The golden light began to fade.
The sacred phantom of Puni behind him seemed to have fulfilled its mission. It slowly turned into specks of light and vanished into the air.
Gu Sheng lowered his head and looked at his chest.
There, a distinct golden crack glowed faintly.
It was the mark of the Second Seal having been successfully broken.
He had made the right bet.
At the Heaven Dou Empire's royal box.
Xue Qinghe, the disguise Qian Renxue wore, had been sitting upright in her chair.
But when she saw the Clear Sky Hammer crash down and golden light flare, her pupils suddenly contracted.
She shot up from her chair, lips parting as she started to call out.
But just as the words reached her lips, she remembered who she was now.
She was the crown prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, not the young mistress of Spirit Hall.
Qian Renxue forced the cry back down.
Her hands clenched beneath her wide sleeves, her knuckles turning white with the force. Her long nails dug deep into her palms, drawing thin lines of blood.
Yet she seemed not to feel the pain as she stared at the center of the dust cloud.
At the very top of Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong had also risen to her feet.
She held her scepter in one hand. Her stunning face betrayed no emotion, making it impossible to tell what she was feeling.
Seeing this, Chrysanthemum Douluo immediately stepped closer and lowered his voice.
"Your Holiness the Pope, that Gu Sheng..."
Bibi Dong raised a hand, cutting Yue Guan off.
Her eyes remained fixed on the cloud of dust below, which had yet to disperse, as she tried to see what had happened inside.
The tens of thousands of spectators in the stands could no longer contain themselves.
The crowd surged to its feet, every neck craned as people strained to make out the final state of the battlefield.
In the Heaven Dou Empire's royal box, Xue Ye braced both hands on the table and leaned forward, his expression grave.
In the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's box, Ning Fengzhi gripped his scepter tightly. Even his usually refined face was tense.
The leading instructors from the major Soul Master Academies and representatives of all the factions rose to their feet, their gazes fixed on the same spot.
Under the anxious gaze of tens of thousands of people,
the dust cloud at the center of the arena finally began to disperse in a gentle breeze.
The moment they saw what lay on the field, the entire arena fell into deathly silence.
A massive crater had opened in the center of the arena.
Gu Sheng lay motionless in a pile of rubble at its center, his eyes closed.
His dark robes were torn to shreds, hanging from him in strips.
A large, charred patch covered his chest, proof that he had borne the brunt of the attack.
His exposed skin was covered with wounds of all sizes, and blood stained the rubble beneath him.
He lay there without moving. Even the rise and fall of his chest was barely perceptible.
"Did he win?"
Someone in the stands swallowed and asked in a quiet voice.
"D-did he die?"
"Obviously! That was the Weapon Soul Avatar unleashed by seven Soul Ancestors combining their strength! Even a high-ranked Soul Emperor would die on the spot from an attack like that. How could a boy like him possibly withstand it?"
The murmurs grew louder.
At the edge of the crater,
Tang San knelt on both knees, gasping for breath.
He gripped the handle of the Clear Sky Hammer and planted it headfirst into the ground, using it to prop up his swaying body.
The enormous Clear Sky Hammer had shrunk back to its original size.
After forcing himself to unleash the Weapon Soul Avatar beyond his level, he had endured an energy impact his body could not bear.
Spiderweb-like cracks now covered the black hammer's surface.
The Soul Power inside Tang San had been completely drained. He could not squeeze out even a trace.
Exhaustion weighed on his body. All he wanted was to collapse and sleep, never minding anything else.
But he did not close his eyes.
He forced himself to stay conscious and stared at Gu Sheng, who lay still at the bottom of the crater.
One second.
Two seconds.
Ten seconds passed.
Gu Sheng still lay quietly among the rubble, showing no response.
At the sight, the tension finally drained from Tang San's face.
An irrepressible surge of joy rose in his heart.
He had won.
He had really knocked down that arrogant monster!
Tang San turned to look at Xiao Wu, who had also fallen to the ground in the distance. His lips pulled into a weak but triumphant smile.
"Xiao Wu..."
Tang San's voice was hoarse and trembling.
"Did you see? I beat him."
"I avenged you!"
With those words, Tang San could no longer hold himself up. He toppled over into the ruins along with the Clear Sky Hammer, its surface covered in cracks.
In the VIP box,
when Qian Renxue heard Tang San's words and saw Gu Sheng lying lifeless in the crater, her heart clenched sharply.
Her clenched fingers tightened further, her knuckles turning deathly pale from the lack of blood. Blood trickled through her fingers and fell onto the red carpet.
Before the Papal Throne at the very top,
Bibi Dong looked at the scene in the crater. Her eyelids lowered, and she slowly closed her eyes. No one knew what the iron-fisted pope was thinking.
In stark contrast to the lifeless atmosphere on Spirit Hall's side,
a deafening roar of cheers burst from Shrek Academy's staging area after a moment of stunned silence.
Flender excitedly grabbed Liu Erlong and pulled her into a hug.
Zhao Wuji slapped his thigh hard, his eyes reddening.
Yu Xiaogang's face was pale, but he too wore a proud expression.
"We won!"
"We won! Shrek won!"
Several instructors shouted and yelled without a care for their dignity as they rushed toward the center of the arena.
"Champions!"
"We're the champions of the Continent-wide Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament!"
Shrek Academy's cheers rang out all the more sharply across the silent arena, yet like sparks fanning into a wildfire, they quickly ignited the spirits of the Heaven Dou Empire's delegation.
A genuine smile spread across Xue Ye's face.
No matter what, the Heaven Dou Empire had claimed this supreme honor.
The referee swallowed.
He looked at the injured strewn across the ground and at Gu Sheng, who lay motionless in the crater.
He knew this unprecedentedly brutal final was finally about to come to an end.
The referee drew a deep breath and raised the Amplifying Soul Tool in his hand once more.
He lifted his right hand high, ready to announce the final winner to the entire continent.
Just then,
the referee's raised arm froze in midair.
His grip tightened around the Amplifying Soul Tool, squeezing it until it gave a faint creak.
Every muscle in the referee's body was taut.
He could neither raise his hand nor lower it.
What was going on?
What had happened??
Everyone was utterly bewildered,
as a gust of wind swept across the ruins, kicking up clouds of dust that struck the referee's face. Yet he did not dare so much as blink.
In the vast stands, more than twenty thousand spectators craned their necks.
The Spirit City arena was so quiet that a needle could have been heard dropping to the ground.
In front of the Heaven Dou Empire's royal box,
Xue Ye held a delicate celadon teacup, his arm frozen in midair.
The old emperor had even forgotten to set the tea back on the table.
The scalding tea sloshed gently, spilling a few drops onto his luxurious robe, but Xue Ye did not notice at all.
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