Absolute Suppression!

Inside the First Soul Tool Proving Ground, two teams faced off at a distance, the air thick with tension.

On the left stood seven upperclassmen, including Lin Xi, Mika, and Chen Fei, all wearing the official uniforms of the main team.

They looked relaxed, even a little unconcerned.

To them, this so-called sparring match was nothing more than a coaching session where they humored their juniors.

After all, the main team had been assembled a few months ago by Dean of Students Lin Jiayi, following the academy's tradition of selecting the best from the upper grades in preparation for the upcoming tournament.

In terms of Soul Power, they were, on average, five to ten levels ahead of the Reserve Team.

In terms of experience, they had taken part in countless combat exercises.

Across from them was the "ragtag team" Gu Yuejin had pulled together. Apart from the familiar faces of the Hongchen siblings and Ma Rulong, the rest were either only at the three-ring level or Support Class "Accessories."

How could they lose? They'd win even with the odds stacked against them!

"Juniors, be careful. Your senior won't go easy on you."

Lin Xi waved the folding-fan Soul Tool in his hand, a teasing smile playing at the corner of his mouth. His gaze lingered for a few extra seconds on Meng Hongchen and Xu Tianzhen.

"Especially you pretty juniors. If you can't take it, surrender early, before you hurt those lovely faces. Your senior would hate to see that~"

"Hmph, all talk."

Xu Tianzhen frowned in disgust. A golden-red glow flickered in her hand. "Just you wait. I'll be the first to blast you away!"

The other members of the Reserve Team had no unnecessary words for Lin Xi's provocation.

They simply stood there in silence, their eyes cold and their bodies slightly tense, like a pack of wolves gathering strength before a hunt.

Gu Yuejin didn't join the match.

Though he was exactly twenty—the tournament's age limit—and fully eligible to compete, there was no need.

He folded his arms and leaned against the railing at the edge of the field.

"Are you ready?"

Gu Yuejin spoke in an even tone. His voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone clearly.

"Don't forget what I taught you."

"Even when hunting a rabbit, a lion uses all its strength. If you lose..."

He made a throat-slitting gesture. Everyone on the Reserve Team shuddered, and their slight nervousness instantly turned into desperate resolve.

If they lost, they'd have to train extra! That was a torture worse than death!

"Begin!"

At the referee's command—

Boom!

The seven members of the main team were just about to spread out into their usual formation when they were horrified to find that the world before them had changed.

"Spiritual Detection Share. Full coverage."

Huo Yuhao stood at the very center of the formation. Purple-gold light flashed in his eyes, and the phantom of the Ice Empress appeared behind him for an instant.

Humm—

An invisible Spiritual Network spread out in an instant, linking the seven members of the Reserve Team together.

It was like having a god's-eye view!

In Huo Yuhao's vision, every member of the main team's Soul Power circulation, muscle contractions, and even unconscious shifts of their eyes were analyzed into precise data. The information was transmitted to every teammate in real time as a three-dimensional image.

It felt like having the whole map revealed!

"Lin Xi, turn thirty degrees left. Get ready to activate Invincible Shield. His weak point is at the waist."

"Chen Fei, push in from the right wing. Focus your Soul Power in your legs and intercept him!"

Huo Yuhao's voice was as calm as a machine's. It rang directly in his teammates' minds through the Spiritual Network.

At the same time, his hands moved in a blur, tossing several oddly shaped Soul Tools with strange fluctuations into the air.

Zzzzt—!

A piercing high-frequency noise and chaotic Soul Power fluctuations instantly blanketed the main team's half of the field.

These were interference Soul Tools he'd made himself based on Gu Yuejin's theories: the "Mental Shock Thunder" and the "Soul Power Interference Field."

"Damn it! Why's my Soul Power circulation so sluggish?!"

Chen Fei, an Agility Attack System Soul King who'd been about to charge in using his speed advantage, paled and abruptly stopped. It was as if a speeding car had suddenly slammed on the brakes. The sensation was so awful he felt like vomiting blood.

And in that brief moment of paralysis—

"At this distance, you're already a dead man."

Xiao Hongchen's cold voice rang out.

"Boom!!!"

A Metal Storm and Soul Tool Rays rained down, as if guided by eyes. They precisely predicted every place Chen Fei could land and engulfed him completely.

"Xiao Hongchen, keep up the fire suppression!"

"Ma Rulong, take Xiaoya and cut in from the left wing!"

Under Huo Yuhao's command, the Reserve Team's coordination was so fluid it was almost frightening.

Xiao Hongchen became a mobile artillery platform, every Soul Tool Cannon shell precisely timed to strike when the opponent had spent their strength but hadn't yet gathered it again, forcing them to defend.

Meanwhile, Ma Rulong, the former captain of the main team, became the most terrifying "bulldozer" on the field.

He carried a massive Soul Tool Cannon in one hand and the petite Support Class junior "Xiaoya" in the other. With the "Energy Gathering Meatbun" Dazhuang had just stuffed into his hands hanging from him, he charged into the enemy formation with a fierce grin.

"Come on! Let's hurt each other!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The main team's attacks landed on him, but it was like throwing mud into the sea.

With Xiaoya's Life Chain linking them, the damage Ma Rulong took was shared among all seven teammates. Add Dazhuang's restorative buns, and he was practically an undying God of War!

The members of the main team felt like bugs trapped in a spiderweb. No matter how they struggled, every step seemed to land them in a trap.

"What kind of ridiculous tactic is this?!"

Lin Xi tried to activate Invincible Shield to protect himself, but Huo Yuhao interrupted him for half a second with a precisely timed Mental Confusion. Meng Hongchen's Ice Poison Mist immediately followed, smothering his face.

"Ah! My eyes! It's so cold!"

"Don't panic! Form up! Form up!"

The main team's command structure had completely collapsed. They could only fight individually, while the Reserve Team used precise tactics to divide and conquer them one by one.

"It's over."

At the edge of the field, Gu Yuejin watched the one-sided battle and calmly uttered three words. His expression didn't change in the slightest.

Less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn.

"Princess, blow them away!"

At Xu Tianzhen's excited shout, a fully charged Solar Flare exploded in the center of the enemy formation. A golden-red mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

All seven members of the main team fell.

Some had been blasted out of bounds, some were frozen into ice statues, and others had passed out. Their Soul Guide Shields were all shattered.

As for the Reserve Team...

Aside from their heavy Soul Power expenditure and their panting, not one of them had suffered a serious injury!

Even Ma Rulong, who had taken the brunt of the attacks, had only suffered minor scrapes thanks to the damage shared through the Life Chain. He grinned, showing all his white teeth, and looked particularly pleased.

"That was great! That was incredible!"

Ma Rulong pumped his fist. "I used to have to be so careful when I fought them. Today, we crushed them outright!"

The entire arena fell silent.

Every watching student gaped as if they'd seen a ghost.

That was the main team! The team representing the academy's strongest combat force!

And they'd been crushed by a bunch of juniors?! You could even say they'd been massacred!

Just then, the doors to the Training Ground swung open.

Jing Hongchen walked in with his hands behind his back, followed by Lin Jiayi, who'd hurried over.

They'd timed their arrival, expecting the fight to be reaching its climax. They'd come to check on things and offer some encouragement to the Reserve Team's losers, so the defeat wouldn't crush the kids' confidence.

"Old Brother Gu Yue, how's the fight going?"

Jing Hongchen asked with a genial smile, scanning the area. "Those brats haven't embarrassed you, have they? If they lost too badly, I'll have to give them a good scolding. A little adversity is good for young people..."

Lin Jiayi chimed in as well. "That's right. With the difference in levels, lasting one incense stick would be a good showing. As long as they put up a fight..."

Gu Yuejin turned around to look at the two important figures, who'd arrived late. His face broke into that signature "benevolent" smile.

He stepped aside and pointed to the main team members sprawled across the ground behind him, who hadn't yet been carried away. His tone was as casual as if he were asking what they were having for dinner.

"Hall Master, Dean Lin, you're too late."

"The fight... is already over."

"What?!"

Jing Hongchen and Lin Jiayi followed his gesture.

When they saw that the people lying on the ground were all familiar members of the main team, while the seven members of the Reserve Team stood in a neat line, battered but still brimming with energy, the two academy leaders froze. Their expressions were a riot of colors.

"Th-this means the main team lost?!"

Lin Jiayi rubbed his eyes, even wondering whether he'd fallen under an illusion. "Am I seeing things? Why are Lin Xi and the others the ones lying on the ground?"

"They didn't just lose. They were crushed."

Gu Yuejin shrugged, then beckoned to the Healing System teacher waiting at the edge of the field, who was just as stunned, and instructed him:

"What are you standing there for? Take them away."

"This year's main team... is done for."

Gu Yuejin turned to Jing Hongchen, his eyes gleaming with undisguised ambition and sharpness.

"Hall Master, it seems the slots to represent the Sun Moon Empire..."

"Need to go to some new people."