"Ugh…!" Davis and Zhu Zhuyun clawed at their own throats, thrashing helplessly. Their eyes dimmed by the second, the air cut off from their lungs entirely, unable to force out even a single word. Both knew, with growing certainty, that a few more seconds of this would kill them.
"Because he's afraid of me," Xiao Se said, unbothered.
The scene sent a wave of shock rippling through the crowd. No one had imagined that a boy this young could subdue Davis and Zhu Zhuyun so effortlessly—two fighters whose soul power had reached levels 47 and 46 respectively.
"Let go of the Crown Prince and Princess, now!" The Star Luo team's captain lunged forward, soul power crackling black across his palm as he struck at Xiao Se. Xiao Se didn't so much as shift his stance. A single glance sent a wave of overwhelming soul power crashing into him instead. Fast as the captain was, it wasn't fast enough—his body shot backward like a fired cannonball, sailing hundreds of meters before crashing down in a daze, blood spraying from his mouth, seven or eight ribs shattered.
Gasps rippled through the crowd. The Star Luo Royal Academy's captain was at minimum a Soul Saint—and he'd been utterly demolished with nothing more than a look.
Xiao Se truly was terrifying.
(From the direction of Shrek Academy)
"Xiao Se's gotten even more frightening than he was two years ago." Flander shook his head in disbelief. Back then, his own defeat had come partly from underestimating the boy. Now, a single glance from Xiao Se would be more than enough to end his life outright.
"Damn it all. Am I really never going to get revenge for my stolen wife?" Dai Mubai's eyes had gone bloodshot with fury.
(From the direction of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect)
"Perfect. Just perfect." Tang San's fists clenched, his heart racing with excitement. "It'd be even better if he cripples Davis and Zhu Zhuyun too—makes Star Luo Royal Academy that much easier to beat." He knew full well that catching up to Xiao Se anytime soon was impossible—not until he'd mastered his twin martial souls, at least. So instead, he'd let his enemies wear each other down for him.
"Uncle Jian, you're right—Xiao Se's strength really is beyond measure. That single strike alone would've been more than any Soul Master below Title Douluo rank could survive." Ning Fengzhi turned to Sword Douluo Chen Xin.
Sword Douluo said nothing, only nodding gravely in agreement.
While everyone's attention stayed locked on the fallen team captain, a thread of blood-red light shot from Xiao Se's right eye, sinking silently into the eyes of Davis and Zhu Zhuyun. If Tang San and Dai Mubai wanted to use him as a pawn, well—he had no objection to playing along.
"Take a lesson from this," he said, tossing the two of them dozens of meters away like discarded rags. "Don't let yourselves get played without even noticing." Freed at last, they gulped down air, ignoring the pain from the fall entirely, eyes wide with terror as they stared back at him.
Xiao Se turned to Qian Renxue. "Brother Xue. Shall we?"
She gave a small nod, and the two of them made their way toward the VIP section overlooking the Papal Palace square.
Not long after, the crowd began gathering in front of the Papal Palace—spectators and competing teams alike filing in.
At the center of the vast plaza, twenty-one competitors stood arranged in three neat formations by rank: the Spirit Hall team, the Star Luo Royal team, and Shrek Academy.
The Spirit Hall Academy team looked the most at ease by far, led by Hu Liena. As Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall and the Pope's sole disciple, her bearing radiated confidence, her team's eyes bright with unwavering faith—faith in Spirit Hall, faith in the Pope herself.
The Star Luo Royal team, by contrast, was visibly rattled. Their captain, vice-captain, and team leader had all just been brutally put down by a boy who couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen. Now, staring down the unfathomable strength of the Spirit Hall team, the pressure bearing down on them was immense.
Shrek Academy fared worse still. Aside from Tang San, the rest of the team looked utterly drained. Their run to the final three had, if they were honest with themselves, been built almost entirely on luck—they'd barely crossed paths with any genuinely strong opponents along the way. Had Tang San, a Clear Sky Sect disciple, not been on their roster, more than a few onlookers would have suspected Spirit Hall's fingerprints all over the bracket.
"Third Young Master—can we actually win this?" Tyrone asked, swallowing hard. With Zhu Zhuqing never having joined Shrek Academy, he'd taken her place on the roster.
"We can win." Tang San's fist tightened, his gaze steady. His voice carried conviction, but privately, even he wasn't so sure. Unlike the timeline he half-remembered, where everyone present had been a Soul Master, Shrek's roster held only two—while Star Luo fielded at least five or six. Spirit Hall's team, meanwhile, was composed entirely of Soul Masters and above, Hu Liena chief among them, and something about her presence stirred the same unease in him that Xiao Se once had.
Two lines of cardinals emerged through the side doors of the Papal Palace—twenty-four in total, robed in red, ranking second only to the Platinum Bishops. They took their positions flanking the palace entrance, twelve to a side.
"His Holiness the Pope has arrived!" the lead cardinal bellowed.
Three thunderous cries rolled out across Spirit City like a collapsing mountain, like a rising tide: "Long live! Long live! Long live!"
The shout didn't come only from the crowd gathered at Pope's Mountain—it echoed from every Soul Master across the city, even those who'd traveled for the tournament but never made it past the earlier rounds.
The massive palace doors began to swing open, drawing every eye toward them. Even Xiao Se and Qian Renxue felt their pulses quicken.
Despite being Bibi Dong's own man, Xiao Se had almost never seen her in full papal regalia. Qian Renxue had seen it once, long ago, before she'd left Spirit Hall behind—but these days, Bibi Dong dressed plainly whenever the two of them met.
Draped in a shimmering, floor-length golden gown, a nine-tiered crown of purple and gold resting atop her head, an angel-wrought scepter in hand, Bibi Dong stepped through the doorway first—solemn, regal, utterly commanding. She seemed to radiate an almost otherworldly presence, as though she towered infinitely above everyone watching, stirring in each of them an overwhelming urge to drop to their knees.
The Spirit Hall team knelt.
The Star Luo Royal team knelt.
Shrek Academy knelt as well—all but Liu Erlong and Ning Rongrong.
Davis, Zhu Zhuyun, Tang San, Dai Mubai, and the rest resisted at first, but found themselves kneeling anyway, compelled by the illusion Xiao Se had planted in their minds. Ning Rongrong had earned enough goodwill from him, and Liu Erlong's newfound closeness with Bibi Dong spared her the same treatment—so he left the two of them be.
Across the entire plaza, every spectator and competitor knelt—every single one, save for Xiao Se, Qian Renxue, Liu Erlong, and Ning Rongrong.
Every member of Spirit Hall dropped to one knee as well.
"Greetings, Your Holiness the Pope!" The chant rose and fell in waves from every direction. Even Xiao Se, no stranger to grand spectacle, found himself moved by the sheer weight of the moment—a kind of faith saturating the air, utterly unlike anything he'd felt back on the Dou Qi Continent.
(End of Chapter)
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