Hearing Su Qingxue say that felt rather nice, Su Yun seriously suspected his sister had awakened some strange proclivity. But seeing that the Soul Tool in her hand was a rod rather than a whip, he felt perhaps he was overthinking things.
Meanwhile, Jing Hongchen frowned at Su Qingxue. He knew she had defeated Qin Teng Shan, the previous captain of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy.
It would have been impossible for Jing Hongchen not to know about a change in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's captain, especially when it involved his student.
Originally, Jing Hongchen had been quite pleased about it, but looking at things now, something seemed a little off.
He now somewhat doubted whether Qin Teng Shan had truly lost to Su Qingxue or had deliberately let her win.
Jing Hongchen was, after all, the master of the Illustrious Virtue Hall. If he secretly led the team there only to lose, it would hardly reflect well on him.
"Speaking of which, Qingxue, you've been my disciple for so long, but I've never seen how strong you really are. Since we're already at the training grounds, why not demonstrate your strength?" Jing Hongchen said after a moment's thought.
"All right." With that, Su Qingxue turned and looked at the other six Soul Engineers.
"All of you, come at me together."
Hearing this, the Soul Engineers glanced at Jing Hongchen. After he nodded, they each raised their Soul Tools and aimed them at Su Qingxue.
However, they did not charge forward immediately. Instead, they swiftly spread out, preparing to surround Su Qingxue.
Their movements made Jing Hongchen nod inwardly-not because their maneuvers were particularly correct, but because the fact that they had not all charged in headlong proved that even together, they needed tactics to face Su Qingxue.
Tactics were only necessary against someone they could not defeat, or at least someone difficult to fight. If Su Qingxue alone could force them to employ tactics, then regardless of how this battle went, it already proved her strength to a certain extent.
At this point, Jing Hongchen felt somewhat conflicted. On one hand, he wanted Su Qingxue to win; on the other, he did not quite want her to.
If Su Qingxue could not win, it meant his disciple's talent was limited.
If Su Qingxue won, what sort of trash would that make everyone else at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy look like?
However, Jing Hongchen did not remain conflicted for long.
After speaking, Su Qingxue walked straight toward the others. Once she reached a certain distance, her human pupils became vertical slits.
An invisible pressure enveloped the other Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy students, making them break into cold sweats.
At the same time, after her pupils became vertical slits, Su Qingxue casually flicked the rod in her hand. It instantly transformed into a long whip and lashed straight at the student in front.
Normally, a Level 6 Soul Engineer and Six-Ring Soul Emperor should have been able to dodge a Five-Ring Soul King's basic attack, but Su Qingxue's eyes forcibly slowed his movements.
"Medusa's Stare?" Jing Hongchen shook his head after saying this. "There's no petrification, so that shouldn't be it. Did she develop this herself, then? An External Soul Bone really is a fine thing."
Taking Su Qingxue's whip head-on, Qin Teng Shan felt pain and numbness invade his body, causing him to lose consciousness in mere moments.
That was no ordinary whip. After acquiring her Fourth Soul Skill, Su Qingxue had incorporated that skill, Purple Lightning Thundercloud, into this Soul Tool.
That was a twenty-thousand-year Soul Skill. Had she not been facing one of her own, Qin Teng Shan could have died right there on the training grounds.
With Qin Teng Shan crushed in an instant, four of the others could only grit their teeth and press forward. For Su Qingxue, each of them was also merely a matter of one lash.
Facing them, Su Qingxue even leisurely used lipstick to casually sign her name on the immobilized Qin Teng Shan's face.
Medusa's Eye was more than just a Soul Skill. It was like how the Evil Eye White Tiger's Evil Eye served no purpose, yet became a superior Body Martial Soul when that Evil Eye was transformed into the independent Spirit Eyes.
As a separate eye-type External Soul Bone, Su Qingxue's Medusa's Eye, beyond its own Soul Skill, also let her see everything more clearly because it was an eye, greatly enhancing her eyesight and spiritual power.
Combined with reducing the Soul Power supplied to Medusa's Gaze to turn it into a weakened, instant-cast version that could still slow enemies, this whole combination gave Su Qingxue's combat strength an enormous boost.
The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy students clearly had the advantage in numbers, yet at this moment, they were instead the weaker side.
Of course, they did struggle, but even if those in front temporarily withstood the pressure and someone could circle behind for a sneak attack, Su Qingxue still had a Purple Lightning Netherworld Python on her.
The Purple Lightning Netherworld Python shared its vision with Su Qingxue, so the attacker behind her also took a lash, then collapsed to the ground, twitching all over.
"Are the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's students really this bad?"
Watching his sister's crushing performance, Su Yun frowned. He knew the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy's students generally were not strong, but he had never expected them to be this bad.
Now he was even beginning to question whether he should really go all in on the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy winning.
"It's not that the students are bad. The other students were controlled right from the start. Qingxue's Fifth Soul Skill appears to be a domain, and its negative effects look very strong."
Jing Hongchen saw what was really going on and nodded inwardly. "She's certainly given me a pleasant surprise. But now that things have reached this point, it looks like it's time to end this."
As Jing Hongchen finished speaking, Su Qingxue raised her leg, and a snake-shaped mark appeared on the sole of her high heel. As she stamped down, the domain strengthened once more, and two snake eyes appeared within it, followed by the entire form of the Purple Lightning Netherworld Python.
At this point, there was no need to continue the remaining battle. If they fought on, someone would die.
"Not bad. It looks like we might really beat Shrek for once in this Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament."
Jing Hongchen laughed heartily, then ordered his subordinates to treat the students.
The Dou Ling Empire.
"One million Gold Soul Coins on Shrek Academy winning the championship."
Du Weilun, Shrek's supervising teacher, placed a black card in the Dou Ling Empire's casino.
He would have liked to bet more if he could, but Shrek had won so many times that the various countries could no longer afford the losses over the years. Thus, they had stipulated that Shrek could bet no more than one million Gold Soul Coins, and only Shrek was permitted to bet one million.
Anyone else wishing to bet on Shrek winning could wager no more than ten thousand Gold Soul Coins. Moreover, only great nobles were allowed to wager ten thousand; everyone else was permitted to bet even less.
Together with odds that paid one for every hundred wagered, this often made great nobles and Shrek turn their noses up at the money. Even so, because Shrek had been certain to win for ten thousand years, this was still one source of income for some lesser and middling nobles.
Even if they could earn only a small number of Gold Soul Coins, who could argue with money picked up for free?
Thus, every Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament cost the countries running casinos some money. Fortunately, other bets could balance their income somewhat, allowing the great empires to earn the money back elsewhere.
But even if they could earn it back, the championship bets were still a sheer, bleeding loss-so much so that the Dou Ling Empire did not even want to offer bets on who would win the championship.
"Why won't anyone put something on another team winning the championship? Can't they see the hundred-to-one odds on the Sun Moon Empire?"
The Dou Ling Empire's emperor cursed inwardly. Seeing so many people bet on Shrek's victory, and thinking of the enormous additional expense the treasury would face once Shrek won, the Douluo Empire's emperor felt his head ache.
"Anyone will do! Can't someone bet on someone else winning the championship?"
As though someone had heard his plea, just as the Dou Ling Empire's emperor finished speaking, a eunuch rushed over in a great hurry.
"Your Majesty! Good news!"
"The Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy has wagered one hundred million Gold Soul Coins on the Sun Moon Royal Soul Guide Silk Academy winning this championship!"
"Is that true?"
"Your Majesty, how would this servant dare deceive you!"
The Dou Ling Empire's emperor's eyes instantly lit up. One hundred million Gold Soul Coins-not only would that cover the losses from Shrek's victory, but that hundred million would even leave the Dou Ling Empire with a substantial profit.
As for the possibility of the Sun Moon Empire winning, he did not concern himself with that. The Continental Advanced Soul Master Tournament had been held far more than once or twice.
In which tournament had the Sun Moon Empire not put up a struggle? In which tournament had its preparations been lacking? But in which tournament had the Sun Moon Empire won?
Betting on the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy winning was purely giving money to the local empire.
Never mind that the odds on the Sun Moon Empire were as high as a hundred to one-that required the Sun Moon Empire to win first. And after all these years, the Dou Ling emperor knew all too well whether the Sun Moon Empire could win.
If his status as emperor had not constrained him, he would have dearly liked to say right then, "Thanks to the Sun Moon Empire for the tip!"