Dugu Yan's voice brimmed with confidence, as if victory were already in her grasp.
She looked toward the poisonous fog, then glanced at Ye Lingling, who had maintained her healing stance beside her the entire time.
"You should surrender soon. That way, I can have Lingling treat you."
"If you wait any longer, the poison will attack your heart and seep into your body. Then it'll be a real problem."
Her words echoed across the empty arena. Everyone held their breath, waiting for the boy in the poisonous fog to respond.
Perhaps he would beg for mercy. Perhaps he would let out a pained groan.
Yet there was only silence.
Just as Dugu Yan thought her opponent had lost consciousness and was about to ask the referee to announce the result,
a voice, calm and utterly unruffled, rang clearly from the heart of the dense poisonous fog.
"Is that so?"
The smile on Dugu Yan's face froze instantly.
Her eyes flew wide, disbelief written all over her face.
Those two light words were like two invisible hammers, slamming into the heart of everyone present.
The confidence and composure on Dugu Yan's face cracked away inch by inch, like a mirror coated in frost.
How was this possible?
It was as if... as if nothing had happened at all.
In the dense poisonous fog, a solitary figure slowly emerged, its outline shifting from blurry to clear.
Lan walked out step by step from that expanse of green that stood for death.
His clothes were not damaged in the slightest, his hair remained neat, and his incomparably handsome face showed not even the faintest trace of pain.
He simply walked calmly, as if what had swept across the arena moments ago had been not deadly poison capable of corroding a Soul Elder, but a harmless spring breeze.
"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!"
Dugu Yan cried out, her emerald snake pupils shrinking to two points of cold light in her shock.
"My Jade Scale Snake Poison would make even a Soul Emperor wary! You... what exactly did you do?"
Lan stopped and looked up at her. For the first time, a hint of... amusement entered his deep eyes.
"Your poison?"
He held out his hand, letting wisps of the remaining green fog coil around his fingertips, as though playing with some curious toy.
"It's rather interesting."
He spoke softly.
"It numbs the nerves, corrodes Soul Power, and even has a slight burning sensation."
"It's just a pity..."
Lan paused, his tone as flat as if he were stating a fact.
"This little bit of poison is still a long way from enough."
A terrifying aura beyond the power of words erupted from Lan!
It was not Soul Power, nor killing intent. It was an exalted might from the depths of his bloodline, from the ancient primordial wilds!
"Shadow Abyss Shark, possess me!"
No Soul Ring lit up.
There was no warning whatsoever.
Boom!
The entire Soul Fighting Arena—no, the whole stadium—seemed, in the perception of everyone present, to plunge into an endless deep sea in an instant!
Cold, dark, and silent.
A phantom, surging blue sea appeared out of thin air behind Lan, obscuring the entire arena.
Giant waves towered to the sky, roaring and raging!
Then, beneath that violently churning sea, a shadow so enormous it stole everyone's breath slowly rose.
It was a shark!
A terrifying giant shark, its entire body pitch-black, with only its dorsal fin and eyes shimmering with a faint blue light!
It had no physical form, made entirely of pure, unfathomably deep energy. Yet the pressure it brought was more real and terrifying than that of any physical Soul Beast!
"W-what kind of Martial Soul is that?!"
"There are no Soul Rings! He hasn't released a single Soul Ring, yet he's summoned his Martial Soul Avatar?!"
"No... This isn't a Martial Soul Avatar... It's more like... the Martial Soul itself has descended!"
The spectator stands were already in chaos. Countless people trembled beneath that oppressive force.
On the arena.
Dugu Yan stared blankly at the shark shadow hovering above the Raging Waves, feeling her very soul tremble.
The Jade Scale Snake Martial Soul she had always been so proud of was now whimpering, shrinking behind her, too afraid to even raise its head.
It was absolute suppression, born of a difference in the very level of life!
Lan stood before the shark shadow, like a king of the deep sea.
He looked calmly at the green poisonous fog swirling around him.
"In the lightless deep sea, all things return to silence."
He murmured the words as if singing an ancient ballad.
Then he raised his hand toward the poisonous fog and softly spoke two words.
"Devour!"
The instant the command was given, the terrifying Shadow Abyss Shark behind him opened its enormous jaws, wide enough to swallow heaven and earth!
Humm!
An invisible vortex formed in its jaws.
A powerful suction suddenly burst forth!
The Jade Scale Snake Poison that had filled the arena seemed to heed an irresistible call. It turned into streams of green and surged wildly toward the shark's mouth!
In less than a breath,
the deadly poison that would have given even a Soul Emperor a terrible headache was completely devoured by the Shadow Abyss Shark.
The arena was clear once more.
Lan simply closed his eyes slowly.
Warm currents flowed along the connection to his Martial Soul, pouring into his body from the void and spreading through his limbs, bringing a sense of comfort and ease.
This was the other innate Soul Skill he had obtained upon awakening his Martial Soul, in addition to the Darkness Domain.
Devour!
Devour all things and make them his own.
The entire arena fell silent.
So quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the boy resting with his eyes closed, as if they were looking at an ancient Ferocious Beast wearing human skin.
"My... my poison..."
Dugu Yan was deathly pale. All strength seemed to have been drained from her, and she swayed unsteadily.
"It was... devoured?"
The thought was absurd as a joke, yet it was the only explanation for what they had just witnessed.
That was Jade Scale Snake Poison!
Deadly poison even Soul Emperors dared not casually touch!
A terrifying thing that made the entire Soul Master World blanch at its mention and flee from its presence had just been eaten by a person, right before everyone's eyes, as casually as food or water?
"Madman... That guy is a complete and utter madman!"
"Is he even human? That was poison!"
In the Skywater Academy's waiting area, the team members were too stunned to speak.
They had known their captain was strong, but they had never imagined he could be strong to such an inconceivable degree.
"That snake poison... just looking at it makes my scalp crawl," one team member murmured.
"Our captain... actually swallowed it whole."
Shui Bing'er gazed at the solitary figure on the arena, her beautiful eyes sparkling.
She let out a soft breath, the corners of her mouth curling into a proud smile.
"As expected of the Shark Boy."
In the VIP stands.
Even the usually mild-mannered Crown Prince Xue Qinghe could no longer maintain his calm expression.
This ability was unheard of!
Even more unsettling was the faint stir he had felt deep in his bloodline when the Shadow Abyss Shark had appeared.
"Who exactly is he?"
Xue Qinghe—or rather, Qian Renxue—felt such a powerful urge to investigate someone her own age for the first time.
On the arena.
Lan slowly opened his eyes.
His deep eyes were now clear as if washed clean, as though what he had devoured moments ago had not been deadly poison.
He looked up calmly at the despondent Dugu Yan across from him.
He opened his right hand.
Humm.
A short blade, its entire body a deep blue and its design unusual, appeared in his hand out of thin air.
The next instant, his figure vanished.
Dugu Yan's vision blurred. A cold killing intent was already rushing toward her.
She did not even have time to react.
Riiip!
There was a soft sound of fabric tearing.
Lan had already appeared behind her, Shark Blade in hand, his back to her, his posture as steady as ever.
Dugu Yan lowered her head in a daze.
The front of her team uniform had been slashed open in a neat line.
A line of blood appeared on her chest, quickly spreading and staining a large patch of her clothes red.
Then the pain hit.
"You!"
Dugu Yan's blood surged. She hurriedly clamped a hand over her chest.
Blood seeped through her fingers, mingling with a glimpse of the snowy-white skin beneath, a shocking sight.
She glared at Lan's back, trembling with rage, then suddenly spat out a curse.
"Lecher!"
Those two words rang clearly throughout the Soul Fighting Stadium.
The whole crowd erupted.
"Am I seeing things? He... where did he slash her?"
"Good heavens, he's terrifyingly strong, but how could he show so little consideration for a lady!"
Before you continue