"Mu Chen." Dai Huabin spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but everyone on and beneath the arena could hear him. "I admit you're strong. A Soul Ancestor with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring—no one in the entire freshman class is your match."
He paused, his smile deepening. "But your taste in teammates is truly beyond reproach. Wang Dong is at least a Level 25 Soul Grandmaster, so she's just barely acceptable. But this one..."
He lifted his chin toward Huo Yuhao.
"Level 11? No, wait, Level 14 now? A One-Ring Soul Master whose Martial Soul is his eyes—a support-type detection specialist." Dai Huabin bit down hard on the words "support-type detection specialist," as if chewing on a joke. "The Freshman Assessment is a three-person team battle, and you brought along this dead weight. Are you afraid it'll be too easy to win, so you deliberately made things harder for yourself?"
Low laughter rippled beneath the arena.
Most of those laughing were Dai Huabin's lackeys, though a few were simply the sort who loved watching a spectacle.
More people frowned, feeling he had gone too far, but no one spoke up because of Dai Huabin's status.
Huo Yuhao stood where he was, his expression unchanged.
It had been three months. He had heard words like these many times.
Ever since the first day of school, countless people had questioned why he was allowed to team up with Mu Chen.
He had never tried to defend himself, because he knew that no verbal defense could match the force of strength.
But now, standing on the arena, singled out and humiliated in front of the entire year, his fingertips still trembled ever so slightly despite himself.
It wasn't anger. It was resentment.
Mu Chen noticed the tremor.
He turned to Huo Yuhao and asked something that sounded completely inexplicable to the people around them. "Yuhao, did you bring the grilled fish?"
Huo Yuhao froze for a moment. "I did. It's in my Storage Soul Tool."
"Good." Mu Chen nodded. "After this match, let's go grill fish on Snack Street."
Then he turned back to face Dai Huabin, the warmth in his blue eyes dropping to freezing point.
"Dai Huabin." His voice was calm, so calm it sounded like he was stating a fact. "You called my teammate dead weight. How about we make a wager?"
Dai Huabin narrowed his eyes. "What wager?"
"Whichever team loses, all three of them kneel on the arena and kowtow to the other team three times." Mu Chen's voice wasn't loud or soft, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "If I lose, the three of us will kowtow to you. If you lose, the three of you will kowtow to us."
The whole arena erupted.
Someone in the stands sucked in a sharp breath; someone else jumped to their feet in excitement.
In the world of Soul Masters, kowtowing was the greatest humiliation of all, more shameful than being knocked down a hundred times.
If the legitimate son of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion knelt and kowtowed in front of the entire academy, the mere thought of it was enough to leave everyone holding their breath.
Dai Huabin's expression changed.
He hadn't expected Mu Chen to go so far. He had only meant to humiliate Huo Yuhao and undermine Mu Chen's morale. But now his opponent had tossed the challenge back at him, in front of everyone. If he didn't dare accept, he'd be the one losing face.
Zhu Lu quietly said from behind him, "Huabin, don't be impulsive."
Dai Huabin ignored her.
His Evil Eyes stared fixedly at Mu Chen, as if trying to determine whether he was bluffing.
But in those blue eyes, he saw no hesitation—only an unquestionable certainty, the certainty that he would win.
"Fine." Dai Huabin forced the word through clenched teeth. "I'll take that bet."
Mu Chen nodded and turned to the referee. "Senior, you heard him."
The referee looked troubled. He glanced at Zhou Yi below the arena.
Zhou Yi pushed up her glasses with an expressionless face and gave a slight nod. The referee drew a deep breath, stepped back, and raised his right arm.
"Take your positions."
Mu Chen stepped back three paces and stood near the rear of the arena's center. Wang Dong was half a step to his left, and Huo Yuhao was one meter behind him on the right.
"Yuhao." Mu Chen received the Spiritual Detection Sharing Huo Yuhao sent through their minds, and a three-dimensional perception map of the entire arena unfolded in his mind.
He didn't speak aloud. Instead, he traced three paths across the perception map with his thoughts. "Leave Cui Yajie to me. I'll take her down in three seconds. Wang Dong, keep Zhu Lu occupied. Don't let her coordinate with Dai Huabin. We'll save Dai Huabin for last."
"Understood." A pinkish-blue glow had already lit in Wang Dong's palm.
"Got it." A faint golden light spread across Huo Yuhao's pupils.
Across from them, Dai Huabin's team had also taken formation. Dai Huabin stood in the center, Zhu Lu at the front left, and Cui Yajie at the rear right—a classic triangle formation of assault, agility, and control.
Three Soul Rings lit beneath Dai Huabin's feet, two yellow and one purple. The phantom of the Evil-Eyed White Tiger appeared behind him, white stripes rippling across its fur as a fierce, murderous aura swept outward.
Zhu Lu lowered her body, and two yellow Soul Rings lit up. The phantom of the Hell Spirit Cat stretched its limbs behind her. Her fingernails sharpened into blades, and her pupils narrowed to slits.
Cui Yajie's two Soul Rings lit up as well, both yellow. The phantom of a Nine-Tailed Fox swayed alluringly behind her, two fluffy tails unfurling as a faint, sweet fragrance filled the air.
"Begin!"
The referee dropped his arm and darted back to the edge of the arena.
Mu Chen moved.
No probing, no hesitation. Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track was already in motion the instant the referee's voice fell.
His figure vanished from where he stood, leaving not even an afterimage—only a faint swish of air.
Cui Yajie's pupils contracted sharply.
Her First Soul Ring lit up almost at the same moment. The Nine-Tailed Fox's control-type Soul Skill, Fox Charm, could bewitch an opponent's mind and leave them dazed for a brief moment. But she had forgotten two things.
First, Old Tang and Electrolux stood guard over Mu Chen's Sea of Consciousness. Any mental attack would be automatically dispelled the instant it entered the range of his awareness.
Second, she didn't have time to lock onto Mu Chen's position.
The bewitching light spread from Cui Yajie, sending pink ripples through the air.
But before those ripples had spread even half a meter, a cold halberd shaft was already pressed against the back of her neck.
No Soul Ring lit up. No Soul Skill was released.
It was nothing more than a simple, pure, unadorned thrust with the shaft of his halberd.
Cui Yajie's body went rigid. She could feel the cold, briny scent of the sea on the shaft seeping through her skin and into her veins, freezing her blood solid.
The Nine-Tailed Fox phantom thrashed wildly behind her as she tried to turn and unleash her Second Soul Skill, but Mu Chen gave her no chance.
The halberd shaft jolted, and a hidden force pierced to the bone.
Cui Yajie let out a muffled groan and crumpled. Her final thought before losing consciousness was: When did he get behind me?
From the start of the match to Cui Yajie's fall, less than two seconds had passed.
Dai Huabin's expression changed drastically.
He hadn't even seen Mu Chen's movements. All he saw was that his team's control-type Soul Master was already lying on the arena.