A One-Man Battle!

As Tang San's cool voice rang out, Ma Hongjun, who had been waiting for this moment, grinned excitedly at the command. He swallowed the Flying Mushroom Sausage Oscar had prepared in advance, transparent wings appeared behind his back, and his plump body nimbly rose into the air.

He took a deep breath. His third Spirit Ring lit up, and blazing phoenix flames gathered in his mouth!

"Third Spirit Skill! Phoenix Wing Soaring!"

A thick pillar of golden-red flame, like a phoenix's breath, poured down with searing heat toward the opening at the top of the massive blue prison below!

Just as the flames were about to flood into the prison, Tang San's profound black Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring lit up once more!

"Fourth Spirit Skill! Blue Silver Shadow Killing Bind—Bind!"

Several solid Blue Silver Emperor vines, gleaming with a deep-blue metallic sheen, appeared inside the prison like living chains and precisely wrapped around the Elephant Armored Sect disciples attempting to dodge the flames or break through the prison by brute force!

The powerful binding force stalled their movements, leaving them no choice but to watch the destructive flames descend from above!

"Roar—!"

At the critical moment, Huyan Li, trapped in the prison, let out an unwilling roar. Without warning, an earth-yellow helmet radiating heavy energy fluctuations appeared above his head!

After the helmet appeared, Huyan Li's aura surged wildly, and his strength increased dramatically!

At the very last moment, he actually used the helmet's enhancement to forcibly break free from the Blue Silver Shadow Killing Bind!

Then he hurled both fists upward, using violent Soul Power in an attempt to blast apart the vines at the top of the prison and make room for himself and his teammates to evade!

"A Spirit Bone! A head Spirit Bone!"

On the VIP platform, the knowledgeable Ning Fengzhi and Salas exclaimed in low voices almost simultaneously!

The spectator stands instantly erupted with earth-shaking cries of surprise!

No one had expected such a precious Spirit Bone to appear during the preliminary rounds!

With the support of the head Spirit Bone, Huyan Li narrowly avoided the most intense flames of Phoenix Wing Soaring, though the scattered fire still burned him and left him looking rather miserable.

However, just because he could break free did not mean his teammates could!

Other than Huyan Li, the remaining six Elephant Armored Sect disciples all let out pained groans under the powerful restraint of Tang San's fourth Spirit Skill and Ma Hongjun's frontal assault with his third Spirit Skill. They had suffered severe injuries!

Although the Diamond Mammoth's formidable defense kept them from immediately losing, they had clearly lost most of their fighting strength. The scorch marks on their bodies and their tattered clothes made them look exceptionally pathetic.

Dai Mubai quickly walked to Tang San's side. Looking at Huyan Li, who was injured but still struggling with the aid of his Spirit Bone inside the prison, as well as the other opponents who had temporarily lost their threat, he asked in a low voice:

"Xiao San, should Zhu Qing and I use the Hell White Tiger? We can finish him quickly!"

Tang San's gaze calmly swept across the area scorched by flames but still trapped within the Blue Silver Prison. Looking at the panting, isolated Huyan Li and the other six struggling on the ground, he gently shook his head. His tone carried the composure of someone in control of the entire battlefield:

"No need. They have already... lost!"

However, the seven members of the Elephant Armored Sect, especially Huyan Li, who had used his head Spirit Bone to withstand part of the attack, had all suffered serious injuries. Yet the tenacious vitality and unwavering will bestowed upon them by the Diamond Mammoth Martial Soul meant that they had not completely lost their ability to fight.

To be toyed with, bound, and even forced to reveal a precious Spirit Bone by a Soul Ancestor was an unbearable humiliation for disciples of the Elephant Armored Sect, who had always taken pride in their strength and defense!

"Roar—! Shrek brat! I'll tear you apart!"

Huyan Li's eyes turned crimson. Like an enraged mammoth, he forcibly suppressed the burning pain and turbulent Soul Power within him. Together with his other six teammates, who were equally consumed by rage, he unleashed his final ferocity and charged at Tang San, who appeared to be standing alone at the front, like seven out-of-control heavy chariots!

Their momentum seemed capable of crushing the entire arena beneath their feet!

Faced with the terrifying sight of seven mountains of flesh charging at him with towering rage, Tang San showed not the slightest trace of panic.

Even in such a desperate counterattack, he could remain this calm...

Had my future self's control over the rhythm of battle already reached this level?

As an observer, Tang San felt a chill in his heart.

He could clearly "feel" the calm within his simulated self. It was composure born from absolute confidence and precise judgment of the situation, not a forced pretense of calmness.

When the seven members of the Elephant Armored Sect had charged fewer than five steps and were still over ten meters away from Tang San, the second yellow Spirit Ring on Tang San's body suddenly flashed!

The next moment, a scene that sent chills down the spines of every spectator, including all the powerful figures on the VIP platform, unfolded!

The seven charging members of the Elephant Armored Sect suddenly stiffened, their charge coming to an abrupt halt!

Beneath their granite-hard skin, something seemed to have been activated in an instant and began growing wildly!

"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft—!"

Thick, deep-blue Blue Silver Grass vines burst without warning from beneath the flesh of their chests, arms, thighs, and other parts of their bodies!

"Second Spirit Skill, Blue Silver Parasite."

Tang San's calm voice sounded especially clear on the deathly silent arena, and especially chilling.

These Blue Silver Vines growing from inside their bodies were completely different from the external restraints from before!

Like bizarre living tentacles, the instant they burst through the flesh, they wrapped around their hosts—Huyan Li and the other six—with astonishing speed and force, binding them layer upon layer!

"Agh—!"

Miserable screams instantly erupted from the seven members of the Elephant Armored Sect!

This time, the binding brought more than restraint.

The surfaces of those deep-blue vines were covered in sharp, razor-like barbs!

The moment the vines tightened, those barbs mercilessly pierced deep into the tough flesh they had always been so proud of!

The piercing pain twisted their faces, but that was not even the most terrifying part.

What frightened them more than the agony was the intense numbness and dizziness that rapidly spread through their blood and nerves along with the barbs' injection!

Poison! These vines carried potent neurotoxins!

Yet what drove them even deeper into despair was that they could clearly feel the Soul Power within their bodies being frantically and endlessly drained and devoured by the barbs embedded in their flesh and the bizarre vines tightly coiled around them, like floodwaters released from a dam!

They desperately circulated their Soul Power to struggle and break these damned vines, but the rate at which their Soul Power drained far exceeded the rate at which they could gather it!

The more they struggled, the faster their Soul Power was devoured. The tighter the vines became, the deeper the barbs sank!

The Elephant Armored Sect possessed exceptional defense and terrifying strength, but their weaknesses were equally fatal—low agility, relatively simple attack methods, and a lack of effective long-range attacks or battlefield control.

Against Tang San's unpredictable control-and-attrition tactics, which could dismantle opponents from within, their brute strength and defense were useless. Like giant beasts trapped in a spiderweb, they had power but nowhere to use it, and could only watch as they were gradually consumed.

In merely a dozen breaths, the violent aura of the seven Elephant Armored Sect members rapidly withered like punctured balloons.

Their struggles grew weaker and weaker, their roars turned into powerless moans, and their once mountain-like bodies were now bound into seven enormous rice dumplings by the deep-blue vines growing from within them. They collapsed on the arena, unable to move again.

Their Soul Power had been completely devoured by the parasitic Blue Silver Grass!

At this point, the battle had been decided.

Seeing this, the observing Tang San was also deeply shaken!

"Was that really the same second Spirit Skill I saw in the simulation before?

"And this second Spirit Skill had actually gained such a powerful devouring effect!

"This could no longer simply be called a second Spirit Skill. It had become an independent Spirit Skill!"

The observing Tang San saw it clearly. From beginning to end, this battle had almost been a one-man performance by his simulated self.

From the initial tactical deception, to the group control of the Blue Silver Prison, to Phoenix Wing Soaring's fiery coverage forcing out the enemy's trump card, and finally the unavoidable Blue Silver Parasite delivering the killing blow!

Every step had been carefully planned, completely suppressing the opponent.

The referee took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart. After quickly stepping forward to confirm that the seven members of Elephant Armor Academy had indeed completely lost their ability to fight, he loudly announced:

"Second round of the preliminaries, first match: Shrek Academy defeats Elephant Armor Academy!"