It's in the Bag

It really is a small world; even now, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but admire the timing and ability of this person. She had seized the exact moment his guard was down, and her unique ability and martial soul were capable of inflicting dizziness upon him—which was saying something, considering that standard spiritual attacks no longer had any effect on Huo Yuhao.

Once bitten, twice shy; he had to be extremely careful of her control this time.

Without further exchange, the match began quickly. Both sides released their martial souls. Having already fought once, there was no way to rely on skills to create miracles during a period when their skill sets were still so limited.

Xiao Xiao didn't look like she had suffered any depletion; she must have drawn a good match in the first round and remained uninjured. This put a great deal of pressure on Huo Yuhao.

While a fully-rested control-type soul master wasn't as impossible to deal with as power-attack or defense-type soul masters, they were still a significant obstacle. The best-case scenario would have been an agility-attack type, whose high speed was completely countered by Spiritual Detection at this stage; one could only call that a standard matchup.

Huo Yuhao could still try to see if he could find a flaw to seize victory and secure his spot in Shrek Academy. Given Xiao Xiao's performance and talent, her score should already be sufficient by now; the exact number of points would only determine her class placement upon entering the academy. High scores went to Class One, with classes assigned based on ranking and chosen specializations.

In reality, it didn't matter much. At Shrek, beyond academic studies, the focus was more on sparring—not one-on-one duels, as those were useless. You needed to find teammates who were the best fit for you to train in coordination and participate in team competitions. In the short term, it was just three-on-three within the grade level, and it wouldn't be until the fourth year that they would train for seven-on-seven. By then, you could even look for teammates across different grade levels.

Classes at most helped provide information and channels; the people you were most familiar with were your neighbors and combat partners.

The Shrek dormitories, like the temporary ones Huo Yuhao was currently staying in during admissions, were all single rooms. The conditions for official students were even better; once Huo Yuhao enrolled, he would learn what a "luxury dormitory" really meant.

Those things were too far off. Right now, Huo Yuhao was exerting his Spiritual Detection to the limit. From the start of the match, Xiao Xiao had tried every possible way to close the distance between them, and naturally, Huo Yuhao did everything he could to run. The two of them chased each other around the arena. Currently, Huo Yuhao's speed still couldn't compare to Xiao Xiao's; after all, he was only a one-ring soul master, and his martial soul provided almost no feedback to his body, with all the benefits going toward his spiritual power. Feedback to the body primarily came from beast martial souls, followed by tool martial souls with special attributes; other miscellaneous martial souls provided very little physical enhancement. There were truly few martial souls that provided as little physical improvement as Huo Yuhao's.

Huo Yuhao's initial talent was also extremely poor, nowhere near these heaven-gifted geniuses. During his growth, he hadn't had good nutritional supplements and had suffered from a lack of food and clothing. He had only managed to replenish some energy in these past few days. At most, it provided enough energy to extend his endurance slightly.

The situation on the field was like a miniature version of a cheetah chasing an antelope on the savanna. Every time Xiao Xiao was about to catch up to Huo Yuhao and enter his attack range, he would always dodge a step ahead. Xiao Xiao would turn as he turned, only for Huo Yuhao to pull off a desperate dodge. This behavior repeated several times until, finally, Xiao Xiao couldn't hold back anymore.

Her second soul ring lit up brightly: Cauldron Ripple. Unlike her first soul skill, which was primarily for control and had severe limitations—only reaching its maximum potential under specific conditions like the one Huo Yuhao had faced before—this was a purely offensive soul skill. It had fewer restrictions and high attack power, though it came with the drawback that its power weakened as distance increased.

Xiao Xiao had originally thought this match would be simple. She hadn't expected that this support-type soul master, whom she had easily defeated before, would be so troublesome. Her original plan had been to close the distance, use her first soul skill to directly control Huo Yuhao, and then use her second soul skill to finish him off face-to-face. It was a simple yet perfect tactic and skill combination.

The biggest gap between a two-ring and a one-ring soul master lay right here. Setting aside talent, if a two-ring soul master had some guidance, they could form simple combinations in their soul ring setup, just like Xiao Xiao. Huo Yuhao's first opponent had been the same. With one control and one attack, once Huo Yuhao fell into Xiao Xiao's rhythm, it was impossible to win. A single soul ring's means were too thin; even if Huo Yuhao's soul ring had four soul skills, it was useless if he couldn't form a cohesive system.

Of course, a divine skill was still a divine skill. Even if it couldn't directly help Huo Yuhao defeat his enemy, it could help him avoid being defeated. Xiao Xiao was getting anxious this time; Huo Yuhao couldn't afford to exhaust his soul power by dragging this out with her.

The fact that Huo Yuhao could dodge Xiao Xiao's offensive rhythm was entirely thanks to Spiritual Detection. The consumption of this skill was too great for him. Even without full-range detection, focusing solely on Xiao Xiao in a straight line still consumed a significant amount, as the distance was constantly changing. Staying still would have been the least taxing, but the enemy wouldn't give him that chance. This kind of high-intensity distance shifting was something Huo Yuhao hadn't experienced before. One could only say that the arena was the best place to find one's own shortcomings—though the battlefield was even better, provided you didn't fail there and lose the chance to correct your mistakes.

This time, Xiao Xiao's attack did indeed make Huo Yuhao breathe a sigh of relief; if the status quo hadn't changed, he would have collapsed first. He saw the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron split into three, all of them vibrating. Visible ripples of vibration surged toward him, and Huo Yuhao hurriedly widened the distance. No matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun the speed of sound.

The sound waves slammed directly into Huo Yuhao. His speed slowed down slightly, and he hurriedly checked himself. He found that he only felt a bit nauseous; there was no major spiritual damage, and while his body was protesting, it was still manageable. He could still suppress it. Huo Yuhao was too far from Xiao Xiao, and at this moment, he felt both proud and terrified that he hadn't rushed in to engage her in hand-to-hand combat earlier. If he had, he would have collapsed right there.

At this moment, Xiao Xiao also felt some regret. She shouldn't have used this soul skill; the consumption was too high. How many times could a two-ring soul master use their second soul skill, after all?

But the arrow was already on the string; she had to fire. She was committed to the path she had chosen.

Second soul skill, Cauldron Ripple.

This time, Huo Yuhao had a plan in mind and wasn't afraid; he simply widened the distance and moved away quickly.

Seeing Huo Yuhao's figure, Xiao Xiao felt a bit smug, thinking her little trick was about to succeed. What an uncultured guy.

The three cauldrons began to rotate. Every cauldron contributed to the sound waves emitted by this soul skill, and the waves would overlap. When the peaks of the waves aligned, that was when the power was at its greatest. This required Xiao Xiao's own control; it was difficult for anyone else to keep up.

Huo Yuhao didn't realize the danger was coming. The strongest sound wave, guided by Xiao Xiao's control, hit him directly, making him vomit the meal he had just eaten and nearly collapse to the ground.

Unaware of the situation, Huo Yuhao hurriedly expanded the range of his Spiritual Detection to the maximum to check what had happened.

So that was it. Huo Yuhao understood; Spiritual Detection presented these fluctuations clearly before his eyes. It was simple now: he just had to find the weakest point of the sound waves and shift his position. Whenever Xiao Xiao moved, he moved too.

Soon, Xiao Xiao's soul power was exhausted, and Huo Yuhao defeated her quite easily to claim victory.

However, Huo Yuhao felt a bit suspicious. Her attack shouldn't have been limited to just that, right? A girl who was so good at seizing the right moment wouldn't be that foolish.

As he was leaving, Huo Yuhao saw Xiao Xiao suddenly smile at him, and he suddenly understood. Xiao Xiao's score was already high enough; there was no need for her to reveal her trump cards to a support-type soul master like him. Letting him in would even earn her a favor. Fighting desperately to win this match would only damage her foundation—it was all risk and no reward. What reason would she have to do that?