Ye Han faced the others' doubtful, indifferent gazes and walked straight up to Lin Feng, giving a slight nod in greeting:
"Teacher Lin, I'm Ye Han, the new substitute member."
Lin Feng sized Ye Han up, his gaze lingering briefly on Ye Han's calm, unreadable face before he nodded.
"So you're Ye Han. Welcome to the team."
As soon as he finished speaking, an indifferent snort came from nearby.
"Kid, how old are you this year? What rank is your Soul Power?"
Yan stood with his arms folded, his chin slightly raised, showing no politeness toward this newly arrived substitute.
Ye Han turned his head and glanced at him, his expression calm.
"Fifteen. Rank forty-five."
The moment those words fell, the area went quiet for an instant.
The group exchanged looks, all finding it hard to believe.
Among the seven main members, aside from the support master Xu Yu, all of them had Soul Power above rank forty-five.
Yet without exception, they were all several years older than Ye Han.
Xie Yue had broken through rank forty at sixteen, which was already considered the fastest achievement among this group.
But this kid before them had broken through rank forty before the age of fourteen?
Yan frowned, clearly unconvinced.
"Kid, are you really rank forty-five? What's your Martial Soul? Show us your Spirit Rings."
Ye Han did not answer immediately. His gaze swept over the seven people before him.
Though he had never met them before, it was not difficult to identify them from their appearances.
This red-haired young man with the arrogant manner of speaking was Yan, the strongest overall member of the team.
The silver-haired youth standing beside Yan, with his composed bearing and cold features, should be the team captain, Xie Yue.
The girl beside Xie Yue, with seductive eyes and a stunning figure, was Hu Liena.
Further to the side stood Sun Chuantao, who was tall and appeared slightly older than the others.
The fat man beside Sun Chuantao was Li Kai.
The lanky young man next to Li Kai was the team's support master, Xu Yu.
And there was one more slender girl, Zhang Ping, the Golden-Waisted Swallow Soul Master.
"Although I've only just arrived, I understand your rules. I know you all became the team's main members only after passing layer upon layer of selection. I understand your doubts, but I'll let my strength speak for itself and prove that I'm qualified to remain on the field at critical moments."
Ye Han was neither servile nor overbearing, and his words were fairly polite.
But the composure and confidence in his bones sounded somewhat grating to those who were already dissatisfied with him.
"You mean... you want to spar with us?"
The speaker was Li Kai. His Martial Soul was the Black-Horned Mountain Boar, and his Soul Power was exactly rank forty-five. He was an assault-type Battle Soul Ancestor.
Everyone watched Ye Han, wanting to see what he was capable of.
Ye Han looked at Li Kai, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
"You want to fight me one-on-one? Then let's try it."
"Straightforward! You're not bad, kid!"
Li Kai clapped his hands and strode toward the center of the field.
The others tacitly stepped back, making room for the two of them.
Yan leaned off to one side, folding his arms with great interest.
Xie Yue and Hu Liena stood side by side, their gazes both fixed on Ye Han. They wanted to see just how capable this kid who claimed to be rank forty-five at fifteen really was.
"Martial Soul Possession!"
Li Kai shouted in a low voice.
His body suddenly swelled by a full size. Dark black bristles appeared across his skin, two curved tusks protruded from the corners of his mouth, and his once fairly friendly round face now gave off a fierce air.
Two yellow and two purple Spirit Rings rose from beneath his feet, circling his body as waves of Soul Power spread outward.
"Come on, let everyone see your Martial Soul!"
Li Kai bent his knees slightly and assumed a charging stance, his eyes locked onto Ye Han.
Ye Han calmly extended his right hand.
A flash of dark golden light appeared in his palm, and a long staff condensed out of thin air.
The entire staff was covered in dragon scales, its body ancient and heavy, faintly gleaming with dark golden light.
At the edge of the field, Lin Feng's pupils abruptly contracted.
"This is... the Coiling Dragon Staff?!"
Lin Feng knew that the Martial Souls of Qianjun Douluo, the Sixth Worship Hall Elder, and Demon Subduing Douluo, the Seventh Worship Hall Elder, were both the Coiling Dragon Staff.
Could this young man before him have been brought here by those two Worship Hall Elders?
Yan, Xie Yue, and Hu Liena did not recognize the Coiling Dragon Staff, but from the dense, heavy aura emitted when the Martial Soul condensed, they could tell that this weapon Martial Soul was anything but ordinary.
All their expressions changed.
"Stop dawdling. Hurry up and release your Spirit Rings."
Li Kai urged him.
His attention had also been caught for a moment by that dark golden staff, but he quickly suppressed his surprise and readied himself to charge.
Ye Han held the staff in one hand, its tip angled toward the ground, and said calmly:
"I don't need to release my Spirit Rings. We can begin."
Li Kai froze for a moment, feeling slighted. His face immediately flushed red.
"You little punk, you're young but sure are arrogant! Fine, I'll teach you a lesson!"
Before his words had even faded, his third Spirit Ring suddenly lit up.
A pale red glow appeared over his pitch-black bristles, and the muscles all over his body bulged.
This was an amplification Soul Skill, increasing all attributes such as strength, speed, and defense by fifty percent.
Boom!
Li Kai stomped hard on the ground, launching himself at Ye Han like a cannonball.
Ye Han stood where he was. The Coiling Dragon Staff in his hand suddenly swept upward, carrying immense, heavy force as it moved.
Second form of the Unyielding Staff Technique, Shaking Heaven, Shattering Earth!
This move emphasized an eruption of strength, producing a powerful shockwave through the execution of the staff technique and dealing a fierce physical impact to the enemy.
At present, Ye Han had mastered the first four forms of the Unyielding Staff Technique.
Each form was comparable to a Self-Created Soul Skill.
The power of the Unyielding Staff Technique would grow stronger along with his strength.
With his current ability, every form of the Unyielding Staff Technique possessed the might of a ten-thousand-year Soul Skill.
Ye Han swung the Coiling Dragon Staff, creating an invisible shockwave.
Li Kai's charging momentum was forcibly cut short by the terrifying impact rushing toward him, as though he had slammed into an invisible iron wall.
With a muffled groan, his massive body was lifted off the ground by the shockwave and sent flying backward. He crashed heavily onto the ground dozens of meters away and rolled several times before stopping.
The edge of the field fell silent.
Everyone was stunned.
Li Kai, a rank forty-five Soul Master who had activated an amplification Soul Skill and charged at full force, had actually been blasted away by Ye Han with a single strike—without Ye Han even releasing his Spirit Rings?
The group looked at one another, utterly dumbfounded.
Ye Han lowered his staff and stood still, his expression unchanged.
"Anyone else want to try?"
"I will!"
Sun Chuantao was somewhat unwilling to accept this and stepped forward.
His Martial Soul was the Ringed Great Blade. He was a rank forty-six assault-type Battle Soul Ancestor, and among the team, his strength was second only to Yan, Xie Yue, and Hu Liena.
Xie Yue patted Sun Chuantao on the shoulder and quietly reminded him:
"His Martial Soul possesses tremendous power. Don't engage him at close range."
"Understood."
Sun Chuantao walked into the center of the field and activated Martial Soul Possession.
A Ringed Great Blade half the height of a person floated at his side, its edge gleaming with a cold metallic light.
Two yellow and two purple Spirit Rings lit up in succession. As Soul Power surged, the great blade hummed.
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