All-Continent Elite Tournament: Public Enemy of the Entire Arena! The Remaining Trash Isn't Worthy of Making Me Act! (Part 1)

Heaven Dou Grand Arena, elimination-round draw day.

The banners of thirty-six academy teams snapped in the wind. The venue buzzed with voices, yet an eerie, cloying tension hung over it all.

Every corner, every whispered conversation, revolved around the same topic.

Yesterday's final battle.

Abyss, Shrek Academy.

Su Chen, Tang San.

"Did you hear? Tang San broke three ribs and didn't show up at all today."

"What about Su Chen? That punch of his looked like it wrecked his right arm too!"

"Wrecked my ass! People from Sky Abyss Academy showed up backstage just now. Su Chen's right arm is wrapped in bandages, but his eyes are sharper than anyone's!"

"My god, whoever draws Sky Abyss Academy in the elimination round might as well be sentenced to death on the spot!"

Amid the murmurs, the drawing ceremony officially began.

The chairman of the organizing committee stepped onto the platform. He had just picked up the sealed letter containing the first matchup when a heavy metallic scraping sound interrupted him.

The massive door to the backstage passage was slowly pushed open from within.

Su Chen walked out.

His right arm was wrapped in black bandages, and his face bore a faint post-injury pallor, but his steps were as steady as though he were walking atop everyone's heartbeats.

Behind him came Jiang Tieyi, Chu Yao, Ye Linglong... the Abyss Seven Generals, all present and following like shadows.

The officials on the podium froze.

"Student Su Chen, the drawing has not yet begun. Please return to the waiting area and wait—"

"No need to draw."

Su Chen's voice was calm and flat, yet the venue's amplifying soul tools turned those four words into thunder that exploded beside the ears of thousands.

"Sky Abyss Academy is withdrawing."

Buzz—

It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the entire arena. Every sound fell into instant silence.

Three seconds.

After merely three seconds of dead silence, an uproar erupted like a volcano.

"Withdrawing!"

"What did he just say? Sky Abyss Academy is withdrawing?"

"Has he gone mad? He crippled Shrek Academy yesterday, and now he's running away today? What kind of move is this?"

The organizing committee chairman's face instantly flushed dark red. He shot to his feet and pointed at Su Chen.

"Su Chen! The All-Continent Elite Tournament is the highest competition jointly held by the imperial family and Spirit Hall. How dare you treat it so frivolously—"

"I said it already."

Su Chen raised his eyes and cut him off, his tone as indifferent as if he were swatting away a fly.

"We're withdrawing."

"Y-you—give a reason! You must give a reason!" the chairman roared.

Su Chen's gaze slowly swept across the entire venue.

The thirty-five academy teams, the hundreds of so-called genius soul masters, all stared at him with gazes filled with anger, confusion, suspicion, and even a trace of secret delight.

His eyes paused briefly over those young, agitated faces before withdrawing.

"We came here for only one battle against Shrek Academy."

"That objective was achieved yesterday."

He paused slightly, then spoke the words that would leave all of Heaven Dou City—and even the entire soul master world—speechless.

"The remaining opponents—"

"Aren't worth wasting my time on."

Silence.

An even heavier silence than before, one steeped in humiliation, crushed the entire venue.

This was not arrogance.

Arrogance was the bluster of the weak.

This was contempt.

The indifference of a dragon standing atop a mountain peak toward the ants at its foot.

Yesterday's sight of forty Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts arrayed in formation remained etched onto everyone's retinas like divine punishment.

The Thunder Eagle had blotted out the sky, the Shadow Leopard had torn apart the earth, and the Fearclaw Bear's roars still echoed in their ears.

Of the thirty-five teams present, not a single one could have withstood even the first charge of such a legion.

They all knew that.

But knowing it was one thing.

Having someone point it out to their faces in public was another.

In a corner, the captain of Star Luo Royal Academy abruptly sprang to his feet. The chair beneath him toppled over with a piercing scrape.

"You—"

His lips trembled. A single word had barely left his mouth before he slumped back down beneath Su Chen's indifferent gaze, which had not even truly landed on him.

Powerlessness.

A sense of powerlessness rising from the depths of his soul.

On the podium, the Heaven Dou Empire royal representative's face had turned black as a pot, while Spirit Hall's observer expressionlessly scribbled something in his notebook.

The organizing committee chairman's chest heaved violently. He was practically about to explode with rage.

"According to the rules, any academy that withdraws midway will be barred from participating for the next three tournaments, and all results and rewards from this tournament will be voided—"

"Fine."

Su Chen spat out those two words, turned around, and headed for the exit.

The Abyss Seven Generals silently followed.

Jiang Tieyi walked last. There was not the slightest trace of arrogance on his scar-covered face, only a pure, heartfelt boredom.

They left so decisively.

Not once did they look back. They showed no hesitation, no attachment whatsoever to this stage watched by countless eyes.

It was as though an emperor had inspected a barren, uninteresting city-state, then immediately broken camp and departed, too lazy to spare it another glance.

After they left, the commotion inside the arena continued for a full half hour.

Outside the arena, however, the real storm had only just begun.

Spirit Hall, Supreme Council Hall.

Bibi Dong sat at the head of the table, her slender fingers holding an intelligence report that had just arrived under the highest clearance.

"They withdrew?"

"Yes, Your Holiness." The messenger elder bowed deeply, his head nearly buried in the ground. "Su Chen publicly announced their withdrawal. His reason was... that the remaining opponents were not worth wasting his time on."

Bibi Dong said nothing.

The council hall was so quiet that a needle falling could be heard. Several elders of Titled Douluo rank even deliberately slowed their breathing.

Qian Renxue stood beside Bibi Dong, her gaze falling on the final line of the report.

"All members of Sky Abyss Academy have left Heaven Dou City. Their destination is unknown."

"Mother." Qian Renxue chose her words carefully. "You only gave the order yesterday to summon him, and today he has fled far away. The timing is a little too convenient..."

"He isn't hiding from me."

Bibi Dong set down the report and lightly tapped the smooth obsidian tabletop with her fingertip.

"He simply never took my summons seriously."

That conclusion made every elder present turn pale.

The summons of Spirit Hall's Pope was no different from a divine decree across this continent.

The last sect that had dared ignore such a decree was now nothing more than ruins for others to mourn over.

"Pass down the order." Bibi Dong rose to her feet, her magnificent papal robes stirring without wind. "Ghost Douluo."

"Your subordinate is here."

A hoarse, drifting voice seeped forth from the deepest shadows of the hall.

"Take the Shadow Squad and find him."

Bibi Dong's voice was calm without the slightest ripple, yet it carried an unquestionable will.

"I said that I wanted him alive."

"But if he resists—"

She paused for a breath. A trace of icy cruelty flashed through her beautiful violet eyes.

"Break one of his legs and bring him back."