"Holy crap, this is too arrogant!"
Dai Mubai stood on the field, veins bulging on his forehead, his body exuding an invisible, murderous aura.
The eyes of the Shrek team were filled with anger. After all, the Imperial Second Team had only sent out six people to fight. In their view, this was undoubtedly a naked provocation and insult!
On the host's podium.
"Six against seven? This match is really interesting. Chief Host Lu, what do you think?" Owen leaned forward slightly, his eyes shining with excitement, speaking with great interest.
In the rules of the Soul Master tournament, the upper limit for team battles was clearly stipulated as seven people. However, there was no mandatory requirement for the numbers on both sides to be equal.
With years of hosting experience, Owen keenly sensed that this match might be the biggest highlight of this year's tournament.
A faint smile touched the corner of Lu Feng's mouth as he slowly stood up from his seat.
He raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the entire venue, and slowly said, "The true protagonist always appears last."
As his voice fell, his soul power rippled out slowly like water. He tapped his foot lightly, like an elegant bird, tracing an arc in the air before landing steadily on the spirit battle stage.
"Wow!" In an instant, a deafening gasp erupted from the spectator stands.
"It's him, Chief Host Lu!" a portly spectator shouted at the top of his lungs, his face flushed with excitement.
"What? Who is he?" a small, thin spectator next to him asked with a confused face, clearly knowing nothing about this person who had suddenly appeared.
"Aiya, just know he's awesome and that's it!" The fatty waved his hand impatiently, staring intently at Lu Feng on the stage, afraid to miss a single detail.
Owen stood on the host's podium, saw this scene, and shook his head helplessly.
This colleague of mine... his ability to generate buzz is simply the ceiling of the hosting world.
Owen knew clearly in his heart that after this match, Lu Feng's name would definitely set off a wave in the entire Heaven Dou City, becoming the hot topic on every street corner.
On the stage, in the Imperial Team's formation, Lu Feng stood alone in the front row. The six team members behind him consciously left a few paces of distance, lined up neatly, as if stars surrounding the moon.
His gorgeous, all-gold outfit glittered dazzlingly in the sunlight. Instantly, everyone's gaze converged on him alone.
In the VIP seats, Emperor Xue Ye wore a smile as he looked at the high-spirited Lu Feng on the stage, his eyes full of appreciation. "Young people are indeed full of vigor and vitality."
With that, he turned slightly to Prince Xue Xing beside him and asked gently, "Xue Xing, do you know which family this student comes from?"
"Ah?" Hearing this, Prince Xue Xing had a blank look on his face.
As the supervisor of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, he knew the members of the academy's two participating teams like the back of his hand. But he had no impression of this Lu Feng before him.
He had never even heard of this person in the academy.
However, Prince Xue Xing was, after all, experienced in officialdom and reacted extremely quickly. He soon came back to his senses, piled a smile on his face, and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, every student of the academy is a future pillar of the empire."
Ning Fengzhi wore an enigmatic smile on his lips. He bowed slightly to Emperor Xue Ye and said, "Your Majesty, I happen to know this student. His name is Lu Feng. With his strength, he will surely bring Your Majesty an unexpected surprise."
"Oh?" Salas, who had looked indifferent, instantly had a sharp light flash in his eyes upon hearing this. "Clan Master Ning, could this Lu Feng be a disciple of your esteemed clan?"
Ning Fengzhi maintained his calm and composed appearance, saying unhurriedly, "This is an internal matter of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. It seems to have nothing to do with Your Excellency Salas."
The smile on Salas's face vanished instantly, replaced by a gloomy look.
He snorted coldly. The two exchanged fierce gazes in front of Emperor Xue Ye, the air seemingly filled with the smell of invisible gunpowder.
Emperor Xue Ye looked at this tense atmosphere and couldn't help but frown slightly, smoothing things over. "There is no need for the two of you to be like this. After this tournament ends, everything will naturally become clear."
Salas bowed slightly to Emperor Xue Ye and said flatly, "Your Majesty is right. Let us watch the match first."
Sitting in the second row, Xue Qinghe gripped the armrests tightly, his face dark.
He gritted his teeth inwardly. Why is he causing such a big commotion again? Damn it, he's caught the attention of that old thing Xue Ye. If I had known this would happen, I should have just tied him up and taken him back to Spirit Hall!
Just as everyone was harboring their own thoughts, the referee on the stage shouted at the top of his lungs, "Qualifiers, first round, first match, officially begins!"
Similar to ordinary spirit battle rules, the tournament specially gave both sides one minute of preparation time to release their Martial Souls.
On the Shrek Academy side, Dai Mubai stared coldly at Lu Feng, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
There was excitement, and also a trace of fear.
"It's him again!"
Dai Mubai clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white. Scenes of his past encounters with Lu Feng involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
In one-on-one contests, the two had fought dozens of rounds, but every time, he had returned in defeat.
But this was a team spirit battle. The rules and environment were completely different.
A glint of cunning flashed in Dai Mubai's eyes. In his view, although Lu Feng's individual strength was strong, he knew all too well the strength of the other members of the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy. Just a bunch of spoiled rich kids.
In this match, he would wipe away his former shame!
Dai Mubai suddenly spread his arms wide, a deafening roar erupting from his chest. "Brothers, release Martial Souls! White Tiger Possession!"
In an instant, four soul rings—two yellow, two purple—lit up dazzlingly on his body, radiating light.
Beside him, Tai Long and Huang Yuan also simultaneously released three soul rings—two yellow, one purple. Deep halos flowed, demonstrating powerful soul power fluctuations.
The formidable auras of the three power attack system Soul Masters intertwined, spreading out like a surging tide, causing the surrounding air to tremble.
Tang San stood steadily in the center of the formation. Blue Silver Grass broke through the ground around him, the slender grass blades swaying gently in the wind.
Three soul rings—two yellow, one purple—floated slowly up and down above his head.
At the same time, Ma Hongjun, Jing Ling, and Jiang Zhu in the rear also released their soul rings.
The seven of them had the optimal soul ring configuration, plus Dai Mubai's Soul Ancestor strength, fully displaying the powerful strength of the Shrek Academy team.
However, the stark contrast between their comical attire and their formidable strength was truly laughable.
In the spectator stands, Huo Wushuang crossed his arms over his chest, a mocking smile on his face. "Interesting. Even Blue Silver Grass can be cultivated to level thirty?"
Huo Wu snorted softly, a trace of contempt flashing in her eyes. "Hmph, if their control system relies on the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, then that's really the best news for us."
The two exchanged a look and smiled knowingly.
Fire element naturally countered plant Martial Souls. In their view, this control system Soul Master of Shrek Academy was their biggest weakness.
At this moment, Huo Wu suddenly pointed at the stage and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother, isn't that person the host from last time?"
Huo Wushuang looked at the four shining soul rings around Lu Feng and nodded.
"That's right. That host has a unique understanding of Martial Souls. I didn't expect him to be from the Imperial Academy. It seems these noble scions aren't all useless."
"Attack—" Dai Mubai's roar rang out like a great bell, instantly breaking the brief calm on the field.
Both lineups consisted of one Soul Ancestor and six Soul Elders, seemingly evenly matched. Dai Mubai knew clearly that he was no match for Lu Feng in a one-on-one fight, but his teammates' strength far surpassed that bunch of noble scions on the other side.
Dai Mubai took the lead. His muscles instantly swelled, bulging as if inflated, veins popping, like a fierce beast about to hunt.
He roared at the sky and directly activated his third soul skill—White Tiger Vajra Transformation.
In an instant, his body was wrapped in a layer of golden light. His fur became denser and harder, and his heterochromatic pupils, already sharp, were now filled with intimidation.
At the same time, Huang Yuan's third soul skill also activated. His skill was somewhat similar to Dai Mubai's, called Heavenly Wolf Transformation. Although the enhancement effect was slightly inferior, it could also instantly increase attack power and speed by fifty percent.
The two activating thousand-year soul skills right off the bat was an aggressive strategy that greatly exceeded everyone's expectations.
After all, using such high-consumption soul skills at the start meant that if they were successfully blocked by the opponent, the subsequent battle would fall into an extremely passive situation.
However, they did not charge forward as everyone expected. Instead, they chose to unleash ranged soul skills.
Dai Mubai's soul power surged around him as he roared, "Fourth Soul Skill, White Tiger Meteor Shower!"
As his shout fell, all the tiger stripes on his strong body instantly turned a dazzling gold.
With a roar, golden light burst forth.
Centered on his body, countless fist-sized golden orbs of light streaked across the sky like meteors, carrying an aura of destruction, instantly locking onto the opponents in front and bombarding them wildly.
On the other side, Huang Yuan's soul power surged. His first soul skill shone, and a strong white light condensed in his mouth. The next moment, majestic energy sprayed out.
On the left and right flanks, Ma Hongjun and Jing Ling also flanked out simultaneously.
Ma Hongjun spat out surging flames. The raging fire instantly distorted the surrounding air, rolling heat waves making people fearful.
Jing Ling's soul power surged. Two bone blades spun rapidly in his hands, whipping up a violent whirlwind that howled toward Lu Feng's body.
"What a fierce attack!"
Huo Wu stood in the spectator stands, watching the movements of the Shrek team, her brows furrowed tightly.
Leaving aside the power of the Shrek team's soul skills, just looking at the high degree of tacit understanding in their actions, one could tell that this team had undergone long-term coordination and training.
"If their auxiliary Soul Master possesses buff-type soul skills, then that would be troublesome," Huo Wushuang's eyes flickered, deep in thought.
As a core member of Blazing Academy, he was all too familiar with Shrek Academy's "soul skill carpet bombing" attack style.
This style of fighting was extremely lethal, and it was Blazing Academy's specialty.
On the stage, facing the overwhelming soul power attacks from Shrek Academy, the students of the Imperial Academy immediately fell into disarray.
Their Martial Souls were all power attack system beast Martial Souls like tigers, bears, and leopards, accustomed to close combat. Facing the enemy's ranged attacks, their first reaction was to dodge.
However, just as they were about to activate their soul skills to evade, they discovered with horror that at some point, a dense patch of Blue Silver Grass had grown beneath their feet.
These Blue Silver Grass strands were like agile pythons, instantly binding their legs tightly.
Everyone subconsciously tried to break free, but were surprised to find that these seemingly weak Blue Silver Grass strands were incredibly tough. No matter how hard they struggled, they couldn't break free.
Helpless, they could only activate their soul skills again to first clear away these annoying weeds.
But this delay caused them to miss the best opportunity to dodge.
"Boom!"
Deafening explosions rang out.
The Imperial Academy students couldn't dodge in time and were knocked staggering by the powerful soul power impact.
Explosions rose one after another. Thick waves of air oscillated outwards like surging waves. Rolling smoke and dust quickly filled the field, accompanied by wave after wave of painful wails.
To be fair, the strength of the Imperial Academy students was not weak; their soul power all exceeded level 35.
If the two sides had clashed head-on, using conventional soldier-against-soldier, general-against-general tactics, even if Shrek Academy could win, they would likely have had to go through a difficult, drawn-out battle.
But Shrek Academy's tactics were clearly more aggressive and bold, giving the opponent no chance to breathe right from the start.
All of them unreservedly unleashed their strongest soul skill attacks. The powerful force that erupted instantly left the opponents with no time to react before they were completely submerged by the storm-like attacks.
After a moment, the rolling dust gradually dispersed.
The members of the Imperial Academy were seen lying on the ground in disarray, all of them covered in blood, wailing in pain. The scene was extremely miserable.
Only Lu Feng alone, relying on his own formidable strength, had withstood Shrek Academy's full-force attack.
At this moment, his third soul ring shone with a brilliant light. Golden light overflowed from his body, and majestic soul power burst out like a surging tide, spreading in all directions.
He stood proudly in place, his body unharmed. The powerful strength of a Soul Ancestor expert was displayed vividly at this moment.
At this moment, the entire Great Spirit Arena was silent.
The direction of this match was truly too unexpected. There was no suspense; it was a one-sided slaughter.
Although Lu Feng stood tall on the field, he was facing seven opponents from Shrek Academy.
One against seven?
The audience found it hard to believe. How could he possibly achieve victory in this match with only the strength of one person?
In the VIP seats, the atmosphere was suffocatingly heavy.
"Hmph!" Emperor Xue Ye's face was ashen, his eyes wide with anger, his gaze falling like a knife on Prince Xue Xing.
"These are the pillars of talent you painstakingly cultivated?"
His voice was full of anger, causing the surrounding air to tremble slightly.
"I..." Prince Xue Xing opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. His face alternated between white and red, full of embarrassment.
Salas sat to the side, a trace of schadenfreude flashing in his eyes.
The dignified Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Second Team was actually routed in just one minute by a previously unknown team of Soul Masters. This was simply a humiliating disgrace.
Just then, Salas's eyes, which had been slightly narrowed, suddenly widened. A bright light burst from his eyes as he stared fixedly at Lu Feng.
On the field, a ball of dazzling golden light suddenly erupted from around Lu Feng, and his entire person seemed to be shrouded in a layer of holy brilliance.
"This is..." Salas's hands, resting on his knees, clenched unconsciously.
His gaze was full of doubt, shock, and even a mix of indescribable piety.
He was all too familiar with this holy aura.
Back when he was appointed as the Platinum Bishop of Heaven Dou City, he had the honor of encountering it at Spirit Hall.
This aura did not come from the Supreme Pontiff.
Nor from the Great Priest.
But from that solemn and majestic Angel God statue!
Xue Qinghe's eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze fixed on the stage like a falcon.
At this moment, he no longer cared that Lu Feng was exposed to the sights of the Heaven Dou high-level officials.
Xue Qinghe secretly made a decision in his heart: as long as Lu Feng entered the finals and stepped into Spirit City, he would kidnap him directly.
On the stage, Dai Mubai's gaze was like lightning, sweeping coldly over the spectator stands. That look seemed to declare to everyone: Who is the real powerhouse.
Jiang Zhu prepared to act according to the plan, to treat the injured members of the opposing team, preventing them from being disqualified due to excessive injuries.
But just then, Tang San's loud shout rang out abruptly: "Dodge, quickly!"
Lu Feng's fourth soul ring shone brightly. Surging soul power was like a giant wave, carrying the majestic power to destroy heaven and earth, blasting viciously toward the Shrek Academy crowd.
Before Jiang Zhu could react, she felt an overwhelming soul power attack.
"Boom!" The huge impact instantly sent her flying. Her vision went black, and then she lost consciousness.
Silence.
A deathly silence enveloped the entire Great Spirit Arena.
Eighty thousand spectators held their breath. The venue was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
The previous storm-like soul skill bombardment by the Shrek team could be called a visual feast.
However, this one punch from Lu Feng displayed the aesthetics of violence to the extreme, instantly overturning everyone's perception.
"Wow!" In an instant, the spectator stands erupted into a deafening clamor, like a boulder thrown into a lake.
No one had expected the situation to turn upside down in the blink of an eye.
"Brother, if you activated your third soul skill, could you withstand that move?" Huo Wu asked softly, her expression grave, her tone carrying a hint of worry, turning to Huo Wushuang beside her.
Huo Wushuang kept his lips tight, not answering his sister's question. His tightly furrowed brows and solemn expression had already given the answer.
In the VIP seats, Emperor Xue Ye threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Hahaha, Xue Xing, you have cultivated a rare and excellent seedling for the empire!"
Prince Xue Xing nodded repeatedly in agreement, then turned sideways and beckoned to a nearby attendant, whispering instructions: "Immediately find this student's file. Be quick. I must have it in my hands within ten minutes."
On the stage, not a single person from the Shrek team could stand.
Huang Yuan, Jing Ling, Jiang Zhu, and Ma Hongjun were blasted directly off the stage by the powerful impact and had fainted.
Tai Long and Dai Mubai were slumped on the ground. Relying on their thick skin and flesh, they barely retained a shred of consciousness.
Tang San was covered in blood. Using all his strength, he slowly looked at Lu Feng, raising a trembling finger.
"You... you..."
Before he could finish, Tang San's eyes rolled back, and he fainted dead away.
At this time, the referee finally recovered from his shock. He looked at the field with lingering fear.
Too tragic.
Fourteen team members, and only one could still stand on the stage.
Even in the gambling matches of the Great Spirit Arena, such a tragic scene was rare. He looked at Lu Feng in shock. Is this person really just an ordinary student?
The referee took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
Just as he was about to announce the result of the match, Yu Xiaogang rushed toward the stage in a panic, shouting loudly, regardless of everything.
"Referee, I want to file a complaint! This isn't a competition at all, it's clearly murder! They have seriously violated the competition rules. I demand they be judged as the losers!"