"Overestimating Oneself"

As Long Yao spoke that word, "Break," filled with Absolute Control, an invisible, boundless wave of air erupted outward with him at its center! It was neither Soul Power nor Spiritual Power, but something more primal, more ancient, a Chaos Aura that seemed capable of purifying every filth in the world.

The Chilling Aura that had spread through the air because of the Emerald Demon Bird Flock's death, filled with violence, resentment, and unwillingness, touched that air wave and instantly melted away like ice and snow exposed beneath the blazing sun, easily and utterly dissolved, purified, and transformed into the purest Worldly Energy. The heart-stopping, deathly oppressive feeling in the forest was Swept Away. Even the rotten leaves stained with bird blood seemed to have been washed clean, regaining their normal color.

With that sharp shout, the entire battlefield's atmosphere was renewed.

"Huff... huff... ha..."

He Caitou was the first, and also the most miserable, to flop down onto the ground. The enormous Soul Tool Shield, now covered in Spiderweb-like Cracks and with its light dimmed to the extreme, fell beside him with a clang, stirring up a scatter of rotten leaves. His honest face was filled with lingering fear and exhaustion as he gulped down rough breaths, his chest heaving violently like a battered bellows. Just now, he had truly felt that he was only a hair's breadth from death. The Soul Tool Shield still held the cold, sharp sensation left by the Emerald Demon Birds' impacts, and just thinking of it now made him unable to stop shuddering.

Ning Xue and Xiao Xiao were not much better. The two supported each other, their faces pale as paper. That overwhelming, indiscriminate barrage of death had brought them incomparable psychological pressure. Ning Xue especially still had a deep terror in her eyes, which were usually flashing with confidence and heroic light, and she could not fully hide it. For the first time, she had so directly, so clearly felt the chasm-like gap in strength between herself and true top-tier predators.

By contrast, Wang Dong, who slowly descended from the air on the other side, looked much calmer. She Put Away the gorgeous Butterfly Wings behind her and quickly walked to Long Yao's side. In her Pink Blue Beautiful Eyes, there was also a trace of lingering fear, but even more than that was deep infatuation and Pride for the man beside her, for his absolute strength that could turn decay into wonder and settle the world. She naturally reached out and brushed a Falling Leaf off his shoulder. The motion was intimate and natural, as if that life-and-death battle, enough to wipe out an ordinary Soul King team, had been nothing more than a slightly thrilling side show to them.

After watching everyone finish clearing the battlefield and pile those Emerald Green, small and delicate bird corpses together, Long Yao's calm voice, as if nothing had happened, rang out, pulling everyone back from the emotions of Aftermath of Disaster into the real mission.

"Yuhao, tally up how many points we have."

That plain question was like a beam of light, illuminating everyone's still somewhat gray mood.

"Huh? Oh! R-right! Brother Long Yao!"

Only then did Huo Yuhao snap awake as if from a dream. Just now, he had nearly exhausted all his Spiritual Power, and was currently sitting cross-legged on the ground, his face ghastly pale as he recovered. Hearing the order, he immediately forced himself to Cheer Up. His Spirit Eyes once again flickered with faint Golden Light as he began rapidly counting the "Spoils of War" from the battle just now.

His Spiritual Power swept over the piles of Emerald Green corpses on the ground like the most precise scanner.

One, two... ten... thirty... thirty-three!

Thirty-three century-level Emerald Demon Birds! Add to that... the Thousand-Year Level Emerald Demon Bird King, clearly a size larger, that Brother Long Yao had killed with One Spear!

"Ones, tens, hundreds..." Huo Yuhao's Lips moved silently and rapidly, and as that final number took shape, his heartbeat began accelerating wildly beyond his control!

"I've... I've tallied it!" He lifted his head. On his pale Small Face, an unhealthy, excited flush rose because of his extreme agitation, and His Voice had become somewhat sharp and trembling from disbelief. "Brother Long Yao! We... this time, we gained... a total of... four hundred and thirty points!!"

Four hundred and thirty!

That number was like a heavy bomb, exploding thunderously beside everyone's ears!

"H-how many?!" Ning Xue was the first to scream. Her eyes, which had seemed somewhat dim from lingering fear, instantly burst with sun-like Dazzling light Named "wealth"! She grabbed Xiao Xiao's arm beside her and shook it hard, almost jumping up. "I didn't hear wrong, did I?! Four hundred and thirty?! My heavens! Add the previous fifty points, and we're almost at five hundred now! We're rich! We're really rich, ahhh!"

"Gulp." He Caitou swallowed hard. His little eyes were wide and round. Just now he had still felt sore all over, exhausted and powerless, but now he felt as if he had instantly filled with strength, wishing another group of Spirit Beasts would show up right away so he could blast off a few more cannon shots!

Even Xiao Xiao, who had always been cool and calm, had violent ripples Named "shock" rise in her Black Eyes, which were usually as still as an Old Well, when she heard that number. She knew what it meant. It meant that only on the morning of the second day, the points they had obtained had already far surpassed the total points those so-called "champion teams" from previous years could obtain within Seven Days! And this was even under the premise that thirty percent would be deducted as punishment!

Wang Dong proudly lifted her well-developed, alluringly curved chest. On that breathtakingly beautiful Pretty Face, there was a smile of "isn't this perfectly normal?" as though it were only natural. The way she looked at Long Yao was filled with undisguised, Blazing Adoration.

She knew that all of this came from the man beside her. It was he who, with wisdom and strength beyond common sense, had turned their hastily formed "ragtag army," which even included two auditors, into an invincible, all-conquering, ultra-efficient point-harvesting machine!

Just as everyone was still immersed in immense joy and shock, Huo Yuhao's voice rang out again. This time, His Voice carried an even stronger excitement, almost cracking!

"And... and! Brother Long Yao! That... that Emerald Demon Bird King... it... it dropped a Spirit Bone too!!"

As he spoke, he pointed with a trembling finger toward the corpse of the thousand-year bird king.

There, aside from a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring quietly hovering and radiating deep purple light, there also lay an irregular bone only the size of a palm, entirely a deep Emerald Green like the finest Ink Jade! The Spirit Bone's shape was extremely peculiar. Its front end was sharp as a cone, while its rear formed a streamlined curve filled with a sense of speed, and on its surface, some fine Mysterious Patterns like feathers had naturally formed. A cold Sharp Aura filled with ultimate penetrative power was continuously radiating from that Spirit Bone!

Thousand-Year External Spirit Bone—Emerald Demon Skull Piercing Bone!

This time, even a nearly imperceptible glimmer of interest flashed through Long Yao's eyes. The rarity of an external Spirit Bone was even above that of an ordinary Spirit Bone of the same level! Because it possessed limitless possibilities, able to evolve together as its Master's strength increased!

At once, the atmosphere of the whole team was completely ignited!

However, before they could recover from the series of enormous surprises, an incomparably grating voice full of jealousy, resentment, and disbelief suddenly came from the dense forest not far away without warning!

"This... this is impossible!! This is absolutely impossible!!"

Everyone looked toward the sound and saw three battered figures slowly walking out from behind a thicket about a hundred meters ahead and to their left.

The person in the lead had a distinctive head of short white hair and a tall, straight build, but his face wore a twisted expression as if he had seen a ghost, filled with jealousy and madness.

It was none other than Dai Huabin!

Behind him were his old partner, Zhu Lu, whose Martial Soul was the Hell Spirit Cat, and another sturdy male Student who also looked like he belonged to the Assault System. All three of them looked extremely disheveled. Their already tight combat uniforms had been sliced open in many places, and on their faces and arms, there were still some freshly clotted claw marks, so deep that bone could be seen. Clearly, they too had just experienced an incomparably brutal battle.

They had been drawn over by He Caitou's Earth-Shattering cannon blast just now, as well as Huo Yuhao's Soul Impact that had covered a radius of a thousand meters. They had thought some unlucky, blind team had accidentally barged into the territory of some Powerful Spirit Beast, and had been preparing to come watch the excitement, or even... pick up a bargain.

But when they carefully approached and clearly saw the scene before them, they were completely stunned stupid!

On the ground, those thirty-odd Emerald Demon Bird corpses were like thirty-odd resounding slaps, fiercely and repeatedly striking Dai Huabin's proud, arrogant face!

Emerald Demon Birds! And an entire flock of Emerald Demon Birds!

This kind of top-tier aerial killer in the Star Dou Forest, one even his father, Duke White Tiger, was unwilling to provoke lightly, had actually... actually been wiped out just like this?! And standing at the site of that annihilation were actually Long Yao's group, whom he regarded as trash, as ants?!

At that moment, Dai Huabin's mind fell completely blank. The reason he took pride in, his pride as the son of a duke, and all the confidence he had built upon his bloodline and talent were shattered to pieces and vanished completely before this cruel and bizarre reality!

He could not understand it! Nor could he accept it!

Why?!

Why could this rabble of garbage cobbled together, in his eyes, accomplish something he could not even imagine, something that could even be called a miracle?!

A fire of jealousy fiercer and more deranged than ever before erupted in his chest like a volcano! That flame was nearly going to burn his reason completely to ash!

His gaze, greedy and resentful, locked tightly onto that Thousand-Year Spirit Ring hovering in midair and that Ink Green Spirit Bone radiating deadly temptation!

"Long! Yao!" He squeezed the name out from between his teeth almost one word at a time. His Ice Blue Eyes were filled with Blood Red, mad threads. "Hand over the Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone... Otherwise... none of you can even think about leaving here alive today!"

Zhu Lu and the other Comrade behind him were also so shocked by the scene before them that they could not speak, but when they heard Dai Huabin's furious roar, they immediately released their Martial Souls by reflex and took up battle stances, outwardly fierce but inwardly weak, facing off against Long Yao's team from a distance.

A great battle was about to erupt!

"Heh, I think you may not understand, young master. There are six of us and three of you. Are you sure?" Long Yao looked at him with a sneer. "Do you really think that just because your Class Two picked up a championship in the New Student Competition, you're actually impressive?"

Those words, filled with naked contempt and extreme mockery, struck Dai Huabin's heart with perfect precision—a heart already twisted beyond recognition by the raging flames of jealousy.

"Boom—!!!"

A visible, violently raging wave of white soul power exploded from Dai Huabin's body. The rotting leaves and soil beneath his feet were instantly blasted into the air, and the surrounding bushes looked as if they had been swept by a level-twelve hurricane, flattening backward in unison as broken branches and leaves scattered everywhere.

Dai Huabin's Handsome Face, already somewhat ferocious from jealousy, twisted completely out of human shape at that moment. In his Ice Blue Eyes, the last trace of clear reason was burned away, replaced by a thick, Blood Red madness and Killing Intent that seemed to gush from the depths of hell itself. His teeth ground with cracking sounds, as if he meant to crush even his own gums.

"You... said... what?!"

He squeezed out those words one by one from his Chest Cavity, which trembled violently from utmost fury. His Voice was no longer that outwardly fierce but inwardly weak threat from before, but a hoarse, gravelly growl filled with an ominous, destructive air.

A picked-up championship?!

Those five words wounded him far more than that humiliating defeat, far more than any vicious curse. It was the most thorough, most blatant denial of him as the son of Duke White Tiger, as a reserve member of Shrek Academy Inner Court, and as a genius with a top-tier Beast Martial Soul!

"Roar—!!!"

A deafening Tiger Roar filled with endless dominance and fury suddenly rang out from behind him. An enormous Fierce Tiger phantom, Snow White from head to toe and marked with eerie black demonic patterns, Coalesced behind him with a boom. It was the continent's top-tier Beast Martial Soul, the Evil Eye White Tiger! Two yellow and one purple—three Spirit Rings abruptly rose from beneath his feet, and the overwhelmingly tyrannical Soul Power Pressure of a Soul Elder crushed madly toward Long Yao's group without the slightest restraint.

"You useless trash who only knows how to hide behind women! You bastard who crawled out of nowhere! You actually dare... you actually dare mock me?!" Dai Huabin's Blood Red eyes locked onto Long Yao, his gaze looking as though he wanted to swallow him alive, flay him, and scatter his bones to ash. "Today, I'll let you know what true, absolute power is! What... a true genius is!"

Beside him, Zhu Lu sensed Dai Huabin's soul power, which was almost out of control and running berserk, and a trace of shock and unconcealable fear instantly flashed across her charming face. But she knew Dai Huabin could no longer hear any advice at this moment. She gritted her teeth, and a vicious glint also flashed through her Cat Eyes, which usually carried a hint of allure.

"Meow—!"

Amid a sharp cat cry, the phantom of a huge spirit cat, slender in build, pitch-black from head to toe, and ghostlike, also appeared behind her. It was likewise two yellow and one purple—three Spirit Rings that declared her strength at the Soul Elder level. Her graceful figure crouched slightly, like a Female Leopard before the hunt, and from her ten fingers sprang sharp Fingernails half a foot long, flickering with a chilling cold light. Her gaze locked coldly onto Wang Dong's face, whose beauty made jealousy rise in her heart.

As for the burly Assault System male student in their team who had remained silent all this time, his face had long since turned deathly pale. He looked at the more than thirty Emerald Demon Bird corpses on the ground, and his Legs trembled faintly beyond his control. But he knew he no longer had any road of retreat. He roared, bolstering his own courage, and three Spirit Rings likewise rose around him as a heavy-looking Giant Battle Axe appeared in his hand.

Yet in the face of this aggressive Soul Power Pressure, which seemed intent on tearing everything apart, the five companions behind Long Yao revealed completely different expressions—yet all were equally filled with disdain.

"Idiot."

Wang Dong's clear, Pleasant to the Ear voice rang out first, like the Sharpest icicle. She was too lazy even to look again at Dai Huabin's rage-twisted face. She merely stretched out her Slender Jade Hands and, with incomparable gentleness and meticulous care, helped Long Yao straighten his already perfectly neat Hem of Clothes, as if the three aggressive enemies before them were nothing more than three buzzing, annoying flies. But behind her, the pair of gorgeous Light Goddess Butterfly wings that had already been Put Away spread out again with a swish. This time, what radiated from those wings was no warm, holy radiance, but a dazzling golden light filled with extreme sharpness and awe-inspiring Killing Intent.

Huo Yuhao, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground with a deathly pale face, slowly stood up at that moment. He did not speak, nor did he release his martial soul. He merely lifted his head and quietly watched Dai Huabin with his deep Ink Blue Eyes, so calm that not the slightest Ripples stirred within them.

It was the gaze of someone looking at a dead man.

Cold, indifferent, without the slightest emotion.

After enduring the torment of that illusion and gaining new strength, the heart that had long been suppressed by hatred and humiliation instead reached an unprecedented state of emptiness and clarity. The Dai Huabin before him was no longer that lofty, invincible nightmare. He was merely... a pitiful Stepping Stone that Huo Yuhao would personally trample underfoot, crushing all his pride. His Second Soul Skill, "Soul Impact," had long since been charged and ready, like a venomous snake lying dormant in the dark, prepared at any moment to launch that silent, fatal strike.

"Captain, do you need me to cripple one of his legs first?"

He Caitou's Muffled Voice came from behind. At some point, his burly body had once again shouldered that hideous, crude Individual Soul Tool Cannon. At the muzzle, an incandescent dot of light only the size of a fingernail was flashing frantically at an extremely high frequency. The Destructive Energy within it, compressed to the limit, made the surrounding air begin to emit a strained, overwhelmed sizzling cry. His honest and straightforward gaze locked onto Dai Huabin's right knee.

"Why would dealing with this sort of trash require Brother He to use such a valuable weapon as a soul tool cannon?" Ning Xue gave a delicate laugh. The Ice Crystal Staff in her hand tapped lightly on the ground, and rings of ice-blue frost, like blooming lotuses of death, silently spread beneath her feet. "Just watch. Watch how I freeze him into a lump of Ice Sculpture!" The ease and confidence in her tone made it sound as though the ones she was about to face were not three Soul Elders, but a few Ordinary Persons with no strength to truss a chicken.

Xiao Xiao remained as calm and concise as ever. She merely lifted the Nine Phoenixes Come to Ceremony Flute slowly to her lips, her Pitch-Black Eyes glancing lightly at the two teammates beside Dai Huabin. Her meaning was very clear: she would handle those two small fry by herself.

Six against three.

On one side were hunters who were calm, composed, perfectly at ease, and filled with absolute confidence and team Tacit Understanding.

On the other were prey—outwardly fierce but inwardly weak, their heads clouded by jealousy and rage, already fallen into a trap without even realizing it.

"Good... very good!!" Dai Huabin looked at their contemptuous attitude and laughed in fury. "Since you're all so eager to die, I'll grant your wish! Zhu Lu! Martial Soul Fusion Skill!!"

"Roar—!!"

"Meow—!!"

A tiger and a cat—two roars filled with slaughter—rang through the forest in an instant. Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu turned into two streaks of light, one white and one black, and collided abruptly in midair.

Brilliant, piercing light erupted with a boom. An incomparably terrifying Soul Power Pressure, several times stronger than any single Soul Ancestor before and even faintly touching the threshold of a Soul King, swept madly outward from the center of that light.

Within the radiance, an entirely new creature, brimming with an eerie and powerful beauty, was rapidly taking shape. It had a human torso and limbs, but a savage tiger head, a long cat tail trailing behind it, and its entire body was covered in black-and-white fur. Its two eyes, one ice-blue and one deep green, flickered with cruel, bloodthirsty light. Its ten fingers had transformed into tiger claws a foot long, sharper than blades.

Hell White Tiger!

This powerful Martial Soul Fusion Skill, enough to make any opponent of the same level feel despair and capable of challenging those above its level, was fully unleashed at that moment!

"Die for me!!"

That huge, ferocious Hell White Tiger let out a deafening roar. Its enormous figure became a streak of black-and-white lightning that seemed to tear through space, carrying an unparalleled, crushing, berserk momentum as it pounced fiercely toward Long Yao's group.

However, at the very instant it was about to reach them...

Huo Yuhao, who had been standing still all along, suddenly burst with brilliant Purple Light from his Ink Blue Eyes!

"Second Soul Skill, Soul Impact!"

An invisible yet incomparably Coalesced and razor-sharp spiritual spike, like the most precise sniper bullet crossing Time and Space, struck later yet arrived first. It stabbed fiercely, with perfect accuracy, directly into the spiritual connection point between Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu as they were performing their Martial Soul Fusion Skill!

"Guh—aaah!!!"

A miserable scream so shrill it no longer sounded human, filled with extreme agony, suddenly erupted from the huge Hell White Tiger's mouth. Its massive, oppressive figure abruptly froze in midair, and then the dazzling fusion light, like a punctured balloon, instantly scattered with a pfft.

Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu's bodies fell from midair like two kites with cut strings, crashing wretchedly onto the ground. Crimson blood flowed from both of their Seven Orifices as they clutched their heads and rolled, convulsed, and thrashed wildly on the ground, letting out painful, unintelligible roars. That powerful Martial Soul Fusion Skill had actually... actually been forcefully interrupted just like that?!

This inconceivable scene left the male student holding the Giant Battle Axe, who had been about to charge, completely dumbstruck. His forward Footsteps stopped dead in place, and his face was filled with utter shock that he could not comprehend.

And this was precisely the moment Long Yao's team had been waiting for!

"Now! Do it!"

Ning Xue cried out, pointing the Ice Crystal Staff in her hand from afar!

"Second Spirit Skill: Ice Cone Stab Array!"

Countless incomparably sharp ice cones shot out from the ground beneath Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu in an instant, pinning their bodies—unable to move because of the Severe Pain in their minds—firmly, ruthlessly in place!

Xiao Xiao's cool, clear Xiao Sound rang out right after, its target aimed straight at the only one still standing—the male student holding the giant axe!

"First Spirit Skill: Slow!"

"First Spirit Skill: Cauldron's Tremor!"

The male student only felt his mind descend into chaos, his movements instantly becoming as sluggish as slow motion. Immediately after, an invisible force of vibration struck him, throwing the soul power inside him into disorder, to the point that he almost couldn't even keep hold of the giant axe in his hand!

"Have a taste of Grandfather's Italian Cannon!!"

He Caitou's excited roar exploded like thunder!

"Boom—!!!"

A blazing white pillar of energy filled with the aura of destruction tore through the air with a shrill scream and slammed into the male student's chest in an instant! Amid a miserable shriek, his Sturdy Body was blasted several dozen meters away like a sandbag struck head-on by a battering ram, snapping who knew how many Big Trees along the way before finally crashing heavily to the ground, blood spraying wildly from his mouth, his fate unknown.

"Side Wing Saber!"

Wang Dong's delicate shout, filled with Sacred Aura, rang out at the same time! A brilliant golden Cross Slash made of countless light blades descended like a Sword of Judgment sent down by a God, chopping down at Dai Huabin, who was firmly restrained by the ice cones and still struggling in agony!

The battle, from start to finish, had not even lasted ten seconds.

Everything was settled.

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030 Season: Autumn Eighth Day, 4:50 PM

Location: Star Dou Forest, Outer and Mixed Zone Border Swamp

Viewers: 77,986

Equipment: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Student Emblem x1, Inspector's Token x1, Soul Dissolving Token x1, Light Combat Suit x1, Distress Jade Talisman x1

Items: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Student Emblem x1, Dormitory Key x1, [Ancestor's Relic - Handwritten Copy] x1, Gold Soul Coin x1,003,870, Thousand-Year Soul Bone (Jade-Eyed Phantom Toad Left Leg Bone) x1, Thousand-Year Soul Bone (Emerald Demon Skull Piercing Bone)

First Martial Soul: Soul Breaking Spear [Traits: Armor Breaking, Soul Devouring, Penetration]

Second Martial Soul: Chaos Holy Dragon (Hidden) [Traits: Strength, Time, Space]

Soul Power: Level 45 (Soul Ancestor) [Status: True Vast Sea Ring Shielding, External Perception is Level 24]

Soul Rings: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Soul Ring (Yellow Hundred-Year), Second Soul Ring (Purple Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year)

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Soul Ring (Black Thirteen-Thousand-Year), Second Soul Ring (Black Twenty-Eight-Thousand-Year), Third Soul Ring (Black Forty-Six-Thousand-Year), Fourth Soul Ring (Rose Gold Hundred-Thousand-Year)

Spirit Skills: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Skill: Swift Shadow Stab, Second Spirit Skill: Whirlwind Spear, Third Spirit Skill: Armor Breaking Spiral, Fourth Spirit Skill: Thousand Spirit Spear Rain

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Skill: Star Ring, Second Spirit Skill: Holy Dragon Claw, Third Spirit Skill: Void Claw, Fourth Spirit Skill: Time and Space Roar

Soul Bones: None

Soul Spirits: None

Tip Storage: [Million-Year Spirit Beast Inverse Scale] x1, [God-Bestowed Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year)] x1, [Spring of Life (Concentrate)] x1, [Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill] x10, [God King Godhead (Incomplete)] x1, [Couple's Limited Edition - Flowing Light Wing Flight Soul Device] x1, [Sparkling Diamond] x10, [Top-Grade Soul Power Recovery Potion (Military Special Supply Version)] x5