The female host announced loudly:
"Today, Shrek Academy faces Elephant Armor Academy, one of the Five Elemental Academies. Let's see if they can finish the fight within three minutes, just as they did in their previous matches. We'll wait and see!"
At that, Huyan Li, captain of the Elephant Armor Team, glanced up at the female host in the air and said displeasedly, "Hmph! You're looking down on our Elephant Armor Academy far too much!"
"We're nothing like those useless academies you've faced before!"
The female host gave an awkward smile and hurriedly changed the subject. "Next, both teams, please release your Martial Souls. The battle is about to begin!"
As soon as she finished speaking,
the Elephant Armor Team began releasing their Martial Souls, led by their captain, Huyan Li.
A moment later,
golden elephant phantoms appeared behind them all. It was obvious that every one of their Martial Souls was a Diamond Mammoth.
In the stands on the elevated platform, Huyan Zhen saw this and smiled with considerable pride.
"My goodness, the Elephant Armor Sect has three Soul Ancestors, and the other four team members are all close to that level as well. Shrek Academy has truly met a formidable opponent!" the female host exclaimed.
As soon as she finished speaking,
the newly assembled Shrek Seven Devils also revealed their Martial Souls and Soul Rings.
Without the opportunity to obtain Immortal Herbs, Tang San and the others had noticeably lower Soul Power.
"Dai Mubai, Martial Soul: Evil Eye White Tiger, forty-second-level Power Attack System Battle Soul Ancestor. Please instruct me!"
"Tang San, Martial Soul: Blue Silver Grass, forty-first-level Control System Battle Soul Ancestor. Please instruct me!"
"Oscar, Martial Soul: Sausage, fortieth-level Food System Soul Elder. Please instruct me!"
"Ma Hongjun, Martial Soul: Evil Fire Phoenix, thirty-ninth-level Power Attack System Soul Elder. Please instruct me!"
"Xiao Wu, Martial Soul: Soft Bone Rabbit, thirty-ninth-level Power Attack System Soul Elder. Please instruct me!"
"Xu Yao, Martial Soul: Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, forty-second-level Power Attack System Soul Ancestor. Please instruct me!"
"Chen Xiao, Martial Soul: Heaven Net Banner, forty-first-level Support System Soul Ancestor. Please instruct me!"
Seeing this, Qin Xuan rubbed his chin and fell into thought:
These two newcomers are rather interesting.
My interference must have changed the original timeline.
If I could meet Song Qingling and Xia Hui, then Shrek could naturally encounter other geniuses too.
These two are so young, yet they've broken through to Soul Ancestor without any Immortal Herbs. That alone shows their talent is no weaker than Dai Mubai and the others'.
Xu Yao in particular has the rare super Martial Soul, Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear. That's truly unexpected!
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's attack power, defense, and close-quarters combat on land are all top-tier. It's hardly any weaker than the Golden Crocodile King.
According to the Soul Beast hierarchy, a hundred-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear could already fight a thousand-year Soul Beast of a higher rank.
Even as a transmigrator, this is my first time seeing a Soul Master awaken the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear as their Martial Soul!
At the same time, Zhu Zhuqing glanced at Qin Xuan, whose expression was grave, but said nothing.
She was wondering why Ning Rongrong, that Little Demoness, had left Shrek Academy.
At the female host's command, the match officially began.
Boom—
The sound of Soul Power clashing rang out repeatedly across the Soul Fighting Arena.
In just five minutes, every member of Elephant Armor Academy had lost the ability to fight!
Huyan Li, Huyan Ba, and the other team members had all suffered injuries of varying severity!
The female host flew onto the arena. After glancing at the unconscious members of the Elephant Armor Team, she beamed with excitement:
"My goodness, Shrek Academy has defeated the seeded team, Elephant Armor Academy, in just five minutes. This is truly incredible!"
"I hereby declare Shrek Academy the winner of this match!"
As soon as she finished,
enthusiastic cheers erupted from the crowd:
"Shrek!"
"Shrek!"
"Shrek..."
Qin Xuan left in silence with Zhu Zhuqing.
On the way back to Spirit City, Qin Xuan didn't say a word. Clearly, he still hadn't recovered from his shock.
Tang San, Xiao Wu, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, and Dai Mubai's Soul Skills were the same as in the original story, without a single difference. Their strengths were also about what Qin Xuan had expected.
The key difference lay with Xu Yao and Chen Xiao.
Xu Yao was two and a half meters tall, with bulging muscles, coarse features, and stubble on his chin. When he stood there, he looked like a small mountain, and was even a size larger than Tai Long.
Chen Xiao, on the other hand, was a sweet-looking young woman about 170 centimeters tall.
Their Soul Rings were nothing special—two yellow and two purple—but the quality of both their Martial Souls was at the level of super Martial Souls, comparable to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda.
The Heaven Net Banner's four boosts, from weakest to strongest, were morale, speed, Soul Power, and immunity.
The fourth Soul Skill, "Immunity," was especially outrageous. For five seconds, it could ignore every negative effect, including entanglement, poison, berserk states, suppression, paralysis, freezing, burning, and even decay...
It was no exaggeration to say that this Soul Skill was a weakened version of the Nine Treasures Invincible Divine Light.
But it probably couldn't grant immunity to the negative effects of a ninth Soul Skill, could it?
If it really could, that would be absurd.
Still, compared with Qin Xuan's Nine Nether Evil God Transformation, it seemed fairly ordinary.
Xu Yao's fourth Soul Skill, "Dark Gold Wild Strike," was also incredibly powerful.
The skill unleashed three mighty claw strikes, each stronger than the last. When he swung the final claw, it triggered a "tearing effect"!
The Copper Wall Iron Wall Formation of Elephant Armor Academy had been broken through head-on by that very move!
The more Qin Xuan thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. Why had two monsters with even more outrageous talent joined Shrek after Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong left?
Was it coincidence, or...
At that thought, Qin Xuan gazed meaningfully at the endless sky.
Half a month later.
Inside Emerald Spring Villas.
Qin Xuan slowly opened his eyes. Five Soul Rings—purple, purple, black, black, and black—rose one after another from his feet.
"I've finally reached the bottleneck at level sixty. It's time to obtain my sixth Soul Ring!"
"A hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast is no small matter. According to what Bibi Dong said back then, besides going with me herself, I'll need to bring Elder Ju and Elder Gui, as well as ten Soul Douluo!"
"Bibi Dong is certainly a cautious one."
"I heard that when she hunted the Death Spider Emperor, a Soul Beast of the same origin, at least five Titled Douluo were there just to provide support!"
"She wore down that Death Spider Emperor, which possessed an 'immortal body,' until it died!"
Muttering to himself, Qin Xuan set off for Pope Hall.
There were less than two months left before the finals officially began.
By now, Qin Xuan and Zhu Zhuqing and the others were each busy with their own affairs.
Song Qingling and Xia Hui were training at the Purple Heaven Sect, while Zhu Zhuqing was by herself, working on her agility at the Mimicry Environment Training Hall of Spirit Hall Academy.
As for Qin Xuan, after half a month of arduous training, he had finally reached his bottleneck. Naturally, it was time to hunt the hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast he had been longing for!
Qin Xuan had originally thought that without the Immortal Herb opportunity and the Hell White Tiger, whether Shrek Academy could make it to the finals was still a fifty-fifty question.
But after watching their previous matches, he realized his worries had been unnecessary.
Before you continue