Golden Road? A Road Made of Paper!

Yu Chen slowly withdrew his hand and slipped it back into his pocket.

He looked at the Shrek students sprawled on the ground, their faces filled with despair, and curled his lips in an utterly disdainful smile.

"Is that all?"

His voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly through the soul tool amplifiers to every corner of the Great Soul Arena.

Yu Chen shook his head in disappointment.

He could not even be bothered to spare Bei Bei another glance. His gaze passed over them and landed on Huo Yuhao, who had remained at the rear and had yet to make a move.

"What a disappointment."

"This is the foundation of your so-called continent's number one academy? It's so weak I can't even muster the slightest interest."

Yu Chen's words were like poisoned knives, stabbing again and again into the hearts of the Shrek students.

Humiliation.

Unprecedented humiliation spread wildly through Bei Bei's heart like poisonous weeds.

He struggled to rise from the ground. His right arm was completely dislocated, hanging limply at his side. He clenched his molars so hard that the metallic taste of blood from his gums filled his mouth.

They could not lose.

They absolutely could not lose here!

If they were crushed by someone their own age without him even releasing his martial soul, Shrek's ten-thousand-year reputation would be utterly ruined in their hands!

Besides, Wang Dong'er was watching from over there!

With bloodshot eyes, Bei Bei suddenly turned his head.

He stared fixedly at the trembling youth at the back of the team, whose eyes were just as red as blood.

"There's no other way!"

Bei Bei gritted his teeth. His voice was hoarse and distorted by extreme fury and unwillingness, like a lone wolf driven into a corner. He roared at Huo Yuhao with all his strength.

"Use that!"

Bei Bei's howl did not sound human. It was more like a wild wolf forced to the edge of a cliff, howling with the last of its life.

Huo Yuhao shuddered violently.

In an instant, his face turned even paler than Xiao Xiao's, his lips trembling like fallen leaves in an autumn wind.

"N-No, Senior Brother Bei Bei!"

Huo Yuhao's teeth chattered, and his voice carried a sobbing edge. "We're not familiar with that at all! If we force it, our soul power will... will backlash!"

A martial soul fusion skill!

This was Shrek Academy's deepest secret, a realm only geniuses among geniuses could possibly touch!

The "Withering Amidst Brilliance, Golden Road" he shared with Wang Dong'er had only succeeded once under their teacher's guidance. Even then, it had drained all of both their soul power, leaving them bedridden for three whole days.

And now, he was supposed to force out a fusion skill with Senior Brother Bei Bei that was theoretically possible but had never been attempted before?

How was that any different from suicide?!

"I don't fucking care anymore!"

Bei Bei's eyes were bloodshot as he grabbed Huo Yuhao by the collar, nearly pressing his face against Huo Yuhao's and spraying spittle across him.

"If we walk out of here lying down today, we'll never be able to hold our heads up again for the rest of our lives! Shrek's honor, the Tang Sect's honor—we'll throw it all away! Do you understand?!"

"I'd rather die on this stage than be a worthless piece of trash knocked flat by someone's finger!"

Bei Bei's voice had completely twisted. He stared at Huo Yuhao, and the madness and resolve burning in his eyes chilled Huo Yuhao to the bone.

He knew that his senior brother had gone mad.

That boy in white had driven him completely mad in the most contemptuous, cruel manner possible.

Huo Yuhao looked at Yu Chen in the distance, who had put his hand back into his pocket and could not even be bothered to give them a proper glance.

That disregard hurt more than any vicious curse ever could.

Humiliation seared into his heart like a red-hot brand.

Huo Yuhao clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his flesh.

He abruptly raised his head. The fear and hesitation in his eyes were replaced by an equally frenzied determination.

"Fine!"

"I'll risk it with you!"

Huo Yuhao stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with Bei Bei.

Their eyes met in midair, and a tragic, desperate aura erupted from them.

Before the spectators in the stands could recover from the shock of that "one finger breaking ten thousand techniques," they saw two entirely different lights suddenly flare from the bodies of the two Shrek youths on the stage.

"What are they doing?"

"It looks like... it looks like a martial soul fusion skill!" An experienced old soul master cried out in shock. "Heavens, two men? How is that possible?!"

The commentator seemed to have been injected with adrenaline. He sprang from his chair and roared into the soul tool amplifier, "A miracle! Are we about to witness a miracle?! With conventional attacks completely ineffective, Shrek Academy's two genius contestants seem to be using their final trump card!"

On the stage.

Brilliant golden light burst from Huo Yuhao's eyes like two tiny suns!

First soul skill, Spiritual Detection Sharing!

Second soul skill, Simulation!

On his forehead, the vertical eye that had never been revealed before others—the Eye of Destiny—quietly opened a narrow slit. A vast and majestic spiritual force, as though it could see through the past and future, transformed into an invisible golden bridge and forcibly connected to Bei Bei beside him.

"Arghhhhh—!"

Bei Bei threw back his head and let out a pained roar.

It felt as though a red-hot iron hammer had smashed into his head. Countless pieces of information, images, and sensations that did not belong to him flooded madly into his sea of consciousness.

Yet he did not retreat. Instead, enduring the excruciating pain, he drove the surging Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon soul power within him to its absolute limit without holding anything back!

"Roar!"

A resounding dragon's cry rang throughout the arena.

A blue-violet phantom Thunder Dragon, more solid than ever before, soared into the sky from behind Bei Bei.

Something bizarre happened.

When that violent Thunder Dragon came into contact with the golden light released by Huo Yuhao, not only was there no rejection, it instead seemed to find an outlet and frantically fused into it!

"Buzz—"

The air throughout the Great Soul Arena began to tremble violently.

Golden rays spread outward from Huo Yuhao, while blue-violet lightning scales burst forth from Bei Bei.

Light and lightning, spirit and power.

At that moment, two utterly different energies were forcibly kneaded together in an extremely warped yet profound manner.

A golden "road" began beneath their feet and extended straight toward Yu Chen.

The road was paved entirely in dazzling golden light. Along its sides, blue-violet arcs of lightning continuously leaped and exploded, producing terrifying crackling sounds.

Golden Road!

This was not the fusion skill Huo Yuhao had shared with Wang Dong'er, one possessing the beauty of withering. It was a path of slaughter forcibly created by fusing his power with Bei Bei's Tyrant Dragon martial soul, born solely for ultimate "destruction" and "penetration"!

Wherever the road passed, the hard granite tiles silently crumbled into powder.

A terrifying pressure that seemed capable of judging all living beings and crushing everything spread from the Golden Road, silencing the entire arena.

Even the referee in midair turned pale and retreated frantically, afraid that even a trace of that aura might touch him.

"It's over!"

Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao roared in their hearts at the same time.

This was an attack into which they had wagered everything, burning their lives and souls!

They refused to believe that anyone their age in this world could withstand this move!

As he watched the golden road extend straight toward him, radiating a terrifying aura of destruction, a faint ripple finally appeared in Yu Chen's anciently still eyes.