Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring Exposed!

Oscar, sitting in the corner, didn't even dare breathe too loudly.

He clearly remembered the ice shards scattered all over the alley that night.

That man was a bloodthirsty Asura who killed without batting an eye.

Just then, a staff member shoved open the door to the lounge.

"Shrek Academy's team, please prepare to enter immediately."

"The draw results are in. Your opponent is..."

The staff member glanced at the list in his hand, his tone turning a little strange.

"Skywater Academy."

The air in the entire lounge instantly froze solid.

Tang San sprang to his feet.

The wooden chair behind him toppled from the force of his sudden movement and crashed to the ground with a dull thud.

He took a deep breath, murderous intent surging in his eyes.

"Teacher, this is the perfect opportunity for us to take revenge!"

"Since we drew him, today will be the day he dies!"

Yu Xiaogang's lips trembled. In the end, he swallowed the words of caution he had been about to say.

He stepped forward and gave Tang San a firm pat on the shoulder.

"Go."

"On the arena, as long as nobody dies, you can use any means necessary."

"Wash away every last bit of shame brought upon Shrek!"

Dai Mubai twisted his neck hard, his joints crackling like popping beans.

"Brothers, let's go!"

"Let those people from Skywater Academy learn what happens when they provoke us!"

The battered members of Shrek strode out of the lounge, full of swagger.

In the center of the Soul Fighting Arena, the spotlights once again converged above the platform.

The emcee's powerful, penetrating voice rang across the venue.

"Ladies and gentlemen, up next is the second major event of the preliminaries!"

"Shrek Academy's team will face Skywater Academy's team, who just set a record with a thirteen-second victory!"

Accompanied by the emcee's shout, the seven members of Shrek Team strode out of the passage on the left.

Tang San led the way. His dung-green uniform looked ridiculous.

But the killing intent radiating from him was enough to make anyone shudder.

Dai Mubai, Oscar, Tailong, Huang Yuan, and Jing Ling followed close behind.

Their lineup looked rather incomplete due to their reduced numbers, but every one of them wore an expression of fury.

At the end of the passage on the other side,

Xue Tianyu appeared as before, accompanied by Shui Bing'er, Xue Wu, Shui Yue'er, and the three substitutes who were there to watch.

He walked up the steps onto the arena without hurrying.

His ice-blue coat hung over his shoulders, fluttering gently in the breeze.

His steps were leisurely, his expression languid.

It was as if he hadn't come here to compete at all, but was taking a stroll through his back garden.

The two teams took their places at the center of the arena, less than ten meters apart.

Tang San stared at Xue Tianyu, hatred in his eyes so intense it seemed ready to pierce straight through him.

"Xue Tianyu."

Tang San ground out the three words through clenched teeth, each one brimming with bone-deep hatred.

"I swear, you won't walk off this arena today."

Xue Tianyu glanced at him indifferently, a profoundly mocking smile playing on his lips.

"Finished with your last words?"

"If that's all the nonsense you have to say, then shut up."

Tang San trembled with rage, his right hand already resting on the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges at his waist.

The referee walked to the boundary line between the two teams and raised his right hand high.

"Both sides, prepare!"

Dai Mubai let out a roar that shook the heavens.

"White Tiger, Possession!"

The muscles on his body instantly swelled, bursting through his shirt, while white fur covered his arms.

Three yellow Soul Rings and one purple Soul Ring rose rapidly from beneath his feet.

Tailong and the others also summoned their Martial Souls, all of them entering a state of readiness.

On Skywater Academy's side,

Shui Bing'er and the others had just begun channeling their Soul Power and moving forward when Xue Tianyu gently raised his right hand.

"Stand down."

His tone was calm, yet carried an absolute air of authority.

Shui Bing'er paused, then nodded respectfully without hesitation.

"Yes, Captain."

She led the other six team members straight to the corner at the very edge of the arena.

The unusual scene left the audience utterly bewildered.

The members of Shrek also stiffened.

Was he going to take on all seven of them by himself?

Such utter contempt sent Tang San's fury surging past the limits of reason.

The referee's hand came down sharply.

"Begin!"

Before the words had even faded, Tang San pushed off hard.

He shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow, the yellow Soul Ring on his body lighting up at the same time.

"First Soul Skill, Entanglement!"

Dozens of thick, sturdy Blue Silver Grass vines burst from the flagstones beneath Xue Tianyu's feet.

Trailing a nauseating poisonous mist, they wound frantically up his legs.

They tried to bind him in place.

Dai Mubai seized this fleeting opportunity and pushed off fiercely with both legs.

"Second Soul Skill, White Tiger Intense Light Wave!"

A dazzling ball of white light rapidly gathered in his mouth.

Carrying a violent aura of destruction, it shot straight toward Xue Tianyu's chest.

Facing this deadly pincer attack from both sides,

Xue Tianyu merely raised his right hand with casual ease, bringing his fingers together like a sword.

A thread of bone-chilling sword energy quietly took shape at his fingertips.

Frost Sword Qi!

He didn't even look at the Blue Silver Grass thrashing beneath him. With a casual sweep of his hand, he sent a streak of sword light downward.

Skkrrt—

The sword glint flashed past.

The incredibly tough Blue Silver Grass vines couldn't withstand even a moment of the Frost Sword Qi.

They were cleanly severed all at once, scattering across the ground as countless shards of ice.

Then Xue Tianyu swung his hand around and slapped forward.

A gust of frigid force surged from his palm, striking the incoming White Tiger Intense Light Wave head-on.

A dull thud rang out.

The ball of light, packed with the violent energy of a level-forty-four Soul Ancestor, was actually smashed to pieces by his bare hand.

The turbulent energy scattered in every direction across the arena.

Dai Mubai hadn't even seen what happened. He only saw a flash of white before his eyes.

An ice-blue figure had already crossed more than ten meters, appearing before him like a ghost.

"Too slow."

Xue Tianyu's cold voice exploded beside Dai Mubai's ear.

Dai Mubai's pupils contracted, and his heart gave a violent squeeze.

He instinctively raised both arms and crossed them over his chest.

"Third Soul Skill, White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"

Brilliant golden light instantly enveloped his entire body. Dai Mubai's muscles swelled again, and his defensive power surged several times over.

Yet before Xue Tianyu, all of it looked utterly laughable.

Xue Tianyu didn't even use his Soul Power.

He simply lifted his right leg and drove a fierce side kick into Dai Mubai's chest.

Crack!

The teeth-grating sound of breaking bones rang clearly throughout the entire Great Soul Arena.

The defensive barrier of the White Tiger Vajra Transformation shattered instantly like glass.

Dai Mubai spat out a huge mouthful of blood.

He flew backward like a kite with its strings cut, tracing a miserable arc through the air.

At last, he crashed hard into the protective barrier at the edge of the arena and slid down the light curtain to the ground.

One blow.

Dai Mubai, a level-forty-four Power Attack System Soul Ancestor, rolled his eyes back and fell unconscious on the spot.

The entire venue fell deathly silent.

The audience in the stands had even forgotten to shout. Every sound of commotion was cut off in an instant.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at the tall, lean figure on the arena, who still hadn't even released his Martial Soul.

What kind of monster was this?

"Mubai!"

Tang San's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets, the veins on his forehead throbbing wildly.

He had never imagined that Dai Mubai, even after activating his third Soul Skill, wouldn't be able to withstand a single kick from their opponent.

Hatred and humiliation swallowed up every last bit of his reason.

"Xue Tianyu, I'll kill you!"

A faint purple glow suddenly lit up in Tang San's eyes.

Purple Demon Eye!

A highly concentrated wave of spiritual energy shot straight toward Xue Tianyu's mind.

This was the trump card Tang San was most proud of.

As long as his opponent's spiritual power was weaker than his, they would instantly become a helpless cripple at his mercy.

Yet Xue Tianyu merely lifted his eyes a fraction.

When the spiritual attack struck his eyes, it failed to stir even the slightest ripple.

Instead, it vanished without a trace, like a mud cow sinking into the sea.

Then a terrifying wave of spiritual power, more than ten times stronger than Tang San's, surged back along their connection and struck him with a vicious backlash.

"Ah—!"

Tang San screamed and clutched his eyes with both hands.

Two streams of scarlet blood trickled between his fingers and dripped onto the arena.

It felt as if ten thousand steel needles had pierced through his brain at once. His legs went weak, and he nearly fell to his knees.

But he bit his tongue, using the sharp pain to force himself to stay conscious.

His right hand shot toward the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges at his waist.

In that brief instant,

more than a dozen streaks of black light shot from his hand.

Every one of them gleamed with a sinister light, coated in deadly poison, sealing off every route of escape for Xue Tianyu.

Bone-Piercing Nails!

At the same time, he flipped his left hand, and an exquisitely crafted Godly Zhuge Crossbow appeared in his palm.

The mechanism clattered repeatedly.

Sixteen steel bolts shot toward Xue Tianyu's face in a dense barrage, their shrill whistles tearing through the air.

The stands erupted in an uproar, cries of alarm rising one after another.

The referee turned pale with shock and hurriedly blew his whistle.

"Stop!"

"The tournament rules prohibit the use of weapons that aren't Martial Souls!"

But Tang San had already gone mad.

There was only one thought in his mind: turn the man before him into a hornet's nest.

Facing the storm of Hidden Weapons, Xue Tianyu's expression didn't change in the slightest.

He couldn't even be bothered to dodge.

He merely raised his right hand slowly.

"Are these the only cheap tricks you've got?"

As the words fell,

the Soul Rings beneath Xue Tianyu's feet finally rose into view.

Five black rings.

When the fifth black, ten-thousand-year Soul Ring appeared, the entire arena let out a collective gasp.

But immediately afterward, a sixth Soul Ring slowly rose.

It was a blinding, vivid scarlet.

A God-Bestowed Soul Ring, one hundred thousand years old!

Boom!

As the red Soul Ring revealed itself to everyone,

the entire Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena fell silent.

Everyone shot to their feet, staring blankly at the Soul Ring radiating terrifying pressure.

Its dazzling red light bathed the entire platform, turning it into a sea of blood.

The Extreme Cold Domain unleashed by the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring instantly enveloped the whole platform.

The Bone-Piercing Nails and steel crossbow bolts Tang San had fired

suddenly slowed three meters from Xue Tianyu.

Then, thick frost formed visibly across the steel weapons.

A series of crisp clatters rang out.

All the Hidden Weapons froze into brittle shards of ice, dropped helplessly to the ground, and shattered into powder.

Tang San stood rooted to the spot, stunned.

The agony in his eyes no longer mattered.

He stared at the scarlet Soul Ring beneath Xue Tianyu's feet, his very heart and faith crumbling to pieces.

That was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!

How was that possible?!

How old was he? How could he possibly withstand the violent impact of a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring?!

Xue Tianyu walked toward Tang San, one step at a time.

His black leather boots crunched softly over the ice shards scattered across the ground.

To Tang San, the sound was like the death god counting down.

Below the platform, Yu Xiaogang rushed frantically to its edge and gripped the icy railing with both hands.

"Give up! Shrek concedes!"

He shouted himself hoarse, his eyes bloodshot.

If this continued, Tang San really would be killed right there!

But Xue Tianyu paid no heed to Yu Xiaogang's shouts.

He stopped two paces in front of Tang San.

The overwhelming pressure of the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring bore down on Tang San so heavily that he couldn't even straighten his back.

"Give up?"

Xue Tianyu let out a mocking laugh, his eyes full of lofty disdain.

"Did I say you could?"

Tang San let out a hysterical roar.

The clothes on his back burst apart, and eight sharp, purplish-black spears thrust out of his body.

An External Soul Bone—the Eight Spider Lances!

He swung the poison-coated Spider Lances, summoning the last of his strength to stab viciously at Xue Tianyu's chest.

"I'll kill you!"

Xue Tianyu's expression darkened.

He casually raised his left hand and caught one of the incoming Eight Spider Lances in midair with pinpoint precision.

A strange red light flashed across the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

The freezing cold spread from Xue Tianyu's palm to the base of the Eight Spider Lances in an instant.

The Spider Lances, once unbelievably tough, became as brittle as thin ice.

Xue Tianyu turned his right hand into a blade and struck down without mercy.

Crack!

"Argh—!"

Tang San let out an unbearably shrill scream.

One of the Eight Spider Lances, linked to his very blood, had been cleaved off by Xue Tianyu!

Blackish-purple venomous blood sprayed from the severed stump, splattering across the icy platform and sizzling as it corroded the surface.

The agony made Tang San convulse violently. His legs buckled, and he started to fall to his knees.

Before his knees could hit the ground,

Xue Tianyu had already raised his right foot and kicked Tang San hard in the abdomen.

Thud!

Tang San doubled over like an overcooked shrimp and slammed into the hard platform.

He vomited mouthful after mouthful of blood mixed with pieces of his organs.

Bracing both hands against the ground, he still struggled desperately to crawl back up.

Xue Tianyu stepped forward without mercy and planted a vicious kick on the side of Tang San's face,

crushing his head against the bluestone slabs.

"You think a good-for-nothing like you, who does nothing but use Hidden Weapons to ambush people, is fit to seek revenge on me?"

Xue Tianyu looked down at Tang San, who was sprawled like a dead dog.

He pressed down slightly with the sole of his military boot. Tang San's nose shattered at once, blood streaming everywhere.

"Your good buddy Ma Hongjun—I turned him into ice shards."

"Zhao Wuji—I cut off his head with my own hands."

"And you."

Xue Tianyu slowly ground his toe down, listening to the desperate whimpers rising from Tang San's throat.

"You don't even deserve a second glance from me."

Below the platform, Yu Xiaogang had completely broken down.

He frantically pounded on the protective barrier, tears and snot streaming down his face. He was a far cry from the Grandmaster he'd once been.

"Referee! He's breaking the rules!"

"He's trying to kill someone! Stop him, quick!"