Tang Wulin lay not far away, in an even more pitiful state.
He was covered in blood, his clothes in tatters, his body riddled with wounds from Wind Blades and burns from the flames.
Blood trickled down his arm and pooled in a small puddle on the ground.
His eyes were tightly shut. He had completely lost consciousness.
The smoke and dust gradually cleared.
The competition platform was a scene of utter devastation.
The once-smooth stone floor had completely disappeared, replaced by a massive crater.
Cracks radiated outward from the crater, stretching all the way to the edge of the platform.
The air still held the smell of burning and a faint trace of Shadow Power.
Wang Zhi was still standing where he had been.
He stood at the edge of the crater, his robes fluttering in the wind, yet he remained unmoved.
Ten Ghost Shadow Soldiers surrounded him. Though the shock wave had scattered some of their forms, they quickly re-formed.
Zhou Tian'er and Zhou Hanyou stood behind him, completely unharmed.
The entire stadium fell silent.
In the stadium of eighty thousand people, not a sound could be heard.
Everyone stared blankly at the boy on the platform, at the ruined competition platform, and at the two seriously injured figures lying unconscious below.
Just then, several figures rushed onto the competition platform.
A snow-white figure was the first to reach it.
Wu Changkong looked at the gravely injured, unconscious Gu Yue and Tang Wulin, his heart aching unbearably.
He crouched down and checked their breathing. They were still alive, but their injuries were severe.
He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Wang Zhi and the other two on the opposite side of the platform. The cold in his eyes seemed ready to freeze solid.
But Shen Yi, who had powerful healing abilities, had already returned to Shrek with the Shrek Students who had come to participate in the exhibition match.
Zhang Zhenpeng was the second to arrive.
He practically flew onto the platform, landing in front of Wang Zhi and the others as he looked them up and down.
They were unharmed, without even a scratch.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
Thank goodness nothing had happened.
At the same time, however, a lingering fear rose in his heart.
He couldn't help scolding them, his face full of exasperation.
"What on earth were you three thinking?!"
"The other side's Soul Skills went out of control. Why didn't you two use your Martial Soul Fusion Skill?"
"Yes! I know you have confidence in Xiao Zhi, but you still have to account for the possibility of an accident, don't you?"
Zhou Tian'er lowered her head guiltily, not daring to meet Zhang Zhenpeng's eyes.
Zhou Hanyou glanced at Wang Zhi but said nothing.
Wang Zhi hurried forward to smooth things over.
"Dean, look, the three of us are fine, aren't we?"
"I had confidence in my ability to handle it."
He wasn't exaggerating.
Though he was only at the second ring now, his combat strength had soared ever since he obtained the Shadow Domain ability.
The uncontrolled Wind Fire Twin Tornadoes Gu Yue had unleashed were only about as powerful as a five-ring attack. They hadn't exceeded his ability to control them.
The reason he could briefly unleash the combat strength of a five-ring Soul Master was that, besides letting him use Shadow Power, the Shadow Domain had another ability: stacking.
It could stack the strength of the Ghost Shadow Soldiers he summoned onto him.
The effect lasted only a brief moment, but that was enough to fight an enemy.
Moreover, if he summoned all Thirty Ghost Shadow Soldiers, the combat strength he could unleash in that instant would absolutely reach the peak of a Six Rings Soul Emperor.
Thus, the Shadow Domain made up for his weakness in individual combat strength.
Hearing Wang Zhi say this, Zhang Zhenpeng could only sigh.
He was just about to lead the three of them off the platform...
A chill burst forth from behind him.
Zhang Zhenpeng turned to look.
A figure in flowing white robes stood there.
Young, handsome...
Yet his entire body radiated an indescribable chill.
It wasn't the coldness of Soul Power, but a chill that came from deep within the soul.
Wu Changkong.
Zhang Zhenpeng's expression darkened at once.
He wasn't a fool. It was obvious that this man was the teacher of the other group of three in the match.
But the chill now radiating from him clearly showed his displeasure with them.
Zhang Zhenpeng spoke up at once.
"What exactly do you mean by this?"
"Why don't you get your facts straight? It was your student's Soul Skill that went out of control, not my students'."
"Why are you taking your anger out on us?!"
Hearing Zhang Zhenpeng say this, Wang Zhi wore a strange expression.
After all, in the Original Work, it had been their side whose Soul Skill went out of control...
But Wang Zhi didn't dwell on it.
After all, his arrival in this world had already changed some of the future that was supposed to happen.
This time, they weren't the ones at fault.
Not to mention, after Gu Yue had deliberately shifted the blame onto them, there was no way he would repay her kindness by saving the two of them.
Besides, he hadn't expected much from Gu Yue to begin with.
Setting aside Gu Yue's tendency to lose herself in romance, she was the Silver Dragon King and the co-ruler of the Soul Beast Clan.
To her, human morality and ethics were laughable. Only the survival of the fittest mattered.
He didn't think that if the Soul Beast Clan hadn't been suppressed by the Spirit Pagoda for ten thousand years, they would be living peacefully alongside humanity now.
That was clearly impossible.
Those who aren't of our kind will surely have different hearts.
That was the true principle.
As Zhang Zhenpeng repeated the words "Soul Skill went out of control" again and again, Wu Changkong's expression grew darker and darker.
Rage filled his mind.
He no longer cared about arguing over who was right or wrong.
All he knew was that Tang Wulin and Gu Yue were gravely injured!
And the teacher from the opposing academy was still acting so aggressively!
He suddenly stepped forward.
The Heavenly Frost Sword sprang into his right hand.
Two yellow, two purple, and two black Soul Rings shimmered.
White robes, blue sword, Ice Sky Snow Cold!
He thrust out his sword, and the wind and clouds stirred.
The fifth black Soul Ring beneath Wu Changkong's feet blazed brightly.
Immediately afterward, a blue giant sword appeared in midair. Then came a second, a third, a fourth...
In the space of a breath, nine giant swords hung in the air.
Their terrifying pressure made the entire Tianhai Stadium seem to groan.
Everyone present could clearly feel the bone-chilling cold emanating from the giant swords.
When Zhang Zhenpeng saw six Soul Rings rise around Wu Changkong, his face changed in shock.
He was also a six-ring Soul Master, but his six Soul Rings were two yellow and four purple.
He knew better than most what sort of cultivation a Six Rings Soul Emperor with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring possessed.
The nine giant swords appeared in the sky and formed a massive Ice Wheel. Without pausing for even a moment, it came slashing straight down at Zhang Zhenpeng.
With Tang Wulin and Gu Yue's lives still uncertain, Wu Changkong had truly lost his temper.
And the angrier the white-robed swordsman became, the colder he grew.
At that instant, even the air around him seemed to freeze.
Under the enormous pressure, Zhang Zhenpeng's Martial Soul burst forth on its own.
A pair of enormous wings spread behind him, and his body grew massive and powerful.
He raised both hands overhead. A huge ball of lightning exploded in his palms, turning into a blinding beam that shot toward the Ice Wheel.
"Boom—"
This was a clash between two Soul Emperors.
But the very first collision revealed the difference in their strength.
Amid the deafening roar, the ball of lightning shattered.
The nine giant swords merely flashed with blue light, seemingly unaffected, and continued straight toward Zhang Zhenpeng!
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