Assessment (Part Two)

P.S. There will be quite a few battle scenes coming up. The author may get carried away or tire of writing them, so please bear with me.

The author thanks you on bended knee!! (づ￣³￣)づ

Main text:

Of the final 150 teams, the top 64 would enter the knockout tournament.

The next day, when they arrived at District 33, they were surprised to find two entirely new teams—six unfamiliar faces.

Seeing that all six teams had arrived, Wang Yan nodded. "Day three of the freshman assessment. First match of the first round: Huo Yuhao's team versus Xie Huanyue's team."

"Freshman Class Nine, Huo Yuhao."

"Freshman Class Nine, Gu Yue."

"Freshman Class Nine, Ning Tian."

Huo Yuhao watched the three approaching him. One was Xie Huanyue, as round as a small mountain. The other two were Luo Tianlong and Luo Tianba, brothers with slender builds and unusually long arms.

"Freshman Class Two, Xie Huanyue."

"Freshman Class Two, Luo Tianlong."

"Freshman Class Two, Luo Tianba."

Once both sides were ready, Wang Yan declared, "The assessment begins!"

The instant he announced the start, Wang Yan swept toward the spectator stands, barely able to contain the excitement in his eyes—

He had to report Huo Yuhao's earth-shaking secret to Xuan Zi!

In a corner of the stands, Xuan Zi gnawed on a greasy chicken leg. Oil stained his collar, and he looked utterly unconcerned.

Wang Yan hurried over. He kept his voice low, but could not hide his excitement. "Xuan Zi! I checked again and again. Huo Yuhao has Twin Martial Souls, and he's awakened a spiritual-type Body Martial Soul! His Heavenly Eye is a spiritual-type Body Martial Soul found only once in ten thousand!"

Apart from an Ultimate Martial Soul, a Body Martial Soul was unrivaled among Martial Souls of the same rank. It was the only kind capable of a Second Awakening! (Tang San did not count; no one on Douluo Continent knew he had undergone one.)

Xuan Zi paused mid-bite and glanced sidelong at Huo Yuhao on the platform. His lip curled with undisguised disdain. The brat could have followed the orthodox Martial Soul Department, but instead he's messing around with the crooked path of Soul Tools. Evil by nature, straying down the wrong road—he's courting his own death!

"He'll never join the Martial Soul Department," Xuan Zi said flatly, with an air of certainty and distaste. "No point wasting energy on him. Pay more attention to those two girls and the boy from the White Tiger family."

"Pfft—" Wang Yan's brain nearly short-circuited. He stared, tongue-tied. "W-why? Xuan Zi, that's Twin Martial Souls plus a Body Martial Soul! A genius who appears once in ten thousand years!"

"Hah. Just an evil little brat." Xuan Zi spat, thoroughly impatient. "Enough. I know about it. Say no more."

Before his words had faded, he vanished in a flash, leaving Wang Yan standing there, stunned and unwilling to accept it.

On the platform, battle erupted without a moment's delay!

"Martial Soul Possession!"

Xie Huanyue's roar shook the air. His Rubber Elephant Martial Soul fully awakened, and his body swelled rapidly as rough, dark elephant hide spread over him. His first Soul Skill, Elephant Body Expansion, activated at once. He doubled in size, becoming a charging tank of flesh whose defense and impact force had both doubled!

"Silver-Blade Mantis, possess!" The Luo brothers awakened their Martial Souls in unison. Their forearms became gleaming mantis blades, honed to a cold edge. "Second Soul Skill: Instant Shadow Assault!"

"First Soul Skill: Armor-Splitting Blade!"

Luo Tianlong used Instantaneous Teleportation to blink forward, his blades unleashing whistling, high-speed slashes. Luo Tianba followed close behind, aiming his mantis blades straight at Ning Tian, the vulnerable support. The brothers had formed a pincer attack. Paired with Xie Huanyue's crushing advance, their tactics seemed flawless!

"End it quickly!" Huo Yuhao's gaze sharpened as he unleashed his first Soul Skill, Heaven's Apex: All-Seer Clarity, at full power!

An unobstructed view extending ten miles covered the arena. The movement of elemental particles and every path taken by Soul Power appeared in Huo Yuhao's mind!

"Seven treasures emerge from glazed light!" Ning Tian reacted like lightning. Golden light surged from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. "First: Speed! Third: Strength!"

Buffs increasing speed by 50% and strength by 30% enveloped her teammates!

"First Soul Skill: Elemental Tide!" Gu Yue's fingertips trembled. A pale green elemental halo swept around her, pushing her elemental affinity to its peak and increasing the power of her subsequent Soul Skills by 40%!

"Second Soul Skill: Elemental Control—Ice Wall Suppression!"

The three Ice Walls did not surround the brothers. Instead, they angled across their path, blocking their Instantaneous Teleportation landing points with precision. Armor-Splitting Blade struck an Ice Wall hard, spraying ice chips everywhere and cutting their assault short!

"Innate Soul Skill: Annihilation!"

Golden light flashed from Huo Yuhao's Heavenly Eye. His Ultimate Spirit became an invisible blade of lightning, stabbing straight into the Luo brothers' Seas of Consciousness!

The spiritual attack erupted without warning. An explosion seemed to go off in both brothers' heads, and their bodies abruptly locked up. Their Instantaneous Teleportation and slashes broke off as they fell into a fatal half-second of spiritual paralysis!

"Elephant Fury!" Seeing his teammates restrained, Xie Huanyue activated his third Soul Skill, Elephant Fury Rampage. Purple light covered him, and his elephant feet shook loose stones from the ground. He charged straight at Gu Yue, hoping to break through by crushing her with brute force!

"Elemental Fusion: Forest of Quicksand!"

Gu Yue's eyes chilled. Earth and wood merged perfectly, turning the assessment platform's surface into shifting quicksand. Dark, rock-colored vines burst from the ground and wound around Xie Huanyue's elephant legs like iron chains, pinning the tank of flesh in place!

The moment to decide the match had arrived!

The azure Imperial Bow appeared in Huo Yuhao's hand. Silver radiance like a galaxy gathered along its stringless limbs as he drew three platinum arrows of light back to a full moon, precisely targeting all three opponents' openings!

Twang—twang—twang!

Three blue-gold arrows tore through the air with piercing sonic booms. They bypassed the Rubber Elephant's thick hide and the mantis blades' guard, striking nonfatal weak points with perfect accuracy!

"Argh!"

Xie Huanyue's elephant legs buckled, and the force of his furious charge collapsed. The Luo brothers fell stiffly to the ground, their mantis blades flying from their hands.

Barely ten seconds had passed. The battle stopped as abruptly as it had begun!

"Huo Yuhao's team wins!"

Wang Yan's voice trembled with disbelief!

An uproar swept through the audience. Every freshman stared, dumbfounded—

A level-thirty-one Soul Elder with the Rubber Elephant, backed by twin agility attackers—one of the best frontline assault combinations among the freshmen—could not even last ten seconds?

The seemingly weakest member, a level-sixteen Soul Master, had been the true heart of their finishing move!

Huo Yuhao put away the Imperial Bow and half-closed his Heavenly Eye. His expression remained calm, but he thought, A tank of flesh against elemental control and spiritual Annihilation? The matchup was stacked against him all the way back to his grandmother's house. There was never any suspense.

Wang Yan watched the three walk away, the shock in his eyes only deepening—

Xuan Zi had failed to recognize a pearl. That boy was destined to overturn everything Shrek thought it knew!

The blazing sun hung high above District 33's assessment platform, which was surrounded by a crowd packed so tightly that not even water could pass through—

After ten grueling matches in the Round-Robin Points Tournament, 310 freshman teams had fought fiercely, and only the top 64 remained for the single-elimination tournament. Every team was among the freshman elite. One wrong step meant elimination, and the atmosphere was ten times more intense than before!

Mu Jin stood at the front of the spectator stands, lightly tapping the railing. Beside him, Zhou Yi's face was livid as she glared at Huo Yuhao on the platform. A level-sixteen One-Ring Soul Master had actually reached the top 64. It was a slap in her face!

After half a day's rest, Huo Yuhao, Gu Yue, and Ning Tian stepped onto the platform again, refreshed and in their usual triangular formation.

The three facing them looked fierce. Their captain, Huang Chutian, was built like an iron tower, his muscles bulging. The twin sisters Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo stood side by side, their naturally sapphire-blue hair falling to their waists. Their faces were almost identical.

Hmm... a beauty-and-the-beast combination!

What?!

Huo Yuhao, Gu Yue, and Ning Tian were the handsome-boy-and-beautiful-girls combination!

"Freshman Class Nine, Huo Yuhao."

"Freshman Class Nine, Gu Yue."

"Freshman Class Nine, Ning Tian."

"Freshman Class Seven, Huang Chutian!"

"Freshman Class Seven, Lan Susu!"

"Freshman Class Seven, Lan Luoluo!"

Wang Yan stood in the referee's position, more solemn than before—

The round of 64 would be decided in a single match. There was no room for the slightest mistake!

"Both sides, take your positions. First round of the knockout tournament—the assessment begins!"

"Martial Soul Possession!" Huang Chutian erupted first. His muscles swelled to three times their size, his skin turned hard and iron-black, and a savage gleam filled his golden eyes as his fangs showed. The Great Strength Divine Ape Martial Soul possessed him!

"First Soul Skill: Great Strength Vajra Fist! Second Soul Skill: Power Cannon Hammer!"

Brilliant golden light covered his fists, increasing his strength by 80%. A yellow sphere of light gathered power for a ranged attack, bringing his frontal pressure to its peak!

"Martial Soul Possession!" Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo spoke in unison. Their sapphire-blue hair instantly grew ten meters long, supple as it was strong, tough as iron.

"Martial Soul Fusion Skill—Heavenly Net!"

The twins' Soul Power merged perfectly, combining the power of their Body Martial Souls into one!

Blue hair wove itself wildly across the sky, forming a huge, dense net over the entire assessment platform. Blue light flowed through it, and its binding power exceeded that of an individual Soul Skill more than tenfold. It moved to imprison all three opponents!

This was Class Seven's trump card. Their previous fifteen opponents had all been caught in the net and defeated without the strength to resist!

"It's here! Heavenly Net!" the freshmen below cried. This fusion skill was already famous, an almost unbeatable control technique at the freshman level!

"Parlor tricks." Huo Yuhao's gaze sharpened as he unleashed his first Soul Skill, Heaven's Apex: All-Seer Clarity, at full power!

His unobstructed, ten-mile view covered the arena. The Heavenly Net's ninety-nine Soul Power nodes, the twins' spiritual cores, and the flaws in Huang Chutian's punches were all laid bare to his Heavenly Eye!

The movement of elemental particles and the paths of Soul Power were as clear to him as black ink on white paper!

"Seven treasures emerge from glazed light!"

Ning Tian reacted like lightning. Golden light surged from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda as she released her Soul Skills!

"First: Speed!"

"Third: Strength!"

Huo Yuhao and Gu Yue's speed and strength increased by 30% in an instant!

At that moment, the terrifying power of a top-tier support was on full display!

"First Soul Skill: Elemental Tide!"

Gu Yue's fingertips trembled. A pale green elemental halo swept around her, pushing her elemental affinity to its peak and increasing the power of her subsequent Soul Skills by 40%!

Her purple eyes turned cold as she fixed on the Heavenly Net's core nodes.

"Third Soul Skill: Elemental Fusion—Ice-Fire Storm!"

Ice and fire merged to their utmost, unleashing a violent red-and-blue storm. Scorching heat and bitter cold tore through it in turns as it slammed head-on into the Heavenly Net!

"Innate Soul Skill: Annihilation!"

Golden light flashed from Huo Yuhao's Heavenly Eye. His Ultimate Spirit became an invisible blade of lightning, precisely piercing the twins' Seas of Consciousness!

Buzzz—!

An explosion seemed to go off in Lan Susu's and Lan Luoluo's minds. Their spiritual power fell into chaos, and the Soul Power connections sustaining the Heavenly Net snapped at once!

Ice-Fire Storm surged through the opening. Its violent elemental force ripped the giant net of blue hair apart, scattering broken strands everywhere. The fusion skill fell in three seconds!

Huang Chutian's Great Strength Vajra Fist and Power Cannon Hammer struck, only to be blocked by an ice wall Gu Yue casually raised. Strengthened by her buffs, the wall was hard as iron. His heavy blows merely knocked chips of ice from it!

"Finish it!"

The azure Imperial Bow appeared in Huo Yuhao's hand, and he drew three platinum Annihilation arrows of light back to a full moon!

He locked precisely onto flaws in Huang Chutian's, Lan Susu's, and Lan Luoluo's Soul Power!

Twang—twang—twang!

Three blue-gold arrows tore through the air with piercing sonic booms, striking straight at nonfatal weak points!

"Argh!"

The golden light around Huang Chutian collapsed, and he fell stiffly to the ground. The twin sisters suffered spiritual injuries; their hair shrank back, their eyes rolled white, and they completely lost the ability to fight!

Barely five seconds had passed!

The supposedly unbeatable Martial Soul Fusion Skill had been shattered in an instant, and Class Seven's powerful team had been wiped out just as quickly!

"Huo Yuhao's team wins! They advance to the top 32!"

Wang Yan's voice shook uncontrollably, and the shock in his eyes nearly spilled over.

Despite having only level-sixteen Soul Power, Huo Yuhao was unquestionably the core of the team. His tactical awareness far surpassed that of an adult Soul Master!

The crowd below fell dead silent for three seconds, then erupted in a roar that shook the sky!

"Heavenly Net was broken just like that?!"

"What kind of monster is Huo Yuhao?!"

"Ten seconds to beat Xie Huanyue, five to beat Huang Chutian—he's crushing them!"

High above, beyond the distant clouds, Xuan Zi glanced at the arena and took a bite of his chicken leg, his face still full of disdain. "An evil little brat. He'll never amount to anything."

But he did not know that the pearl the Martial Soul Department deemed "evil" was sweeping through the freshman tournament like a gale through dead branches. Huo Yuhao was destined to carve his own name into Shrek's history!