Shadow Abyss Shark! Qian Renxue's Bloodline Tremors! Abyss King!

Dugu Yan's tone was brimming with confidence, as if victory were already within her grasp.

She looked toward the poison mist, then cast a glance at Ye Lingling, who remained in her healing stance beside her.

"You had best concede soon, so I can have Lingling treat you."

"If you wait any longer and the poison reaches your heart, it will truly be troublesome."

Her voice echoed across the empty Soul Fighting Arena, and everyone held their breath, waiting for a response from the youth within the poison mist.

Perhaps a plea for mercy, or a muffled groan of pain.

However, there was only silence.

Just as Dugu Yan assumed the opponent had lost consciousness and prepared to have the referee announce the result.

A voice, calm and without a single ripple of emotion, emerged clearly from the center of the dense poison mist.

"Is that so?"

The smile on Dugu Yan's face froze instantly.

She widened her eyes, her face filled with an expression of utter disbelief.

Those two words, light as a feather, struck like two invisible heavy hammers against the heart of everyone present.

The confidence and composure on Dugu Yan's face cracked inch by inch, like a mirror covered in frost.

How could this be?

It was as if... as if nothing had happened at all.

From within the thick poison mist, a solitary, lofty figure slowly emerged, his outline shifting from blurred to clear.

Lan stepped out from that green expanse, which represented nothing but death, one pace at a time.

His clothes were not damaged in the slightest, his hair remained neat, and on that handsome face, which seemed too ethereal for a mortal, one could not find even a trace of pain.

He simply walked quietly, as if what had just swept across the arena was not a lethal poison capable of corroding a Soul Elder, but merely an inconsequential spring breeze.

"Impossible... this is absolutely impossible!"

Dugu Yan lost her voice, her emerald snake-like pupils shrinking into two cold points of light from the shock.

"My Jade Scale Snake Poison—even a Soul Emperor would not dare to treat it so lightly! You... what exactly did you do?"

Lan stopped in his tracks and looked up at her, his deep, dark eyes carrying a hint of... playfulness for the very first time.

"Your poison?"

He reached out, letting wisps of the residual green mist coil around his fingertips as if he were toying with a novel plaything.

"It is indeed somewhat interesting."

He said softly.

"Paralyzing the nerves, corroding soul power, and carrying a slight burning sensation."

"It is just a pity..."

Lan paused, his tone as flat as if he were stating a simple fact.

"This level of toxicity is still far from enough."

From Lan's body, a terrifying aura that defied description erupted with a boom!

It was not soul power, nor was it killing intent, but a supreme pressure originating from the deepest depths of his bloodline, hailing from the primordial era!

"Shadow Abyss Shark, Possess!"

No soul rings lit up.

There was no warning whatsoever.

BOOM—!

The entire Soul Fighting Arena—no, the entire Soul Fighting Stadium—felt to everyone as if it had instantly plunged into the depths of an endless ocean!

Cold, dark, and deathly silent.

An illusory, surging azure sea surface appeared out of thin air behind Lan, shrouding the entire arena.

Giant waves towered high, and the billows roared!

Following that, beneath the surging sea, a shadow so massive it was suffocating slowly rose to the surface.

It was a shark!

A terrifying giant shark, pitch-black all over, with only its dorsal fin and eyes shimmering with a ghostly blue light!

It had no physical form, composed entirely of a pure, profound energy, yet the pressure it exerted was more real and more terrifying than any physical soul beast!

"What... what kind of Martial Soul is this?!"

"There are no soul rings! He summoned his Martial Soul Avatar without releasing a single soul ring?!"

"No... this is not a Martial Soul Avatar... this is more like... the true manifestation of a Martial Soul!"

The spectator stands were already in chaos, with countless people trembling under the weight of this pressure.

On the stage.

Dugu Yan stared blankly at the shark shadow suspended above the surging waves, feeling her very soul tremble.

Her proud Jade Scale Snake martial soul let out a mournful cry, cowering behind her, not daring to even lift its head.

This was absolute suppression from a higher level of existence!

Lan stood before the shark shadow, like a monarch of the deep sea.

He looked at the emerald green poisonous mist swirling around him, his gaze calm.

"The deep sea is lightless, all things return to silence."

He murmured softly, as if chanting an ancient ballad.

Then, he raised his hand, and towards the poisonous mist, he gently uttered two words.

"Devour!"

The instant the command was given, the terrifying Shadow Abyss Shark behind him suddenly opened its colossal maw, capable of swallowing heaven and earth!

Buzz--!

An invisible vortex formed in the shark's mouth.

A powerful suction force erupted!

The Jade Scale Snake Poison that had permeated the stage seemed to receive an irresistible summons, transforming into streams of green torrents that surged madly into the shark's maw!

In less than a breath of time.

The potent poison that could trouble a Soul Emperor was completely devoured by the Shadow Abyss Shark.

The stage returned to clarity.

And Lan, he simply closed his eyes slowly.

Streams of warmth flowed into his body from the void through the connection with his martial soul, reaching every limb and bone, bringing a comfortable and pleasant sensation.

This was the innate soul skill he had obtained when he awakened his martial soul, besides "Darkness Domain."

Devour!

Devour all things, and make them one's own.

The entire venue fell silent.

So quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on the young man closing his eyes to rest, as if they were looking at an ancient ferocious beast in human skin.

"My... my poison..."

Dugu Yan's face was ashen, her entire body felt as if all its strength had been drained, and she swayed precariously.

"It... it was devoured?"

The thought was as absurd as a joke, yet it was the only explanation before them.

That was Jade Scale Snake Poison!

A potent poison that even Soul Emperors dared not easily touch!

A terrifying existence that the soul master world spoke of with fear and avoided at all costs, and now, it had been consumed by one person, in front of everyone, as easily as eating and drinking?

"Madman... this guy is a complete madman!"

"Is he even human? That was poison!"

In the preparation area of Skywater Academy, the team members were already too stunned to speak.

They only knew their captain was strong, but they had never imagined he could be this unbelievably strong.

"That snake poison... just looking at it makes my scalp tingle," one team member muttered.

"Captain... he actually just swallowed it."

Shui Bing'er gazed at the solitary figure on the stage, her beautiful eyes filled with wonder.

She let out a soft breath, a proud curve forming on her lips.

"As expected of the Shark Boy."

In the VIP seats.

Prince Xue Qinghe, who had maintained his gentle demeanor, could no longer keep his composure.

Such an ability was unheard of!

What unsettled him even more was the faint tremor he felt deep within his bloodline when the Shadow Abyss Shark had appeared.

"Who exactly is he?"

Xue Qinghe, or rather, Qian Renxue, felt an unprecedentedly strong desire to investigate a peer for the first time.

On the stage.

Lan slowly opened his eyes.

Those deep, dark eyes were now as clear as crystal, as if what he had just devoured was not a deadly poison.

He raised his gaze, looking calmly at the devastated Dugu Yan opposite him.

He made a grasping motion with his right hand.

Hum.

A peculiar, deep-blue short blade appeared out of thin air in his hand.

In the next instant, his figure vanished.

Dugu Yan felt a blur before her eyes, and a cold, murderous intent rushed toward her face.

She did not even have time to react.

Riiip—!

A soft sound of fabric tearing echoed.

Lan's figure had already appeared behind her, holding the Shark Blade, his back turned to her, his posture as steady as ever.

Dugu Yan looked down, dazed.

She saw that her team uniform had been sliced open with a clean cut across her chest.

A line of blood appeared on her chest, rapidly widening and staining a large patch of her clothes red.

Intense pain followed immediately.

"You!"

Blood rushed to Dugu Yan's head, and she hurriedly pressed her hands tightly against her chest.

Fresh blood seeped through her fingers, mixing with the glimpse of pale skin beneath, a shocking sight to behold.

She looked at Lan's back, trembling with rage, and spat out a word.

"Shameless!"

These two words rang out clearly across the entire Soul Fighting Stadium.

The crowd erupted in an uproar.

"Did I see that right? Where... where did he strike?"

"Good heavens, this man's strength is terrifying, but how can he be so lacking in chivalry!"