Mo Qianye VS Xiao Wu

The air above the arena changed.

It was not cold, but utterly empty.

Mo Qianye stepped onto the stage without a sound.

The black flames of the Nine Netherworld Phoenix flowed close against his skin. They were not fire so much as a shroud draped over the living.

The commentator opened his mouth, yet not a single word came out.

In the stands, a timid female soul master had already buried her face tightly against her companion's shoulder.

No one could blame her.

During the team match, Mo Qianye had stood behind Su Chen the entire time, neither speaking nor taking a single step.

Yet when Zhu Zhuqing had tried three times to slip into the back line using the Netherworld Spirit Cat's stealth, he had intercepted her with flawless precision all three times.

There had been no unnecessary movements.

He had merely appeared in the right place at the right moment, then struck with one palm and extinguished the deadly Shadow Escape of the spirit cat on the spot.

That precision did not resemble combat. It was more like a teacher coldly grading a failed assignment.

Across from him, Xiao Wu stepped onto the stage.

Pink soul power coiled around her waist and limbs. The Soft-Boned Rabbit martial soul allowed every joint in her body to bend at angles beyond the limits of the human form.

Paired with her pretty face, it made her seem lively—and deadly.

"Match Six—Sky Abyss Academy's Mo Qianye versus—Shrek Academy's Xiao Wu!"

The commentator finally called out their names, though his voice sounded weak and hollow.

Xiao Wu did not look at the audience.

She stared fixedly at Mo Qianye, without the slightest trace of fear in her eyes.

Having grown up among Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, when had she ever feared anyone?

But she was indeed seriously assessing the opponent before her.

Zhu Zhuqing was an assassin. Her defeat had come from her extreme reliance on stealth, while Mo Qianye's Netherfire Perception could lock onto every fluctuation of soul power.

Xiao Wu was different.

She never turned invisible. Soft-Boned Rabbits never hid.

A rabbit survived not by hiding.

It survived by running faster than every pursuer.

Then, at the instant they caught up—strangling them to death!

"Begin!"

The instant the referee's words fell, Xiao Wu kicked off the ground.

Second soul skill, Waist Bow!

Her body bent into a breathtakingly sharp angle in midair.

A pink afterimage tore through the air. Without dodging or evading, she charged straight at Mo Qianye!

No detours.

No probing.

Just head-on!

Mo Qianye pushed out his right hand, and Netherfire instantly condensed into a black, translucent shield.

Xiao Wu did not slow down.

Two-tenths of a second before touching the shield, her body abruptly folded downward.

Her entire body actually slipped through the gap beneath the shield's lower edge, while her long legs, like two venomous snakes with lives of their own, coiled around Mo Qianye's calves.

Eight-Section Fall—First Section!

The unrestricted joints bestowed by the Soft-Boned Rabbit martial soul made her killing angle incomparably tricky, enough to send a chill into the marrow of any close-combat soul master.

Mo Qianye lowered his gaze, looking at Xiao Wu wrapped around his legs.

The next instant, Netherfire exploded from his entire body.

There were no fireballs, nor any pillars of flame.

It was a silent black blaze pressed tightly against his skin.

The instant Xiao Wu's soul power touched the Netherfire, a tenth of it was devoured!

Intense pain shot through her legs. She immediately released him, using the force to spring away. She flipped three times in the air before landing steadily.

"Close-range strangulation."

No emotion could be heard in Mo Qianye's voice.

"Touch me for one second, and one-tenth of your soul power dissipates."

"You have ten-tenths in total."

A cold arithmetic problem.

Xiao Wu shook her numb legs, her expression unchanged.

She had long known this would be the result.

She had watched the recording of the team match seven times. Afterward, Zhu Zhuqing had told her what Netherfire felt like—"Like someone is using needles to draw blood out through the cracks in your bones."

So, she had prepared a backup plan.

A backup plan Tang San had given her.

"Do you know why Zhu Zhuqing lost to you?"

Xiao Wu's voice rang out with a hint of provocation.

Mo Qianye did not answer.

"Because she's a cat. A cat's claws have to touch someone to kill."

Xiao Wu slowly crouched lower, her arms hanging at her sides and her waist curved into an arc ready to unleash terrifying force at any moment.

"But rabbits are different."

Her voice dropped.

"Rabbits are meant to kick eagles."

Fourth soul skill—Soft-Boned Mirage!

Xiao Wu's body vanished.

It was not invisibility, but pure speed.

The ultimate burst of Soft-Boned Rabbit speed, combined with the visual deception created as her body continuously warped and folded during high-speed movement—

Eight afterimages appeared around Mo Qianye simultaneously, from eight different directions.

Mo Qianye's Netherfire Perception spread out in an instant.

Eight directions, eight identical sources of life heat.

They were all real.

Because they were all positions Xiao Wu had truly occupied during the past one-tenth of a second.

Her speed made the very concept of "now" blur.

Mo Qianye's brow faintly furrowed.

The eight afterimages converged toward the center at the same instant.

But the true killing intent came from directly above!

Xiao Wu's true body tore through the airflow as she plunged down from overhead!

Her legs did not lock onto Mo Qianye.

They locked onto the ground!

The terrifying strangling force of her third soul skill poured entirely into the arena's stone slabs beneath her feet.

Boom!

The stone slabs explosively shattered beneath the twisting of her legs, and the support beneath Mo Qianye's feet instantly collapsed!

He became weightless.

For only half a second.

Within that half-second, a blade of deep-blue grass shot out like lightning from between the rubble, wrapping tightly around Mo Qianye's right wrist.

That was not Xiao Wu's soul skill.

It was something Tang San had given her.

A small fragment of specially tempered Blue Silver Grass, capable of forcibly severing the target's soul power transmission for three-tenths of a second.

The Netherfire in Mo Qianye's right hand cut out.

Three-tenths of a second.

Xiao Wu spun down through the dust cloud, both arms locking tightly around Mo Qianye's neck like iron clamps.

It was not strangulation, but leverage!

Using the weight of her entire body and her rotational momentum, she completely flipped Mo Qianye over.

Head down.

Eight-Section Fall—Ultimate Art, Heaven-Swiveling Earth-Turning!

Boom—!

A huge crater three meters across collapsed into the center of the arena, spiderweb cracks crazily spreading more than ten meters in every direction.

Mo Qianye's head had plunged straight into the pile of rubble, and he did not move.

The entire venue lost its voice.

Dead silence.

Three seconds later, a heart-rending scream erupted from the highest seats in the stands.

"He's down—Abyss's fighter is down!"

The sound wave was like a tsunami, instantly overturning half the arena.

Xiao Wu knelt beside the crater, drenched in sweat, her soul power nearly exhausted.

That strand of Blue Silver Grass had long since turned to ash.

Tang San had only given her one fragment—one single-use chance.

The referee rushed over, but before he could crouch down—

The rubble moved.

A pale hand reached out from the stone pile. Its five fingers pressed against the ground and pushed the entire body up from the crater.

Mo Qianye stood upright.

A bloody gash split open across his forehead. Blood ran down the bridge of his high nose and dripped onto the arena floor.

He raised a hand and wiped his forehead.

He looked at the glaring red stain on his fingertips.

Then, he smiled.

It was a smile without warmth, containing only grim savagery and bloodlust.

The spectators in the first three rows all leaned back in unison, the color draining from their faces.

"Good throw."

Third soul skill—Nether Phoenix Nirvana.

Black divine flames rose from beneath his feet, instantly enveloping his entire body.

The grotesque wound on his forehead healed at an astonishing speed. Three seconds later, even the bloodstains had vanished without a trace.

Nirvana.

After suffering a fatal injury, he consumed thirty percent of his soul power to return to his peak state.

He was completely unharmed once more.

Xiao Wu was still kneeling on the ground, and her legs could no longer muster any strength.

Mo Qianye looked down at her in silence for several seconds.

"Since the Nether Phoenix Clan was exterminated, not many have been able to make me bleed."

His voice was terrifyingly calm.

"The enemy who slaughtered my entire clan counts as one."

"Su Chen, who dragged me out of hell, counts as another."

His gaze settled on Xiao Wu's face.

"Today, you are the third."

"I'll remember you."

Xiao Wu panted violently, yet grinned.

"You really are... terrifyingly good at complimenting people."

She braced herself against her knees, trying to stand. Her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees again, so she simply stopped struggling.

"I concede."

"Match Six, Sky Abyss Academy's Mo Qianye wins!"

Thunderous applause erupted.

But this time, nearly all the applause was directed at the girl kneeling beside the crater.

Before an absolute gulf in strength, she had used one strand of Tang San's grass, an Eight-Section Fall in which she had staked everything, and an almost insane tactic—

To smash Sky Abyss Academy's undefeated god of death viciously into the arena.

She had not won.

But she had not lost Shrek Academy's honor.

The contestants' area.

Tang San rose to his feet.

He walked to the entrance passage and took the weakened Xiao Wu from the medical soul master.

Xiao Wu leaned against his shoulder, then raised her head to look at him.

Her voice was soft, so soft that it seemed it could shatter in the wind at any moment. Only Tang San could hear it.

"Third Brother, we used up the herb. It worked."

"His Netherfire Flow Break only lasted 0.3 seconds—0.2 seconds shorter than you predicted..."

Tang San nodded.

He handed Xiao Wu over to Oscar behind him, then turned and walked toward the arena entrance.

At the other end of the passage, Su Chen rose to his feet as well.

The two stared at each other from afar, separated by the entire roaring arena.

The commentator's voice trembled violently, yet every word struck clearly into the ears of the tens of thousands in the audience—

"Match Seven—the final showdown—!"

"Sky Abyss Academy—Su Chen!"

"Versus—"

"Shrek Academy—Tang San!"

At that moment, every sound in the arena vanished.