Neither side attacked immediately.
The light around Mo Jue's body visibly dimmed. She advanced slowly, each step she took deepening the darkness enveloping her body. One after another, soul rings rose from beneath her feet.
Five in total — all purple.
A single millennium soul spirit can support three soul rings. In other words, Mo Jue had two millennium soul spirits. But if you looked carefully, you would notice that the two rings at the back were much deeper in color — a clear sign that they were nearing ten-thousand-year soul rings.
One by one, black feathers sprouted amidst her long hair, spreading forward along it, and the aura around her body grew thicker, heavier.
Black Swan! This was Mo Jue's martial soul.
Among soul beasts, swans were always considered noble creatures. Most swan-type soul beasts specialized in healing abilities. Among the legendary Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, there was even one known as the Emerald Swan, whose cultivation ranked among the very highest of that terrifying list.
Ye Xinglan's eyes shone firm and bright, her fighting spirit unshaken by the fact that her opponent was a One-Word Battle Armor Master.
Mo Jue raised her right hand, and her first soul ring flashed. She pointed a single finger into the void in Ye Xinglan's direction.
At once, a bizarre scene unfolded — a massive black skull materialized in midair, flying straight toward Ye Xinglan.
And in that instant — Ye Xinglan moved at last.
Stellar Sword Intent!
At that moment, she was like a radiant star, her entire body erupting with dazzling light. A single burst of sword intent shot out from her, the sheer force of her will making the protective barrier around the sparring platform tremble slightly.
Sword qi razor-sharp, she shot toward Mo Jue like a falling star.
The black skull in the air — crumbled apart in the very next instant as Ye Xinglan leapt up.
A flash of shock passed through Mo Jue's eyes. Impossible! That black skull was her first soul skill — Weakening Curse.
Weakening Curse ignored both physical and elemental defense. Once it hit, the target would be weakened for ten seconds, with at least twenty percent of their soul power suppressed. Only spiritual-type soul skills could counteract Weakening Curse.
But what Ye Xinglan unleashed was clearly no spiritual skill. It was sword intent — pure sword intent! Her condensed sword intent had shattered Weakening Curse on contact.
So young — and her sword intent was already this strong?!
"Not done yet?" Ye Xinglan's cold voice carried a faint smile.
In Ye Xinglan's eyes now, there was only the sword — her own Stellar Divine Sword. At this moment, if you looked closely, you would notice that her pupils seemed vertical — but they weren't. What you were seeing was the reflection of the Stellar Divine Sword itself.
Sword God Star! A single point of brilliant starlight shot forth, cutting straight toward Mo Jue high in the air. Dazzling star-glow illuminated the skies.
This…
Many of the watching students couldn't help but swallow hard.
Before the match began, everyone thought Mo Jue's victory was guaranteed. This was supposed to be a match without suspense. Yet from start to now — just a few blinks of the eye — it looked like Mo Jue was already at an absolute disadvantage. Her mighty Black Swan soul skills were doing nothing at all against this first-year student named Ye Xinglan.
Mo Jue watched silently. She could still rise and evade — but she knew very well that if she did, she would lose all initiative, and be completely suppressed.
Biting her lip with her pearly teeth, Mo Jue had no choice but to admit — even with one more soul ring than her opponent, in a straight fight, her chances of victory were slim.
If that's the case — then crush her with overwhelming power!
Mo Jue's eyes snapped open wide. With a flick of her right hand, a lump of dark-green light shot out, arcing through the air before curving back and landing on her chest with a crisp ding!
Two pieces of dark-green breastplate instantly split open from that light cluster, covering her full chest. Immediately after, piece after piece of dark-green armor shot out from her spatial storage device, snapping into place over her body with speed.
A complete One-Word Battle Armor set!
"Still want to fight me?" she looked down at Ye Xinglan from above.
"Watch my sword!"
So what if you're a Soul King? So what if your battle armor brings you Soul Sage–level power?
Three golden pieces of armor flew from Ye Xinglan's soul-guide storage ring, assembling over her body. Her momentum surged noticeably — though still less than Mo Jue's.
They were clearly three pieces of battle armor.
Man and Sword as One!!
Ye Xinglan's figure began to fade — leaving only an enlarged version of the Stellar Divine Sword hanging in the air, forged from countless strands of sword intent and sword qi. Based on Sword Star Rain, merged with Sword Starfall, sharpened further by Sword Star Chill — forged into one.
Mo Jue's burning gaze fixed on the massive Stellar Divine Sword. In the face of absolute power, all resistance was useless — or so it should have been.
But that greatsword carried with it a tragic, unrelenting momentum — a resolve to advance no matter the cost.
She's throwing her life away?
Mo Jue froze — frozen not by fear, but by her opponent's desperation. Why, in the face of such a gap in cultivation, did she still have such fighting spirit?
That brief moment of hesitation — and the massive Stellar Divine Sword was already descending.
Boom!!!
Dust and smoke exploded across the arena.
It was over — this match was already over.
In that final moment, Mo Jue could only think — too terrifying. She's too terrifying.
Matches may not be fair, but only through competition can one glimpse the limits of one's talent…
"First- and Second-Year Team — victory," Cai Yue'er announced calmly.
Clap!
From the sidelines, Gu You was the first to start clapping. With someone taking the lead, the entire hall erupted in thunderous applause.
Third-Year Class One — silent.
All three one-on-one matches — lost! In other words, if they didn't win either the two-on-two or the team match next, by definition, they were already defeated.
Ye Xinglan's fighting style had shocked the entire arena — and proved that ordinary soul masters were not entirely helpless against battle armor masters.
Ya Li healed Ye Xinglan afterward, personally escorting her back to her class teacher.
"You don't need to say anything more. She's my goddess now," Xu Yucheng said coldly.
From the first-year Class One section came a discordant voice. Everyone shot him a look of disdain, but no one said anything.
"How are they arranging the two-on-two?" Shen Yi asked Wu Zhangkong.
"Le Zhengyu and Xu Xiaoyan will go," Wu Zhangkong said calmly.
"Got it…"
The match results were as expected — the third-years still lost.
They completely broke the third-year class teacher, who abandoned the team match on the spot.
Leaving the first- and second-years dumbfounded. Wasn't this supposed to be incredibly hard to win? What — they'd just won?!
The Third-Year Class One representative team, under their teacher's lead, withdrew in dejection. Today did not belong to them.