"Weak and powerless, raging in vain!" Lu Jingming watched Tang San's emotional outburst and slowly shook his head. He really couldn't understand how someone with this mentality could have been an assassin in his previous life. If Tang San couldn't even control his own emotions, how could he be a qualified killer?
From his perspective, if it weren't for Tang San's powerful background, combined with his hopelessly love-obsessed opponents, Tang San would have died ten thousand times already.
"Second soul skill—Eternal Corridor." Lu Jingming had no intention of entangling with Tang San any longer.
The Tang San before him, at a Soul Elder's level, was still far too weak. Most of his strength relied on hidden weapons, but those were completely useless in the face of Lu Jingming's power of disintegration.
Lu Jingming reversed his grip and stabbed the Black Abyss spear into the ground. Instantly, rolling black mist surged forth and expanded to a radius of thirty meters.
In just a blink, the simulated earth, trees, and rocks—all created by the simulation universe—rapidly fell into chaos and completely collapsed under the influence of this power.
Tang San, caught in the black mist, was no exception.
He had just manifested a small hammer in his left hand, but before he could activate it, the black mist mercilessly swallowed him whole, disintegrating him in an instant, as if he had never existed in this world.
This was Lu Jingming's second soul skill—Eternal Corridor. As a large-scale destructive soul skill, any soul master whose level was lower than his and was caught in its range would be instantly disintegrated without a chance to resist.
Even soul masters whose spirit power exceeded his, if shrouded in this black mist for too long, would eventually be eroded and disintegrated by its deathly power.
"Only you two are left, an auxiliary and a food-type soul master. I can't even be bothered to make a move—just end yourselves." Lu Jingming slowly walked out of the deathly black mist, the black spear resting on his shoulder, looking relaxed and at ease as he gazed at Oscar and Ning Rongrong, the only two still alive on the field.
It wasn't until Lu Jingming approached that Oscar and Ning Rongrong got a good look at him.
The young man before them had white hair and red eyes, a handsome face, and a naturally noble air about him. Judging by his age, he was actually about the same as them.
"He does look good, but what a grating personality," Ning Rongrong thought to herself, though her face showed little fear.
She knew well that they wouldn't actually die in this illusion, and that the challenge mode allowed them to surrender. Her finger was already lightly pressing the surrender option.
As for why Zhu Zhuqing and the others hadn't surrendered, it was simply because Lu Jingming's attacks were too swift and decisive—every strike was a one-hit kill, not giving them even a moment to surrender.
Tang San did have a chance, but after Xiao Wu was killed, he lost control of his emotions, obsessed with revenge, and ended up instantly defeated as well.
Ning Rongrong had no desire to experience death, especially after seeing how ruthless Lu Jingming had been with Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu—he clearly had no mercy for women.
So, she didn't hesitate and exited the simulated universe.
Oscar, seeing this, had no choice. With all his teammates defeated, what could a food-type soul master do on this battlefield?
With Ning Rongrong and Oscar's withdrawal, the battle ended. The Shrek Seven Devils' challenge failed, and Lu Jingming exited the simulation as well.
As for the recent abuse of the Shrek Seven Devils, that was just his simulated data body doing the work—what did it have to do with him?
Surely Tang San wouldn't hold a grudge against his real self just because the simulated data version beat him, right? If he did, that would be far too ridiculous.
After Ning Rongrong and Oscar exited the simulated universe, they saw Zhu Zhuqing and the others, their faces pale as paper.
Unlike Ning Rongrong and Oscar, who surrendered, Zhu Zhuqing and the others had truly experienced death in the simulation. They were still immersed in that terrifying experience, unable to recover for a long time.
"All seven of us got wiped out by a single Soul Elder. This has to be fake!" Ma Hongjun wailed, clutching his head in despair.
He could already imagine the harsh punishment the Grandmaster would dole out next, and the thought alone made his scalp tingle.
"Third Brother, are you alright?" Xiao Wu looked at Tang San with deep concern, as his face was the most ashen of all.
He looked pale, his eyes filled with endless disappointment and frustration.
"I'm fine, Xiao Wu. We're just not strong enough. Looks like we still have a long way to go." Tang San forced a smile, shaking his head lightly.
Honestly, mental exhaustion was nothing to him. What really hit him hard was that his proud Tang Sect hidden weapons were utterly ineffective against Lu Jingming.
This fact made him start to doubt whether his path of focusing on hidden weapons was the right one—maybe only by focusing on martial souls could he become as strong as Lu Jingming and truly gain the power to control everything.
"Alright, kids, go rest. This isn't your fault—the opponent was just too strong." Flender, seeing the heavy atmosphere and Yu Xiaogang lost in his own thoughts, stepped up to gently comfort the discouraged group.
He had observed the entire battle and saw that, whether in strength, speed, mental power, soul power, martial soul, or soul skills, the other side completely overwhelmed Tang San and his team. Even with Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's support, they couldn't bridge the vast gap.
In his opinion, even though the opponent was only a Soul Elder on the surface, he was certain that even a Soul King would struggle to defeat that monstrous young man.
Besides, among Tang San's group, only Tang San, Xiao Wu, Oscar, and Dai Mubai were Soul Elders—the other three were just Soul Grandmasters.
Given such a disparity, losing wasn't really shameful.
"I've never heard of anyone named Lu Jingming. He shouldn't exist; with a soul ring setup like that, there's no way there wouldn't be news," Dai Mubai said, frowning deeply.
He was always well-informed, but had never heard of anyone with such a soul ring configuration.
In his mind, that combination defied common sense. If someone like that existed, the whole Douluo Continent would have been shaken.
"Boss Dai is right. He must be a creation of the illusion world. In reality, there's no way there's such a powerful Soul Elder—how could there be a Soul Elder even Third Brother can't beat?" Xiao Wu quickly nodded in agreement. As a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in human form, she couldn't believe a human could be that strong.
To her, Third Brother was already powerful. If even he couldn't win, such a person was beyond her imagination.
"Is that really true?" While everyone else agreed Lu Jingming didn't exist, Ning Rongrong fell into thought.
She recalled what Grandpa Bone had said when he brought her a soul tool: Grandpa Sword had a major breakthrough after meeting someone in the illusion world, and firmly believed that person was real, specifically warning her not to underestimate this seemingly illusory world.
Thus, Ning Rongrong's thoughts were very different from the others—she faintly felt that the powerful, sharp-tongued boy might very well exist in reality.