Yes, Qian Renshuang had pointed out the essence of the Soul Duel Tournament.
You could not restrict the performance of the strong just because of differences in strength. Everyone who stepped onto the field, whether a Soul Emperor or a Soul Elder, would give it their all.
But casualties would always occur during a match.
That was the referee's role.
A powerful referee would intervene when necessary, block the stronger contestant's killing blow, and then declare the weaker one defeated.
However, even the best horses stumbled. Accidents always happened in matches, and casualties had occurred in every Soul Duel Tournament.
Among them, an especially large number had died at the hands of Shrek Academy students.
Once a contestant died in battle, the referee was the first to be held accountable.
Take what had just happened. A qualified referee would have blocked Qian Renshuang's attack before she killed He Caitou, then declared He Caitou eliminated.
But he had not.
Ma Xiaotao looked at the referee.
The referee shrank back.
He was indeed a Soul Sage, and he had wanted to intervene, but he simply lacked the ability!
His instincts told him that if he rushed forward and tried to block the Primordial Ice Dragon Breath head-on, he would die. His corpse would not end up much better than He Caitou's.
If he stayed still, he would be held accountable after the match. But if he charged in to withstand it, he would really die.
Of course, Ma Xiaotao knew that the referee should be held accountable. Shrek's teams had often killed opposing students throughout the years. Moreover, she knew about the deals behind the scenes between Shrek Academy and the three great empires, deals that led to refereeing errors during matches and caused those little accidents...
But she could not accept