"Yes."
Dugu Yan turned around to face Dai Mubai, who was seething with rage, and curled her lips into a mocking smile.
"The rules are that we compete however the teacher says."
"You!"
Dai Mubai flew into a rage and let out a tiger's roar. His first, third, and fourth Soul Rings lit up at the same time!
"White Tiger Protection Barrier! White Tiger Vajra Transformation! White Tiger Meteor Shower!"
He was actually going to attack directly!
But though he was fast, someone was faster.
A figure appeared before Dai Mubai like a ghost. It was Dugu Yan.
"A Soul King?"
Dai Mubai's heart jolted, but his attack was already underway and could not be recalled.
"Fifth Soul Skill, Serpent Python Swallows Heaven!"
Dugu Yan's expression remained unchanged as the fifth purple Soul Ring beneath her feet blazed with light.
A gigantic phantom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor surged into the sky behind her. It opened its bloody maw and swallowed the countless white orbs raining down like meteors in a single gulp!
"Rumble—"
The violent energy exploded inside the phantom serpent emperor's mouth, yet it could not shake it in the slightest.
"What?!"
Dai Mubai's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
His fourth Soul Skill had actually been countered so effortlessly?
"There's a whole major realm between a Soul Ancestor and a Soul King."
Dugu Yan's voice drifted over.
"Dai Mubai, you're too weak."
Before her words had even faded, the gigantic phantom serpent emperor suddenly lunged forward and snapped at Dai Mubai.
"Seven Treasures turn up, Glazed Pagoda!"
Just then, a clear voice rang out.
Ning Rongrong had appeared beside Dugu Yan at some point. The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda in her hands shone brilliantly.
"Seven Treasures Have Names, first: Strength. Second: Speed."
Two beams of light landed precisely on Dugu Yan.
Dugu Yan's aura surged again, while the phantom serpent emperor's speed and strength both rose to another level!
"Rongrong, you!"
Oscar pointed at Ning Rongrong, too furious to speak.
Ning Rongrong merely glanced at him and said calmly, "I'm a disciple of Blue Silver Academy now, following my teacher's orders. Is there anything wrong with that?"
She turned to Dugu Yan and smiled sweetly.
"Senior Sister Dugu, go get 'em."
Facing this enhanced fifth Soul Skill, Dai Mubai felt an overwhelming pressure bearing down on him, so immense that even breathing became difficult.
All he could do was cross his arms over his chest and drive his Soul Power to the limit.
"Thud!"
Dai Mubai flew backward like a kite with its string cut and crashed heavily onto the ground. He rolled more than ten meters, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as well.
With just one move, Shrek's strongest fighter and team captain had been defeated!
Oscar and Ma Hongjun sucked in sharp breaths and instinctively shuffled backward.
What kind of monsters were these people from Blue Silver Academy?!
In the arena.
Just as everyone's attention was drawn to Dai Mubai's defeat, Ah Yin, who had already walked to the edge of the arena, slowly turned around.
Her gaze fell on Tang San once more.
The hatred in her eyes had not diminished. If anything, it had grown even more intense.
"I told you, this is only the beginning."
She murmured softly, as if speaking to herself, or perhaps making a promise to the child she had never met.
She raised a hand and loosely clenched it.
"Whoosh!"
A Blue Silver Grass vine shimmering with a pale golden glow burst from the ground like a living creature and instantly coiled around Tang San's ankle.
Alarm bells rang in Tang San's mind. He tried to break free, only to discover that the vine, though slender, was frighteningly tough.
More importantly, an emperor's威圧—an aura of absolute authority—came from the vine, making his very soul tremble.
That was... the Blue Silver Emperor's absolute suppression over ordinary Blue Silver Grass!
In front of her, his Martial Soul could not summon the slightest urge to resist!
"Crack!"
Ah Yin flicked her wrist.
The golden vine became a whip and lashed viciously across Tang San's back!
A sharp crack rang out.
The clothes on Tang San's back burst apart. A lash mark deep enough to expose bone stretched from his left shoulder all the way to his right hip.
His flesh split and curled, yet strangely, not a single drop of blood flowed.
"Ugh!"
Tang San let out a pained groan, his body trembling violently.
This was more than physical pain.
A strange energy burrowed into his body through the wound, wildly destroying his meridians while keeping him barely alive, so that he would not lose consciousness.
She gave him pain, but no release.
"Third Brother!"
Xiao Wu's eyes were bloodshot with fury. She charged forward again, heedless of everything.
"Rongrong, stop her," Dugu Yan ordered.
"On it, Senior Sister."
The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda in Ning Rongrong's hands lit up again.
"Third: Soul. Fourth: Defense."
Two beams of light landed on Dugu Yan.
Xiao Wu's Charm had no effect whatsoever on Dugu Yan, whose mental strength had been boosted. Her Waist Bow was just as easily blocked by Dugu Yan, whose defenses had been enhanced.
"Xiao Wu, don't waste your effort."
Dugu Yan casually seized Xiao Wu by the wrist.
"The teacher's order is for this one-on-one battle to continue until one side... personally admits defeat."
"Interfering like this will only make Tang San suffer for even longer."
Xiao Wu's body went rigid.
She turned her head and looked toward the arena.
"Crack!"
Another lash.
This time, it struck Tang San's thigh.
Tang San could no longer hold himself up. He fell to his knees, veins bulging on his forehead as cold sweat poured down his face.
Ah Yin walked slowly up to him and looked down from above.
Her face was utterly expressionless.
"The first lash is to reclaim, on behalf of my child, the first ray of sunlight he should have seen when he came into this world."
Her voice was ethereal and distant, yet it reached every person present with perfect clarity.
Tang San abruptly raised his head, his pupils contracting violently.
What did she mean?
He... wasn't her child?
That thought exploded in his mind like a thunderclap!
"Crack!"
The third lash struck his chest.
The front of Tang San's clothes disintegrated into dust, and a cross-shaped lash mark burned into his skin.
"The second lash is to reclaim, on his behalf, the first call of 'father' he should have heard."
Ah Yin's voice still held not the slightest hint of emotion.
Tang San's breathing grew terribly labored. He stared into Ah Yin's eyes, trying to find some familiar feeling in their deep blue depths.
But there was nothing.
Nothing at all.
Only a dead silence and a hatred that made him feel as though he were plunging into an abyss.
An absurd and terrifying suspicion began to grow wildly in his heart.
Could it be...
Could it be that what the teacher said was true?
Was he really... an outsider?
"No... impossible..."
He murmured to himself, his mind beginning to grow hazy.
"Crack!"
The fourth lash!
"The third lash is to reclaim, on his behalf, the first embrace he should have felt from his mother."
With each sentence Ah Yin spoke, the golden vine whip in her hand fell once.
Each time, it precisely avoided Tang San's vital points, yet sent the most exquisite agony to every nerve ending in his body.
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