The seven members of Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy were already in position on the Soul Fighting Platform.
Facing Shrek Academy, any team would get nervous. All seven had trembling legs—not because they were afraid to fight, but because the name "Shrek" hung over them like an invisible mountain. But when they saw that only one person had stepped onto the opposite side—a boy who looked no older than thirteen or fourteen—that nervousness was quickly replaced by an even stronger emotion.
"J-just one person?" Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy's captain stared at the other side, eyes wide with disbelief.
The teammates behind him exchanged glances, then excitement they could barely contain burst from their eyes. One person. Shrek Academy had actually sent only one person to compete! And he was a reserve team member, not even fifteen. How strong could a reserve team member possibly be?
"T-this is our chance!" Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy's captain spoke in a hushed voice, but couldn't hide his elation. "One person, and a reserve team member at that! Even with all his talent, he can't possibly have more than five Soul Rings! Listen up—finish this quickly, and don't give him a chance. Remember, we—"
He paused and took a deep breath. A nearly feverish flame kindled in his eyes.
"We're going to be the first team to defeat Shrek!"
Those words were like a shot of adrenaline, surging through every team member's veins. The seven quickly spread out according to their pre-match formation—three Power Attack System soul masters at the front, two agility attack types on the flanks, one control type in the center, and one support type at the rear. It was a standard offensive formation: three-two-one-one. The agility attack types on the flanks could bypass the front line and strike the rear immediately. Their legs were still trembling, but no longer from fear.
The referee looked at Lin Shuo, standing alone in the center of the Soul Fighting Platform, then toward Shrek Academy's rest area. After checking several times, he finally raised his hand.
"The match begins!"
The instant the words left his mouth, Lin Shuo released his Martial Soul.
The moment the Seven-Colored Dragon King Martial Soul took shape behind him, a deep dragon's roar sounded from within him. It seemed to pierce through time and space, echoing endlessly over the entire Soul Fighting Plaza. The enormous dragon phantom, its whole body covered in seven-colored scales, raised its head. Seven hues silently flowed through its dragon eyes. Then the Soul Rings beneath Lin Shuo's feet began to rise, one after another.
Four pitch-black Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings slowly revolved around the slender figure of the boy, their dark sheen glinting with a restrained chill beneath the sunlight.
The entire Soul Fighting Plaza fell into deathly silence.
"N-no... impossible..."
Someone was first to speak. Their trembling murmur rang out with startling clarity across the silent plaza, where even a pin could be heard dropping. Four Soul Rings—all of them Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings. How could a boy under fifteen possess four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings? This wasn't merely a genius. He was a monster, a freak of nature!
On the Douluo Continent, even three-year-old children knew that the highest a First Soul Ring could be was a Hundred-Year Soul Ring.
On the high platform, the emperor of the Star Luo Empire abruptly rose from his throne. The composure that usually marked his dignified face had been replaced by sheer, incredulous shock. He stared at the Seven-Colored Dragon King's phantom on the Soul Fighting Platform, his fingers gripping the throne turning white at the joints.
"Four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings... How on earth did Shrek Academy manage this?"
In Xu Jiawei's subconscious understanding, such an achievement had to be inseparable from Shrek Academy's extensive support.
He paused, then frowned and turned to the minister beside him. "What about the child from the Dai family? I remember Dai Yueheng is in Shrek Academy's inner court. Why didn't I see him in the rest area today?"
The minister was also still immersed in shock. At the question, he hurriedly bowed and replied in a voice low enough for only the emperor to hear. As Xu Jiawei listened, his brows drew tighter and tighter, and his gaze returned to the Soul Fighting Platform.
Meanwhile, on the platform, Lin Shuo took a step forward, and the Third Soul Ring beneath his feet lit up.
When they saw the four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings, the seven opponents had already frozen in place.
The Seven-Colored Dragon King phantom slowly raised its head. Seven hues silently flowed through its dragon eyes, then gathered into two entirely different forces.
Light and darkness—two elements that should have repelled each other fused under the dominion of the dragon clan's bloodline, forming a destructive dragon's breath that poured down from the void.
The strike was like divine punishment descending. A torrent of white and black tore through the air with a piercing shriek. Lin Shuo deliberately slowed the dragon's breath, giving the referee time to react.
The referee's pupils contracted sharply. As a Seven-Ring Soul Sage, he could clearly sense the destructive power contained in that dragon's breath. It was far beyond anything the seven members of Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy could withstand. Before the dragon's breath even landed, he shot into the arena. The full force of a Seven-Ring Soul Sage's Soul Power burst forth, and at the last moment, he wrenched the seven members of Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy out of its path and hurled them off the platform.
Boom—!
The dragon's breath crashed onto the empty Soul Fighting Platform.
The entire platform shuddered violently. In the face of that power, the hard ground was like paper, plowed open into a deep trench.
When the dragon's breath dissipated, a ghastly scorch mark remained in the center of the platform. That single strike had left the entire Soul Fighting Platform unrecognizable. The seven members of Tianling Advanced Soul Master Academy sat sprawled below the platform, their faces as pale as paper and their pupils unfocused, as though they had just escaped with their lives from the gates of hell.
The referee raised his hand, his voice still trembling slightly. "First round of the elimination stage—Shrek Academy wins!"
A tidal wave of shouts rose from every corner of the stands, the roar threatening to overturn the entire Soul Fighting Plaza. The more than two hundred thousand spectators finally found their voices again. Amazed cries and disbelieving screams rose and fell, filling the entire Soul Fighting Arena.
On one side of the spectators' area, the members of Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy had also fallen into a long silence.
Xiao Hongchen stared fixedly at the figure on the Soul Fighting Platform, the usual lazy smile long gone from his face. He was hailed as the greatest genius in the history of the Sun Moon Empire. At just fourteen, he was already a Soul King.
"Although I can also fight seven opponents at once," Xiao Hongchen suddenly said. His voice was quiet, just loud enough for his teammates nearby to hear, and a strain anyone could detect colored his tone. "I couldn't defeat those seven as effortlessly as he did."
His younger sister, Meng Hongchen, seemed not to have heard him at all. The white-haired girl rested her chin in both hands and stared without blinking at the slender figure on the platform, an unmistakable smile curving her lips.
"Brother."
Xiao Hongchen's mouth twitched. He had a feeling he knew what was coming.
"He's so handsome."
Xiao Hongchen took a deep breath and slowly turned his head away. He'd known it.