The five charging Assault Type Soul Masters from Tian Dou Royal Academy's second team slammed straight into the hard Blue Silver Prison, immediately getting dazed and disoriented. Relying solely on the momentum of their charge, there was no way they could break through the Blue Silver Prison. Meanwhile, the Control Type Soul Master and the female Support Type Soul Master behind them were firmly pinned in place. Through precise control, Tang San had used the Blue Silver Prison to completely block their line of sight. Though this Soul Skill couldn't prevent them from releasing their own Soul Skills, with their vision obstructed, how were they supposed to support their teammates?
The five charging members of Tian Dou Royal Academy crashed into the Blue Silver Prison and their forward momentum naturally halted — and at that very moment, Dai Mubai and the other two were reaching the peak of their charge.
The five Blue Silver Prisons appeared for only an instant — just long enough to halt the five Assault Type Soul Masters' charge before vanishing in a flash — but the dark Blue Silver Grass had already surged up from beneath their feet, completing its binding in the blink of an eye. In the seamless transition and switching of his skills, Tang San left his opponents no chance to fight back.
"White Tiger Meteor Shower!" Dai Mubai roared. Every tiger stripe on his powerful body turned gold as he bellowed, golden light erupting outward. Centered on his body, countless fist-sized golden orbs of light instantly locked onto the opponents in front of him and hammered down in a devastating barrage.
Tai Long seized the opportunity while the opponent in front of him was struggling in the Blue Silver Grass, grabbing hold of the vines wrapped around the enemy, hoisting him high overhead, and slamming him violently into the ground. Huang Yuan, meanwhile, treated his opponent like a punching bag, unleashing a relentless storm of blows.
Was Blue Silver Grass really so easy to break free from? Nourished by four Soul Rings — one of which was a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring — the Blue Silver Grass had already reached a terrifying level of resilience. The inherent toxins were rapidly injected into these Soul Masters, who were generally around the thirty-fifth rank, through the sharp barbs. Bound by Tang San's preemptive binding, any thought of escape was nothing but a pipe dream.
Control Type Soul Masters already had an inherent advantage over most other types, and Tang San's Soul Power and Soul Skills both surpassed those of his opponents. Combined with the hesitation they had shown at the start, the moment the Blue Silver Grass wrapped around their bodies, the outcome of this battle had already been sealed.
Xiao Wu and Jing Ling had also arrived in front of their chosen opponents by now. Jing Ling's target was the small-framed Control Type Soul Master. His speed wasn't as fast as Zhu Zhuqing's, but as an Agility Attack Type Soul Master, it was already remarkably impressive. As he charged forward, his body expanded against the wind, his entire form transforming into a massive skeletal frame that looked utterly terrifying. His two large hands became bone blades, and by the time he reached the Control Type Soul Master, he had already activated his third Soul Skill — Berserk Combat.
Both attack speed and attack power increased by fifty percent simultaneously. The Blue Silver Prison vanished at precisely the right moment, and the two bone blades whipped up a whirlwind as they slashed straight toward the opponent's body.
The small man's Martial Soul was a pair of rings — a tool-type Martial Soul — and his control abilities were primarily expressed through those rings. However, using higher-level Soul Skills required time. If an Assault Type Soul Master had been there to shield him from enemy attacks, that bit of time wouldn't have mattered at all. But when he himself had been trapped by the Blue Silver Prison, his composure had already crumbled. There was no time left to activate his Soul Skills. With no other choice, he could only trigger his first and second Soul Skills to enhance the rings' properties and block head-on.
Hundred-year Soul Skills against thousand-year Soul Skills — there was no contest.
Xiao Wu and Tang San's coordination was undoubtedly the most seamless of all. When Xiao Wu was still five meters away from the female Support Type Soul Master, Tang San had already retracted the Blue Silver Prison. He didn't even bother using the Blue Silver Grass to bind the opponent. After all, she was merely a Support Type Soul Master.
Teleportation, Soft Technique, Waist Bow. Xiao Wu's movements flowed like drifting clouds and running water. Remembering the insults and humiliation from before, she showed no mercy with this Waist Bow. Her long legs wrapped directly around the opponent's neck, and she executed a devastating backward suplex.
Screams erupted across the arena almost simultaneously. The female Support Soul Master, caught under Xiao Wu's graceful backflip Waist Bow, had barely gotten halfway through her scream before she passed out. As for how many bones she had broken, only Xiao Wu, who had delivered the blow, knew.
The skeleton Soul Master Jing Ling was already an eerie and sinister person by nature, and in battle, he was even more ruthless. With Tang San's support, the full offensive power of an Agility Attack Type Soul Master was unleashed through him. The opponent's rings simply couldn't keep up with the speed of his attacks. In short order, blood was spraying everywhere, and the enemy collapsed screaming. Had it not been for the rule against killing during the match, his attacks would have been even more vicious — aimed straight at vital points.
As for the five Assault Type Soul Masters, their bodies were undoubtedly much tougher. But they were facing three even more formidable opponents.
Dai Mubai single-handedly took on three opponents. The moment his White Tiger Meteor Shower landed, the outcome was no longer in doubt — especially since all three were still bound by Tang San's Blue Silver Grass. Tiger palms struck again and again: screams, the sound of breaking bones, blood spraying everywhere.
"Swift" — a simple word, but it was the Shrek team's code signal, meaning: unleash everything. Hold nothing back. Through his precise control, Tang San himself hadn't participated in the direct attacks, but he had perfectly fulfilled the duty of a Control Type Soul Master — controlling the battlefield, controlling the opponents, and allowing his teammates' strength to be displayed to its fullest.
In truth, while there was a gap between the two sides' strength, it was mainly concentrated in Tang San and Dai Mubai — the two Soul Ancestors — and wasn't all that obvious. If they had fought straightforwardly, Shrek Academy would still have won, but the battle would have dragged on for a while. However, Tang San had given his opponents no breathing room from the very start, having everyone on his side unleash their strongest Soul Skills simultaneously. The explosive burst of power caught the enemy so off guard that before they could even react, they were already drowning under a torrential storm of attacks.
"Stop! We surrender!" The supervising teacher of Tian Dou Royal Academy's second team, seeing that the situation had gone terribly wrong, hastily threw in the white towel and rushed onto the stage to stop the Shrek Academy members from continuing.
The referee had already been stunned since the dazzling golden light of the White Tiger Meteor Shower had flooded the arena. Forget an inter-academy competition — even team battles at the Grand Fighting Arena rarely saw such a brutal scene. Heavens, were these really just students?
At that moment, all eighty thousand spectators in the Grand Fighting Arena were utterly silent. If the Shrek Academy members' uniforms had been the object of their ridicule before, then now that vomit-green team outfit looked dazzlingly bright.
No suspense — this was truly a match with no suspense, or rather, a one-sided slaughter. But the ones being annihilated were not the Shrek Academy they had expected, but the Tian Dou Royal Academy second team — the ones who had been placed with such high hopes, who symbolized the imperial family of the Tian Dou Empire.
Tang San's cold gaze swept across the spectator stands, as if telling the audience with his eyes who the real powerhouses were. The seven of Shrek had used their overwhelming strength to silence every insult directed at them. Contempt, disdain — those expressions had long since vanished. All that remained was shock and disbelief.
"Referee, I want to file a complaint! They weren't competing — they were killing! They violated the match rules! I demand that they be disqualified!"
Watching his students one after another drenched in blood with broken bones, the supervising teacher of Tian Dou Royal Academy roared furiously at the referee.
The referee had by now fully come to his senses, and his stern gaze immediately turned toward the Shrek Academy members.
Tang San smiled calmly and said, "Respected referee, I have just one question for you. Are they dead?"
The referee paused, then turned to look at the seven fallen members of Tian Dou Royal Academy's second team. Indeed, though all seven were gravely injured, they were still breathing. None of them were going to die.
Tang San pointed to Jiang Zhu behind him. "Our Support Type Soul Master's ability is healing. She activated her Martial Soul right from the start and released her healing power — a power that could spread across the entire arena. That wasn't meant for us. It was for them. If we truly intended to kill, would we heal our opponents? It seems they don't need our help after all. Senior Sister Jiang Zhu, you can stop."
Tang San's voice was loud. He deliberately channeled his Soul Power to carry his voice across the entire arena, ensuring that every single person could hear him.
Having one's own Soul Master heal the opponents from the very start — what greater display of contempt could there be? But Shrek Academy had indeed demonstrated strength sufficient to warrant such disdain.
The referee looked from one side to the other, momentarily unsure how to rule. At that point, two more referees ran up, and after the three huddled together in brief consultation, the original referee finally announced in a loud voice, "First match of the first round of the preliminaries — Shrek Academy wins!"
It had been a one-minute perfect victory.
BOOM — the spectator stands erupted in an enormous roar of discussion. Doubts, exclamations of admiration, and above all, sheer shock. The illustrious second team of Tian Dou Royal Academy had been utterly routed by an unknown Soul Master team in barely one minute. The impact on the crowd was simply too great.
Emperor Xue Ye rose to his feet with an ashen expression, his gaze falling upon the stunned and vacant-faced Prince Xue Xing. With a cold snort, he turned and swept away.
Ning Zhiyuan followed behind Emperor Xue Ye out of the VIP box with a smile on his face, while Platinum Bishop Salas remained seated in his original spot, looking lost in thought.
(End of Chapter)