Top Eight

"Isn't this guy an idiot? Is he missing a screw or something? What normal person would offend so many of us all at once?"

Wu Feng's little head was filled with huge question marks. She could not understand why Dai Huabin would do something so brainless. If she dared to anger all the other Soul Masters in her grade at once, even Ning Tian, who usually treated her very well, would probably scold her senseless.

Ning Tian and Jiang Yue's expressions instantly turned strange when they heard Wu Feng describe Dai Huabin that way. They silently looked at Wu Feng, while Nanmen Yun'er, who already understood Wu Feng's personality quite well, watched her as well.

"What? Why are you all looking at me like that? Is there something dirty on my face?"

"No, your face is very clean. But I never expected its thickness to be so astonishing. Aren't you just the pot calling the kettle black?"

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"You didn't understand? Forget it. It doesn't matter if you didn't understand. Let's leave it at that. We're going now; we still have matches tomorrow."

Anyone could have said what Wu Feng had just said, except Wu Feng herself. If Ning Tian had not been keeping this girl in check, she probably would have turned into someone not much different from Dai Huabin long ago.

Even among the current freshmen, Wu Feng had earned herself a poor reputation among the first-year boys because she had never shown a pleasant face to most students who approached Ning Tian and her, especially male students.

She was probably only slightly better than Dai Huabin. After all, having grown up in the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Wu Feng was extremely proud, but she had not reached Dai Huabin's absurd level of practically wanting to write "I'm number one under heaven" across his face.

"Little Feng, you should read more after we get back. Otherwise, if someone sells you off someday, you might even help them count the money."

"What? Why did you suddenly tell me to read more? What does that even have to do with anything? Whether it's Jiang Yue or Young Mistress, you're both being so strange."

"Forget it. As long as you're happy, Little Feng."

Ning Tian rubbed her forehead. Looking into Wu Feng's "innocent and pure" eyes, she understood that no matter how much she said, it would have no effect.

The next morning, perhaps because the round of sixteen and quarterfinal matches were both being held that day, quite a few people had come to watch at the assessment area.

Today, the person holding the drawing box was no longer an ordinary teacher from the previous day, but Du Weilun, the Dean of Studies of the Martial Soul Department.

After calling roll for the teams participating in today's matches according to the usual procedure, they began drawing lots one by one, starting with Class One.

There were ten freshman classes in total. The teams led by the two Soul Masters, Jiang Yue and Dai Huabin, had claimed two of the sixteen spots in the round of sixteen, already exceeding the expectations of Class Five's homeroom teacher.

When it was Class Five's two teams' turn, Dai Huabin, as captain, had no intention of drawing the lot himself. Seeing that he remained unmoved, Zhu Lu immediately stepped forward to Du Weilun and drew a numbered tag from the box.

Someone had already drawn the same number as Zhu Lu, and that team was none of Jiang Yue, Ning Tian, or Xie Huanyue's teams.

Seeing this result, Dai Huabin gave a disdainful snort. He was clearly dissatisfied with the draw, but given the occasion—and because he believed it was only a matter of time before he faced the other Soul Masters—he did not show any overly intense emotion.

When it was Jiang Yue's turn, he stepped forward to Du Weilun's side and gave a slight bow. Du Weilun responded with a smile.

"Number Three. Your opponents are Xie Huanyue's team from Freshman Class Two!"

"Do your best. This is the first battle between Soul Masters among the freshmen. I imagine quite a few people will be watching."

Du Weilun patted Jiang Yue on the shoulder, his tone somewhat solemn.

Du Weilun greatly admired this little genius before him, who had defeated Dai Huabin and was most likely the strongest individual among this year's freshmen.

At the end of the day, Shrek Academy was at least outwardly still an academy. Most of the educators in the outer court possessed a degree of professional integrity, and naturally loved outstanding students—especially when certain others provided such a stark contrast.

At least for now, Du Weilun had a very favorable impression of Jiang Yue. The sight of Dai Huabin lying beaten in a pile of rubble several months ago remained vivid in his mind. The more so, the more curious he became about Jiang Yue's true strength.

If the round-robin stage of the freshman assessment was meant to eliminate those who failed to meet Shrek Academy's standards, then the knockout stage existed purely to uncover students who could enter the inner court in the future. If someone possessed exceptionally outstanding talent, they might even attract the attention of certain highly respected senior figures on Sea God Island.

Du Weilun was the Dean of Studies of Shrek Academy's outer court Martial Soul Department. His status within the department was second only to the two deans of the Martial Soul Department, so he naturally had access to some of the upper echelons.

Just two days ago, Yan Shaozhe had personally sought out Du Weilun and told him that a major figure from the Sea God Pavilion might come to watch this year's freshman assessment. The timing was uncertain; he had merely told him to reserve a seat and not concern himself with anything else.

Naturally, Du Weilun handled such an important matter with utmost speed.

That senior from the Sea God Pavilion might already have arrived at the assessment area, and Du Weilun could not exactly go over and check.

Among the freshmen, the four Soul Master students were the most likely to attract the attention of a senior from the Sea God Pavilion. Jiang Yue's advantage lay not only in his talent and strength, but also in the fact that, unlike the other three, he had no special background.

With all those factors combined, Du Weilun felt that he should remind Jiang Yue to perform well. Perhaps that senior might take a liking to Jiang Yue and accept him as a disciple?

Upon arriving at their assigned assessment area, Jiang Yue's group of three and Xie Huanyue's group faced each other from a distance. The atmosphere immediately became far tenser.

"Doctor Jiang, I really didn't expect the two of us to meet so soon. Does this count as infighting? Dai Huabin got lucky—he didn't draw us. Forget it, let's go all out like we agreed before!"

"Mm. Don't worry. I'll definitely take this match seriously."

"Good. But let's agree beforehand: no matter who wins or loses, it can't affect my coming over to your place for meals afterward. And we have to beat Dai Huabin up in the end, so he can get a good look at our strength."

Xie Huanyue looked simple and honest on the surface, but he possessed pride of his own within. That was perfectly normal. They were all geniuses who had become Soul Masters before the age of twelve; it would have been strange if they had no pride at all.

So Xie Huanyue was also somewhat angered by Dai Huabin's provocation yesterday.

"State your names. Prepare to begin the match!"

Seeing that Jiang Yue and Xie Huanyue's groups were ready, the referee teacher overseeing the examination spoke in a deep voice, preparing to begin the match.

Compared with the other matches that day, Jiang Yue and Xie Huanyue's battle was clearly far more eye-catching.

Even the match between Wang Dong's team, with its thousand-year second soul ring, and Ning Tian's group received little attention. Perhaps only the homeroom teachers of those two teams, who happened to be romantic rivals, would use the match to spite each other.

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

"Freshman Class Two: Xie Huanyue, Luo Tianlong, Luo Tianba."

Once the introductions were over, the match began. The Luo Tianlong and Luo Tianba brothers did not release their martial souls like the others. Instead, they hid behind Xie Huanyue.

Three soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple—appeared behind Xie Huanyue, announcing his status as a Soul Master and warning everyone never to judge others by appearance.

The fat all over Xie Huanyue's body trembled, and his body swelled another full size after releasing his martial soul, perfectly concealing the slender bodies of the Luo Tianlong and Luo Tianba brothers behind him.

When Xie Huanyue saw the three soul rings on Jiang Yue—yellow, purple, purple—a peculiar smile appeared on his face, as though he had come to terms with something. Then he stomped heavily on the ground, and that enormous ball of flesh actually shot into the air.

Normally, a fat man could not jump very high, but Xie Huanyue could not be judged by common sense. He leaped more than ten meters into the air, and he was carrying two people with him.

The Luo brothers' arms transformed into mantis-like blades, and borrowing the momentum of their descent, they charged toward Lu Bei and Zuo Fan.

Just as Jiang Yue intended to take out one of the Luo brothers first, Xie Huanyue descended from above with a Mount Tai Pressing Down attack aimed at him.

Facing this falling ball of flesh, Jiang Yue tapped his toes against the arena floor and swiftly drifted backward.

Boom!

With a deafening crash, several cracks appeared where Xie Huanyue landed. His entire body bounced back up like a ball, and he launched another attack at Jiang Yue's group.

Zuo Fan and Lu Bei were locked in fierce combat with the Luo brothers. Neither side was willing to give ground. Against the Luo brothers, Zuo Fan and Lu Bei held no advantage in soul power rank, and the battle had fallen into a stalemate.

Facing Xie Huanyue's renewed charge, Jiang Yue raised the Passionate Sword and slashed at him.

Duang~

There was no sound of a blade cutting into flesh, not even the ring of metal striking metal. Instead, it sounded as though Jiang Yue's attack had hit a rubber ball.

The fat across Xie Huanyue's body absorbed all the damage from Jiang Yue's attack. After being knocked back some distance, he bounced twice on the ground to gather strength before launching another offensive, giving Jiang Yue no chance to support the other two.

At this rate, Zuo Fan and Lu Bei would likely be eliminated before the Luo brothers. Then Jiang Yue would be facing three opponents alone, and his chances of winning would plummet.

It could not be helped. Xie Huanyue's team had no control-system Soul Master. In a group battle, without a control-system Soul Master, the best approach was to split the battlefield into several smaller engagements and defeat the opponents one by one.

Having understood Xie Huanyue's team's plan, Jiang Yue's lips curved into a slight smile.

"Sorrow can wound, and green locks turn frost-gray!"

From Jiang Yue's third soul ring behind him, the brown Sorrow Sword slowly emerged and came to rest at his back.

With a casual point, the Sorrow Sword darted rapidly through the field under Jiang Yue's control, striking at the Luo brothers from time to time. Though its damage was not severe and its speed was not particularly fast, allowing them to react every time, the incessant harassment still began to trouble the Luo brothers. They grew cautious, losing the sharp edge they had displayed earlier.

Without that momentum, the situation on the field suddenly became much clearer for Jiang Yue's side.

Seeing this, Xie Huanyue's first soul ring lit up. His aura surged, and after gathering a little strength, he charged at Jiang Yue at an even greater speed.

Rather than retreating, Jiang Yue advanced, rushing head-on toward Xie Huanyue at top speed. At the instant they were about to collide, Jiang Yue twisted his body, using Xie Huanyue as a stepping stone to evade his attack. At the same time, silver light flowed across the Passionate Sword in his hand, slicing open Xie Huanyue's skin, which had already become rubber-like in texture. Several drops of blood seeped out.

Feeling the sting, Xie Huanyue halted and touched the wound on his arm in disbelief. This was the first time he had encountered a weapon sharp enough to cut through the Pippi Elephant Martial Soul's skin defense.

He wiped the blood from the blade with fingers formed into a sword gesture, then rubbed his bloodstained fingertips together. Jiang Yue's second soul ring lit up, and a peculiar spiritual fluctuation spread outward with the Passionate Sword as its center.

The Luo brothers, already affected by the Sorrow Sword, were extremely wary of Jiang Yue. They feared the power of his thousand-year soul skill. Xie Huanyue felt the same.

One second... two seconds... three seconds passed without any reaction. Xie Huanyue was beginning to wonder whether Jiang Yue had failed to activate his soul skill.

But just as he cautiously prepared to speak, an indescribable sensation suddenly arose in his heart. The expressions in Xie Huanyue's and the Luo brothers' eyes changed instantly. They had no idea whether they should attack at this moment.

"Hiss—!"

Pain suddenly shot through the Luo brothers' arms. They bared their teeth and looked at their arms, but there was not a single injury on them.

A bizarre scene unfolded. The match, which had been fiercely contested moments ago, fell into an eerie stalemate.

Second soul skill: Live and Die Together. After activation, spiritual power increased by 45%, and the soul power consumption of all martial soul abilities decreased by 30%. A special spiritual connection formed between enemies struck by the Passionate Sword and Sorrow Sword. Their emotions, pain, and all other spiritually related damage became shared between them, without being divided.

The human brain was a fascinating organ. Under normal circumstances, when the brain encountered an extreme emotion, it would be consumed by that one emotion. But with this soul skill active, ideally, while the enemy was so overjoyed that they went mad from exhausting their spirit, they could simultaneously feel overwhelming rage. Under such extreme mingling of joy and anger, suffering a mental breakdown would be difficult to avoid.

Pain could be shared as well. Jiang Yue truly wanted to see whether, if he used spiritual power to shock one person's brain into brain death, the others would also suffer brain death.

In short, this soul skill had tremendous potential for development. It also solved Jiang Yue's early-stage inability to control the field over a wide area, though it still required more imagination to fully exploit.

Xie Huanyue had originally intended to attack, but under the influence of the Luo brothers' inner worry, he became hesitant and restrained. The Sorrow Sword landed in Jiang Yue's hand, and seizing the moment, Jiang Yue charged at Xie Huanyue with both swords raised.

The moment Xie Huanyue came into contact with the Passionate Sword and Sorrow Sword, he once again became consumed by needless worry, despite having just cleared his mind and prepared to fight Jiang Yue head-on. He did not dare fight without restraint.

Only when he saw the Luo brothers had completely fallen into a disadvantage did a spark of anger rise from the depths of Xie Huanyue's worry-filled heart.

His third soul ring flashed. Purple light enveloped Xie Huanyue's body, making him look like a purple ball. With a low roar, dense purple light erupted outward from him.

Compared to the physical enhancement granted to Soul Masters by beast martial souls, tool martial souls had no such advantage. Even enhancement-type soul skills generally enhanced the martial soul itself, rather than providing the all-around boosts of beast martial souls.

That was how it should have been, but Jiang Yue's physical condition was undoubtedly far superior to Xie Huanyue's.

Clang— The purple light protecting Xie Huanyue was utterly vulnerable before the Passionate Sword. The thread in his mind maintaining the connection to his soul skill was severed just like that, and his still-active third soul skill abruptly vanished.

Xie Huanyue was somewhat bewildered. He could not understand why he had suddenly lost contact with his perfectly functioning soul skill. Just as he regained control of his body and wanted to continue fighting, waves of stinging pain erupted simultaneously from several parts of his body. Xie Huanyue froze for a moment, and Jiang Yue had already raised the Passionate Sword and appeared before him.

The sword tip pointed at Xie Huanyue's throat. The Luo brothers were mentally disturbed, shared the pain in their bodies, and could even personally feel Xie Huanyue's panic at having a sword pointed at him, as though the sword were aimed at themselves. Naturally, they could not gain any advantage, much less win.

"New Student Class Five's Jiang Yue Team wins! They advance to the quarterfinals!"

In the end, Jiang Yue's team advanced in the round of sixteen match.