Around the white-jade arena, soul power defenses slowly rose, and a layer of translucent light curtain isolated the ring from the outside world.
The stands were dead silent, and even several instructors from the Heaven Dou Royal Academy stood up.
Beside the ring, Ning Rongrong grabbed Meng Chen, who was preparing to step onto the stage.
"Meng Chen, listen to me."
"Just surrender if you can't beat her, heard me? There's no shame in it."
Meng Chen said, "Don't worry."
"What do you mean, don't worry!" Ning Rongrong stamped her feet anxiously. "She's a dragon, and you're a rabbit. How is a rabbit supposed to fight a dragon?"
Meng Chen was left speechless by her words, and he ruffled her head.
"Just watch."
With that, he turned and walked onto the stage.
Ning Rongrong clutched her dress, her hands dripping with cold sweat, while she muttered under her breath.
You idiot, you have to surrender if you can't win.
On the stage, Meng Chen's expression was unprecedentedly solemn.
Others might not know, but he knew very well that the person opposite him was the true Silver Dragon King.
Even though her divine soul was currently damaged and her strength had plummeted, in terms of elemental comprehension and combat awareness, no one on the entire continent could rival her.
Gu Yuena stood quietly in place, her silver-white long hair fluttering slightly in the wind.
"Both sides state your names and release your Martial Souls!"
At the referee's command, Meng Chen and Gu Yuena spoke almost simultaneously.
"Meng Chen, Soft Bone Rabbit."
"Gu Yuena, White Silver Dragon."
Before his voice faded, Meng Chen saw that Gu Yuena opposite him had already released her Martial Soul.
A crisp, resonant dragon roar echoed through the arena, and a silver giant dragon phantom appeared behind her.
The dragon scales looked as though they were cast from mercury, and a pair of vertical pupils stared coldly at the ring.
A circle of yellow Hundred-Year Soul Ring rose from beneath her feet.
White Silver Dragon Martial Soul!
Gu Yuena lightly tapped her finger in the air.
"First Soul Skill, Water Element Control."
The moisture in the air gathered rapidly, instantly transforming into dozens of blue water blades that completely sealed off the space where Meng Chen could dodge.
The advanced-department teachers in the stands couldn't help but gasp in low voices.
"Instant-cast soul skill!"
"This child's control over water elements is simply perfect."
Facing this situation, Meng Chen didn't have the slightest bit of panic in his eyes.
His true soul ring age could not be leaked, and the Golden Dragon Claw couldn't be used in front of so many people.
If that was the case, he would use what the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm gave him to pull off a deception under everyone's noses.
"Spiritual Mimicry Camouflage."
A purple soul ring appeared at Meng Chen's feet, looking no different from an ordinary Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
"A Thousand-Year Soul Ring?"
"How is that possible! As a mere Soul Master, he actually possesses a Thousand-Year Soul Ring that only a Soul Elder should have?!"
"Is this the hell kind of Soft Bone Rabbit is?!"
Seeing the Thousand-Year Soul Ring revolving around Meng Chen, everyone present was dumbfounded, gasping in repeated astonishment and disbelief.
Ning Rongrong was also stunned, followed immediately by a surge of excitement.
She hadn't misjudged her man; he truly hadn't disappointed her.
A flash of golden light crossed Meng Chen's eyes.
"Spiritual Detection Domain!"
The next moment, like a radar scan, a panoramic map of the arena emerged in Meng Chen's mind.
In Meng Chen's perception, the water blades that had originally been swift as lightning suddenly slowed down.
The trajectory of every single water blade and the direction of force in Gu Yuena's fingers were crystal clear.
Shift left by three inches, squat down by two tenths, lean to the side.
A water blade brushed past his ear, cutting off a wisp of stray hair from his forehead.
Meng Chen's feet tapped continuously, and thanks to the Soft Bone Rabbit, his body twisted at an incredible angle, weaving through the gaps between the water blades.
The water blades struck the arena incessantly, leaving streak after streak of marks on the white jade stone as shattered rocks flew in all directions.
Yet Meng Chen remained completely unharmed.
"How is that possible?"
The commander of the Imperial Knights in the stands was filled with shock.
Seeing that her prolonged attacks had failed to break through, Gu Yuena frowned slightly.
She could clearly sense that a force was pervading the surroundings, clinging tenaciously to her entire body.
No matter how she mobilized the elements, her opponent always managed to discover the flaws a step ahead.
This feeling made the former Soul Beast Co-Ruler somewhat irritated.
"Scatter!"
Gu Yuena let out a cold snort, her slender hand turning over, and the water blades across the sky instantly disintegrated, transforming instead into a massive curtain of water.
The water curtain surged from all directions like raging waves.
Using absolute area coverage, she intended to crush Meng Chen into the center of the ring.
This move had an enormous range; no matter how strong Meng Chen's insight was, he simply couldn't run out of such a limited space.
In the stands, Ning Rongrong was frightened pale, screaming out.
"Meng Chen, surrender quickly!"
Yet Meng Chen, caught in a desperate situation, wore a trace of craftiness at the corners of his mouth.
"If I can't dodge it, then I won't dodge!"
Meng Chen's previously rapid, weaving figure paused for a fraction of a second.
Instead of retreating, he advanced, using the final opportunity before the water curtain closed in to charge straight at the momentarily paralyzed Gu Yuena!
"Seeking death?"
Gu Yuena's purple pupils contracted, soul power surging around her as she prepared to detonate the water curtain.
Yet when the distance between the two of them shrank to less than three zhang.
Meng Chen's clear eyes instantly transformed into purplish-golden whirlpools.
"First Soul Skill, Spiritual Charm!"
This was no ordinary Soft Bone Rabbit charm.
Instead, under the stimulation of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Spiritual Origin, it had fused into a charm capable of directly impacting the mind.
A spiritual shockwave fiercely slammed into Gu Yuena's Sea of Consciousness.
With Gu Yuena's residual divine sense foundation, those ordinary spiritual attacks could never have affected her.
However, what was contained within Meng Chen's Spiritual Charm shared the exact same Dragon God Origin as her own.
Gu Yuena's eyes shrank violently, her delicate body shuddering abruptly.
In that fleeting instant, time seemed to freeze.
Deep within Gu Yuena's Sea of Consciousness, it beat violently without warning.
An unfamiliar feeling of attachment surged from the deepest depths of her soul.
"What is this?"
"Why is my heart fluttering?"
The palpitation in her heart engulfed Gu Yuena, even if only for half a second.
The towering water curtain surging around her also lost its master's maintenance, dissolving into a torrential downpour across the sky.
It pattered down heavily, slamming against the arena floor.
And at the very moment Gu Yuena's pupils regained their clarity.
By the time Gu Yuena snapped out of it, a palm was already hovering an inch away from her neck.
Meng Chen breathed out slightly, the charm in his eyes vanishing as he flashed an utterly harmless smile toward the silver-haired girl before him.
"Classmate Gu, I accept the win."
Everyone around them was stunned; even the commander of the Imperial Knights on the stage was struck too dumb to speak at that moment.
One had to know that the children before them were merely six or seven years old.
Especially Meng Chen's final charge-it was a completely reckless tactic, prepared to trade injuries for injuries.
"He won?"
"That kid with the Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul actually defeated that silver-dragon girl in a head-on fight?"
A full five or six breaths passed.
The referee stared fixedly at the two figures on the ring before waking up as if from a dream, shouting at the top of his lungs with all his might.
"The first round of the freshman tournament, the winner is... Meng Chen!"
Meanwhile, in the center of the ring, Gu Yuena looked at her slightly trembling fingertips, then raised her gaze to look at Meng Chen, who was retreating to his original spot.
On that traditionally aloof face, a flush of both shyness and vexation quietly crept up.
What on earth did this guy with rabbit ears just do to me?
Before you continue