"Both sides retreat, prepare for the match."
Today's referee was still Cheng Gang.
His Level 92 soul power was sufficient to ensure the safety of the competitors.
The moment they retreated, both sides immediately took their positions.
But the Douling team's formation made the Shrek members feel strange. The strong attack system Qian Yuan and defense system Chi Hengyu stood at the front, with the agile attack system Han Ling'er hidden behind them—this was normal. However, the strong attack system Gu Zhujian stood in the center, occupying the control system soul master's position, while the two control system battle soul masters stood on the wings, protecting Gu Zhujian in the core position behind them, as well as the auxiliary system equipment soul master Tang Niuniu at the very back.
What were they trying to do?
This thought inevitably arose in everyone's minds.
"What tactic is this against us?"
Ma Xiaotao's dark green long skirt school uniform fluttered in the wind, her whole body ready to spring into action. She had noticed that after so many matches, whenever it was Shrek's turn, their opponents always had many strange maneuvers, all trying to close the gap through tactics.
But unfortunately, all were in vain.
"It should be some special soul guide device."
Vague memories made it hard to find the answer. But based on the Douling team's behavior, Chen Junting gave his inference.
"This soul guide device might be the kind that decides everything in one strike."
"Then don't give them the opportunity."
Ma Xiaotao's expression turned cold. When Cheng Gang, serving as referee, made the gesture to both team captains and shouted "Begin!", the phoenix flames on Ma Xiaotao's body instantly surged up!
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black—six soul rings fiercely emerged. Combined with the high temperature of the flames, her dominance was fully displayed.
When Huo Yuhao's spiritual detection sharing covered every corner of the fighting platform, Ma Xiaotao's sixth soul ring suddenly lit up!
Under the dark black light, the protective barrier formed by 108 soul masters surrounding the entire fighting platform violently trembled. Large patches of red light condensed within the barrier, causing the temperature on the entire fighting platform to rise sharply.
"Phoenix Meteor Shower!"
Under the phoenix's cry, the prepared fiery meteors began to fall!
Without mercy, they slammed toward the Douling team's direction!
At this moment, a golden light flashed, and a golden light barrier instantly covered them. Even after three seconds, another golden light barrier followed closely behind, protecting the Douling team.
Xiao Feng from the Douling team, seeing the overwhelming fiery meteors, immediately made a heart-holding gesture with both hands. A white bead emitting faint purple mist appeared in his palms.
His thousand-year fourth soul ring shone, and the bead immediately emitted a dense purple light, covering the six Douling team members and a large surrounding area. Within the purple light range, everything became illusory and unclear, concealing their figures.
Taking this opportunity, Gu Zhujian hurriedly took out a circular metal piece as large as a millstone, with many holes. It was engraved with numerous magnificent patterns and even had intense lightning radiance.
The other members of the team also immediately took action.
Unbeknownst to them, Huo Yuhao had already roughly guessed the effect of this soul guide device about to be assembled through the feedback from his spiritual detection. He immediately relayed this to the other Shrek members.
"I'll go stop them!"
Ling Luochen was about to act when Chen Junting stopped her.
"Wait, it's not time yet." His tone remained calm. "Since they dare to display it so openly, it means they have blocking methods. Only when they finish assembling it will be our best opportunity to act."
Ling Luochen frowned, "Then we just watch?"
"No."
The Seven Kill Sword flashed with cold light, his toes lightly tapped as he charged forward!
"First send senior sister Nannan over."
Before everyone could react, Chen Junting had already acted.
With the enhancement of his first two soul skills, he slashed with his sword!
A sword aura directly shot toward Gu Zhujian's direction!
"Roar—"
Qian Yuan, with his Terrorclaw Bear martial soul attached, immediately let out a roar. The moment his fearsome claws extended, two soul rings also lit up. A claw light close to dark gold shot out, colliding with the Seven Kill Sword aura, tearing the surrounding air.
Immediately after, Chen Zifeng behind extended his right hand, pointing his index and middle fingers forward. Instantly, his Soul Chasing Sword martial soul shot toward Gu Zhujian like a blood-colored rainbow. Where it passed, the air seemed to be cut open like a bloody wound; before the sword even arrived, a strong bloody aura was already spreading.
Chen Zifeng's eyes were icy cold, his soul rings flashing.
"Sharp! Break!"
As his words fell, a streak of light also merged into it.
This caused the Soul Chasing Sword's power to rise again!
And this time, the one responsible for blocking was Chi Hengyu.
The moment his thousand-year fifth soul ring lit up, the Vajra Shield in his hand slammed heavily into the ground! The shield erupted with bright white light, then seemed to split—becoming two, then four—forming a huge shield wall standing tall.
But such defense was slightly weak against the Soul Chasing Sword.
Especially since he also had Gongyang Mo's enhancement.
Seeing this, Tang Niuniu behind immediately released her third soul skill, enhancing Qing Feng, who then immediately released his strongest fourth soul skill directly in front.
A layer of earthy yellow light spread outward from his feet, finally stopping outside the shield wall created by Chi Hengyu, forming an earth wall. At the same time, the earth wall sprouted numerous spikes outward, combining with the shield wall—truly defense to the teeth.
The bloody light slashed through, the earth wall was instantly destroyed! The Soul Chasing Sword's momentum unchanged, it directly pierced into the gaps of the shield wall.
Immediately following was Chen Junting controlling a Seven Kill Sword made of soul power, shooting out directly. Building on the destruction caused by the Soul Chasing Sword, it tore through the golden light swirling around the shield wall.
"Ding—"
A sound of metal colliding—the soul-power Seven Kill Sword directly slashed onto that shield wall, leaving a deep mark.
But before Chi Hengyu could feel relieved...
"Heavy sword without edge, break for me!"
The sharpness disappeared, replaced by a heavy feeling.
The Seven Kill Sword chopped down vertically, directly destroying the shield wall.
But the next second, a cannon barrel glowing with lightning directly pressed against Chen Junting and the others' faces, an indescribable dangerous aura immediately spreading through their hearts.
"Ten Thousand Bamboos Reaching Clouds!"
Gu Zhujian released his Purple Brilliant Bamboo—about three meters long, entirely purple-bright with golden light patterns. He saw him insert his martial soul into the ground in front of him, releasing his fifth soul skill.
Stalks of Purple Brilliant Bamboo like a cage directly trapped the Shrek members' hands and feet.
"Shrek is in danger."
On the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy side, they had long recognized that the Douling team's trump card was a castrated, enlarged version of the Thunder Cannon, whose power even an ordinary Soul Sage would struggle to withstand.
Now that Shrek was trapped, they probably couldn't escape.
"No wonder Douling gave up first place in the group—they were planning this." Ma Rulong nodded slightly, looking at their old opponent. "Shrek, how will you respond?"
But Shrek's next move completely exceeded their expectations.
"Sword Domain Torrent."
On the fighting platform, everyone's robes fluttered without wind.
The next moment, sword auras crisscrossed, swords made of soul power directly formed a sea of swords, tearing apart the Purple Brilliant Bamboo.
Immediately after, freezing ice, sharp blood swords, scorching flames, dense beams of light... covered this bamboo sea.
The stirred-up dust obscured the Douling members' vision.
"Quick! Fire!"
Gu Zhujian sensed something was wrong and immediately ordered.
The seven members' soul power instantly poured into the Thunder Cannon, massive soul power immediately gathered, a terrifying attack brewing.
But just as the dust stirred, a beautiful figure suddenly darted out, then flashed and disappeared from the spot. Under the cover of Huo Yuhao's two soul skills, except for those with Soul Sage cultivation and above who could detect it, none of the Douling team members on the field noticed Jiang Nannan's movement.
"Shrek, welcome to your first defeat!"
Without hesitation, Gu Zhujian immediately made the firing gesture.
"Buzzz—"
In an instant, the Thunder Cannon was like a giant beast awakening from the abyss. Accompanied by a low roar, crackling lightning surrounded the cannon barrel, the air seemed to be ignited by the high temperature.
The next second—
"Boom—"
A terrifying explosion erupted! But all the spectators in the venue also stirred up an uproar along with this explosion!
Because when the dust settled, the seven Shrek members stood intact on the fighting platform, but the attacking Thunder Cannon had already exploded, completely destroyed.
As for the Douling team members, they were protected by Cheng Gang's foresight with a dark gold barrier, avoiding the crisis.
Even after Cheng Gang announced Shrek's victory, the Douling members' faces still showed signs of being shaken.
Because they had witnessed with their own eyes the Thunder Cannon exploding right in front of them! If not for the referee's intervention, they would probably have been vaporized by the explosion's high temperature, leaving no trace of their bodies.
"What exactly happened?" Xiao Hongchen couldn't help but stand up, eyes wide, looking at this scene in astonishment.
"Don't tell me it was a quality issue with the soul guide device."
Just as the Sun Moon members were confused, Elder Ma spoke up to enlighten them, "The Thunder Cannon exploded because of that Soft Bone Rabbit female soul master. At that time, taking advantage of the obscured vision, that female soul master used her teleportation soul skill to enter the cannon barrel of the Thunder Cannon. As for what happened after... I believe she used that golden body ability she employed against Zhengtian Academy last time to block the Thunder Cannon's barrel."
"It can be done like this!?"
Hearing this, the Sun Moon members were dumbfounded.
"Why not."
Elder Ma's expression was calm. "Everything on the battlefield changes in an instant; any tactic or method can appear. For example, in today's match, who could have predicted that Shrek would use this method? And this tactic was definitely temporarily formulated by their people after seeing the characteristics of the Thunder Cannon. After all, the soul guide cannons used in fighting matches basically don't have such large calibers."
Facing Elder Ma's detailed explanation, the Sun Moon members suddenly understood, but the gravity in their eyes deepened even further.
This time, they had truly learned a lesson.
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