Ning Tian watched the situation in the arena with some reluctance to concede.
Lin Xi's presence had completely thrown the three of them into disarray. Others might not have noticed, but she could clearly recognize the disorder in Wu Feng's and Nanmen Yun'er's rhythms.
Clearly, his unrealistically high rank had placed tremendous psychological pressure on them.
Although Lin Xi had merely stood at the back watching with his hands in his pockets all this time, none of them dared underestimate him.
This can't go on. Ning Tian released her Martial Soul, preparing to end the fight quickly.
Only by using the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's amplification to briefly raise Wu Feng and Nanmen Yun'er to the Soul Elder level would they have even a sliver of a chance.
However, just before she unleashed her Soul Skill, an inexplicable emotion rose from the depths of her heart.
She instinctively looked toward the girl fighting Nanmen Yun'er.
Then, with a burst of agony that seemed to tear her brain apart, she lost consciousness just like that.
Soul Shock again.
Tempered through training under Lin Xi, Huo Yutong's combat awareness could be called unrivaled in the Shrek Outer Court. When she heard Ning Tian say she belonged to the Auxiliary System, she knew this battle was probably in the bag.
This team clearly revolved around Ning Tian, an Auxiliary System Soul Elder. In that case, as long as she was eliminated, Wu Feng and Nanmen Yun'er would no longer pose a threat.
The only reason she had not used Soul Shock at the very start was to secure victory with a single strike. After all, unlike combat-oriented Soul Masters, Auxiliary System Soul Masters were usually most vulnerable to having their openings exploited at the instant they used a Soul Skill.
At such moments, they generally focused their attention on their teammates rather than themselves.
Sure enough, she seized the moment when Ning Tian's attention was entirely on Lin Xi and swept her out of the battle with a single strike.
The battle could be said to have ended right there.
Without their captain, Ning Tian's team would have no means of countering Lin Xi's team.
Hearing Ning Tian fall, Wu Feng and Nanmen Yun'er both instinctively turned to look.
"Ning Tian!"
In an instant, Wu Feng's eyes reddened.
Although the twisted feelings in her heart had yet to fully develop, they had already taken shape. The moment she saw Ning Tian fall, she forgot everything else and wanted only to hurry back to her side.
Red light suddenly blazed from her body, and her Second Soul Ring shone. The Dragon's Fire rising around her abruptly turned dark red, while the scales covering half her body suddenly grew thicker and heavier. As the red light in her eyes intensified, her left hand transformed completely into a dragon claw.
This was her second Soul Skill, Dragon's Wrath.
It was currently the Soul Skill she relied on most. With this move, she had defeated countless opponents of the same rank during the freshman assessment.
However, at this sight, Melusine, inside Lin Xi's Sea of Consciousness, declared that she simply could not bear to watch.
Using a move like that as a trump card was a disgrace to dragons.
The sudden eruption of Dragon's Flame temporarily forced Wang Dong back, but instead of pressing her advantage, Wu Feng turned and ran toward Ning Tian.
She was certain they had kept Wang Dong and Huo Yutong completely occupied, so the one who had struck could only have been Lin Xi.
At the thought of a blow approaching the Soul Ancestor level landing on Ning Tian's delicate body, her heart burned with anxiety. She wanted to hurry over and check her condition.
Yet a somewhat illusory figure blocked her path.
"Get out of my way!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Wu Feng threw a punch.
In her eyes, Huo Yutong had no right whatsoever to stand before her. She completely forgot to consider why Huo Yutong had been able to shake off Nanmen Yun'er and appear in her path.
Facing Wu Feng's impatient attack, Huo Yutong's eyes flashed, and she dodged it with a slight turn of her body.
With Mental Interference combined with the swordsmanship she had learned from Artoria, if she could still get hit by that, she would deserve extra training when she returned.
Then she raised the iron sword in her hand and slashed at Wu Feng from an extremely tricky angle.
"Tch!"
There was no blocking this move. Clicking her tongue impatiently, Wu Feng had no choice but to retreat.
As she retreated, she instinctively glanced toward Nanmen Yun'er, and her pupils abruptly contracted.
At some unknown point, Nanmen Yun'er had silently collapsed to the ground, just like Ning Tian.
In truth, Wu Feng ought to have felt proud.
This was the first battle since the freshman assessment began that Huo Yutong had fought seriously.
Using Soul Shock at full strength twice in succession was still somewhat too taxing for her at present. She had never done so in her previous matches.
Yet in this match, she had still used it without hesitation.
It was precisely to show Wu Feng that her arrogance was utterly useless, that she could not hold out for even a moment against Lin Xi's team.
Wu Feng gritted her teeth.
In her mind, Lin Xi had struck again.
She did not understand why Lin Xi could unleash such formidable power without revealing his Martial Soul or Soul Rings.
Even now, she still thought nothing of Huo Yutong.
This was undoubtedly a fatal mistake.
Suddenly, as though a can of gasoline had been poured onto a roaring fire, her already impatient, furious emotions were magnified without limit.
"Aaaaaaah-!"
Her eyes blood-red, Wu Feng lost all reason and attacked the petite girl before her without any semblance of order.
So much dissatisfaction, so much anger, so much agitation, so much distress, so much sorrow, so much worry, so much grief and fury...
Swallowed by an ocean of intense emotion, she practically forgot the time and place, wanting only to vent all the pain in her heart on Huo Yutong.
Yet this was undoubtedly useless.
She was no berserker. Fighting so chaotically would only bring a battle whose outcome was already certain to an even quicker conclusion.
At last, Huo Yutong drove her sword's pommel hard into Wu Feng's stomach. Having rapidly squandered all her Soul Power in her frenzy, Wu Feng collapsed helplessly to the ground.
Huo Yutong panted heavily.
This battle had been another one-versus-three sweep for her.
However, compared with the previous match against Huang Chutian and his teammates, this one had clearly been considerably harder.
Using Soul Shock at full strength twice in succession had nearly emptied her spiritual power, to the point that she could only use Emotion Control to interfere with Wu Feng.
Had she possessed even a little strength to spare, she would definitely have given Wu Feng a taste of Soul Shock too.
Fortunately, the method she used to interfere with emotions-Spiritual Sharing-consumed very little. Otherwise, she really might not have been able to defeat Wu Feng easily with her spiritual power depleted.
In the original story, Huo Yuhao had completely squandered Spiritual Sharing as a Soul Skill. Though it was a Hundred Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill just like Soul Shock and Spiritual Detection, in his hands, it had been reduced entirely to an accessory to Spiritual Detection.
Now, in Huo Yutong's hands, it had finally begun to shine as it should.
Off to the side, Wang Dong hunched her shoulders, still feeling a lingering dread.
She had started watching from the sidelines halfway through.
It was not that she did not want to help, but that Huo Yutong would not let her.
In any case, only one opponent remained, and with Lin Xi there too, they could not possibly lose, so Wang Dong let her have her way.
The result was both within her expectations and beyond her imagination.
She had expected Huo Yutong to defeat Wu Feng, but she had not expected it to be so one-sided.
Recalling the experience of having garbage emotions ceaselessly stuffed into her mind through Spiritual Sharing while fighting Huo Yutong, Wang Dong grimaced.
As expected of someone Lin Xi trained. She really is a monster...
And so, the battle between Lin Xi's team and Ning Tian's team once again ended in an overwhelming victory for Lin Xi's team.