On the arena, the smoke and dust slowly dispersed.
Shrek's seven members lay sprawled across the arena. Bai Xiao supported himself with the Seven Star Sword as he knelt on one knee, Yu Momo's dragon scales along both arms had shattered, Han Xiao's tiger wings drooped, and Ning Xia's Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda had dimmed... Every one of them was in a sorry state, with none of the high spirits they had possessed before the battle remained.
Meanwhile, although the Seven Luminaries Team's seven members had also expended a great deal, they still stood firmly on the arena.
The outcome had been decided.
After a brief silence, the audience erupted in thunderous cheers!
"We won! Spirit Pagoda won!"
"Seven Luminaries Team! Seven Luminaries Team!"
"That kid Xiao Cheng is incredible! That final spear strike was insanely cool!"
Countless recording Soul Tools captured the entire scene—there were witnesses and evidence, and this victory was beyond dispute.
However, beneath the arena, Long Yeyue's expression was as ugly as if she had swallowed a fly.
As the vice pavilion master of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, a Demigod-level powerhouse, and the Light and Dark Douluo, what was her status? She had personally led the team here today intending to let Shrek Academy's new generation teach these ignorant brats from Spirit Pagoda a lesson. Yet, she had never expected them to lose so thoroughly in full public view!
How was she supposed to explain this to the Sea God Pavilion? How was she supposed to explain it to Bei Dexun?
Long Yeyue's face alternated between green and white as her cold gaze swept over the Seven Luminaries Team on the arena before finally settling on Xiao Cheng.
It was this brat!
She had seen that spear strike clearly—the dark-purple spatial slash and that evil, tyrannical aura...
"Hehe, what a splendid performance." Long Yeyue's voice carried a trace of chill, sounding especially clear throughout the silent plaza. "Spirit Pagoda's younger generation truly does have some ability. However—"
Her tone shifted as her sharp gaze locked onto Xiao Cheng. "Boy, that soul skill you used just now came from the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, didn't it?"
Xiao Cheng's heart tightened, but his expression remained calm. "So what if it did?"
"So what?" Long Yeyue sneered. "The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger is an extremely evil soul beast. How could a mere Soul Grandmaster like you possibly control its power? The power you used just now clearly carried evil energy! In this old woman's view, you already show signs of falling into the path of an Evil Soul Master!"
The entire venue erupted in uproar!
An Evil Soul Master?! They were beings everyone on the Douluo Continent wanted dead! Long Yeyue was actually accusing a member of Spirit Pagoda's Seven Luminaries Team of being an Evil Soul Master in front of everyone?!
"An Evil Soul Master?! Xiao Cheng is an Evil Soul Master?"
"No way, right? Xiao Cheng is a Spirit Pagoda prodigy. How could he be an Evil Soul Master?"
"What do you know? Evil Soul Masters are best at disguising themselves! Maybe he's been hiding his identity all along!"
Whispers filled the spectator stands. The gazes many people directed at Xiao Cheng had already gained a trace of wariness and suspicion.
Xiao Cheng's expression darkened.
He had not expected Long Yeyue to be so shameless, openly pinning the label of "Evil Soul Master" on him before everyone! This was not merely slander against him personally—it was also an attack on Spirit Pagoda's reputation!
"Vice Pavilion Master Long!" Leng Zhaoran's voice rang out like thunder. He abruptly rose to his feet, his face livid. "Watch your words! Xiao Cheng is a member of Spirit Pagoda's Seven Luminaries Team. Are you trying to make an enemy of Spirit Pagoda by slandering him so viciously?"
"Make an enemy?" Long Yeyue gave a derisive snort. "This old woman is merely speaking the truth. How can the power of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger be controlled by a child? His being able to control it now does not mean he can control it in the future! If this is allowed to continue, once he is completely corroded by Evil God Power, it will not merely be Spirit Pagoda that suffers, but the entire continent!"
Long Yeyue sneered. "The evil and tyrannical power he used just now, that aura, was clearly evil power! Shrek Academy has fought Evil Soul Masters for twenty thousand years. As the vice pavilion master of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, could this old woman possibly fail to recognize it?"
She paused, her tone taking on a lofty, charitable air. "Still, heaven cherishes life. This boy is still young, so perhaps he can yet be saved. In this old woman's opinion, since Spirit Pagoda lacks the ability to properly discipline him, Shrek Academy might as well handle it. Let him join Shrek Academy and receive proper instruction from us, so that we can ensure he does not fall into evil. Being able to receive Shrek Academy's education would be a bargain for this brat."
As she spoke, she raised a delicate hand. A dragon claw interwoven with light and dark elements reached toward Xiao Cheng on the arena!
That claw looked casual, but it contained the terrifying pressure of a Demigod-level powerhouse! If it truly struck him, let alone a Soul Grandmaster like Xiao Cheng, even a Title Douluo-level powerhouse would be severely injured on the spot!
"Long Yeyue! How dare you!"
Leng Zhaoran was both shocked and enraged. He had not expected Long Yeyue to be so utterly shameless as to bully a child in public. With an explosive roar, Heavenly Phoenix True Fire suddenly erupted around him! A phoenix wing blazing with roaring Heavenly Phoenix True Fire slashed out like a divine blade, colliding with Long Yeyue's Light and Dark Dragon Claw!
Boom—!!!
A world-shaking explosion rang out!
Two Demigod-level powers collided, unleashing a destructive shockwave! The protective Soul Tool formation around the arena instantly lit up with blinding light and shook violently under the impact, as if it might shatter at any moment!
Fortunately, there were no shortage of powerhouses among the spectators.
Yue Zhenshan, the master of Heaven Dou City's Spirit Pagoda branch, a Rank 96 Super Douluo and Three-Word Battle Armor Master, acted at once. A heavy earth-yellow barrier rose from the ground, blocking the shockwave from reaching the audience.
The person in charge of Heaven Dou City's Tang Sect branch, also a Rank 96 Super Douluo and Three-Word Battle Armor Master, acted as well. An emerald-green curtain of light protected the spectators on the other side.
Only through the combined efforts of the two Super Douluos were they barely able to block the aftershock from the clash between the two Demigods.
Even so, countless cracks spread across the ground of the central plaza, while the protective formation around the arena let out a groan of unbearable strain.
"Leng Zhaoran! You dare stop me?! Are you declaring war on Shrek Academy?!" Long Yeyue shouted sharply. The phantoms of the Light and Dark Twin Dragons appeared around her, radiating terrifying pressure.
"So what if I stop you?" Leng Zhaoran sneered. "Long Yeyue, stop twisting the truth here! As the vice pavilion master of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion and a Demigod-level powerhouse, you actually attacked an eight-year-old child from Spirit Pagoda in broad daylight! Once word of this gets out, I'd like to see whether Shrek Academy or Spirit Pagoda will be the one unable to show its face!"
He paused, his voice heavy with mockery. "Besides, you claim Xiao Cheng is an Evil Soul Master? Just because he used a power you have never seen before? What a joke! What is wrong with Spirit Pagoda's geniuses having unusual Martial Souls? Does Shrek Academy not have students with unusual Martial Souls? Shall I drag out every student from Shrek Academy with a dark-attribute Martial Soul and interrogate them one by one to see whether they are Evil Soul Masters?"
Long Yeyue stubbornly retorted, "This old woman is thinking of the continent's safety! If the Evil God Power within that boy is not controlled, it will surely become a great disaster in the future!"
"Bullshit!" Leng Zhaoran cursed without restraint. "I think you just can't accept losing! You lost the team battle and couldn't save face, so now you want to take it out on a child! And you dare talk about 'Evil Soul Masters'? How utterly ridiculous! If you really had the ability, why didn't you say anything before the team battle? Why did you jump out only after losing? If that isn't being unable to accept defeat, then what is?"
Long Yeyue's face alternated between green and white. Leng Zhaoran's rebuke left her unable to say a word.
She truly was partly acting out of anger and humiliation. As Shrek Academy's vice pavilion master, she had always stood above others. When had she ever suffered such indignity? Especially in full public view, after being defeated by Spirit Pagoda's younger generation!
However, she had not completely lost her reason. She knew that if she continued to provoke a battle between Limit Douluos within a major city like Heaven Dou City, the casualties would be horrific, and the aftershocks might even destroy half of Heaven Dou City.
Even someone as arrogant as Long Yeyue did not dare commit such an outrage against the world. Thus, she gave a cold snort. With the phantoms of the Light and Dark Twin Dragons circling around her, she rose into the air and flew toward the sky. "Leng Zhaoran, if you have the guts, follow me! Let this old woman see just how capable you, the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, truly are!"
"As if I'd fear you!" Leng Zhaoran did not hesitate. Heavenly Phoenix True Fire surged around him once more, and his entire body transformed into a crimson streak of light that shot into the sky!
The two Demigod-level powerhouses confronted each other high in the air, and the atmosphere grew tense to the extreme!
On the ground, everyone raised their heads toward the sky and held their breath.
A battle between Demigod-level powerhouses was an event rarely witnessed!
Being able to witness such a spectacle would be worth it even if one died from the aftershocks!
The two Limit Douluos rose one after the other to an altitude of ten thousand meters!
The audience on the ground all craned their necks upward. Although they could not see the details of the battle, the crimson and silver-white flashes that erupted in the sky from time to time, along with the faint booms drifting down, showed just how fierce the battle was.
Xiao Cheng stood on the arena, watching the two figures constantly clashing in the sky as he clenched his fists.
"Long Yeyue..." he murmured, a chill flashing through his eyes.
He would remember this grudge.
Just then, a cyan figure instantly appeared at his side.
"Cheng'er, are you all right?" Xiao Ran's concerned voice sounded beside his ear.
"Dad, I'm fine." Xiao Cheng shook his head and looked at his father. "That old swine Long Yeyue..."
"Don't worry. Your Uncle Leng will handle this matter properly." Xiao Ran patted his shoulder, then raised his head to look toward the sky. A cold glint flashed through his eyes, and his voice carried a grim chill. "But since she dared attack you, I cannot let that old swine off too easily. I must also let the world know the price of targeting Xiao Ran's son."
As he spoke, the divine artifact, the Space-Time Divine Shuttle, which had been nurtured within his body, trembled slightly. Spatial power circulated around him as the Power of Empty Green surged at full strength.
The next instant, his figure vanished from where he stood and appeared ten thousand meters in the sky!
"Brother Leng, I've come to lend you a hand!" Xiao Ran's voice sounded beside Leng Zhaoran's ear.
Leng Zhaoran was briefly startled before he laughed. "Brother Xiao, you came at the perfect time! This old hag's strength is a little lacking. I could handle her alone, but with your help, it'll be even more certain!"
He was telling the truth.
After exchanging more than a dozen moves, Leng Zhaoran had discovered that Long Yeyue's strength was far less formidable than her reputation suggested.
Long Yeyue was known as Sun and Moon Radiance, the Light and Dark Dragon Emperor. Combined with her Martial Soul configuration, it was difficult for anyone who had never fought her to imagine that her actual strength would be so lacking. At the Limit Douluo level, they were generally leaders of major factions and rarely clashed with powerhouses of the same rank. Even when battles occurred, they were conducted in secret, as otherwise they could easily cause serious hostility between two great powers. Thus, Limit Douluos rarely had clear battle records, and no one had questioned Long Yeyue's strength.
After all, Long Yeyue's Martial Soul configuration was indeed extravagant—Twin Martial Souls, the Radiant Holy Dragon and the Dark Holy Dragon. Among the powerhouses of this era, not a single one would dare claim to surpass her. Furthermore, Shrek Academy possessed deep foundations, and she had advanced smoothly to the Limit Douluo level with scarcely any meaningful setbacks.
However, precisely because her path had been too smooth, her actual combat experience was lacking.
Her understanding of the profound truths of the Radiant Holy Dragon and Dark Holy Dragon was severely disproportionate to her cultivation. Aside from simply using collisions between light and dark elements to create explosions, she only knew how to rigidly employ her own soul skills and certain ultimate techniques created by past users of Shrek Academy's Radiant Holy Dragon and Dark Holy Dragon Martial Souls.
In short, she only knew how to copy others; she possessed nothing that was truly her own.
Leng Zhaoran, on the other hand, was different.
Although he had also studied the insights and ultimate techniques left behind by generations of the Leng Family's Heavenly Phoenix Martial Soul powerhouses, he had always worked to transform that knowledge into something of his own. While he still fell somewhat short of those true geniuses who had created their own ultimate techniques, he was vastly stronger than someone like Long Yeyue, who could only recite things by rote.
"Long Yeyue, is this all you can do?" Leng Zhaoran taunted even as he fought. "The Radiant Holy Dragon and Dark Holy Dragon are utterly wasted in your hands! If you don't know how to use them, you might as well give those Martial Souls to someone else!"
"You're courting death!" Long Yeyue was so furious that smoke nearly rose from her seven orifices. Her attacks became even fiercer, but she exposed even more openings.
Xiao Ran saw it clearly from the side. The Space-Time Divine Shuttle trembled slightly, and a spatial rift silently opened behind Long Yeyue—
"Watch out!" A warning blared in Long Yeyue's heart. She hurriedly dodged, but the spatial rift still grazed the corner of her clothing, slicing off part of her sleeve!
"Xiao Ran! You dare launch a sneak attack on this old woman?!" Long Yeyue roared in fury.
"A sneak attack?" Xiao Ran smiled faintly. "I was merely helping you clear your head. So that your anger does not cloud your judgment and make you do something even more disgraceful. You dared attack my son—did you really expect me to play by the rules with you?"
"You—!"
Long Yeyue was too enraged to speak, but she had to admit that with Xiao Ran supporting Leng Zhaoran from the side, she truly could not focus all her strength on dealing with Leng Zhaoran. Xiao Ran's cultivation was lower than hers, but with the amplification of the Space-Time Divine Shuttle, his spatial power had become exceedingly strange and unpredictable, making him impossible to guard against.
If this continued, not only would she gain no advantage, she might even suffer a major loss!
Before you continue