On the arena, Dai Huabin knelt where he was, head bowed, his golden hair hiding his expression.
Zhu Lu lay unconscious not far away.
In a corner of the spectator stands, a middle-aged man in the Inner Academy's dark red uniform thoughtfully rubbed his chin and murmured something to the companion beside him.
His companion, a woman who looked to be under thirty, nodded and jotted down a few words in her notebook.
The Freshman Assessment continued.
After Mu Chen's trio crushed Dai Huabin in the first round, the atmosphere throughout Freshman Class One changed.
Some had still doubted Huo Yuhao's strength, figuring that a One-Ring Soul Master with only fourteen levels of Soul Power had made it this far only by clinging to powerful teammates.
But after watching that match, everyone fell silent.
They had understood that Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing wasn't support—it was the command center.
Without his predictions and sensory coverage, Wang Dong's Light Butterfly couldn't have intercepted the opponents' routes so precisely every time, and Mu Chen's attacks couldn't have struck the opponents' weakest points so consistently.
The three of them were one unit. Remove any one of them, and their combat strength would take a serious hit.
As for Mu Chen's performance in the arena, it left every opponent with one undeniable fact: a forty-five-level Soul Ancestor with four Soul Rings—yellow, purple, purple, and black—could smash through White Tiger Vajra Transformation in three strikes and defeat the Martial Soul Fusion Skill Hell White Tiger all by himself.
He simply wasn't on the same level as the freshmen.
"Fight Mu Chen? Forget it. We're better off saving our strength for the next match." No one knew who had first said it, but it soon became the unspoken consensus among all the competing teams.
In the second round, they faced a team from Freshman Class Three.
All three opponents were Soul Grandmasters just over level twenty, with a conventional lineup: one Power Attack, one Agility Attack, and one support.
Before the match began, the opposing team captain stared at Mu Chen, his lips trembling for a long while before he finally managed, "Student Mu Chen, please go easy on us."
Mu Chen nodded, then ended the match in twenty seconds.
He didn't use a single Soul Skill. He relied purely on footwork and movement, then struck with the Trident—one hit per opponent.
The other team didn't even have time to form up before all three were sent off the arena.
The third round was against a team from Freshman Class Five.
The opponents had learned their lesson. As soon as the match began, they all retreated to open up the distance, hoping to wear Mu Chen down with long-range Soul Skills. The strategy was sound, but they overlooked one crucial point: Mu Chen had not only Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, but also Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing.
Every long-range attack's trajectory was marked out clearly in the sensory map. Mu Chen weaved through the barrage as if taking a stroll in the rain, not a single attack so much as brushing his clothes.
Once he reached the opposing team, he sent them off the arena with one strike each.
The third-round match took fifteen seconds.
In the fourth round, the opponents forfeited.
When the news reached the waiting area, Wang Dong was drinking water.
He spat out a mouthful, choked and coughed, then doubled over laughing. "Th-they forfeited? They didn't even dare to fight?"
Huo Yuhao laughed too and shook his head helplessly. "If I were them, I wouldn't fight either. They knew they'd be crushed the moment they stepped up. Better to save their strength."
Mu Chen sat on a bench in the waiting area, eyes closed as he circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
He didn't laugh or gloat. These victories had all been within his expectations. A transmigrator with the mind of an adult and the strength of a forty-five-level Soul Ancestor would have a problem if he couldn't beat a group of freshmen just over level twenty.
His goal had never been to win the Freshman Assessment. He had his sights set much farther ahead.
Wang Dong, however, didn't see it that way.
Sitting beside Mu Chen, she tilted her head and watched his profile as he cultivated with his eyes closed.
His eyelashes were long. As they rested quietly, he seemed less stern than usual and carried more of the softness a boy his age should have had.
Wang Dong watched for a long time, until Huo Yuhao coughed beside her. She suddenly snapped back to her senses and quickly turned away, the tips of her ears red enough to drip blood.
"W-what are you coughing for?" She glared at Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao looked innocent. "My throat was itchy."
"If your throat's itchy, go drink some water!"
Mu Chen opened one eye and glanced at Wang Dong, then at Huo Yuhao. He closed his eye again, the corners of his mouth lifting by the slightest, almost imperceptible degree.
The fifth round was the semifinals.
Their opponents were Freshman Class Two's top-seeded team. All three were Soul Grandmasters above level twenty-five, and their captain was a level-twenty-seven Power Attack Soul Master with the Blazing Lion Martial Soul. That made him quite a formidable opponent among the freshmen.
Before the match began, the Blazing Lion captain clasped his fists toward Mu Chen on the arena. "Mu Chen, I know I can't beat you. But I want to see if I can make you use a Soul Skill."
He spoke frankly, without provocation or servility. He was simply a warrior who wanted to prove himself before a stronger opponent. Mu Chen looked at him and nodded. "All right."
The match began.
The Blazing Lion captain's tactics had clearly been carefully planned. Rather than spreading out, the three stood close together in a triangular formation, no more than two meters apart.
This allowed them to cover one another and greatly reduced the space Mu Chen could use to pick them off one by one.
"First Soul Skill, Blazing Charge!" The captain struck first, turning into a ball of flame as he charged straight at Mu Chen.
At the same time, his two teammates moved in from either side. The Agility Attack Soul Master on the left was extremely fast, while the Control Soul Master on the right released vines in an attempt to restrict Mu Chen's movements.
Their coordination was seamless, and their timing nearly perfect.
Mu Chen gave them a mental rating: not bad. Their teamwork was clearly a cut above Dai Huabin's approach of having everyone fight on their own.
But it was still only "not bad."
He didn't even reveal his Soul Rings. Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track activated.
His figure flickered in place, leaving behind an afterimage caught in the vines, while his real body appeared behind the Control Soul Master.
The butt of the Trident lightly tapped the back of his neck. A hidden force pierced through his bones, and the Control Soul Master crumpled without so much as a groan.
The Agility Attack Soul Master on the left was startled. He spun around, trying to put some distance between them.
But Mu Chen was faster. Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track was already one of the Tang Sect Secret Arts' top movement techniques, and with Mu Chen's level-forty-five Soul Power driving it, his speed had reached a level that would leave opponents of the same rank in despair.
The Agility Attack Soul Master saw a flash of blue before the shaft of the Trident swept across his chest.
He flew like a fallen leaf caught up by a wave, flipped twice through the air, and landed on the soft mat at the edge of the arena.
The Blazing Lion captain was halfway through his charge when he realized both his teammates were already down.
He gritted his teeth but didn't retreat. His Second Soul Ring lit up, and the phantom of a Blazing Lion roared behind him as his flaming fist, wreathed in scorching air, hurtled toward Mu Chen's face.
Mu Chen didn't dodge.
He extended his left hand.
Mysterious Jade Hand.
That slender, fair hand caught the flaming fist directly.