"Jiang… Jiang Jue, you really did it?!"
Ma Rulong stared at Jiang Jue, who stood amidst the golden fragments floating in the sky. He was stunned, his face full of disbelief.
When the two of them had been trapped inside the Absolute Defense Soul Tool, Ma Rulong had told Jiang Jue to find a way to break it. In truth, it had only been to comfort him.
After all, Ma Rulong himself, as a Soul Emperor, still needed to rely on brute force to attack. And Jiang Jue, just a Soul Ancestor—no matter how strong—couldn't possibly reach the level of a Soul Sage.
Yet, the fact lay right before his eyes, and he had no choice but to believe it.
On top of the imperial palace wall, Xu Jiawei's brows furrowed deeply, his face grim. He muttered under his breath:
"This is impossible! How could a mere Soul Ancestor break through Jiujie's Star Guard and the Absolute Defense Soul Tool? This defies all logic!"
Standing beside him, Dai Hao was also shocked. As the Grand General of the Star Luo Empire, he knew far more than most.
Back then, when the Star Crown Sect replaced the White Tiger Clan to become the imperial family of Star Luo, it hadn't been without reason—the Star Crown Martial Soul was truly powerful.
Even ten thousand years ago, during the rule of Spirit Hall, the Star Crown Martial Soul was ranked among the six greatest martial souls of its age, firmly securing its place in the Hall of Elders.
"Quick, quick, quick! Everyone, gather together!"
Xu Jiujie, having grown up handling state affairs, recovered from her shock almost instantly and made rapid arrangements.
With Huang Heyun eliminated, they no longer had the ability to continue attacking. Now that Ma Rulong and Jiang Jue had broken free, their only option was to resist through cooperation.
She firmly believed that with the support of her Star Crown Martial Soul, holding out for a while longer would not be a problem.
She had never forgotten that the main mission of the Star Luo Academy battle team was to force out the hidden trump cards of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy. As for anything else—at this moment, she had no energy to care.
"That useless teammate Huang Heyun!"
Xu Jiujie cursed in her heart, while the Wind-Fire Duo fell back in front of her to shield her. Above, Chen Xiaojie hovered in the sky, vigilant.
"What are you muttering about?"
"Next, it's my turn to counterattack!"
A cold glint flashed across Jiang Jue's eyes. Soul power of icy blue gathered in his hands, his entire body shimmering with bright silver light. His aura was rapidly climbing.
In an instant, his blood surged, and his soul power surged all the way from Soul Ancestor to Soul King—and it was still rising.
"Princess Jiujie, don't worry. I'll protect you!"
A young male soul master, who had stood before Xu Jiujie the whole time without taking action, now spoke solemnly.
The look in his eyes as he turned toward her was full of adoration. As the most dazzling princess of the Star Luo Empire, Xu Jiujie had countless admirers.
And this particular youth was one of the most devoted. That was exactly why she had assigned him to guard her—for if any attack threatened her life, he truly would lay down his own.
"Cryaaah!"
A sharp avian cry rang out. Two enormous wings sprouted from the young man's back. His body rapidly became covered in sharp feathers, and a glowing yellow beak took shape on his face.
It was his martial soul—the Griffin.
"Starlight Amplification!"
The Star Crown above Xu Jiujie's head flared once more, sending a stream of radiant starlight cascading down onto the Griffin soul master, cloaking him in golden brilliance.
"This time, it's up to you," Xu Jiujie said with trust in her voice.
The Griffin soul master instantly felt as though he had been injected with pure adrenaline. This was the first time Xu Jiujie had spoken to him in such a way—how could he not be ecstatic?
Just then, a faint breeze stirred. Jiang Jue moved.
A silver blur flashed by, leaving behind icy blue trails across the ground, like blossoms of frost rapidly spreading outward.
"Fire support!"
Seeing this, Ma Rulong immediately called for the remaining members of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy to activate their soul tools and bombard Jiang Jue from a distance.
By now, Ma Rulong also had a fire burning in his chest. Soul tools had always been their advantage, and yet today they were being humiliated by their enemies' use of them.
It wasn't his fault, though. Who could have expected Star Luo Academy to risk their own students' safety by equipping such expensive soul tools for this competition?
Explosions and thick smoke erupted everywhere.
"Wind-Fire Tornado!"
Just as the Wind-Fire Duo prepared to unleash their fusion skill again, a figure suddenly darted out of the smoke. Cold eyes fixed on them.
"Impossible! He was just far away—how is he right in front of us in the blink of an eye?!"
The two were terrified. Their red and blue halos hadn't even finished fusing yet.
In the next instant, a bone-chilling wind swept past. Jiang Jue, his hands glittering with frost, appeared before them.
With a single motion, he clutched their unstable fusion halo. Bracing one foot against the ground, his body twisted at a strange angle, and with sheer force, he hurled the halo away—a strike equivalent to a Soul Emperor's blow.
"BOOM!"
A thunderous explosion shook the arena. The milky-white barrier around the stage rippled violently. One hundred and eight soul masters channeled their soul power into the barrier's soul tools, barely managing to stabilize it.
Yet when their eyes returned to Jiang Jue, they were full of shock and disbelief.
Could a Soul Ancestor really do this?Or was he secretly using something forbidden?
"Cough… cough…"
A harsh cough rang out. In the blink of an eye, Jiang Jue's palms, shining like silver blades under the sunlight, struck the Wind-Fire Duo squarely in the abdomen.
Blood spurted from their mouths, dark red and laced with shards of ice. Frost spread rapidly through their bodies, tearing apart their meridians with brutal force.
Without sparing them a glance, Jiang Jue continued forward.
That single palm strike had already sealed their fate. The tyrannical ice power he injected would ravage their bodies endlessly. Even with healing soul masters, their damaged meridians would take no less than three years to recover.
In other words, the two of them, in the prime of their youth, were now doomed to spend years in recovery. Their cultivation would stagnate, and by the time they returned, they would already be forgotten.
"You bastard! Take my Thousand Birds!"
Chen Xiaojie roared from above. His ten-thousand-year soul ring lit up, and a lightning falcon formed at his side, crackling with destructive energy. The air filled with the smell of burning.
But before the attack could be completed, several metallic spheres shot toward him. Instead of exploding, they unfurled into countless metal wires, weaving into a vast net that enveloped him completely.
The net interrupted his attack, dissolving the Thousand Birds into nothingness.
Chen Xiaojie thrashed his wings furiously, trying to escape, but soon flames spread across the metal net, dragging him downward.
A flash of blades from Xiao Xiafeng's hand left bloody gashes across Chen Xiaojie's body, the pain forcing his eyes to roll back.
"The same words back to you—this match isn't about one person fighting. It's about the honor of the team."
With that, Xiao Xiafeng kicked him off the stage.
The very words Chen Xiaojie had once said to Chen Fei now came back to strike him. The circle was complete.
(End of Chapter)