The Scheming Zui Hongchen!

"Let the soul fight begin."

At Lin Ximeng's call, Zui Hongchen shouted and instantly performed his Martial Soul Release. Xu Tianyang's eyes also turned fiery red, like rubies.

A flash of golden light passed over Zui Hongchen's body. Behind him, a leg actually emerged from his backside. The leg was entirely golden, while a dazzling layer of gold spread across his whole body.

With three legs, Zui Hongchen crouched slightly. The yellow Soul Ring at his side shone, and golden protrusions bulged through the fabric along his slightly arched back, giving off a soft golden glow.

With a wave of his hands, the golden light transformed into ten metal spheres that scattered outward, floating in midair and surrounding him.

A bizarre scene unfolded the next instant. Using those metal spheres as cores, thick metal cannon barrels actually grew out of them.

"Damn, I never expected the 'honest' Zui Hongchen to hit Your Highness this hard." Huang Xiuwen's expression changed as he watched from outside the arena, his mouth falling open as he muttered.

Looking at the first-grade Soul Tool Cannons floating around Zui Hongchen, Xu Tianyang gave him a surprised glance. He had not expected Zui Hongchen to already be capable of skillfully controlling ten Soul Tool Cannons at once.

"Boss, watch out!"

"Destruction Soul Tool Cannon!"

With an angry roar, countless golden specks of light suddenly appeared in the surrounding air and surged toward Zui Hongchen. As they neared his body, each spread into a faint golden halo, as if it had ignited. A dense metallic aura instantly boiled over.

As the golden specks merged into them, each metal cannon barrel began to radiate dazzling brilliance, emanating a terrifying aura.

"Fatty, you were hiding quite the big move." Xu Tianyang laughed and cursed as he looked at the ten first-grade Soul Tool Cannons. At the same time, the First Soul Ring floating around him glimmered faintly. Red light seemed to flash around the entire Soul Fighting Arena, making the surrounding space appear slightly distorted.

The next instant, ten scorching beams of white light blasted toward Xu Tianyang.

"Oh no—" Cries rang out around the arena. Xu Tianyang seemed to have gone stupid, standing still as he watched the ten attacks descend upon him.

"Boom—"

The solid arena platform gave off a piercing roar under the bombardment.

Everyone was frantic. The three teachers had only one thought in their minds: it was over.

Xu Tianyang had taken head-on ten Soul Tool Cannon blasts comparable to a Soul Master's First Soul Skill. Even Soul Grandmasters would not dare take such attacks. If something happened to him right under their noses, the three of them would never escape blame.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

"No injuries when there's smoke. Fatty, your aim is terrible too. You need more practice!"

A teasing voice came from the smoke and dust, making everyone heave a sigh of relief.

It was fine. Thank goodness it was fine.

Lin Ximeng and the other two teachers wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads. Their careers had nearly been ruined, and even their futures might have been over.

Huang Xiuwen also secretly broke into a cold sweat, completely failing to notice that his back had already been soaked through.

Xu Tianyang slowly emerged from the smoke. Not only was he uninjured, not even a speck of dust clung to him. It was simply unbelievable.

Seeing Xu Tianyang completely unscathed, everyone finally relaxed. Yet among the crowd, apart from them, cold sweat had somehow seeped into the palm of a blue-clad figure. The gaze fixed on Xu Tianyang became three parts colder.

"Bleurgh—"

The sound of vomiting drew everyone's attention. Zui Hongchen's chubby body swayed uncontrollably in a strange manner. His Martial Soul Possession had already vanished, and he staggered backward before finally collapsing onto the ground and dry-heaving.

From the looks of it, how could he possibly have any strength left to fight?

"Serves you right for overestimating yourself. Firing ten first-grade Soul Tool Cannons at once was bound to drain you dry." Xu Tianyang shook his head.

One Soul Tool Cannon shot was equivalent to a Soul Master unleashing their First Soul Skill at full strength. Given a Soul Master's total Soul Power, using it five times at most would exhaust their Soul Power. Although Soul Tool Cannons consumed less Soul Power than Soul Skills, with Zui Hongchen's level-twelve Soul Power, controlling ten Soul Tool Cannons at once had still drained him dry in an instant.

If his Soul Power had not been depleted, he would not have ended up in such a sorry state against Xu Tianyang's First Soul Skill, which had not even been used at full power.

Just one second before Zui Hongchen was about to fire the Soul Tool Cannons, Xu Tianyang had unleashed his First Soul Skill.

Mental Power Field: Any opponent whose Spiritual Power was weaker than Xu Tianyang's would be suppressed by the Mental Power Field. Depending on their cultivation and Spiritual Power, those suppressed would suffer varying conditions such as dizziness, sluggishness, fatigue, listlessness, and weakness.

It was because of the Mental Power Field's influence that Zui Hongchen had lost his aim, allowing Xu Tianyang to remain motionless yet emerge completely unharmed.

"Teachers, hurry and treat Zui Hongchen."

Zui Hongchen no longer had the strength to fight. Xu Tianyang turned and called out to the three stunned teachers.

Coming back to their senses, the three teachers entered the arena. The healing-type teacher treated Zui Hongchen, after which they announced Xu Tianyang's victory.

As Lin Ximeng made the announcement, the silent spectators finally snapped out of their shock. They had clearly been stunned by Xu Tianyang's methods.

They had no idea what method Xu Tianyang had used to emerge unscathed from the attacks of ten first-grade Soul Tool Cannons before defeating Zui Hongchen.

This bizarre yet powerful method made everyone look at Xu Tianyang with a measure of awe.

Among Soul Masters, the strong reigned supreme. This was a rule that had remained unchanged for ten thousand years.

As the matches continued, Huang Xiuwen and Yi Mingyu were soon easily defeated by Xu Tianyang and Xu Nianshuang respectively, and the competition entered its final round.

"You shouldn't have put yourself in that kind of situation just now, even if you were very confident." Once the two stood in place, before the battle began, Xu Nianshuang looked at Xu Tianyang and spoke coldly.

Xu Tianyang looked at her with a strange expression. Though her tone was icy, he could hear concern within it.

Was that possible?

Seeing her cold gaze, Xu Tianyang shook his head inwardly.

"Thank you for the reminder." Xu Tianyang nodded seriously and spoke softly.

Perhaps because she felt Xu Tianyang had taken her words to heart, a trace of satisfaction flashed through Xu Nianshuang's eyes. She nodded lightly.

Seeing that, Xu Tianyang found it even stranger. There was a ninety percent chance that something was off about this Xu Nianshuang.

"The match begins!"

As Lin Ximeng's voice fell, Xu Tianyang and Xu Nianshuang did not attack immediately. Instead, they spoke in unspoken coordination.

"Xu Tianyang, level-fifteen Control System Battle Soul Master."

"Xu Nianshuang, level-fourteen Assault System Battle Soul Master."

"White Ice Shards!"