On the Soul Fighting stage in Mingdu, Jing Hongchen stood at the center and gestured for both contestants to step forward.
Face-to-face, Snow Girl could clearly sense the fierce killing intent emanating from Chen Zifeng, despite his best efforts to rein in his aura.
This killing intent carried the resonance of the laws of the way of slaughter, cultivated naturally through the countless heads and torsos Chen Zifeng had severed from male and female students of other academies.
"The match is about to begin," Jing Hongchen said gravely. "Neither of you is weak. If an accident occurs during the battle, I may not be able to reach you in time. But let me remind you: this is only a competition. Everyone has only one life, and as geniuses, yours are all the more precious. Please cherish each other's lives."
At Jing Hongchen's words, Chen Zifeng's face filled with a savage grin.
"You old dog Hongchen, what kind of garbage are you spouting?"
Jing Hongchen did not seem angered. "Both sides, state your names. The Ordinary Alliance will go first."
"Snow Girl of the Ordinary Alliance!"
"Chen Zifeng of Shrek Academy."
After Snow Girl introduced herself, Chen Zifeng gave his name as well. Even before the battle began, the air between them reeked of gunpowder.
Below the stage, Huo Yuhao looked at the high-spirited young man, then at the valiant Snow Girl, and secretly sent her a voice transmission telling her to be careful.
In Huo Yuhao's previous life, the Tang Family had been able to make Chen Zifeng suffer the humiliation of being blasted into a cripple by a Soul King. Now that the world's balance had changed this much, the Tang Family could naturally raise Chen Zifeng to unprecedented heights as well.
Thunder and rain alike were Tang En's grace! Such was the law of this world.
"Mm, very good! You bitch, you've finally appeared before me. According to our intelligence, you performed well in your previous matches. Very good! Unfortunately, despite having such fine talent, you didn't join our Shrek Academy. You've already chosen the path to your own death."
"Today, I will represent the Sea God's love and justice and eliminate you, you she-devil," Chen Zifeng said.
"What a surprise. To think the Sun Moon Empire, which has achieved so little in Soul Master cultivation, could produce someone like you. What would happen if you were allowed to grow?"
"Though I can't spare you, I'll still let you go back now and bring a few of those defensive Soul Tools you Sun Moon dogs are so good at making-provided you first kowtow to me three times, loudly enough for everyone to hear."
Without giving Snow Girl a chance to respond, Chen Zifeng rattled off every arrogant remark he could think of in one breath. He did not even look at her-instead, his gaze remained fixed on the Goddess seated in the Clear Sky Sect's section of the stands.
To the people of Shrek Academy, who considered themselves above all others, every breathing person present was nothing more than a breathing clay figure, save for the daughter of that god above gods.
This was the Shrek members' passive skill: [Eyes Above the Top]!
"Are you done barking? You're very different from the others before you. Your tongue is far too venomous. I'd like to know whether your strength is different too, and not quite so weak."
Faced with Chen Zifeng's verbal intimidation, Snow Girl remained serenely unafraid. She merely wondered why the human world contained such an oddity.
"You bitch, I was going to offer you a way out out of respect for the Sea God's virtue of cherishing life. Yet you refused it. Now you'll die a truly miserable death!" Seeing that Snow Girl was not intimidated, Chen Zifeng felt as though boiling oil were scorching his heart.
Chen Zifeng moved, shooting forward like a bolt of lightning. His figure first vanished from where he stood, then reappeared behind Snow Girl.
Chen Zifeng raised his hand, sending a streak of blue-gray light toward Snow Girl's rear entrance. From the stands, Huo Yuhao noticed that the Soul Chasing Sword in Chen Zifeng's hand had undergone a mutation.
Chen Zifeng was already imagining Snow Girl's impending humiliation, with urine and feces spilling everywhere.
This was the move Chen Zifeng habitually used when fighting Yu Mengdi and the other female students from other Soul Master academies.
As the streak of blue-gray light hurtled toward her, Snow Girl swayed, turning into a ray of sky-blue light as she dodged to one side.
At the same time, one of her pale hands seized Chen Zifeng's sword-wielding wrist.
"Aaah!" Chen Zifeng screamed in pain as Snow Girl twisted his wrist. The hand she held immediately lost its strength, but his other hand swiftly caught the sword, sweeping its blade out to force her back.
Though thwarted in a single exchange, Chen Zifeng did not lose his composure. In the next instant, he appeared above Snow Girl's head.
So fast! Huo Yuhao could not help marveling from the stands. Such strength was remarkable even among Six-Ring Soul Emperors.
This time, Chen Zifeng gripped the hilt with both hands and hacked down at the crown of Snow Girl's head.
The forward edge suppressed souls; the reverse edge claimed lives. To repay Shrek Academy for imparting its teachings, the sword in Chen Zifeng's hands had already killed 154 people from other academies.
As long as I kill this bitch, Shrek Academy will have one fewer formidable enemy in the future, Chen Zifeng thought.
But even as he thought this, Chen Zifeng discovered that Snow Girl had vanished before him.
A chill reached him, and only then did Chen Zifeng realize that a pale hand had pressed against his waist.
Emperor's Palm, Great Cold Without Snow!
Then Chen Zifeng's body slammed into the edge of the Soul Fighting stage like a fired cannonball. Shattered stone flew, and a huge crater thirty feet across appeared.
Watching the battle, Jing Hongchen knitted his brows tightly. He truly had not expected Snow Girl, all on her own, to inflict such damage on the stage's specially made flooring with a single strike.
Did I lose? After all the effort and heart's blood I poured into reaching this point, did I lose just like that? Chen Zifeng's face was filled with resentment as he stared venomously at Snow Girl.
Is this my fate? What kind of fate is this? I still have to defeat Huo Yuhao! I still have to defend Shrek's ten thousand years of glory! At that final thought, he roared inwardly.
With that thought, Chen Zifeng's eyes instantly brightened. "Then let's see whether you can turn me into your stepping stone, or whether I can defend Shrek's honor!"
The next instant, he took the Lovesick Heartbreak Red, singular velvet sky chrysanthemum, and other immortal herbs out of a Storage Soul Tool and swallowed them whole, like gulping down dates without chewing.
These were all rewards he had earned by doing everything he could to impress the Goddess over the past few days.
Chen Zifeng had yet to learn how to use these immortal herbs. After he wolfed them down, the fluctuations of his Soul Power soared rapidly, but his body itself began aging at an astonishing speed.
Chen Zifeng's once-handsome face immediately became covered in wrinkles, yet his eyes grew exceptionally bright.
The sharp sword in his hand, his Soul Chasing Sword Martial Soul, unleashed red lightning! His Martial Soul had completed its final transformation, sublimating into the Soul-Destroying Sword!
This Martial Soul possessed a particular trait: every soul it destroyed increased his cultivation.
Just as immortal herbs had sublimated the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Martial Soul into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda ten thousand years ago, the rise in quality had now placed Chen Zifeng's Martial Soul at the pinnacle of the Martial Soul world.
Sensing the changes in Chen Zifeng, Huo Yuhao immediately understood what he was doing.
First, he consumed numerous immortal herbs. Then, burning both his body and soul, Chen Zifeng unleashed his final strike!
Soon, Chen Zifeng's eyes turned completely blood-red. His face filled with fanaticism, he threw back his head and howled, "The Sea God is supreme!"
Then his entire being transformed into a blood-colored blade that slashed toward Snow Girl.
At that very same moment, great swaths of snowflakes descended from the sky.
"How is this possible?" When he discovered that Snow Girl's figure had vanished amid the snowflakes, Chen Zifeng was frightened out of his wits. He could not understand how this girl could escape the lock of his Spiritual Sense in his current state and conceal herself.
In the stands, Xuan Zi and the others all froze on the spot.
This was a complete domain, the kind usually only a nine-ring Titled Douluo could unleash. How could Snow Girl, who had yet to reach five rings, possibly use it?
Yet Snow Girl had indeed done it!
Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain! This was an ice-and-snow ability Huo Yuhao had comprehended through the ice attribute in his previous life. Later, when he reached the Divine Realm, it had sublimated into a divine skill. In this life, however, Huo Yuhao had given it to Snow Girl as her trump card.
"You can't maintain that state for very long, can you?" Just as Chen Zifeng was about to burn himself out completely and had no choice but to leave his Soul-Destroying Sword True Body state, he felt an icy chill against the back of his head.
Emperor's Palm, Great Cold Without Snow!
Chen Zifeng was hurled off the Soul Fighting stage. The intense cold and the backlash from the medicinal power within him knocked him unconscious, while urine and feces spilled out together.
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