As his thoughts raced, Su Chen faced the terrifying aura Zhou Yi had been building up—a harbinger of a volcanic eruption—and knew he could no longer hide it.
He needed to reveal enough to make Zhou Yi, and the Shrek higher-ups who might be keeping an eye on the matter, think twice.
"Buzz—!"
No more suppressing it. No more hiding!
Brilliant, dazzling golden holy light, warm and divine, burst from Su Chen's body like a sun that had been held back for far too long!
The radiance instantly dispelled the heat and oppression brought by Zhou Yi's scarlet Soul Power, bathing the entire classroom in what felt like the sunlight of an early spring morning!
One pair, two pairs, three pairs! Six enormous, flawless white wings, their edges wreathed in golden light, burst open behind Su Chen! As they unfurled, a sacred, majestic, exalted aura swept through the room like a tide, meeting Zhou Yi's violent, scorching presence head-on!
At the same time, two Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet, pulsing gently.
The first Soul Ring was a deep purple! A Thousand-Year Soul Ring!
The second Soul Ring... what color was that?!
Brilliant! Dazzling! As if it had been cast from molten gold! It gave off an indescribable aura of nobility and power, transcending common sense and surpassing the color spectrum of ordinary Soul Rings!
"W-what is that Soul Ring?! I've never seen a color like that!" a new student cried out, eyes wide as saucers.
"Forget the color of the second Soul Ring for now! Look at his first one! Purple! A thousand years old! Class rep, I can't take this! I feel like I've been hit with a dimensionality reduction!" another student stammered, pointing at the Soul Ring beneath Su Chen's feet.
Even Zhou Yi, in the midst of her fury, couldn't stop her pupils from contracting sharply at the sight of Su Chen's Soul Ring Configuration. The anger on her face froze for a moment, replaced by shock.
"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring for the first... and the second Soul Ring... that color..." With all her experience, she had never seen—or even heard of—a golden Soul Ring! This was completely beyond the Soul Master World's understanding!
What kind of monster was this Su Chen?!
But the arrow was already on the string; it had to be released. The fierce look in Zhou Yi's eyes only deepened. No matter how strange he was, she had to crush his arrogance today!
"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring for your first, and a golden one for your second... You certainly have reason to be arrogant." Zhou Yi's voice was grave, but her anger at being challenged was stronger. "I take back what I said about expelling you. Now, obey my arrangements immediately and apologize to me. I may consider letting the past be the past."
"Otherwise..." Her gaze traveled upward, settling on the six outstretched wings behind Su Chen, radiant with sacred light, and the pure, powerful aura of holy light surrounding him. An almost impossible guess exploded in her mind like a clap of thunder!
"Th-this can't be..." For the first time, Zhou Yi's voice wavered, disbelief ringing through it. "Six-Winged Angel?!"
"No! That's impossible!" she blurted out, almost instinctively. "The Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul... how could it have all six wings at the Soul Grandmaster level?"
"According to the records, the number of wings this Martial Soul has should increase with its wielder's cultivation! Before the Soul Saint level, there should only be two wings! How can you..."
Yet the pure light, the sacred aura, the shape of those wings—identical to the descriptions in ancient texts—each one dealt a blow to her understanding.
When the other students heard the words "Six-Winged Angel," they froze as if under a spell, completely petrified, their minds blank.
"Six-Winged Angel?! The one the books say was the supreme Martial Soul of the Spirit Hall ten thousand years ago? The inheritance of the Angel God?!"
"Wasn't it lost long ago?! How could it show up here?!"
"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring for the first, a golden one for the second, and the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul... Mom, I think I've just seen a god..."
Wang Dong's mouth fell open, her pinkish-blue eyes filled with shock. She came from the Clear Sky Sect, so she knew this history even better than most.
Looking at the six splendid wings behind Su Chen and feeling their heart-stirring sacred aura, the little gloom she'd felt after losing to him suddenly faded.
So Su Chen's Martial Soul is the Six-Winged Angel... the legendary god-level Martial Soul... Wang Dong thought. She pursed her lips, sourly. No wonder I couldn't beat him... Maybe it really isn't that I'm bad. His Martial Soul is just way too broken!
Xiao Xiao had already developed full-on starry eyes. Clasping her hands over her heart, her little face flushed as she gazed at Su Chen, bathed in holy light, six wings spread behind him, handsome as a deity. She felt as if her heart were about to leap out of her chest.
She'd always been a sucker for good looks, and now that Su Chen had released his Martial Soul, the boost from his sacred, majestic bearing sent his charm through the roof!
Xiao Xiao felt the thread of her self-control about to snap. She wanted to rush over to him that very instant... but what little reason she had left, along with her fear of the Soul Emperor's pressure, kept her firmly in place.
After her brief shock, Zhou Yi's gaze quickly turned cold again, growing even more severe. She knew how significant the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul was, and she knew of the old grudges between Shrek, the Spirit Hall, and the Angel God.
But to be honest, ten thousand years had passed, and those grudges had long since faded. With Evil Soul Masters running rampant across the continent, the return of a Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul with its sacred attribute might not be a bad thing in the grand scheme of things.
But who was Zhou Yi? She was the "Iron-Blooded Hag," a believer in an iron fist, obsessed with control, and more concerned with saving face than anything! Su Chen had openly talked back to her, questioned her authority, and challenged her rules. Nothing could be more serious!
Even if he possessed a god-level Martial Soul, even if his talent was unparalleled throughout the ages, in Zhou Yi's class, anyone who didn't behave had to be taught a lesson!
"So what if it's the Six-Winged Angel?" Zhou Yi's voice was cold as ice, filled with fury held back to its breaking point. "No matter how gifted you are, if you don't know how to respect your teacher, you're nothing but an arrogant waste! Today, I'll teach you some proper manners on behalf of the academy!"
Before she'd even finished speaking, Zhou Yi's figure abruptly blurred!
"Boom!"
Scarlet Soul Power erupted like a volcano. She became a red bolt of lightning, too fast for the naked eye to follow, tearing through the air with a sharp crack as she crossed half the classroom in an instant!
The speed of a Soul Emperor was terrifying!
The crimson scales around her became even more solid. The fingers of her right hand grew three inches longer, dark-red claws covering their tips like metal, gleaming with a chilling edge and scorching heat. Wrapped in power that could tear through anything, they struck straight for Su Chen's chest!
Though she hadn't used a Soul Skill, that one claw contained the terrifying Soul Power of a Soul Emperor and the formidable strength of her Red Dragon Martial Soul. It was more than enough to rip through tempered steel and severely injure—or even kill—a Soul Ancestor-level Soul Master!
Against a Soul Grandmaster, she considered this "holding back." She only meant to teach him a lesson, not take his life—at least, that was what she told herself.
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