The Royal Enclosure was filled with the strong smell of herbs inside Shrek Academy's tent.
Tang San lay on a field cot, staring blankly at the patterns on the tent ceiling. Yesterday's crushing defeat had been like a rusty saw, repeatedly scraping at his pride. Losing to Meng Yiran, being scorned by the public, and being humiliated by Yu Tianyu in front of everyone—each of these things made him feel as though he were trapped in a nightmare he would never wake from.
"Xiao San, drink your medicine."
Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang walked in carrying a bowl of dark, murky medicine. His rigid face managed to force out a faintly comforting expression.
"Teacher..." Tang San's voice was hoarse and dry. "Am I useless? I couldn't even beat Meng Yiran, and I had to sneak attack her with the Clear Sky Hammer..."
"Nonsense!"
Grandmaster cut him off sharply and set the bowl down on the table with a heavy thud. "That was an accident! Meng Yiran's bizarre lightning ability couldn't possibly have come from her own cultivation. Someone must have been pulling strings behind the scenes. It may even have been that Yu Tianyu controlling things from the shadows!"
At the mention of Yu Tianyu, a flame of venomous hatred instantly blazed in Tang San's eyes.
"It's him again..."
"Xiao San, listen to me." Grandmaster sat down beside the bed and gripped Tang San's shoulders, his gaze fervent. "Your setback is only temporary. You possess Twin Martial Souls. You're the chosen one. Yesterday's defeat was simply because we lacked information."
Grandmaster took a deep breath and tossed out the bait he had carefully prepared: Tang San's next "hope."
"Our next opponent is Skywater Academy."
"Everyone at Skywater Academy is a water- or ice-attribute Spirit Master. That might make them difficult for others to deal with, but for you, it's a godsend."
Tang San froze for a moment, then understood. A spark suddenly lit in his dull eyes.
That's right!
He had consumed the two Immortal Herbs, Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot, and had long since forged a diamond-hard body impervious to water, fire, and poison.
Ice-attribute attacks? To him, they were nothing more than tickles!
"Teacher, you mean..." Tang San sat up straight and clenched his fists.
"Exactly." Grandmaster nodded, his eyes gleaming with wisdom. "Since they made you lose face in the last match, use this match to crush them completely and give them a taste of their own medicine! Make everyone who laughed at you shut up!"
"Don't just win. Win beautifully. Win so decisively that your opponents despair."
"Faced with the medicinal power of those two Immortal Herbs, Skywater Academy's control and attacks will be completely ineffective against you. You only need to stand there and let them attack, then strike back like a king. The spectacle alone will be enough to restore your reputation!"
Listening to his teacher's analysis, Tang San's shattered heart began beating again.
That's right, I still have the Immortal Herbs protecting me!
Yu Tianyu might have given Meng Yiran an unfair advantage, but could he do the same for everyone at Skywater Academy? No matter how strong Yu Tianyu was, he couldn't change the absolute laws of attribute counters.
"I understand, Teacher."
Confidence reignited in Tang San's eyes, along with a hint of anticipation for revenge. "In the next match, I'll make everyone shut up."
He had grabbed hold of this lifeline.
What he didn't know was that the other end of it was in the hands of that devil.
The promotion tournament continued.
But before Tang San's match, another much-anticipated showdown took place.
Godwind Academy versus Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Or, to be more precise, Feng Xiaotian versus Yu Tianyu.
Ever since Feng Xiaotian had seen the goddess of his heart, Huo Wu, wearing a maid outfit and peeling grapes for Yu Tianyu, his composure had completely crumbled. That proud Huo Wu, who had never given him the time of day, had been as docile as a kitten in front of that man?
It hurt more than being killed.
"Yu Tianyu! I challenge you to a duel!"
On the arena, Feng Xiaotian's eyes were bloodshot as he pointed at the young man still lounging in his chair. "If you're a man, get up here! If I win, you'll leave Huo Wu!"
The crowd erupted. It was practically a desperate charge for love.
Yu Tianyu rose slowly, brushed nonexistent dust from his clothes, and smiled at Huo Wu beside him.
"Look at that. Your admirer is pretty devoted."
Huo Wu bit her lip. A flicker of sympathy crossed her eyes, but it was overwhelmed by helplessness. She had witnessed Yu Tianyu's terrifying power. What Feng Xiaotian was doing was no different from suicide.
"Don't hold back. It might help him give up," Huo Wu whispered.
"As you wish."
Yu Tianyu flashed forward, appearing on the arena the next second.
He didn't release his Martial Soul, or even take his hands out of his pockets.
"You think you're in a position to make demands of me?" Yu Tianyu regarded Feng Xiaotian calmly. "But since you want to play, I'll humor you. Make your move. You only get one chance."
"Argh! You're looking down on me!"
Feng Xiaotian roared and activated his Gale Twin-Headed Wolf Martial Soul. The wings behind him beat fiercely.
"Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes of the Gale Demon Wolf!"
This was his self-created technique. It used an opponent's force against them, with each strike heavier than the last. By the thirty-sixth slash, its power was enough to shake a Spirit Emperor.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Feng Xiaotian became a green whirlwind, plunging from the sky with his wings like blades as he slashed viciously at Yu Tianyu.
First slash, second slash, third slash...
He was building momentum. He was speeding up.
But just as he was about to unleash the tenth slash—
"Too slow."
Yu Tianyu shook his head.
He raised a single finger—just his index finger—and lightly tapped the dense, crisscrossing green blade shadows.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling Spirit Skill light.
Only a crisp "ting."
It was the sound of Yu Tianyu's fingertip touching the tip of Feng Xiaotian's wing.
For an instant, time seemed to stop.
Then—
Boom!
Feng Xiaotian's unstoppable momentum halted instantly. A terrifying force beyond description traveled from his wing through his entire body.
"Pfft!"
Feng Xiaotian spewed blood. Like a punctured balloon, he shot backward at ten times the speed he had come in.
He crashed heavily into the ground beyond the arena, leaving a deep crater. He passed out without even letting out a scream.
One finger.
Instant defeat.
The whole arena fell silent.
That was the difference between them. It wasn't a gap in Soul Power, but a gap in dimensions.
Tang San, waiting below the arena, watched the scene. A crack appeared in the confidence he had just built up.
Even he would have had to go all out—and perhaps use the Clear Sky Hammer—to withstand Feng Xiaotian's Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes. But in front of Yu Tianyu, the technique couldn't even withstand a single finger.
No... don't panic.
Tang San desperately reassured himself. He's a Power Attack System fighter. It's normal for him to be strong. But my next opponent is Skywater Academy, a Control System team. As long as I'm immune to their attributes, I'll be unbeatable!
He was gambling that Yu Tianyu couldn't interfere with the rules.
At last, it was time for Shrek Academy to face Skywater Academy.
"Xiao San, go on. Remember: stand as firm as a mountain," Grandmaster reminded him one last time.
Tang San took a deep breath and strode onto the arena.
As soon as he appeared in everyone's sight, the audience—who had still been discussing the divine power behind Yu Tianyu's finger—instantly changed their tune.
"Look, that sore loser is back."
"Is he going to try killing someone again?"
"Boo! Get off the stage!"
Jeers surged toward him like a tide.
Tang San remained expressionless, even letting a cold smile curl his lips.
Go ahead and jeer. Go ahead and curse. Once you see how I perform, you'll know who the real fool is.
The girl who walked out for Skywater Academy was breathtakingly beautiful.
Shui Bing'er.
She had long, water-blue hair and skin so fair it was almost translucent. A cold, distant air about her seemed to keep everyone at arm's length.
As Skywater Academy's captain, she not only possessed the top-tier Ice Phoenix Martial Soul, but also had exceptionally keen battle instincts.
"Shrek Academy, Tang San." Tang San gave a slight bow, putting on an air of inscrutable confidence.
"Skywater Academy, Shui Bing'er." Shui Bing'er replied coolly.
At the referee's signal, the match began.
"First Spirit Skill: Ice Seal!"
Shui Bing'er didn't waste time. She instantly unleashed a control skill.
A wave of cold locked onto Tang San. Ice spread across the ground like a venomous snake, trying to freeze him in place.
Faced with the swift attack, Tang San stood perfectly still.
He didn't even release his Martial Soul.
He was waiting for the frost to cover his entire body.
Crack!
Solid ice instantly encased Tang San, turning him into an ice sculpture.
The audience was stunned. Was that it? He hadn't even tried to dodge?
Shui Bing'er furrowed her brow slightly. She didn't believe someone who had made it to the promotion tournament could be that weak.
Sure enough—
The next second—
"Break."
A low voice came from inside the ice sculpture.
Boom!
The ice covering Tang San exploded in an instant, scattering into a blizzard of icy dust.
Tang San emerged completely unharmed, without even a trace of frost on him. He brushed off his shoulder and looked at Shui Bing'er, speaking calmly.
"Your ice is too cold. But against me, it's nothing."
In that moment, Tang San felt unbelievably cool.
That was the power of the Immortal Herbs! That was his comeback card!
The audience did gasp at the sight.
"How is that possible? Shui Bing'er's Ice Seal is instantaneous, and its temperature is incredibly low!"
"He actually tanked it?"
Hearing the crowd's opinion shift in his favor, Tang San's vanity was deeply satisfied. He looked up at Yu Tianyu in the stands, eyes full of defiance. See that? This is my trump card! Can you break through it?
In the stands—
Yu Tianyu looked at Tang San's smug expression, and his smile grew wider.
"What an amusing performance."
He swirled the wine in his glass, watching the crimson liquid.
"Since you like playing with ice so much, I'll let you have your fill."
Yu Tianyu gently closed his eyes, and his powerful spiritual force immediately connected with the Ice Dragon King's essence within him.
As the inheritor of the Divine Cores of both the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings, he commanded all the ice and fire energy in the world. They had to bow before him.
Even those two Immortal Herbs were merely companion plants that had grown where the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings fell.
In other words, they were the Dragon Kings' gifts.
And if they were gifts, then I can take them back.
"Go... dormant."
Yu Tianyu murmured the words inwardly. An invisible pressure, perceptible only to those with supreme dragon bloodlines, swept over the entire arena and precisely pierced into Tang San's body.
At that moment—
Tang San, who had been standing on the arena, brimming with smugness, suddenly felt his heart clench.
The two red and blue streams of energy within him, which had circulated without pause to fend off external heat and cold, suddenly curled in on themselves as if they had encountered a terrifying natural enemy.
In that instant—
The "immunity to ice and fire" that the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot had granted him ceased to function.
On the arena—
Shui Bing'er watched Tang San, completely unharmed, and a competitive glint flashed in her eyes.
"Immune to ice? I don't believe anything in this world is completely immune!"
"Second Spirit Skill: Ice Ring Armor!"
"Third Spirit Skill: Resisting Ice Ring!"
Shui Bing'er cried out as her Soul Power erupted. Snowflakes began falling from the sky.
It was the embryonic form of her Innate Domain: Ice and Snow Fluttering.
Countless razor-sharp ice shards, wrapped in terrifying cold, formed an Ice Tornado and swept toward Tang San once more.
Faced with the even fiercer attack, Tang San maintained his arrogant composure.
"It's useless. I told you, I'm the bane of ice."
Tang San even clasped his hands behind his back, ready to tank the attack again and then strike back in the most stylish way possible, completely shattering Shui Bing'er's confidence.
The cold reached him.
Tang San still had a smile on his face.
Then, the next moment, his smile froze.
Cold.
Bone-chilling cold.
It was a terrifying chill, as if even his soul were about to freeze. It pierced his skin in an instant and burrowed into his bones.
"W-what... what's going on?!"
Tang San was horrified to discover that the fiery blood he'd always been so proud of had vanished. His body began to stiffen, and his hands and feet instantly went numb.
"No! That's impossible!!"
He screamed frantically in his mind, Where are my Immortal Herbs?! Where's my golden body?! Why am I cold?!
But reality was cruel.
The Ice Tornado swallowed him without the slightest resistance.
Crack, crack, crack, crack!
An even thicker, harder layer of Blue Ice formed in an instant.
This time, Tang San didn't stand there as easily as he had before.
The extreme cold made his body curl up instinctively. His knees buckled, and he ended up in an utterly humiliating pose—
He was kneeling on the ground, arms wrapped around his chest, shivering all over, with that ridiculous, stiff, confident smile still frozen on his face.
Then he was completely frozen solid.
A lifelike ice sculpture had been born.
The person inside it knelt before Shui Bing'er, as if repenting—or begging for mercy.
The entire arena fell silent.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the ridiculous ice sculpture in the middle of the stage.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
It didn't explode like it had before.
The ice sculpture remained intact, but Tang San's face inside had turned purplish-blue. He was clearly close to losing consciousness from the cold.
"So... this is the person he said was his natural enemy?"
Someone was the first to laugh.
"Hahahaha! I'm dying! He acted so impressive just now, and then he dropped to his knees in no time?"
"This is too ridiculous! Is he proposing to that beautiful girl with that pose?"
"What a genius. Turns out he's just a clown who talks big!"
Laughter burst forth like a tsunami, more grating and hurtful than the jeers had been before.
On the high platform,
Yu Tianyu finally couldn't hold back and burst into loud laughter.
"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"
He led the applause, and the sound carried across the arena, amplified by Soul Power.
"To make everyone laugh, contestant Tang San was willing to sacrifice his dignity and perform this incredible stunt, 'Instant Kneel.' Such dedication is truly moving!"
Yu Tianyu's words were like a handful of salt rubbed viciously into Tang San's wound.
Inside the ice sculpture,
Though his body couldn't move, a little of Tang San's consciousness remained.
He heard the mockery around him and Yu Tianyu's taunts. He felt the chill that had seeped into his very bones.
Why...
Why is it that every time I'm given hope, it ends in such despair?
My Immortal Herbs... my luck... where did it all go?
"Break!"
At the last moment, to save his life, Tang San had no choice but to forcefully activate the Mysterious Heaven Skill. At the cost of damaging his meridians, he shattered the ice.
But he no longer had the strength to stand.
Ice clung to his entire body. Shaking, he lay prone on the ground, his lips blue-black. He didn't even have the courage to look up at Shui Bing'er.
"I... concede..."
Those three words hurt more than being killed.
Shui Bing'er looked down at Tang San, sprawled on the ground. Disappointment and contempt flashed in her eyes.
"So this is the so-called genius with Twin Martial Souls?"
"You don't even understand your own Martial Soul's traits, yet you're arrogant and conceited."
Shui Bing'er gave a cold snort and turned to leave the stage, giving Tang San nothing but her proud back.
Late that night,
the camp of Shrek Academy was shrouded in gloom.
Tang San was wrapped in three thick quilts and still shivered. It wasn't his body that was cold, but his heart.
He'd lost again.
And this time, he'd lost even more miserably than before. He looked more like a joke than ever.
"I'm done competing... I want to withdraw..."
Tang San's teeth chattered as he spoke incoherently. "I want to go back to the Clear Sky Sect... I want to find my father... This place is hell..."
His spirit had completely shattered. He didn't want to see Yu Tianyu again or hear those mocking voices.
"Xiao San! You can't give up!" Grandmaster was frantic with worry. "If you leave now, you'll really be finished!"
Just then,
the tent flap stirred without a breeze.
A shadow appeared soundlessly at the entrance.
It was someone dressed in black robes and wearing a mask—either Yu Tianyu's clone or one of his trusted men.
"Who's there?!" Flender and Zhao Wuji immediately went on alert and moved to shield Tang San.
The man in black said nothing. He simply tossed an Image Recording Spirit Guidance Device onto Tang San's bed.
The Soul Tool lit up.
An image appeared inside it.
It showed a shabby blacksmith's shop, where a disheveled, middle-aged man was drinking.
Holy Soul Village! Tang Hao!
Though the image lasted only a few seconds, Tang San recognized his father at a glance!
Then the image changed.
The magnificent sight of the Pope Palace of Spirit Hall appeared, along with countless fully equipped Judgment Knights ready to set out.
The black-clad man's voice rang out, cold and utterly emotionless:
"My master said this."
"Tang San, you may withdraw from the competition, or you may run away."
"But if you dare take even half a step beyond this competition grounds, or miss even a single match,"
"this information about the whereabouts of the Clear Sky Douluo will immediately land on Pope Bibi Dong's desk."
"When that happens, you won't be the only one to die. Your drunken father will die too, along with... the entire Holy Soul Village."
Boom!
Tang San's mind went blank.
A threat! A naked threat!
That person... had investigated his history in Holy Soul Village down to the last detail?! Did he even know where Tang Hao had been all these years?!
"W-what does he want from me?!" Tang San screamed hysterically, tears of despair streaming from his eyes.
The man in black gave a cold laugh, then turned and melted into the darkness.
He left behind words that plunged Tang San into an endless hell:
"My master said this."
"A toy should know its place."
"He hasn't had his fill of playing with you. How can you leave?"
"Be sure to show up for tomorrow's match. My master has arranged a new 'act' for you."
The tent fell silent.
Grandmaster slumped to the ground, his face ashen.
Flender clenched his fists, yet felt utterly powerless.
Tang San clutched his head and let out a desperate sob.
He couldn't die, and he couldn't escape.
He was like a puppet suspended from an invisible string, forced to perform the same play called "despair" over and over again in that demon's palm.
Until... he broke completely.
Before you continue