Youth Genius Ranking

Three days later, on the western outskirts of Skysea City, at the military's Training Ground No. 17.

This training ground was normally used for live-combat drills by the East Sea Legion's direct Soul Master regiment. It was tightly enclosed by high walls and looked like nothing more than an inconspicuous supply warehouse from the outside.

Inside was a square arena a hundred meters on each side. The ground was paved with dark gray stone slabs reinforced by soul guidance devices, bearing both old and fresh traces of battle.

A basic soul guidance protective barrier encircled the arena's edge, with three tiers of stepped viewing stands beyond it. Only a handful of people sat there at the moment.

Yu Guanzhi sat in the center of the stands, still dressed in military uniform, holding a data tablet for recording. Leng Yaozhu sat to his left, holding a gift box containing Gold Water Intertwined. Gu Yue and Na'er sat in the second row of the stands. Na'er held a half-eaten chicken bone, her golden eyes unblinking as she stared at the arena. Ya Li sat on the right, with the One-Word Battle Armor Master who had accompanied her standing beside her.

Xuan Li, a graduate of Shrek Outer Court, ranked first on the Youth Genius Ranking. His Martial Soul was the Godly Taotie Bull, and he was a level fifty-two assault-type Soul King and a One-Word Battle Armor Master with the armor "Xuan."

He was sixteen this year, with a burly build, exceptionally broad shoulders, and sharply defined features.

His footsteps were heavy as he stepped into the arena. Every step on the stone slabs carried undisguised pressure.

He sized up the young man opposite him, who stood half a head shorter and had a lean, tall frame.

After looking Li Chen up and down, Xuan Li said, "I'm not like them. I'm very curious how you dared accept a One-Word Battle Armor Master's challenge. The gap between a Soul Ancestor and a Battle Armor Master isn't something you can even imagine."

Blinking, Li Chen replied, "Oh."

"'Oh'?" Xuan Li shouted. "I'm a One-Word Battle Armor Master! A Battle Armor Master! Do you even understand what that means?"

Li Chen smiled. "What, do you need me to give you an award? Are you fighting or not? If not, get down already. I'm in a hurry."

Seeing this, Xuan Li said nothing more. He spread his arms, and five soul rings lit up—four purple and one black. The enormous phantom of a Godly Taotie Bull condensed behind him, carrying a savage, heavy aura. He stood on the arena in the purest form of a Soul Master.

"Kid, don't say I'm bullying you. Watch me cripple you without even using my Battle Armor!"

Ya Li frowned slightly.

Her original intention in bringing Xuan Li here was to end things quickly, using the absolute advantage of a One-Word Battle Armor to crush Li Chen and restore Shrek's dignity.

But Xuan Li had always been like this—arrogant and conceited, having perfectly inherited Xuanzi's temperament. Still, he was not without ability. As an assault-type Soul King in his fifties, there were few among his peers who could force him to use his full strength, much less someone so much younger than him. Since he refused to use his Battle Armor, she would let him be.

In the stands, Na'er took a bite from her chicken bone and let her voice drift down, neither too loud nor too soft. "Another confident one. Why do Shrek people always like adding drama to themselves?"

Ya Li's expression did not change, but when her gaze swept over Na'er, it lingered for a moment.

Yu Guanzhi raised his right hand, his calm yet powerful voice carrying into the arena. "Both sides are in position. This match will not be decided by life or death. Stop at the appropriate point. Begin."

The instant the word "begin" fell, Xuan Li shot toward Li Chen like a cannonball. He used no soul skill, choosing instead the most direct method—the Godly Taotie Bull Martial Soul granted him physical strength far beyond others of the same rank. This charge could cripple an opponent of equal rank if they were caught off guard. His right shoulder dipped, the Godly Taotie Bull phantom overlapped with his body, and a visible air barrier condensed before his shoulder.

Li Chen did not dodge. He raised his right hand, spread his fingers, and faced his palm toward Xuan Li's charge.

First soul skill, Fate Sanction.

An invisible ripple spread forward in a fan-shaped arc from his palm.

There were no visual effects and no sound. Observers could only faintly sense the soul skill through the subtle changes in the surrounding air.

Xuan Li charged into that distorted space, and his brow immediately furrowed. The sensation was too strange—not like he had struck a barrier, but as though an invisible hand had flicked something inside his body.

The rhythm of his Soul Power circulation suddenly stalled for half a beat. The Godly Taotie Bull phantom swayed, and the air barrier before his shoulder weakened by thirty percent on its own.

What alarmed him even more was that his movements seemed to have had their cooldown forcibly extended by some kind of rule. Every cycle of Soul Power contained an almost imperceptible delay.

That half-beat of sluggishness exposed a visible opening in his charge.

Li Chen shifted sideways, drew his right foot back half a step, and lifted his left hand from below, accurately seizing Xuan Li's right wrist.

Borrowing Xuan Li's own momentum, Li Chen twisted his waist and shoulders, then executed a clean over-the-shoulder throw, swinging Xuan Li's entire body down toward the stone floor behind him.

Boom.

The stone slabs shattered, and fragments flew everywhere. Xuan Li's back smashed a shallow crater into the ground, but he reacted quickly. The instant he landed, he slapped the ground with one hand, used the force to spring up, and retreated several steps to open the distance. The way he looked at Li Chen was now completely different from before.

"Your soul skill..." He shook his numb right arm, and the disdain in his voice turned to seriousness. "It isn't an offensive skill. It's a weakening control-type skill."

In the stands, Leng Yaozhu turned her head toward Ya Li and casually asked, "Didn't your team member just say he wouldn't use his Battle Armor?"

Ya Li remained calm. "He said it. Let him."

Leng Yaozhu said nothing further and merely lifted her teacup, gently blowing away the foam floating atop the tea.

Gu Yue's gaze had never left Li Chen. Beside her, Na'er bit into her chicken bone and continued, "That guy really is something. He could clearly finish this in seconds, but he insists on playing slowly with him."

Yu Guanzhi did not say a word. His eyes remained fixed on the young man in the arena, with a hint of scrutiny deep in his gaze—Leng Yaozhu had informed him that Li Chen would develop toward the Federation, so he was assessing him, assessing just where the upper limit of Li Chen's strength lay and whether he could break the Federation's current deadlock.

In the arena, Li Chen did not answer. He spread the fingers of his right hand again, and the same invisible ripple expanded over a wider area.

Second soul skill, Fate Mastery.

This time, Xuan Li saw it clearly. There was no fluctuation of Soul Power or soul skills in the air, yet everything the invisible ripple passed through began to slow. Even the fine texture of the air underwent extremely subtle changes. Seeing this, he immediately pushed his Martial Soul's defenses to the limit.

He instinctively raised an arm before himself, and the Godly Taotie Bull phantom wrapped around his entire body—but this defense was useless against Fate Mastery. The ripple pierced through the Martial Soul phantom and directly affected his body.

The sluggishness in his Soul Power circulation abruptly intensified. It was no longer half a beat, but an entire beat. The Godly Taotie Bull phantom let out a low whimper and visibly dimmed.

Xuan Li's expression changed.

As a One-Word Battle Armor Master, he had absolute confidence in his control over Soul Power.

But this person's soul skill was completely unreasonable—it ignored Martial Soul defenses and directly affected the Soul Master's body. What it reduced was not damage, but the very efficiency of Soul Power circulation.

It was like someone pinching off half the water flowing to a waterwheel. The wheel was still turning, but the force behind it was completely wrong.

"What kind of soul skill is this?" Xuan Li growled. He no longer held back, and his fourth soul ring lit up. The Godly Taotie Bull phantom suddenly expanded, doubling in size. Wild Ox Charge—this was his strongest single-target soul skill for frontal breakthroughs, using pure brute force to crush everything.

He poured his weakened Soul Power into his feet and shot toward Li Chen like a meteor. The stone slabs beneath him instantly cracked under the force.

Facing the charging phantom giant bull, Li Chen withdrew his right hand, and black light immediately condensed in his palm.

The black light collapsed inward in his palm, and the space itself formed a visible distorted crease in that instant.

The Pluto Sword appeared in his hand—a blade as black as an abyss, with all light swallowed the instant it touched its edge.

He stepped forward, and sword light swept upward from below.

The Godly Taotie Bull phantom was cleaved apart with a single strike. Not shattered, not cracked, but cut apart.

The charge that had gathered most of Xuan Li's Soul Power was like paper before the Pluto Sword. The phantom was split vertically down the middle from the center of its bull head. Wherever the black radiance passed, the savage Soul Power fluctuations were silently devoured, vanishing into nothingness.

Xuan Li's pupils shrank sharply. He forcibly halted his charge, his feet plowing two deep furrows through the stone slabs before he barely stopped three feet from the sword's edge.

That black sword aura had nearly brushed past his nose, leaving a straight tear in the front of his clothes.

"Your One-Word Battle Armor," Li Chen finally said, his voice as calm as if he were commenting on the weather, "are you saving it to take home as a family heirloom?"

Na'er laughed without restraint from the stands and added, "That defensive-type Shrek guy last time was the same. He didn't use his skills to stack buffs from start to finish and got blasted straight into a wall in one move. Are all you Shrek people like this? Do you take a beating before every fight?"

Xuan Li's face turned livid.

He retreated several steps to widen the distance, took a deep breath, and slammed his right hand against his chest. Dark golden light spread from his chest and covered his entire body—One-Word Battle Armor "Xuan" was officially activated.

Dark golden armor components spread from his chest as their core, extending over his body. Shoulder armor, arm guards, and leg armor lit up one after another, ancient and heavy glowing patterns flowing across their surfaces. The armor's lines were rugged and solid, perfectly suited to his Godly Taotie Bull Martial Soul.

After fully equipping the One-Word Battle Armor, Xuan Li seemed to grow an entire size larger. His aura surged dramatically, and the Soul Power suppressed by Fate Mastery began to churn powerfully once more.

The boost granted by Battle Armor was comprehensive—Soul Power intensity, physical defense, reaction speed, and the compatibility between Martial Soul and Soul Master. Every aspect was forcibly raised by an entire level.

The dividing line between Soul Masters was largely Battle Armor. A Soul Master with an ordinary Martial Soul could, while using Battle Armor, contend with a top-tier Martial Soul Soul Master of the same rank who was not using Battle Armor. There were differences between Battle Armors as well, and the strongest Four-Word Battle Armor was even known as demigod equipment.

"That's more like it." Li Chen lightly turned the Pluto Sword in his hand, angling its tip toward the ground as he stepped forward with his left foot.

At the same time, the soul rings on his body began to light up—not one, but several activated at once.

Third soul skill: Six Paths, Human Path activated.

A wave of Soul Power so pure it was nearly tangible surged from his body, and his aura rose at a visible speed.

Human Path enhanced himself in every aspect, including but not limited to soul skills, Soul Power, physical body, and spiritual power. It was comparable to the Gold-Grade Awakening of a Body Martial Soul.

Li Chen's physical body, already comparable to that of an assault-type Soul King, was elevated again at this moment. The lines of his muscles faintly showed beneath his fitted clothes, yet he did not appear bulky.

At the same time, Asura Path activated.

A layer of dark red patterns appeared upon the Pluto Sword's blade. They were the power of judgment against evil, and its attacks carried true damage.

Xuan Li roared. Now that his Battle Armor covered his body, he no longer held back. His fifth soul ring lit up—Taotie Devours Heaven. This was his strongest single-target attack soul skill. The Godly Taotie Bull phantom opened its enormous mouth, condensing a mass of dark energy within it before blasting it toward Li Chen with a savage aura that seemed capable of devouring everything.

The fifth soul skill enhanced by Battle Armor could not be compared to the earlier attack. The air across the entire arena was drawn by its devouring force. Small fragments of stone on the slabs were swept up and flung backward, while the protective barrier hummed deeply along the edge of the field.

Li Chen's movement was simple.

Fate Mastery was released again. The invisible ripple surged toward Xuan Li like a tide, piercing through the Battle Armor, through the Martial Soul phantom, and directly affecting his body.

Battle Armor's amplification could enhance Soul Power intensity, but it could not offset suppression on the level of rules—Fate Mastery reduced efficiency on the level of fate itself and had nothing to do with defensive values. (That was the mechanic, arrogant QWQ.)

He pushed off with his left foot and dragged the Pluto Sword as he charged toward the devouring energy sphere.

The sword edge swept upward in a vertical slash.

The devouring energy sphere was split down the middle. Its left and right halves crashed into the stone slabs behind Li Chen, blasting two shallow craters several meters wide.

Black radiance passed through the explosive energy aftershock like black lightning, thrusting straight toward Xuan Li's chest.

Xuan Li crossed his arms, and the glowing patterns on his Battle Armor's arm guards flared brightly as he used the One-Word Battle Armor's defensive power to take the sword head-on.

The sword tip collided with the arm guards, producing a sharp, piercing clang of metal.

Xuan Li's pupils contracted abruptly—the Battle Armor's defensive patterns were being eroded. The true damage of Asura Path ignored the Battle Armor's normal defensive mechanisms. He shouted fiercely and flung his arm guards outward, knocking the sword away. Then his right leg swept toward Li Chen's waist like an iron whip. Li Chen clenched his left hand into a fist and met the kick with pure physical strength.

Fist and leg collided, and the shockwave blasted all the loose stones beneath their feet into the air. Xuan Li took a step back, while Li Chen did not move at all.

Xuan Li's expression finally changed completely.

His Godly Taotie Bull Martial Soul was known for brute strength. With the Battle Armor's amplification, there were only a handful among those of the same rank who could withstand one of his kicks head-on.

But the person opposite him had not only taken it, but had done so without budging.

Li Chen transferred the Pluto Sword to his left hand and spread the fingers of his right. The dark red patterns of Asura Path extended from the sword blade over his entire right arm.

He drove a fist into the Battle Armor chestplate over Xuan Li's heart.

That punch used no weapon, only pure physical strength plus true damage.

The dark red force of the punch pierced through the Battle Armor and directly struck Xuan Li's body.

Xuan Li let out a muffled groan. His feet slid backward seven or eight meters across the ground before he finally stopped, the glowing patterns on his chest armor flickering violently.

He raised his eyes and saw Li Chen standing exactly where he himself had just stood. The dark red patterns on Li Chen's right arm were slowly fading, while his face still bore that calm expression, almost indifferent.

Xuan Li was silent for a long while. The dust in the arena slowly settled, and fragments of stone lay scattered across the ground like stars.

He lowered his head to look at the flickering patterns still flashing on his chest armor, then looked up at the young man opposite him, who had not even fully released his Martial Soul.

"I lost. Your soul skills are strong, but once my level reaches the Title Douluo stage, the gap between our soul skills will grow smaller and smaller." His voice was hoarse and muffled, but there was not the slightest trace of awkwardness.

Theoretically, there was not much wrong with what he said. Once Soul Masters cultivated to the Title Douluo level, soul skills offered them only negligible assistance. Unless they were exceptionally powerful skills, the main factors determining victory between Soul Masters were Martial Soul quality, foundation, Soul Power level, and so on.

But Li Chen was not normal. The quality of his Pluto Martial Soul far surpassed every Martial Soul on the Douluo Continent. He could even defeat Xuan Li while his Soul Power Level was still low; once it was higher, Xuan Li would have even less chance of winning. It was not as if Xuan Li was the only one who could grow stronger.

Li Chen glanced at him and said,

"Those defeated by me have never been regarded as opponents. I will give you time to catch up, until you can no longer see me even from afar."

After he finished speaking, Yu Guanzhi wrote the final stroke on his data tablet. He raised his head and calmly announced, "Winner of this match: Li Chen."

In the stands, Ya Li slowly closed her eyes. Leng Yaozhu took the jade box from her sleeve, placed it on the long table before Yu Guanzhi, and pushed it over.

"As agreed before the match, Gold Water Intertwined belongs to him."