Although Gu Rong's voice wasn't loud, everyone nearby heard it. The moment Archbishop Sadas of the Platinum rank heard the phrase "using a focused point to break through a broad front," he understood immediately.
The Elephant Armor Sect's seven-man defensive formation was so tight that not only could Shrek Academy not break through it head-on—virtually no team of Soul Masters in this entire tournament could have done so either. So how could such a formidable defensive formation be dismantled? Tang San had given the answer.
Leading the seven members of Shrek Academy, Tang San first had the entire team take to the air to counteract the crushing pressure the opponents had brought. Then, his three great control skills left the Elephant Armor Sect completely locked in a purely defensive posture. Under those conditions, all seven members of Shrek Academy launched their attacks simultaneously against the strongest member—Huyan Li. The strongest point was often also the weakest; the so-called "weakness" referred to Huyan Li's role within the Elephant Armor Academy team as a whole.
Once Huyan Li was taken down, the entire Elephant Armor Academy formation would immediately crumble. Without their backbone, their defense would no longer be perfect. In that moment, Tang San, the soul of the team, precisely directed his teammates to unleash the most suitable attacks at the most suitable positions. The Phantom White Tiger Martial Soul Fusion Technique was powerful, yes—but without Tang San's command, without having them strike at the perfect moment, it could never have achieved such a remarkable effect.
The seven disciples of the Elephant Armor Sect had managed to regroup, and it had to be said that Huyan Li, who possessed a Soul Bone, had truly absurd defensive capabilities. Although the Phantom White Tiger had swatted him into the arena floor with a single palm strike, when he climbed back out, he appeared merely a bit sluggish—no real damage had been done. He was just a little dazed.
Both teams lined up and bowed to each other. Huyan Li's eyes burned as he stared at Tang San. "You're very impressive. But it won't be long before we meet again." Though he was brawn over brains on the surface, his mind was far from simple. The Phantom White Tiger had been the one to defeat him, but he knew exactly who had truly won this match.
Tang San offered a faint smile. "You're welcome to try anytime."
Both sides bowed to their opponents simultaneously. The difference was that the seven members of Shrek Academy all had the thrill of defeating a powerful enemy shining in their eyes, while the seven disciples of the Elephant Armor Sect looked on with frustration and unwillingness. From the start of the match to its end, they had been rendered utterly impotent—powerful but with nowhere to direct it. There were few things more suffocating than that. Though they had lost this match, much like Hu Yan Zhen's thinking, they still believed their strength to be superior to Shrek Academy's. Just like the Royal Battle Team that had lost to the Shrek Seven Devils before them. But they had forgotten that wisdom was also a part of strength. Soul Power and the might of Soul Skills did not represent everything.
The crowd erupted the instant the match ended. At first, only a handful of people were shouting Shrek Academy's name, but it was like lighting a fuse—more and more voices joined in. By the time the seven members of Shrek Academy descended from the arena, the spectators had even forgotten that several more matches still hadn't finished. The entire grandstand had become a roaring wave of shouts for Shrek.
The vast majority of spectators were not Soul Masters. As the saying goes, laypeople watch for the spectacle—and what the Shrek Academy seven delivered was exactly that: the most dazzling kind of match. Whether it was Tang San's Cosmic Skyflow tactic deployed at the start, or the astonishingly enormous Phantom White Tiger that followed, or even the sheer number of Soul Rings on display—all of it left an incredibly deep impression on the audience.
The enormous difference in physique between the two teams had led the crowd to view Shrek Academy as the underdog from the very beginning, and sympathy for the weak was the emotion that came most naturally to ordinary people. When Shrek Academy ultimately defeated their opponents, in the audience's eyes, it was a classic case of the weak triumphing over the strong.
"Xiao Wu, support me a little," Tang San whispered in a voice only those beside him could hear.
Xiao Wu's heart lurched. She looked and realized that Tang San's team uniform was already soaked through with sweat. His face was several shades paler than even Zhu Zhuqing's or Dai Mubai's.
She hurriedly and instinctively looped her arm around Tang San's, using her own strength to bear his weight.
Tang San had eaten another of Oscar's Recovery Large Sausages, but his expenditure had simply been too great. The exhaustion from depleting his Soul Power assaulted his brain in waves of weakness. If not for the fact that he didn't want the opponents or the audience to notice, he would have collapsed long ago.
This match had looked, from start to finish, like Shrek Academy had been in complete control. But for this victory, Tang San had paid an enormous price.
While flying through the air on the Flight Mushroom Sausage, he had been forced to channel the Mysterious Heaven Skill at full power just to avoid being weighed down. At the same time, he had to focus intently on every shift across the entire arena, using Crane Control Dragon Catch to guide his teammates' attacks and cover every corner of the battlefield. This wasn't merely a drain on Soul Power—it was an equally exhausting toll on his mind.
After that, Tang San had released his first, second, and fourth control Soul Skills simultaneously, and not just once. His Soul Power had plummeted. The Recovery Large Sausage could restore some of it, but nowhere near all of it.
Especially in the final moments—though it had looked as though the opponents had only two members left while they still had seven, the actual gap in strength hadn't been that large. On their side, the four members above level forty—with Oscar unable to attack—meant that among the other three, only Tang San had any Soul Power remaining. Jing Ling, Huang Yuan, and Xiao Wu would have found it extremely difficult to break through the defenses of those two opponents who were still at full strength.
For the final victory, Tang San had first used Crane Control Dragon Catch to endure tremendous pressure and hurl one opponent off the stage, then deployed the Web Restriction, which consumed an enormous amount of Soul Power. That single move had completely emptied his Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy and pushed him into significant overdraft. If his body hadn't been tempered repeatedly by the two immortal-grade herbs—the Eight-Pointed Mystic Ice Grass and the Fiery Apricot Delicacy—he would have vomited blood and lost consciousness on the spot.