Sealing Spiritual Detection, Facing the Golden Path Head-On!

The semifinals were held at the very center of the Assessment Area, and the venue was more than twice as large as those used for the preliminary rounds.

The stands had long since filled to capacity. Even the aisles were packed with senior Outer Court students and teachers from every class who had come to watch.

Xiao Yan walked up the stone steps and onto the arena.

Across from him, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Wang Gang had already formed up, waiting in strict readiness.

The three of them had tense muscles and fixed their eyes firmly on Xiao Yan's hands, afraid that he would pluck a zither note at any moment and weave an illusion.

Compared to his opponents' grave vigilance, Xiao Yan looked completely unmotivated.

He stopped, spread his arms before the thousands of spectators, and lazily stretched. Several crisp cracks rang from his joints.

That careless attitude made the proud Wang Dong grit her teeth, but it also made Huo Yuhao even more wary.

"Both sides, prepare. Begin!"

The referee swung his right arm down heavily.

The instant the command was given, their martial souls were released at the same time.

Blue-gold light exploded behind Wang Dong, and the dazzling wings of the Light Goddess Butterfly spread to their fullest extent.

She kicked off the ground fiercely without the slightest hesitation, transforming into a blue-gold meteor that skimmed across the arena toward Xiao Yan.

Huo Yuhao's tactical intent was obvious: they had to seize the initiative, engage in close combat, and limit the time Xiao Yan had to weave illusions!

Watching Wang Dong rapidly close in, Xiao Yan calmly raised his right hand. He lightly pinched the air before him with his index finger and thumb, then flicked outward.

Void Zither Playing.

"Zheng—"

A short, sharp zither note exploded out of thin air.

An invisible, intangible soundwave rippled outward from Xiao Yan, spreading across the entire arena.

Huo Yuhao, positioned at the rear, felt his heart leap. He immediately sent a message to his two teammates through their spiritual network.

"Guard your minds! Don't let him drag you into an illusion!"

Having received the warning, Wang Dong and Wang Gang immediately cast aside all distracting thoughts and raised their mental defenses to the limit, prepared for every kind of strange nightmare.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

Time passed, yet nothing around them changed.

The arena was still the same arena, and the noise from the stands remained clear in their ears.

No illusions appeared, nor did anything strange happen that caused them to lose control of their bodies.

Huo Yuhao let out a long breath.

They had blocked it! It seemed Xiao Yan's illusions were not unstoppable after all. As long as they guarded their minds in advance, they could avoid them.

An opportunity could vanish in an instant. He immediately activated his spiritual power, preparing to project Spiritual Detection Sharing outward and provide Wang Dong, who was already halfway there, with comprehensive visual support.

But the moment he tried to release his spiritual power, his expression changed instantly.

His spiritual power had been tightly sealed within his body, utterly unable to extend outside.

No matter how he urged it, not even a trace of spiritual perception could leave his body.

That zither note had not been some trigger for illusions at all. It was a seal specifically aimed at preventing spiritual power from being projected outward!

Without the support of that omniscient perspective, sending Wang Dong forward alone against the unfathomable Xiao Yan was no different from throwing an egg against a rock.

Huo Yuhao raised his head and met Xiao Yan's deep black eyes.

A smile that seemed to see through everything hung on that handsome face.

Their conventional methods had already failed.

"Wang Dong! Fall back!" Huo Yuhao shouted at the top of his lungs.

Hearing his roar while diving at high speed, Wang Dong forcibly twisted her waist. Her wings beat fiercely in midair, and with the recoil, she forcefully halted herself before swiftly flying backward and landing beside Huo Yuhao.

The two exchanged a glance and immediately understood each other.

This was their final trump card, their only hope of turning things around.

They could only pray that this time, unlike when they faced Xiao Xiao in the previous match, they would not be forcibly interrupted by some sudden method.

Wang Dong spread her arms, and Huo Yuhao stepped directly into them. The two embraced tightly.

On the other side of the arena, Xiao Yan stood still with his arms hanging naturally at his sides.

He watched the two embrace without making any move to stop them.

He simply watched in silence, waiting.

Seeing that Xiao Yan did nothing, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's hearts pounded fiercely, joy spreading through their chests.

Their opponent had actually underestimated them enough to let them use it!

Blue-gold and pale-gold light surged into the sky from where they embraced.

Behind Wang Dong, the enormous, magnificent phantom of the Light Goddess Butterfly burst forth. Its wings spread wide, sacred and inviolable.

Behind Huo Yuhao, the phantom of a massive vertical eye emerged as well.

Its sclera was pale gold, its deep purple pupil slowly shifting, radiating the majesty of seeing through all falsehoods.

The two auras of origin began to blend perfectly.

The Light Goddess Butterfly, burning with blue-gold flames, gracefully spread its dazzling wings and slowly moved forward, tightly embracing the Spirit Eye phantom.

At the final instant, the Light Goddess Butterfly's figure suddenly vanished.

In its place appeared a brilliant blue-purple Spirit Eye.

Dazzling blue-gold flames bloomed instantly upon the Spirit Eye phantom, like a sacred flower opening in the void.

It slowly descended, firmly protecting Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong within its embrace.

The enormous Spirit Eye floated in the air, appearing unfathomably deep. Looking closely, its pupil seemed bottomless, as if it contained endless worlds.

In the next instant, destructive energy gathered at the center of the Spirit Eye.

A terrifying beam of blended blue, purple, and gold shot forth with unstoppable force, heading straight for Xiao Yan.

Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Wither in Radiance—Golden Path!

That dazzling light instantly illuminated the entire Assessment Area.

The thousands of new students and teachers watching below were all shocked by this terrifying attack that exceeded the limits of first-year students.

Facing the fearsome three-colored beam, Xiao Yan still did not summon his martial soul.

He took a step forward, straightened his back, and directly met the beam with his own body.

On the elevated platform, Du Weilun, the dean of studies responsible for overseeing the match, suddenly changed expression.

The Golden Path's power had already reached the destructive standard of a Spirit King, perhaps even a Spirit Emperor. If Xiao Yan was injured because of his overconfidence, how could Du Weilun explain it to Dean Yan?

Du Weilun's Soul Power erupted, and just as he was about to spring forward to forcibly save him—

"Don't move."

A calm voice sounded directly within his Sea of Consciousness.

"I know what I'm doing."

Du Weilun's body stiffened abruptly, and the Soul Power he had just gathered dissipated at once.

He looked toward the arena in horror. To divide his attention and send him a one-way spiritual message at the very moment before such a violent collision of energy—this boy's spiritual power was simply terrifying.

"Boom—!"

Amid the audience's cries of alarm, the Golden Path struck Xiao Yan with perfect accuracy.

The blinding three-colored light swallowed the white figure.

The instant he came into contact with the beam, Xiao Yan's clothing, hair, and even his exposed skin were dyed a dazzling gold at a visible speed.

His entire body was forcibly frozen in place, transformed into a golden statue.

The beam continued for several seconds before finally exhausting its energy.

The Spirit Eye phantom floating in the air shattered inch by inch, turning into countless motes of light that scattered away.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's figures were revealed once more.

After unleashing that Martial Soul Fusion Skill, which had drained all their Soul Power and spiritual power, the two gasped heavily.

They held onto each other's arms just to remain standing, barely avoiding collapsing onto the arena floor.

Their eyes remained fixed on the front.

At the other end of the arena, Xiao Yan stood motionless, his hands still hanging at his sides.

No one dared make a sound.

Could the Class Nine monitor, whose reputation had been inflated to almost mythical proportions, really have been finished by a Martial Soul Fusion Skill just like that?

The referee took a deep breath and was just about to step forward to inspect the situation and announce the result.

"Crack."

A faint sound of breaking rang across the silent arena, clearly reaching everyone's ears.

A crack suddenly split open across the surface of that pure gold statue.

Immediately afterward, the crack spread rapidly like a spiderweb.

The golden shell turned into countless tiny flecks of light and peeled away in a flutter, revealing the moon-white robe beneath, completely undamaged.

Xiao Yan rolled his neck, his gaze crossing the arena and landing on the two exhausted figures supporting each other across from him.

A calm voice drifted through the air above the arena.

"Not bad."