Just then.
A broadcast rang out across the entire arena:
"Distinguished guests, contestants!"
"Today marks the opening of the Sky Sea Alliance Grand Competition. We are greatly honored to welcome a team from the continent's number one academy—Shrek Academy."
"They will have a valuable exchange match with the champions of our Skysea Alliance's previous youth division seven-person competition!"
"Given Shrek Academy's formidable strength, and to better demonstrate the value of this exchange, this match will be held across different age divisions!"
"Our Skysea Alliance youth division champions will challenge Shrek Academy's seven-person youth team!"
"Now, please welcome both teams to the stage!"
"Whoosh—!"
The entire arena erupted.
The youth division against the junior division?
The gap was far too great!
Shrek Academy's name was certainly illustrious.
But the Skysea Alliance youth division champions were also elites selected through layer upon layer of competition. They were generally between eighteen and twenty years old, with Soul Power Levels mostly at four or five rings.
Against Shrek's youth team, whose average age did not exceed fifteen?
This arrangement struck many spectators as both absurd and faintly insulting, while also making them intensely curious about the strength of Shrek's young students.
However, what happened next instantly turned all the clamor into dead silence.
The signal for the match had only just sounded.
"Boom!!!"
An incomparably dazzling burst of azure lightning exploded without warning in the center of the arena!
Blinding electric serpents raced wildly about, instantly weaving themselves into a colossal net of lightning that covered the entire stage!
When the light finally faded.
The seven young Soul Masters representing the Skysea Alliance were already sprawled across the ground, their bodies twitching slightly as they fell unconscious or lost the ability to fight.
Meanwhile, Shrek Academy's seven youths remained in the formation they had taken when they first entered, without even moving a single step.
Their expressions were calm and their gazes tranquil, as though that terrifying attack had merely been a casual brush of dust from their shoulders.
From start to finish, it had taken less than ten seconds.
In a cross-age battle, the Skysea Alliance youth division champions had been... instantly defeated by Shrek Academy's youth team!
The eighty-thousand-seat stadium was utterly silent. One could hear a pin drop.
An indescribable sense of oppression, shock, and even humiliation spread through the hearts of countless Skysea Alliance spectators and contestants.
The gap could truly be so vast that it drove people to despair.
Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and the others were shocked as well.
But having personally witnessed Wang Chuan suppress a Six-Ring Soul Emperor, they did not lose composure like the other spectators. Still, their hearts were equally heavy.
Amid that suffocating silence, the broadcast sounded again, its tone more impassioned than before and even carrying a deliberately crafted sense of suspense.
"Thank you both sides for this wonderful exchange!"
"Next is the second special exchange match of this opening ceremony!"
"Shrek Academy's seven-person youth team will challenge a contestant in this Sky Sea Grand Competition representing our Skysea Alliance: Wang Chuan!"
Wang Chuan?
To the overwhelming majority of the audience...
It was a completely unfamiliar name.
The voice on the broadcast suddenly rose, as though revealing the answer.
"Perhaps some of you are wondering, who is Wang Chuan?"
"Now, allow me to give everyone a grand introduction!"
"Wang Chuan, only ten years old, is a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor!"
"He is the current number one on the Youth Wind and Cloud Ranking, officially evaluated and authoritatively released by the Spirit Pagoda!"
"Codename: Phoenix!"
"Boom—!!!"
An even more explosive wave of sound than the earlier lightning blast instantly swept through the entire stadium!
Cries of surprise, doubts, and discussions surged like a tidal wave!
A ten-year-old Four-Ring Soul Ancestor?
Number one on the Youth Wind and Cloud Ranking?
Such a legendary genius...
Had actually appeared on the Sky Sea Grand Competition stage, and was about to fight for the Skysea Alliance?
Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and the others sharply turned their heads, staring at Wang Chuan in shock.
They had known nothing about this beforehand!
Facing the questioning looks of his companions, Wang Chuan explained calmly.
"Last night, Director Long and several people in charge from the Skysea Alliance came to see me."
"They anticipated that the Alliance would likely lose the first exchange match today, and lose badly at that. They were worried it would affect morale and confidence in the Alliance."
"So, Skysea City took the lead and offered some resources that satisfied me, asking me to serve as their backup plan."
"If they lost the first match, I would take the stage and salvage their pride."
His tone was indifferent, as though he were speaking about something entirely unrelated to himself.
He already did not think much of Shrek Academy, and the compensation they offered was quite generous. Besides, it would make the entire Skysea Alliance owe him a personal favor...
Why not?
Moreover, that favor might one day become part of his political capital in his bid for the position of Federation Council Chairman.
In his eyes, this deal was an excellent bargain.
At that moment, Wu Zhangkong, who had remained silent all along, looked at Wang Chuan with complicated eyes.
He had come from Shrek and felt deeply attached to the academy. Though he had left, that sense of belonging had never faded.
He knew Wang Chuan's strength, and he understood even more clearly that the seven Outer Court disciples on the stage, no matter how gifted they might be, could never possibly be Wang Chuan's opponents.
Once Wang Chuan made his move, Shrek Academy's myth of being "invincible among equals" and "capable of fighting those above one's rank" would likely be ruthlessly shattered before these eighty thousand people.
It left his heart filled with mixed emotions.
Wang Chuan seemed to sense Wu Zhangkong's gaze. He slowly turned his head, his calm eyes meeting Wu Zhangkong's complicated look in midair.
In an instant, Wu Zhangkong seemed to hear a clear, lofty Phoenix Cry beside his ears. It pierced straight into his soul, leaving his thoughts blank and frozen for a moment!
When he came back to himself, a cold sweat had already broken out across his back. Looking at Wang Chuan again, his eyes held only deep wariness and an indescribable trace of dejection.
Then, a sudden phenomenon occurred!
Brilliant seven-colored radiance shot into the sky, transforming into a rainbow bridge!
The flowing, gorgeous light carried an aura of sacred majesty, instantly drawing the attention of everyone present!
Under the focused gazes of eighty thousand people, Wang Chuan slowly rose to his feet. Calm-faced and unhurried, he stepped onto the seven-colored bridge formed from light.
He seemed like a deity walking among the clouds.
Step by step, he made his way toward the competition stage.
A breeze stirred the hem of his clothes,
Sunlight outlined him in gold.
When he finally stepped onto the stage and faced Shrek's seven youths from afar...
Four black Soul Rings.
They rose one after another beneath his feet, slowly pulsing!
The pure, heavy pressure of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings.
Even through the protective barrier, it made countless spectators in the stands feel their hearts pound and their breathing tighten!
"Ten..."
"Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings?!"
"All four... are Ten-Thousand-Year?!"
Among Shrek's seven, the composed youth at the front—the one who had ended the previous match with a single strike—could no longer maintain his calm expression. He cried out in shock.
That kind of Soul Ring configuration...
Not to mention unheard of in the Outer Court.
Even among the senior students of the Inner Court, he had never seen anything like it!
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