After the Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament officially began, Shrek won its first few matches quickly.
On the first morning, Shrek faced an established academy from the Heaven Dou Empire. Their opponents focused on steady defense, with three defense-type Soul Masters forming a formation together, hoping to bog down Shrek's pace with their heavy lineup. Huo Yuhao took only half an incense stick's time to use Spirit Detection to mark all three gaps in their positional shifts.
Bei Bei's lightning shattered through the center, Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise Shield suppressed the counterattack, and Wang Dong'er's Light Goddess Butterfly cut in from the flank. A platinum light blade descended, and the defensive line split apart on the spot.
Shrek's first victory.
In the afternoon's second match, their opponent was a powerful team from the Dou Ling Empire. All seven of them were extremely fast, and from the start, they tried to bypass Huo Yuhao and strike Xiao Xiao and He Caitou first. Huo Yuhao stood at the heart of the formation, his Spirit Eyes lighting up as Spiritual Interference spread like an invisible net, forcibly pulling the two fastest agility-attack Soul Masters half a step off course.
Just half a step was enough.
Jiang Nannan seized one of them in a backhand grab, while Xiao Xiao's Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron pinned down the other. Wang Dong'er spread her light wings, and when she descended from the air, her blue-gold radiance illuminated the entire arena.
Their second victory was just as clean.
The discussion in the stands grew louder and louder.
"Huo Yuhao's battlefield control is absurd."
"It's like he can see everyone's next move in advance."
"Wang Dong'er is ridiculously strong too. Her attacks are fast, and her coordination with Huo Yuhao is flawless. Their opponents don't even dare face them head-on."
But Shrek did not relax too much internally, because everyone knew that the more beautifully they won, the more anxious those lurking in the shadows would become.
For the entire day, Shrek won every match without a single defeat.
On the second day, Shrek won another two matches.
In one, Bei Bei led the team while Huo Yuhao merely maintained their rhythm from the rear with Spiritual Sharing and barely made a move. In the other, they faced a Soul Engineer team affiliated with a sect. He Caitou's Soul Tool artillery platform fully unfolded for the first time, its firepower suppressing the opponents so thoroughly that they could barely lift their heads.
On the second afternoon, Shrek encountered an unremarkable sect team.
There were no Sun Moon Soul Engineers or Holy Spirit Cult members among them on the surface. Their captain was a power-attack Soul King, their vice-captain was a control-type Soul Master, and the remaining members coordinated neatly. They looked like the most ordinary opponents imaginable.
But from the instant Huo Yuhao stepped onto the arena, he felt that something was wrong.
It was not strength, nor weakness—it was emptiness.
The Soul Power fluctuations of the seven opponents appeared steady, and there was nothing unusual about traces of Soul Tools. Even their emotional fluctuations before the match were absent. But Huo Yuhao was a spiritual-type Soul Master. He knew too well what real living people should be like when standing in an arena: excitement, fear, the desire to win, and tiny, chaotic thoughts rippling across the surface of their Spirit Seas.
These people had none of that.
The surface of their Spirit Seas looked as though it had been scrubbed clean by an evil art. Their emotions had been shaved thin, leaving behind only a few commands forcibly buried within. This was not ordinary brainwashing. It was more like the method commonly used by the Holy Spirit Cult's evil Soul Masters: first dull a person's sense of self, then press commands into the cracks of their soul.
That was why they looked so "clean"—too clean to seem human.
Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes faintly lit up. Spiritual Detection spread outward, passing through those bleached mental surfaces and pressing deeper, until he finally struck an extremely thin layer of emptiness three meters beneath the arena.
"Dong'er, don't get too far away from me," Huo Yuhao said softly.
Dong'er glanced at him and immediately understood the meaning behind his warning. The sharpness in her eyes receded slightly as she replied, "Understood."
Ma Xiaotao stood below the stage with her arms folded, her brows raised flirtatiously. "That kid caught a scent again."
The match began.
Shrek pressed forward as usual. Bei Bei used lightning to open the way, Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise Shield protected the rear line, Xiao Xiao activated her Twin Martial Souls and used the Nine Phoenixes Coming to Court Flute for support and amplification, while Jiang Nannan maneuvered in with her agility-attack martial soul. Dong'er's Light Goddess Butterfly launched a fierce assault, her blue-gold light blade slashing toward the opposing control-type Soul Master along the route Huo Yuhao had marked.
This time, Huo Yuhao did not seek a quick finish. Instead, he pushed Spiritual Sharing deeper—but their opponents had been waiting for that very moment. Just as Wang Dong'er's light blade was about to strike the opposing control-type Soul Master, a deeply concealed Sun Moon interference nail suddenly exploded at the edge of the arena. The Soul Tool nail did not attack Huo Yuhao. Instead, it instantly severed the point where Wang Dong'er was about to land.
Wang Dong'er's expression changed. She forcefully twisted herself in midair, but black patterns had already curled up from beneath her. It was not a killing move, but more like a hand that had opened in advance, waiting specifically for the instant she left Huo Yuhao's side.
"Dong'er, watch out!"
Huo Yuhao's warning had barely fallen when the black patterns exploded.
Wang Dong'er was blasted sideways, and the wings of her Light Goddess Butterfly scattered a shower of blue-gold light through the air. She crashed against the edge of the arena with a muffled groan, blood spilling from the corner of her lips.
When Huo Yuhao saw Dong'er fall outside the arena, his Spiritual Sharing faltered.
Bei Bei's lightning command slowed by half a beat, Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise Shield did not reinforce the center of the formation in time, and Xiao Xiao's Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron was knocked an inch off course by the interference wave.
"Yuhao, steady yourself!" Bei Bei shouted sharply.
Huo Yuhao heard him.
But when he saw Wang Dong'er lying at the edge of the arena, he could no longer contain his rage.
The Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion martial soul unfolded, and frigid Soul Power surged violently from behind him. The temperature of the entire arena plummeted. Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes shone so brightly they were nearly blinding. Rather than advancing his Spirit Shock in layers according to the original rhythm, he hurled it directly at the opposing control-type Soul Master.
But that was exactly the moment they had been waiting for. Black blood patterns emerged from the cracks, bypassed the Ultimate Ice, and stabbed straight toward Huo Yuhao's brow.
His Spirit Eyes were forcibly sealed shut in an instant, and Huo Yuhao's vision went black.
He did not fall. Through the pain, he raised a hand and forcibly froze the crack, driving his Spirit Shock into the ground. Icy blue light exploded along the arena's fissures, forcibly exposing three black Soul Nails hidden in the formation's core.
The stands erupted in shocked cries. Xuan Zi's face darkened as he prepared to act, but the arena's rule formation was locked in reverse by the black patterns. The opponents' true killing move had arrived.
A Scorpion-Tiger Blood Nail slipped past everyone's sight and stabbed toward Huo Yuhao from behind.
Dong'er saw it. Though she had already been blasted out of the arena, she still gritted her teeth and forced herself to rise. She took out the Clear Sky Hammer, no longer caring about the tournament rules, and rushed toward Yuhao with the hammer raised, knocking the blood nail off course.
"Yuhao!"
But the remaining Blood Baleful Intent still drilled into his Spirit Eyes. Huo Yuhao let out a muffled groan, blood spilling from his lips as his Spirit Sea seemed to tear open. When he turned and saw Wang Dong'er collapse again, his pupils were filled with bloodshot rage.
Deep within the opposing formation core, the black blood patterns lit up once more. Bei Bei and the others were restrained outside the formation core by a powerful force, and for the first time in an official match, Huo Yuhao was trapped in a true dead end.
The tournament organizers were thrown into disarray by the sudden disruption caused by the evil Soul Masters. The audience descended into chaos, every participating team went on alert, layer after layer of Soul Tool barriers lit up, and screams mixed with furious shouts.
Just when everyone thought Huo Yuhao was about to be completely crushed, a clear dragon's roar suddenly rang out above the arena.
Golden light tore through the air, and the Golden Dragon Spear descended from the heavens, viciously nailing itself into the center of the arena.
The black blood patterns across the entire arena shattered inch by inch under that strike.
Wang Qiu'er appeared within the golden light.
She had arrived so suddenly that even Xuan Zi was stunned for an instant. She still carried traces of dust from the Star Dou Great Forest, night dew clinging to the ends of her hair, yet her golden eyes shone with astonishing brilliance. The destiny aura of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion surged deep within her brow, as though it had been forcibly drawn back by Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea on the verge of collapse.
Xuan Zi seized the chance to act. The pressure of a Super Douluo left the evil Soul Masters nowhere to hide, while the arena staff quickly followed up and brought this dangerous farce to an end.
The host rushed out and announced that the matches for the second afternoon would be temporarily suspended and would resume tomorrow.
Dragging his battered body along, Huo Yuhao staggered toward the edge of the arena and slowly picked up the unconscious Wang Dong'er. When he looked up at Qiu'er, his thoughts were a tangled mess.
She had truly returned—not because he had called for her, nor even because the academy had sent her a message.
It was simply because the destiny power of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had sensed the danger to the Eye of Destiny. She had felt that he was truly in danger, so she had returned from the Star Dou Great Forest in time rather than leaving his world behind.
All these thoughts drifted through Huo Yuhao's mind as he weakly greeted her, "Qiu'er... you're back."
After saying that, Huo Yuhao finally collapsed to the ground from the agonizing pain in his Spirit Eyes and the exhaustion of his Soul Power.
Wang Qiu'er hurriedly caught Huo Yuhao with one hand and handed him over to Caitou. Then she stood and swept her spear across the center of the arena. Golden spear light tore through the last blood pattern, marking all three Evil Soul Nails hidden beneath the arena.
"Senior Brother Bei Bei, Senior Brother Sanshi," she said, still as cold as a spear blade, "sorry for the trouble, but please clean up these disgusting things."
Qiu'er lowered her head to look at Huo Yuhao in Caitou's arms, her gaze complicated.
That night, both Wang Dong'er and Huo Yuhao were sent to the Sea God Pavilion's medical room.
Dong'er's Soul Power was exhausted, and the Scorpion-Tiger Blood Nail had also injured her spiritual power. Her life was not in danger, but she had yet to wake.
Under Wang Qiu'er's spiritual power restoration, Huo Yuhao slowly woke. His Spirit Eyes still hurt as though someone were scraping them inch by inch with a blade, but what truly kept him from calming down was that streak of golden light that had descended from the sky above the arena.
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