Heavenly Net

The Freshman Assessment was in full swing, and the preliminary round-robin matches posed no difficulty for Jiang Yue's team.

Perhaps Jiang Yue's team had been lucky. Even after completing their first five matches, they had not encountered a team made entirely of Soul Grandmasters. Although Jiang Yue's two teammates were only level twenty-two or twenty-three Soul Grandmasters and did not greatly surpass their opponents, dealing with those opponents was still effortless for them.

On the third day of the Freshman Assessment, Jiang Yue's examination area changed. Zhou Yi was no longer supervising; Wang Yan was.

In the assessment area, Wang Yan smiled and greeted Jiang Yue when he saw him approaching. No teacher disliked a good student who took the initiative to learn, especially a theory-oriented teacher like Wang Yan.

"Hello, Teacher Wang."

"Mm-hmm, hello to you all too. Remember to give it your all in the assessment later. You have several matches today. Tomorrow will be a day off, and the Elimination Round begins the day after that. The academy has extra rewards for the top finishers in the Elimination Round."

"Furthermore, the academy generally selects core disciples from the teams that make it into the Elimination Round. I don't need to explain how important the status of a core disciple is, do I? Work hard."

Jiang Yue's status as a core disciple had already been decided internally. His remaining goal was clear: enter the Elimination Round, win the Freshman Assessment championship, and sell that Thousand-Year Soul Bone afterward.

Besides Jiang Yue's group, the other freshman teams assigned to this area today also arrived one after another.

Wang Dong walked at the front with her arms folded across her chest. Beside her was a delicate-looking girl who seemed completely out of place among everyone else. Under normal circumstances, the girl was actually fairly tall for an ordinary eleven- or twelve-year-old, but this was Shrek Academy, and everyone here was a Soul Master.

Soul Power and martial souls greatly affected physical development. Soul Masters who had already absorbed Soul Rings developed even faster. Under the influence of these factors, that girl was simply far too conspicuous among her peers.

Behind Wang Dong and the girl, Huo Yuhao walked with his head lowered, seemingly lost in thought. He held a piece of metal in his hand and silently maintained some distance from the two ahead of him.

It seemed Wang Dong had still formed a team with Xiao Xiao and Huo Yuhao, just like in the original story.

Aside from Wang Dong's group of three, another particularly eye-catching team consisted of a tall boy and two identical-looking girls behind him.

Both female students had long blue hair and delicate, adorable features.

Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo. These twins had left a deep impression on Jiang Yue when he read the original story, not merely because they were twins, but because they were among the few Body Martial Souls to appear early on besides Huo Yuhao. They also possessed a rare Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

Body Martial Souls were an excellent category of martial soul, whether in the era of Soul Land II or Soul Land III. They might not seem impressive at first, but once they underwent a Second Awakening, even a Bronze-level awakening could greatly increase their owner's combat strength, let alone a Silver-level awakening.

If the strength of a Body Martial Soul was judged by the importance of the body part serving as the martial soul, then Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's martial souls could be considered among the weakest tier of Body Martial Souls.

Hair was not particularly important to the human body. Jiang Yue even felt that fingernails might be stronger than hair.

But the sisters had a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, and they had already become Soul Grandmasters at this age. Even if they could only reach the Soul Sage realm in the future, they could still make quite a name for themselves in the world of Soul Masters with their Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

Noticing Jiang Yue's undisguised gaze toward them, the Lan Sisters could not help blushing. Over the past three months, Jiang Yue had become quite famous among the freshmen because he had beaten Dai Huabin and opened the Psychological Counseling Room.

Realizing that his behavior had been somewhat impolite, Jiang Yue gave the Lan Sisters an apologetic smile and made a gesture wishing them luck in the match.

There were not many girls present to begin with. The Lan Sisters were already quite pretty, and their status as twins naturally drew the attention of most of the boys.

Wang Dong naturally took in the entire scene. Her gaze shifted repeatedly between Jiang Yue and the Lan Sisters as she silently compared herself with the twins. In the end, she concluded that she completely outclassed them in appearance, and that Jiang Yue was a visual creature.

At the same time, Wang Dong felt that if she returned to her female identity, she might become the most popular female student in the entire Outer Court.

The moment she thought of her true gender, Wang Dong glanced inconspicuously at Xiao Xiao beside her and immediately felt a headache coming on.

Girls were always more delicate when it came to emotions. Furthermore, Xiao Xiao had never hidden her fondness for Wang Dong. Wang Dong naturally knew that her appearance, appealing to both men and women, had captured the hearts of quite a few girls—but she did not have that function!

Wang Dong was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. If she suddenly returned to her female identity, those girls would probably remember her name for the rest of their lives, wouldn't they?

The first match was between Wang Dong's group and Huang Chutian's group. Jiang Yue and the others merely stood together in a corner and watched the battle before them.

The moment Wang Dong's Thousand-Year second Soul Ring appeared, everyone who had never seen her before fell into collective shock.

Wang Yan was relatively calm. After all, he was a senior teacher at Shrek Academy. He naturally knew how to increase the maximum Soul Ring age one's body could withstand, and he also knew that the Inner Court currently had a genius whose eighth Soul Ring was a hundred thousand years old. Naturally, Wang Dong's Thousand-Year second Soul Ring did not shock him too greatly.

Wang Dong's Thousand-Year second Soul Ring was indeed surprising. Her combat strength might be considered the strongest among those who were not Soul Elders. However, although she was still grouped with Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao this time, Huo Yuhao's Soul Ring effect could only be considered a weakened version of Mental Detection Sharing.

Moreover, based on what Jiang Yue sensed, Huo Yuhao's Soul Power had only just reached level fifteen. Without the help of the Soul Ascension Pill, not only were his Soul Rings inferior to those in the original story, but his Soul Power also lagged far behind.

Under such circumstances, Huo Yuhao could not provide Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao with as great a boost as he had in the original story. Moreover, because of the previous unpleasantness between Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao, the three of them had no coordination whatsoever.

Knowing full well that Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were at odds, Jiang Yue had no idea what Zhou Yi was thinking by placing them in the same team.

Perhaps Huo Yuhao had already become Fan Yu's personal disciple, so Zhou Yi had opened a back door for her husband's disciple?

As soon as the match began, Wang Dong beat her butterfly wings and charged directly toward Huang Chutian. Seeing this, Huo Yuhao also used his Soul Skill to enhance Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao.

Just as Wang Dong collided with Huang Chutian, the Mighty God Ape, Xiao Xiao's Three Lives Soul-Calming Cauldron martial soul descended from above and surrounded Huang Chutian tightly.

Wang Dong's first Soul Ring lit up, and the sheen on her butterfly wings changed dramatically, as though they had become sharp weapons. They cleaved down at Huang Chutian head-on.

Huang Chutian roared. His fists doubled in size and gleamed with a dense metallic luster as he rapidly punched the Three Lives Soul-Calming Cauldron, sending the cauldrons surrounding him flying.

At the same time, the Lan Sisters clasped each other's hands. Their blue hair rapidly lengthened, covering the entire field in the blink of an eye and turning the area into an ocean of blue hair.

"First Soul Skill, Hair Net!" ×2

The sisters possessed identical Soul Skills, and their twin connection allowed them to control the field through perfect mutual understanding without needing to communicate at all.

The hair precisely protected Huang Chutian within it, then formed a massive net that pounced toward Wang Dong like a butterfly-catching web.

With Huo Yuhao's Soul Skill assisting her, Wang Dong barely managed to deal with the hair. Xiao Xiao, meanwhile, had no way to cope with hair on such a massive scale. Her Soul-Calming Cauldron was not a sharp weapon and could not cut through it like Wang Dong could. She could only barely smash apart the clumped hair and buy some time.

Seeing that Xiao Xiao could not help her, Wang Dong's aura grew even more powerful. Her butterfly wings flapped together as she twisted her body and swung the Wing Guillotine, spinning rapidly like a top and shredding the incoming hair around her into pieces.

For a moment, Wang Dong cleared away every strand of hair around her, creating an empty zone.

When Huang Chutian saw Wang Dong charging toward the Lan Sisters, he immediately emerged from the ocean of hair and brought his iron arm crashing down at her.

Clang!

The Soul-Calming Cauldron appeared again and blocked Huang Chutian's fist. Xiao Xiao, who was controlling everything from afar, smiled.

Wang Dong hesitated no longer. She twisted her body and continuously cut through the hair, steadily shortening the distance between herself and the Lan Sisters.

"It looks like this match is already decided. All this hair covering the ground is troublesome. Brother Jiang, if we run into those twins, it looks like we'll need you to make a move."

"No need. No matter which of those two teams we face later, there is no need to worry too much."

Jiang Yue stroked his chin. Given the current situation, the Lan Sisters would definitely have to use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

With the coordination between twin Soul Grandmasters, identical martial souls, and such high compatibility, the Martial Soul Fusion Skill they released would certainly not be weak. Even Xie Huanyue and Dai Huabin would gain no advantage if they encountered it, especially Xie Huanyue.

The Hell White Tiger was naturally far stronger than Heavenly Net. With the Hell White Tiger, Dai Huabin could not possibly fall behind in a direct clash with the Lan Sisters.

Jiang Yue would also find the Lan Sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill troublesome right now, but it was not without a solution. Before his Passionate Sword, the connection between the Lan Sisters would inevitably develop problems, slowing the Martial Soul Fusion process. Even if they truly succeeded in fusing their martial souls, Huang Chutian would be the one to suffer, not Jiang Yue.

Judging by the situation on the field, Jiang Yue no longer needed to consider Heavenly Net. A Martial Soul Fusion Skill consumed a great deal of energy, and with the Lan Sisters' cultivation, they could not possibly use it a second time within a short period after releasing it once.

Sure enough, just as Wang Dong was about to reach the Lan Sisters, the two girls had no intention of defending or fleeing. Their Soul Rings vanished, and they opened their arms and embraced each other.

A deep blue halo spread outward from their bodies. The hair behind their heads rose up and became even more translucent and crystalline than before. Fine strands of hair and blue light completely wrapped the Lan Sisters' figures.

Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Heavenly Net!

With the compatibility between the Lan Sisters, their identical martial souls, and their Soul Grandmaster cultivation, the Martial Soul Fusion Skill they released was fully comparable to that of a high-level Soul Elder, perhaps even stronger.

Wang Dong's Wing Guillotine struck the Hair Net as though it had hit an extremely elastic and tough web. The Hair Net dispersed the force of her attack, after which the hair crawled over Wang Dong's body like tentacles and trapped her within.

It did not end there. Xiao Xiao and Huo Yuhao also had no way to resist Heavenly Net. Without Mental Shock, Huo Yuhao did not even possess an offensive skill right now. Naturally, he could not shatter the Lan Sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill in one blow like he had in the original story.

All three were controlled by Heavenly Net and lost their ability to fight. No matter how they struggled, they could not break free.

In the end, Huang Chutian's team won the match.

Although they had won, the Lan Sisters and Huang Chutian did not look particularly pleased. They had expended a great deal as well, and their trump card, the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, had been exposed early. They would certainly be targeted by other teams during the Elimination Round.

"Alright, the second match will be Jiang Yue's team against Wang Dong's team."

Somewhat dejected after their loss, Wang Dong's group of three went to the side of the field to wait for their next match. At the same time, they did not forget to observe the martial souls and Soul Skills of the other team members. Every piece of intelligence meant another chance at victory.

Jiang Yue's first match today had been against a team with only one Soul Grandmaster. Jiang Yue had not needed to act at all; Lu Bei and Zuo Fan alone had been able to handle the opponents.

"Class Five: Jiang Yue, Lu Bei, Zuo Fan."

"Class One: Wang Dong, Xiao Xiao, Huo Yuhao."

After both sides announced their names, Wang Yan immediately declared the match started.

At the start of this match, all three of Wang Dong's group had already released their martial souls, but they had no intention of immediately engaging. The three had already expended considerable energy, and they still had several matches left. Their current opponents were a team that had not consumed nearly as much energy, so the pressure was obvious.

Jiang Yue stepped forward, moving around his teammates. The students present all turned their eyes toward him. They would also have to face Jiang Yue's team later, so they naturally wanted to see what kind of strength this team core, who had suppressed two Soul Grandmasters, possessed.

Besides, Huo Yuhao knew Jiang Yue's approximate strength and Soul Ring configuration. Wang Dong's Thousand-Year second Soul Ring might allow her to contend with other Soul Elder teams, but against Jiang Yue, who also possessed a Thousand-Year second Soul Ring, she held no advantage at all.

Yet when Wang Dong saw Jiang Yue, she was eager to fight. She had long wanted to see just how great the gap between herself and a Soul Elder was.

On Jiang Yue's side, Lu Bei and Zuo Fan both watched Wang Dong vigilantly. They would have some difficulty dealing with Wang Dong and her Thousand-Year second Soul Ring.

It was at that moment that Jiang Yue patted both of them on the shoulders and walked past them to the front of the stage.

Tap, tap, tap!

Jiang Yue held a silver longsword that gleamed with cold light. With every step he took, a Soul Ring appeared behind him. The moment his three Soul Rings—yellow, purple, purple—appeared, Wang Yan's eyes widened.

A Soul Elder, and one with a Thousand-Year second Soul Ring!

Wang Yan knew that this year's freshmen included four Soul Elders. He had originally wondered which freshman was the strongest, but it seemed he no longer needed to think about it. Jiang Yue had already given him the answer.

"How about you concede now and save some Soul Power for the other teams?"