Tang Wulin didn't close his eyes to rest; he merely sat there with a gloomy expression. Even Mu Tian didn't approach him to greet him as he could sense that there was something off about Tang Wulin.

Meanwhile, Lu Yuxing was appraising Tang Wulin this entire time. The instructions he had received were simple: defeat Tang Wulin at all costs. If he could do that, then Qiangu Zhangting would grant him 10 opportunities to enter the Myriad Beast Plane. That would be enough to elevate his soul rings to a higher level and grant him greater power.

Right at this moment, Lan Fuozi strode into the resting area. She was wearing a set of crisp white robes, and she immediately strode directly toward Tang Wulin upon catching sight of him.

Tang Wulin was still in his own bubble, seemingly oblivious to her approach.

Lan Fuozi stopped right in front of him, and said,

"Come with me, Yu Longyue; I have something to speak to you about.

"

Tang Wulin replied in a cold voice,

"I'm busy.

"

Lan Fuozi faltered slightly upon hearing this.

"I have something serious to discuss with you.

"

"I told you, I'm busy,

" Tang Wulin repeated as his brows furrowed slightly.

A furious look appeared on Lan Fuozi's face as she grabbed Tang Wulin and wrenched him off the sofa.

"What are you busy with? Staring off into space?

"

A cold look instantly appeared in Tang Wulin's eyes. He was already in a bad mood, and Lan Fuozi certainly wasn't helping the situation.

Lan Fuozi faltered slightly at the sight of Tang Wulin's frosty gaze, and she was just about to say something when Tang Wulin grabbed onto her wrist.

His iron grip made her reflexively let go of him, and all of a sudden, an extremely formidable aura began to emanate from Tang Wulin's body, as if he had suddenly transformed into a ferocious beast.