The dead silence in the stands lasted only an instant.
Then the stadium of a hundred thousand erupted in deafening boos that seemed ready to tear the roof off.
"Has Tianhai Academy lost all shame? Putting two brats barely ten years old in the starting lineup?"
"They're afraid of losing too badly, so they found two scapegoats in advance! How pathetic!"
"Fuck you! Give us our money back!"
A storm of abuse rained down on the arena.
Even with the rumors circulating before the match, seeing it happen before their eyes still filled them with uncontrollable fury!
In the second-floor viewing area.
Listening to the boos sweeping through the stadium, Shen Yi turned toward Wu Changkong beside him and gave a cold laugh.
"Senior brother, this is where you've been staying?" Shen Yi folded his arms, his tone dripping with mockery. "Has the Skysea Alliance fallen this far? They can't find a single young adult who can fight, so they have to drag two little kids out to take the blame?"
Wu Changkong rested both hands on the railing and said nothing.
His attention was fixed entirely on the boy walking at the front of the group in the arena.
Even after several months, he still remembered that boy.
The first person he had invited to join Class Zero.
Wu Changkong trusted his own judgment. That boy had enough talent to surprise anyone.
He was standing on this stage. Could he... really do it?
No, that wasn't right. His opponents were Shrek!
But...
In the arena.
Shrek's seven contestants stood in a line.
Standing in the middle, Yu Chenxiao looked down his nose at Tianhai Academy's lineup and laughed outright.
"What's wrong? Did we scare last year's champions out of their wits? You're pushing two kids out to take the fall? Is there really no one left in your Skysea Alliance?"
The five remaining members of Skysea's original championship team stood behind Lu Guan.
Hearing the stadium-wide boos and Yu Chenxiao's taunts, all five flushed crimson, veins bulging in their necks.
This wasn't shame.
It was the anger that had built up over days of swallowing humiliation!
For the past three days, Lu Guan had shut them in Tianhai Academy's underground training room and defeated them one by one!
The five of them, along with Wang Heng and Zhou Ming, who had previously been defeated in seconds-seven young men in their twenties-had been pinned to the ground and utterly trounced by a child of around ten.
Even the timid-looking little girl following Lu Guan only had to raise her hand, and those bizarre starwheel ice chains would lock them down completely, leaving them unable to circulate even their soul power.
They already acknowledged Lu Guan's strength, so naturally, their anger wasn't directed at him or his companion.
What truly infuriated them was that everyone assumed they would lose, that everyone thought they were despicable enough to drag children down with them!
"Captain, these Shrek people are way too arrogant!"
Their captain, Liu Feng, drew a deep breath and clenched his fists tight.
"Let them be arrogant. They'll soon find out who the real clowns are."
Standing at the front, Lu Guan turned his head slightly and addressed the five behind him.
"Remember the tasks I assigned you." Lu Guan's voice wasn't loud, but it reached all five of them clearly.
"Understood!" the five answered in unison, their fighting spirit soaring to an extraordinary height.
Standing at the edge of the arena, the referee looked at the two sides, poised like drawn swords and taut bows, and raised his right hand high.
"Exhibition match, ready-"
"Begin!"
The instant the word fell, Xu Lizhi tossed out several buns, while a Three-Ring Soul Elder raised a pagoda to provide a boost!
Then Yu Chenxiao moved.
His blue lightning tyrant dragon martial soul possessed him in an instant. Thick bolts of blue lightning surged violently from his body, and both arms rapidly swelled, becoming covered in fine blue scales.
Two yellow, one purple, and one black! Four Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet!
"First Soul Skill, Thunderclap!"
Yu Chenxiao slammed both arms into the ground.
Violent blue lightning spread wildly outward from him in a spiderweb, enveloping the entire arena in the blink of an eye.
The dazzling lightning made spectators throughout the stands squint.
This was Yu Chenxiao's usual opening tactic.
Blanketing the arena with lightning not only robbed opponents of their vision in an instant, but its lightning attribute also inflicted mild paralysis across the entire area.
As long as an opponent stiffened for even a moment, Shrek's other six members would focus their attacks instantly and end the fight outright.
This three-stroke routine worked every time.
Shen Yi nodded in the stands. He was familiar with this routine too.
In the arena, Lu Guan raised his head, looked at the blue light flooding the stage, and gave a soft scoff.
"Lightning? A false domain."
He curled his right hand around empty air.
"Battle Mist, rise."
Boom!
Dark red mist erupted from Lu Guan's body without warning.
The mist was incredibly dense, carrying the scent of blood and an oppressive, violent force as it surged back against the blue lightning.
The instant the lightning touched the mist, it was swallowed whole without making the slightest sound.
In less than two seconds.
The entire enormous arena was filled with dense, dark red mist.
It blotted out the sky and sun!
Every spectator in the stands froze. The previously deafening shouts caught in their throats in an instant. Nothing could be seen on the giant screen except churning dark red mist.
"What the hell is this?" The smile on Yu Chenxiao's face froze instantly.
He discovered that the lightning perception he took such pride in had become utterly useless within this mist. Forget locating his opponents-he couldn't even make out teammates who were a little farther away.
Shrek's formation fell into momentary confusion.
It was the drawback of relying on the same three-stroke routine for too long.
"Everyone, close ranks! Don't split up!" Ye Xinglan's cool, clear voice rang out through the mist.
The Stargod Sword left its sheath. Its brilliant light barely swept away the mist for a few meters around her, only for more dark red mist to fill the gap almost immediately.
"Lizhi, make buns!"
"Coming, coming! Recovery Meat Bun!" Xu Lizhi scrambled to knead buns, trying to supply his teammates.
In Shrek's experience, when their opening failed, they only needed to tighten their formation and let Yu Chenxiao, their strongest fighter, suppress the enemy in turn. They would soon regain their footing.
But this time, things were completely different.
Within the Battle Mist, Tianhai Academy's five members faced no obstruction at all.
Through the special shared perception of Lu Guan's Battle Mist, the mist not only left their vision unobstructed, but also clearly marked the positions of all seven Shrek members in their minds.
"Captain, those two are isolated!" Li Qiang shouted excitedly, pointing toward the left side of Shrek's formation.
Two Shrek members responsible for support and flank harassment were there. After eating Lightfoot Soup Dumplings at the start of the match, they had sprinted out, leaving themselves isolated at just the wrong moment!
"Go! Beat them up!" Liu Feng charged ahead without hesitation.
Those two Shrek members were racing back toward Shrek's formation.
Suddenly, five figures sprang from the mist and surrounded them.
"What are you-ow!"
Tianhai's group of five had no regard for fair play. They hurled all kinds of soul skills at the pair.
All the anger they had swallowed over the past few days was now vented on these two unlucky Shrek members.
Five against two, and an ambush at that-even Shrek could do nothing. The scene instantly became a one-sided group beating.
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