Zhang Lan gave her no chance to catch her breath.
Five Gravity Balls fired rays simultaneously, locking onto Zhou Yi from eight directions.
Zhou Yi blocked with her Dragon Claw, but the Gravity Field kept dragging at her body, distorting her movements and throwing off the precision of her defense.
One ray broke through her defenses and struck her right shoulder.
The fabric over her shoulder crumbled into sand the instant the ray touched it. Gray-white fragments cascaded from her shoulder, exposing the skin beneath, rubbed raw and red by the erosion.
Zhou Yi let out a muffled grunt and dropped to one knee. Her knee slammed into the floor of the Soul Fighting Arena, sending cracks spreading outward beneath it.
The six Soul Rings around her flickered violently. Four of them-two yellow and two purple-had already begun to dim. Only the last two black Soul Rings were still struggling to hold on.
Scarlet soul power surged over her body, trying to break through the Gravity Field's suppression, but every burst was evenly dispersed in eight directions and dissolved into nothing.
Zhang Lan took a step forward.
He walked up to Zhou Yi and set the tip of the Star of Eden against the ground before her.
The final Gravity Ball hovered above her head, rotating slowly. Ochre patterns flowed across its surface, ready to descend at any moment.
"Do you concede?"
Zhang Lan's voice was not loud, but everyone in the silent Soul Fighting Arena heard him clearly.
Zhou Yi raised her head to look at him.
There was no anger on her face, nor any unwillingness to accept defeat. All that remained was the blankness of someone utterly crushed.
Her lips moved as though she wanted to say something, but she had exhausted too much soul power, and the Gravity Field's relentless pressure was beginning to cloud her consciousness.
The phantom scarlet dragon behind her dissipated completely. Her six Soul Rings dimmed one after another, from black to purple to yellow, until all fell dormant.
Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and her vision began to blur.
Zhang Lan's face wavered before her eyes, becoming two, then four.
Her body tipped forward slightly, then fell sideways. She lay on her side on the floor of the Soul Fighting Arena, motionless.
The entire arena fell silent.
The entire arena fell silent.
The Referee Teacher stood stunned for several breaths before he reacted.
He hurried into the Soul Fighting Arena from the sidelines, crouched down, and checked Zhou Yi's pulse.
Only after confirming that she had merely fainted from exhausting her soul power and that her life was not in danger did he breathe a sigh of relief. He stood and beckoned toward the outside of the arena.
Two teachers waiting at the entrance ran in with a stretcher, lifted Zhou Yi onto it, and carried her out.
Zhang Lan withdrew the Star of Eden, and his five Soul Rings vanished.
The Gravity Mire dissipated. Eight Gravity Balls turned into ochre motes of light that seeped into the ground, leaving eight shallow depressions and spiderweb cracks in the floor of the Soul Fighting Arena.
He turned and walked out. As he reached the protective barrier, the pale blue curtain of light automatically opened a gap to let him through.
Murmurs surged through the stands like a rising tide.
"Zhou Yi lost? A Six-Ring Soul Emperor was knocked unconscious by a freshman?"
"Where did that freshman come from?"
"A twelve-year-old Soul King with five Soul Rings, two purple and three black."
"What was that last soul skill of his? Those black spheres on the ground-I couldn't make heads or tails of them."
"Zhou Yi was pinned down the whole fight. She barely even managed to get close to him."
Mu Jin rose from his seat in the stands and brushed nonexistent dust from his skirt.
He could not suppress the smile tugging at his lips, but he did not laugh aloud. He simply led the students of Class Two toward the exit.
As he passed Zhou Yi being carried away, he tilted his head to glance at her.
Zhou Yi lay on the stretcher, her long scarlet hair spilling loose. Her face was pale, and a fine sheen of sweat still lingered on her forehead.
Mu Jin said nothing, but that look cut deeper than any words could have.
He had been at odds with Zhou Yi for so many years, and he had finally seen her take such a spectacular tumble in front of the entire school.
Ning Tian closed her notebook and snapped the cap onto her pen with a click.
She stood, tucked the notebook into her schoolbag, and turned to look at Wu Feng.
"I told you, he's not someone you can afford to provoke."
Wu Feng did not respond.
She stared in the direction Zhang Lan had left, her short silver-gray hair gleaming coldly beneath the lights.
She tapped her arm twice with her fingers, as though weighing something. In the end, she said nothing and turned toward the exit.
Dai Huabin slipped the coin in his hand into his pocket and straightened from the railing.
He glanced toward the doorway where Zhang Lan had disappeared, then looked at the eight depressions and cracks on the ground. After several breaths of silence, he turned and left.
The sixth-year students in black uniforms at the back of the stands exchanged glances.
One tall boy murmured something. The others nodded, then turned and left.
They were sixth-year students who would be taking the inner courtyard entrance assessment in a few months. They had little interest in squabbles among outer courtyard freshmen.
But a twelve-year-old Soul King had knocked a Six-Ring Soul Emperor unconscious. That was certainly worth coming to see.
They had watched, taken his measure, and left.
In a corner of the Soul Fighting Arena, Huo Yuhao still sat in his original seat.
His gaze shifted from the eight depressions at the center of the arena to the doorway where Zhang Lan had disappeared.
He tapped his knee twice with his fingers, his brow furrowing slightly, as though pondering something he could not make sense of.
Bei Bei patted his shoulder from behind.
"Let's go, Yuhao."
Huo Yuhao stood and followed Bei Bei toward the exit.
Beside them, Tang Ya chattered away as she argued with Xu Sanshi.
"Did you see that? He didn't even use his fifth soul skill!"
"He only used four soul skills the whole time!"
"The black spheres shooting rays counted as one, the black spheres rising out of the ground counted as another, and then there was that field at the start that disrupted the tongues of flame, plus those black spheres firing rays at the end... No, wait, I've lost count..."
"Three."
Xu Sanshi said,
"He didn't use his first soul skill. His second soul skill, that distortion field, counted as one."
"His third soul skill, those black spheres shooting rays, counted as another. His fourth soul skill, the black spheres rising out of the ground, counted as one."
"He never used his fifth soul skill at all."
"Then how do you know he has five soul skills?"
"There were five Soul Rings at his feet. Only a blind person could have missed them."
Tang Ya glared at him, then turned to ask Bei Bei.
"Bei Bei, who do you think is stronger, him or you?"
Bei Bei smiled without answering.
He glanced at Huo Yuhao, who was still lost in thought and had not noticed what they were saying.
By the time Zhang Lan walked out through the main entrance of the Soul Fighting Arena, a crowd had already gathered outside.
They were all freshmen who had rushed over after hearing the news. Some wore white uniforms, others yellow, and they packed the entrance tightly.
When they saw Zhang Lan emerge, the crowd automatically parted, dozens of pairs of eyes turning toward him in unison.
Some whispered among themselves, some stole glances at his face, and some took out notebooks to jot something down.
Zhang Lan ignored their stares and followed the stone-paved path toward the freshmen's teaching building.
Nan Qiuqiu and Xiao Xiao squeezed through the crowd and followed behind him.
Wang Dong brought up the rear, his pace a little slower than usual. His short pink-and-blue hair hung beside his face, and there was no telling what he was thinking.
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