The Great Spirit Arena of Suotuo City was a living, breathing beast. It was a colossal stone heart that never slept, its rhythmic pulse the roar of thousands of spectators, its lifeblood the endless cycle of combat and glory.
By day, it was a cauldron of sun-baked excitement; by night, under the glare of countless spirit-power-infused lamps, it transformed into a glittering stage of nocturnal violence.
The seats were always full, the air always thick with the smell of roasted nuts, spilled ale, and the sharp, ozonic tang of spirit power unleashed.
It was into this grand theatre of controlled chaos that three masked figures made their way.
They moved through the bustling lower corridors, their identities concealed behind simple, elegant masks. One was a silver mask, intricately carved with the image of a seven-storied pagoda.
The second was a stark black mask, shaped like the face of a hunting cat, its eyes narrowed into predatory slits.
The third was a deep crimson mask, plain and unadorned, save for a single, delicate golden vein that snaked across its surface.
At the bustling registration hall for team battles, they gave their chosen name.
"Team name?" the tired clerk asked, not bothering to look up.
"Treasure Silver Civet," Zhang Tian's calm voice replied.
The clerk scribbled it down. The name, a strange but poetic combination derived from the core of their spirits, was now officially in the system. They were assigned a number and told to wait.
An hour later, their number flashed on the massive display board, sending a ripple of anticipation through the waiting area.
"Team Battle, Spirit Grandmaster Tier, Arena 21: The Mad Dogs versus Treasure Silver Civet!"
The three of them made their way to the designated arena. It was one of the smaller, more intimate stages, but even so, the stands were packed with a rowdy, eager crowd.
As they stepped onto the stone stage, their opponents were already waiting. It was a trio of young men who carried themselves with the practiced, arrogant confidence of seasoned arena fighters. They were a standard, well-balanced team.
The one in the center, clearly the leader, was a tall, powerfully built young man with a heavy, ironwood staff resting on his shoulder. He grinned at them, a look of condescending amusement on his face. This was Gao Feng, a Level 29 Power Attack type.
To his right stood a lithe, sharp-faced youth holding a slender, shimmering sword that resembled a long willow leaf. His movements were twitchy, ready to explode into motion at a moment's notice. This was Liu Yan, a Level 28 Agility Attack type.
And on the left, slightly behind the other two, was a short, stocky boy with sallow skin and bulging eyes. His hands were empty, but his stance was low, his presence unsettling. This was He Shan, a Level 26 Control Type, with his Crimson Poison Toad spirit.
The crowd roared, placing their bets, the announcer's voice booming through the arena.
"On the left, we have the reigning champions of Arena 21, with a seven-fight winning streak! The ferocious, the unstoppable, the Mad Dogs!"
A wave of cheers erupted for the local favorites.
"And on the right, a mysterious new team making their debut tonight! With their strange masks and even stranger name, give it up for the Treasure Silver Civet!"
The response was a mixture of curious murmurs and scattered, half-hearted applause. They were the underdogs, the unknown variable.
On their side of the stage, Zhang Tian turned to his two companions, his voice a low, calm murmur beneath the noise of the crowd.
"Remember the plan," he said, his gaze steady and reassuring. "I will not take significant action unless you are about to lose. My role is to be a normal control-type master. I will handle one of them, keeping them occupied. The rest is up to you two."
He looked at Ning Rongrong, who was nervously adjusting her silver mask. "Rongrong, your only job is to survive and support. Use your training. Dodge. Evade. If you absolutely cannot dodge, reinforce your body. Keep them busy. Make them waste their energy trying to catch you."
He then turned to Zhu Zhuqing, whose black cat mask hid an expression of cold, focused determination. "Zhuqing, you are the blade. With Rongrong's support, you are faster and stronger than any of them. Your target is their weakest link: the control type. Take him out quickly. Do not get drawn into a prolonged fight. A swift, decisive strike. Understood?"
Both girls nodded, their expressions serious, their nerves settling under the calming influence of his confidence.
"Let the battle begin!" the referee roared, dropping his hand.
The fight exploded into motion.
"Plan is the same as always!" Gao Feng shouted to his teammates. "Take out the support master first! Liu Yan, go!"
Liu Yan needed no further encouragement. He became a silver blur. His first spirit ring flared to life. "First Spirit Ability: Willow Flash!"
His body seemed to flicker, his speed doubling in an instant as he shot across the stage like a silver arrow, his Willow Leaf Sword aimed directly at the throat of the girl in the silver pagoda mask.
Ning Rongrong felt a jolt of pure, instinctual fear. The speed was terrifying. In the past, she would have frozen, screamed, or desperately tried to summon a shield.
But now, her training took over.
Zhang Tian's voice echoed in her mind. 'Don't watch the blade. Watch the wielder.'
Her eyes, trained for weeks to absorb every detail, didn't focus on the deadly point of the sword. They focused on Liu Yan's feet, his shoulders, his eyes. She saw the almost imperceptible shift in his weight, the way he angled his body for the thrust. It was a language she was just beginning to learn, but she could read the first few words.
With a small, desperate gasp, she threw herself to the side. It was not a graceful dodge. It was a clumsy, uncoordinated stumble that sent her sprawling onto the stone floor. But it was effective.
The Willow Leaf Sword hissed through the air where her neck had been a fraction of a second before, its wielder overshooting his mark.
The crowd let out a collective gasp, followed by a wave of surprised murmurs.
"Did you see that? The support girl dodged him!"
"Incredible reaction speed! I thought she was done for!"
Liu Yan, his initial attack having missed, twisted with frustration, preparing to strike again at the girl who was now on the ground.
But he never got the chance.
"Seven Treasures are glazed, first spoken, Strength!"
"Seven Treasures are glazed, second spoken, Agility!"
Ning Rongrong, even as she was falling, had not forgotten her primary duty. Two brilliant rays of light shot from the shimmering pagoda above her head, striking the figure in the black cat mask.
Zhu Zhuqing, who had been waiting for this exact moment, became a phantom.
Boosted by a thirty percent increase in both her strength and speed, she was no longer just fast; she was a force of nature. She ignored the ongoing duel between Liu Yan and Ning Rongrong. Her target was clear.
She moved, a black streak across the stage, her path a direct, merciless line towards the enemy's control type, He Shan.
He Shan, seeing the terrifying, black-clad specter hurtling towards him, panicked. "First Spirit Ability: Poison Spit!"
His cheeks puffed out, and he spat a glob of viscous, green liquid. The poison projectile flew through the air, aimed directly at Zhu Zhuqing's face.
But to the buffed Zhu Zhuqing, it seemed to be moving in slow motion. She didn't even break her stride. With a fluid, feline grace, she tilted her body, the glob of poison sailing harmlessly past her shoulder, splattering against the stage floor with a sizzle, a small plume of acrid smoke rising from the stone.
She was on him in an instant. Her first spirit ring lit up. "Hell Rush Stab!"
Her already incredible speed doubled again. Her hands, now covered in sharp, spectral black claws, became a blur.
He Shan didn't even have time to scream. Zhu Zhuqing's claws raked across his chest, not deep enough to be lethal, but powerful enough to throw him off his feet, his spirit power scattering in disarray. He crashed to the ground, groaning, out of the fight for the moment.
The crowd erupted.
"Unbelievable! The cat-masked girl took out their control type in a single exchange!"
"What speed! What power! And that support master… her buffs are insane!"
Gao Feng, the leader of the Mad Dogs, watched in horror as his carefully laid plan crumbled in the first ten seconds of the fight. "He Shan is down! Liu Yan, fall back! We'll deal with the attacker together!" he roared.
But his command came too late.
Just as he was about to charge forward to help his downed teammate, the ground before him came alive. Thick, blood-red vines, each one pulsing with a faint, regal golden light, erupted from the stone floor, forming a dense, impenetrable wall.
It was Zhang Tian. He had fulfilled his promise, stepping in to intercept the enemy's most powerful member.
Gao Feng roared in frustration and slammed his ironwood staff into the vine wall. His first spirit ring lit up. "Heavy Strike!"
The staff glowed with a heavy, brown light, its weight and power multiplying. The impact was immense, sending splinters of crimson vine flying. But the wall, though damaged, held firm. It was far tougher than any ordinary control spirit's creation.
'What kind of grass is this?' Gao Feng thought, stunned. 'It's as tough as ironwood!'
He was now locked in a one-on-one battle with the man in the crimson mask, completely unable to support his teammates.
The fight had fractured into three distinct duels.
On one side, Liu Yan, his face twisted in a snarl of fury, turned his attention back to Ning Rongrong, who was scrambling back to her feet. "You got lucky, little girl! Now you die!"
He lunged again, his second spirit ring now glowing. "Piercing Thorn!"
His Willow Leaf Sword was enveloped in a sharp, spiraling aura of silver light, its tip glowing like a deadly star. It was a focused, armor-piercing attack.
Ning Rongrong knew she couldn't dodge this one. It was too fast, its trajectory too direct. Her mind raced, remembering her training. 'If you cannot dodge, reinforce.'
Fear warred with determination. She didn't have time to think. She acted on pure instinct. She raised her left arm, pouring a frantic stream of her own spirit power into it, just as Zhang Tian had taught her.
A faint, shimmering light, the same color as her seven-storied pagoda, enveloped her arm a fraction of a second before the sword struck.
CLANG!
The sound was like steel striking crystal. The Piercing Thorn slammed into her reinforced arm. She cried out in pain, a sharp, stabbing sensation shooting up to her shoulder. The force of the blow sent her stumbling back, her arm throbbing, a deep, angry red mark already forming on her skin.
But her arm was not pierced. The bone was not broken. The impromptu spirit power shield had held. It had saved her from a grievous injury.
The crowd went insane.
"She blocked it! A support master just blocked a power attack from an agility type with her bare arm!"
"Is that even possible?! What kind of training did she go through?!"
Liu Yan stared in utter disbelief, his mind unable to process what had just happened. This girl… she was breaking all the rules.
His shock was his undoing.
While he was frozen in his disbelief, a black shadow descended upon him. Zhu Zhuqing, having neutralized their control type, had immediately turned her attention to him.
"Second Spirit Ability! Hell Hundred Claws!"
A vortex of spectral black claws engulfed the stunned swordsman. He cried out as dozens of sharp attacks raked across his body, his uniform tearing, shallow cuts appearing all over his arms and chest. He was thrown backwards, disarmed, his spirit shattered.
Two down.
Now, all eyes turned to the last remaining duel.
Gao Feng was still locked in a frustrating battle against the man in the crimson mask. He slammed his staff against the vine walls again and again, but for every wall he shattered, two more would erupt from the ground, blocking his path, changing the terrain, forcing him into awkward positions. It was like fighting the arena itself.
"Sweeping Gale!" he roared in desperation, activating his second ability.
He spun his staff in a wide, powerful arc, creating a miniature whirlwind of force designed to clear everything around him.
The whirlwind ripped through Zhang Tian's vines, tearing them to shreds. For a moment, the path was clear. Gao Feng grinned, preparing to charge.
But Zhang Tian just smiled behind his mask. The destroyed vines didn't dissipate. They dissolved into a cloud of thousands of tiny, hardened crimson needles.
The needle storm swept forward, engulfing the surprised Gao Feng. He yelped, dropping his staff to cover his face as the needles peppered his body, stinging like a swarm of angry wasps.
He was completely blinded, completely disoriented.
The fight was over. Gao Feng, seeing both his teammates defeated and himself surrounded by an opponent whose abilities were utterly baffling, raised a hand in surrender.
"I… I yield!" he gasped.
The referee, who had been watching the entire fight with a slack-jawed expression, finally found his voice. "Winner, by submission… Treasure Silver Civet!"
The arena exploded into a deafening roar. It was a stunning upset. The new, mysterious team had not just won; they had dominated, dismantling the reigning champions with a display of skill, power, and tactics that was utterly mesmerizing.
Zhang Tian calmly retracted his vines, and walked over to his two teammates.
Ning Rongrong was cradling her bruised arm, wincing in pain, but her eyes were shining with a triumphant, adrenaline-fueled light. "I did it," she whispered, a look of pure disbelief on her face. "I actually did it."
Zhu Zhuqing was panting slightly, her own body covered in a fine sheen of sweat. The buffed, high-intensity battle had taken a toll on her, but her posture was proud, her victory earned.
As they walked off the stage to the thunderous applause of the crowd, Zhang Tian's eyes lingered for a moment on his two companions.
Ning Rongrong, despite her pain, was beaming, her face flushed with victory, a new, hard-won confidence radiating from her.
And Zhu Zhuqing… her dark clothes clung to her sweat-drenched body, outlining every perfect, breathtaking curve. The rise and fall of her large, full breasts as she caught her breath, the slender curve of her waist, the powerful, elegant line of her hips and the alluring curve of her curvaceous buttocks… she was a masterpiece of lethal, feminine power.
A faint, appreciative sigh escaped Zhang Tian's lips, a thought echoing in his mind.
'She truly does have a killer, sexy body.'
They collected their winnings and their new Iron Badges and made their way out of the noisy arena.
That night, back at Shrek Academy, the two girls soaked their sore, bruised bodies in the luxurious, steaming waters of their private medicinal bath. The warm, healing liquid soothed their aching muscles, but it couldn't soothe the excited, triumphant energy that buzzed between them. They chattered and laughed, reliving every moment of their victory, their friendship solidified in the crucible of combat.
In his own quiet room, Zhang Tian did not rest. He sat cross-legged, his breathing deep and even, as he cultivated his spirit power, the events of the day a closed book. The victory was expected. The progress was satisfactory. But the path ahead was long, and he would not waste a single moment.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon