"Brother." Hu Liena quickly rushed forward to support Xie Yue.
Beside her, the healing-type soul master immediately cast a soul skill to treat his wounds.
"Ah, I didn't expect Yang Yunhai's vines to be this strong." Xie Yue sighed softly.
Only by experiencing it himself did he truly understand just how terrifying Yang Yunhai's martial soul control was.
His martial soul was a blade-type weapon soul, innately sharp and offensively dominant. When he awakened, his innate soul power was rank 9, an excellent foundation. After absorbing five soul rings — the fifth even absorbed beyond his limit — the sharpness of his Moon Blades was already extraordinary. With the amplification of his skills, he could even break through the defenses of an ordinary Soul Emperor. Yet against Yang Yunhai, he couldn't even cut through a vine.
It was hard to accept.
Hu Liena quickly tried to comfort him. "Brother, don't be discouraged. Yang Yunhai's martial soul has already evolved, and besides, his soul rings—"
"Nana, don't worry. I'm just sighing, nothing more. A small loss like this isn't enough to shake my will." Xie Yue waved his hand to interrupt her. "Besides, this defeat let me see that there's always someone stronger. It helped me recognize my own shortcomings."
"For me, that might not be such a bad thing."
"Let's keep watching the match." He smiled lightly and turned back to the arena.
Hu Liena nodded and also turned her gaze to the stage.
By now, Yan had already walked to his position. The referee's voice rang out, announcing the start of the battle.
"Fourth soul skill, Thunder Prison!" Without hesitation, Yang Yunhai plunged his spear into the ground, crossing his fists over his chest. Golden light surged across his body, and the surrounding lightning elements were instantly drawn in, accelerating into his form. From a distance, arcs of lightning appeared in a dense web within three meters around him, flowing like golden serpents.
'He wants to end this in one blow.' Yan's eyes went wide with anger. He clenched his right fist and slammed it to the ground.
"Fifth soul skill, Scorching Sand Inferno!"
Boom, boom, boom!
Flames erupted as the ground cracked apart, a terrifying heatwave spreading rapidly. Yan pushed forward with both arms, raising a blazing storm of fire and sand that roared toward Yang Yunhai.
"No!" Hu Liena's face suddenly changed, her gaze locking on Yang Yunhai — only to see his body suddenly expand with force.
Rumble!
Instead of a golden barrier spreading outward, it exploded. A violent thunderstorm burst forth, accompanied by a powerful gale. Centered on Yang Yunhai, the storm erupted like heavenly lightning. Countless arcs of electricity swept through the air like thunder serpents, shredding the sandstorm to pieces, tearing apart the stone tiles beneath their feet, and engulfing Yan before he could even react.
Yang Yunhai smoothly snatched up his spear, hurling it like a golden meteor toward Yan's tumbling body.
On the judges' platform, Bibi Dong's brows tightened slightly.
Bang!
Yan slammed into the ground, rolling to a stop just inside the boundary.
Puff!
The spear landed next, driving into the ground only two hand-widths from his head, standing there silently.
Though his body couldn't move, Yan's eyes still could — and they widened in shock, a chill racing down his spine.
'If Yang Yunhai's Thunder Prison hadn't been cast from range… if that spear had been just slightly off…' Hu Liena bit her lip, instantly understanding. Yang Yunhai had done it on purpose.
Since Yan was from Spirit Hall as well, Yang Yunhai naturally wouldn't kill him. So he had chosen to cast from range. And by throwing the spear afterward, he was making a statement: I could have killed you, but I didn't. Don't think about getting back up and struggling.
Thinking this through, Hu Liena turned, looked deeply at Yang Yunhai, and raised her right hand. "We concede this round."
"So strong!" Ning Rongrong was completely stunned.
The rest of Shrek's team wore solemn expressions. Tang San clenched his jaw tightly.
"Thankfully, we gave up the individual matches." Yu Xiaogang's face was equally grim, though inwardly relieved. 'If we want to defeat Yang Yunhai, only team battle gives us a chance. And it has to be quick — we cannot give him time to stall.'
Elsewhere, on the judges' platform, Ning Fengzhi's eyes shone with growing admiration.
'Strong, but also measured. If he had killed Yan, he would have completely provoked Spirit Hall. That would have been disastrous.'
His gaze flicked briefly toward the Shrek section.
'Unlike Tang San, who kills without hesitation and leaves himself no room.'
Back in the arena, Yan was carried off by teammates. Hu Liena slowly stepped forward. Against Yang Yunhai, they couldn't afford to drag things out. If even Xie Yue had been defeated, then sending anyone else would just mean helping Yang Yunhai recover more soul power.
So she had to step onto the field.
But if Yang Yunhai defeated her as well… it would mean he could sweep all seven.
At that thought, Ning Fengzhi glanced sideways. Bibi Dong's brows had drawn together — her mood clearly soured.
He quickly turned back to focus on the fight.
"Match begin!" the referee called.
"Fourth soul skill, Fox Transformation!" Hu Liena's body shimmered, releasing a pink glow. A self-amplifying skill, it drastically boosted her spiritual power and gave her the ability to take on the form of a fox.
"Third soul skill, Fox Leap!" Her figure blurred into a pink fox, vanishing from sight and reappearing three meters away.
Now there were two foxes.
They leapt together — two becoming four — charging Yang Yunhai from different directions.
'Not teleportation, just an illusion. The foxes are phantoms.' Yang Yunhai's golden eyes pierced through the trick at once. He had no trouble measuring her exact position. He frowned slightly, feigning confusion.
The fact that my eyes can see through illusions is something I must never reveal.
Unaware that her illusions had been seen through, Hu Liena opened her lips. The foxes echoed her.
"First soul skill, Fox Cry!"
A crystalline, bell-like laugh rang across the plaza, sweet and captivating, tugging at the hearts of all who heard it.
'A mental-type soul skill with charm, and even reduces spiritual power. Incredible! But Hu Liena hasn't developed it fully — she just uses it like a simple charm.' Yang Yunhai sighed inwardly.
Then he tensed his body.
"Thunder Burst!"
Lightning crackled as golden arcs burst outward, sweeping the field.
"Fifth soul skill, Bewitching Fox Mist!" The four foxes faltered, releasing clouds of pink fog to veil themselves.
Bang, bang!
Impacts echoed, obscuring which were real and which were illusions. Pink mist surged across the arena.
'I've learned enough about her soul skills.' Yang Yunhai's gaze sharpened as he let the mist engulf him.
'It lowers senses, suppresses soul power, weakens spiritual strength, and carries a hypnotic effect. Inhaling it makes you sluggish… This is actually a good skill. In the original story I thought it was weak, but seeing it now, it's impressive. Still, it's mainly control and support — lacking direct attack power.'
'If only she had something like Spiritual Shock to complement it.'
While he pondered, Hu Liena closed in. The four foxes leapt together, pink eyes gleaming.
"Second soul skill, Fox Charm!"
Yang Yunhai had been waiting. He turned his head and golden light flared from his eyes.
"You—!" Hu Liena froze in disbelief, then everything went dark. Her true body appeared, collapsing unconscious at his feet.
The pink mist dispersed. The arena cleared. Hu Liena lay quietly at Yang Yunhai's feet.
"That was it? What happened in there?" Ma Hongjun exclaimed.
On the judges' platform, Bibi Dong's face darkened slightly. Others might not have seen clearly, but she had: her disciple had been struck by backlash from her own soul skill. And Yang Yunhai had deliberately allowed it to happen, just to test its effect.
As a control-type soul master himself, he understood better than anyone the importance of control skills in battle. Testing her abilities here was undoubtedly his true purpose.
'Clever. He's using the individual matches to draw out the Golden Generation's trump cards. Win or lose, he gains valuable intel. If he wins, he can watch Shrek fight in the losers' bracket. If he loses, he still gets data. Either way, he profits.'
Even Bibi Dong had to admit — his cunning was extraordinary. His strength even more so.
'But Nana may not be able to suppress him anymore…' She frowned faintly.
Xie Yue quickly entered the arena to carry Hu Liena out.
"Heaven Dou Royal Academy wins." The referee's voice carried across the field, though his expression was sour.
"Don't worry. It was just skill backlash. She'll wake up soon." Yang Yunhai gave a slight nod, then turned to leave the field.
Sweeping all seven might have looked glorious, but now wasn't the time. After all, their true enemies were still far beyond Bibi Dong.
'He knows how to balance — something Tang San has yet to learn.' From the judges' stand, Ning Fengzhi smiled faintly.
Bibi Dong's gaze flickered, though her face remained calm.
"So the Golden Generation isn't that impressive after all," Xiao Wu said softly from the stands.
'Then you go fight him yourself?' Ning Rongrong shot her a look, muttering in her heart.
Anyone could see — the problem wasn't that the Golden Generation was weak. It was that Yang Yunhai was too strong.
Hadn't she noticed? Even her "third brother" Tang San was completely silent.
A glance at Shrek's team showed the others equally subdued, Tang San's face dark and brooding.
Back in the arena, Spirit Hall's next fighter stepped up: Sun Chuantao, a Soul Ancestor with a Ring Blade martial soul.
Facing him was Zhu Zhuqing of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
(End of Chapter)
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