Seeing this, Yan Shaozhe inwardly thought, "This is bad."
This Su Ming was definitely targeting Shrek.
Su Ming met his gaze frankly, completely unafraid, even with a hint of contempt in his eyes that seemed to say, "Yes, I am targeting you."
To be honest, he was still somewhat disappointed.
When Xu Sanshi teleported him earlier, Su Ming offered no resistance, allowing Xu Sanshi to successfully teleport him over, because Su Ming genuinely wanted to experience the feeling of having his Martial Soul stripped.
Yes, the combination of Xu Sanshi's teleportation and the subsequent Golden Road was an essentially unavoidable combo once the teleportation succeeded.
However, Su Ming was confident he could withstand it.
If nothing else, the several Invincible Barriers on his person would definitely help him withstand the damage from Ma Xiaotao, Dai Yueheng, and the others until his Martial Soul returned.
This was his most life-preserving trump card.
Secondly, there was his Borrowed Power spirit skill, which allowed him to draw power from the past and future, ensuring he wouldn't completely lose combat ability even if his Martial Soul was stripped.
This ability had previously been used by the Douluo 3 Su Ming to break free from Xu Xiaoyan's Starwheel Ice Staff's absolute control.
He just hadn't anticipated that having his Martial Soul stripped would allow him to perceive the properties of spirit power so vividly.
Because of this, he didn't even need to use the Invincible Barriers. Relying solely on the fused spirit power from Douluo 1 and Douluo 3, he managed a counterattack, first eliminating Ling Luochen, the major control threat.
So, in this instance, Xu Sanshi was essentially like Zhong Kui hooking a boss right into his backline's face.
Could she be used as a Spirit Emperor with Huo Yuhao's enhancements?
If she couldn't bring her power to bear, it was useless.
The reason for Su Ming's disappointment was purely because another objective hadn't been achieved.
Due to his extremely low expectations regarding Tang San's shamelessness, he was mentally prepared for Tang San to take the opportunity to tamper with his Martial Soul while it was stripped.
Tang San had wanted to observe Su Ming for quite some time, but unfortunately, Su Ming had always remained an enigma in his eyes.
Su Ming thought Tang San would use the characteristic of the Golden Road stripping his Martial Soul to pull something at that moment.
He hadn't expected Tang San to be so disappointing; he didn't make a move.
"Was he not watching the match live?"
In any case, Su Ming's other plan failed.
He didn't know that Tang San simply hadn't expected Xu Sanshi's teleportation to succeed.
"Elder Yi, I'll still need to trouble you to put on a bit of an act later."
The reason he was prepared for Tang San to make a move was also because of Electrolux.
During the tournament, Su Ming had been spied on by Sea God divine power more than once, but Electrolux had blocked it every time.
After becoming thoroughly annoyed, Electrolux suggested an idea to Su Ming.
"Let Tang San's divine power in, and give him a painful counterblow."
Su Ming hadn't expected Electrolux, this honest man, to propose a counterattack.
"Strip the faith from his divine power for you to study. Your constitution happens to be special; just snatch some faith from him, and he'll behave."
This was the method Electrolux thought of to warn Tang San.
Keep stretching your divine power paws in here, and be careful about having more faith invaded.
Su Ming, of course, had no objection to this.
Electrolux had already made preparations in advance, just waiting for the Sea God divine power to take the bait, so safety was guaranteed.
Most importantly, Electrolux's proposal this time gave Su Ming a signal—he had recovered to a certain extent and wasn't very afraid of Tang San anymore.
Su Ming only had one suggestion for this plan.
"Just study the faith a bit, let him feel it, and then we'll pretend the research failed."
Achieving the warning effect was enough.
He knew Tang San's lower limits all too well; if provoked, he might just descend in person.
Reaching the warning effect Electrolux mentioned was sufficient. As for things like Devouring Faith Devouring Faith, the Douluo 2 Su Ming wouldn't participate, and it wasn't easy for Douluo 1 either, so he'd leave it to the Douluo 3 Su Ming.
That's right, Su Ming only verbally said he didn't want the Sea God's faith, but that didn't mean he wouldn't act on it.
Studying the Sea God's faith discreetly might become a trump card for backstabbing Tang San in the future.
Unfortunately, the plan was good, but Tang San didn't make a move.
If he wanted to find another way to obtain Tang San's divine power and study its structure, he could only have Electrolux remain vigilant constantly and occasionally feign a mistake to let Tang San's divine power invade.
Back to the main topic.
Yan Shaozhe, looking at Su Ming's confident and unafraid demeanor, felt uneasy instead.
He sensed the threat of the Level 9 spirit cannon and wondered if the Body Sect also had people secretly watching from the shadows.
The more confident Su Ming seemed, the less confident Yan Shaozhe felt.
"What? Have the guts to break the competition rules, but not the guts to bear the losses?" Su Ming sneered.
All eyes focused on Yan Shaozhe.
Yes, it was Shrek Academy that broke the rules this time.
It seemed, perhaps, probably, that Shrek Academy was already on the verge of defeat just now.
Su Ming alone was teleported over. Shrek Academy focused fire on Su Ming at the cost of abandoning defense against Xiao Hongchen and the others' first wave of spirit cannon fire. The result was that they failed to harm Su Ming, but instead lost two of their own control-system members.
And then there was Ma Xiaotao, who was clearly about to have a problem, a big one at that.
Those with darker minds had actually been looking forward to the fall of a proud daughter of heaven like Ma Xiaotao.
But then Yan Shaozhe jumped in and cut that part off, not letting people see.
So infuriating!
Driven by these people, the atmosphere in the audience stands became strange, and they actually began to voice criticisms against Yan Shaozhe.
Of course, these people wouldn't use "wanting to see Ma Xiaotao fall" to guide public opinion. Instead, they followed Su Ming's lead, focusing on Yan Shaozhe breaking the rules.
Yan Shaozhe noticed the unfavorable reaction from the audience.
Shrek had too many privileges, making him act without considering the consequences.
But this time seemed different.
The audience actually had complaints about him?
He took a deep breath.
"What does it matter if the rewards are shifted down? My Shrek Academy can handle that much."
Yan Shaozhe accepted the punishment Su Ming proposed.
Xu Jiawei breathed a sigh of relief, followed by delight.
If the rewards were shifted down, the second-place reward was three custom slots. The Star Luo Imperial Team had a great chance of obtaining this reward, and the Tianhun Empire's Di'ao Team also felt like pie had fallen from the sky.
"Good. The punishment for you breaking the rules is settled. Shouldn't we now discuss how Shrek plans to compensate us?"
Su Ming's words made Yan Shaozhe freeze.
Is that how it's calculated?
Punishment and compensation?
This was the first time Yan Shaozhe had faced such a situation.
Xu Jiawei was also taken aback; it felt strangely familiar.
He looked towards Shrek, a hint of schadenfreude flashing deep in his eyes.
"Your Shrek Academy intervened during the tournament. How can other academies dare to compete on stage in the future if there are no consequences for such actions?"
Yan Shaozhe's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.
Didn't they already pay the price just now?
So the punishment counts as one cost, and we still have to compensate on top of that?
Before he could even attempt to argue, Ma Xiaotao in his arms let out a pained groan.
Looking at his disciple's state, a surge of rage rose in Yan Shaozhe.
"If you don't want to participate, then don't! No one is forcing you to!"
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(Chapter end)