Qin Feng didn't even need to call out the name of his Soul Skill.
He simply thrust one palm forward.
The sky-filling Thunderbolt, raging wildly, met that force—and in an instant, it melted and crumbled like snow beneath the blazing sun.
There was no suspense.
The seemingly invincible web of lightning collapsed outright.
The terrifying force of his palm pressed on, crashing straight into Yu Tianheng's Dragon-Transformed body.
Bang!
Yu Tianheng felt a force like mountains crashing down upon him. Before he could even cry out, he was sent flying like a cannonball.
He traced a miserable arc through the air, soaring dozens of meters before crashing heavily onto the grass outside the Soul Fighting Arena.
One move.
Instant defeat.
The entire arena fell deathly silent.
Only after a long while did someone manage to swallow.
Yu Tianheng lay on the grass. The Dragon Transformation had been forcibly dispelled, and every part of his body was in agony. Even moving a finger was a struggle.
But he couldn't spare a thought for the pain. He could only stare blankly at the sky.
He had lost.
Lost completely.
And he could feel that Qin Feng had held back at the last moment.
If Qin Feng hadn't pulled his strength, that one palm would have shattered all his internal organs.
Dugu Yan watched the young man onstage withdraw his Martial Soul, his expression utterly unruffled. Her heart was racing.
"Qin Feng..."
At that moment, his name was branded deep in her heart.
Strong.
Far too strong.
His strength wasn't merely a matter of overwhelming superiority in rank. He had crushed Yu Tianheng in every way.
Ye Lingling was also unable to come back to herself for a long while.
She watched Qin Feng's back. The trace of disdain and embarrassment she'd felt because of the diary had long since vanished.
In its place was a stirring unlike anything she'd ever felt before.
The members of the Heaven Dou Royal Team all lowered their heads. Not one of them dared show the slightest trace of arrogance anymore.
The strong were respected.
That was the eternal truth of the Soul Master World.
A moment later, Ye Lingling hurried to Yu Tianheng's side and released her Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul. A gentle white light enveloped his body.
Under the healing of the number-one healing Martial Soul, Yu Tianheng soon regained the ability to move.
He stood up and looked toward Qin Feng with a complicated expression. Then he took a deep breath and clasped his hands in a salute.
"Thank you for holding back."
Qin Feng stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly:
"Among your peers, you're already exceptional. It's just a pity you ran into me."
If he'd said that before the fight, everyone would have thought he was bragging.
Now, though, no one thought there was anything wrong with it.
Yu Tianheng gave a bitter laugh.
He had always thought of himself as heaven's favored son, the best student in the academy.
Today's fight had nearly crushed his spirit.
But then he thought it over. Losing to a monster with a ten-thousand-year fourth ring didn't seem all that embarrassing.
"A bet's a bet."
Yu Tianheng removed the badge on his chest that represented his position as captain and solemnly offered it to Qin Feng.
"Strength comes first. The capable should lead! From now on, you're the captain of the Heaven Dou Royal Team."
Qin Feng looked at the badge and raised an eyebrow.
"I'm supposed to be captain during a trial? Isn't that a bit much?"
He'd only planned to get himself a spot as a regular team member. He hadn't expected to have to take charge of the whole lot of them.
Hearing that, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling couldn't help rolling their eyes.
Did this guy even remember he was here for a trial?
He'd gone all out and knocked Yu Tianheng out with one move, and now he was pretending to be innocent?
Yu Tianheng was silent for a moment, then said firmly:
"There's nothing wrong with it. Only by following the strongest can the team go further."
With that, he shoved the badge into Qin Feng's hand, then turned and walked toward the rest area, his figure looking somewhat forlorn.
After taking a few steps, he stopped and glanced back.
"For the rest of the handover and the team's records, ask Dugu Yan. She's the vice-captain."
Then he left without looking back.
Half an hour later.
The captain's office of the Heaven Dou Royal Team.
In the spacious, brightly lit room, Qin Feng sat in the large chair that had once belonged to Yu Tianheng, flipping through the team members' records.
Sunlight fell across his profile through the window, outlining his sharply defined features.
Dugu Yan sat on the sofa opposite him, her beautiful eyes fixed on Qin Feng without blinking.
They were full of curiosity and scrutiny.
"I never thought Qin Feng would be this strong..."
She muttered to herself.
The Qin Feng in the diary was a lecher with a mind full of dirty thoughts, but there was no denying his strength in person.
And...
Dugu Yan had to admit, there was something rather handsome about the way he seriously studied the records.
Especially when she recalled the way he'd knocked Yu Tianheng out with a single move on the arena, Dugu Yan felt her heart start to race.
"Yanyan."
Just then, Ye Lingling, sitting beside her, leaned close to her ear and whispered, her voice faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"Look, aren't his legs pretty long, too?"
"By the standards of that 'must-eat list' he mentioned in his diary, he'd make the list, wouldn't he?"
Dugu Yan froze for a moment, then instinctively followed Ye Lingling's gaze.
Beneath the desk, Qin Feng's long legs were stretched out casually. They really were well-proportioned and strong.
Boom!
Dugu Yan's face flushed all the way to her ears.
She remembered the diary's brazen description of Ye Lingling's legs, as well as the teasing remarks about her figure.
Now that Ye Lingling had teased her about it, her embarrassment exploded.
"Lingling! You're awful!"
Dugu Yan pinched the soft flesh at Ye Lingling's waist in mortified annoyance, then hastily looked away from Qin Feng.
The Education Committee hall of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
"What? Yu Tianheng lost to a new student?"
The speaker was Meng Shenji, the chief of the Education Committee. This Soul Douluo, who usually remained unruffled even if a mountain collapsed before him, now had a trembling mustache.
Bai Baoshan and Zhilin, seated beside him, exchanged stunned looks. Neither could hide the shock in their eyes.
That was Yu Tianheng.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's painstakingly cultivated third-generation leader, hailed as Heaven Dou Royal Academy's most gifted student in a hundred years.
"How is that possible? I've never heard of this Qin Feng in the Soul Master World."
Zhilin furrowed his brows. As a Heaven Dou Grade teacher, he knew the Empire's geniuses like the back of his hand, yet he couldn't recall the slightest thing about this young man.
Across from the three of them, a middle-aged man in an elegant tailcoat set down his teacup.
He was Luo Cheng, the head of the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.
Luo Cheng wore a professional smile, but his shrewd eyes gleamed with the same astonishment.
"Esteemed members of the Education Committee, it's absolutely true. Just now, your precious Yu Tianheng was knocked out with one move. He couldn't even withstand it with his strongest defense after Dragon Transformation."
"One move?!"
Bai Baoshan cried out in shock. His bulk shook along with his trembling body.