"We're not in the same weight class. No matter how many times we fight him, the result will be the same."
Under Ling Luochеn's astonished gaze, Xi Xi spoke to her helplessly.
Ling Luochеn glanced at Mu Yueye. After a long while, she sighed and looked at him.
"All right, you win."
Ling Luochеn knew full well that she and Xi Xi had lost this match utterly. She had only held on so stubbornly because, deep down, she was unwilling to accept it.
Although this match would cause Ling Luochеn some pain, what it would do for the growth of her character once the pain passed went without saying.
Mu Yueye looked at the crowd beside the platform and spoke in an even tone that nevertheless felt somewhat provocative.
"Who's next? I won't hit too hard today, so if you want to try me, seize the chance!"
Mu Yueye watched the two women retreat silently to the side, and his own mindset had changed somewhat.
After all, he hadn't come to be a whetstone for the inner court disciples. He had no obligation to keep going back and forth with them.
Yet under Shrek Academy's system, challenges were inevitable.
In that case, he might as well beat them into submission all at once.
That was what Mu Yueye thought. After he made his declaration, several inner court students came onto the platform together and addressed him.
"Hey, brother, how about taking on nine at once?"
The student at their head spoke half-jokingly, but his position put him alone in front. Clearly, he still preferred a fairer one-on-one match.
Mu Yueye glanced at him and smiled. He raised a hand, beckoned with his index finger, and said teasingly,
"Bring one more. I want to fight ten."
The other man stopped dead in his tracks, as if he hadn't registered what Mu Yueye had said. He hesitated for a moment before asking,
"What did you say? You want to fight ten?"
Mu Yueye smiled and repeated himself.
"I want to fight ten."
Just then, a skinny student below the platform, who had originally intended to keep watching, cursed Mu Yueye inwardly for being too arrogant. He leaped up, landed at the very front of the group, and looked at him.
"I'm in. That makes ten of us. Enough to let you enjoy yourself, right?"
Mu Yueye looked at him, casually flexed his wrist, and said,
"Interesting. Come on."
Only after Mu Yueye had spoken did the countdown on the Soul Fighting platform begin.
Ten seconds later, the student who had jumped up last took the lead. As he leaped high into the air, four Soul Rings-two yellow and two purple-rose beneath his feet, while his legs bent into a shape resembling a grasshopper's.
The student kicked at Mu Yueye, who sent a streak of golden lightning flying at him the instant he was airborne.
The lightning was not a Soul Skill, but simply the result of Mu Yueye releasing his Soul Power. Under normal circumstances, it would have been hard for it to do much damage.
But the student had launched a flying kick and was in midair, with nothing to push off from. The strike hit him squarely in the dantian.
The dantian was one of a Soul Master's vital points. A blow there in actual combat would inevitably cause violent fluctuations in Soul Power and greatly affect one's fighting ability.
After taking Mu Yueye's strike, the Soul Master crashed headfirst onto the metal platform, drawing blood from his temple. But he had spent quite some time at Shrek Academy and was used to seeing blood spilled in the arena. He covered his head and stood up.
Mu Yueye spread his golden dragon wings and offered his assessment.
"Your Martial Soul might look like a grasshopper, but it can't fly. All your abilities are in your legs, so why are you hopping around for no reason? Be more practical."
Just then, the student who had first called for nine against one picked up the conversation.
"Nice skills. In that case, we don't need to hold back. Brothers, let's all go at him!"
It had to be said, a student who could gather others in a place where everyone thought of themselves as heaven's chosen and bring them onto the platform to use their numbers had something going for him.
At the very least, the students who had followed him up really did treat him as their big brother. After he spoke, they each released their Martial Souls and began shouting.
"All together! Let's hit him first and talk later!"
"Take him down!"
Raising their morale with battle cries, the group launched a wild boar charge at Mu Yueye.
For a moment, the yellow and purple light of Soul Rings flashed across the Soul Fighting platform. Together with the student Mu Yueye had just sharply criticized, all ten charged without restraint.
Ling Luochеn, who had withdrawn to the side, frowned and spoke to Xi Xi.
"These people have no shame. He tells them to come at him all ten at once, and they actually have the nerve to do it. Where's the self-respect Shrek students ought to have?"
As she spoke, Ling Luochеn raised her hand and summoned her ice staff. Xi Xi spoke up to dissuade her.
"What are you doing? Don't tell me you want to join them. Don't. It's a sin not to acknowledge your betters. Can't you see it yet? He's the real expert, and the one who could stir up nine people to charge with him is an expert too. We're the only two who aren't."
Xi Xi kept her voice low, but Ling Luochеn waved a hand and said to her,
"I'm just going to help Mu Yueye. I suddenly remembered something interesting. Helping Yueye isn't a bad thing."
Ling Luochеn waved the ice staff in her hand and unleashed her fourth Soul Skill without reservation. At once, a cold ice mist swept around Mu Yueye and headed straight for the ten students.
At the same moment, Mu Yueye released his fourth Soul Ring. As the black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring flashed, even the air around them grew viscous.
Ling Luochеn was suddenly taken aback. She had already sensed that something was wrong: the might displayed by Mu Yueye's fourth Soul Skill clearly did not suggest he needed her help.
She had meddled where she wasn't needed.
Mu Yueye had already swung both arms, forming cross-shaped claw marks in front of him.
The instant he thrust the claw marks forward, the phantom of a Radiant Sacred Dragon behind him also surged out, gradually becoming solid as it flew.
In an instant, cold sweat appeared on the faces of the ten who had been charging at Mu Yueye.
His attack had yet to strike them, but it had already placed enormous psychological pressure on them.
At that moment, the alarms across the Soul Fighting platform began blaring wildly, as if they cost nothing to sound.
The deafening alarms startled Ling Luochеn and Xi Xi as well.
The golden Radiant Sacred Dragon circled, enclosing the ten within its flight path.
The soul tool Soul Fighting platform's emergency rescue system also activated. Lights flashed instantly on the surrounding metal pillars, projecting one metal wire after another. The wires spread up from below and pulled the ten off the platform.
In a flat tone, Mu Yueye spoke, declaring the end of the match.
"Fourth Soul Skill, Sacred Dragon Dark Gold Break!"
As Mu Yueye spoke, the golden dragon suddenly lunged toward the center of the ten...