Heavenly Net

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

Perhaps Jiang Yue's team had been lucky. Even after finishing 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 people was still effortless for them.

By the third day of the Freshman Assessment, Jiang Yue's examination venue had changed. Zhou Yi was no longer supervising them; Wang Yan was.

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

"Hello, Teacher Wang."

"Mhm, hello, you all. Remember to give it your all during the assessment. You'll have several matches today. Tomorrow is a rest day, and the elimination rounds begin the day after. The academy has extra rewards for the top finishers in the elimination rounds."

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

Jiang Yue's status as a core disciple had already been decided. His remaining goal was clear: reach the elimination rounds, win the Freshman Assessment, and sell that thousand-year Soul Bone afterward.

Apart from Jiang Yue's group, the other freshman teams taking their assessments in this area today gradually arrived as well.

Wang Dong walked at the front with her arms folded across her chest. Beside her was a pretty girl who looked utterly out of place among everyone else. Normally, that girl was actually rather tall compared to ordinary eleven- or twelve-year-olds, but this was Shrek Academy, where everyone was a soul master.

Soul Power and Martial Souls had a major effect on physical development. Soul masters who had already absorbed Soul Rings developed even faster. Under those influences, the girl stood out far too much among her peers.

Behind Wang Dong and the other girl, Huo Yuhao had his head lowered as though lost in thought. He held a piece of metal in his hand and silently kept a certain 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, burly boy and two identical-looking girls behind him.

The two female students both 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 possessed one of the few body-type Martial Souls to appear early on besides Huo Yuhao. They also had a rare Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

Body-type 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 particularly remarkable at first, but once they underwent a second awakening, even a bronze-grade awakening—not to mention a silver-grade one—could greatly increase the owner's combat strength.

If the strength of a body-type Martial Soul was determined by how important the corresponding body part was to the human body as a whole, then Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's Martial Souls could be considered among the weakest of all body-type Martial Souls.

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

But the sisters possessed 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 through their Martial Soul Fusion Skill.

Noticing Jiang Yue's undisguised gaze toward the sisters, the Lan Sisters could not help blushing. Over the past three months as freshmen, Jiang Yue had become quite famous among the new students after beating Dai Huabin and opening a counseling office.

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 their match.

There were not many girls present to begin with, and the Lan Sisters were pretty themselves. Combined with the fact that they were twins, they naturally drew the attention of most of the boys.

Wang Dong had naturally taken in that entire scene. Her gaze moved repeatedly between Jiang Yue and the Lan Sisters as she silently compared herself with the twins. In the end, she concluded that she utterly surpassed them in looks 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 very well become the most popular female student in the entire Outer Court.

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

Girls tended to be more delicate when it came to emotions, and Xiao Xiao had not hidden her fondness for Wang Dong at all. Wang Dong naturally knew that her appearance, which attracted both men and women, had already captured the hearts of quite a few girls—but she did not have that functionality!

Wang Dong was now in an awkward position. If she suddenly returned to being a girl, 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 simply stayed in a corner and watched the battle unfold.

The moment Wang Dong's thousand-year second Soul Ring appeared, those who had never seen her before collectively fell into shock.

Wang Yan was fairly calm. As a senior teacher of Shrek Academy, he naturally knew how to raise the maximum Soul Ring age one's body could withstand. He also knew that there was currently a genius in the Inner Court whose eighth Soul Ring was a hundred thousand years old, so Wang Dong's thousand-year second Soul Ring did not shock him too much.

Wang Dong's thousand-year second Soul Ring was indeed surprising. Her combat power could perhaps be considered the strongest among everyone present aside from the few Soul Elders. However, although she was still in a group with Huo Yuhao, Huo Yuhao's Soul Ring effect was only a weakened version of Mental Detection Sharing.

Moreover, based on what Jiang Yue could sense, Huo Yuhao's Soul Power had only just reached level fifteen. Without the Soul Ascension Pill, not only were his Soul Rings far behind the original story, but his Soul Power was as well.

Under such circumstances, Huo Yuhao could not provide Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao with the same level of enhancement as in the original story. Furthermore, because of the unpleasantness between Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao, the three of them had no teamwork whatsoever.

Knowing full well that Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had a conflict, Zhou Yi had still placed them on the same team. For a moment, Jiang Yue had no idea what that woman was thinking.

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

As soon as the match began, Wang Dong beat her butterfly wings and charged straight at 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's Mighty God Ape, Xiao Xiao's Three Lives Soul-Calming Cauldron Martial Soul descended from above and surrounded Huang Chutian on all sides.

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

Huang Chutian roared. His fists doubled in size and gleamed with an intense 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 seamless coordination without needing any communication at all.

The hair precisely shielded Huang Chutian, then transformed into a massive net that lunged toward Wang Dong, the butterfly.

With Huo Yuhao's Soul Skill assisting her, Wang Dong barely managed to deal with the hair. Xiao Xiao, meanwhile, had no solution against such an enormous quantity of hair. Her Soul-Calming Cauldron was not a sharp weapon; she could not slice through the hair like Wang Dong could. She could only barely smash apart the clumped hair to buy some time.

Seeing that Xiao Xiao could not help her, Wang Dong's presence intensified. Her butterfly wings beat simultaneously as she twisted her body and swung her Wing Guillotine, spinning rapidly like a top and shredding the hair rushing toward her into pieces.

For a moment, Wang Dong completely cleared away all the hair around her, creating an empty zone around herself.

When Huang Chutian saw Wang Dong charging toward the Lan Sisters, he immediately emerged from the sea of hair and swung his iron-like arm down at her head.

Clang!

The Soul-Calming Cauldron appeared again and blocked Huang Chutian's fist. Xiao Xiao, 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 decided. All that hair covering the ground is troublesome. Brother Jiang, if we run into those twins, it seems we'll need you to make a move."

"No need. No matter which of these two teams we face later, there's no need to worry too much."

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

The two twin Soul Grandmasters had identical Martial Souls and undoubtedly possessed an extremely high degree of compatibility. Their Martial Soul Fusion Skill could be said to give even Xie Huanyue and Dai Huabin no advantage at all 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 would never be at a disadvantage in a direct clash with the Lan Sisters.

Jiang Yue would also find the Lan Sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill troublesome, but it was not without a solution. Before his Passionate Sword, the connection between the sisters would inevitably develop problems, slowing the Martial Soul fusion considerably. Even if they truly completed the fusion, Huang Chutian would be the one to suffer, not Jiang Yue.

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

Sure enough, when 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 to embrace each other.

A deep-blue radiance spread outward from their bodies. Their hair rose behind their heads, becoming even more crystalline than before. Fine strands of hair and blue light completely enveloped the Lan Sisters.

Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Heavenly Net!

Given the compatibility between the Lan Sisters, their identical Martial Souls, and the fact that both were Soul Grandmasters, 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 incredibly elastic and resilient web. The net deflected the force of her attack, after which the hair crawled over Wang Dong's body like tentacles and trapped her within it.

It did not end there. Xiao Xiao and Huo Yuhao were also unable to resist Heavenly Net. Without the Soul Skill Mental Shock, Huo Yuhao did not even possess a single offensive ability now. Naturally, he could not destroy the Lan Sisters' Martial Soul Fusion Skill in one blow as 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 from Heavenly Net.

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

Although they had won, the Lan Sisters and Huang Chutian did not look particularly happy. They had consumed a great deal as well, and they had exposed their trump card, the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, so early. They would certainly be targeted by other teams during the elimination rounds.

"Alright, second match. Jiang Yue's team versus Wang Dong's team."

Somewhat dejected after their loss, Wang Dong's group of three came to the edge 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 teams. Every extra piece of intelligence increased their chance of 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 had been enough to handle their 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 start of the match.

At the beginning of this match, all three of Wang Dong's group had already released their Martial Souls, but they had no intention of attacking immediately. All three had expended a great deal of energy, and they still had several matches ahead of them. Now they were facing a team that had not used up much strength, so the pressure was obvious.

Jiang Yue stepped around his teammates and walked forward. Every student present focused on him. They would be facing Jiang Yue's group next as well, so they naturally wanted to see what kind of strength this team's core, who could suppress two Soul Grandmasters, possessed.

Besides, Huo Yuhao knew roughly how strong Jiang Yue was and what his Soul Ring configuration looked like. Wang Dong's thousand-year second Soul Ring might allow her to put up a fight against other Soul Elder teams, but against Jiang Yue, who also possessed a thousand-year second Soul Ring, she had no advantage whatsoever.

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

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

At that moment, Jiang Yue patted both of them on the shoulders and walked past them to the front of the stage.

Tap, tap, tap!

A silver longsword flashing with cold light appeared in Jiang Yue's hand. With every step he took, a Soul Ring appeared behind him. The instant three Soul Rings—yellow, purple, purple—emerged, 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 been wondering which freshman was the strongest, but it seemed there was no longer any need to wonder. Jiang Yue had already given him the answer.

"Why not concede now and save some Soul Power for the other teams?"