Dai Mubai struggled to get back to his feet, but both arms trembled violently. The bone-deep pain made him realize that his opponent's strength was on an entirely different level.
Meanwhile,
Zhu Zhuqing knew nothing of the change on the main battlefield.
With Ning Rongrong's boost, her speed had reached its limit. She crossed the Imperial Fighting Team's line of defense in almost the blink of an eye.
Right in front of her was Ye Lingling, the frail-looking Nine Heart Begonia Soul Master.
Ye Lingling seemed not to have reacted at all. A trace of panic appeared on her cool, pretty face, and she instinctively took a step back.
"Got her!"
Zhu Zhuqing was delighted.
This was the duty of an agility-type Soul Master. This was the speed of the Hell Spirit Cat!
The sharp claws at her fingertips gleamed coldly as her First Soul Ring lit up.
"Hell Stab!"
Her black silhouette leaped high into the air, claws aimed straight at Ye Lingling's shoulder. She planned to knock her right off the stage.
However,
just as her claws came within half a foot of Ye Lingling—
Something was wrong!
Alarm bells rang in Zhu Zhuqing's mind.
She instinctively tried to change her move, but she was still in midair and had nowhere to push off from.
The next second,
a warm, broad hand reached out of thin air without warning and seized the black tail behind her—the one she used to keep her balance—with uncanny precision.
Smack.
The grip was rock-solid.
Zhu Zhuqing's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt. She stopped in midair as if someone had hit pause.
The tremendous inertia made her feel as if she were about to cough up blood.
How was this possible?!
Zhu Zhuqing was horrified.
Wasn't Dai Mubai holding Qin Feng off up front?
And with Ning Rongrong's boost, her speed was already close to a Soul Ancestor's. How could someone approach her without a sound and grab her tail?
She struggled to turn her head and look in the direction of the hand.
What met her gaze was a handsome face wearing a lazy smile.
It was Qin Feng.
He stood half a step behind her, looking entirely at ease.
He seemed as if he hadn't just sent Dai Mubai flying and then crossed dozens of meters in an instant to appear here.
"So this is the Hell Spirit Cat?"
Qin Feng held her long black tail and gently rubbed it with his fingers.
The sensation was remarkably unusual. It wasn't furry like a cat's coat; instead, through her tight leather outfit came a slick, soft feel with astonishing resilience.
"So it really is a cat's tail? I thought it was some kind of decorative accessory."
As he spoke, he couldn't resist giving it a curious squeeze.
"Mm..."
A tingling sensation like an electric current instantly traveled from the base of her tail throughout her body.
The unprecedented, strange sensation made Zhu Zhuqing lose control of her voice. An intensely embarrassing moan slipped from her throat.
Her cool, fair face turned visibly red in an instant, like a ripe apple.
She hurriedly clapped her free hand over her mouth. Her beautiful eyes were filled with humiliation and disbelief.
A tail was one of the most sensitive parts of a beast-type Martial Soul user, as well as key to maintaining balance.
Now that Qin Feng was holding and wantonly playing with hers, the feeling was worse than being killed.
"L-let... let go of me!"
Humiliated and furious, Zhu Zhuqing thrashed violently, trying to break free of his grip.
She tried to activate a Soul Skill and counterattack, but the moment Qin Feng tightened his hold even slightly, a sensation of weakness washed over her. The Soul Power inside her scattered, and she couldn't gather it at all.
Ye Lingling was still dazed.
Qin Feng's trick of appearing out of thin air, followed by the way he had instantly subdued Zhu Zhuqing, was completely beyond the Nine Heart Begonia Soul Master's comprehension.
Only when his lazy voice sounded beside her did she come back to herself.
"Are you all right?"
As Qin Feng spoke, he didn't release the black cat tail in his grasp. He merely turned his head slightly to look at the girl beside him, who was still shaken.
Ye Lingling instinctively shook her head. Her eyes, which usually held a hint of melancholy, now shone with something new.
For that brief moment, she had truly thought she was about to be knocked off the stage.
"Good, as long as you're all right."
Qin Feng replied casually.
Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing, dangling in his hand, was so humiliated she could have died.
She was an agility-type Soul Master, yet someone had grabbed her most vulnerable spot as if she were a chick. Worse, he was flirting with another woman and acting as though she didn't exist.
"Let go!"
Zhu Zhuqing cried out. Her usually cool voice turned sharp with humiliation and fury.
She suddenly twisted at the waist, forcing herself to turn halfway around in midair. Her hands curled into claws, and a ghostly glimmer shone at her fingertips.
It was her self-created combat technique, Hell Spirit Claw.
Though not as powerful as a Soul Skill, at such close range it was enough to rip steel apart.
Her razor-sharp claws slashed toward Qin Feng's wrist.
Qin Feng didn't so much as lift an eyelid. He simply gave the tail in his grasp another gentle squeeze, as if kneading dough.
This time, his fingertips traced the line of her tailbone and applied a little deft pressure.
"Ah—"
A pained cry slipped uncontrollably from Zhu Zhuqing's throat.
It didn't sound like a scream of injury. Instead, it carried a soft, trembling sweetness that made one's face burn.
Her fierce Hell Spirit Claw instantly fell apart. Zhu Zhuqing went limp, as though her spine had been pulled out, and could no longer hold an attacking stance.
Her once jade-white face was now so red it looked ready to drip.
Dai Mubai saw the entire scene from not far away.
"Bastard!"
Dai Mubai's eyes instantly turned bloodshot. The veins on his forehead bulged like writhing earthworms.
That was his fiancée!
Sure, he had run off to Shrek Academy to carouse and avoid the royal family's power struggle, and he had never truly touched Zhu Zhuqing. But in name, she was his woman.
He hadn't even held her hand, and Qin Feng was playing with her tail in front of tens of thousands of people?
No man could endure being cuckolded like this!
His reason snapped completely.
"Qin Feng! I'll kill you!"
Dai Mubai let out a roar like a beast.
He couldn't care less about coordinating with his team. His Third Soul Ring blazed again, and his body, already in the White Tiger Vajra Transformation state, swelled even larger.
It was an explosive surge beyond his limits, fueled by rage.
His White Tiger Protection Barrier flared to its fullest, its golden shield enveloping him. Like a golden cannonball, he charged at Qin Feng with the force of someone prepared to die alongside him.
Qin Feng watched the charging golden-haired tiger and curled his lip.
His left hand still held Zhu Zhuqing's tail. He simply freed his right hand.
There was no unnecessary movement, and he didn't release his Martial Soul.
He didn't even shift his feet.
Just as Dai Mubai's tiger claw, powerful enough to shatter stone tablets and split boulders, was about to strike his chest, Qin Feng's right hand shot out like lightning.
Smack.
A sharp crack rang out.
That hand, which didn't look especially thick, pierced straight through the White Tiger Protection Barrier and clamped around Dai Mubai's throat.
Dai Mubai's charge came to an abrupt halt.
The sudden shift from extreme motion to complete stillness sent his blood and Qi churning wildly. He felt so sick he could have vomited.
His eyes widened in terror as he realized that the strength he had always prided himself on was as helpless against this man as an infant facing an adult.