Fake Match

Ning Tian and Wu Feng had also come over. They weren't under the slightest pressure facing Yue Hongchen and the others. They'd already done well to make it to the semifinals. They couldn't beat Yue anyway, and Meng was on their side, so they'd just have to go through the motions.

Ning Tian and Wu Feng led Meng away to face Yue from the opposite side of the arena.

"State your names."

"Freshman Class Nine: Yue Hongchen."

"Freshman Class Nine: Meng Hongchen, Ning Tian, Wu Feng."

On the arena, Mu En turned to Xuan Zi beside him. "Which of these two kids do you think will win?"

Xuan Zi took a big bite of chicken leg and thought for a moment. "Aren't they siblings? Normally, I'd say Yue Hongchen would win, but an older brother facing his younger sister would probably hold back. And Meng Hongchen's Martial Soul has the ultimate poison. It's hard to say who'll win."

Mu En smiled but didn't respond. Instead, he asked who Yue Hongchen's homeroom teacher was.

"If I remember right, it's Mu Jin!" As he spoke, Xuan Zi tipped his head back and took a long swig of wine. "That girl's got decent talent. If she hadn't put her mind to the wrong things, she wouldn't be only a Soul Emperor by now."

Mu En nodded, then waved to Mu Jin, who was standing not far away.

Mu Jin had been listlessly watching the class match that was about to begin when she noticed someone looking at her. She turned and saw Mu En beckoning to her. Without hesitation, she flew over to him.

"Elder Mu, Elder Xuan," Mu Jin said respectfully.

"Who do you think will win?"

Following Mu En's gaze, she saw that he meant Yue and Meng. Without a moment's hesitation, she replied, "Yue will win. And I expect the students will accuse them of throwing the match."

"Oh? Why?"

"They're very close. There's no way they'd attack each other, no matter the circumstances. Besides, from what I know, that kid Yue Hongchen is a crafty one. He won't attack his younger sister. He'll just restrain her, then take care of the other two. It shouldn't be difficult."

She looked back toward the arena in Zone One. "Elder Mu, just watch how these two throw the match. It'll be a little entertainment to liven up our peaceful lives."

"Haha, all right!"

Back on the arena, both sides had completed their Martial Soul Possession. The three Soul Rings behind Ning Tian lit up at once, instantly boosting the other two.

The students and teachers watching the match saw that Meng Hongchen's side had two Soul Elders and one Soul Grandmaster, as well as the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul. They became even more confident in Meng Hongchen's team.

By contrast, Yue Hongchen had only summoned his Martial Soul. He hadn't even summoned his Soul Rings.

Everyone knew how strong Yue was, but he was still only a Soul Elder. And his younger sister's talent was no weaker than his.

Just as everyone was imagining how badly Yue Hongchen would be beaten, they saw him hurry toward Meng Hongchen, letting the potent poison from her first Soul Skill, Poison of the Ice Toad, enter his body.

In the blink of an eye, he reached Meng Hongchen and reached out to grab her.

"Second Soul Skill, Ice... Ah, never mind." Meng Hongchen had instinctively started to use her second Soul Skill, but then remembered that the person in front of her was her brother, not an enemy. The Soul Ring that had just lit up dimmed at once.

She let Yue Hongchen scoop her up in a bridal carry. To make their match-throwing less obvious, though, she summoned the Soul Power in her body and froze his limbs, hoping to slow him down a little.

But Yue Hongchen merely shook with Soul Power, shattering the ice on his limbs and sending it to the ground.

Seeing that, Ning Tian sighed and recalled her Martial Soul. Wu Feng followed suit. "We surrender."

Now it was Yue Hongchen's turn to be shocked. He exchanged a look with Meng Hongchen in his arms, asking silently, Didn't you coordinate with them?

Meng Hongchen buried her face in his chest, embarrassed. Her voice was so quiet that Yue could barely hear her. "I forgot..."

What was he supposed to do now? He'd meant to restrain Meng, then use just enough strength to "politely" "invite" Ning Tian and Wu Feng off the arena before setting Meng down. But the moment he grabbed Meng, Ning Tian and the others had surrendered.

The entire viewing stand fell silent. Then a loud uproar broke out.

"What the hell? They surrendered just like that? They're making it way too obvious they're throwing the match!"

"Exactly! If I remember right, Yue Hongchen and Meng Hongchen are siblings. Could it be Yue Hongchen can't beat his own younger sister, but wants to make it to the finals and win the championship, so he got Meng Hongchen to throw the match for him?"

"Damn, that's shameless! They're both Soul Elders, but he doesn't even want to fight? What kind of person is he? I watched his previous matches and thought he was so strong!"

The students' jeers grew louder and more vicious. Seeing that none of the three Sea God's Pavilion elders had spoken up, the teachers didn't dare say anything either. Besides, most of them knew something about Yue Hongchen and Meng Hongchen. Whether they were throwing the match didn't matter much; in terms of strength, Yue Hongchen was definitely the strongest among all the teams. Mu En, Xuan Zi, and Yan Shaozhe, meanwhile, watched Yue Hongchen with smiles, curious to see how he'd handle things.

Yue Hongchen first looked up toward the platform. Yan Shaozhe had also gone over to Mu En's side. Seeing the three of them watching him, Yue immediately understood that they wanted to see how he'd resolve this.

In that case, this would be easy.

Yue Hongchen set the girl in his arms down. After landing, Meng first withdrew the ultimate poison from Yue's body. Then, head lowered and unable to look at him, she said in a wounded voice, "I'm sorry, brother."

Yue crouched down, smiling as he ruffled her hair. At the same time, four blue-white Soul Rings appeared behind him. "It's all right. No matter what you do wrong, your big brother will always have your back. Don't worry."

After comforting Meng Hongchen, Yue looked up at the students in the stands, who were still jeering at him. Some students saw the four Soul Rings behind him and wisely fell silent, but most of those joining in still hurled abuse.

"Xiao Ka, I need to borrow your authority," Yue said to Xiao Ka in his Sea of Consciousness.

"What's mine is yours. Go ahead and use it." Xiao Ka, who was in the Sea of Consciousness, had already reached the limits of her patience as she listened to the jeers. If Yue Hongchen hadn't stopped her from coming out, she would have already gone out there and started a fight.

Xiao Ka's authorities were separation, fusion, and a limited ability over space. The reason Lin Muxue and the others' Soul Skills had failed earlier was that Xiao Ka had used her authority of separation. Lin Muxue and the others were only in their twenties in level, so their Soul Skills and everything else had been separated cleanly away.

What Yue Hongchen needed now was her authority over space.

From the moment the first insult was shouted, he'd been watching the people in the stands. He noticed quite a few seemed to hate him intensely. When Ning Tian surrendered, they'd scattered through the crowd and started stirring things up.

Yue Hongchen pinpointed their locations. Most were second- and third-year students, with only a few freshmen. There wasn't a single fourth-year student among them.

Yue Hongchen gave a cold snort. The three Soul Rings behind him lit up, and the Sword Shadows of the Divine Authority Sword, the Otherworldly Authority Sword, and the Human Rights Sword descended. Each Sword Shadow shot straight into the sky, enclosing the entire examination area. The Blood Oath Pact in his hand had silently transformed into the Indomitable Fate Crown.

The instant the enormous Sword Shadows descended, the jeering throughout the examination area stopped. Every student stared fearfully at Yue Hongchen at the center of the arena. They could feel the breath of death coming from him.

Yue Hongchen took a step forward, and the students he'd marked were teleported onto the arena one by one.

They looked at each other, bewildered about how they'd ended up there. But when they felt the murderous gaze Yue Hongchen fixed on them, none of them could even summon their Martial Souls. They could only keep backing away.

"I just took a look. You're the ones who were stirring things up in the crowd, insulting me and saying I was afraid to fight, that I wasn't strong enough, that I threw the match, that I was a hypocrite?"