Linhe City Arena, quarterfinals, opening match.
The seats in the stands had sold out half an hour ago.
The corridors were packed with excited spectators. A few wandering Soul Masters had even climbed onto the roof, staring fixedly at the arena below.
The seed vendor had already shouted himself hoarse.
The Shrek Seven Monsters stepped onto the stage.
The arena dome trembled faintly beneath the roar of the crowd.
Dai Mubai walked at the front, golden patterns from his White Tiger Martial Soul spreading from his neck to his forearms. Every step carried the oppressive presence of a beast.
Ma Hongjun spread his arms, Phoenixfire feathers drifting behind him as heat waves distorted the air.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tower spun in Ning Rongrong's palm, its seven-colored radiance flowing—gorgeous, yet dangerous.
Tang San stood toward the rear of the formation.
That position sent a misleading signal—he did not intend to serve as the main attacker.
The Abyss Seven Generals entered.
The roaring cheers abruptly caught in their throats.
Su Chen stood with both hands in his pockets, looking as calm as if he were taking a stroll through his own backyard.
The six behind him spread out in a goose-wing formation, their steps so uniform it made one's teeth ache.
No Soul Power was released, and no Martial Soul phantoms appeared.
They were like a row of peerless blades sheathed away.
You knew they were sharp, yet could not see where their edges were pointed.
The referee stood at the center of the stage, his voice ringing out. "Both sides, prepare—begin!"
Before the final syllable had fallen, Tang San vanished from where he stood.
Blue Silver Grass flooded the sky.
This was not an ordinary control net, but dozens of pitch-black chains compressed to the thickness of thumbs.
The chains shot from the ground, overhead, and both flanks, locking down a single target from three directions at once.
Su Chen.
Dai Mubai activated his White Tiger Vajra Transformation in tandem, his bones cracking in rapid succession.
He turned into a golden blur and crashed into a gap in the Abyss formation.
He was not attacking. He was using his body to plow open a bloody path.
Ma Hongjun dove into the air.
Phoenix Fire Rain slammed precisely into the middle of the arena, scorching a wall of flame that stretched from east to west.
The fire wall brutally severed the Abyss Seven Generals' formation.
The front and rear lines were cut off from each other in an instant.
Xiao Wu followed half a step to Tang San's right, Soft Bone Rabbit Soul Power flooding her limbs as she readied the Eight-Section Fall.
Zhu Zhuqing vanished into the shadows.
Her target was Chu Yao. The Poison Domain had to be strangled before it could unfold.
Ning Rongrong stood at the very rear, the radiance of her Glazed Tower pushed to its limit.
Three enhancement beams—speed, strength, and Soul Power—precisely enveloped Tang San and Dai Mubai.
Shrek Academy had simulated this tactic seventeen times.
Decapitation.
The entire team's resources were concentrated on Tang San, allowing him to cross the arena and arrive before Su Chen within three seconds.
As long as Su Chen was controlled, those terrifying summons would be nothing more than ownerless beasts.
The logic was flawless.
The execution was ruthless.
Tang San's Blue Silver Grass chains were less than thirty feet from Su Chen.
Dai Mubai forcibly smashed aside Jiang Tieyi, who stood in his path.
Something was wrong.
Jiang Tieyi had not blocked his way.
The burly six-foot-three youth stepped aside.
He had yielded the path.
Dai Mubai's fist struck nothing but air, and his body staggered half a step from the momentum.
He tried to correct his center of gravity, but when his right foot landed, the ground had changed.
Heavy.
Excruciatingly heavy.
The gravity field had long since been laid down. Dai Mubai's knees bent into a bizarre arc.
The joints of his armor gave off piercing screeches.
Jiang Tieyi did not need to stop him, because this gravity mire was the grave prepared specifically for him.
Tang San's pupils suddenly constricted.
Dark green monsters abruptly surged from the cracks between the arena tiles.
Heavenly Net Immortal Vine.
The vines did not seize Tang San. Instead, they erupted behind him.
A thirty-foot-thick wall of vines rose from the ground, completely isolating Tang San and Xiao Wu from the support behind them.
Ling Shuang stood barefoot at the edge, her toes digging into the cracks between the stones.
Ten main vines extended from beneath her feet, turning the eastern half of the arena into a realm of thorns.
Su Chen stood at the center of the Blue Silver Grass encirclement without dodging.
He looked at Tang San, his tone relaxed. "Just as expected."
Tang San reacted swiftly. The Blue Silver Grass chains instantly changed direction, attempting to sever the Heavenly Net Immortal Vine beneath his feet.
The grass blades cut half an inch into the immortal vine, only to be caught by a sticky force.
Ling Shuang's fourth soul skill: Heavenly Net Myriad Forms.
These were plundering roots. Within the domain of plant-types, they were absolute superiors.
Tang San could not pull back his own Martial Soul.
The gravity beneath his feet doubled again.
Fivefold, then tenfold.
Tang San's knees were pressed to their limit, and the extension speed of his Blue Silver Grass was cut in half.
Su Chen took a small step back.
The tip of the Blue Silver Grass brushed past his shoulder without even touching the corner of his clothes.
"You want to flip the table?"
Su Chen's voice was soft, yet it clearly slipped into Tang San's ears.
"Under the table are mines I buried long ago."
Tang San reached his right hand toward his sleeve.
His close-range control had failed. He would use hidden weapons.
The instant his fingertips touched the mechanism, a sweet fragrance entered his nostrils.
Chu Yao stood on the other side of the vine wall and pulled the stoppers from three black bottles.
Poison mist instantly seeped through the gaps in the vines.
The poison was not lethal, but it reduced the dexterity of Tang San's fingers by forty percent within three seconds.
For a hidden weapon master, that was equivalent to losing both hands.
Tang San held his breath, circulating the inner power of the Mysterious Heaven Skill madly to purge the poison.
He had only six seconds left.
A muffled impact sounded from beyond the fire wall.
Under tenfold gravity, Dai Mubai forcibly endured a heavy punch from Jiang Tieyi.
With his weight massively increased, his own bones were also bearing a terrifying burden.
The arena tiles beneath his knees cracked into a spiderweb pattern.
Ma Hongjun discovered the danger from the air.
He dove toward Ning Rongrong, trying to burn through the vines winding toward her.
An icy-blue beam shot out diagonally, striking his right wing with perfect accuracy.
Yan Wuji.
Profound Ice Dragon Breath destroyed his flight balance.
Ma Hongjun's fireball veered two feet off target.
Three seconds.
Only three seconds, and Shrek Academy's killing formation had been torn to pieces.
"Back left, twenty-two feet."
Chu Yao murmured into the communicator.
Mo Qianye's figure emerged from the shadows of the arena.
The dark fire of the Nine Netherworld Phoenix flickered at his fingertips.
He flicked that spark toward Zhu Zhuqing's landing point.
The dark fire struck the ground, instantly evaporating the moisture from the stone.
Zhu Zhuqing's footprints became clearly visible, forcing her to reveal herself.
Su Chen swept his gaze across the arena.
He had predicted every one of Tang San's movements.
This was not luck, but the exploitation of the character flaw inherent in Tang San as a "leader."
A man devoted to loyalty and righteousness would inevitably choose to capture the king in a desperate situation.
Su Chen raised his right hand.
The phantom of the Void Throne rose behind him.
The first black Spirit Ring slot erupted with a dim, shadowy glow.
Ten Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bears stepped out of the void, and the entire arena shook violently.
The aura of ten-thousand-year ferocious beasts forcibly extinguished Ma Hongjun's Phoenixfire.
Su Chen looked toward Tang San, trapped within the vine wall.
Tang San stared back at him.
The two stood thirty feet apart, with tangled withered vines, spreading poison mist, and the shadows of giant bears between them.
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