Rise to the Copper Soul Badge, Battle Against the Ice and Snow Team

Half a month, seventeen team battles, seventeen straight victories.

The Ji Ni Tai Mei Team had exchanged their Iron Soul Badges for Copper Soul Badges as early as the tenth day. Their Copper Soul-level opponents were clearly a tier stronger than Iron Soul opponents, but the results were no different. Without exception, they all fell to the team.

Yu Tianlin had never made a move in those seventeen team battles. He merely stood at the center of the arena, occasionally giving orders, but more often quietly watching his teammates work together to finish their opponents.

The Withered Wood Mask covered half his face. No one could see his expression clearly, nor did anyone know his Soul Power Level or Martial Soul.

Yu Xiaogang appeared every day at the farthest corner of the eastern spectator stands. The Shrek group sometimes came with him, and sometimes they had their own matters to attend to, but he himself came without fail every day.

After seventeen matches, Yu Xiaogang had filled a full twenty pages in his notebook. Every page clearly recorded the various abilities of the Ji Ni Tai Mei Team members. Only the person in the very center wearing the Withered Wood Mask remained completely blank.

The Shrek group came that day.

"Teacher, he still hasn't made a move?" Tang San leaned against the railing, watching the Ji Ni Tai Mei Team leave the arena.

"No." Yu Xiaogang closed his notebook and rubbed the space between his brows.

"Just who is that masked guy? Seventeen matches, and he hasn't fought once, yet his teammates don't seem to mind. If one of my teammates spent an entire team battle doing nothing, I'd have turned on him long ago."

"He isn't doing nothing. There's simply no need for him to act." Yu Xiaogang flipped his notebook to the blank page and lightly tapped it twice with his fingertip.

"This team's tactical core is defensive counterattacks followed by control-chain cleanup. That system itself doesn't require the captain to fight personally. Lei Li meets the enemy head-on; Qing Luo and Lei Dong establish control on the left and right; Yu Tianxin serves as the finisher; Lei Jiu provides buffs throughout. The coordination of five people is already enough to deal with every Iron Soul-level opponent, so he doesn't need to move. But that proves one thing: his teammates trust him. They trust him so completely that even though he hasn't acted in a single match, no one questions his commands. To make a group of geniuses willingly follow the orders of someone who never fights, either his charisma is extraordinary, or his strength far surpasses everyone else's."

"We should see it today." Xiao Wu lay over the railing, holding a matchup sheet she had just collected from the notice board.

"Their opponents are the Ice and Snow Team, ranked third among Copper Souls. Every member is a Soul Elder, and all their spirit rings are two yellow and one purple—the optimal configuration."

Yu Xiaogang took the matchup sheet and examined it carefully from beginning to end.

"The Ice and Snow Team. Captain Ling Chen, Martial Soul: Ice Crystal Bow, level thirty-five assault type. Vice-captain Leng Hai, Martial Soul: Ice Python, level thirty-four control type. The remaining five members are all between level thirty-one and level thirty-three, with Martial Souls covering every role. This team is very well-balanced."

Yu Xiaogang placed the matchup sheet on the table and turned his gaze back toward the arena. "The Ice Crystal Bow is especially outstanding at long-range offense. Its range is great, its accuracy is high, and it carries freezing and slowing effects. It's a natural opener in team battles. With the Ice Python's control supporting it, her arrows are practically impossible to block head-on. This team should be strong enough to force him to act."

At the same time, in the Soul Fighting Arena's waiting area.

Yu Tianlin scanned the Ice and Snow Team's information from beginning to end, then set it on the table and lightly tapped it twice with his fingers.

The members of several other teams in the waiting area were all looking this way. The Ji Ni Tai Mei Team's record of seventeen consecutive victories had already spread through the Copper Soul ranks, and many had come specifically to watch their match.

Yu Tianxin took the information and flipped through it, his brows furrowing slightly. Ice Crystal Bow plus Ice Python—the strength of this combination's control chain was more than a level above every opponent they had encountered before.

Ice-type soul skills naturally countered lightning attributes. Although his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul was of far higher quality than theirs, a direct clash was not the optimal solution in the face of elemental suppression.

"For this battle, you may use your third soul skills," Yu Tianlin suddenly said.

The waiting area fell silent for a moment before everyone understood.

"Since we can use our third soul skills, this Ice and Snow Team isn't much of a threat." Yu Tianxin spoke as he walked toward the arena.

"Still, don't let your guard down. The Ice Crystal Bow's range advantage does restrain us in open terrain. Lei Li, meet them head-on after the match begins and set the shield wall forward. Lei Dong, establish a Thunder Spider Silk line three steps in front of the shield wall. Don't let the Ice Python get close. Qing Luo, stand behind Lei Li's left side. Have your vines circle around from the flank, targeting their backline support. Yu Tianxin, once the Ice Crystal Bow's first volley ends, cut directly into their middle line. Lei Jiu, keep your buffs on Tianxin the entire time. Yu Xiaolou, guard the rear. Don't let their agility attackers slip around us."

Every one of Yu Tianlin's orders directly targeted a weakness in the enemy lineup. Although the Ice and Snow Team's control chain was powerful, it had only two cores: the Ice Crystal Bow's opening long-range suppression and the Ice Python's follow-up control.

As long as the shield wall and Thunder Spider Silk line could delay the Ice Python's advance, while Yu Tianxin cut into the middle line during the gap between arrow volleys, the enemy formation would be broken apart.

"Understood." Lei Li held the Thunder Turtle Shield horizontally before him, slamming its face into the ground with a dull echo.

"Take the stage."

On the arena, the referee was reciting the rules. The Ice and Snow Team's seven members stood at the opposite end, dressed in matching ice-blue battle uniforms with a snowflake emblem embroidered over their left breasts.

Captain Ling Chen stood at the very front of the team, holding a translucent Ice Crystal Bow in her hand. Cold mist coiled around the bow.

Half a step behind her stood a tall, lean young man, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, each palm holding a swirling mass of icy mist. Vice-captain Leng Hai, Martial Soul: Ice Python. Behind him stood a defense-type soul master holding an ice shield, a support-type soul master with an ice staff, one assault type, and two agility attackers. With all seven standing in the arena, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop several degrees.

"Both sides, Martial Soul Possession!"

Ling Chen was the first to draw her bow. Frost gathered over the Ice Crystal Bow, and an ice arrow condensed out of thin air upon the string, its tip locked onto Lei Li at the front of the Ji Ni Tai Mei Team.

The Ice Python Martial Soul appeared behind Leng Hai. A massive crystalline python coiled through the air, its mouth slightly open as icy mist seeped in wisps between its fangs. Both sides' spirit rings lit up, their lights interweaving across the arena.

"Begin!"

Ling Chen's ice arrow tore through the air first. Three cold flashes fired in rapid succession from the Ice Crystal Bow, targeting Lei Li's shield, the opening at his left rear, and Lei Jiu in the backline.

Fine trails of ice crystals lingered in the air wherever the arrows passed. The Ice Python followed immediately after, its tail violently striking the ground and sending a frost shockwave spreading across the arena floor.

"Lei Li, block the front. Lei Dong, use spider silk to intercept the Ice Python."

Lei Li's Thunder Turtle Shield abruptly expanded. His first soul skill, Thunder Turtle Shield Guard, activated. All three Ice Arrows struck the shield face, producing crisp, dense cracks of shattering ice.

The frost shockwave crashed into the shield wall immediately afterward. Lei Li did not move an inch, lightning surging across the shield face as his second soul skill, Thunder Turtle Shell Counter, activated. Lightning struck back along the frost shockwave's path. The Ice Python swiftly turned its head to evade the bolt, but the shockwave's spread was forcibly interrupted.

Lei Dong's Thunder Spider Silk had been silently laid three steps in front of the shield wall. Just as the Ice Python was about to launch its second wave of attacks, three strands triggered simultaneously when its tail swept across them. Lightning-induced numbness spread from the python's tail to Leng Hai's arms. His hands trembled sharply, and more than half of the icy mist gathered in his palms dispersed.

"Qing Luo, left flank. Tianxin, disrupt their formation."

Qing Luo's Dragon Scale Tulip Vine silently emerged from the flank the moment the Ice Python was paralyzed. The vines curved widely along the edge of the arena, avoiding the ice shield's defensive range and lunging straight at the enemy's ice-staff support in the backline. The support-type soul master did not even have time to put up a shield before being tightly bound by Thorn Bind.

Yu Tianxin moved. His figure shot in from the front like a streak of blue lightning, vaulting without flourish through the defensive gap between the Ice Python and ice shield. His third spirit ring lit up. Thunder Fury activated, lightning exploding around him as his presence soared to its peak in an instant.

Ling Chen's expression changed. She could tell how much power that attack contained.

Yu Tianxin charged into the Ice and Snow Team's middle line and smashed his fist into the ground. Thunder erupted around him, and the Ice and Snow Team's formation was blown apart by that single strike.

Lei Dong's second spirit ring lit up. Thunder Spider Poison Sting became a silver-white bolt of electricity that precisely struck Leng Hai from the side. The Ice Python Martial Soul let out a hoarse cry of agony. The speed of his Soul Power circulation dropped by thirty percent, and the icy mist in his hands could no longer gather.

The Ice Python had been crippled, the ice shield broken, and the support bound tightly by Qing Luo. Within the time it took to burn one incense stick, the Ice and Snow Team's formation had been torn to pieces.

Only Ling Chen remained standing. She gripped the Ice Crystal Bow at the edge of the arena, its final ice arrow nocked on the string, the arrowhead trembling slightly. Behind her, all six of her teammates lay fallen on the arena floor. Yet she still did not surrender.

Ling Chen took a deep breath, raised the Ice Crystal Bow, and aimed the last ice arrow at Yu Tianlin, who stood at the center of the Ji Ni Tai Mei Team. From the beginning of the match until now, this person had never acted, nor had he even summoned his Martial Soul. If he was truly this team's core, then win or lose, she had to force him to make a move at least once.

The Ice Crystal Bow was drawn to its limit, and the ice arrow shot straight toward the Withered Wood Mask with a piercing whistle.

Yu Tianlin tilted his head slightly. The ice arrow grazed the edge of the mask and flew past, embedding itself in the railing at the edge of the arena before bursting into a spray of ice blossoms. He had not summoned his Martial Soul, nor had he sidestepped. He had merely tilted his head by the smallest margin.

Yu Tianlin raised a hand to signal everyone to stop, then walked to the edge of the arena, crouched down, and extended a hand to Ling Chen.

Ling Chen looked up at him. The Withered Wood Mask covered half his face, but she could see the exceptionally calm eyes beneath it. She was silent for a long while before finally taking his hand and rising to her feet. The referee raised his hand, his voice resounding through the venue.

"Ji Ni Tai Mei Team, victory!"

In the corner of the eastern spectator stands, Yu Xiaogang closed his notebook and slipped his pen back into his pocket.

Dai Mubai leaned against the railing and said, "He still didn't make a move. But that head tilt just now wasn't luck, was it?"

Yu Xiaogang did not answer. He flipped his notebook open to the blank page and finally wrote down the first line.

"Combat instinct: extremely high level. Strength: unknown. Martial Soul: unknown. Soul Power Level: unknown."