Federation Military's Three Giants - Yu Guanzhi

Sky Sea Grand Martial Arena, packed with people.

Thirty thousand spectators filled the circular stands to the brim. Academy banners of every color snapped in the wind, while cheers, discussions, and bookmakers shouting for bets to open merged into a deafening wave of noise.

Today was the second day of the Skysea Alliance Grand Tournament's exhibition matches, and also the most anticipated matchup on the schedule—the Shrek Academy representative team against Eastsea Academy's three-person team.

This matchup had not been announced until late last night. The moment the list was released, it caused an uproar throughout Skysea City.

Shrek Academy, the continent's number-one academy, a behemoth that had never fallen out of the tournament's top three in ten thousand years; Eastsea Academy, a bottom-tier second-rate academy whose best result in previous tournaments had been the second round.

Putting these two teams into the same exhibition match was less "balanced matchmaking" than locking a tiger and a rabbit in the same cage.

No one knew how much Federation backroom dealing lay behind it.

But everyone knew that today's match would either be a one-sided Shrek stomp or the greatest upset of this tournament.

At the very top level of the martial arena, VIP Box Number Three.

The location of this box had been carefully chosen—not in the most conspicuous central position, yet offering the best bird's-eye view in the entire arena.

Through the box's one-way glass, every corner of the stage could be seen clearly. From outside, however, the glass was merely a dark decorative wall.

The interior was simply and starkly furnished, without unnecessary decorations. There were only a few leather chairs, a rosewood tea table, and a communication Soul Tool on the table that could directly connect to the Federation's highest military channel.

Federation special commissioner Chen Huaiyuan reclined in a leather chair, an unlit cigar between his fingers. He was fifty-three this year and had served as a military adviser in the Federation Parliament for fifteen years. He had handled countless covert operations that could never see the light of day, yet the weight of today's "exhibition match" still ranked among the top three missions he had ever overseen.

Beside him sat Spirit Pagoda's representative, Lu Zheng—a stern-faced middle-aged man whose three silver stars gleamed coldly in the dim light of the box.

Opposite them sat two senior figures from the Skysea Alliance. One was alliance executive Sun Bo'an, his beard and hair streaked with white, his face ruddy. He looked like a friendly wealthy old man, but anyone who could sit in the position of Skysea Alliance executive for twelve full years was anything but simple at heart.

The other was Qin Lie, director of the alliance's Military Affairs Office. Having risen to the third-highest position in the alliance military system in his early thirties, he was widely recognized as the next candidate for military chief.

At that moment, Qin Lie frowned slightly, his gaze passing through the one-way glass to settle on the three figures on the stage. His fingers tapped unconsciously against the armrest.

"Shrek still doesn't know those three came from Sun Moon?" Qin Lie asked quietly.

"Not for now." Chen Huaiyuan lifted the cigar to his nose and inhaled its scent, still not lighting it. "Even if they knew, the list has already been announced. They're riding a tiger now."

"Shrek's reputation may not survive today intact." Sun Bo'an smiled as he raised his teacup. His tone made it sound like an insignificant matter, but a sharp glint flashed through his narrowed eyes.

Chen Huaiyuan did not answer. His gaze passed through the one-way glass and landed on the indifferent young man on the stage. Li Chen—that was the name in the files.

Pluto Martial Soul, pseudo four-ring Soul Ancestor, a blade secretly cultivated by the Leng Family. (Officially.)

His combat records occupied only a few sparse pages in the files, but the information recorded on every page was enough to make any knowledgeable Soul Master gasp.

Chen Huaiyuan had reviewed every evaluation report supplied by the Federation Intelligence Bureau. In the end, he had reached only one conclusion: this youth possessed limitless potential.

And now, that blade stood quietly on the left side of the stage, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, his expression as calm as if he were taking a stroll through his own backyard.

Behind him, Gu Yue and Na'er stood to either side, one with silver hair and the other golden, their long locks lifting slightly in the wind on the stage.

"How many resources did Spirit Pagoda spend cultivating these three?" Qin Lie suddenly asked.

Lu Zheng finally spoke, his voice low and curt. "No comment."

Qin Lie raised an eyebrow but did not press further.

Spirit Pagoda's cooperation with the Federation had always been top secret. Since he had risen to his position in the Military Affairs Office, he naturally understood what should and should not be asked.

But he knew full well—if Spirit Pagoda had willingly placed such trump cards on the Federation's chessboard, the price the Federation had paid could not have been small.

"Gentlemen," Chen Huaiyuan said, placing the cigar on the tea table and folding his hands over his knees, "the Federation's intentions are clear. Shrek Academy has been far too dominant in alliance tournaments in recent years, to the point of affecting the balance among all sides. This time, Shrek intended to use the Skysea Alliance Grand Tournament's exhibition matches as a springboard to further consolidate its influence within the alliance. The Federation's position is this—we cannot allow Shrek to stand alone at the top."

"So you found Sun Moon, and Sun Moon discussed it with the Leng Family before finding these three," Sun Bo'an said, blowing the foam off his tea. "You had them compete under Eastsea's banner and smash Shrek's nameplate in front of everyone."

"It is not about smashing their nameplate," Chen Huaiyuan corrected evenly, though every word carried immense weight. "It is about telling them that Shrek is not the only academy on the continent capable of cultivating top-tier geniuses."

Qin Lie suddenly chuckled, his laughter carrying an indescribable undertone. "Those old Shrek men are probably going to lose their tempers."

"They can lose their tempers all they want." Chen Huaiyuan picked up his cigar again, and this time finally lit it. "What the Federation wants from today's exhibition match is not a narrow victory, nor a valiant defeat. It is a stomp. A beautiful victory. A clean and decisive victory. A victory that lets everyone see clearly—Shrek's ten-thousand-year name is no longer an unshakable myth."

He exhaled a pale blue stream of smoke. It slowly rose through the dim light of the box, obscuring the expression on his face.

"As for this exhibition match, all you need to do is watch quietly. Then report everything you see today to your superiors exactly as it happened. Let them know the Federation made the right choice."

On the stage, the chief referee's raised right hand paused slightly beneath the afternoon sun before slashing down.

"Match begin!" The Shrek Seven's formation spread out the instant the match began, like precisely meshing gears. Shi Hao stepped forward, fully releasing his Rock Giant Spirit Martial Soul as four dark yellow stone shields rose from the ground. The Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda in Ning He's hands lit up with three successive layers of enhancement light, instantly raising the entire team's momentum.

Mo Chen's Shadow Spider Silk silently spread out, weaving a sensory web over the ground that covered the entire field. Feng Yu's Gale Shadow Hawk took flight, locking onto its targets from above.

Ye Xinglan held her sword across her chest, and the Stargod Sword gave a clear hum. Blue lightning burst around Yu Tianming, phantom dragon scales appeared, and his dragon eyes brimmed with proud fighting intent.

"Xu Lizhi, buff us first."

Everything proceeded according to the established tactics. The Shrek Seven stood like an airtight fortress, defense, control, support, and offense each fulfilling their own role.

Then Li Chen moved.

He took only one step.

The sound of his foot touching the ground was swallowed by the clamor from the stands, but at least five of the Shrek Seven held their breath at the same time. An icy, profound aura swept across the entire stage in an instant, silent and omnipresent, seeping into every corner.

It was not the pressure of Soul Power, nor the might released by a Martial Soul, but a deeper chill that touched instinct itself—the aura of death itself.

Yu Tianming's brow tightened. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul within him released a low roar, as though even it had developed fear in the face of that aura.

"Careful." He only had time to say those two words.

When Li Chen's second step fell, he had already appeared directly before Shrek's half of the field, less than thirty feet away from Shi Hao at the outermost perimeter.

Shi Hao's pupils shrank sharply. Instinctively, he stacked all four stone shields before him at once—the combined defense of those four shields was enough to withstand a full-force strike from a level-forty assault-type Soul Master head-on.

But Li Chen did not even look at him. The Lord of the Underworld's calm gaze passed over Shi Hao, over layers of Soul Tool defenses and Shrek's proud defensive formation, and settled on the empty space beyond them.

"Fate Verdict."

His voice was soft. Then he raised his right hand—no soul rings lit up, no roar of Soul Power erupted. He merely closed his hand lightly in the air, as if grasping something invisible.

Then he slashed downward with the back of his hand.

Shi Hao's four stone shields collapsed outward from within at the same time. The blue-gray rubble did not scatter in every direction, but silently turned to dust, trickling through his fingers.

They had not been destroyed. They had been erased.

"First."

Shi Hao's body suddenly went limp, and he dropped to one knee.

At some moment, the circulation of his Soul Power had frozen, as though something within him had lost the courage to continue moving the instant it heard the word "first." It was not the effect of any soul skill, but the gaze of the Death Law itself—a living creature had been looked at directly by the god of death. Nothing more.

Inside the VIP box, Qin Lie's tapping fingers abruptly stopped.

Sun Bo'an's hand, holding his teacup, hung in midair. The tea inside rippled faintly. Lu Zheng remained expressionless, his gaze fixed firmly on the tall figure on the stage.

Only Chen Huaiyuan slowly exhaled smoke, the curve of his lips appearing and vanishing within the haze. This was what he had wanted to see.

Not a prolonged struggle, not a deadlock, not evenly matched opponents, but a stomp—clean, decisive, and without suspense.

"Shi Hao!" Yu Tianming roared as the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul fully erupted without reservation. Ning He lit the third layer of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda, precisely placing a Soul Power enhancement on Yu Tianming.

The Soul Power of a level-forty battle Soul Ancestor surged out like raging wind and towering waves. Blue lightning exploded around him, and phantom dragon scales emerged.

First soul skill, Thunderbolt; second soul skill, Thunder Dragon Tail Whip; third soul skill, Thunder Dragon Descent—all three soul skills were unleashed within a single breath, sealing off the upper, middle, and lower routes at once.

Li Chen did not dodge.

He raised his right hand, fingers slightly spread.

The instant his fingertips touched the lightning, the thick blue bolts seemed to have all their power drained away—not absorbed, not canceled, but slowed and dimmed the instant they touched his fingers, until they silently went out like candles burned to the end.

One after another, all three soul skills dissipated on their own before reaching that hand, as though their "fate" had been judged in advance at that moment—not defeated, but declared nonexistent.

Yu Tianming's vertical dragon pupils contracted sharply. He watched his lightning crumble inch by inch at Li Chen's fingertips. He watched that person pass through the glow of the current and steadily press his right hand against Yu Tianming's chest.

The palm strike was light, yet the terrifying force sent him flying. His feet plowed two deep trenches through the ground as he smashed through the shattered remains of the stone shields behind him, finally crashing heavily into the protective barrier at the edge of the stage. The barrier's energy fluctuations shook violently, and the Soul Engineers maintaining it outside the field changed expression at the same time.

"Second."

Li Chen had not even withdrawn his hand when his gaze passed over the fallen Yu Tianming toward his next target.

Under Fate Verdict's absolute suppression, Yu Tianming's Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul was like an ant facing death itself, unqualified even to resist.

"He—he didn't use a soul skill just now!" The technical commentator's voice trembled as he stared at the Soul Power monitoring crystal screen before him, his fingers shaking so badly he could barely press the buttons. "There was absolutely no detectable soul skill fluctuation—the data from the blow that sent Yu Tianming flying—"

Behind the glass of VIP Box Number Three, Chen Huaiyuan set his cigar on the edge of the ashtray and folded his hands over his knees.

A trace of an expression finally appeared on Lu Zheng's stern face—his right eyebrow lifted slightly, the only physical gesture he ever showed when expressing surprise.

At some point, Qin Lie had already stood up. Both hands braced against the tea table, he leaned forward, nearly pressing his face against the one-way glass.

And the battle on the stage continued. No, it could no longer be called a "battle."

Xu Lizhi had not yet thrown the bun in his hand. The spider silk at Mo Chen's fingertips had not even formed before the aura of death forced it back into his palm. Feng Yu flapped desperately in the air, only to discover that no matter how he flew, he could not escape the range locked by that indifferent gaze.

Shrek's proud team coordination shattered soundlessly before absolute overwhelming strength, like a carefully built sandcastle crashing headlong into a tsunami.

Then Ye Xinglan drew her sword.

The Stargod Sword's third soul skill—Starfall Like Rain. Sword light filled the sky like countless meteors falling at once, every streak locking onto a vital point around Li Chen. This was Ye Xinglan's proudest area-of-effect soul skill, dense enough to force any opponent of the same rank to retreat.

Yet while the sword light was still flying through the air, she heard an indifferent voice.

"Not a bad sword."

Li Chen turned his face amid the countless sword lights. Then he raised his right hand and loosely curled his fingers.

No soul rings, no incantation, no external manifestation of energy.

Yet something gathered in his palm—black, pure black, deeper than the darkest night and heavier than the most lightless ocean floor.

It was not color itself, but the meaning carried by color. The boundary between life and death, the beginning of creation, the end of destruction.

The blackness in Li Chen's palm collapsed inward. Space itself rippled with visible distortions in that instant.

Then a sword appeared in his hand.

It was a completely black longsword, slim and straight, without any patterns or superfluous lines.

Its edge was so thin that it seemed to have no thickness at all, yet it was so sharp that even the air instinctively avoided it the instant it touched the blade.

No light reflected from the sword's body—not because it did not reflect light, but because light itself was absorbed the instant it touched the blade.

This was Pluto's sword, not forged but condensed from the Law of Death itself. It was not matter, not energy, but a pure "meaning"—death.

Ye Xinglan's pupils shrank sharply.

The dense Starfall Like Rain sword energy, like mercury spilling across the ground, entered the invisible domain around the black sword and seemed to be nudged by an unseen hand. Every streak was gently diverted in all directions, striking the stone floor and protective barrier in rapid, crisp bursts. Not a single blade of sword energy touched Li Chen's clothes.

Li Chen took one step forward, and the Pluto Sword lightly spun a sword flourish in his hand.

That flourish was extraordinarily simple, a basic movement any Soul Master just learning swordsmanship could perform. But

within the circle traced by the Pluto Sword, Ye Xinglan saw something that chilled her to the bone—this was not a contest of swordsmanship, not a question of who was faster, more precise, or possessed deeper Soul Power.

This was the absolute suppression of the sword path itself. Before the Pluto Sword, every mundane blade in the world was rotten wood.

"You're not good enough."

Li Chen's voice was as calm as if he were commenting on a beginner's homework in class.

Before his words had faded, the Pluto Sword had already risen.

First sword, the tip tapped lightly. The Stargod Sword that had accompanied Ye Xinglan for years let out a mournful cry. The countless starlight specks covering its blade were erased the instant they touched the black sword, and its silver-white blade turned into a dull, lusterless dark gray.

It had not broken, nor had it been shattered. The sword itself had been stripped of life, and even its sword soul released a dying wail in that instant. Ye Xinglan lowered her head and saw only her empty palm.

Second sword, the flat of the blade swept across and landed lightly on Ye Xinglan's shoulder.

There was no Soul Power impact, no penetrating force, but at the instant the flat of the sword touched her body, Ye Xinglan felt all the blood and energy in her body freeze for a moment.

It was as though a hand from the Underworld had lightly gripped her heart. It did not hurt, but it sent a bone-deep chill through her from scalp to toes. She staggered back, her legs turning weak.

Third sword, the tip stopped three inches before Ye Xinglan's brow.

It did not pierce down. It merely tapped lightly in the air. Sword energy swept over the top of her head, silently cutting through the silver hairpin that bound her hair. Her long hair spilled loose, covering half her face.

As the tip withdrew, the black sword swept horizontally before her eyes. It moved extremely slowly, slowly enough for Ye Xinglan to clearly see her own eyes reflected in the blade.

Then she watched all the pride, all the confidence, all the glory belonging to the Stargod Sword's inheritor in those eyes crumble inch by inch within that slow sword trace.

The three swords ended, and Li Chen stood with his sword sheathed. The Pluto Sword turned lightly in his hand, its tip angled toward the ground.

From beginning to end, not one sword had truly landed on Ye Xinglan, but Ye Xinglan understood better than anyone—she had lost.

She had not lost in Soul Power, speed, or soul skills, things that could be measured, but in the sword path itself.

"Your talent in the sword path is not bad," Li Chen said. "It's just—"

He held the Pluto Sword horizontally before him. The blackness on its blade seemed to deepen at that moment. His voice remained calm, as if stating an eternal law.

"A sword is a tool for killing. And death is my rule. Within my rule, every weapon must remember who the king is."

Those words spread throughout the entire arena. The two commentators at the commentary desk fell silent at once, because the data displayed on the Soul Power monitoring crystal screens before them had completely surpassed their understanding.

Ye Xinglan stood on the stage, her shoulders trembling slightly as tears silently slid from her eyes. Not from fear, nor humiliation, but from frustration—when she raised her head and faced a Soul Master of her generation for the first time, only one thought remained in her heart: so this was the abyss at the end of the sword path, a place she had never seen before.

Li Chen did not pay her any further attention and continued forward.

Ning He pushed the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda's defensive layer to its limit. A glazed radiance condensed around her into a translucent barrier.

Li Chen raised his hand and lightly flicked a finger. A thread-thin black force struck the glazed barrier. Cracks instantly spread across its surface before it shattered with a boom.

The aftershock brushed past Ning He's hair. Her hands remained in the pose of holding up the pagoda, but all seven layers of enhancement light on it had gone out.

"Fourth."

Feng Yu dove from the air, the Gale Shadow Hawk's talons striking straight for Li Chen's head.

Li Chen did not even look up. The Pluto Sword lifted upward.

Sword energy shot into the sky. The Gale Shadow Hawk collapsed on its own when it was three feet above Li Chen's head. Feng Yu fell from midair to the edge of the stage, completely unharmed, yet unable to summon his Martial Soul again.

"Fifth."

Mo Chen abandoned every control-type soul skill. The Shadow Spider Silk that could bind century-old soul beasts all retracted into his palm. No matter how he urged it, it did not dare extend even an inch.

Li Chen walked up to him. Without doing anything at all, Mo Chen's legs went weak and he collapsed onto the ground.

"Sixth."

Xu Lizhi stood where he was, still holding up the last bun in his hand.

His legs shook, and his face was red, but courage from somewhere within kept him from retreating. He was a food-type Soul Master and did not excel at combat, but he knew one thing—his teammates were behind him, and he could not run.

Li Chen walked before him, the sword in his hand pointing at him.

"Are you going to get down yourself, or should I send you down?"

From beginning to end, there had been seven steps. One step, one person.

The Shrek Seven had been completely wiped out.