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Zhu Zhuqing stood on the practice field, her expression calm and cold. She didn't seem bothered by the tension in the air. She looked at her opponents and asked simply, "Can we start now?"
Tang San looked back at her with a complicated expression on his face. Deep down, he felt incredibly uncomfortable and confused. He couldn't stop wondering how things had changed so fast. Su Yan was already powerful, and now Zhu Zhuqing was showing off incredible strength too.
He kept asking himself how they had increased their spirit power so quickly. It didn't make any sense to him. He wondered if Su Yan had truly discovered a secret method to open the Ren and Du meridians, allowing someone to become a peerless master in a single night.
Standing nearby, Yu Xiaogang felt his heart fill with a deep sense of hatred and jealousy. He looked at Su Yan and Zhu Zhuqing, thinking to himself that they were obstacles that needed to be removed. He felt a burning desire to uncover the secret of their spirit awakening. He promised himself that he would find a way to break through level thirty and prove his theories were correct, no matter what it took.
Su Yan noticed the delay and spoke up to urge everyone to get moving. He said, "Hurry up and get started. Let's not waste time so we can go back and have lunch soon."
On the dueling field, Tang San began to think carefully about his strategy. He realized that Zhu Zhuqing was now at level forty-five, which meant she had sixteen more levels of spirit power than he did. The gap was massive. He knew that his only hope of winning was to use the secret manuals of the Tang Sect and combine them with his hidden weapons.
"First Spirit Ability — Binding!" Tang San shouted, taking the initiative. He sent his Blue Silver Grass vines racing across the ground to trap her.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't dodge in a traditional way. Instead, she immediately released her fourth spirit ability. "Fourth Spirit Ability — Hell Shadow!" she called out.
Everyone watching was stunned by what happened next. Zhu Zhuqing's body and the shadow beneath her feet actually separated into two distinct entities. The real Zhu Zhuqing ran toward the edge of the field to create distance, while her shadow rushed straight toward Tang San like a dark ghost.
The crowd was filled with confusion. They whispered among themselves, wondering why she was running away from the fight. However, their confusion turned to shock when they saw the shadow pass right through Tang San's Blue Silver Grass. The vines couldn't grab it at all. The shadow moved like a phantom and quickly reached Tang San's feet.
"What is this?" Tang San muttered. He immediately activated his Purple Demon Eye, hoping to see through the trick. He looked closely but couldn't find anything unusual about the dark shape. It looked like an ordinary shadow, but he knew it couldn't be that simple.
In the distance, the real Zhu Zhuqing stood in an open space. Her hands began to move in a frantic, rhythmic dance. As her hands moved, the shadow at Tang San's feet reacted. It launched a series of rapid claw attacks. Tang San was caught completely off guard. The shadow's claws were sharp and real, leaving several bloody wounds on his arms and chest.
Tang San reacted quickly, using his footwork to retreat. "Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track!" he cried out, moving in a blur. He followed up with a counterattack, "Silent Sleeve Dart!"
He fired his hidden weapons with perfect aim. However, as the darts flew through the air, they passed directly through the shadow as if it were made of smoke. The weapons hit the ground behind the shadow, doing no damage at all.
"How is this even possible?" Tang San gasped. He was completely stunned. This spirit ability seemed to be an ethereal type. It was immune to physical attacks, yet it could still physically harm him. It felt completely unfair.
He decided to try a different approach. "Purple Demon Eye!" he roared again, but this time he concentrated all of his mental force into a sharp impact. He directed the mental attack at the shadow, but it felt like he was throwing a stone into a thick fog. It had no effect on the shadow or Zhu Zhuqing's main body.
Yu Xiaogang and his group were equally dazed. Flender stood there with his mouth wide open in disbelief. He turned to his friend and asked, "Xiaogang, what kind of spirit ability is this? If it's immune to every form of attack, does that mean there's no way to beat it?"
Dai Mubai was even more bewildered than the rest. He knew the Zhu family's abilities well, or so he thought. He had never heard of a shadow ability like this. He couldn't believe such a powerful and shameless ability existed in their world.
Ning Rongrong and the other students were also watching in awe. She leaned toward Su Yan and whispered, "Brother Su Yan, is Zhuqing's shadow really invincible? Is this the spirit ability you helped her create?"
Su Yan just smiled, looking quite pleased with the results. He told her, "Look closely. See if you can figure out the secret behind it yourself."
Meanwhile, in a mysterious dimensional group chat, various powerful figures were reacting to the live battle. A user named "I Am an Orphan" posted several question marks in shock. Another user named Wang Dong asked how an ability could be immune to attacks while still being able to hurt others. A user named "Call Me Her Majesty the Empress" commented that this shadow clone looked even more perfect than the clones used by Bibi Dong.
Inside the Spirit Hall, the Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong was watching the scene with a stunned expression. Her disciple, Hu Liena, looked at her with surprise and asked, "Teacher, what kind of ability is that? Is there really an invincible spirit ability in this world?"
Bibi Dong's expression became very serious. "It certainly looks invincible," she admitted. "It is immune to physical attacks and mental attacks. It seems to be an existence that can't be touched. But I don't understand how she is controlling it. Usually, if you control something with mental force, it should be vulnerable to mental attacks. This defies logic."
Bibi Dong then sent a message to the group chat, directed at Su Yan. "Little bastard, how did you think of this? I understand the shadow being immune to physical hits, but why doesn't Tang San's mental force work on it? If there is no mental connection, how does she move it?"
Another powerful figure, Bo Saixi, chimed in, asking if the shadow clone was truly impossible to destroy. Even in the era of Douluo Dalu 2, students at Shrek Academy like Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan were watching the stream with wide eyes. They talked about how unfair the ability was, since only Zhu Zhuqing could land hits. Ma Xiaotao even joked in the chat, asking if her ancestor could teach her the move.
Back on the field, Tang San felt like he was about to cry from frustration. He had tried every trick in his book, but everything just passed through the shadow like it was air. He was starting to feel true despair. The shadow didn't stop its assault. It kept scratching at him, and in his confusion, he let his guard down. The shadow managed to leave three long, bloody marks right across his face.
Yu Xiaogang stood on the sidelines, silent for a long time. He pridefully considered himself an expert on spirits, but he had no idea how such an outrageous ability could be created. Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore and roared, "This is shameless! It's simply shameless!"
His sudden outburst startled Zhao Wuji and the others. They looked at him with displeasure, annoyed by his shouting. Su Yan looked at Yu Xiaogang with total disdain. "A Spirit Grandmaster is just a Spirit Grandmaster," Su Yan said mockingly. "You make a lot of noise and act like you know everything, but you're actually just talking nonsense because you don't understand what's happening."
Yu Xiaogang was so angry that his face turned red. He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white, and he ground his teeth in fury. He hated being looked down upon, especially when he couldn't explain the logic of the fight. The match was clearly going against them, and the most frustrating part was that they couldn't even understand the mechanics of Zhu Zhuqing's power.
"Wait!" Flender suddenly shouted, trying to help his student. "Tang San, stop fighting the shadow! Forget about it and go after Zhu Zhuqing's real body!"
Tang San felt a surge of hope. He realized Flender was right. No matter how invincible the shadow was, Zhu Zhuqing herself had to be solid. If he could just reach her, he could end the fight. He stopped trying to dodge the shadow and sprinted at full speed toward Zhu Zhuqing.
As he ran, the shadow saw its chance. It lunged at his back, its claws ripping through his clothes. Five deep, bloody trails appeared on Tang San's back, and blood quickly began to soak into his shirt. Tang San ignored the pain and kept charging.
Zhu Zhuqing didn't panic as she saw him approaching. She stood her ground and activated her first spirit ability. "Hell Rush Stab!" she cried, charging directly toward Tang San.
Tang San was happy to see her coming closer. He wasn't afraid of a head-on collision. He believed that as long as they were fighting body-to-body, he could use his hidden weapons and Tang Sect techniques to overwhelm her. He thought he finally had a chance to win.
However, Tang San's joy didn't last long. Just as the two were about to clash, the shadow quickly moved to a different part of the field. At the exact moment Zhu Zhuqing's attack ended, she suddenly vanished. In the blink of an eye, she had swapped places with her shadow. Tang San found himself swinging at thin air again, while Zhu Zhuqing was now safely across the field.
Seeing this perfect teleportation, Yu Xiaogang lost all hope and slumped to the ground. He knew there was no way back from this. "We lost," he whispered dejectedly. "We've completely lost."