Zhao Zilong listened to Yu Xiaogang's arrangements without saying a word from beginning to end, then walked straight to the middle of the training ground. It made no difference who he fought. Not to mention Dai Mubai—even if he faced Tang San now, Zhao Zilong was confident he could win.
After all, Tang San had not yet reached level 30 in Soul Power, and his strength was even slightly inferior to Dai Mubai's. Moreover, Zhao Zilong knew all of Tang San's methods of attack. Hidden weapons lost much of their power if they could not catch their target by surprise.
Zhao Zilong looked at Dai Mubai and said, "Old Bai, since we're fighting anyway, how about adding some stakes?"
"Stakes?" Dai Mubai was puzzled, but his interest was piqued. "Interesting. Go on. What stakes?"
"How about one hundred Gold Soul Coins? If I lose, I'll give you one hundred Gold Soul Coins. And the same goes for you if you lose." Zhao Zilong held up one finger.
Dai Mubai did not take a wager of one hundred Gold Soul Coins seriously at all and immediately agreed. "Fine, let's begin!" As he spoke, Dai Mubai assumed a fighting stance.
Master immediately called out, "Then, begi—" Before he could finish, Zhao Zilong had already made his move.
"Spider Web Bind." Zhao Zilong opened with his third soul skill.
Dai Mubai was somewhat startled and let out a low roar. "First Soul Skill: White Tiger Body Protection Barrier..." A white glow immediately enveloped his body.
However, the gap between a first soul skill and a third soul skill in terms of soul ring age was enormous. In particular, Zhao Zilong's third soul ring was over five thousand one hundred years old, making it far more powerful than an ordinary third soul skill. The Soul Power and poison on the spiderweb quickly corroded Dai Mubai's White Tiger Body Protection Barrier.
By then, the web was already above his head. Countless webs fell, sealing off all paths around him. Even if Dai Mubai wanted to dodge, it was too late. He inwardly cursed Zhao Zilong for having no martial virtue, using his third soul skill right from the start and catching him completely unprepared.
"Heartbreak Poison: Bamboo Leaf Sword Rain..." In an instant, countless bamboo leaf swords shot toward Dai Mubai.
Seeing Zhao Zilong show no mercy from the outset, Dai Mubai roared, "Third Soul Skill: White Tiger Vajra Transformation..."
Although Dai Mubai had used his third soul skill, it was already too late. As he raised his hands to block the Bamboo Leaf Sword Rain before him, the Spider Web Bind above his head descended. The highly adhesive, poisonous web easily restrained Dai Mubai. No matter how strong he was, he could not break free.
"It's over." Zhao Zilong sauntered toward Dai Mubai. Looking at him bound head to toe in spiderwebs, Zhao Zilong gave a cheeky grin. "Are you admitting defeat or not? If you don't, I'll use Bamboo Leaf Sword Rain to slice up your face. If you get disfigured, it won't be easy to pick up girls in the future."
The moment he heard Zhao Zilong wanted to attack his face, Dai Mubai immediately caved. He depended on that face to get by, after all. "Don't, don't, don't! I surrender..."
After Zhao Zilong released the Spider Web Bind, the others were still somewhat dumbfounded. That had been far too fast. Less than a minute had passed from the start of the fight to its conclusion.
That really had been a swift battle. Zhao Zilong had not even used his full strength, yet Dai Mubai had already lost. Was Zhao Zilong too strong, or was Dai Mubai too weak?
Dai Mubai felt the tiny wounds on his body. He had been cut by the Bamboo Leaf Sword Rain, and the purple poison left by the spiderwebs made his skin itch. He said, "Xiao Ao, give me an Antidote Sausage."
Hearing Dai Mubai, Oscar snapped back to his senses and immediately produced an Antidote Sausage.
After eating the Sausage, Dai Mubai looked at Zhao Zilong differently and smiled. "You're really strong. I lost this one. Here, take it." As he spoke, Dai Mubai took out a pouch of gold coins from his Soul Tool and tossed it to Zhao Zilong.
Yu Xiaogang, watching from the side, was also somewhat surprised. He stepped forward with the air of a Master and said, "Mubai, when you saw Zi Long use his third soul skill, you chose to block it with your first soul skill. That was a soul skill from a thousand-year soul ring—how could your first soul ring possibly withstand it? If you had chosen to dodge or counterattack directly, either would have been better than defending."
Dai Mubai felt somewhat displeased, but Yu Xiaogang was not wrong. He had already figured this out himself after losing just now. He replied coolly, "I understand."
Hearing Dai Mubai's cold tone, Yu Xiaogang knew that geniuses were proud at heart. Having lost, Dai Mubai was likely feeling upset. Yu Xiaogang then looked at Zhao Zilong and pointed out his issues as well. "Zhao Zilong, you attacked first and used your third soul skill right from the start. It did catch him off guard, so it was not a bad choice. However, using your third soul skill immediately was rather impulsive. If Mubai had not chosen to defend, but instead tried his best to dodge or counterattack, your third soul skill might have missed and consumed a great deal of Soul Power."
"Before I came here, Flender told me that you were a true genius. You are the youngest at Shrek Academy, yet your Soul Power is refined and your cultivation far surpasses that of your peers. But while using your strongest soul skill at the start may catch an enemy by surprise, it consumes too much Soul Power. If it fails to hit, you will be put at a disadvantage."
"Besides, I had not even called for the match to begin when you made your move. That was somewhat akin to a sneak attack."
Zhao Zilong smiled faintly, utterly unconcerned. "But Old Bai had already taken a fighting stance, and he called for us to begin too. That's why I attacked. Besides, isn't a soul master's battle about deciding victory or defeat? If a sneak attack can secure the initiative, doesn't that make victory more likely?"
Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang snorted coldly and continued, "If this were a competition, you would have broken the rules."
Zhao Zilong did not answer Master. Yu Xiaogang sighed inwardly. Seeing the indifference in Zhao Zilong's eyes, he immediately understood. Zhao Zilong had probably already seen through his intentions.
Zhao Zilong had completely ignored him when he entered the field. He had even attacked before Yu Xiaogang called for the match to begin, which greatly displeased Yu Xiaogang. To some extent, Yu Xiaogang had wanted to teach him a lesson and make him learn to respect his teacher.
But now that Zhao Zilong had seen through his intentions, Yu Xiaogang could only sigh. Sigh, geniuses really are difficult to teach. Not every genius is as obedient and sensible as Xiao San.
Back at Nuoding Academy, Yu Xiaogang had seen some talented students. In truth, they could not really be considered geniuses; compared to the geniuses at Shrek Academy, they fell far short.
Yet even those "geniuses," whose talent was far inferior to the students of Shrek Academy, had all been extremely arrogant.
However, the more Zhao Zilong acted this way, the more Yu Xiaogang wanted to educate him. Only by teaching geniuses could Yu Xiaogang feel satisfied. He said sternly, "You are proud, complacent, and look down on others. You may seem friendly, but you are actually unruly and defiant. You may seem frivolous, but in truth you are arrogant and conceited. Although you are warm and friendly toward your companions, you have always maintained a barrier between yourself and them. You treat everyone as passersby. You face everyone with a cynical attitude. What makes you think your future life will definitely be smooth sailing?"
Yu Xiaogang knew that these Little Monsters were all geniuses. If he could not make them recognize their mistakes today, then even during the training to come, they might not obediently listen.
Before you continue