Justice's Three-on-One

Wang Yan shouted loudly: "The assessment begins."

Both sides quickly released their martial souls. Huang Chutian looked up and roared, clenching his fists tightly and pounding his chest with a series of thuds.

Though Huang Chutian was not yet twelve years old, he stood over 1.5 meters tall. After releasing his martial soul, he surged to nearly 1.8 meters, his thick, bulging muscles tearing through his slim-fit school uniform as his exposed bronze skin turned a dark, swarthy hue.

His pupils suddenly turned a copper-yellow, two sharp canines protruded over his thick lips, and his limbs became incredibly robust, with well-defined, muscular blocks that looked like forged steel. Two yellow soul rings rose slowly; Huang Chutian was clearly a Great Soul Master of the Power Attack System above level twenty.

The twin sisters released their martial souls simultaneously. Four yellow soul rings rose steadily, their long blue hair fluttering like blooming forget-me-nots.

On the other side, gorgeous scales suddenly unfurled. With the Goddess of Light Butterfly possessed, Wang Dong flapped his wings gently and quickly ascended into the air.

The Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron condensed instantly, charging fiercely toward the twin sisters, while Xiao Xiao stood in front of Bai Cai to block the opponent's line of sight.

The little one with blue hair covering her eyes sat on Bai Cai's left shoulder, her telekinetic power gushing out to saturate the battlefield.

Huang Chutian let out a low growl and launched a fierce attack on Xiao Xiao and Bai Cai. Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo clasped their hands together, and violent soul power fluctuations swept across the arena as their blue hair twisted into a sturdy net, attempting to entangle Wang Dong.

The sudden burst of soul power from the twins left Huang Chutian with no more reservations. His first soul ring lit up, his pot-sized fists instantly doubling in size with a brilliant metallic luster.

"With strength to pull up mountains and spirit to cover the world!" Huang Chutian roared, his fists swinging like a heavy barrage as he hammered down toward Xiao Xiao and Bai Cai.

Huang Chutian's combat objective was very clear: Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo would entangle Wang Dong, while he would quickly eliminate the opponent's back row, allowing the three of them to surround Wang Dong.

Bai Cai smiled; Huang Chutian had fallen for it.

Normally, in any tactical base-race, if Huang Chutian attacked Xiao Xiao and himself, Wang Dong would inevitably attack Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo. The attack styles of a front-line warrior and a roaming assassin differed greatly; if Wang Dong were to clash head-on with Huang Chutian, he would be at a disadvantage.

"Xiao Xiao, clear the field." Bai Cai and Ralts shared a tacit understanding. Telekinetic power condensed, instantly locking down the limbs and vital joints of Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo.

"Cauldron Shock!" Xiao Xiao's expression was grave. The Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron split into three, her first soul ring flashing in an instant. The three cauldrons struck like pitch-black meteors, slamming ruthlessly into Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo.

"Heaven helps me!" Huang Chutian was ecstatic, accelerating his attack on Xiao Xiao and Bai Cai. The Soul-Suppressing Cauldrons had been neutralized, and he would surely take down the opponent's back row—victory was in sight!

Wang Dong sneered, catching up to Huang Chutian in a few blinks. His first soul ring lit up, and his gorgeous butterfly wings transformed into a guillotine, carving a beautiful arc as he prepared to slash at Huang Chutian's upper body.

Huang Chutian had nowhere to dodge. He turned his iron fists to collide with the edge of the butterfly-wing guillotine, blood dripping from the back of his knuckles.

After knocking Huang Chutian back with a single strike, Wang Dong said indifferently: "The Hercules Ape is nothing more than this."

Huang Chutian's face turned gloomy. His speed was inferior to Wang Dong's; unless he used his second soul skill to break through with sheer force and take down the little girl and...

"Imprison." The yellow soul ring atop Ralts's head suddenly flashed. Surging mental power locked onto Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo, and a gray-white hue rapidly infected the twins' bright yellow first soul rings.

Indeed, the hair net was a channeling-type soul skill. Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo had to continuously output soul power to reinforce the net, which was perfectly countered by Ralts's Imprison.

The sky-filling blue hair net lost its soul skill amplification, its strength dropping sharply, making it unable to block the fierce impact of the three Soul-Suppressing Cauldrons.

Ralts timed the release of her soul skill perfectly. By the time the three cauldrons arrived, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo had no time to use their second soul skills and were instantly blasted out of the arena.

Huang Chutian stood in a standoff with Wang Dong, having almost broken through to Xiao Xiao and Bai Cai. If Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo could have followed up with control and supplementary output, this wave would have been a decisive kill.

Unfortunately, Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo had been blasted out of the arena and were unable to continue, leaving Huang Chutian in an irrecoverable disadvantage.

With the opponents at full status and his own teammates gone, how could he possibly fight?

Wang Dong descended to the ground and said eagerly: "Leave the field yourself, or we will send you off."

"..."

Huang Chutian was silent. He turned and exited the assessment area, having lost completely; delaying was meaningless.

With strength to pull up mountains and spirit to cover the world, but the times are against me and my steed will not run. If my steed will not run, what can I do? Oh Yu, oh Yu, what will become of you!

Huang Chutian felt he was not inferior to Wang Dong, yet Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo secretly liked Wang Dong, so he lost the momentum. The assessment area did not restrict flight, so he lost the support battle. His base-race plan was destroyed by the opponent, so he lost the rhythm. Looking back at the entire battle, his side was full of flaws.

With the Huang Chutian Team voluntarily surrendering, Wang Yan announced: "The Bai Cai Team wins!"

They had won cleanly and efficiently against the Huang Chutian Team, which consisted entirely of Great Soul Masters and twin control-type soul masters, without even revealing their second soul skills. The Bai Cai Team's combat process was impeccable; both their tactical maneuvers and strategic decisions were top-tier.

After the match results were registered, Wang Yan looked at Bai Cai, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao, pondering inwardly. Freshman Class One—the class under Zhou Yi's charge, was it?

Wang Yan was a representative of the theoretical school and the moderate faction at Shrek Academy. With solid theory and excellent teaching ability, he had become a premier high-level teacher in the outer courtyard despite being only in his forties.

However, even Wang Yan, whose theoretical level was sufficient to teach inner courtyard students, could not distinguish the type of Bai Cai's martial soul or the effects of his soul skills; he had only sensed the sudden eruption of materialized mental power on the assessment field.

The upper echelons of the academy intentionally kept it hidden and would never reveal Bai Cai's uniqueness. Mental-type martial souls were relatively rare, and externalized martial souls were extremely uncommon. With the two combined, Wang Yan would almost never consider the possibility of an externalized mental-type martial soul.

The first day of battle ended. Xiao Xiao was somewhat excited and returned to the dormitory first, while Bai Cai remained at the assessment area, carefully watching the remaining two battles and recording the combat information of both sides.

Of course, among the three hundred and ten teams, only a few dozen consisted entirely of Great Soul Masters. In a round-robin tournament, the probability of encountering more than two seeded teams in ten battles was low, unless the Bai Cai Team was particularly unlucky.

After carefully observing the remaining two battles, Bai Cai concluded that the remaining teams in Arena 33 were all scrubs.

The other four teams were inferior in soul power and soul rings across the board; they were either all reckless brutes or obsessed with base-racing, with a threat level equal to zero.

The first round of the freshman assessment ended quickly. The "scrubs pecking at each other" were not worth wasting ink to record. Bai Cai put away his notebook and withdrew from the assessment area.

At the exit of the Open Assessment Area, Wang Dong sat on a thick low wall with his legs crossed, looking listless.

The moment Bai Cai appeared, Wang Dong's large powder-blue eyes suddenly brightened, and he smiled.