In midair, the terrifying soul power fluctuations radiating from the Ice Phoenix were clear as day to Xiao Wu and the others.
Except for Xiao Wu, who had her Invincible Golden Body — an absolute defense skill — not a single member of the Lanba Battle Team dared claim they could withstand that Ice Phoenix, even protected by the sturdy jade-green barrier.
So, before the Ice Phoenix could fully descend, the six other Lanba Team members all retreated from the stage, leaving only Chu Chengzhou behind.
On the brilliantly lit stage, under the dazzling blue light of the Ice Phoenix — over seven meters long — Chu Chengzhou's figure, barely over 1.8 meters, looked so insignificantly small by comparison.
Seeing Chu Chengzhou standing there, seemingly planning to face that Ice Phoenix head-on, the other contestants watching from the rest area — many of whom had been strung up on trees by him before — all wore gloating smiles.
So the big bad Demon King's summoned beasts are ridiculously strong and his spiritual power is impressive, sure. But at the end of the day, you're just a four-ring Soul Ancestor! Where do you get the nerve to take on a Spirit Fusion Technique from two four-ring Soul Ancestors head-on?
Don't you know that a two-person Spirit Fusion Technique can boost a team's fighting power by at least one major level — sometimes nearly two?
The Demon King was about to be KO'd by the Tianshui girls. With any luck, he'd even be done for good — just the thought was as refreshing as drinking ice-cold water on a scorching day.
Hovering above, the Ice Phoenix suddenly stalled mid-flight. Shui Bing'er's slightly angry voice rang out from within the blue glow: "Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Get off the stage — I can't hold it back anymore!"
Shui Bing'er was fully aware of Chu Chengzhou's track record. So, when she and Xue Wu launched the Spirit Fusion Technique, she'd poured in her full power — but now, the energy in the Ice Phoenix had surpassed her limit of control.
She wanted to win, yes — but she never intended to kill Chu Chengzhou.
But before her words even faded, the rampaging Ice Phoenix locked onto Chu Chengzhou. A wave of bone-chilling cold swept out to freeze him in place, preventing him from dodging.
Although the Ice Phoenix's descent looked slow — any soul master could theoretically dodge in time — this was a Spirit Fusion Technique! How could it possibly have such an obvious flaw? Before its full power exploded, the Ice Phoenix's icy aura would naturally suppress the opponent's movement to ensure the attack wouldn't miss.
Facing the Ice Phoenix that was about to slam into him, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Chu Chengzhou's mouth. He activated his movement technique: Flash Step Divine Light. With a tap of his toe, he moved in a few nimble strides — ignoring the surging cold current entirely — and, in the blink of an eye, leapt onto Little Red the Fire Phoenix's back, seemingly shrinking the distance between heaven and earth.
Against a non-physical ice-element energy suppression, Chu Chengzhou — with his innate ice immunity — could completely ignore it.
In fact, if he weren't keeping this trump card hidden to use against future enemies, he could've tanked the entire Ice Phoenix explosion with his own body and emerged unscathed.
A moment later, the rampaging Ice Phoenix landed.
In an instant, the hundred-meter-wide battle stage was completely frozen over — a pristine layer of blue ice covering every inch.
The sheer impact of the ice-element energy was so immense that the entire stage quaked like an earthquake, fissures of all sizes spider-webbing across its surface.
The Spirit Hall organizers had certainly not expected that right in the very first match of the finals, the special competition stage — which they'd designed to withstand any attack below a Soul Emperor's level — would nearly be turned to rubble.
After the Ice Phoenix detonated, Chu Chengzhou jumped down from Little Red's back and landed steadily on the now frozen stage.
At the edge of the stage, Shui Bing'er — now withdrawn from the Spirit Fusion state — stood there with Xue Wu's support, barely managing to stay upright. She stared blankly at Chu Chengzhou, who had just landed from the air.
She simply couldn't understand. How had this happened? Why did their Spirit Fusion Technique — combined with the core power of her Ice Phoenix Spirit — fail to defeat a fellow four-ring Soul Ancestor?
In her mind, the chill of Falling Snow of Ice should have slowed any opponent whose spirit power wasn't far above hers. In that instant, the arena's temperature had dropped to an incredibly terrifying level. Paired with the cold currents' control effect, no Soul Master below level sixty should've been able to break free and escape the attack range.
Yet the youth standing before her had done exactly that.
Could it be… that the Demon King really was a Demon King — not a hero that mere mortals could defeat?
At that moment, the two girls' faces were completely drained of color. The severe soul power drain left them so weak they could barely stand.
Seeing Chu Chengzhou standing there, perfectly unharmed, his breathing as calm as if the match had only just begun, Shui Bing'er understood — this match was lost.
"We lost."
She hated to admit it, but the words still forced themselves from her lips.
Chu Chengzhou shook his head, looking at her pale face and the disappointment in her eyes. *"Tianshui Academy may have lost — but you haven't.
Your team won't continue on in this tournament, but your performance today — His Highness the Crown Prince, here as the Empire's representative, saw it all.
I believe the future Tianshui Academy will be proud of you.
And to me, this year's Tianshui Academy Team is without a doubt the strongest of the Five Elemental Academies."*
To participate in the Soul Master Tournament — what did it really mean? Beyond winning glory for one's academy and empire, wasn't it also to show the world your own strength?
Shui Bing'er had outstanding talent, plus a Spirit Fusion Technique. For the talent-hungry Heaven Dou Empire, how could they not bend over backward to recruit her?
So, in Chu Chengzhou's eyes, the Tianshui Academy Team may have been defeated — but Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu themselves definitely hadn't lost.
Even if they were knocked out in the first round of the finals — who could deny their strength?
"Can you tell me… how you broke free from the suppression?"
Shui Bing'er didn't mind losing — she just wanted to understand exactly why she'd lost. Where had she fallen short?
"Don't you guys secretly call me the Demon King? Of course the Demon King is strong — isn't that obvious?"
Chu Chengzhou blinked playfully as he answered.
Shui Bing'er: "…"
Xue Wu: "…"
At that moment, the referee stepped onto the stage, glancing at all the fractures running across it before raising his voice to declare: "Finals, Round One, Match Three — Lanba Academy versus Tianshui Academy — Victory goes to Lanba Academy!"
Even though the battle stage had been damaged by Shui Bing'er's Spirit Fusion Technique, it wasn't too severe — and with the tournament schedule so tight, the matches weren't paused but continued as normal.
Of course, before the fourth match started, Spirit Hall sent fire-element soul masters onto the stage to melt away the remaining ice so it wouldn't affect the next fight.
As for all those cracks? Those couldn't be fixed quickly — but they weren't a big deal. They'd just have to make do.
So, Lanba Academy had won their first-round match against Tianshui Academy.
In the second round, the top-ranked Lanba Academy drew a bye — advancing straight into the top ten of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament.
Unfortunately, Heaven Dou Empire's luck took a turn. In that round, Godwind Academy faced Thunderclap Academy — Thunderclap fell short and was knocked out miserably. Blaze Academy drew Star Luo Royal Academy and was utterly defeated too.
So by the third round, there were ten teams left: six from Star Luo, only three from Heaven Dou — Lanba Academy, Heaven Dou Royal Academy, and Godwind Academy — plus Spirit Hall's team, of course.
Chu Chengzhou strongly suspected that Spirit Hall had manipulated the draw behind the scenes — just a bit of shady backroom dealing. Otherwise, teams like Tianshui, Thunderclap, and Blaze clearly had the strength to advance to round three.
In Chu Chengzhou's eyes, at least three of Star Luo's advancing teams were actually weaker than Blaze.
But whether Heaven Dou's bad luck was just luck or Spirit Hall's manipulation, it didn't change the big picture.
Teams with true strength wouldn't be knocked out by a little trickery. In the end, the Soul Master Tournament was all about one thing: power. As long as you were strong enough, those petty tactics were useless.
One final note — the battle stage that Shui Bing'er's Spirit Fusion Technique had wrecked during the first finals match was already fully repaired by the third day's second round.
On the fifth day, round three was about to begin.
In less than three minutes after the match started, the Heaven Dou Royal Team was still at full strength, but their opponents were down to a single captain fighting desperately to hold on.
Then, the Royal Team's vice-captain Tang San's fourth ten-thousand-year spirit ring flared brilliantly — and with a thrust, his Blue Silver Overlord Spear pierced straight through the opponent's abdomen, punching a huge hole clean through.
Tang San: "Dare to struggle to the bitter end? You're asking for death!"
Fortunately, the team's "super healer" Ye Lingling reacted in time, dragging the nearly-dead opponent back from the jaws of death — otherwise, Tang San and the Royal Team would have been banned from the tournament.
Next up: third match — Lanba Academy vs. Star Luo Royal Academy.
"Round 3 of the finals, match three — Lanba Academy vs. Star Luo Royal Academy. Would both teams please come to the stage!"
At the announcement from the red-robed Spirit Hall bishop officiating, both teams stepped onto the battle stage.
Led by Dai Weisi, the seven members of the Star Luo Royal Academy lined up neatly on the right side of the stage, standing quietly in formation.
At that moment, Dai Weisi's eyes were heavy with caution as he stared ahead.
Even with the Spirit Fusion Technique — Nether White Tiger — in their hands, Dai Weisi knew full well that up against Lanba Academy, the Star Luo Royal Academy really didn't have much chance of victory.
On the left side of the arena, another line of seven people stepped up one after another.
When Dai Weisi's gaze fell on the youth standing at the front — Chu Chengzhou — his eyes narrowed slightly, a glint of sharpness flashing through them.
He hadn't expected that the "nobody" they'd once run into in the Star Dou Forest — the one whom the royal elders had quietly spied on — would now have grown to the point where even Dai Weisi himself wasn't sure he could win.
Yes — Dai Weisi recognized Chu Chengzhou.
Chu Chengzhou's reputation as the "Demon King" was well known. What's more, Dai Weisi was well aware that his "good little brother" Dai Mubai — who'd been dragged back to Star Luo some time ago — was from the same academy as Chu Chengzhou.
Come to think of it, when Dai Mubai had returned, Dai Weisi had actually been startled, thinking that this cowardly brother might have grown enough guts to come back and fight him for the empire's crown prince title.
But thankfully, that turned out to be nothing but empty air — and since then, that "good little brother" of his was completely finished.
Dai Mubai had never been able to outfight him before; now, he'd even lost his fiancée — truly the most worthless of the worthless. No matter how talented he was, he'd forever be cut off from the throne.
Otherwise, it wouldn't just be Dai Weisi who wouldn't allow it — even the royal elders wouldn't.
After all, the mighty Star Luo Empire did not need a cowardly crown prince, let alone a cowardly emperor.
Meanwhile, Chu Chengzhou also noticed Dai Weisi — but after a single glance, he turned his attention instead to the woman standing just to Dai Weisi's right.
His sister-in-law, Zhu Zhuyun — tall, voluptuous, with seven-tenths resemblance to Zhu Zhuqing, her skin as smooth and flawless as white jade, and her figure only slightly less impressive than her sister's. If someday the three of us could…
Wait! Wait! How could I, Chu Chengzhou, have such filthy thoughts?! That's truly too shameless!
"Zhuqing, my dear sister, it's been so long since we've seen each other. How have you been? Mother and father miss you dearly — if you ever get the chance, do come home and visit."
Zhu Zhuyun said this with a bright smile.
"Hmph — Zhu Zhuyun, don't pretend to be all sweet. You probably wish I were dead!"
Zhu Zhuqing snorted coldly, a glint of icy light flashing in her eyes.
"No, Zhuqing, you're wrong. This time, your sister is being sincere."
"Since you chose to stay in the Heaven Dou Empire, we can still be good sisters."
Zhu Zhuyun shook her head lightly as she spoke.
As the soon-to-be imperial consort, Zhu Zhuqing was no longer her "good little sister."
But as long as Zhu Zhuqing wasn't the crown prince's fiancée, then of course she was her good sister again!
When Zhu Zhuqing's spirit had not yet awakened, the sisters' relationship had actually been pretty good — they were, after all, full-blood sisters.
Plus, the Nether Spirit Cat wasn't on the same level as top-tier spirits like the Clear Sky Hammer or Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon — not every legitimate daughter of the Zhu clan had exceptional cultivation talent. Those without it had no need to join the brutal royal succession struggle.
But unfortunately, Zhu Zhuqing did have strong talent — and she was engaged to Dai Mubai, making her a rival for succession. That's what had driven the sisters apart to the point where it was either you die or I do.
But now everything was different. Her dear sister had been "stolen away" and wasn't returning to Star Luo — so their rivalry no longer existed.
Without that life-or-death competition, who wouldn't want a super-talented little sister?
Although Zhu Zhuyun didn't know what changes had happened to her sister these past two years, Zhu Zhuqing's strength as a four-ring Spirit Ancestor at just fourteen was no joke — a clear sign of future Title Douluo potential!
Whether anyone else would refuse such a sister, Zhu Zhuyun didn't know — but she certainly wouldn't.
Besides — know your enemy, know yourself. No one knew Zhu Zhuqing better than Zhu Zhuyun. Outwardly cold as ice, but deep down she craved care and affection.
A few kind words, a reminder of their shared blood, and even if they could never return to being childhood sisters, one day when she needed help, Zhu Zhuqing wouldn't be able to say no.
"Hmph! Say whatever you want — but today you're bound to lose!"
Zhu Zhuqing wasn't buying any of her sister's nonsense. Even if Zhu Zhuyun was sincere, there was no way they could go back to what they'd once been.
A broken mirror can never be made whole again — the saying was true for a reason.
"Enough — let's drop this. But Zhuqing, your sister still has to warn you and Chu Chengzhou — be careful in the future."
Saying this, Zhu Zhuyun glanced at Chu Chengzhou.
Though she had no concrete evidence, she knew full well that after Chu Chengzhou so publicly slapped the royal family's face, they would definitely retaliate to save face.
But the royal family was one thing — she was another. Strictly speaking, she wasn't yet fully a royal.
From her own perspective, Chu Chengzhou "stealing" her sister away was actually a good thing.
With Zhu Zhuqing gone, Dai Mubai was utterly ruined and her fiancé Dai Weisi's crown prince seat was secure. She wouldn't have to hurt her own sister anymore — and if Chu Chengzhou could survive the Empire's assassins, then her sister and brother-in-law would become some of the strongest people on the continent. Wasn't that better than the old situation?
Neither side on stage bothered to suppress their voices, and with the soul masters in the audience having keener hearing than ordinary people, their faces soon showed all kinds of gossiping curiosity.
Sisters at each other's throats, to the point of life and death — that was a rarity on the continent!
Of course, those who knew a bit more about the Star Luo royal family and the Zhu clan picked up on even deeper details.
A genius like Zhu Zhuqing — a Zhu clan legitimate daughter — actually chose to stay in Heaven Dou? And Zhu Zhuyun specifically mentioned Chu Chengzhou?
Goodness… could this young man with his interesting spirit and soul skills really have stolen away Star Luo Empire's crown princess-to-be? What a bold move for someone so young!
At that moment, the referee stepped between the two teams and announced loudly:
"Teams, release your spirits and prepare for battle! Same rules as before — the loser is eliminated, the winner advances to the top six!"
Instantly, both teams activated Spirit Possession and manifested their spirit weapons, soul rings shining brightly.
When the soul rings appeared, the Star Luo Royal Academy's aura inevitably fell behind.
Though the Star Luo team was not weak overall — with one member at the same three-ring Spirit Elder level as Lanba's Tailong — Lanba's side had Xiao Wu with her five rings as a Spirit King.
But more importantly, everyone present knew that the strongest on Lanba's side probably wasn't Xiao Wu — it was Chu Chengzhou, who hadn't even reached five rings yet.
"Dai Weisi! Let me see whether your Nether White Tiger is really a tiger — or just a little kitten!"
Chu Chengzhou pointed his banner at Dai Weisi, mocking him openly.
"You're courting death!"
A flash of killing intent shot through Dai Weisi's eyes.
Someone actually dared to insult the Empire's proud Nether White Tiger?Unforgivable! Chu Chengzhou, you're asking for death — and I, Dai Weisi, will grant it!
"Heh~ I appreciate everyone's love — a lot of people call me the Demon King. But let me say this — 'Demon King' isn't my nickname. After this battle, you can all call me the Tiger Slayer!"
Chu Chengzhou chuckled lightly and turned his gaze toward the various academy rest areas, raising his voice deliberately.
Star Luo's assassins were probably already waiting outside Heaven Dou City by now — adding another line to the royal family's kill list didn't matter to him at all.
Everyone present: "…"
T/N: For up to 30 chapters ahead on most of my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle