Linhe City Martial Arena, western division of the Heaven Dou Empire.
This was the third round of the preliminaries.
The seven members of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Southern Branch had already taken their positions, their formation as meticulous as a textbook diagram.
The leading Four-Ring Soul Ancestor possessed the Iron-Armed Ape martial soul. His arms hung naturally at his sides, muscles bulging.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the Sky Abyss Academy team that had been praised to the heavens.
Footsteps sounded from the entrance tunnel.
There was no neat, uniform formation, no leading teacher offering instructions.
There was only a young man in a faded gray robe, his hands tucked into his sleeves as though he were strolling through his own backyard.
Su Chen.
He stood alone at the center of the arena.
The referee froze. He lowered his head to check the roster in his hand, then looked at the empty passageway.
"Sky Abyss Academy, where are the rest of your team members?"
Su Chen tilted his head slightly and glanced toward the stands.
Chu Yao was cracking roasted chestnuts with loud crunches, while Jiang Tieyi had his legs propped on the back of the front-row seats, fighting Ye Linglong beside him for half a bag of preserved plums.
"No need to wait."
Su Chen withdrew his gaze, his voice as calm as still water.
"I alone am enough."
The Iron-Armed Ape Soul Ancestor across from him immediately flushed crimson.
"Arrogant!"
He stepped forward fiercely, and fine cracks spread across the ground beneath his foot.
"Coming up alone? You're courting death!"
The referee hesitated no longer and swung his flag down sharply.
"Begin!"
The seven Southern Branch members activated their Martial Soul Possessions at once. The radiance of their spirit rings intertwined, illuminating more than half the arena.
Su Chen finally pulled his hands from his sleeves.
He raised his right hand, fingers spread loosely.
The void behind him collapsed without warning.
It was not the sound of Soul Power tearing through space, but some higher-dimensional force forcibly compressing the world itself.
A towering phantom of a throne emerged behind him, radiating an ancient aura that made breathing difficult.
Four spirit ring slots lit up simultaneously.
Black.
Profound.
They were four entire Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Rings.
The charging Iron-Armed Ape Soul Ancestor came to an abrupt stop.
His martial soul was shrieking, whimpering, ordering him to kneel at once.
"Iron Wall, come out and say hello."
Su Chen's voice was very soft.
Boom!
The first Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear landed, instantly shattering the arena's stone floor.
Then came the second, the third...
Ten Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bears stood side by side, their golden fur gleaming with a cold metallic sheen beneath the sunlight.
But this was only the beginning.
From the shadows, ten Nether Shadow Leopards emerged soundlessly, their ghostly green pupils fixed on every opponent's throat.
In the sky, ten Purple Lightning Thunder Eagles spiraled down, electric arcs crackling between their wings and filling the air with a pungent scorched smell.
Finally, ten Black Tortoises formed an impregnable circular fortress around Su Chen's feet.
Forty Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
Forty terrifying auras, each powerful enough to destroy a city, gathered into an invisible tidal wave.
The stone railings before the front rows of the stands could not withstand the pressure and let out teeth-grating cracking sounds.
The Southern Branch's support-type soul master had already collapsed onto the ground, a wet stain spreading along his trouser legs.
The Iron-Armed Ape Soul Ancestor's arms trembled violently. He wanted to raise his fists, only to discover that remaining upright had become a luxury.
Su Chen stood at the heart of the encircling beasts.
He looked at the opposing side and raised three fingers.
"Three."
The Purple Lightning Thunder Eagles dived.
"Two."
The Nether Shadow Leopards vanished from where they stood.
"One..."
"We surrender! We surrender!"
The Iron-Armed Ape Soul Ancestor practically screamed the words.
He could feel that if he was even one second later, those Soul Beasts would truly tear him to pieces.
The referee's flag hung in midair, his hand shaking as though he had a seizure.
"The Southern Branch surrenders... Sky Abyss Academy wins!"
The entire venue fell deathly silent.
More than three thousand spectators looked as though they had all been collectively strangled.
With a casual wave of Su Chen's hand, the forty Soul Beasts turned into streams of light that filled the sky before sinking back into the void.
He walked off the arena and casually grabbed a handful of chestnuts from Chu Yao's arms.
"Let's go. Back to the hotel."
Three days later, Shrek Academy's residence.
Yu Xiaogang pushed open Tang San's door, his expression grim.
"The results are out."
"In three preliminary matches, he only made three moves in total."
Tang San set down the Blue Silver Grass in his hand, his gaze shifting slightly.
"And the results?"
"Three complete victories. Altogether, they took less than a minute."
Yu Xiaogang's voice carried a faint tremor that was difficult to detect.
"By himself, he summoned forty Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."
"One of them was a Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear."
Tang San's fingers clenched abruptly, his knuckles turning white from the force.
He remembered his first spirit ring, remembered the Tang Sect Hidden Weapons he had painstakingly researched.
Before forty Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, those things seemed so pale and powerless.
"Forty..."
Tang San rose to his feet and walked to the window.
The setting sun stretched his shadow long.
"Teacher, the preliminary groupings can't be changed, right?"
"They can't."
Tang San remained silent for a long time, his gaze fixed firmly upon the distant horizon.
"Seven people against forty-seven combat units."
He turned around, his eyes carrying an almost crazed calm.
"The Blue Silver Grass doesn't have enough range anymore. We need to scrap our tactics and start over."
The instant the door closed, Tang San's voice echoed through the cramped room.
"If it's a melee on that scale... I'll need more poison."
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